The flood water has gone down and a barbeque table is waiting at the Horseshoe Bend on Thompsons Creek. I wonder how far it has travelled.

​​Soon after her death on Sunday 17 January a memorial service was held at the Pettavel Presbyterian Church for three long term residents from the district who had died within a short space of time. 87 year old Eleanor Lugg (née Skewes) had died late the previous year after a severe attack of influenza. Her husband William, who was 91 years, pined away, and died soon after the loss of his partner. The church was packed. These two couples had probably spent most of their married lives in the district and the three deaths were felt with much sorrow by the neighbours.

Ethelinda Ralph, daughter of William and Mary (née Glew) Baynes, had come to live in the district in the late 1850s as a young bride. She had married John Ralph in 1857 and the couple soon had many children:
​   Sarah Jane — born 1858, married Charles Albert Hammond
   Robert George — born about 1860
   James
​   Frederick
​   Mary Ann Ralph — born 1864, died 1 September 1880
   Cecilia Dunn — born 1866, married William Thorley
​   Hannah — born 1867
   John Joseph — born 1870, died 1948
​   Henry Willson Baynes — born 1872
   Phoebe Ellen Ralph — born 1873, married Augustine Oglethorpe
​   Eveline Caroline — born 1875, married Christophen Kingdon Hooper, died 1904
   Fanny Sophia Louisa — born 1878, married Thomas Henry Winstanley

​From 1870-1900 the Barrabool Shire rate records show the family living on a 2 acre allotment of land in section 25 (the block bounded by Mount Duneed, Reservoir, Pettavel and Willowite Roads) with a wooden house and garden. The garden probably contained fruit trees and vegetables. There were probably no shops in the area but meat would have been available from Francis Beech who lived a short distance away.

When John appeared as a witness in the infamous Pettavel murder case it was mentioned that he was a carpenter and often worked for the Beeches. His name was given in newspaper advertisements as caretaker at Cromer Park, a large grazing property south west of Pettavel station owned by Frederick Brown White.

​He had a severe illness lasting about 9 months, about 17 years before his death and decided to move to Gertrude Street, Geelong West where he died on 9 August 1917. He was buried in the family plot at the Mount Moriac Cemetery with his late wife and children.

​* I have used the name Ethelinda as the majority of references to her (newspaper, birth recordings and John's death recording) used this spelling. The spelling on her headstone is Ethelenda. The spelling on the marriage record is Earthalenda.

John Parkes, son of George and Lucy (née Hill) Hope, was born in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, England on 11 January 1807.

His first wife was Ann Wilis who was born in 1810 in England. They had three children:
   Ann Hope — born 1833
   John Parkes Hope — born 1834
   Eliza Hope — born 1837
​Ann died in Warwickshire, England on 13 June 1840

​His second wife was Hannah Sims, daughter of William Broadbent and Mary Avins, who was born on 22 March 1813 in Manchester, England.  She had previously been married to Nicholas Sims and had two children, Nicholas Sims (born 1833) and Ann Sims (born 1836) before she married John. They had three children:
​   Hannah Maria Hope — born 1844
   Amelia Hope — born 1845
​   Thomas Edward Hope — born 1850
​Hannah died on 7 February 1850 in Surrey, England

His third wife, whom he married in Melbourne on 22 December 1855, was Elizabeth Savage, called Eliza by the family. She was the daughter of Thomas Savage and Sarah née Clinton, born in Ireland on 4 March 1833. He lived with his family on a forty acre farm on the corner of Williams and Mount Duneed Roads. A number of professions have been attributed to him, namely surveyor, architect, builder, carpenter, stonemason, glazier and plumber. They had nine children:
William George Hope — born 2 May 1856, married Florence Nicholson, died 6 June 1902 in North Melbourne
Sarah Hope — born 28 September 1957, died 11 May 1865 at Mount Duneed
​Henry Clinton Hope — born 18 November 1860, died 27 April 1863 at Mount Duneed
Frances Elizabeth — born about 1860, died 1863 Ashby
Emily Ellen Hope — born 1862, married William Gunn on 23 July 1885, died 7 July 1938
Thomas Savage Hope — born 1864, died 24 August 1884 at Hotham West
Roberta Jane Hope — born 1866, married Johnathon Goode Tanner on 6 October 1888, died 23 June 1941 at Gomandale
Elizabeth Hope — born 16 November 1867, married James Freeman 24 November 1885, died 1888 at South Melbourne
Lucy Hope — born 3 Jun 1869, married Alexander Clinton Hitchcock, died 29 July 1938 at Melbourne
Joseph Hope — born 16 May 1872, died 2 September 1941 at South Melbourne

​John was appointed one of four trustees for land set apart of 8 April 1856 for Wesleyan Church purposes at Mount Duneed.
​He built the chapel and was a lay preacher at the time of its opening in 1857. He composed the following for the opening service. As it was the same year that "Claremont", the Baum family farmhouse, was built it appeared on the back of the invitation to the 130th celebrations held on 3 and 4 October, 1987 at Ghazeepore Road, Waurn Ponds. The chapel was directly behind the property where Gottfried Baum was born.

