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Moonee-Ponds-Post-Office

Page history last edited by Lenore Frost 3 years, 10 months ago

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Alright, Time Travellers close your eyes and imagine

 

The Flemington Post Office

 

Here is a photo if you can’t immediately bring it to mind.

 

Flemington Post Office, circa 1897.  Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection, H27288/6g

 

Now mentally place a similar but bigger, grander building in Moonee Ponds. Imagine it at the Junction in the middle of Mount Alexander Rd; outside the Clocktower Centre.  Alternatively place it opposite KFC at the corner of Hall St and Mount Alexander Road. Shift that image to the Pascoe Vale Rd part of the Junction.  Imagine a different, larger Courthouse which combined Post Office and Courthouse such as that in North Melbourne. Reflect on the placement of such a building in such locations would have meant for foot and vehicle traffic, the development of retail businesses and services.  Imagine that there is no real reason to venture down to the western end of Puckle St. There is nothing to draw you there, no licenced premises, no essential service. Puckle St is wider than the other approaches to the Railway Station but there are quicker paths. There are a few shops near the station to serve the pressing needs of travellers but nothing you can’t get closer to home or at the busy eastern end of Puckle. 

 

Imagine what might have been. 

 

 That Ancient Question

The Moonee Ponds Post Office

1854-1906

 

by Marilyn Kenny

 

 

A Heated Meeting

 

It was a hot February night in 1890 when 400 people gathered in the gas lit Essendon Town Hall. For a week prior the temperature had been rising each day to peak at over 100°F and dropped only slightly at night. This followed on a scorching January, bushfires were raging and trade and industry were badly affected. Notwithstanding the intense heat Essendon residents gathered to discuss and protest against a unilateral decision made by a Minster of the Crown that would affect their lives and which would eventually shape the district. Their wishes, as expressed by their Council, by petitions and meetings, had been disregarded and their local Member had exhibited a want of interest in the question.

 

Only a fortnight before Essendon had been Proclaimed a Town and the area was looking forward to a prosperous future. Residents and Council expected that their suburb would be adorned with public buildings that would enhance the district’s reputation and would offer all adjuncts of modern civilization. Those who participated in this meeting and many others were protesting at the decision to locate the new Post Office in the backwater of Puckle St instead of the main thoroughfare of Mt Alexander Rd. The matter of selecting a site for a Moonee Ponds Post and Telegraph office was in 1890 already an Ancient question having been on the agenda since 1882. However the issue still had another remarkable sixteen years to run, consuming the energy, interest and passion of the community.

 

The Mt Alexander Rd Post Office

 

The Post Office had been the communication hub of any Australian community since the first Postmaster was appointed in 1809. It was a place for the district to meet and transact business.  Private citizens, business and Government depended on the speedy processing of mails-letters, postcards, telegrams, parcels and newspapers. Local Post Offices also offered a Savings Bank service to small depositors as well as money orders. The first telephone exchanges had been opened in Melbourne in 1882 and by 1890 district services were being established at official Post Offices. The Postmaster also usually took on positions such as Assistant Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages and Electoral Registrar.

 

A Post Office agency had been established in Moonee Ponds in 1854 by John Thomas Hinkins.

 

John Thomas Hinkins. Thomas Foster Chuck 1826-1898, photographer.

  Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection. Image H5056/366.

 

This was possibly in a prefabricated building brought out in sections and erected near Davies St. In 1855 he purchased Lots 2 and 3 on the East side of Mt Alexander Rd close to the Moonee Ponds Hotel, later known as Deans, and flanked on the south by what became Ovens Bakery. This location, with various minor expansions and alterations over the years, became the site of the Post Office and Postmaster’s residence.

 

The Post Office became official on the 15 January 1861 and was named No 330 Moonee Ponds. The Post Office was considered a civic building to be suitably decorated on festive occasions such as in 1863 on the Queen’s Birthday. A large Union Jack was flown all day and at night the windows were decorated with lights and displayed colour transparencies of the Crown, VR (Victoria Regina) and AA (Albert Augustus). Pressure from the new Borough of Essendon and Flemington resulted in a mail service being set up in 1865 running from Melbourne, Flemington and Moonee Ponds onto Essendon and Keilor. The contractor was paid 3d a mile and the service was six days a week. Mail posted in Melbourne by 8 am would be delivered in Moonee Ponds at 10 am.

