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Farming and Industry

Most of the stories below tell of families battling to make a living on small farms with a mix of dairying, grazing, pig raising, cropping and market gardening. There are stories too of the development of the quarries and of Rowville's first shop, the Gilligan family's "Chic-In". In the early days, Rowville's only business was Nick Bergin's blacksmith's shop and there are plenty of references to this colourful character.




  • Allen Conduit Remembers

    Allen Conduit worked at the Church of England Boys Home in Lysterfield from the time of its inceptlion in 1935 until his enlistment in the army in 1940.
    This article will be in two parts, the first recording Allen's memories of Lysterfield and the second telling of his remarkable army career with the famous 2/23 Infantry Battalion.

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  • CLOSTER Frank Closter Remembers

    Frank's father, Leslie Closter, was a market gardener in Burwood in 1938 when he was offered a job by a Mr Bovill in Scoresby. The job was to milk his herd of cows, in exchange for which accommodation and firewood were provided plus a wage of three pounds and five shillings a week.

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  • CLOW Rev. James Clow Writes to Governor La Trobe

    In July 1853, Governor Charles La Trobe sent a circular letter to a number of early settlers seeking information about the original European settlement of the Colony. Among the more than fifty replies received by La Trobe was a long letter from Rowville's first settler, Reverend James Clow, telling of the people who occupied the areas along Dandenong Creek and of his experiences with the aborigines in Rowville.

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  • Exners and Mosigs

    Last month's article (August 2002) about the death of 21 year old Fred Exner in a shooting accident near Dandenong Creek in 1903 was published without any historical references and I apologise for that. The following will provide some context for that story that was originally published in the Dandenong Advertiser on 18 June 1903.

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  • FINN Frank and Kath Finn Remember

    Frank and Kath Finn have been the proprietors of the Rowville Caravan Park and Motel on the hill in Stud Road since 1968. They have both had a long involvement with the Rowville Red Cross and for many years the meetings were held at their Motel. Kath has been the Red Cross representative assisting with vaccinations in Rowville for 25 years. The only sessions she has ever missed were when she was in hospital as a result of the cowardly attacks made on her during two aggravated burglaries in 1991.

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  • GILL Nellie Gill Remembers

    Nellie Gill is the grand daughter of George and Mary Ann Gill who settled in Rowville on a 155 acre property south of Wellington Road in 1857. George called the property "Somerset Farm" after the county of his birth in England. The property was to remain in the hands of the family for well over 100 years and it was not until the 1980s that the last of the Gills moved away from Rowville. Gill Court off Dandelion Drive is named in honour of this Rowville pioneering family.

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  • GILLIGAN Irene Gilligan Remembers

    The story of the origins and growth of Rowville's first shop is a fascinating one which is a tribute to Irene Gilligan, her husband Bon and their children. Their far-sightedness and willingness to take risks and to work hard rewarded them with a flourishing business that gave great service not only to the people of Rowville but also to thousands of Stud Road travellers attracted by great products and unceasingly friendly service.

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  • HOBBS Hedley Hobbs Remembers

    Hedley came to Lysterfield as a child after his parents had been forced off their farm in the Western District by bad seasons. Hedley's mother became the first postmistress in Lysterfield and his brother Gordon built and ran the first store in the tiny community.

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  • LYSTERFIELD QUARRIES Jack Smith Remembers

    In this article Jack Smith takes us on a journey in time far more wide-ranging than any other history articles. He takes us back into the deep history of Rowville-Lysterfield when the very rocks were being formed and then on to a vista of the Lysterfield hills in the year 2050.

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  • Lightwood Park Sub-Division

    When I interviewed Hedley Hobbs for the article that appeared in the December 1997 and February 1998 editions of the News, he showed me an old poster advertising the Lightwood Park subdivision. It was too yellowed with age to copy but it is reproduced here as closely as possible to the original.

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  • ROW The Row Family of Stamford Park

    This short history of the Row family was prepared by Debra Truin, an HSC student at Scoresby High School in 1981. Her article is based primarily on information provided by Ms Bev Foster, great grand-daughter of Edward Row, and from her extensive research of documents held by the La Trobe library. Reference is also made to Helen Coulson's account of the history of Rowville in "Story of the Dandenongs". This article is reprinted in an abridged form from the Knox Historian with the permission of the Knox Historical Society.