A voice from the mountain is crying, come up to the house of the Lord
The heralds of mercy are flying with light of salvation abroad
The banners of Christ are unfurling, arise now for Jesus our King
The powers of evil o’er-turning Good news to the captives we bring
The wilderness budding and blooming, the arm of the Lord is made bare,
His message of mercy is coming and melody rings through the air
The fields of the trees clap their hands and the valleys are shouting for joy
Then come ‘tis the Saviour’s command, of hell to destroy
Come up, ‘tis the moment of need, a temple we’ve built for our King
Near the summit of lovely Duneed, that the servants of Jesus may bring
The words that so gladden the heart on the morning of each Sabbath day
To be blessed as we meet and we part … to worship, to praise, and to pray.
 
He also built a Wesleyan Church in 1863 at Drysdale.
​
He died on 25 October 1878 at Mount Duneed and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. He left £120 real estate and £5 personal property for the benefit of his wife and after her death to be divided among his children. Elizabeth died at the home of her daughter Roberta at Blackwarry on 9 August 1918.
​

​Henry and Deborah (née Brown) Brien left County Tyrone, Ireland and sailed for Australia on the Chandernagore arriving in July 1854. Shipping records give their age as 49. They brought with them:
   Mary (24 years)
​   Henry (22 years, died 1907 Macorna)
   Mary (21 years)
​   Honora (21 years)
​   William (20 years)
​   Mary (19 years)
​   Catherine (17 years, married Thomas Spowart in 1874, died 1904 Pyramid Hill)
​   Lucinda (17 years)
​   Margaret (16 years)
​   Ann (13 years, died Mount Duneed 1892)
​   Sproul (11 years, died Birregurra aged 67).
​Henry farmed land in Mount Duneed Road, Freshwater Creek. The farm was known as "Ballanware Park".

The following are interred in the triple plot in the Methodist section at Mount Duneed Cemetery:
​Henry Brien — died 23 October 1864 aged 65
Deborah Brien, wife of Henry — died September 1883 aged 87
Mary Ann Brien, daughter of Sproul and Sarah — died 3 October 1876 aged 3½ of Scarlet Fever
Mary Ann Brien (née Ardill), wife of Henry Brien — died 12 September 1870 aged 36
​William Brien, son of Henry and Sarah — died 14 June 1865, 7 months
Jane Ardill — died 5 May 1870 aged 32
​Jane was the daughter of Benjamin Ardill and Ann (née Gunson) of Nenagh, Ireland. Her sister, Sarah, married Sproul Brien on 19 September 1867. She died of Colonial Fever; a disease we now know as Typhoid.

​Sproul and Sarah had the following children:
​   Alfred — born Duneed 1868, died 1924 Birregurra aged 56
   William Henry — born Duneed 1871, died Colac 1949 aged 78
​   Mary Ann — born 1873, died Freshwater Creek 3 Oct 1876
   Sproul — born Mount Duneed 1875, died Birregurra 1941 aged 65
   Ardill James — born Mount Duneed 1877, died Colac 1955 aged 77
   Sarah Ann — born Mount Duneed 1882
​   John — born Mount Duneed, died Colac 1956 aged 76
​Sproul died on 5 March 1913 and was buried at the Birregurra Cemetery. Sarah died in June 1924 and is buried with him.
​
​Henry married Sarah's sister Mary Ann Ardill in 1855. Their children were:
   Mary Ann — born Duneed 1860, died Cohuna 1925
   Benjamin — born 1857, died Geelong 1857
   Henry — born 1858 Duneed
   Ann Margaret — born 1860 Duneed
​   Ardill — born 1862 Duneed
   William Jonathan — born 1865 Geelong, died 1865 Jan Juc (Bellbrae)
   Sarah Jane — born 1866 Geelong

Henry died in 1907 at Macorna, near Kerang at the age of 56. Mary Ann died on 12 September 1870 at the age of 36 and is buried in this family plot at the Mount Duneed Cemetery.