Birregurra
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Introduction
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The Farndales of Birregurra
Matthew Farndale
was the first Farndale to emigrate to Australia on 8 October 1852. Matthew Farndale, aged 59, his wife
Hannah Farndale, formerly Thompson, aged 45, his daughter Elizabeth Farndale
aged 19 (FAR00323) and his daughter Mary Ann Martin
(nee Farndale) (FAR00313) aged 23 left Southampton on ‘The
Argo’ (967 tons) on 8 Oct 1852.They arrived in Melbourne Australia on 19
January 1853, a journey of 103 days or some three months. They settled at
Birregurra and established the Birregurra (Australia
1) Line.
For whatever
reason they ended up at Birragurra and selected land.
Their first task was to build a house which they did made of earth, grass and
water. They must then have planted crops and collected animals, in particular
sheep. Sometime later, perhaps a year or two, they built a small house of timber
with a tin roof. They called it "Hawthorne" from the hawthorne they had planted on arrival. Hawthorne stills
grows there
"Hawthorne",
Birragurra, "The Garden of Eden"
As the years
passed the farm grew. William Martin would take their produce to Ballarat and
Geelong and buy provisions; a long cross country journey lasting many days.
Cows and pigs were added and the farm buildings extended in size until it
resembled a Yorkshire farm house. Sadly the whole property was destroyed by a
bush fire in 1901 when all Western Victoria was set alight
In 1870 the
railway reached Colac and Birregurra in 1877.
Matthew died at
Birregurra on 8 August 1884 aged 90 and Hannah, his widow, died on 9 December
1892 aged 85 years. Their memorial stands today at Warncourt,
Birragurra, Australia. But they also have a memorial
in Yorkshire, England when their nephew Charles added Mathew's name to the
memorial of his twin brother William. In a letter Marion Hall wrote:
"Matthew Farndale died on 8 August 1884 at his home in Birregurra aged 91
leaving his widow of half a century, his faithful loving wife to lament his
loss, and his friends to tell of his earnest and gentle Christian life.”
See also the Farndales and their descendants of Australia
You will also find details of the descendants who settled
at Birregurra and south Australia at the Martin Family.
Birregurra
Birregurra is a town
in Victoria, Australia approximately 130 km south-west
of Melbourne. The town is divided between the Shire of Colac
Otway and the Surf Coast Shire. At the 2016
census, Birregurra had a population of 828.
Birregurra is an
Aboriginal word thought to mean ‘kangaroo camp'.
In 1839, the Wesleyan missionaries and colonial government
established the Buntingdale Mission Station
in the area. This was Victoria's first Aboriginal mission.
A Post Office opened in the area on 1 October 1858 and was
renamed Mount Gellibrand in 1894, a few days before another office nearby was
opened as Birregurra.
The railway though the town was opened in
1877, as part of the line to the south west of the state. A branch line to
Forrest left the main line here, opened in 1891 and closed in
1957. The local railway station is served by V/Line passenger
services on the Warrnambool line.
