History – Whitehorse Historical Society Inc.

Fruit Industry

From the early days of settlement in this district, fruit growing was successfully carried on. All orchards had their own dams for irrigation, , pumps Read More

Mary’s Story

Mary’s Childhood I was born on 7 May 1887 in a rather pleasing, but humble, stone cottage that my father built, following the design of Read More

Blackburn

First settled by Europeans in the 1840s, originally “Blackburn Creek” was a staging post on the way to Lilydale, centred on the Travellers’ Rest Hotel (erected 1861). Read More

Mitcham

Mitcham was named after Mitcham Grove, a farm property owned by William Slater, who grew roses and herbs for perfumes and remedies. Read More

Nunawading

In Parkside Avenue, Blackburn a 250 year old stringybark is believed to have been the focus in a place of ritual of the Wurundjeri people, original inhabitants of the Nuwawading area. Read More

The landscape of Vermont was thickly timbered bushland, inhabited by the Wurundjeri, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who camped near the creeks and gullies of the area now known as Bellbird Dell. Read More

Australian Tesselated Tile Company

The Australian Tesselated Tile Company was established in Mitcham in 1886, south of the station. It almost collapsed after the end of the land boom Read More

Schwerkolt Family

Johann August Schwerkolt (August) was born in Prussia in 1822. He was a brickmaker by trade and married his first wife Paulina Richter in 1849. Read More