1840 to 1849


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I have not yet established all the early occupiers of the Axedale Run. It had changed hands a few times before 1847.

There has to be a starting point for everything and I have chosen to start with 1847 - 4 years before my Scottish ancestors came to Victoria and 101 years before I was born. At this time, the colony of Victoria only exists as the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and no-one has thought of the township of Axedale. The countryside is dotted with shanties and camps on Squatters' Runs. Local roads, in most cases, are rutted, unmade tracks, traveled by all manner of people trying to eke out an existence, legally or illegally, in what could be a challenging, harsh and hostile environment. The most often used road from Heathcote to Sandhurst, as it was known, is nothing more than one of these increasingly trodden bush tracks. It isn't to become a main road as such for many years.

Try closing your eyes and visualising that you are standing in the main street of Axedale, only able to see timber forest, maybe a track heading into it, and the only traffic is an occasional rider or someone on foot. There is no McIvor Highway.

Try and hold that picture and follow what happens to it as Axedale history unfolds.


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February, 1847

Ralston Caldwell and Robert Ross are associated with the Axedale Run by this date, as they post an advertisement for the recovery of a horse that strayed about the 15th of January. It is a bay horse, 15 hands high with black points, 4 years old, branded diamond on near side under saddle. Any person giving such information as will lead to the recovery of the above horse, or bring him to the station of Caldwell and Ross, will be liberally rewarded. Ax Station, Campaspie. February 12th, 1847. [Note the spelling of the Station and river name.]


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January, 1848

Caldwell and Ross lodge an application, possibly a renewal, for the Axedale Run.

October, 1848

The application for the Axedale Run is approved and noted in the Government Gazette of October 4, 1848. Details are that it is estimated to be suitable for 12,000 sheep. The area of land is also detailed as follows:

"It commences at a point about 3 miles [4.8km] due East of the junction of the Axe Creek and Campaspe River, [North of Axedale] and from there to a direct line bearing South for a distance of 7 miles [11.2km], then bearing Westerly for about 15 miles [24km], and then bearing Northerly for about 7 miles [11.2km], and from there, Easterly to the commencing point; bounded on the East by a determined boundary with the run of Daniel Jennings [Campaspe Plains Run]; on the South partly by the run of Daniel Jennings, and partly by the run of Joseph Raleigh [Sutton Grange Run]; on the West by the Axe Ranges and the runs of Heape and Grice [Mt. Alexander or Ravenswood Run], and on the North by a settled line with the run of Henry G. Bennett [Barnadown Run]."

[The run is in the middle of what is identified as the Westernport District of The Port Phillip District of New South Wales and sits neatly between the boundary of Sandhurst and the Barnadown-Knowsley Road. Ralston Caldwell withdraws from the partnership for some reason, possibly in relation to the closer settlement implications within a few short years, and it then becomes the sole domain of Robert Ross. The station is only in Ross's name in 1856, considerably reduced in size, and fragmented.]


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