Horse racing heritage

With Spring racing in the air, we remember some horse racing history in our area. Samuel Cracknell who resided in Panton Hill for more than 40 years, was a world famous light weight jockey winning many flat and steeple races. Sam rode in 12 Melbourne Cup races - his first Melbourne Cup was in 1872 and his last ride was in the Melbourne Cup on 1890.


Redleap stables in Mill Park, now the home of the Stables Shopping Centre were built in 1890 by Henry "Money" Miller and contained 20 large stalls, the stables were named in honour of the well known Bundoora horse "Redleap" who won the Grand National Hurdle in 1889 and 1890 and the Grand National Steeple Chase and Australian Steeple Chase. The stables included accomodation, marked by the chimney, for grooms. The building was incorporated into the new Stables shopping centre complex in Mill Park which opened at the end of 1979.

Eltham Heritage Walk

Next Saturday 1st November Eltham District Historical Society will run the last of its heritage walks for this year. It will commence at 2pm at the Eltham Local History Centre, 728 Main Road and will take about 2 hours. This walk will cover areas not usally visited in our regular walks including the John St "mud brick precinct". Ring Russell on 9439 9717 for bookings or
information or email edhs@nigpond.com.

Rosanna Fire Station Community House

Congratulations to the Rosanna Fire Station Community House on their 20th anniversary and the publication of their history: "The History of Rosanna Fire Station Community House 1988-2008".

This book is now availalbe for loan and also in the Ivanhoe Local history collection

Joy Jobbins: the rural bohemia of Eltham

Joy Jobbins’s memoir “Shoestring” (named for the family property in Eltham) is a candid portrait of marriage and women’s working life in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. An ordinary woman whose remarkable life intersected with many well known figures including Peter Carey, Chips Rafferty, Rupert Murdoch and Helmut Newton, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Tabberer and many others.

Vist Joy Jobbins website

Access this title via the local history collection in Eltham Library.

Travelling exhibitions at St Andrews

Leading up to the 150th Anniversary celebrations of St Andrews on November 29 and 30 the
St Andrews/Queenstown Historical Society are presenting –

Touring exhibitions on loan from the Public Record Office Victoria

October 24 – November 9 at St Andrews Hotel
Deeming – Bigamy, Theft and Murder – The tale of Frederick Bailey Deeming (alias Albert William) a murder in Windsor, 1891...

November 14 – December 7 at St Andrews Hotel
Lucy – A Private Life Revealed - at the age eleven, her journey begins from Scotland...

150th Birthday weekend – 12-5PM
November 27 – 30 at St Andrews Community Centre
(corner of School rd and Heidelberg/Kinglake rd St Andrews)
Forgotten Faces – Chinese and the Law – A series of photographs of Chinese prisoners and their stories...
Local History will also be on display at these exhibitions.
Contact Gaye AH 9438 5856 or flygaye@hotmail.com

Explore the Plenty

An overcast day and cold winds did not deter about 20 people from attending the "Explore the Plenty" walk presented by Parks Victoria and supported by Melbourne Water and the Plenty Valley Conservation Group as part of the City of Whittlesea Heritage Program this week.

The Plenty River extends from Mt Disappointment southwards to the confluence with the Yarra River and flows for approximately 24 kilometres through the Plenty Gorge Park. The river was a key to the settlement and early growth of the region.

Everybody introduced themselves and explained the interest or roll the river had played in their lives. Melbourne Water has recently undertaken a major a renovation and re-vegetation project just immediately off the Bridge Inn Road bridge, Mernda.

Further work could be seen as we walked further - in contrast to a five kilometre stretch yet to be tackled which includes willow trees, hawthorn bushes and a cactus tree.

The geology of the River and its flow was explained to us as were the stories behind the construction of the Bridge Inn Road bridge an important thoroughfare in it's day as gold seekers headed for the St Andrews goldfields. The remains of a mill can now be more easily seen thanks to the clean up project, blue stone blocks probably quarrried from a nearby site.

Recent discoveries by Parks Victoria has led to the site of the Bridge Inn Hotel and hopefully more can be learned from this site in the future.

We visited the site of the aqueduct which carried water to the population of Melbourne, complete with its decorative cornices.

The walk finished at the farm house property "Cremorne" which was acquired by Parks Victoria some 18 or more months ago. Three brothers who attended the walk had grown up in the house and recounted days prior to the urban development that encroaches on the area today.