Mary Olive Hancock

F, #10332, b. 1908, d. 28 Sep 1992
Married NameKerr. 
Birth*1908 St Arnaud, VIC, Australia, #B30321 [par John Stephen HANCOCK & Mary JARDINE].1 
Marriage*8 Feb 1936 Spouse: Arthur James Kerr. 157 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.2
 
Land-UBeac30 May 1949 PAK-114.115 (part) LP28748, 36 + 56 Hughendon Road. Transfer from Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty to Mary Olive Kerr. 35a.3 
Land-UBeac*23 Aug 1949 GEM-C-68 (part), 110 Blue Ridge Road. Transfer from Dorothy Lance McMahon to Mary Olive Kerr. 18a 1r 18p.4 
Land-UBeac*9 Feb 1960 GEM-C-68 (part), 110 Blue Ridge Road. Transfer from Mary Olive Kerr to Maude Mary Wade. 18a 1r 18p.5 
Widow4 Jul 1969Mary Olive Hancock became a widow upon the death of her husband Arthur James Kerr.2 
Land-UBeac*7 Nov 1973 PAK-223A.226, 64 Norbury Road. Transfer from Mary Olive Hancock to Alan George Patrick Meryl Patrick. 29a 3r 11p - The Patricks built a house they called Foxfield in 1975. Burnt down in Ash Wednesday, and built a house the same as the first house. Now 64 Norbury Road.6 
Land-UBeac*26 May 1976 PAK-114.115 (part) LP28748, 36 + 56 Hughendon Road. Transfer from Mary Olive Kerr to Lynette Anne 'Lindy' Kerr. 35a.7 
Death*28 Sep 1992 Clayton, VIC, Australia.2 
(Mentioned) Village BellApr 1994 Hughendon Road Locality
When my wife and I acquired our property, now 68 Hughendon Road, in 1958, the road was only constructed a few yards further, to what was then the Schreppel’s place, now No 75. Noel Schreppel told us that it was make up to that point when the Beaconsfield Reservoir was built after World War I. Along the north-east boundary of his land, at a slant from the road, was a track and a horse tramway, used for carrying tools and materials down to the dam works in the Haunted Gully. Traces of the track could still be seen. There was then no Hughendon Road pumping station, and no secure fence around the State Rivers reservoir property. People went there shooting, bathing and picnicking. O’Neil road was only made up from Telegraph Road as far as the present No 555. It recommenced at “Bimbimbe” at the corner of Bowman Road. In the gap there were merely tracks through the trees, only fit for horses and motor-cycles. The gaps in O’Neil and Hughendon Roads were improved with roads after the 1961/62 bushfires. The intersection of O’Neil and Hughendon Roads was known as Paget’s Gate.
As a youth, Schreppel and friends used to cycle from the city to spend weekends here, sleeping in a rotunda at the top of the “Quamby Estate” above Quamby Road, which had been subdivided into small lots. Councillor Peter Meeking has information about the rotunda, put there by the estate developer. A band played there at weekends and holidays to attract prospective customers.
Schreppel told us about “Uncle Jack” Doherty, owner of a concrete construction firm in the city, who liked to “go bush” occasionally. He was a strong, short, thickset man with a beard. He built the original “Bimbimbe” in O’Neil Road, known as “the concrete house”. It was burned in 1983, when its owner was radio entertainer, Betty Adamson. Doherty had a “Miner’s Right” near the road, on the crest of lots 114/115, now No 36 Hughendon Road. He sunk a shaft there, looking for the orebody origin of the alluvial gold found in the Haunted Gully. He was secretive and suspicious and scouted around in the bush to make sure that nobody was watching him at work. He would lower himself into the shaft, dig, and set fuses, hoist himself out. Then the boom of an explosion, and great shower of rocks and dust shot out of the shaft. His crusher was worked by an old American truck engine. Remains of these activities were there in our time. After a rain shower the crushed gravel glittered, but it was pyrites, “fools’ gold”.
The property, lots 114/115, belonged to a Mrs Kerr, who used it to get firewood for her nursing home in St. Kilda. She occasionally had a holiday in her weatherboard house here. She did not mind Doherty, but she was upset when a syndicate of strangers took out a “Miner’s Right” in the 1960’s, and pegged a claim around the shaft. We had found old car number plates in it, and suspecting something illegal, we told the police. They already knew; they dumped them there.
The syndicate cleared out the shaft, and extended it to 100 foot, and cut some side tunnels, so they told me. The weekends were punctuated by explosions, frequent ones. Mrs. Kerr, who was our neighbour, felt powerless to stop them. I suggested that she ask the Barnes family, who cut her firewood, to drop one or two truckloads of manure from their piggery into the shaft. I do not know if they did so, or perhaps the syndicate gave up, disappointed. Work stopped, and the shaft was filled when the McSkimmings built there.
Though gold was recorded as found and worked in the Haunted Gully, south of Hughendon Road, there appears to have been none on the north side. In the Sailor’s and Welcome Gullies between Hughendon and Telegraph Roads there were several trenches and shafts, some going down to the original beds of the creeks. But no signs of actual workings, or records of them.8 

