Alfred, son of James and Clarissa Douglass, was born on 14 March 1820 at Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. He arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on 9 March 1835 aboard the Wave. He gained valuable experience in the wool industry in Tasmania then came to Geelong in 1850 after a short stay in Melbourne. Soon after arriving he advertised his wool store business in Yarra Street. When he noticed a shortage in housing in Geelong he advertised prefabricated houses which he brought from Sydney. He went into partnership with John Wright and they built the Barwonside wool scouring works and the Barwonside Tannery in Horseshoe Bend Road, Marshall in 1851. Wright died at his residence, "Merlin Hill", St Albans on 25 July 1866. The tannery was leased to James Munday in 1869 then a Mr Pearson in 1878. Michael Bolger occupied it in 1880-1881, then Martin Hardyman 1883-1886 and Alex Boyd James Giffen in 1887, after which it appeared to have been unoccupied. In July 1885 Douglass sued the Department of Land and Works and recovered damages caused by the damming up of water from the defective construction of the railway bridge. In 1867 Alfred Douglass and Co sold a 183 acre farm at Mount Duneed. Alfred married Elizabeth née De Little, who was born on 4 July 1825 in Launceston, in 1853. In 1856 Alfred had Corio Villa erected at Eastern Beach. It was a prefabricated building, manufactured in Edinburgh and had remained unclaimed at the wharf. They had the following children: Alfred Byerly — born 3 May 1854, died 12 April 1855 Alfred William — born 21 June 1855, died 14 October 1855 Charles Clipstone — born 2 September 1856, died 5 February 1858 Henry Percival (Percy) — born 9 June 1859 in London, married Enid Mary Webster, died 1927 Arthur Reginald — born 16 June 1860, died 14 February 1861 Emily Constance — born 16 June 1860, died 29 December 1860 Frederick Montague (Monty) born 31 March 1862, married Amy Elizabeth Thompson, died 1943 Charles Leslie — born 11 August 1863, died 1864 Edmund — born 6 January 1865, died 1865 Percy and Monty were the only children to survive to adulthood. Both were successful early Geelong Football Club players. In 1861 Alfred purchased the Geelong Advertiser with his brother-in-law Joseph De Little. They traded under the name of Alfred Douglas and Co. Alfred was a trustee of the Geelong Savings Bank for twenty eight years, terminating with his death on 30 October 1883 at the age of 65 years. Elizabeth received recognition for her art, mainly miniature portraits on ivory, chalk drawings, watercolour, engraving and oil colour. Elizabeth died on 25 December 1902 at the age of 77 years. They were buried together in the old Church of England section of the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. | The Landell mentioned in the advertisement above should have been spelt Landale |
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Until the Marshalltown Post Office was closed on 30 June 1979, it was reputed to be Victoria's smallest post office. At 6 feet 6 inches square it had stood on the Marshall station platform since 1873 until the station closed in 1953. It was then shifted across the road to the front yard of a former Victorian Railways residence that was once the station master's home. Mrs Elsie Taylor, the last post mistress and her husband Angus, who was a foreman at the VR works depot at Spotwswood donated the building to the Bellarine Railway. The little building was taken on a trailer to the Drysdale station on Saturday 19 April, 1980. It was placed on the platform and became the booking office when the tourist railway began operating. In 1989 when a replice station building was completed at Drysdale it was moved to Lakers Siding.
Hillside is a single story homestead built of basalt with a slate roof. It was substantially altered by the addition of an early 20th Century art nouveau style veranda. Alexander Fyfe erected Hillside in 1862. The land was originally taken up by him in 1855 and was intended to be a two storied home. After the ground floor was completed, Captain Fyfe chartered a ship to bring decorative temple stones from Burma for the second storey. The ship was lost at sea and the captain was unable to complete his home. He died on 8 May 1903 at the age of 76. He arrived in Australia with his wife in 1848 on the ship Stag. All of their ten children survived. He was a very prominent public figure in the early days of Victoria and Queensland, having been elected to the first Legislative Council for Geelong in the middle fifties at the early age of 24 years. He was the first person to open up a foreign trade between Geelong and the East Indies, having as many as five sailing vessels trading between these places. He was known for importing packaged housed from Singapore. A notable example was Singapore Terrace which was built on Eastern Beach Road. Migrating to Queensland in 1861 he took over a large squatting property. In 1868 he was elected to represent Rockhampton, and held the seat until 1874, when he returned to Victoria. James Henty then purchased the house, adding the land to his holdings nearby and used it as a country holiday home for a few years. James Stewart tendered for a four year lease of 682 acres for the years 1875-1879. The next owner was Andrew White. He was born in 1829 at Stretton-on-Dunsmore in Warwickshire. He married Emily Walker in 1852. Andrew and Emily arrived in Australia in 1853 aboard the James L Bogert. He ran livery stables in Geelong which were well established by 1856. Emily died in 1861. His second wife Jane died in 1871. He had large land holdings in Connewarre. He purchased Hillside in 1878 and moved from Stretton Park with his family soon