re Mewburn Park question From: Margaret <meander@i-o.net.au> To: <bcstone@netlink.com.au> Subject: Mewburn Park Date: Thursday, 9 March 2000 6:03 PM Dear Christine Mewburn Park is one of the oldest properties in Gippsland it wasd settled 5 years after Melbourne in 1842. Angus McMillan was sent by Lachlan Macalister and James Macfarlane (that is its correct spelling) to investigate the grazing prospects og the Gippsland Plains. A lease of 38,000 acres (£10 annually was the fee paid to the crown on pastoral runs, regardless of size) was taken up by Dr. Arbuckle and squatters Lachlan Macalister and Thomas Mewburn Macalister(came to Australia in 1837-38, named Mewburn Park after his fathers father-in-law, Thomas Mewburn. This pastoral run took up the area between the Macalister and Thompson Rivers. The Macalister River was named on the 22nd January 1840. In 1847 Captain John Johnson-Boe of Hobart acquired the lease and developed it. In 1854 Capt. Johnson bought the leased land for £4,500. It was approximately this time that he built the homestead and later the stables. The buildings were built of bricks made on the property. Cattle from Mewburn Park provided markets interstate and New Zealand. During the Maori wars he shipped cattle and other provisions to feed the imperial forces. Capt. Johnson Boe was elected to parliament in 1857 as the Member for North Gippsland and in 1862 he resigned and became Member for South Gippsland. Capt Johnson's son John Canute James Johnson-Boe returned from studies overseas and took over the running of Mewburn Park with Henry (Harry) Glassford and they were sending between 4000 and 5000 head of fat cattle to the Melbourne market. John C. J. Johnson-Boe died of inflamation of the lung aged 29 and Capt. Johnsons' daughter Martha Bertine (Tina) inherited the land. Capt. Johnson-Boe died in Tasmania in 1875. In 1903 Mewburn Park had diminished in size to 5400 acres due to land being sold off in 1882 and 1903. Mewburn was reduce in size yet again to 652 acres when there was a huge auction in 1906 where 500 people attended at the Mechanics Hall. The Glassfords continued to breed cattle and horses. In 1917 Robert Gilder purchased the property. In 1919 the golf course was built. In 1886 John and Julie Vardy purchased Mewburn Park from the Estate of R. Gilder. Hope this information is of some use to you. Most of it as provided by the present owners John and Julie Vardy. Margaret