European Settlement
References: Books and Photographs
* Coulson, Helen Story of the Dandenongs 1838-1958, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1959.
This is the most comprehensive reference for the settlement and development of our district. Pages 174 to 191 are specifically devoted to Rowville and Lysterfield but there are many other references to people and events of the area scattered throughout the book. The index only covers people but the Knox Historical Society has produced an index of the places mentioned in the book. There are several photos of Rowville/Lysterfield people.
Hamilton, Anne. James Clow: A Memoir, Ramsay Publishing Co, Melbourne, 1937.
Anne Hamilton was a descendant of James Clow and she writes comprehensively about his life in Scotland, India and Victoria. The book also presents a very affectionate portrayal of a genuinely Christian man whose love of family and his fellow man (including the aboriginal people with whom he often had dealings) is evident. There are photographs and drawings of James Clow, his wife Margaret, their home in Swanston Street and the homestead at Tirhatuan. The appendix contains the family tree and a detailed report of the sale of Clow's Melbourne property.
Clow, Robbit John. The Pacific Empire, an Authentic History of the Venerable James Clow, Austral Publishing Co, Melbourne, 1929.
The author writes extensively about Rev James Clow's time in India and Melbourne but only a little about his time in Rowville. One interesting record, however, (on page 47) is the Marriage Certificate of Helen Clow and the Rev James Forbes who were wed by Helen's father at Tirhatuan in 1845. This was probably Rowville's first wedding. The author claims that Clow reaped a profit of 150,000 pounds from the sale of Corhanwarrabul and Tirhatuan.
* Scoresby Historical Resources Centre. Booklet 20 James Clow - First White Settler in Knox. Booklet 19 Name Origins of Knox.
Gives the origins of the names of suburbs, main roads, creeks and parks. Mounteasterly reprints No 2 - Pioneers of Knox. Articles about James Clow, John Wood Beilby, Albert Selman and the Dobson families.
* Jones, Michael Prolific in God's Gifts - A Social History of Knox and the Dandenongs, Allen & Unwin in association with the City of Knox, North Sydney, 1983.
Separate chapters are devoted to the first pastoralist, Rev James Clow, and to the man who took over Clow's Corhanwarrabul Run, John Wood Beilby.
Bride, Thomas Francis (Ed). Letters from Victorian Pioneers (1898), Currey O'Neil, Melbourne, 1983.
This book is a collection of letters written by early pioneers in response to a request by Governor La Trobe. The governor wanted them to record their stories as well as their interaction with the aborigines. Letter No 15 is from Rev James Clow, the first person to settle in our area.
* Winzenreid, Arthur P. The Hills of Home - A Bicentennial History of the Shire of Sherbrooke, 1988.
Chapter 3 is about James Clow and Chapter 4 about John Wood Bielby, two of Rowville's earliest pioneers.
* Winzenreid, Arthur P. Scoresby - A Student's Guide to its History, Scoresby Historical Resources Centre, Scoresby Secondary College, 1984.
There is a section devoted to Rowville's first squatter, Rev James Clow.
Knox Historical Society Inc. The following photographs of the Clow family and Tirhatuan are held in the Society's collection: Nos 00008, 00887, 00888, 01346, 02099, 02100, 02105, 02112, 02847, 02848, 02868, 02869, 03010, 03011.
Billis, R.V. and Kenyon A.S. Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip, Stockland Press, Melbourne, 1974.
There are entries for Rev James Clow and his son, James Maxwell Clow, John Wood Beilby and other squatters who took up pastoral leases in the district.