‘Land prices rose sharply after the first two sales in 1850 and 1851, and those who bought then for £1 or £2 an acre could afford to smile’, according to Andrew Lemons book Box Hill. John Dane almost immediately sold part of his Koonung Creek property (which he had bought in 1851) to Joseph Aspinall, for £7 an acre.
John Dane was born in 1810 in Killyhewlin Ireland; he was the son of Captain John Dane Snr. and Margaret Dane (Humphrys). Captain John Dane Snr. was stationed in Quebec with the 98th Regiment of Foot when he married Margaret in 1808. Margaret’s father was Captain Richard Humphrys who served as the Aide De Camp to the Duke of Gloucester.
In 1825 John Dane jnr was commissioned and served in a number of Regiments including the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot, 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot, the 98th Regiment of Foot, the 57th Regiment of Foot and the 53rd Regiment of Foot as Captain.
In 1834 John jnr married Mary Hayes while he was stationed in Madras, India. Mary Hayes was born in England in 1818; she was the daughter of John and Anne Hayes.
John jnr and Mary had three children - Juliana born in 1838 in Madras, India; Paul born in 1843 in Cornwall, England and Mary Jnr. born in 1852 in Melbourne. According to Burke's Irish Family Records they also had a son named John who died in 1860.
The Burke's Irish Family Records mentions that ‘He (John jnr) emigrated to Australia arriving on 1847 where he took a grant of land in Victoria’ and the Parliament of Victoria Member Biographies also mentions that John Jnr. ‘arrived Melbourne Aug. 1851, possibly for the second time’. It appears that John Jnr. may have sailed to Melbourne in 1847, returned to India to sell his commission and then returned to Melbourne in 1851, since according to Allen’s Indian Mail Gazette - John sold his commission to a ‘Lieut. William Payn, to be Capt. by purch. v. Dane, who retires. Date 14th March, 1851’.
In 1851 he bought 229 acres (Crown allotment 12) in the Nunawading District (Box Hill North) along the Koonung Creek, but he did not live there. By December, 1851 he was appointed Assistant Gold Commissioner of Bendigo.
After John Dane jnr sold part of his Koonung creek property which he had bought in 1851 to Joseph Aspinall. Aspinall named it Woodhouse Grove and he and his wife Jane were living there when their second child, Mary Jane, was born on 1 January 1852 (according to Andrew Lemons book Box Hill).
'The Aspinall’s had come to Melbourne in 1849. Joseph was alleged to have done very well for himself in a short time at the Ballarat gold diggings in 1851, and it was from the proceeds of this that he purchased the Nunawading land’ - according to Andrew Lemons book Box Hill.
Did John Dane jnr and Joseph Aspinall know each other from their time on the gold fields?
In February, 1852 John Dane jnr resigned from his position as Assistant Gold Commissioner and returned to Melbourne where he bought a 90 acre allotment in Eltham; an 18 and 15 acre allotment in the Parish of Prahran; two five acre allotments in the Parish of Buninyong and a 100 acre allotment again in the Nunawading District. This Nunawading allotment was on the southern side of Riversdale Rd near the corner of Station St in Box Hill South with Gardiners Creek running through it.
In 1853 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington - a seat he held until resigning in November 1854. Also in 1853 he purchased land in Boroondara and had properties in Collingwood and South Melbourne.
In 1853 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council representing the electorate of South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington but resigned in 1854.
In 1864 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Warnambool and served until 1865. He contested other seats including South Bourke in 1864, Evelyn in 1868 and the East Bourke Boroughs in 1874.
According to the ‘Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament 1859-1900’ John Dane jnr was a Protectionist and was associated with the British Reform League 1865 and the Melbourne based National Reform and Protection League.
The Reform League was formed in England in 1865 to lobby the government for ‘universal male suffrage’ - a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification.
Australia’s first mass political party, the National Reform and Protection League was founded by three time Victorian Premier Graham Berry in 1877. The party developed a network of more than 150 branches across Victoria. Its candidates were pre-selected prior to election with its parliamentary members meeting as a caucus and were expected to vote as a bloc.
Around 1878 John jnr lived on a 320 acre farm on the outskirts of Altmore near Warragul in the County of Buln Buln until 1882. In 1882 he moved to moved to Sydney to live with his daughter Mary Jnr. and her husband Wellington Carrington.
John Dane jnr died in 1882 in Campbelltown and his wife Mary in 1903 in St. Kilda.
The Dane family had many connections with significant families in the Colonies of New South Wales and New Zealand.
Mary Carrington (nee Dane) – Daughter of John Dane jnr
John and Mary’s daughter Mary Jnr. married Wellington Carrington in 1879 in Melbourne. Wellington was born in 1849 in Taranaki; New Zealand was the son of Augustus and Mary Carrington (nee Roberts). Augustus was a prominent Surveyor in the development of New Zealand being involved in surveying New Plymouth, Akaroa, Lyttelton, Waitara and Taranaki. His brother Frederick also a Surveyor is often referred to as the “the founder of Taranaki”.
Paul Dane – Son of John Dane jnr
Paul followed in his father’s footsteps into the military and travelled to England where he purchased a commission as Ensign in 1860 in the 45th Regiment of Foot - he later attained the rank of Lieutenant. The regiment was based in Nottinghamshire in England and was deployed to Gibraltar, Ethiopia, Nova Scotia, America and Austria.
In 1866 Paul was discharged from the army.
In 1867 Paul, his parents and sisters sailed from Plymouth to Melbourne onboard the sailing ship Somersetshire.
Paul later went into partnership with Edward Darvall. Edward Darvall was the son of Sir John Darvall who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Legislative Assembly and also held the positions of Solicitor General and Attorney General at various times. Together Paul and Edward formed the brokerage firm of Dane and Darvall, but in 1873 the firm was dissolved by mutual consent.
Paul did not marry and died in Burnett St, St Kilda in 1879 aged 36 and left his estate to Richard Dane. In his Will Paul refer’s to Richard as ‘his brother’. I have not found any record of John Dane and Mary having a son named Richard. Yet Richard is also referred to in John Dane jnr’s 1882 Will as ‘his son Richard Dane’.
Richard Dane was born in Bengal in India in 1841 and later enlisted in the 58th Regiment of Foot in Bengal. In the 1861 British census he was with his regiment in Yorkshire and is listed aged twenty with the rank of Lieutenant.
In 1877 Richard sailed from London onboard the Lusitania to Melbourne and on the passenger list his occupation is listed as 'clerk'. In Melbourne he also lived in Burnett St in St Kilda. In the 1878 Victorian Government Gazette his occupation is listed as 'magistrate' in the Eastern Bailiwick of Buln Buln. Richard died in 1895 at the Melbourne Eastern Hospital.
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