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  • Rowville Pets Memorial Gardens

    Situated on a two acre site at the corner of Heany Park Road and Bergins Road is the Pets Memorial Gardens. This final resting place of thousands of animals was established in 1966 by Waverley man, John Alexander.

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  • STURROCK (nee BICKERTON) Mary Sturrock Remembers

    Mary recalled that her strongest first impression of Rowville was the smell of percolated coffee brewing on the wood stove of the farm in Wellington Road that her father had bought from Bill Phillips in 1936. She had left Geelong with her father early one morning in his 1928 Chevrolet National to drive to Rowville and of all the impressions made on her nine-year old mind that exciting day, the smell of Mrs Phillip's coffee has always been the most vivid in her memory.

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  • Shops in Rowville

    While going through some old records recently I came across notes I had made of a conversation with the late Frank Finn in November 1999.
    Frank was disputing an article I had written about the Gilligan family having established Rowville’s first shop at the corner of Stud and Bergins Road. At the time I contended with Frank that what he was claiming as previously established shops were more in the nature of stalls selling a very limited range of products. Gilligan’s shop, on the other hand, was a purpose-built store that sold a wide range of goods.
    However, I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to make up your own mind.
    I have added some explanatory notes in italics to Frank’s story.
    Bryan Power

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  • Stamford Park Dairy

    In 1936 Aloysius Drummond built a model dairy beside Stud Road to the north of where the Green House Nursery is now sited.
    The dairy was of the latest design as described in the following article in the journal published by the Gippsland and Northern Company.

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  • TAYLOR: Stories behind the Rowville-Lysterfield Ward Names

    Knox Council has chosen the name Taylor for the central ward of the three new wards in the Rowville-Lysterfield area. This is a well deserved honour for the members of the Taylor family who over many years have been highly respected in the community. The lady affectionately known as Granny Taylor arrived in the district in the early 1860s. She was then only a two year old child, Sarah Sutton, and had come to Australia from Lincolnshire, England with her parents, Michael and Martha Sutton.

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  • THE ROWVILLE WATER SYNDICATE

    The following account was prepared by an unknown author. I'd be grateful if anybody could let me know who the person is so that he/she can be acknowledged. I believe that the story may have been one of several documents written by local people in the mid 1950s to assist Helen Coulson with the writing of "Story of the Dandenongs".
    This account tells of the dogged persistence of Rowville landholders in the 1950s to obtain a reticulated water supply. Their efforts were extraordinary. First there was their never-say-die lobbying and then their months of toil. Just imagine weekend working bees over three months to dig a trench almost a metre deep over a distance of more than four kilometres. And all with hand tools! That's persistence with a capital P. The Rowville Water Syndicate provided the only reticulated drinking water in the area until large scale development extended gradually from the north to the south in Rowville from the mid 1970s onwards.
    Bryan Power

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  • The Rowville Drive In Theatre
    The Rowville Drive In Theatre was the brain child of Stewart Finn whose father Jack was a man who had never been afraid to take on new business opportunities. A visit to the Croydon Drive In had impressed 22 year-old... comments Comments (0) Read more...

  • Tirhatuan: Stories behind the Rowville-Lysterfield Ward Names

    At its meeting on 23 July 1996 Knox City Council decided on the names of the nine new wards that will constitute the city. The three wards covering the Rowville-Lysterfield area will be Tirhatuan, Taylor and Friberg. These names recall significant people in the history of the district and their choice by Council is to be commended. This article will tell of the establishment of Tirhatuan, the first homestead to be built in the area now known as Knox. Its first occupant, the Rev James Clow, is a very important figure in the history of Victoria.

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  • VERN SULLIVAN REMEMBERS
    Vern was born in New Zealand in 1918 to Australian parents, Alexander and Elizabeth Sullivan, who had met and married while on holiday in the shaky isles. After the wedding Alexander and Elizabeth decided to stay in NZ and they... comments Comments (0) Read more...

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