HO124 - Grave, Ruin & Archaeological Site, Former Greenhills Pastoral Station

The grave, ruin and archaeological site associated with the former Greenhills pastoral station, situated at 36-49 O'Connell Avenue Toolern Vale, are historically significant at a LOCAL level (AHC A4, B2). Greenhills was a noted early Victorian pastoral property established by John Hunter Patterson, prominent pastoralist and member of the early Port Phillip community, and Victorian MLA and Treasurer in the 1850s. Established very early in 1837, Greenhills was one of the first and largest (40,000 acres) runs in the district, and in 1841 the largest population centre in the present Shire of Melton. The station became the basis of the road system and early settlement of the Toolern Vale district, which was initially named after the station. The property was also associated with prominent identities:- John Batman's daughters Eliza and Adelaide who married the station's Collyer brothers; Cr A Macintosh, the first President of the Melton Roads Board; Cr Walter Browne, JP; and other pioneering pastoralists in Victoria's history including George Hyde and George Urquhart.

Although the person whose remains lies in the grave is thought to have been a young woman who died in the late 1840s or early 1850s, her identity remains a mystery. The oldest and most enduring story is that it contains the remains of a Miss Batman, one of John Batman's daughters; another that it was a governess, perhaps a Miss Bateman (sic), who pined away waiting for her sailor love to return; another that it was a Miss Collier (sic], a friend or relative of an early station owner. It is representative of the many unmarked graves on the original Greenhills station, and in the area, which remain part of Toolern Vale lore, despite their location being all but forgotten, and their occupants (Aboriginal people, station workers, a government land surveyor, and returning diggers) only generally known.

The grave associated with the former Greenhills pastoral station, situated at 36-49 O'Connell Avenue Toolern Vale, is socially significant at the LOCAL level (AHC G1). The grave has always been a part of the Toolern Vale community's lore, and life, its repair having been tended to by both the station owners and the community over the years. Its current state reflects the 'heavily fenced in' grave as it was in the early twentieth century. It was identified as a place of heritage significance to the local community in a community forum held as part of this heritage study.

The ruin and archaeological site associated with the former Greenhills pastoral station, situated at 36-49 O'Connell Avenue Toolern Vale, are scientifically significant at a LOCAL level (AHC C2). They have the potential to provide information regarding early pastoral practices, in particular sheep-washing, that would contribute to a wider understanding of the pastoral industry in the Shire of Melton and Victoria. Overall, the grave, ruin and archaeological site associated with the former Greenhills pastoral station, situated at 36-49 O'Connell Avenue Toolern Vale, is of LOCAL significance.

Group

Cemeteries and Burial Sites

Category

Isolated Grave/Burial Site