t. j', .' • I ", WESTERNPORT BAY ENVlRONMENTAL STUDY 1173 - 1914 Project Report 4.3.3.2 HIS'IDRICAL GEXA3AAPHY OF SANI::6'ICNE ISlAND JULIET F. BIRD . ..... ...... ' ..... .:. :.:: :.. ...: ::::/::~ .. >\\:::- :." . .-: ... .' ....... '. Qti:PT. OF· CONSER'JP"~T:~ & ~ATIJR.~L ;:-;;::•. ~ .c.i .I... TIIY FOa CDIIIRYATIO. UBRAR'f ~ ----.-- .-.- VICTORIA - 6 DEC 1995 91l. CENTRAL L ,,( 945 (VICTOlqiA put:.], 2 1 k HIS l c.2 .. " ~ 'J pIDJECI' RErum' 4.3.3.2 HIS'IDRICAL GEDGRAPHY OF S~ lSU\ND JULIEl' F. BIRD RErum' 'ID THE WESTERNPORT' BAY ENVIR:N1EN'l'AL S'lUDY .. , .. ~'j'(JCif$ ,:cN~(C~[i; - S DEC 1995 LG81iPJb,\iriV \\5~~UO[Fj~tl;. ~iDJE.) Prepared by JULIEl' F. BIRD MEIroJRNE STATE (l):LLEX;E DECEMBER, 1974 .... '.!'. ' ..•. '. .,' . ' . .!": ' NOTE Tne investigation reported herein was carried out with the support of the Westernport Bay Environmental Study, Ministry for Conservation, Victoria, Australia. This report is one of the variou5 project reports received by the Study from participants. The contents do not necessarily represent the official view of ",. the Study. Copies are available from: ~ Environmental Studies Program Ministry for Conservation "J J 240 Victoria Parade East Melbourne 3002 I, , Australia -,,' j-.'. ,.' 1. , :-.1-' .', .. '". i' " ",',' ,..... ' . .,' ..:.:,' I" •• . ..;"', , . ~' .' ',:;: : '.' : I'.~' , .. I, .~. .- .: . :~ ~ ~ , 1', ': I" ~;,.r: ' . ,'. : .. ",~. ' . " "". i , ," ~~r': :'.: D: i,' ~j: !.II ' .f.~4} ..' . .... ~ .. .; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SArillSTONE ISLAND 'Juliet F. Bird Melbourne S,tate College ''';~ . : , " t' " ,., ., . " , " .,: .... I" , , ~ . ~. \ " . !, • 'j w: ) ':. .'::," .. ~ f ~ . .: ........ ". ... ;,'''. " .' <,1 I . :..... " ,.1.,' ",. t" . 4 • ~ •. ',' ;. to'·,' ", 'l." • '~. ... ~.".;: " , ~,:, ~ I • .' ~ ~ '. I; ... :.,. ~. ~ ~ , t.". ,', " , .. llU:i'l'OIUCAL G.::;OG~AprrY OF SAI'iD:.3'I'ONE ISL;diD Sandstone Islandw8s discovered by Jarn~s Grant's expedit­ ion to Westernport Bay in March - April 1801. Figure 1 is a copy of part or the chart of the Bay drawn by Francis Barrallier, the surveyor who accompanied Grant. There are several copies of this chart, some showinG only the names given during the expedition, other~ such as this one in the Admiralty Library, London, including names added by Governor 1 King prior to sending the chart to London (Bird, in press). I Sandstone Island is here named HcKellar Island (sic) after i Neil MacKellar, aide-de-camp to Governor King from ! !:)eptember 1800 to ApriL 1801. I i I I I I I I I j I, I ! I I !, I I i I ! I I Figure 1. Extract from Barrallier's chart of i Westernport Bay, 1801. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- j" •••• ,. " . ~. .. ' ••. ', "1 . i' I By the time of Smythe's map (1842) the Island was generally known as Sandstone Island, or alternatively by the ahoriginal naml:l, Woorablah. In August 1845 it formed part of a run,. Bunguyan, leased ~o Mrs. Martha Jane King. ,'.:'!., .. ,'. ,- .' Figure 2 is an extract from A.S.Kenyo~'s map of pastoral ho~dings showing the location and ext~nt of the run. ",i.'"",,, .. ~h \ .. : . _- " . .,. 1 ••. t ~ ".. ,t. ~ .: .... " Figure 2. Location of Bunguyan run. Bunguyan was licensed for 500 cattle, some of which were presumably grazed on Sandstone Island since this p-~t of the run was considered sufficiently valuable to be separated from the main rUn and leased to John Rogers in January . 