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From: "Roger Jones" <>
Subject: [AUS-VIC-West] Other Responses to : Higgins - Warrabine, Mt Mercer, etc
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 16:34:01 +1000


Dear Listers

I got some very helpful replies to my posting on "Higgins - Warrabine, Mt
Mercer, etc" and thought that it was a pity that the whole list wasn't going
to see a couple of others. So, with their permission, I attach extracts of
the useful material they sent me.

WHERE IS MARIDA YALLOCK?

>From Respondent No 1
… was a squatting run near Terang and now owned by the McKinnons and still
called by that name. Has a frontage to Mt Emu Creek and is situated on the
SE corner of where the Princes Hwy crosses Mt Emu Creek just east of Terang
and west of Boorcan near Camperdown.

>From Respondent No 2
… sent me a scan of a 500 word article on Marida Yallock taken from "The
Shire of Hampden 1863-1963" by RA McAlpine about Camperdown and District.
Respondent also said "I had splitter in my family from that area too. I have
a very old photo of splitters camp in the bush that I feel is the Dixie,
Timboon area. I cannot date or place it but it was in my grandfather’s photo
box".

BOOKS /OTHER PUBLICATIONS RE LIFE IN THE AREA IN 1860-1880

… In addition to the one noted above, there is "Men of Yesterday" by
Margaret Kiddle on Western District Social History (Respondent No 2)
… “The Biographical Dictionary of the Western District of Victoria” edited
by Gordon Forth (Respondent No 3)

==================
MY ORIGINAL POSTING
Dear Listers

I am seeking information on the movements and employment of my great
grandparents - HENRY and ANN HIGGINS. What I know is as follows:

1. They were both first employed off the ship "Shackamaxon" by Mws/Hws?
Marshall Breakwater G? on 27/3/1862 for 46 Pounds for 3 months.
2. Their first child was born in 1862 at Marida Yallock near Camperdown.
3.Other children were born in Warrabine near Rokewood (1864), Jackson's
Gully (1866), Spring Creek (1868), Little Hard Hills (1870), Mt Mercer 1873,
1876, and 1878.
4.Henry Higgins is listed as a "splitter" at Mt Mercer in Bailliere's
Victorian Directory of 1868. In the 1880's, he moved to Portarlington where
he had further children, grew onions and other produce, and eventually died
after his 60th wedding anniversary (in the 1920s).

Now for some QUESTIONS that someone may be able to help me with:
1.Is it likely that the Higgins were itinerant workers or are these
locations all part of a squatting "empire" held one of the big squatters in
the area that they moved around? I have seen the names John Bell, Russell,
Mercer, and AF Cunningham mentioned for this part of the district.
2.Where is Marida Yallock? I can find no reference to it on current maps?
3.What are the best books and other publications to look up to get some
more background on life in the area in the 1860-1880 period.
4.Similarly, are there good maps of pastoral runs or holdings for this
period?
5.Finally, have any of the individual "empire" or property records (eg
staff lists, salaries) etc for runs in this area survived in libraries eg in
Geelong or Melbourne.
6.Was/is there a large old bluestone homestead on Mt Mercer shown on
http://statelibrary.vic.gov.au/jcollins/inter/34796.shtml - or was this
located somewhere else?
7.Was the Marida Yallock location near Camperdown perhaps a property owned
by Mws/Hws? Marshall Breakwater G?

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