Inhabitants of Inverleigh

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Original Inhabitants

Thousands of years before European settlement, the area around Inverleigh was the home to the Wathaurung tribe whose territory stretched from the Werribee River onto the Western Plains.

The Wathaurung tribe was divided into about 15 clans. A clan was a family group consisting of an elder, his wives and children, possibly his brother, his sons and their wives and children and in some cases his grandson and his wife(s).

Each clan had its own distinct version of the tribal language, much as different regions in England have their own distinct accents and phrases. a clan also had its own territory, usually defined by natural features such as rivers or mountain ranges. A clan boundary was not lightly crossed and members from other clans were unwelcome unless invited or permitted access because of family ties.

The were three clans in particular around the Inverleigh area, the TOOLOORA, WONGERRER and the WUDTHAURUNG. The Leigh River or the "Yarrowee" (as the aboriginals called it) and the Barwon River acted as borders for these clans.

All men in these clans were related by blood, but their wives were from different clans. Strict marriage laws existed governing which clans could intermarry to ensure healthy children.

They hunted and foraged in land covered with tussock-grasses under a light woodland of she-oaks, with wattles growing in gullies and river red guns lining every stream and swamp. Experience had taught them never to take more than they needed and to make sure that enough was left to allow a plant or an animal to multiply, ensuring food for the future.

They had a complex spiritual society vastly different from the recent arrivals. They lived in harmony with their environment, had their own territories, laws and religion.

Unfortunately the coming of European settlement bought about great change. The Europeans at first feared the aboriginals, expecting them to be as fierce as the Tasmanians. Language and cultural differences as well as the desire for land saw aboriginal land rights, religion and laws ignored. Unfortunately this complete lack of understanding resulted in the quick demise of the local clans and tribes. Their diet was disrupted, their hunting grounds taken and new diseases were introduced that they had no resistance to. Estimates of numbers in the Geelong tribe were 173 in the early 1830's, 34 in 1853 and 1 in 1876.

In later years the aborigines camped by the Inverleigh bridge and held corroborees when ever the white men held a race meeting (in the flat paddock at the top of the hill). 

History records that relations between the aborigines and the new arrivals were at times strained. George Russell mentions that a party of them attacked the Clyde Co. lower station (near Lullote), their aim being to make off with the contents of the shepherd's hut.

Lullote - click to enlarge

The 2 shepherds shot 2 and wounded a 3rd before the natives retreated. The incident happened in the summer of 1837/38. In 1839 Russell reported that a large party of them stole sheep from the lower station. From time to time the natives were employed on Golf Hill but never for more than a few weeks at a time. They exchanged demonstrations of boomerang throwing for bottles of whisky and it required about a dozen mounted constables to ensure that the drunken aborigines did no harm to the returning punters at the end of the day. Having no inborn defences against either the second rate whisky or the white man's diseases, the aborigine quietly destroyed himself leaving the district to the new settlers.

The First Europeans to come to Inverleigh

William Buckley escaped from a convict ship to Sorrento in 1802 and worked his way round the bay to settle on the edge of the Western Plains. Whether he actually knew Inverleigh or not will never be known but he was brought into the area to search for Hesse and Gellibrand and he claimed to know the district. If we dismiss Buckley as the first white man, then several people contend for the title. J.H. Wedge, surveyor, and colleague of Batman, almost certainly saw and named the Leigh River during his inspection of the area west of Geelong in 1835. His farm near Perth in Tasmania was named Leighlands. George Russell must have reached the Leigh soon after Wedge in 1836. He used Wedge's rough map and explored the river and its valley in far more detail than Wedge, because he was looking for possible grazing land. David Fisher, manager of the Weatherboard Station sailed from Launceston on 7th March 1836 in the Caledonia and may have been here before Russell who came on the Hetty which sailed on the 22nd March 1836.

Weatherboard - Inverleigh's Earliest Settled Station

When Batman and a small syndicate formed an agricultural company, they called it The Van Dieman's Land Association. Later it became known as the Derwent Company, and later still as the Port Phillip Association. Its founders intended that it should rival the famous Clyde Company which was occupying land in the same area. In the years between 1836 and 1838 the Derwent Co. settled the area surrounding the junction of the Barwon and the Leigh Rivers. The station became known as the Weatherboard because it is claimed that David Fisher, the first manager, built Victoria's first weatherboard homestead on the property. Later the area was known as Lawson's and finally Inverleigh. The Weatherboard Station was taken up by David Fisher on behalf of The Derwent Co. in 1837. The licence claimed 8,800 acres and the house was erected before 1839. During 1837 a severe drought hit the area surrounding Winchelsea and Inverleigh. Sheep were worth practically nothing and stations changed hands for the price of the stock running on them. The Port Phillip Bank failed and with it crashed many graziers. By 1842 the land was recovering. Horses were worth high prices sheep could be sold for boiling down and wool was worth more than it had been. How badly the Weatherboard was effected is not known, but the company was dissolved in 1842 and the licence taken over by G.D., J.H., and George Mercer. In March 1848 John H. Mercer became the sole licensee and in September 1854 the station was sold to William Harding and divided into Number 1 and Number 2. In May 1855 Charles L. Swanston took over and transferred his interests in Number 2 to William D. Berthon.