Electoral Rolls (Australia) and Census (UK/IRL)

DateAddressOccupation and other people at same address
1937150 Alma Road, St Kilda North, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: nurse. With Arthur James Kerr.9
194320 Fulton Street, St Kilda North, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: nurse. With Arthur James Kerr.10
bt 1949 - 1963150 Alma Road, St Kilda North, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: matron.11,12,13
196820 Jessamine Avenue, Armadale, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: hospital matron.14

Citations

  1. [S3] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Edwardian Index Victoria 1902-1913.
  2. [S80] Ancestry - Family Tree, kerr Family Tree - Owner: cherylanderson47.
  3. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Mary Olive Kerr of 150 Alma Road St Kilda - C/T 8047-562.
  4. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 6577-271 - Mary Olive Kerr of Alma Road East St Kilda Nursing Sister.
  5. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 6577-271 - Maude Mary Wade of Main Road Olinda Married Woman.
  6. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 3792-219 - Alan George Patrick Director and Meryl Patrick Married Woman both of 45 High Street Road Ashburton - joint proprietors.
  7. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 8047-562 - Lynette Anne Stead of 45 Christchurch Hill Hampstead London England Married Woman.
  8. [S15] Newspaper - Village Bell Issue 97 - Apr 1994, p11-12 by John Milligan.
  9. [S137] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1937.
  10. [S143] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1943.
  11. [S149] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1949.
  12. [S154] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1954.
  13. [S163] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1963.
  14. [S168] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1968.
Last Edited28 Jul 2024

John Thomas Doherty

M, #10334, b. 1870, d. 1954
Birth*1870 Collingwood, VIC, Australia, #B22362 [par Joseph DOHERTY & Martha Ann ARNFIELD].1 
Marriage*1893 Spouse: Pricilla Renouf. VIC, Australia, #M4169.2
 
Widower26 Jan 1936John Thomas Doherty became a widower upon the death of his wife Pricilla Renouf.3 
Land-UBeac15 Jun 1937 PAK-86. Transfer from George Bernard Thompson to John Thomas Doherty. 19a 3r 7p.4 
Land-UBeac25 Feb 1941 PAK-86. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty. 19a 3r 7p.5 
Land-UBeac*27 Mar 1941 PAK-115. Transfer from Ernest Henry Grant to John Thomas Doherty. 19a 2r 5p.6 
Land-UBeac27 Mar 1941 PAK-114. Transfer from Ernest Henry Grant to John Thomas Doherty. 19a 1r 13p.7 
Land-UBeac*27 Mar 1941 PAK LP5112 (Lots 6+7). Transfer from Edward Buckland to John Thomas Doherty. Mr Buckland's estate sold the land.8 
Land-UBeac2 Jan 1942 PAK-115. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.9 
Land-UBeac*2 Jan 1942 PAK LP5112 (Lots 6+7). Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.10 
Land-UBeac3 Jan 1942 PAK-114. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. 19a 1r 13p - John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.11 
Land-UBeac*abt 1945 PAK LP5112 (Lots 6+7). Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Richmond Armstrong Hope. 18 ac Walnut Grove Estate Pt PAK-79.79A NAV 12 + 3 (John George Nolan listed on title.)12 
Death*1954 Melbourne, VIC, Australia, #D8002 (Age 83.)3 

Electoral Rolls (Australia) and Census (UK/IRL)

DateAddressOccupation and other people at same address
1919Wastel Street, Northcote, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: quarryman. With Pricilla Renouf.13
193754 Simpson Street, Northcote, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: contractor.14
bt 1942 - 194956 Simpson Street, Northcote, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: quarryman.15,16
1949Hughendon Road, Upper Beaconsfield, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: nil.15
1954Hughendon Road, Upper Beaconsfield, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: nil. With Jack Doherty.17

Family

 Pricilla Renouf b. 1865, d. 26 Jan 1936
Child 1.Jack Doherty+ b. 1896, d. 25 Apr 1965