after. He became a councillor in the Barrabool Shire in 1878 and served until 1886. In July 1885 he was appointed a justice of the peace. He was also a South Barwon Shire councillor and served for ten years between 1878 and 1899 with several terms as president (1878-1879, 1885-1887, 1889, 1894, 1895-1896 and 1898-1899). He died intestate on 28 May 1900 in his 72nd year. His estate was valued at £46,305/17/5 and was divided between his widow, Catherine, and his children at the time of his death: William Andrew White of Aphrasia Street, Newtown Charles White late of "Darragh", Myamyn Street, Malvern Emily Ann McGregor of Morangarell, NSW Alfred Gilbert White of Hillside Mount Duneed Henrietta Jane Whitelaw of Fitzroy Street, Geelong Adeline Charlotte Collins of Prospect Road, Newtown Laura Amelia Richardson of Pevensey Crescent, Geelong His third son Alfred Gilbert (1868-19 January 1946) purchased Hillside from his father's estate in 1900 and lived there until his death. He was a former pupil of Mount Duneed School from 1878 until 1880. He was the municipal clerk at South Barwon Shire from 1894-1900, and served on the South Barwon Council for 46 years from 1900 until his death on 19 January 1946 being president for the following terms — 1903-1904, 1906-1907, 1921-1922 and 1931-1933. He married Bessie Orchard Mathews in 1894. His children were Mildred Bessie (born 1895), Constance (born 1897), Ruth Audrey (born 1899) Douglas Alfred (born 1900), Noel Stretton (born 1902) and John Wilfred (born 1907).
The prefabricated iron cottage, shown above, at Summerhill, 155 Mount Duneed Road, Mount Duneed is a rare example of a two room prefabricated iron cottage. It measures 24' x 12' in plan and is 9.5' high to the top of the segmental arched roof. The roof and walls are of 5" corrugated iron, with no supporting frame. The prefabricated iron cottage is of scientific, historic, social and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It is notable because it demonstrates British technical accomplishment in the history of prefabricated building construction. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register number H1131. Mr and Mrs Joseph Williams and their two sons George and James with their niece Elizabeth Frear arrived in Melbourne by sailing ship 'Lochiel' in 1853. They erected the cottage in 1854. They lived in the iron cottage with its rounded roof, until a weatherboard house consisting of four rooms was erected in 1860 with further additions in the 1870s. Joseph Williams was a South Barwon Shire councillor from 1860 until 1861. He was looked after at Summer Hill by his son for 21 years prior to his death on 13 Jun 1892. His wife Hannah was the daughter of Captain Joseph Wilson. She died on 19 December 1863. They are both buried in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. George Williams was the oldest resident of the district, when he passed away on 4 November 1919 at Summer Hill. Born in Liverpool in 1836 he had resided at Mount Duneed since coming to Australia with the exception of ten years, which were spent in Melbourne working for the Geological Department. For many years he was engineer and secretary for the Shire of Barrabool. He was a Barrabool Shire councillor serving from 1870 until 1872. He was active in church affairs as a trustee, class leader and steward of the Methodist churches of South Melbourne and Mount Duneed. He left a grown-up family of two sons and three daughters. His wife Elizabeth née Frear pre-deceased him by 19 months. They are buried in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. The stone shed (in the picture below) and stone wall (surrounding the south side of the house), was also built in the 1860s. Mr GWF McIntyre purchased this property and Mr and Mrs S Seiffert, with their two sons Lindsay and Murray, were the tenants for many years. The Australian House Museum began in the late 1970s using the vacant land in front of Deakin University at Waurn Ponds. Buildings were arranged in a row in a street named “Common Place”. This project resulted in many buildings being classified and preserved that would have otherwise been demolished. This project ceased as a result of high maintenance of the houses and the need for the land to be used for other purposes. Frank Campbell gathered historic buildings at the campus between 1979 and 1992. The Freshwater Creek School and residence provided office space and an area for a small artefact museum. These buildings were used by Deakin as a valuable part of Australian Studies. It was planned for other humanities courses and possibly social science ones to use this resource for teaching purposes in the future. 86 Skene Street, Newtown "Hawker's Cottage" Built in 1854 as a two roomed house, it expanded to three, then four rooms. The detached kitchen was built in 1886. Kitchens began as outdoor fires with rudimentary shelter. They were detached by law for reasons of fire, tradition and hygiene. Disease was thought to be caused by smells and vapours and drainage usually ended in a cesspit. The kitchen seemed to be designed to create a room for a servant. After the museum closed this cottage was considered beyond repair and was demolished. 26 Lupton Street, Geelong West "Bromley's Cottage" This tiny house by our standards housed twelve people in the Bromley family who lived there from 1862 to 1862 in a space 18 feet by 18 feet. Edward Thomas Bromley was transported to Port Phillip Colony at the age of 14 in 1847. His wife was the widow of his business partner, John Sherry. Sherry's family probably lived in the cottage too. The floor in the front two rooms was originally made from packing cases. As was common at the time the internal walls were lined with hessian and covered with wallpaper to keep out the drafts. It had timber shingles under the corrugated iron roof. It was relocated to Sun Street, Moolap before being included in the museum in 1984. After the museum closed this cottage was considered beyond repair and was demolished. 