Early Landownership - Section 23

By Ray Gibb.

SECTION 23.

This Section was granted to corrupt magistrate and Crown Lands Commissioner, Major G.F.B.St. John in 1843. J.P.Fawkner exposed his bribe-taking and he fled home embarrassed in 1848. Lady Franklin bought the 516 acres and in 1863 leased three farms to men such as John Morby*. Later Henry Stevenson of "Niddrie" bought 300 acres called St. Johns and Robert McDougall of Arundel had 200 acres to the east. John Hall was supposed to have owned part of section 23 north of an easterly extension of Moore St as part of South Wait according to a parish map but this could not be possible. Early this century, when Gordon Connor was being taken from Moonee Ponds to his Grandma Nash's Tullamarine farm every Christmas, Cam Taylor's St. Johns was always green in summer because of Essendon's nightsoil being dumped there.

Jack Howse had South Wait, between Bulla Rd and the n/w part of section 23, on which he had a slaughteryard. On 3-8-1921, John George Taylor, probably Cam's father, sold 91 acres of St. John's to the Commonwealth Government. A 15 acre lot on section 16 was also purchased to enable sufficient length for the runway and eight days later St. John's Field opened. On 7-8-1923, it was given the official title of Essendon Aerodrome. Cameron and J.G.Taylor might have been related to G.W.Taylor, who bought many properties in the late 1880's north of section 23, in the hope that a railway to Bulla would follow Bulla Rd; in case it hugged the west bank of the Saltwater River, he also bought section 18 land.

(* This spelling was used in Broadmeadows' 1863 ratebook. Harry Peck spells it Mawby. The 1866 and 1871 Kensington directories, and title documents, spell the name Mawbey. Mawbey or Mawbey's Rd was an early name for Carnarvon Rd and was still being used in 1940 according to Harry Peck. Mawbey's Rd is shown on sketch of title 16466 of about 1882.) Mawbey's Lane separated sections 16 and 23.

TITLE INFORMATION.

Section 23 is east of Vickers Ave and north of English St with its s/e corner indicated by Lebanon Reserve. It was granted to Major George Frederick Berkley St John on 22-2-1843 and the part east of Bulla Rd consisted of 525 acres. St John's corruption, as a police Magistrate and Crown Lands Commissioner, was exposed by John Pascoe Fawkner, his neighbour north east of the creek. According to C.P.Billot in "The Life and Times of John Pascoe Fawkner", St John sued Fawkner for libel in 1848 and won the case. However the costs awarded against Fawkner amounted to peanuts and embarrassment caused St John to resign his position.

Incidentally Billot manages to spell Berkeley a bit better than the titles office clerk responsible for search certificate 11578.

Sketch of Title 11578 seems to indicate that St John made Charles Hotson Ebden a dower trustee on 25-2-1843 (B 304). On 17-12-1844, section 23 was conveyed to Sir John Franklin by Ebden, Frederick Armand Powlett (who was probably also a trustee) and St John (c 341).

On 31-3-1852, Sir John and Dame Jane leased 414 acres of section 23 to Thomas Lawson for 10 years at a rent of 100 pounds p.a. This land went east to nursery corner. On 17-3-1862, Henry Mawbey (mentioned by Harry Peck) started a 5 year lease of 123 acres commonly known as Dunn's Farm and recently occupied by Eliza Guest. As mentioned before, section 23 only consisted of 525 acres, and these two farms had a total area of 537 acres. Dunn's farm actually comprised 111 acres of section 23 plus the northernmost 12 acres of section 15.

Running from the present Arvon Rd to the Moonee Ponds Creek, this section 15 land ran 295 links south from the Lebanon/Amar St corner to the Lebanon/ Melissa St corner. Franklin bought it from E.J.Brewster on 15-2-1847 for 48 pounds. Because the block was always referred to as part of section 23, there is no sketch of title in J.M.English's application for title No.46645. When Franklin died he gave Dame Jane, who had borne him no children, only her clothes and left his estate to a daughter from a previous marriage. This 12 acre block was fenced in 1882, possibly by John Murray Peck, but was never sold by Franklin. English claimed title through long occupation.

