Local History

1.  Discovering the History of Rowville and Lysterfield    This article highlights many interesting aspects of the history of Rowville and Lysterfield. This article is not intended to be a ‘potted’ history of Rowville and Lysterfield. Rather it is intended to whet your appetites for finding out more about the district’s past by briefly indicating people and topics that can be read about from the extensive local history resources kept at the Rowville Library (… more)

2.  About the Rowville Lysterfield History Project    When Bryan Power became the editor of the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News in late 1990 he commenced a monthly local history article. Since then the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News has published over 100 articles, many of them based on interviews with long-time residents of Rowville and Lysterfield (… more)

3.  History of Lysterfield      This article has been elaborated from notes written by Fred Williams in 1949 for Cr Violet Lambert who collected such material for Helen Coulson’s book “Story of the Dandenongs”. Lysterfield was called after a Mr Lyster who took up an original Grant of Land. The house now occupied by Mr and Mrs Geo Hyden was his homestead (…more)

4.  R-L History by RLCNews 2000     This month’s edition of the News is a very special one as it is the occasion of a triple celebration. 200th EDITION Firstly it is our community paper’s 200th edition and thus marks an achievement that few of those associated (… more)

5.  Knox Historical Society: History of Lysterfield and District   This is an edited extract of a paper presented to the Knox Historical Society in 1982 by Heather Ronald and later published in the “Knox Historian”. The Early Settlers  In Helen Coulson’s book Story of the Dandenongs, the year 1838 is given as the time of the earliest settlement in this area  (… more)

6.  Bryan Power   Bryan Power commenced the writing of local history articles in the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News in November 1990. Bryan and his wife Jock bought their land in Bergins Road in 1968 and moved into their new home in 1971.  All of their five children: Tony, Megan, Matthew, John and Bart attended Rowville Primary School and John and Bart went to Rowville Kindergarten. All the boys were cubs and scouts (…more)

7.   Aborigines:  The Kulin People  The Bunerong and the Wawoorung clans of the Kulin nation were the original inhabitants of the Rowville and Lysterfield district. The white settlers referred to the Bunerong people as the Western Port tribe and the Wawoorung people as the Yarra Yarra tribe (…more)

8.    Rowville – Lysterfield Ward Names  At its meeting on 23 July 1996 Knox City Council decided on the names of the nine new wards that will constitute the city. The three wards covering the Rowville-Lysterfield area will be Tirhatuan, Taylor and Friberg. These names recall significant people in the history of the district and their choice by Council (… more)

9.   Stamford Park   In 1868 James Quirk sold his 424 acre property bounded by Stud Road, Wellington Road and Dandenong Creek to Frederick Row for one pound and ten shillings an acre.  Frederick Row was a wealthy wool broker who was moving up in colonial society. He bought the property with the intention of turning it into a country estate. He named it Stamford Park (… more)

10.  Name Origins of Places in Rowville and Lysterfield   Corhanwarrabul Creek  The name “Corhanwarrabul” (commonly pronounced corhan-warrabul with a silent ‘h’ but regarded as incorrect by the archaeologist, Eric Willacy, who pronounces it cor-hana-warrabul) has been widely used in the Knox area. Mt Dandenong was first known as Mt Corhanwarrabul   (… more)

11.  Clubs and Organisations   Clubs and organisations have played a vital role in the life of Rowville and Lysterfield.  The Lysterfield Progress Association, formed in 1928, took on the ambitious task of building a hall and achieved their goal despite having to raise funds during the dark days of the Great Depression.  During World War Two, organisations to assist the war effort were formed (… more)

12.  Dairy Farming   The following article was published in The Weekly Times in 1952 and tells of Bill Bickerton’s efforts to develop a first rate dairy herd. It records the only direct importation into this district of cows from the famous Jersey herds in the Bega district of NSW. The ancestors of these animals had been brought to Australia from the Island of Jersey by the famous Sydney brewer, Sir Thomas Tooth (… more)

13.  The Changing Landscape  The landscape of the region has been shaped over millions of years, from the emergence of the Dandenong Ranges, to their erosion and the subsequent deposit of rich soils that formed the great mud plains to the north, west and south of the district. Great magma intrusions forged the Lysterfield Hills and in the process compressed and “cooked” the mudstone to form the hornsfelds stone that is now extracted at the quarries for road making material  (… more)

14.  CENTENARY OF ROWVILLE – 2003 OR 2005?  A couple of years ago I set out on a line of research to establish the actual date of the establishment of Rowville. The most authoritative reference for the history of the Knox area is Helen Coulson’s book, Story of…   A couple of years ago I set out on a line of research to establish the actual date of the establishment of Rowville. The most authoritative reference for the history of the Knox area is (… more)

