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| 15 August 1935 |
Watch Hill, Beeac, Western Victoria
My Nanna, Mavis
Fanshawe LONG (1906 – 1982) married my grandfather John Raikes GARRETT (1908 –
1992) at Watch Hill in 1935.
Nanna’s parents
Edward LONG (1872 – 1951) and Sarah Henrietta LONG nee STONEHOUSE (1873 – 1953)
had bought this homestead and land in 1919 as part of a subdivisional sale.
See clippings (unfortunately hard to read) from the Camperdown Chronicle (via Trove) in October 1919 where the homestead is described as splendidly and substantially improved ... a handsome well-built bluestone structure, with slate roof, 12 rooms, in addition to kitchen, bathroom, etc., in perfect order, with verandahs, nicely kept grounds and plantations, extensive stables....
Edward and Sarah Long moved to Wilgul in Beeac in about
1938 after their son William (Bill) married, and later moved to Cressy (mid-late 1940s) and
then Colac.
Both of these
great grandparents were born in the Cudgee area near Warrnambool, in the very
early days of settlement. Both had one parent born in Tasmania and one in the
UK, both had a convict ancestor.
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| Watch Hill in the early 1920s |
The beautiful old house, Watch Hill, was allowed to become run down – to the extent that sheep roamed through it.
Dad posted
a link on facebook – he didn’t mean to and didn’t know how he did it, but I’m
very glad he did as I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.
Someone has done
the house up – click on the link, doesn’t it look great?
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| A different angle, Watch Hill 1920s |
In a strange
‘six degrees of separation’ twist: Mum and Dad used to run a bed and breakfast
in the Wimmera. They had a guest in 2001, a Mr Parsons whose grandfather used
to live at Watch Hill, and sold it to
my great grandparents. The Parsons family then built Wilgul and in turn sold that to my great grandparents. In another
twist, my Nanna’s sister Frances Jean McVey LONG (1901 – 1988) was this guest’s
babysitter in the 1950s.
It’s a small
world.
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| another view from the family albums, 1920s |
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| 19 Jul 1938 |
Another of the beautiful bluestone houses in Victoria's Western District. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMy Great Grandfather, Peter Burns from Scotland was at Watch Hill Station
ReplyDelete