 

 

Main Road, Moonee Ponds.  Circa 1907 postcard showing Dean's Hotel, centre.  The Post Office was just to the south of the hotel.  Image courtesy State Library of Victoria Collection.  Image H85.70/122.

 

In 1878 Ellen Mary Hinkins, the 50 year old third wife of John Thomas Hinkins, took over as Postmistress from her 74 year old husband.  Her remuneration, as a contractor, was £215 per annum for handling the 34,000 letters posted that year, distributing stamps and arranging, via tender, for the clearance of collection boxes and the delivery of mails.

 

1882-1886 Civic Buildings at Moonee Ponds Junction

 

When the Essendon and Flemington Boroughs had separated in 1882 there was a move to have the Town Hall moved further up (northward). At a Council meeting Cr James Taylor moved a motion that the Minster should be waited upon, and asked for £2000, as previously promised, to build the Town Hall and Post office at Moonee Ponds. In the event the Council acquired the Flemington and Essendon Institute which had been built in 1880 on land vacated by the Police Station in 1878.   The Town Hall opened in January 1886, £4500 being spent on building a Hall, Court House, offices, conveniences and extensions. However the Post Office was not included in this work.

 

A month after the opening the Council started agitating for the erection of Post and Telegraphic offices on the site reserved for public buildings immediately north of St Thomas' Church of England. In addition they wished for a midday postal delivery to be instituted (there were already morning and afternoon deliveries) and facilities for sending telegrams from the Post Office as well as at Ascot Vale Railway Station. The Postmaster General’s Department suggested that the present building was good enough but the matter would receive some attention. In July 1886 telegraph sending station was established, complementing the receiving facility available since 1868.

 

The 1889 Bombshell

 

In April 1887 the local newspaper reported that the matter was slumbering. In Oct 1887 the council sent a deputation to the Post Master General, Frederick Thomas Derham, who however was evasive. He said the next year's estimates would provide a sum sufficient for the erection of a Post and Telegraph station somewhere within the limits of the Moonee Ponds district, but he would not decide the site until an officer had inspected the locality and reported where the office should be placed. In October 1888 Councillors were complaining that the Minister had broken his promise to build the Post Office in combination with the planned new Courthouse. The Department was taking the line that the present PO was sufficient for the requirements of the district but Councillors said it was full when two adults were present and crowded any time that three got in. Business men, who might attend up to six times a day to send telegrams and parcels, found it unsatisfactory. The Council was apparently keeping up a steady stream of letters to the Postmaster-General though was later accused of shirking responsibility regarding advocating this issue.

 

in late November 1889 a bombshell was dropped on Council and citizens. They learnt that intention of the Department was to erect the new Post Office at the extreme west end of Puckle Street. Council had received no official information that Derham had selected any site. However William Sam Cox (of the Racecourse) announced that he had learned from one of the Departmental Heads that land had been purchased in west Puckle Street. A large and influential body of ratepayers led by the Moonee Ponds Burgess' Association met with the Council. They had already gathered ninety signatures on a protest letter representing the views of the greater portion of the business people of Moonee Ponds. A move to Puckle St would be to the great injury of business people. Additionally it would be inconvenient to the country people who pass through the district, and who would not care about turning off the main road to get to the Post Office. Puckle St was described as a by street and near the Saltwater River. It was agreed the Post Office must be in as central a position as possible such as the junction of the Mount Alexander and Ascot Vale roads.

 

A building similar to that being erected at Flemington would be a public convenience and an ornament to the district. The Post Office was described as second only in importance to the Town Hall and it needed to be central as it was more generally used by residents. It would never do to have one of their public offices here and another in the opposite end of the town. The Minister should have selected a central site, as close as possible to other public buildings.

 

Other arguments related to the anticipation of trams along Mt Alexander Rd and the main road suiting the convenience of passengers. Residents in the east of the district were remote from Puckle St. If it was a motive of cost the cheapness of the Puckle St site was a proof of its unsuitableness. If it was a matter of money William Cox was prepared to offer the Government, free of cost, a site nearer the business centre. Cr Taylor believed that contrary to what was being said the Postmaster-General had given an exceedingly fancy price for the Puckle allotment. Fears were expressed that there had been some underhand influence at work otherwise such an extraordinary place would never have been chosen, the thing was not square.