15.  Dedication of Second World War Monument   Through the determined efforts of Ed Williams, the Lysterfield Avenue of Honour has been re-established.  About 200 people gathered in very hot conditions on Saturday 25th February 1995 to witness the unveiling ceremony held on the site of the Lysterfield Avenue of Honour in Lysterfield Road. (… more)

16.  William Saurin Lyster  William Lyster, in whose honour Lysterfield is named, was an extraordinary man whose great energy and many talents left an abiding legacy, not only in this district where he led the way in opening up the potential of the beautiful Lysterfield Valley, but also in the field of the dramatic arts in which he was acknowledged as Australia’s leading impresario of the 19th century. An Adventurous Young Man William was born in Dublin on 21 March 1827, the son of Captain Chaworth Lyster, a captain with the Dublin Artillery. (… more)

17.   Schools and Preschools  The first school in Rowville was established for Aboriginal children at the Native Police Depot in the 1840s.  There were so few children in Rowville over the next 130 years, that no school was built and the few local children went to either Scoresby, Mulgrave or Lysterfield State Schools. Lysterfield State School which was opened in 1877 is the district’s oldest institution. The school continued right up until the 1990s on its small Wellington Road site until the decision was taken to move the school to larger grounds on the Lakesfield Estate.  Rowville Primary School was built in 1973 and (… more)

18.  Bush Fire 1973 in Lysterfield and Rowville  There’s an old saying that good things come in threes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for our district so far as the years 2003, 1983 and 1973 are concerned. The summers for each of those years were very severe ones with bush fires a major problem. As I write this, Lysterfield has survived an apparently deliberately lit fire that burnt out part of the Lysterfield Lake Park in early 2003. The terrible Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 (… more)

19.  Development Group  This is a snapshot of some of the history of Rowville as seen through the eyes of the Rowville-Lysterfield Community News. How and why did the News start and how has it and Rowville changed in ten years of unbroken production? The News arose from the need of the then local resident action group known as the R/LDG (Rowville/Lysterfield Development Group) which had been formed at a public meeting in 1980. The R/LDG was very active at the time on a wide range of local issues such as improving public transport, roads, paths and cycleways, lobbying for educational facilities, (… more)

 20.  Water Pollution 1902  Dandenong Water Supply Polluted at Heany Park by Shaggy Dog. In extracts below from the Dandenong Advertiser of 25 December 1902 and 22 January 1903 we read about the commotion caused by the failure of the Dandenong Water Supply Trust to prosecute a youth following an incident at the service reservoir in the Police Paddocks (now known as Heany Park Lake). The water for Dandenong was sourced from Monbulk and the pipeline ran through the Major Crescent area to the reservoir (…more)

 21.  Police Paddock  This article tells about the flora and fauna of the Police Paddocks.  The Dandenong Police Paddocks reserve is a large area of land on the southern edge of the City of Knox lying next to Churchill National Park. For many years this area has been regarded as wasteland but, in reality, the area is important in terms of its remnant native vegetation, animal life and its human history. (… more)

22.   Native Police  The Native Police Corps was established in what is now known as the Police Paddocks in the southern part of Rowville. An initial attempt to set up the Corps under the command of Captain De Villiers was unsuccessful but in 1842 Superintendent Latrobe decided to try again and appointed Captain Henry Dana to lead the Corps. Dana was a very good leader and under his command the aboriginal troopers earned praise for their bearing, good discipline and effectiveness. (… more)

23.   Military Camp  This is the story of the military camp established in Rowville when it was believed that invasion by Japanese forces was imminent.  The Camp had a relatively short history as a military camp and was only in use from 1942 until 1946. During that time it was first used by the 3rd Motor Brigade Group on 18th May 1942. The troops stationed there included signallers, ambulance drivers and engineers. (… more)

24.   Rowville Red Cross  This article has been written to commemorate the 25th anniversay of the unit’s formation. The first involvement in Rowville with Red Cross came with a request to the Rowville Progress Association to provide collectors for the “Red Cross Calling” door-knock in March 1965. This request had come from the Shire of Knox Red Cross District Citizens’ Appeal Committee. In response, members of the Progress Association: (… more)

25.   Rowville Progress Association    The recently formed Rowville and Lysterfield Residents’ Association is another example of people coming together in our area with the aim of improving aspects of the lives of the residents of the district. In earlier times similar groups were brought into existence with similar goals: the 1980s saw the formation of the Rowville-Lysterfield Development Group (the parent body of the R-LC News) (… more) 

26.   Rowville Wishing Well   In the April 1992 edition of the News, I published an account of the Bergins, one of Rowville’s earliest pioneering families. It was the most confusing research project I have ever been involved in as so many of them had the same names: there were three Matthews, three Nicholases and three Elizabeths (… more)

27.   Lysterfield Quarries  In this article Jack Smith takes us on a journey in time far more wide-ranging than any other history articles. He takes us back into the deep history of Rowville-Lysterfield when the very rocks were being formed and then on to a vista of the Lysterfield hills in the year 2005 (… more).