69 Fyans Street, Chilwell "Herd's House" This is a lower middle class house built before the 1892 depression. The cast iron lacework is Indian inspired. The Herds were painters, decorators and plumbers. In 2004 this house was relocated to 122 High Street, Drysdale. 13 McNicol Street, Geelong West "Werner's House" This building is presumed to have been two separate one roomed miners cottages built about 1855 and relocated from the goldfields. The two dwellings were combined and divided into rooms to form a four roomed house about 1865. Originally the cottages had no ceilings or walls. These were added by Jacob Werner after he moved in. He was a German musician, who settled in Geelong and became a painter and decorator. Originally the roof was covered in whitewashed timber shingles. This house may have been relocated in central Victoria. 22 Coronation Street, Geelong West "Arthur's house" This 1854 prefabricated house in Geelong West was recommended by the Geelong West City Council for inclusion in the project at Deakin University to allow the site in Coronation Street to be redeveloped. When the house was at this site the front of the house was on the boundary with the front doorstep on the footpath. The house is considered to be of architectural significance and as such was protected under the Geelong Regional Commission's Interim Development Order. Developers planned to donate the house and contribute $500 towards the cost of its removal. The house was a rare example of a prefabricated timber house believed to have been built in Singapore in 1853 to help meet a housing demand caused by Victoria's gold rushes. Factories set up by the British in Singapore employed Chinese craftsmen making thousands of houses to meet the demand. Alexander Fyfe who built Hillside in Williams Road, Mount Duneed imported many of these houses. When the museum was being wound up Arthur's House hit the road again for its new home facing a tree-lined park in 21 Brewongle Avenue, Hamlyn Heights. The Winchelsea Goods Shed The shed which originated at Winchelsea on the Geelong-Warrnambool line is similar to many others. A similar shed was once at Birregurra on the same line. Built in 1876 it came to the museum in 1987 and was used to store recyclable building materials. After the project closed the shed was moved to the Muckleford station on the Victorian Goldfields Railway. It is available for hire for parties or for corporate events as well as Victorian Goldfields Railway training and general activities. Police Lock-up, East Street, Inverleigh This lock-up, which was erected in 1888, is very secure as it has a steel cage concealed under the timber. Almost 200 of these were installed throughout Victoria at small police stations. They were used from the 1870s until the 1960s. They were cold in winter and hot in summer. They were mainly used to hold drunks overnight. The policeman's wife had to supply meals. When the museum closed it was returned to Lawsons Park, East Cambridge Street, Inverleigh. Natimuk Open-Air Pavilion School Natimuk Open Air Pavilion School was constructed by the Public Works Department in 1914 as an open air classroom at the Natimuk State School. It was the only building in the museum not to have originated in the Geelong area and was moved to the museum in 1988. The room held up to 48 children. Three sides had canvas shutters fitted above three feet. Forty four of these classrooms were built between 1911 and 1914 in the hope of creating a healthier environment at a time when Tuberculosis was at plague proportions. These classrooms were unpopular with teachers in the winter. The room was returned to 28 Noradjuha Road, Natimuk, in the grounds of the Natimuk School in 2002. The Freshwater Creek State School The local Freshwater Creek community contacted the museum to suggest that their school be moved to the Waurn Ponds site, as they felt it was doomed by eventual road widening. The building comprises a teacher's residence and a schoolroom with a capacity of 60 children. After demolition of chimneys the bricks were moved to the university. A large front room added in the 1950s was also removed. The roof was cut off as the gothic style school was too high to travel in one piece. It was then moved in two sections. After relocation the building has been fully renovated. The three two metre finials on the gables had to be remade, a new verandah, new rear porch and balconies and walkways constructed. Most schools of the 19th century have been well researched and the design of original features could be taken from this knowledge and by research from the people of Freshwater Creek. This type of school and residence was designed by the government architect, based on traditional designs which evolved slowly in the 19th century. The schools were built in a set of standard sizes. The teacher's residence has two bedrooms, built in an era when five or more children per family was usual. The schoolroom was heated by an open fire. After the museum closed the school was returned to its original site. In 1994 the school was once again on the move, this time because of the merging of Freshwater Creek, Connewarre and Mount Duneed State Schools. The school is now in the grounds of Mount Duneed Regional Primary School and is used as a classroom. 3 McKillop Place Geelong "Shabott's Cottage" An 1849 cottage moved to Deakin in 1982. It was later demolished
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