 

An Indignation Meeting

 

Alfred Deakin, 1898.   http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an21399820-32

National Library of Australia

 

Two nights later the Mayor convened a meeting. This gave vent to outbursts of popular indignation. Local newspapers asked the local member Alfred Deakin to exercise his influence. He had an excellent idea of the topography of the borough and could give his colleague to understand that the Lower Puckle street site is one of the most unsuitable that could possibly have been chosen.  Cr Taylor wanted the Post Office to be within a radius of one hundred yards of the Town Hall and it would suit the Borough now, ten years hence, and for ever.

 

Mayor W T C Kelly explained that the Council originally favoured the Government reserved site near the new Courthouse, but Derham objected that the situation was not sufficiently central. Council, fearing that the matter would otherwise be shelved, decided to leave the selection in the hands of the Postmaster-General. They thought that Derham was a good business man and might be trusted to pick a site. If he had chosen lower Puckle Street there would have been no objection. People had purchased land near the Town Hall under the impression that it was the business centre. In putting the Post Office at a distance from the banks, the Minister was simply trying to divert business from the centre of the town. The conclusion was the Minister had been got at, there was backstairs influence.

 

In December 1889 the Council was still waiting on a response to the two letters they had written. The Mayor then interviewed James Smibert the Deputy Postmaster-General (Departmental Head) who promised that no action would be taken and another deputation received.  At this meeting it was said that the Department had not been aware that the Council had ever recommended a site. By mid-January 1890 a petition of over 900 signatures had been gathered for presentation to Alfred Deakin. It stated that residents of the north, south and east side of the suburb felt particularly aggrieved as well as the road traffic from Broadmeadows, Keilor, Pascoe Vale, Tullamarine and the northern districts. The new Courthouse was nearing completion and a Post and Telegraph Office was a necessary adjunct to the Law Courts, and public offices. Separating these institutions was annoying and inconvenient. The petitioners asked Deakin to use his position as Chief Secretary as this enables you to influence your colleagues more than an ordinary Member of Parliament could possibly do. They were confident that in this vital matter Mr Deakin would put the best interests of residents first.

 

The Shuter Syndicate

 

By this stage there was evidence of a group sometimes called the Shuter group or the Syndicate with friends inside and outside the municipality. This group favoured the selected Puckle St site. This party was also gathering signatures for their petition. Obviously there would be benefit to many businesses, land owners and speculators in the location of such a critical service. It would bring customers and increase property values. Both parties were represented in a late January 1890 meeting where the Minister justified his decision. This was that the Puckle St site could be obtained on more  reasonable terms and the office could be operated more economically and effectively than in a main road.  It was seen as a was not intelligent reason and a silly scheme but  the Minister was steadfast.

 

The factions were becoming clearer with the Essendon Gazette, Cr Taylor and Cr T H Jennings being of the Main Road party and Cr Alfred Ernest Buzzard of the Syndicate. Cr Edwin Dangerfield was regarded by most as being a Syndicate supporter but would not declare his allegiance. He announced he had refused the offer of the Syndicate to cover all his re-election expenses but at Ministerial delegations would not actively support Main Road site or place the weight of his Mayoralty behind it. He was perceived as being out of sympathy with the residents. He would champion no one’s cause. It was felt that Dangerfield was inconsistent and leaked Council information to the Syndicate. The question was, were Council officers disinterested? There were queries as to whether the Council representations were equal to those of ratepayers or to be given more weight.

 

The hot February meeting heard again the arguments in favour of keeping the Post Office on the road where it had stood for forty years instead of the blind thoroughfare (Puckle St). They objected to their Council being treated with scant courtesy and in highhanded manner. They heard with disfavour Alfred Deakin’s conveyed opinion that there was no chance of a move. They censured him for his want of interest, indicating that his future would not be looked to if theirs were not. No one had ever expected this choice; it had been thought that the only difference was in the Council preferring the Government block and the Department the junction of Puckle and Mt Alexander Rd. With land being rapidly subdivided in the eastern Moonee Ponds the population there would soon equal or exceed that around the western part.