28.   Lightwood Park   When I interviewed Hedley Hobbs for the article that appeared in the December 1997 and February 1998 editions of the News, he showed me an old poster advertising the Lightwood Park subdivision. It was too yellowed with age to copy but it is reproduced here as closely as possible to the original.  The Lightwood Park subdivision was bounded by Kelletts Road, Wellington Road and what is now the extension of Napoleon Road. (… more)

29.    Rowville Drive In  From the opening night in July 1956 until at least twelve months later I worked at the Drive In. On week nights I started work there around 6.00 pm as I was working at the SEC office in Dandenong during the day, but on Saturdays I’d be there between 2 and 3 o’clock to help prepare the stock in the cafeteria. (… more)

30.    Shops in Rowville   While going through some old records recently I came across notes I had made of a conversation with the late Frank Finn in November 1999.  Frank was disputing an article I had written about the Gilligan family having established Rowville’s first shop at the corner of Stud and Bergins Road. At the time I contended with Frank that what he was claiming as previously established shops were more in the nature of stalls selling a very limited range of products. Gilligan’s shop, on the other hand, was a purpose-built store that sold a wide range of goods. (… more)

31.   Rowville Water Sindicate    The following account was prepared by an unknown author. I’d be grateful if anybody could let me know who the person is so that he/she can be acknowledged. I believe that the story may have been one of several documents written by local people in the mid 1950s to assist Helen Coulson with the writing of “Story of the Dandenongs”. This account tells of the dogged persistence of Rowville landholders in the 1950s to obtain a reticulated water supply  (… more)

32.    Fox Hunt   This unsourced newspaper report tells of the day the Governor of Victoria came to Stamford Park to catch a fox. A special train for the purpose of carrying passengers and horses from Princes Bridge station at eleven o’clock last Tuesday morning arrived at Dandenong at 12pm. Mr F. Row of Stamford Park, Rowville, has for some time past had to persevere with depredations committed by foxes both in his poultry yard and with his stud lambs. The excellent cover afforded Reynard in teatree scrub and the ranges thereabouts has caused them to multiply to such an extent as to cause severe loss to those engaged in farming pursuits. (… more)

33.    Jells Park  History of the Dandenong Valley Metropolitan Park Area. A history of the area now popularly known as Jells Park. Dandenong Valley has always been a well-watered area. This proved valuable to the Bunurong and Woiwrong Tribes who gathered and killed food in this area. They hunted for swamp wallabies, kangaroos, possum, fish, yabbies and water rats. They used traps to catch birds, snakes and lizards. The vegetarian side of their diet consisted of water plants, underground roots, bulbs, tubers and fruit from the various plants and flowers. (… more)

34.    Heany Park  The proposed new school (in 1991) to be built in Buckingham Drive has been given the interim name of Heany Park Primary School. This article by Heather Ronald explains how the name Heany Park originally came to Rowville. The Belgrave Reservoir was constructed on the Monbulk Creek about 1893 to supply water to Dandenong, (…more)

Alberni    Aston   Bailey    Bailharz    Bergin    Bolch    Conduit    Clow    Closter    Dobson    Davison    Doolan    D’Andrea    Dunscombe    Exner   Fordham    Faella     Fairbairn    Finn    Friberg  Gill    Gibb    Gilligan    Golding    Greenland     Heather    Heading    Hill    Hobbs  Jenkins    Meurs    McQueen    Milton    Mitchell    Nugent   Pike    Raymond    Rimington    Row    Seymour     Smith    Stevens    Stewart    Sturrock    Sullivan     Steininger    Tampe    Taylor1    Taylor2    Turnbridge    Tresise    Vancam    Wright     

Click to see FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS

 36.  RLCNews old website 2005

2005 – the year that was Rowville’s Centenary! An event marked by tremendous zest and energy with which our various clubs and groups threw themselves into celebrating this unique event. This heart beat with pride at being a Rowville resident. More recent events included the Rowville Apex Centenary Ball and the celebration of Connie Fordham’s hundredth year!! (… more)

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