Foster Fyans (1790-1870) played a significant role in the European settlement of Victoria and the dispossession of its Aboriginal people. This article examines a letter he wrote in 1853 about his experiences at that time. Fyans joined the British Army. He served in Crimea, Spain and in India. In 1833 he was transferred to Sydney and was posted to Norfolk Island. There he took charge during a murderous convict mutiny, leading to him being given …

Geelong 1839-1841: its early development. In the first issue of 1968 the Ian Wynd, the editor of the Investigator magazine, continued his ‘Story of Geelong’. His focus in the February edition was the early development of the township of Geelong between 1839 and 1841. He begins his account with the sale of the first lots in the township. Oddly the auction was conducted in Sydney with speculators dominating the sale. He explains the division of …

Little Scotland: its borders, people and stories. On April 5 1967 LJ Keavy was the speaker at the Geelong Historical Society’s monthly meeting. He had been a resident of Little Scotland, a small pocket of Geelong West, for the great part of his life. His talk that evening was recorded and transcribed for publication in the society’s Investigator magazine. His spoken word commentary conveys an intimacy and power that captures the spirit and atmosphere of …

This is the seventh instalment of the Investigator’s series ‘The Story of Geelong’, published in May 1967. Using John Wedge’s journals and a subsequent map of his explorations the writer takes the reader along on that first recorded exploration of our region. Included amongst his party was William Buckley and some other Wadawurrung men, and he provides a richly detailed account of the landscape and the occupancy of the area at this point of European …

Hume and Hovell The fifth instalment of The Story of Geelong was published in the Investigator magazine during November 1966. It covers the overland exploration undertaken by Hume & Hovell during 1824 and it provides interesting detail on their journey and their interactions with the Wadawurrung, which included the names of important natural features such as Corio Bay and the You Yangs. The next visitors to Corio Bay came overland. They were Hamilton Hume, a …

David Collins and the Sullivan Bay Settlement In the fourth issue of Investigator magazine in 1966, the Story of Geelong featured an account of the ill-fated settlement at Sullivan Bay in 1803. The article focused on the survey work done by Lieutenant Tuckey as he explored Port Phillip Bay. It touches on, but does not expand upon, some of the more interesting historical questions raised by the actions of Collins and those under his command …

Grimes and Flemming – the Story of Geelong. In the May edition of 1966 the Investigator magazine continued its ‘Story of Geelong’ with the following account of the five week expedition to Port Phillip mounted by Charles Grimes and James Flemming in early 1803. Despatched from Sydney, Grimes’ party completed a thorough survey of Port Phillip with a special focus on the area from the Yarra through to the Bellarine Peninsula. This article from 1966 …

Flinders in the Investigator. This article on Matthew Flinders was the second in a series called ‘The Story of Geelong’ and originally published in the first volume of the Geelong Historical Society’s magazine ‘Investigator’. It provides some context for and a brief snapshot and chronology of Matthew Flinders’ activities in Port Phillip during 1802. Of particular interest are his observations on the Bellarine Peninsula and the You Yangs. The newly discovered Bay did not have …

The Story of Geelong. The first edition of Investigator, the Geelong Historical Society magazine, was published in September of 1965 and it included a series of articles it described as ‘the story of Geelong’. The aim was to chronicle the earliest European exploration of Port Phillip Bay and the greater Geelong area. No author is acknowledged and the reader is left to surmise that it is the writing of the Investigator’s first editor, Ian Wynd …

Gold Rush Geelong The following article is taken from the 1977 September issue of the Investigator magazine, which in turn draws upon an article published in The Geelong Advertiser on July 15, 1922. Unfortunately neither our magazine nor its earlier source preface the article and the reader is left to speculate upon its context and its writer. It purports to be the words of Mr Wood, who is providing an eye-witness account of the Gold …

On this day – June 19 1841. Society member, Daryl Wight has selected these two extracts from the pages of The Geelong Advertiser from June 19, 1841 . They give the reader a glimpse into the concerns of the day and clues to hardships ensured. The Geelong Advertiser was worried about the weather and had immediate concerns with the wet weather and the challenges that the heavy rain might have on the Breakwater. They also …

BARWON BANK In 2021 the then sale of the 1850s house, ‘Barwon Bank’, in Newtown, overlooking the Barwon River, piqued my interest in both its first owner and also its architect. I already had a fair bit of material on J.A. Gregory, a Geelong solicitor, but T.R. Yabsley, the architect, was new to me. ‘Barwon Bank’, at 35-43 Riversdale Road, Newtown, was recently sold after a three decades’ rescue and renovation, and extensions to the …

Mr Grove’s Academy Daryl Wight has researched the life of one of the founder of one of Geelong’s early schools. The schoolmaster, Edmund Deane Grove, was a man of some academic promise but his endeavours in life were not met with much success and his life reads very much like a cautionary tale. Schoolmaster Edmund Deane Grove arrived in Geelong on 12 June 1848 aboard the cutter, Vansittart, from Hobart Town.[1]  Within a few months, Grove, …

SOME WESTERN DISTRICT GENTLEMEN’S CLUBS In June 2022 the Investigator published this article by member, archivist and author, Norm Houghton. Norm had surveyed the history of a number of gentlemen’s clubs in his talk to the Society in 2019 and this article is an edited version of that address. Geelong has its Geelong Club, founded in 1859 as a Gentlemen’s Club. It was originally based largely on Western District wool and Geelong business connections to …

Woodstock – an early house in Chilwell In June 2022 the Investigator published this article by Member and family historian, Carollyn Williams. She writes about Woodstock House – a landmark in early Chilwell. She is descended from one of the property’s owners. The house called Woodstock stood on the south corner of Latrobe Terrace and Sharp Street, Chilwell. The original block ran from Sharp Street to Marshall Street (named for the house’s first owner). The …

THE STRANDING OF THE S.S. BANCOORA In June of 2022 the Investigator published this article by Brian Latter. Brian is a member and recent contributor to the magazine on the search for Benito Bonito’s buried treasure, and here he has another sea-faring story to share. There are many shipwrecks along the Victorian coast, in the Geelong region and, particularly, at the Heads and along the South-west coast. However a stranding is a different ‘kettle of …

Sydney investor, briefly owner of Osborne House By Daryl Wight Andrew Sutherland Low (1831-94), was a Sydney factory owner, mining investor and real estate developer, who owned Osborne House, Geelong, for a brief period in the 1880s. He was born in Golspie, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, son of John Low, merchant, and his wife Margaret Sutherland. He is said to have arrived in Melbourne around the time gold was discovered and presumably tried his luck on the …