Dawn and Lois, thank you both very much, it may just be that he bought the land and then moved on. There was a notice in a melb paper from his distressed wife, who after arriving from England with three little girls, apparently could not find him, it was a missing person notice, she remarried two years later stating he was dead! The ad said he had been in the Maryborough district, then we found his name listed as buying land in Craigie, so the location fits and it was him. He never remarried, what happened who knows, but with such a long voyage, no communications during that time, things could easily go wrong. I'll check out the links kindly provided. We travel through to Vic every couple of years, so will detour and have a look at the area. How lovely to have been able to have bought the school!! Valerie