contributed by Leanne Fagg
phone 52291571

​David Dee was born around 1820 in Waterford, Ireland.  In 1841 he arrived in Melbourne aboard the "Diamond", then 2 years later married fellow passenger Ellen Shea at St Marys Catholic Church Geelong.
 
Over the following 6 years they had 3 children (Michael, Mary and Hannah) while living at Irishtown (between Pakington and Belfast Sts, Newtown).
 
By 1851 they were living in Germantown (now Grovedale) as farmers, in a 2 room home on 4 acres near the current Peter Street.  Further children (Thomas, Martin and Bridget) were born in Germantown.
 
In 1856 David was granted Crown land Lot 14 and 15 (101 acres each) in Puebla Parish (on what is now Blackgate Rd) and built a 4 room home there.
 
However, a year later David was knocked off his horse by a tree branch, causing his death at age 33. Before the accident he had enjoyed 2 nobblers of wine at the German Town Inn (since demolished) then rode off towards home in the dark.
 
The Inquest into his death determined "he was not a habitual drunkard ... he was advised by a witness not to drink that evening as he had a very bad road to travel over.  He was in the habit of riding fast."
 
David was buried in the Catholic section of Geelong's Eastern Cemetery on 3 November 1857.
 
David's death left his wife Ellen with 6 children between the ages of 2 yrs and 13 yrs to support.
Ellen continued to farm their Puebla land (together with 7 acres of land in Germantown) with the help of her eldest son Michael.
 
In 1870 Ellen's misfortune continued when her daughter Mary died at home, aged only 22 yrs. 
 
The Geelong Advertiser reported "The funeral procession was a very long one, and reached from the top to the bottom of Moorabool St".  Mary was buried with her father David.

John Edward, eldest son of Johann (John)
​Christian and Dorothea Elizabeth (née Buttner) Andressen was born in 1863 at Grovedale.

He was a Shire of South Barwon councillor, serving for 22 years from 1896 until 1918. He served three terms as president of the shire  — 1901-02, 1907-08 and 1916-17. On 23 August 1904 when the last sale of Crown land in Grovedale was held, he purchased  allotments 3 – £230, 4 – £150 and 5 – £145. In 1911 he was appointed a justice of the peace. He was elected a trustee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Germantown in September 1913.When he retired he lived at 82 Swanston Street, Geelong.

​John died on 12 December 1961 at the age of 86 at a private hospital in Geelong. He was privately interred the next day in the Presbyterian section of the Geelong Eastern Cemetery with his wife Dorothea Catherine who died on 20 Jul 1961.

​John Black became a Barrabool Shire councillor in 1903, a position he held for 10½ years. In 1915 after he sold his property he was forced to resign. A luncheon was held at the Moriac Hotel where councillors expressed their regret at losing such a splendid worker whose position would be very hard to fill. It was not long before he joined the Winchelsea council. 

In 1920 he was selected as the Farmers' Union candidate for Polwarth at the next State election. The same year he was welcomed as a new member of the Geelong Agricultural Society. 

On 30 August the same year his wife, Jane, died after a lingering illness. There was a large attendance, including many representative citizens, at the funeral which took place two days later at Winchelsea.

In 1922 he attended a conference of public bodies opposed to the elimination of the Federal electorate of Corangamite which was held at Mortlake. by now he was shire president.

In 1923 he was elected as a South Barwon councillor  for the Kardinia riding, serving until 1927.

He was a committee member for the Belmont Recreation Reserve.  In 1928 he was appointed electoral registrar for the Barrabool division of the South Western Province.

​He died on 29 November 1934 aged 69 years and was buried at the Winchelsea Cemetery.

​He subsequently married Cath, née Rutledge, the widow on Alex Johnston.
​
Children of John and Jane:
William John — born in 1890 at Bellarine East
Francis James — born in 1893 at Bellarine East
Edward Ernest — born in 1895 at Portarlington, died in 1954 aged 54 at Brighton Beach
Sydney Gilmore — born in 1897 at Modewarre, died in 1944 aged 46 at Winchelsea

​Florence Henrietta Johnston, step-daughter of Cr John Black of Roslyn Road Belmont who won the queen competition held on 20 July 1926 in aid of St Stephen's Parish Hall, Church of England Belmont
Train bearers: Joan Clemenger, Joan Smith and Jackie Clemenger — from Geelong Advertiser 22 September 1926

Robert McDowall, a native of Dumfries Scotland,  was born in 1827. He came to Victoria in 1857 and settled at Ceres, where he established a carting business between Geelong and the goldfields. He owned a store where he became local postmaster until 1877. He was also a Wesleyan lay preacher, conducting services at Ceres, Freshwater Creek and Mount Duneed. His family made an important contribution to the life of the Wesleyan Church at Ceres until 1927 when his son Alfred Beaumont moved to Belmont. Robert moved to the Rochester district in 1877, where he took over the post office in 1882. 

Robert married Mary Boyd. They had the following children:
Alexander — born in 1862 at Ceres
Ann — born in 1864 at Ceres, died in 1882 aged 18 years at Rochester
John Hugh — born in 1865 at Ceres, died in 1905 at Rochester
Alfred Beaumont (Mont) — born in 1871 at Barrabool, married Christiana Cox in 1894, died on 3 January 1942 aged 70 years at his home "Montreath" 90 Mount Pleasant Road in Belmont Geelong, buried in the Methodist section of the Highton Cemetery
Bessie Margaret — born in 1873 at Ceres, died in 1943 aged 68 at Rochester
Mary Elizabeth — born in 1877 at Ceres, died on 4 July 1951 aged 75 at Rochester
Alice Sarah — born in 1879 at Rochester, married John Robertson in 1904, died in 1904 aged 25 at Rochester

Robert was the postmaster at Ceres and Electoral Registrar for the Barrabool division of the electoral district of Grant and a deputy electoral registrar for the Barrabool division of the south western province in the1870s. After he resigned his son, John Hugh was appointed to the position.

Robert was a member of the Barrabool District Road Board and later a Barrabool Shire councillor serving from 1873 until 1876. His son, Alfred Beaumont (1871-1942) conducted a butter factory at South Geelong and farmed at Ceres where he also ran the post office.

Robert died in 1911 aged 84 at Rochester. He left an estate of £7542/12/9