Citations

  1. [S1] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Pioneer Index Victoria 1836-1888.
  2. [S2] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Federation Index Victoria 1889-1901.
  3. [S5] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Death Index Victoria 1921-1985.
  4. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 1110-837 - John Thomas Doherty of 54 Simpson Street Northcote Master Quarryman.
  5. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 1110-837 - Jack Doherty of 1 Wastell Street Northcote Engine Driver.
  6. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - John Thomas Doherty of 54 Simpson Street Northcote Contractor.
  7. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2170-929 - John Thomas Doherty of 54 Simpson Street Northcote Contractor.
  8. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 3368-460 - C/T 5207-372 - John Thomas DOHERTY of 54 Simpson Street, Northcote, Contractor.
  9. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  10. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), V 5207 F 372
    Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  11. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2170-929 - Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  12. [S66] Berwick Shire Rates, 1870-1965 1944-1945 Rates - purchased from Doherty, Hughendon Road for £330 - though not listed on title - John George Nolan of Upper Beaconsfield Farmer listed instead
    1945/46 NAV 15 - unpaid rates
    1946/47 sold for £440 per 20.1.1947 to Dudley Francis Hunter.
  13. [S119] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1919.
  14. [S137] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1937.
  15. [S149] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1949.
  16. [S142] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1942.
  17. [S154] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1954.
Last Edited5 Nov 2020

Jack Doherty

M, #10335, b. 1896, d. 25 Apr 1965
Father*John Thomas Doherty b. 1870, d. 1954
Mother*Pricilla Renouf b. 1865, d. 26 Jan 1936
Probate (Will)* Jack Doherty. Pensioner. Fairfield. 25 Apr 1965. 630/989.1 
Birth*1896 Richmond, VIC, Australia, #B14431.2 
Marriage*1919 Spouse: Selina Gertude Fry. VIC, Australia, #M10996.3
 
Land-UBeac25 Feb 1941 PAK-86. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty. 19a 3r 7p.4 
Land-UBeac2 Jan 1942 PAK-115. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.5 
Land-UBeac*2 Jan 1942 PAK LP5112 (Lots 6+7). Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.6 
Land-UBeac3 Jan 1942 PAK-114. Transfer from John Thomas Doherty to Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty. 19a 1r 13p - John Thomas DOHERTY sold/transferred the land to his six children as joint proprietors.7 
Land-UBeac18 May 1949 PAK 115 (part) LP28748 (Lot 2), 26 Hughendon Road. Transfer from Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty to Ronald King. 1a.8 
Land-UBeac30 May 1949 PAK-114.115 (part) LP28748, 36 + 56 Hughendon Road. Transfer from Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty to Mary Olive Kerr. 35a.9 
Land-UBeac25 Nov 1953 PAK-114.115 (part) LP28748 (Lot 1), 18 Hughendon Road. Transfer from Jack Doherty, Martha Margaret Doherty, Joseph Doherty, Irene Ivy Doherty, Albert Ernest Doherty, Ethel May Doherty to Sydney Clarence Bailey Ellen Alice Bailey. 2a 3r 18p.10 
Land-UBeac*2 Feb 1956 PAK-86. Transfer from Jack Doherty to William Barraclough Heap Alexandrovna Elizabeth Ellen Heap. 19a 3r 7p - caveat lodged 16 Aug 1955.11 
Death*25 Apr 1965 Ivanhoe, VIC, Australia, #D8312 (Age 69.)12 
(Mentioned) Village BellApr 1994 Hughendon Road Locality
When my wife and I acquired our property, now 68 Hughendon Road, in 1958, the road was only constructed a few yards further, to what was then the Schreppel’s place, now No 75. Noel Schreppel told us that it was make up to that point when the Beaconsfield Reservoir was built after World War I. Along the north-east boundary of his land, at a slant from the road, was a track and a horse tramway, used for carrying tools and materials down to the dam works in the Haunted Gully. Traces of the track could still be seen. There was then no Hughendon Road pumping station, and no secure fence around the State Rivers reservoir property. People went there shooting, bathing and picnicking. O’Neil road was only made up from Telegraph Road as far as the present No 555. It recommenced at “Bimbimbe” at the corner of Bowman Road. In the gap there were merely tracks through the trees, only fit for horses and motor-cycles. The gaps in O’Neil and Hughendon Roads were improved with roads after the 1961/62 bushfires. The intersection of O’Neil and Hughendon Roads was known as Paget’s Gate.
As a youth, Schreppel and friends used to cycle from the city to spend weekends here, sleeping in a rotunda at the top of the “Quamby Estate” above Quamby Road, which had been subdivided into small lots. Councillor Peter Meeking has information about the rotunda, put there by the estate developer. A band played there at weekends and holidays to attract prospective customers.
Schreppel told us about “Uncle Jack” Doherty, owner of a concrete construction firm in the city, who liked to “go bush” occasionally. He was a strong, short, thickset man with a beard. He built the original “Bimbimbe” in O’Neil Road, known as “the concrete house”. It was burned in 1983, when its owner was radio entertainer, Betty Adamson. Doherty had a “Miner’s Right” near the road, on the crest of lots 114/115, now No 36 Hughendon Road. He sunk a shaft there, looking for the orebody origin of the alluvial gold found in the Haunted Gully. He was secretive and suspicious and scouted around in the bush to make sure that nobody was watching him at work. He would lower himself into the shaft, dig, and set fuses, hoist himself out. Then the boom of an explosion, and great shower of rocks and dust shot out of the shaft. His crusher was worked by an old American truck engine. Remains of these activities were there in our time. After a rain shower the crushed gravel glittered, but it was pyrites, “fools’ gold”.
The property, lots 114/115, belonged to a Mrs Kerr, who used it to get firewood for her nursing home in St. Kilda. She occasionally had a holiday in her weatherboard house here. She did not mind Doherty, but she was upset when a syndicate of strangers took out a “Miner’s Right” in the 1960’s, and pegged a claim around the shaft. We had found old car number plates in it, and suspecting something illegal, we told the police. They already knew; they dumped them there.
The syndicate cleared out the shaft, and extended it to 100 foot, and cut some side tunnels, so they told me. The weekends were punctuated by explosions, frequent ones. Mrs. Kerr, who was our neighbour, felt powerless to stop them. I suggested that she ask the Barnes family, who cut her firewood, to drop one or two truckloads of manure from their piggery into the shaft. I do not know if they did so, or perhaps the syndicate gave up, disappointed. Work stopped, and the shaft was filled when the McSkimmings built there.
Though gold was recorded as found and worked in the Haunted Gully, south of Hughendon Road, there appears to have been none on the north side. In the Sailor’s and Welcome Gullies between Hughendon and Telegraph Roads there were several trenches and shafts, some going down to the original beds of the creeks. But no signs of actual workings, or records of them.13 

