Trove Tuesday: Dunmunkle Parish

I remember years ago spending days at the Public Record Office (PRO) in Victoria trying to track down the properties that various ancestors selected in the 1800s.

We first had to locate the parish maps and that led to the wonderful selection files that are held at the PRO. It wasn't easy to find the appropriate maps - some editions of the maps didn't include the famous fraction and without the fraction it was very difficult to access the selection files. The fraction? If you look at allotment 48 on the map below you can see in the bottom left a number 5735 over 19. That was the magic number that led to the selection papers of my great-great-grandfather, William George Smith. W G Smith and his wife Sarah Alice (nee Hillgrove) lived all their married lives on this property. Their home there was called 'Eulong'.

Part of Dunmunkle Parish, County of Borung, Victoria, Feb. 1880
Online at State Library of Victoria. Accessed from a link at Trove.

The same area today, entirely cultivated for crops. Google Maps.

So if William George (known as George) owned the land why does the map show Mary Smith as the owner?

Mary was George's sister and so was Alice Rebecca Smith whose name is on the allotment next door. Both girls and several brothers selected land in the parish at the same time as their father Ephraim when the family moved to the Wimmera district from Warrnambool in the 1870s. Anyone over the age of 18 years was able to select a maximum of 320 acres so that meant the girls could apply. George wasn't old enough. The family members would have all worked as a team on all of the land parcels. There were strict government regulations to comply with including improvements, enclosing, clearing and cultivation, as well as a requirement that they live on the land.  In 1892 Mary transferred the lease on allotment 48 to her brother George.

The dry bed of Dunmunkle Creek. Copyright David Craker

See that wriggly line on the left side of the map? That's Dunmunkle Creek. When the Smiths first moved to the area Ephraim's wife Elizabeth went looking for the creek, in vain. It looks like this most of the time - not exactly a reliable water supply.

Today the parish maps are easy to find. I found the Dunmunkle Parish map on a link via Trove to the State Library of Victoria's website. If you know where to look they are also on the PRO's website. Not so easy is accessing the selection files. You have to go to the PRO in person for those but it's worth it. They are little goldmines. It's amazing to be able to hold in your hand, as I did, a letter written by an ancestor 120 years ago explaining to 'the government' that he wouldn't be able to pay his lease because the crop failed.

Trove Tuesday: In which Ephraim breaks a leg

"Well, I never knew that!" I'd be rich if I had a dollar for each time I've said that in the course of my family history research. And here's another instance.

Horsham Times, 28 Nov 1913

Ephraim is my direct ancestor. He and his wife, Elizabeth, came to Victoria from Old Dalby, Leicestershire, England in 1852. They lived in the Warrnambool area for several decades and gradually got a little more established with property. Ephraim worked a variety of jobs - in a lime kiln, as a policeman, as an agricultural labourer - and all the time their family was growing in numbers and getting to the age when they needed work themselves. So the family took advantage of the fact that the government was opening up some more land for selection in the Wimmera, in the 1870s. Ephraim and each of the oldest children selected land at Dunmunkle, east of Minyip, and set about establishing homes, clearing the land for cereal crops, getting schools, churches and sporting clubs started, organising water supplies. It was hard work but on the whole they were successful. I've left a lot out of this story but that's the gist of it.

Ephraim and Elizabeth Smith

Ephraim and Elizabeth celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 1908 (and there's an article about that in Trove) and they still lived on the farm at Dunmunkle. Several of their children lived nearby. Elizabeth died in December 1912, and Ephraim July 1914. What I didn't know was that seven months before his death Ephraim fell and fractured his leg. Trove came up trumps again.

Ephraim SMITH, son of Joseph SMITH and Mary DACARE was born on 29 Aug 1825 in Old Dalby, LEI, England. He died on 25 Jul 1914 in Minyip, Victoria, Australia. He married Elizabeth DARKER, daughter of John DARKER and Alice PEGG on 17 Dec 1848 in Plumtree, NOTT, England. She was born on 20 Apr 1826 in Clipstone, Nottinghamshire, England. She died on 13 Dec 1912 in Minyip, Victoria, Australia. They had 12 children.

Trove Tuesday: In which Uncle William's house burns down

I know, it's Wednesday not Tuesday, but here's my entry for Trove Tuesday because I've solved a mystery using Trove.

William Thomas Wyllie

William Wyllie was a brother of my great-grandfather Robert. Both were wheat farmers near Minyip in the Wimmera district of Victoria, both had selected blocks of land when the government opened up the area for selection and both were married with young children. But in the 1890s Robert stayed and William left with his family to live and work in Melbourne. I never knew why.

But then I found these reports on Trove. They've lost their house in a fire and they weren't insured. So with a family of four young daughters and a wife to support I'm guessing William didn't have many choices. I still don't know exactly when they moved but I'm sure the fire would have been a contributing factor.

The Argus, 30 Dec 1895

Horsham Times, 10 Jan 1896

William Thomas WYLLIE, son of William WYLLIE and Ann Megget CRANSTON was born on 20 Aug 1861 in McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia. He died on 08 Oct 1935 in Mentone, Victoria, Australia. He married Naomi MILGATE, daughter of James MILGATE and Emily MOORE on 09 Nov 1885 in Dunmunkle, Victoria, Australia (Primitive Methodist). She was born on 21 Feb 1862 in Jacobs Creek, Lyndoch, South Australia, Australia. She died on 10 Dec 1945 in Mentone, Victoria, Australia.