Yesterday afternoon, through Nicole from Melton Libraries, I presented a talk on James McAra Mitchel. Mitchel married my 3x great aunt, Mary Hamilton Allan in Lancefield in 1881. Mitchel managed the Rockbank Sheep Station (which covered 54,000 acres from Sunbury to the Werribee River, to William Taylor's Land in Keilor.
It was a privilege to share some of Mitchel's story with people interested in the history of the district. Mitchel started a fire brigade for the property, organised cricket teams for the workers, arranged for the repair and construction of dry stone walls (50% of the dry stone walls still standing in the district, were built under his watch), improved the drainage of Rockbank swamp, and was well respected by employees and others in the district.
One of the attendees at the Zoom event was a lady who lives on land that was part of the original Rockbank Sheep Station. She had photos of Mary and James McAra Mitchel, and very kindly forwarded them to me.
This is exciting.
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