History

Widely known as The Lyrebird Man and recognised by ornithologists as an authority on lyrebirds, Thomas Henry Tregellas was born in Bendigo on 16 June 1864.

On Sunday 10 May many Australians will celebrate Mother’s Day. The tradition of gift-giving on Mother’s Day, although well-established in the USA, did not begin in Australia until 1924. In 1870, American writer and women’s rights activist Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, had proposed that a mother’s day for peace be commemorated every year in June.

On 4 September 2019 I received an email from Venice Italy from a young Italian named Alessandro Cianchetta. He and others in the Verona area volunteer to research military planes shot down over Italy during WWII. Their aim is to return to family members any items belonging to the airmen.

Australia’s first telegraph line was erected between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853 and 1854 by Samuel McGowan, a recently immigrated Canadian telegrapher. The line covered 17km and went into operation less than 10 years after the opening on 1 May 1844 of the first public telegraph line in the world linking Baltimore and Washington DC.

The Box Hill Reporter was the first and for many years the only local newspaper in the district. Issues of the paper from its beginning to 1918 have been digitised by the National Library and are available for viewing on the Trove website. The Box Hill Historical Society has a collection of original issues of the Reporter covering the period 1919–1930. It is raising funds to digitise the papers at the National Library.

Sofitel’s palatial Chadstone Hotel opening in November, resides on land formerly held by the Convent of the Good Shepherd (1883-1981) which stood on 55 acres of paddocks, complete with grazing cattle.

“It was a great life. It stood me in good stead. ” – With these words Vern Williams sums up his years at Burwood Boys’ Home in the 1940s – sentiments that may surprise some used to hearing horror stories of institutional life.

In 1858 the area bounded by Warrigal and Highbury Roads, Burwood Highway (Ballyshanassy Road) and Gardiners Creek (Damper Creek) was named Ballyshanassy in honour of then Victorian Premier, John O’Shanassy.