Heidelberg Historical Society

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Heidelberg History

We want to investigate what came before us and what we can learn from it.

Many attempts to describe the history of areas such as Heidelberg have restricted themselves to the story of the European settlers who started to arrive in the 1830s, a mere 200 years ago. However, human history in this area is at least 60,000 years old.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land. We also pay our respect to the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation and extend that respect to all other Indigenous Australians. Our way forward is to look honestly at the past, avoiding the old distorted historical accounts as much as possible.

Canoe Trees

Canoe TreeCanoe Tree

Introductions to the history of the district include The Wurundgeri website. First Nation people have been in the area (now known as Heidelberg) for around 60,000 years and Europeans and others for less than 200 years. So much can be learned from First Nation history, including safe land use and respect for the environment.

There is plenty of interest to find out in the European occupation context. Land ownership followed the British legal system as rights of the First Nation were ignored.

Old George Street Market

The Old George Street Market in Sydney, where the first Melbourne land sales took place.

In 1838, the first land sales took place for the Heidelberg area, under the British land ownership system. The sales were held in Sydney at the George Street Market. Why Sydney, not Melbourne? The purchases were dominated by speculators, especially Thomas Walker.

There is plenty of interest to find out in the European occupation context. Land ownership followed the British legal system as rights of the First Nation were ignored. Even an attempt by John Batman who attempted to "purchase" land directly from the local Wurundgeri, was over-ridden by the government in Sydney, so the First Australians were left with nothing as their land was sold to the new arrivals.


Our Stories

Rather than trying to tell the whole story of Heidelberg, this website offers information on a range of topics, most of them unfortunately, from European records. The Museum Research Collections offer more detail and ideas on how to pursue topics of interest.


ORIGIN OF SOME SUBURB NAMES

Some local suburbs got their names from early land European owners.

IVANHOE

Sydney land investor Thomas Walker purchased Portion 1 in the 1838 land sales. In 1839, he sold an allotment from this Portion to Archibold Thom. On March 2, 1840, The Port Phillip Patriot had an advertisement in which Thom tries to sell the land which he calls "Ivanhoe".

Archibald Thom and his wife Elizabeth Thom both came from Scotland. There is a story that Thom called the property Ivanhoe after Sir Walter Scott's novel of that name, but his reason for doing so is open to speculation.

Subsequently, a number of streets in the Ivanhoe suburb were named after places and characters in the book, including Sherwood Road, Locksley Road, Rowland Avenue, Robin Hood Road, Scotts Parade, Wilfred Road, Wamba Road, Cedric Street, Athelstane Grove, Lochabar Court. Also, Scott lived at Abbotsford in Scotland (Abbotsford Grove), and the series of novels that included Ivanhoe was known as the Waverley novels (Waverley Avenue).

Abbotsford, Scotland

VIEWBANK

The house shown below, at 46 Laverockbank Road, Trinity, Edinburgh, was formerly known as "Viewbank" and later "Strathavon Lodge". It was originally built between 1804 and 1817 and enlarged around 1850.

The name of Viewbank suburb, near Heidelberg, came from the name given to his farm by James Williamson, an early purchaser of the land, who bought part of R.H. Browne's Portion in 1839.

The Williamson family lived in Viewbank Trinity, before coming to Port Phillip. Amongst other references, a Scottish Post Office Directory 1833-4 of Trinity gives Mrs James Williamson, View bank as the resident (page x).

A later resident of the same house was the renowned inventor of chloroform, Dr James Simpson. He used it as his "country retreat", even though Trinity was a suburb of Edinburgh and couldn't really be called the countryside.

ROSANNA & WATSONIA

On 9 September, 1840, James Watson bought Crown Portion 5 of the land sold at the time in the Heidelberg area. This was Deed No. 10512, bounded on the south by the Village Reserve, Crown Portion 6 to the east, Crown Portion 9 to the north and Crown Portions 4 and 3 to the west.

Within a year, Watson was insolvent, and an estate entitled "Rosanna" was offered for sale as subdivisions.

James Watson's wife was Elizabeth Anna Rose Watson, so this appears to be the origin of the suburb's name, Rosanna.

James Watson had nothing to do with Watsonia, which was named after Frank Watson in 1924, when he and other local land owners assisted in having a railway station located in the district.

Watsonia station's opening was reported in the Herald on Monday 24th June 1924. On 27th June, the Advertiser (Hurstbridge) reports that it was to have been named Collins, and others thought it should have been named Grace Park after Watson's estate. The Advertiser also refers to him as Mr E. Watson.

There was an 84 year gap between the naming of Rosanna and the naming of Watsonia.

Inc. No. A0042118P