Despite the length of time that has elapsed between the settling of the Weatherboard and the present time traces of the original settlement still remain. An iron cottage imported in the early 1840's for protection from the blacks still remains. It may well have been ordered immediately after the disappearance of Hesse and Gellibrand. Timber from the original Weatherboard house (now demolished) has been preserved in a dairy on the McCallum property.

Hesse and Gellibrand - Mystery of the 1830's

By the end of 1836 all the land within 25 miles of Geelong had been taken up by squatters. Gellibrand as a member of Batman's Port Phillip Association was interested in exploring further a field in search of suitable grazing land. At the end of February 1837, Hesse and Gellibrand set off down the Barwon intending to branch up the Leigh and follow it round in a wide arc to join the Werribee River and so reach Melbourne. They missed the wooded junction of the Leigh and Barwon and the huts of the Weatherboard and wandered down into the Otways where they were never seen again. Stories written at the time tell of skeletons being identified by dental work after they were recovered from Lake Colac others tell of wild horses wearing fragments of harness being seen in the Otways. It is thought that they wandered as far as Colac where they were murdered by natives.

William Lawson - Mercer's Blacksmith

Little is known of William Lawson except that he was Mercer's blacksmith. How he came to camp a mile from the homestead is also a mystery. He may have been employed by the Mercers to camp on the best natural ford leading from Geelong in order to make additional money by shoeing the settler's horses as they passed into the Western District. It was not long before the ford became a focal point for the neighbourhood squatters. By about 1842 Lawson opened the Horse Shoe Inn. The original structure was probably a slab hut, but later he built of timber and locally made bricks. The town at this stage became known as Lawson's. In about 1845 he purchased the land on which the inn and forge stood as well as farming equipment and livestock from the Mercers. In May 1852 Lawson sold out and left the district, but the town retained his name for some time afterwards.

Native Creek Number Three Station - Barwonleigh

The Learmonth Brothers pegged out Barwonleigh and Barwon Native creek Stations in April 1837. They stayed until August before moving to Buninyong. As part of the Derwent Co. run, the property became known as Native Creek Number 3. The Company broke up in 1842 and Willis and Swanston became tenants. Dr. R.C. Hope took over the run in Jan. 1851. Before 1863 Dr. Hope had bought all of Native Creek Number 3 Station.

Robert Cuthbertson Hope M.D. 

Robert Hope was born in Scotland in 1812. He studied medicine at London University and came to Australia as ship's surgeon on The Lady Kennaway which sailed from Leith in Scotland on 19th April 1838 and reached Sydney on 12th Aug.1838. He came overland to Port Phillip in 1846 and set up practice in Geelong. When he moved to Inverleigh he carried on a limited practice. His son took over Barwonleigh and Robert bought Lynburn, where he built and leased a mill similar to the one he had built at Inverleigh, produced some of the colony's first wine and carried on a limited medical practice. His brother George also settled near Batesford. Robert Hope built the Lynburn Mill about 1850, so the Carrah Mill at Inverleigh is probably older. After Dr. Hope his Son, Dr. T.C. Hope took over the property and later sold it to Lewis Robinson, who in turn sold it to a Mr. McCracken. Dr. H.L. Atkinson, of Bendigo, bought Barwonleigh in 1897. It then consisted of 8,000 acres of freehold land. In 1901 he purchased 16,726 acres from Barwon Park. Dr. Atkinson employed Mr. A.F. Kelly as his manager who married Miss Atkinson. Mr. Kelly established a Merino stud using Barunah Plains stock and since then the property has been well known for its fine wool.

The original homestead was burnt on a hot summer night on 1st March 1965. By the time the fire brigade reached the scene the house was gutted leaving only a bluestone shell. Thousands of dollars worth of valuable antiques were lost. The blue stone was undamaged by the fire, and Mr. & Mrs. Campbell decided to have the house rebuilt according to the original plan. Building was completed on 25th Aug 1966. One of the earliest buildings remaining on the property is a small shed built of locally made bricks. It is believed to have been built during the late 1840's.

Managers from the time of Dr. Atkinson.

Englewood

Englewood was taken up as part of the original Weatherboard Station by David Fisher in 1837. In 1842 when the Derwent Co. split up, it was taken over by the Mercers who, in 1854 sold out to William Harding. In 1855 the property was divided and Charles Swanston retained the Weatherboard Station Number 1, which became known as Englewood. At about this time the homestead would have been built, perhaps incorporating some earlier structures built of sun dried bricks . John Bell bought into Englewood soon after this. This date is not known, but he was a well established figure in 1866, when the bridges over the Barwon on the Winchelsea road were opened. From that day to this they have been known as Bell's Bridges. His name also appears as a donor to the e Inverleigh Presbyterian building funds in 7 April. 1860.

Bell's Bridge - click to enlarge

Captain Robson Coltish

At the age of 24 Captain Robson Coltish reached Hobson's Bay in October 1835 in charge of the barque Norval from Launceston, under charter to The Port Phillip Association. FLs was the first of several ships to bring livestock to the Victorian coast.

In 1845 he returned in command of the barque Heroine, and in 1847 he settled at Roxby Gnarwarre. His son, Ossie Coltish later (date unknown) bought Englewood and some years later tragically ended his life there.

Subsequent Owners -

"The Falls"

"The Falls" was formed from Englewood land, mainly the portion west of the Barwon River. It became the property of Mr. L.A. McMillan, who built the homestead between 1918 and 1923. The original "Barwon Park" homestead was built on a portion of the Falls property near the Barwon River.