South Eastern Historical Association Inc.

Category: Local History

  • Mornington Park

    The November SEHA meeting was held at Mornington. After the meeting Val Wilson and Frank Green from the Mornington Historical Society gave us a very informative tour of Mornington Park.
    Mornington Park was temporarily reserved as a park on November 24th, 1863 and permanently reserved as a ‘place for promenade and recreation’ on May 1st, 1874. It shows the foresight of the citizens of the town that they worked to have the Esplanade frontage permanently reserved for recreation.

    In her history of Mornington (see details below) Leslie Moorhead has written an interesting account of Mornington Park, which is worth quoting in full.

    The Mornington Park has been truly a place of recreation throughout the past century. Picnic parties have come from the city and suburbs by horse-drawn drag, by steam boat, by steam train, by “charabanc” and by motor bus to the park to enjoy a day by the seaside under the spreading cypresses, trees which seem designed for easy climbing by small adventurers. Sports Clubs have exercised on the cleared grass, the Fire Brigade has practiced with hose and wheel on an asphalted area ; until the late 1920s cyclists trained on a circular track, and earlier residents enjoyed the delights of a Rotunda in the park with a dancing floor below and a bandstand above.

    Statue of Matthew FlindersThere is a statue of Matthew Flinders, unveiled in 1888, in the Park. Flinders had made a survey from Schnapper Point on April 29th, 1802 when he was exploring in the area in the Investigator. The distinctive stone archway at the entrance was erected in 1932 as part of an employment scheme during the Depression. On an opposite corner to the Park is a very poignant monument to the 1892 Football disaster. Fifteen members of the Mornington Football Club were returning, on Saturday May 21st, from the match at Mordialloc in the fishing boat Process. It sunk and all lives were lost. Only one body was recovered, that of Alfred Lawrence, aged 19. The deceased were Charles Hooper, aged 35, the owner of the Process and his 14 year old son also called Charles ; John Coomber, aged 31 ; three sons of the Presbyterian Minister at Mornington , the Reverend James Caldwell. They were James aged 21, William aged 19 and Hugh aged 17 ; Charles Allchin , aged 19 ; William Grover aged 25 and his nephew also called William Grover, aged 17 ; James Firth ; Charles Williams and John Kenna, aged 18.

    As a matter of interest Mornington was known as Schnapper Point until 1864 when if officially became known as Mornington. Mornington was already the name of the County. Mornington was the seat of the Earl of Mornington in County Meath, Ireland. The Earl was the father of the Duke of Wellington. As Val mentioned at the February meeting a history of the Mornington Fire Brigade has been published and was launched on Australia Day, 2007. It is called Ready and Willing we strive to save : the story of the Mornington Urban Fire Brigade 1917-2007 by Colin Fisher. It is available for $10.00 from the Mornington Historical Society.

    Further Reading

    • Mornington in the wake of Flinders by Leslie Moorhead. Published by the Shire of Mornington, 1971.

    *Originally published in South Eastern Heritage Issue 5 June 2007 and written by Heather Arnold.

  • The Methodist Church in Wonthaggi

    This is an interesting account of the Methodist Church in Wonthaggi. I have taken it from A Century of Victorian Methodism by The Rev. C. Irving Benson. Published by Spectator Publishing in 1935.

    Wonthaggi – Here we were the first Church on the coalfields. On the arrival of the first batch of miners, thirty-five in all, they were met by the Rev. Courtenay Thomas, who sensing the possibilities of the place, promptly secured a tent, which would accommodate 200 men and obtaining meanwhile a supply of red-gum planks for seats, was ready to begin operations. A Sunday School was opened under the guidance of Mrs. Gardiner, and before long its success became an embarrassment, the number of children in attendance passing the 400 mark. Later, Mr. M.D. Cock provided an iron building, which was placed on the site secured for the Methodist Church and after this had been in use for a while, in 1911 a wooden structure, 66 feet by 34 feet, was built.

    According to the Rev. Benson the Methodist Church was also the first Church to have a resident Minister and erect a place of worship on the goal fields in the 1850s as there “were many Cornish miners and Irish Methodists aflame with the fire of Methodism, and by their frank and fearless piety they won a singular respect among the wild and reckless men who abounded at the Diggings.”

    It appears that the Methodist Church was very pro-active, as we would say now, from the beginning of Victoria’s European settlement. The first Methodist to settle in Melbourne soon after 1835 was said to be Thomas Watson, a veteran of Waterloo, known as “Waterloo Watson.”

    *Originally published in South Eastern Heritage Issue 6 October 2007 and written by Heather Arnold.