Walk Wurundjeri-Wandoon

Listen to the Wurundjeri Wandoon story of Bundjil:

Transcript:

My name is Doreen Garvey-Wandin. I’m a Wurundjeri Senior Elder and Wandoon Senior Elder. Also, Director of both organisations. 

We respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners, the Wurundjeri people and other Kulin Nations, as the custodians of the lands across the Yarra Ranges on whose unceded lands our work in the community takes place. We pay respect to all Aboriginal community Elders, past and present, who have resided in the area and have been and always will be an integral part of the story of the region.

Art and Sole. Walking on Country, connecting with our history, nurturing our body, mind and sole.

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Bundjil

Bundjil is the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people’s creator spirit who created the land, the waterways and the people. Bundjil travelled across a formless land, marking sacred sites and defining cultural and spiritual lore.

Listen to the Poyner Reserve – corner of Cave Hill Rd & Beresford Rd historical narrative:

(JPG, 3MB)

(JPG, 3MB)

Edward Moore Poyner was one of the early settlers to the district arriving in 1858 from Shropshire, England.

He married Helen Marion Paul, a member of an early Lilydale family in January 1858.

A stone mason by trade, Edward spent a few years working with Paul de Castella at his vineyard before purchasing 130ha of land at Gruyere.

Edward was a carrier to the gold diggings and was the first to go to Marysville on the Wood’s Point Road with a load of machinery for the ‘Alpine’ mine.

About 1875 he bought land in Lilydale, built his home, and named the property The Oaks. 

He also built a group of six shops in town on the corner of Clarke and Main Streets and operated a bakery from 1875 until he retired in 1886. 

He was a member of the Upper Yarra District Road Board for six years and a very prominent sportsman. He held the title of father of the Lilydale Cricket Club, which he helped establish in 1860 and took an active part for upwards of 18 years. He died in 1894. 

The Poyner family from father, sons and grandsons were among the best of the early sporting fraternity in Lilydale. They excelled at cricket, football, running and were all good horsemen.

His oldest son Joseph (Jody) Moore Poyner was born in 1861 in Gruyere and died aged 89 in 1950.

He ran the first milk delivery round in Lilydale. In 1912 he purchased a dairy property and his wife Elizabeth named their home Willowbank. The house still stands today and Poyner Reserve is on part of the original Willowbank land which bounded the Olinda Creek, Nelson, Cave Hill and Beresford roads. 

In nearby Cave Hill Road stands another Poyner property purchased by Jody called Mimosa. It is still owned by the Poyner family.

Listen to the Cave Hill and Beresford Roads historical narrative:

The intersection of Cave Hill and Beresford roads witnessed many major events in Lilydale's history, particularly funerals. 

From the 1960s, funeral processions from Lilydale travelled along Cave Hill, Beresford and Victoria roads to the entrance of the Lilydale Cemetery. One of the most famous funerals was that of Dame Nellie Melba on February 26, 1931 when Melba’s Own Scouts escorted a horse drawn gun carriage carrying the diva’s coffin to her final resting place. 

Cave Hill Road stretches from Nelson Road in the north to Melba Avenue in the south. However, it originally ran from the entrance of the Cave Hill Quarry to Main Street to provide the access for bullock drays carrying limestone to Melbourne prior to the opening of the Lilydale Railway line in 1882.

The Cave Hill Industrial Estate is located on the area originally called Duck Swamp as the flood waters from Olinda Creek and the drain near the railway line spread across the low-lying paddocks. Beresford Road east of Cave Hill Road to Olinda Creek was called Duck Swamp Road by the locals.

At 53 to 59 Cave Hill Road is a group of nineteenth century homes built for the managers of Cave Hill Quarry. They are included in the Shire of Yarra Ranges Heritage Overlay.