 

In an exchange of letters in the newspapers it was noted that although Cr Taylor wrote under his own name the Syndicate preferred tags such as Ratepayer and Equity. This discounted their case that the admirable Puckle St site was in a most rising locality. The Council advocated for a site next to the new Courthouse but this was rejected as unsuitable. Residents would have been conscious that Flemington had been graced by the grand Wellington St Post Office, opened in May 1890. A wooden building had been erected near Essendon Station as a temporary post and telegraph office which would meet the needs of some main road traffic. It is at this stage that the Shuter St site was actually transferred to the Crown though it is apparent that the process had actually been en train for months.

 

A Great Wrong

 

In May 1890 Derham further angered residents by advertising for tenders for Puckle St premises, for the temporary accommodation of the Post Office Department. Dangerfield, without specifying a site, managed to get the Council to pass a resolution asking for the Department to immediately erect the Post Office. The Moonee Ponds Burgess' Association convened another protest meeting. The Council resolution was discussed and the possible motivations for Derham’s persistent opposition. They supposed that he was entirely governed by the opinions of one or more officers of the department. It was also said that Derham’s weakness was for riding the high horse and was puffed up with pride, in consequence of his strong following. They must continue to agitate until they had put a stop to the great wrong which Derham was endeavouring to do the district. The resolution was to proceed with the immediate erection of a central, main road post office for the town.

 

The Refrigeration Process

 

The following day Alfred Deakin, now Chief Secretary, was interviewed by Association representatives. Deakin told the deputation that he would see Derham that afternoon and endeavour to have the temporary accommodation proposal knocked on the head. He stated that the idea of renting premises in Puckle Street originated from a district resident and Derham appeared to think that the notion was popular. It was the Postmaster - General's original intention, so Deakin said, to allow the heated feeling of residents on the post office question to cool down by degrees and then to have a poll taken.

 

Council passed Taylor’s motion protesting against the Departmental advertisement; resolving that the central post office should be on the main Mount Alexander Road, contiguous to all other public buildings; repudiating the action of self-constituted and private deputations and asking that, as it represented the public, that it at least in courtesy be consulted by the Department. It appeared that a private group of gentlemen who sleep in Moonee Ponds, (ie men who did not have businesses in the district), had been received by the new Postmaster-General, James Brown Patterson; had represented themselves as the people of Essendon and claimed the support of the new re-elected Councillor for Moonee Ponds (Dangerfield).

 

Postmaster General September 1890 – November 1890. Later 17th

Premier of Victoria.  Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography,

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/patterson-sir-james-brown-4375

 

The Council delegation of fifty was received the following week. The Postmaster-General stayed his hand and looking at a map stated he preferred the west side of Mount Alexander Road as the civic buildings were on the quiet side of the road which was three chains wide. There were calls for a poll, then lengthy negotiations regarding the terms of this. It was agreed that a poll should be taken, the four possible sites being Reynolds’s corner (Corner Mount and Ascot Vale Rds); Four Mile Post, opposite the racecourse (Pascoe Vale Rd); Station (Hall) street, north corner; and Station street, south corner. The exact site was left to the Department, the cost of sites being a factor.

 

The Tenth Delegation to the Postmaster General

 

John Gavan Duffy, Post Master General November 1890-April 1892. 

Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection. Image H93.350/14

 

By December there was a new Postmaster-General, John Gavan Duffy, and in a confusing exchange of correspondence he wrote indicating that he thought the Council were to determine the preferred main road site. The result was another deputation in January 1891.  It was James Taylor’s eighth (maybe his tenth) PO delegation and he expressed the hope it would be the last. Duffy promised to visit the district and select an eligible site. He indicated he would have arrived at a different decision had he been given a free hand and not inherited what was described by a newspaper as an incubus. It asked why he did not unload this site in a blind street leading to a swamp. In late January 1891 Duffy and James Smibert visited and selected a site on the main road, south side of Station St almost opposite the Town Hall. Ratepayers were to cast their vote for this or Puckle St. This site had been bought by A. E. Young in December 1888 for £50 a foot.

 

The Post Office Poll  

 

On Friday 29 May 1891 ratepayers of Moonee Ponds went to the poll to decide which site they favoured, Mt Alexander Rd, corner of Station St or corner of Shuter St.  A special roll had been made up. It was for one person one vote, whether or not rates had been paid. The poll hours were 8 am to 5 pm which many felt would exclude those who worked at a distance, Williamstown or Prahran, from voting.  A late unsuccessful attempt was made to change this, the Puckle St party blaming their opponents who had not entered into pre-poll discussions at which these issues could have been resolved.

