In This Section
Information about early community life in our Region can be found in an array of records in the Shire Archives. These include records for local cemeteries, letters from residents written to the Shires and press clippings to name a few.
These photographs are of local men in the Balnarring area from the late nineteenth century. Many of them contributed to local government and are remembered today through local place names including Stanleys Road and Tonkin Road. A restored framed work of these portraits can be seen in the Balnarring Hall. We have preservation copies in the Shire Archives.
Historical Cemetery Records for the four Council-managed Cemeteries are held in the Shire Archive. Dromana, Flinders, Mornington and Tyabb are all represented. These early records illustrate the brutality of life in the 19th and early 20th Centuries and are important permanent records.
This 1866 extract from the Tyabb Cemetery Register, shows how closely connected the Western Port community was to the sea. There are burials where the method of ‘carriage’ to the cemetery was by boat, and people interred were from communities such as Phillip Island and Sandstone Island. The register also reminds us that the early name of Hastings township was ‘Star Point’. The deceased’s occupation is listed and provides a fascinating snapshot of the demographic. Fisherman’s Wife, Solicitor, Farmer, Blacksmith, Carpenter.
This Petition to the Shire of Frankston and Hastings and the Shire of Mornington in 1919, shows the signatures of rate payers requesting that Balnarring Road should be better maintained to encourage wider settlement. The original signatures are a terrific local and family history resource. It is also interesting to see both the Shire of Mornington and the Shire of Frankston and Hastings, referred to. There is very little material in the Archives for the former Shire of Frankston and Hastings, which separated in 1960 when the Shire of Hastings was formed.
Since the appointment of Road Boards in the 1860s, the maintenance of road infrastructure has been a key local government service. This evocative letter from local resident, Mr Vale, in 1918, illustrates the challenges that were presented by poor roads, especially when horse and cart was the dominant method of transport. Mr Vale re -tells the story of a heavy horse drawn cart being rescued after swerving to avoid a collision with other horse drawn vehicles on Dromana Road.