On 16-2-1863, Thomas Henry Lawson Young agreed to lease 419 ¼ acres at 294 ¾ pounds p.a. Young obviously did not see out the lease as on 1-6-1871 Henry Mawby bought 525 acres from Dame Jane Franklin. Earlier on 28-2-1871, Mawbey had memorialised a lease in duplicate in which Thomas Kelly agreed to pay him 200 pounds p.a. for 5 years for 200 acres (poorly described but probably the land later occupied by Robert McDougall.)

On 28-6-1871, Mawbey mortgaged section 23 to Bishop Charles Perry for 2500 pounds. By 9-10-1873, Mawbey was forced to mortgage it (now 521 acres) to Tondeur and Lempriere. He was now a meat preserver at Warrnambool and Mawbey, Collins & Co. owed money to the Melbourne merchants. Mawbey conveyed the 525 acres to Lempriere for 5645 pounds on 23-7-1874 and on 23-1-1875 his mortgage was cleared. On 23-2-1875, William George Lempriere leased 310 acres 23 perches (St Johns Farm) to Thomas Kelly and mortgaged this farm and the triangular 26 acre (1 rood 20 perches) s/w corner on the other side of Bulla Rd to Joseph Henry Kay for 4000 pounds. On the same day, Thomas Kelly surrendered the lease on 200 acres (from Henry Mawby) that was memorialised on 21-2-1871. The lease had been intended to run for another year. Vol. 246 folio 901 memorialises a conveyance in fee of the next day in which Thomas Kelly paid Lempriere 5162 pounds for the eastern 206 ½ acres of section 23. On the next day (25th), Kelly mortgaged this 206 ½ acre twice to Lempriere and his partner, Andrew Murray of Wool Wool (near Larpent) for 3500 pounds (V.246 f.902) and 1074 pounds 18 shillings (V.246 f.903).

Henry Stevenson paid Lempriere L7066/17/- on 23-3-1877 for St Johns Farm (310 acres) and the 26 and a bit acres at the s/w corner of section 23.

By 1920 Cam Taylor was farming St Johns whose grass was green in the driest summer because of Essendon's nightsoil. J.G.Taylor sold part of the farm to the government for Essendon Aerodrome not long after.

Lempriere's sale of the eastern 206 ½ acres to Kelly seems to have been short-lived as, on 20-8-1880, Lempriere transferred the mortgage on this farm to John Ware from whom he received 3500 pounds.

Although no memorial has been found, Lempriere, or perhaps Kelly, seems to have sold or leased this land shortly afterwards to Robert McDougall who was assessed on "200 acres, Doutta Galla" in 1879-80.

Broadmeadows' rates of 1899-1900 show that it was owned by the Hodgson executors and had been farmed, along with Oak Park, by Robert Bryant and then Alexander Robertson who had just replaced him. (A parish map of about 1890 shows that Hodgson had 225 acres and Stevenson's "St Johns" was now only 300 acres. It wrongly had the north western 1/3 of section 23 labelled John Hall; Stevenson and Hodgson's land totalled 525 acres, exactly the acreage of the part of section 23 n/e of Bulla Rd, so Hall couldn't have had any of it. His land consisted only of 22 B and D.)

My parish map shows section 23 as 515 acres 3 roods and 29 perches. The number of acres given seems to have resulted from a draughtsman transposing the tens and units figures. Memorials consistently show that the part of section 23 east of Bulla Rd consisted of 525 acres. When the 26 acre triangle, now bounded by Nomad Rd, Wirraway Rd and the English/ Vaughan St midline, is added, the total area of section 23 is 551 acres.

The 1920-1 ratebook lists John S.Kelly as renting two houses and a total of 199 acres from Blair and Sons. Kelly could have been a descendant of Thomas Kelly who, after leasing and then buying land in section 23, was recorded in 1879-80 as the owner of land in the Essendon Division.

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(1) The Melbourne Story P.220.

(2) This envisaged government road seems to be a reference to the present Pascoe Vale Rd, which was a track through paddocks to Sydney at that time; travellers made a beeline to the Young Queen Inn just north of the creek and then passed through Broadmeadows Township, i.e. Westmeadows.

(3) Essendon Conservation Study, 1847 directory, rates, "Annals of Essendon" R.W. Chalmers.

(4) The same land Eleanore Barber had in 1900. White was either leasing the land or an agent for Barber.

(5)"The Stopover That Stayed" G.Aldous, "Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History" A.Lemon.

Read about other Sections:

SECTION 15

SECTION 16

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