 

The Main Road party were active on other fronts however, conferring every second night. As well as a ratepayers meeting at the Town Hall  they held a well-attended gathering  at the Waterloo Cup Hotel for residents of Temperance Township and surrounds.  They urged them to vote for the Main Road indicating that the Puckle St site would perhaps result in railway station facilities (late mail and telegraph) being withdrawn. They pointed out the Temperance Township would undoubtedly soon be an independent municipality and have its own railway line along and across the River. If they gained victory the Main Road party would support the residents of Ascot Vale in getting their own facilities. However plans for the Union Rd post office would be thrown over if Puckle St won because it was proximate. They accused the Syndicate of selecting the Puckle St site then getting the Minister to endorse it. The actions of the Holmes Road group were described as machinations.

 

On Poll Day cabs and private vehicles took residents to the voting station of choice either at Moonee Ponds West School or the Town Hall. The Puckle St supporters flew the colours of Same Old Essendon red and black and the Main Road blue and white. The Main Road party won by a margin of 173, with a vote of 480. 787 votes were cast from a roll of 1861.  The result was reported to the Minister who acknowledged this. By July 1891 one local paper was commenting that time slipping by without action and by October that it was a disgrace that poll not acted on.  By February 1892 Cr Taylor was at yet another deputation to the Postmaster-General to urge the case of the PO. The Department were of the opinion that too much was being asked for the Station St site. The deputation stated that the price asked, £20 a foot, was reasonable, not exorbitant, about half its full value.

 

A Fourth Postmaster General

 

In June 1892 another deputation to the new Postmaster-General, William Austin Zeal, tried to obtain resolution of this matter which had been hanging fire.

 

William Austin Zeal (1830-1912), by Swiss Studios, 1900s

National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an23386522

 

Zeal pointed out that the Government considered Puckle Street most suitable, and if the ratepayers consented the Post Office would at once be erected. This did not at all meet with the approval of the deputation. As a counter it was suggested that a site in the middle of Mt Alexander Rd in the Municipal Reserve would meet all interests. This would be opposite the Town Hall between the Jennings lamp and the garden reserve, on land used as a rockery. The Minister said that if ratepayers agreed he would instruct the Crown to resume occupation of the land required, and the building’s erection. Council submitted plans for a building on the reserve. The Department wanted these altered to increase the size of the land to 60 by 132 feet and place a rounded front on the building. Apart from these points the Department endorsed the plans; it being pointed out the building would be at the junction of five main roads. However in July 1892 public and private threats were made that the Department would be mulcted in heavy damages for law costs if they did not proceed with Puckle St. It was stated that the site was offered to the Postmaster-General in answer to an advertisement for land upon which to build a Post office. If it did not proceed legal action would be taken.

 

1906 showing part of the Rockery  Image courtesy State Library of Victoria Collection

Image H45554

 

The Government referred the matter to the Crown Solicitor. In response to a query the Department advised in September that as soon land had been transferred, the erection of the Post Office would proceed. A month later the Department was stating the documents were now in the hands of the Crown Solicitor. A response was still awaited in Jan 1893 when the Council enquired as to progress. The new Ascot Vale Post Office was opened in Union Rd in January 1893. It was pointed out that it was less than a mile from the proposed Puckle St position thus making this last site less eligible. In April 1894 a communication from the Department said that no definite time could be stated for building the new Moonee Ponds post office, in consequence of want of funds. In July 1895, A E Young’s tender to run the Mt Alexander Rd post office was not accepted. Young and his family had been the contractors for ten years and the Council felt they had been treated in a shabby manner. A public presentation was later made to the family. Young had been elected to Council in January 1895.

 

The Puckle St Site

 

The Puckle St land continued vacant but was not unused. In 'Pulse of the Ponds' Bob Chalmers includes the recollections of an old Puckle St shopkeeper, Fred Irish. He remembers this land in about 1900 as vacant but it contained a rostrum from which all the political speeches of the time were given. He recalled that Sometimes circus troupes would pitch their tents and sometimes merry go rounds, ocean waves or swing boats would be set up. He also remembered a woman singing from the platform and getting a shower of pennies in return.

 

William Watt Image. Sarony Studios, photographer.

H85.175/3 Image courtesy State Library of Victoria Collection.