1854~'· Rogers' also' leased Churchill· Island. Bailliere's:"~{ctorian Gazetteer for'1865 d~scribes'·Sand­ , stone Island as a small rocky islet with a grazing capability ~ :. of 20 head of cattle (compared to 25 for Churchill Island). 2 .... ::. f , ;';""J, . ;1"~ --:-I' In the eighteen-iiftieo candstcne Island attracted scientific attention mainly for the rocky outcrops en the ( foreshore. The Government geologist, A.R.C.Selwyn, fOl1nd l 1 fossil~,.there (Selwyn~1854-5), while the controversial l, ) naturalist, William'Blandowski, suggested the rocks /, might contain coal seams (Blandowski, 1855). Blandowski ~ ~. was wrong;', but a few years later· the foreshore Has r~' ~ declared a reserve for, stone, though it is unlikely it ~ ", ~, was ever work~d. i'" I~~861 t~~,~ewlY'formed AcclimatisBtion Society gave t., two pheasants,' 'two skYlarks, and two thrushes to ,John f ~ Rogers for ~elea~e ori ~he Island (~cclim~tisation Society ~ )' Records, 1861). Pheasants and skylabks ,like an open, " grassy habitat, ~hile ,th~lshes prefer scrub; this implies I that the Island was already a mixture of open, , grassy ~' areas and patehes of scrub. A sketch in the Illustrated ~; , Australian News, 23rd February 1866 (Figure 3) 'suggests ~ much of th~ Island was already cleared. ~ i ~ ." ' . ~. '; " t~, ~ ~ ~ ~ , • t ~ f. ' ~II • ~he file 'in the Lands Department dealing,with this ig qu~~~y{h~:~eserve has been temporarily mislaid. ~ ;\" , ' ~ t 'i S f , a . I" "' " t ~ ... t! ,~ " " I r ~t ~ ...... • .• ',' ",' .. .,', ", ..... ~I ~!: .~-<' .' .. .. ;.~ III j. • T J N:O 10 11' It 8 T , 1\ N P 0 a T I j. To Figure 3. View of ~andstone Island, 1666. ;-- ~"""J'\':,lr" . 'I \~ ~ 1 In 1866 the Parish of Bittern was surveyed and re­ leased for sale. At an auction held in Melbourne on I 21st August 1866 Allotment 84D, the whole of Sl3ndstone Island (55 acres) \<las sold to John Arthur Skinner for one hundred pounds. Skinner's ownership was brief: in February 1868 he mortgaged the Island to two fishmongers, Robert Heard and William Maine Heard, to whom ownership was trans;erred in September 1869. ! \. ' '" - J.. ' , I ~c .. ~ " ~" " ~ ~- -~ .. ~ ! f 01 ,,' ..,. .,~." ~ I i, ' ,\ i II. ) ',a -.... ... ! .. "-', t !, Ii; :'.- i ,j I.' t 3 ~,.' 't i t"I "'! ~ .. ~ .. ' ':", t ,; t f I ".'. I; ';'" -A J, l i, I Figure 4. Map of part of the Parish of Bittern i showinG original puchasers of Crown Land. f ! I 1 j "t 'l'he Island remained in the possession of the Heard 'j I family for forty-three years. Information about the I.. ! Island duri~g this time, derives mainly from the personal i recollections, of Dr. A. R. Haywood, of Bittern, grandson of Hobert Heard, of "Westvlard Ho", Drummond Street , Carlton, , who owned the Inland from 1892 to 1912. The, Heards buil't .J, a house on the Island, giving it the a.boriginal name, 5 • '.' ."~ •. '" .,: ......... ', t':... • .... ' ",','" <.,;,-,/. ,,"';: "Cooloom", meaning haven of rest. This is presumably the origin of the name Koolamadoo Island, used for example by Keble, 1950. It was evidently a local name, and occurs on Smyth~'s map in thp. area just south of Hastings (Figure 5). .. .. .. ' . '. ...·0 ..~ t;. I I, L' T) oJ t.\" ;.. 0" ") . I \\~S \ IItt.: .. "h L:tr,Iu...' ;.' I 1o,', '. '.' '. " J <-'J)rA! L'~.t.- r·,~\,oP( I:" ,.:'_ . -, ,.