Electoral Rolls (Australia) and Census (UK/IRL)

DateAddressOccupation and other people at same address
191921 Station Street, Fairfield, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: driver. With Selina Gertude Doherty.14
19377 Wastell Street, Northcote, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: bricklayer. With Selina Gertude Doherty.15
bt 1942 - 19495 Wastell Street, Northcote, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: engine-driver.16,17
1949Hughendon Road, Beaconsfield, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: poultry farmer. With Selina Gertude Doherty.16
1954Hughendon Road, Upper Beaconsfield, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: poultry farmer. With John Thomas Doherty.18
1963312 Gillies Street, Thornbury East, VIC, AustraliaOccupation: driver. With Selina Gertude Doherty.19

Citations

  1. [S35] Probate Records, PROV (Public Record Office Victoria).
  2. [S2] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Federation Index Victoria 1889-1901.
  3. [S22] Victorian Government. BDM Index Victoria (online).
  4. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 1110-837 - Jack Doherty of 1 Wastell Street Northcote Engine Driver.
  5. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  6. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), V 5207 F 372
    Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  7. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2170-929 - Joseph DOHERTY of 14 Grandview Grove and Albert Ernest DOHERTY of 18 Grandview Grove Quarrymen; Martha Margaret AMBLER of 56 Simpson Street and Irene Ivy FRY of 77 South Crescent, Married Women, all of Northcote; and Jack DOHERTY of Beaconsfield Engine Driver and Ethel May COWCHER of Montmorency Married Woman - transfer numbered 1845689.
  8. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Ronald King of 17 Stewart Street Williamstown Textile Foreman - C/T 8047-561 - now 26 Hughendon Road.
  9. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Mary Olive Kerr of 150 Alma Road St Kilda - C/T 8047-562.
  10. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 2201-160 - Sydney Clarence Bailey Groom and Ellen Alice Bailey Married Woman both of Hughendon Road Upper Beaconsfield - C/T 8047-563.
  11. [S185] Property Titles ; PROV (Public Record Office Victoria), C/T 1110-837 - William Barraclough Heap Storeman and Alexandrovna Elizabeth Ellen Heap Married Woman both of O'Neills Road Beaconsfield - joint proprietors.
  12. [S5] Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Death Index Victoria 1921-1985.
  13. [S15] Newspaper - Village Bell Issue 97 - Apr 1994, p11-12 by John Milligan.
  14. [S119] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1919.
  15. [S137] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1937 "Selina as 1 Wastell Road."
  16. [S149] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1949.
  17. [S142] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1942.
  18. [S154] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1954.
  19. [S163] Electoral Roll for Australia, 1963.
Last Edited11 Sep 2017
 

NOTE

Some family sections show only the children who were associated with Upper Beaconsfield.

Some individuals may be featured because members of their family were associated with the Upper Beaconsfield area, even though they themselves never lived here.