 

By 1900 the issue seemed well off the agenda. This was despite William Watt, a local resident, being Victorian Postmaster-General for a year 1899-1900. The item being considered by Essendon Council under the title of Postal Reform referred only to action being taken to ensure that all premises had letter boxes. This would speed up the messengers and ensure the morning post was delivered by 8 am, when many men left for business, instead of 9 am.

 

A New Century and Commonwealth

 

In  September 1904  with the inauguration of a new Council the Essendon Gazette reported that Councillors had  for some time concerned themselves with obtaining for the district a Post Office commensurate with the importance of the Town.  The new Mayor, Cr Arthur Field Showers led a delegation to the Federal  Postmaster-General, Sydney Smith.  They were supported by MHR Hume Cook (who had previously lived in Ascot Vale) and Samuel Mauger, (whose brother George Mauger was an Essendon Councillor). William Watt was also present, as was the Permanent Secretary. Council felt the Minister was fair spirited and agreed that a service with revenue of £1850 and staff of 15 should be an official one, not contracted. The contractor was making a good profit as he received £739 for his services.

 

Sydney SmithPostmaster–General.  D. Bernard & Co., photographer.

Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection.   Image H96.160/679/58

 

The Minister promised that staff from his Department would visit the district but in the event he personally came out at 2 pm on the next Saturday. Unfortunately late delivery of the morning post had meant some Councillors did not receive prior notice. He inspected the area and a later letter confirmed that the Department would build a Post Office on the Puckle St site when funds were available. The following week Cr A E Young presented the Council with a petition signed by twenty five ratepayers opposing the choice of Puckle St as a non-central site. They referred to the outcome of the previous poll saying the rockery site was best.  Cr Young said the ratepayers would fight for the main road.

 

There was a note of weariness in Council’s reception of the petition.  It was made clear that Council had made no choice but only wanted an office erected. Cr George Mauger hoped that opposition being voiced would not prevent this. Fourteen years ago the conflict had resulted in no office being built and the parties between them had lost it altogether. Council felt it best to leave it to the authorities. James Holt, Postmaster for the past ten years, died in mid-1905, the ongoing task falling to his family. In February 1906 the Gazette announced the local firm Long Brothers had been the awarded the tender to build the Puckle St office.

 

1906 A Puckle St Post Office

 

The new Post Office opened without fanfare on 1 August 1906. A week before the Gazette had announced the change noting that the new Postmaster J D Finnegan would be assisted by fifteen staff.  The current Postmistress Miss Holt and her staff would stay on for a few weeks for familiarization so that there would be no public inconvenience. The Misses Holt and their brother were thanked for the courteous and patient way of conducting business. In its first year the office distributed 230,000 items, despatched 2,184 mails and received 988 district deliveries.

 

 The building which had taken 24 years to be established on this site was demolished 44 years later.

 

Moonee Ponds Post Office in Puckle Street.   Image courtesy State Library of Victoria H89.105/158

(Where are the lofty spires of Flemington, we ask ourselves? - Ed)

 

© M Kenny 2015

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgements. To Lenore Frost,  Bob Chalmers and Alex Bragiola for assistance and use of records

 

References

 

Archives

National Archives of Australia:  Moonee Ponds Post Office B5846, B5846/1

Public Records Office Victoria:  Probate records

Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Indexes

 

Newspapers

Argus, Essendon Gazette, North Melbourne Advertiser.

 

Secondary Sources

Australian National University. Australian Dictionary of Biography, , 2006-2015. http://adb.anu.edu.au

Burke Kelly.  The stamp of Australia : the story of our mail - from Second Fleet to twenty-first century.  Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin: 2009.

Cahill, Mary (ed). The grand mansions of Essendon and district 1880-1892.  Essendon Historical Society, Moonee Ponds:  2013.

Chalmers R W.  Annals of Essendon Vol 1.  Essendon Historical Society, Moonee Ponds: 1998.

Elson,  Elizabeth.  Dear Annie. Elizabeth Elson, Mornington: 1994.

Frost, Lenore, (ed). Federation Times in Essendon and Flemington : a pictorial record. Essendon Historical Society, Moonee Ponds: 2001.  

Frost, Lenore, (ed). The fine homes of Essendon and Flemington 1846 - 1880.  Essendon Historical Society, Moonee Ponds:  2010.

 

Unpublished manuscripts

Chalmers R W.   "The Pulse of the Ponds".

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