Thursday, September 06, 2007

FRIDAY HISTORY POST: Hurstbridge..

30 kilometres north-east of Melbourne you will find the quaint town on Hurstbridge. Regular readers will recall my family outing to this lovely town aboard the steam train a few weeks ago for the Wattle Festival.



Railway in Hurstbridge.

The extension of the railway to Hurstbridge in 1912 was primarily to service the local fruit growing area, but it was also responsible for the early growth of the Hurstbridge Township.
Most of the early growth was centred along the Main Street, on land subdivided by Frances and Bill Gray and occurred between 1912 and the mid 1920s.
Several of the older buildings, shops and houses along the main road are good examples of the architectural styles of that time.

The majority of the Hurstbridge township area was not subdivided into residential blocks until after the Second World War (1945-46). Electricity came on in 1957.
The coming of the railway changed many things and gradually produced a change in the population and the work patterns and opportunities for the residents.
It was then possible to reside in the pleasant bushland setting of Hurstbridge and work in the city, much as the people do today. Getting there by train takes 50 minutes on the Melbourne-Hurstbridge line.




Settlement of the area.




The Wurundjeri people were the traditional owners of the country that extended from where Melbourne now stands to Mt Macedon and Healesville. The Wurundjeri spoke the Woiworung language and, with other tribal groups, was part of the Kulin nation.
The Wurundjeri Willam clan lived around this local area for at least 40,000 years in small family groups.
Their descendants still live in the Melbourne area, with a strong community centred around Healesville, in the Yarra Valley.
In 1841 Cornelius Sharp Haley took up, from the Government, the 'Allwood' run. Haley ran cattle and horses and built a slab hut close to where the present Allwood House stands.
Henry Hurst, a surveyor, came to Victoria, from England in 1852.
In 1859 he moved to 'Allwood to manage 160 acres for Cornelius Haley. In about 1865 Henry's parents Frances and Robert Hurst and some of their seven children joined Henry at the Allwood run.
It was about this time that Henry built the first log bridge across the Diamond Creek. This was soon known as 'Hurst's Bridge'.
On the 4th of October 1866 Henry was fatally wounded by a bushranger, Robert Bourke. Bourke was captured and was tied to a wheel of a wagon under a tree (now known as Bourke's Tree) until Sergeant Fawcett and Trooper Hall from Queenstown arrived. Bourke was tried, found guilty of the murder of Henry Hurst and was later hanged.
Come on, visit this lovely area.

Browse the local antique shops, including the Old Tin Shed
Follow the Hurstbridge Heritage trail around the town and learn about its early pioneer beginnings. Collect a brochure from a local Visitor Information Centre
View kangaroos in the wild on the town outskirts
Stop at a local café for good coffee or enjoy vegetarian and organic fare at Chocolate Lily.
You may care to visit the Yarra Valley wineries (five of which are within 10 minutes drive of the town centre). Interstate and international visitors, quite often make Hurstbridge their base and go into the city by train on the Hurstbridge Line, or take day trips to the Yarra Valley or the Dandenong Ranges.

Oh, and every weekend there is live music played out in the main street during the month of October too :)


27 comments:

KAYLEE said...

GREAT POST:P I AM BACK..........

Anonymous said...

But it's not Friday yet!! ::snicker:: from 14hrs behind you :)

I see we had a "blame Canada" (southpark song) at APEC. Could thing Cdn's are use to the abuse...

S.

Anonymous said...

Suppose to be "good thing Cdn's are use to the abuse". One day I'll tell you about how we're still blamed for 9/11 and the power outage by the tree in Ohio.....

But those are other stories.

S.

Cazzie!!! said...

Kaylee, welcoe back :)

S, Well, all I can say is that the Canadians I know are just themost wonderful people and if ayone were to blame Canada for anything I'd have something to say. Your country is gorgeous and I hope to make it there someday. Having said that...I do want to see my own country first. Most people wait until retiring age to see this fine country of ours but I want to do it opposite to that. My first encounter with a Canadian was an exchange student when I was in year 10 at High School. We did keep in cotact for a long time after she moved back home. We all learned so much from each other.

Jay said...

I love old towns where they have preserved the old buildings and houses and stuff like that. They're always fun to explore.

Anonymous said...

When the Northern US politicians need to make political "hay" they take pot-shots at us... luckily we find them more amusing than anything.

One day I'd like to see my own country from end to end. Been east as a child. But never farther west than Manitoba.

It's a big country and I've barely seen any of it.

S.

KAYLEE said...

THANKS.....>Willl be back to read more as you post more:)

A Slice of My Life said...

Great post as always Caz.

I didn't know we were supposed to blame Canada for everything. Where have I been? So...it's Canada's fault that I can't find matches to all these socks? I always blamed it on the dryer...

Chris Morris said...

I've yet to understand why so many other countries sound so much more interesting than my own.

