A detailed history of the Dandenong Ranges beginning in 1838, and covering the foundation and settlement of the townships of Fern Tree Gully, Scorseby, Bayswater, Emerald, Belgrave, Upwey, Monbulk and other associated townships.
This book tells the story of the giant eucalypt, the Mountain Ash, which grows in the north and east of Melbourne. A single tree can reach a height of 120 feet in 20 years, making it the worlds tallest hardwood.
A biography of Dr Alexander Thomson of Aberdeen, Scotland, who founded the City of Geelong and became its first Mayor. He played a significant part in the development of the State of Victoria, Australia.
General book on life of the Wurundjeri of the Dandenong Mountain & Yarra River area; The setting - location of Wurundjeri & Mara, Wotjobaluk groups of Kulin tribe, speaking Woewurong; tribal grouping - sex totemism, moieties, marriage rules, avoidance, kinship, medicine men, sorcery; Bunjil - legend given; law and order - role of old men; message sticks, trade & exchange; childhood - treatment, naming; initiation of boys - food taboos, hair plucking, tooth removal, nose piercing; omens & warnings; contact with Europeans, brief notes on Berak & Coranderrk Station, geographical names, Aboriginal sites, camping arrangement used by Berak; Chapter 2; Boorang the Wurundjeri; Chapter 3; Yerrin of the Bunurong - both fictional accounts of the life of a man & a woman.
"Using the work of great Australian painters and poets as an entry point, this cultural study counters the popular myth that early colonial settlers were environmentally irresponsible and offers both aesthetic and historical evidence that suggests nature always figured prominently in the Australian national consciousness. Preserving endangered species, protecting forests, maintaining public land rights, and staving off climate change were at issue in the first environmental law of Australia enacted in 1788. Parlimentary debates, personal observations, and artistic renderings explore the texture and dimensions of early Australian environmentalism."
Sounding 6 begins with Bain Attwood’s thesis Blacks & Lohans and an echo titled SEX & SORROW EAST OF MELBOURNE. Then Henry Meyrick’s frontier life and death in Western Port and Gipps Land leads into Echo 93: TAMING MELBOURNE BAYSIDE & THE DANDENONGS. Turning to OPENING GIPPSLAND: elite squatters at Sale are contrasted by surviving Kooris on Jackson’s Track. The narrative then backtracks in time with Echo 95: CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRUTH ABOUT SLAUGHTER IN GIPPSLAND comprising the Porter, Cox, Fels and Gardner versions of the blood-stained land-grab. Fels then reports on the Native Police actions and Morgan’s recent overview of the Ganai before and after white settlement concludes the shameful issues long denied or excused. Echo 96: LIAR’S LUNCH charts the rise and fall of pioneer Angus McMillan MP before the focus shifts to the historical geography of East Gippsland clans and languages and on to missionary Bulmer at Lake Tyers with the stories of the payback of Hopping Kitty and Attwood’s study of Brataualung man Tarra Bobby. Alfred Howitt’s birthing of Oz anthropology with his opus The Native Tribes of South-east Australia published at the start of the 20th century is the source material of several echoes on the making of ‘clever’ men and on songs and song-makers. Sounding 6 closes with extracts reprinted from Professor Elkin’s Aboriginal Men of High Degree – their personality and ‘making’, the powers of medicine men, and in conclusion Echo 106: ABORIGINAL MEN OF HIGH DEGREE IN A CHANGING WORLD.
The Puffing Billy Railway in Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges is a genuine living museum. The quaint little train became an institution of the Dandenongs, and closure of the line in 1953 caused a public outcry. The salvation and continued operation of Australia's best loved steam train is a story worth telling. Meticulously researched, this comprehensive, full colour book contains over 200 attractive archival and modern images, covers an array of fascinating subjects, and is an absolute must for anyone with a love of the Puffing Billy Railway and the Dandenong Ranges.