- . -r-,1) 0'.' '" EO ~ 1'- ,'-' i • ( ...... j "I , 1 I ; ., Ii --I i /' . " ", '. ~'~/i '/:/ "/ ,~:" \ t Figure 5. Extract from Smythe's map showing ,J place names. l ~. i t Co~loom was a timber house with a slate roof, situated . I at the northern end of the Island (Figure 6): the foundations can still be traced although they are overgrown with scrub. For some years it' was permanently inhabited"and there is record oiat least one birth (Arthur Woodley, pers. comm.) I " . and one death and burial on the Island. At other times it was used more as a holiday house; accessible via a jetty at i . , the northern end of the Island • The soil of the Island was fertile, and never needed top­ dressing, though on the advice of a visiting English botanist /' cocksfoot and rye grass were sown there. A vegetable garden W3S maintained near the bouse, and a few acres sown with maize for summer feed. Trees were planted, includinG blue gums and peppers, which no longer exist, ond pines, still I present. About a dozen milkin8 cows were run there. 6 .I ! t t :'.; , ,., ,.,,- I , , --, I : -;:-1' · ;' . I ~"' ... -...... , ,. 'I · ' ',[' ~: :. ~ :.\ .~ ,'. :, Dr. Haywood recalls that obtaining water was the chief h" " ' problem: a storage tank supplied the household, but the cattle we~e dependent on six or seven soak holes on the eastern side of the Island, each of which prov~ded E day's supply. In 1912 the Commonwealth of Australia negotiated the purchase of land at Hann's Inlet for a naval base. At the i I same time they bought Sandstone Island from Robert Heard, .j intending to use it as a place to store explosives. In the end this was. never done, and the land was leased back to local formers for grazing. From about 1913 to 1915 • a Mr. Hodgins held a thre~-year lease. (information from the Department of Property); a few years later Dr. Haywood took up the lease and held it for twenty years. Calves were I I. \ reared on the Island, which provided very healthy conditions i for stock. They were taken over at the beginning of winter and brought back to the mainland just before Christmas. This avoided the problem of summer water shortage, and I prevented the damage to the soil which occurred under \ continuous dry-weather grazing. t 1 After the Second World War the Island was occupied by I the Loon family, who built a rough shack there (T.Nirabella, pers. comm.), the Heard family house having presumably fallen into disrepair. The Loons left about '1951 when their I;' i" . ',f, shack was burnt down. I, i : I In 1953 the Commonwealth sold the Island to Ernest Henry ~. ' t• .. William Lancaster for £2255 (Peninsula Post, 1st July 1953). Lancaster ran cattle on the Island, but instead of swimming them across like the previous occupiers he transported them i In a barge. They landed at the southern end of the Island, where he later built a jetty, the remains of which are still I visible. Following Lancaster's purchas~ Hastings Shire Council raised the q~estion of rates for the Island, but an enquiry established that it was not part of the Shire, and )' I. rates were never paid. • " ·" • The file on the Island, believed to be in Commonwealth Archives, is not at present , available. t \ 8 " , ..,-' , \' In 1958 a Tasmanian crayfishing boat, the Conella, was rUn up on a bea~h near the southenn end of the Island (Arthur Woodley, pers.