Queenie said...

Great post, I always learn something here...

G-Man said...

Cazzie,
In all of your pics of your beautiful country, I've never seen it rain..
Does it ever?
Have a great week.xox

Cazzie!!! said...

Jay, I agree. The Heritage Trail at this particular town is wonderful to follow also.

S, do the travel woth your kids, they will love it.

Kaylee, wb.

Slice, hahaha, I am the same here. I have a bucket of un matchd sockx here. I am sure there is a black hole for socks and a black hole for pens!

Beefcake, turne your head to the side and look at your country from a different angle mate..you might see it all in a different light and then say, "Ohhh, this IS a cool country!"

Queenie, I'm coming over to yours to visit. :)

G-Man, well, we are in drought, and so we haven't had much rain here at all for a few years. I will take a pic of it raining just for you..but you may have to wait a while :(

Mom said...

I love learning interesting tidbits about your country. It's a big world with lots of beautiful places to see and not nearly enough time to see it all. You help to "see" places i may never have time to visit. Thanks

Kell said...

That was awesome! I love reading about other places, and Australia is on my list of places I most want to visit.

Oh, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Keshi said...

well written Caz!

Keshi.

Bibi said...

Sounds wonderful! And what a great name this is: Wurundjeri Willam clan. I'm always fascinated by pioneers and indigenous clans. We think we have it hard now, ha!

KAYLEE said...

can i do yoga with a bad heart? mey have to ask!

eric1313 said...

Love the history lesson, as always. You know it and love it, so that helps you make it easy for us to be interested, just by your enthusiasm.

I was a land surveyor in the Detroit area and worked in the suburbs and farther out all the time (if I had been lazy or not cared about work, I'd have worked in Detroit and the near suburbs most of the time, doing square lots with the rest of the slackers). Once you get fifty miles from the city, everything starts becoming endless trees and rolling hills once more. They bulldoze hills and make a customized gental rolling ground for the wealthy areas.

Our native Americans used to worship the ground they lived on like a mother goddess. Who the heck were we to tell them that that was barbaric and wrong? They didn't even think a man could say he owned an area of land, or all of it. Maybe they had it right.

Molly said...

I have been away from visiting many blogs lately. I have missed reading your history posts, which I love. I was going to replicate your idea of history lessons, but I found out that the research is a lot of work. But, you do a wonderful job.

Cazzie!!! said...

MOM, I hope to capture the essence of each area..and sdo I think maybe it is working :)

Kell, come on down under, you will ,love it I am sure.

Keshi, tnx, huggs :)

Bibi, I too love the names of the tribes :)

Kaylee, you need to ask the practising yoga instructor. Let them know of your condition, hey will work around it.

Eric, you got it all so right mate. Who does have the right to ask people to give up their land and then have it raped...IE, trees fallen, native wildlife shifted, hills bulldozed. Land surveyor hey? Very interesting. You never cease to amaze me Eric :)

MJD, all I do is begin with places that I know, small towns...or even just blog about statues in parks, what do they represent? :)

Anonymous said...

the view from the top of the dandenongs is superb back over the city.... never had enough cash to eat in the restaurant up there though.

Fun and informative as always

Can tell me what the difference between a registered nurse and an enrolled nurse is?

general_boy said...

Bourke was tried, found guilty of the murder of Henry Hurst and was later hanged.

Come on, visit this lovely area.


hehe, I like the way you put that Cazzie!!! lOL

rosemary said...

great tour...once again....wine and good music, can't beat that either.

AspergantuS said...

Thanks Cazzie. I love your Friday history lessons.

Ginnie said...

There you go again ... making my mouth water to travel and see all these wonderful places that you write about so well. Thanks.

Cazzie!!! said...

Aidan, the difference between the EN and an RN is that an EN does a little less training than RN's do and so RN's have the ablility to give IV medications and Oral medications and injections too. Now, in some facilities, not hospital settings, EN's are able to dispense medications from blister packs already set up by a pharmacist, they have to have obtained an extra certificate to do this though.
RN's do the medications for the EN's patients in hospital. But, we all do the same work otherwise..and working as a team we work wonderful together :)
So, basically, it is different qualifications for different settings but the RN is able to take further responsibility for more things in a larger group of settings.
That restaurant up top the D'nongs is nice, but, same as you, we had our picnic outside and had a look at the lookout :)

GB, lol., Sadly our history seems to be this way,and especially re the white man settling in the Aboriginal's land. I get your point though mate.

Rosemary, yep, wine and music, just superb :)

Aspergantus, I am glad you stopped in. I hope you did enjoy it :)

Ginnie, I love your travel stories too...just brilliant :)

James Burnett said...

As always, another good history lesson. You're making my out-of-country travel list grow every time you do this. At this rate, by the time I finally visit Australia, I'm gonna have to take two months off of work just to visit all the places you've chronicled!