BURLEIGH Post Office

BURLEIGH

Burleigh is a deeply rich volcanic soil district of both the Dandenongs and the Upper Yarra Valley. Burleigh is situated east of the Silvan Dam [or Reservoir] which submerges the western boundaries of the area in the Stoneyford & Coralfern Creeks. Burleigh can be roughly defined as being contained in the north by the Middle Creek up its Ferndale tributary, and in the south by the length of Stoney Creek - which is also the Monbulk border of the local land district.

'Burleigh' is prior to Silvan. Burleigh was in existence from 1908, whereas the rest of South Wandin came to be called Silvan in only 1917 after a community vote for a name change.

Burleigh was once an open wet schlerophyl forest of messmate trees on the upper slopes which could be driven through with a horse and wagon, and the white gums [manna and mountain grey gum] in the valleys, with the lower creek gullies full of treeferns and fern understories appreaching in thickness and varieties to the the nearby Dandenongs rainforests.

As borderlands of what were once the rainforests of Monbulk, Burleigh is the most southerly part of that area of the Parish of Wandin Yallock. In the east, parts of it go down to wilder 'bulls-wool' tussock and pasture lands, once called 'Kelly Country' after a large landowner there, or 'Kangaroo Country' for its more open-country wildlife, on the once-native-burnt grassy downs leading down to the floodplains of the Woori Yallock Creek. If the main Monbulk -Lilydale road are to be thought of as its screened frontage, then the grassed and tea-treed Woori downlands of Burleigh constitute its hunting grounds, its wild backyard.

As a district Burleigh or Wandin South can be said to have four institutions which have given it a sense of substance as a place in the minds of those elsewhere, where the real substance was and is, of course, in the stories and lives of the intrepid people who settled in its dripping shadows and struggled to open it up to ongoing productivity, to live and work on Burleigh's slopes, hilltops and creek valleys. I hope to publish some diary accounts of some such settlers and battlers.

The Four Main Institutions in chronological order are;

1. The Try Boys Society Farm at " Fernydale House" 1890s and early 1900s till WW1.
- This was defined as being "near Lilydale". [At the corner of Ferndale & Monbulk-Seville Roads]

2. The Burleigh Post Office - 1908-1963 - See below
- Monbulk -Liydale Road, (early) the Wiseman Road, Burleigh

3. The Silvan South Primary School -1928-1982
at the corner of Monbulk-Seville Road and Reeves (Link) Road

4. The Gospel Hall & Sunday School & Christian Endeavour - 1932-1992
- at the Third Junction Corner of Monbulk-Seville Road & Wiseman Road as you go east.



An Archive of

Burleigh P.O.

From [ Post Office National Archives Series B 5846 11 ]

Burleigh House R.O. ( Recieving Office ) Opened 8-10-1908

1908 telegrams: transmitted 9, recieved 5, [Note: TELEGRAMS ONLY]
1909 telegrams: transmitted 24, recieved 5, value £1. P.M. Salary £2
1910 telegrams: transmitted 32, recieved, 13 value £1. P.M. Salary £2 Questions about office open? No information from 1910 - 1916 ?

Burleigh House Post Office

Opening of Recieving Office (R.O) in charge of Miss Daisy England M 14/837
26-7 –1916 Miss D England resigns.
1-1-1917 telephone office closed
5-7-1917: R.O transferred to her mother Mrs J England.

Name changed to BURLEIGH

Burleigh Post Office

26-6-1917 Mrs J England resigns in favour of Mrs Luckhurst from 30-6-1917
13-7-1917 (1759) Residents petition to remove Office to Mr G (George?) Parker’s residence (near the Corner Wiseman [Monbulk-Seville} Rd & Monbulk Rd?)
12-12- 1917 Mrs J England asks for money due to her
11-4-1918 J (J) Parker RO asks Re allowance due 6 months
6-6-1918 Silvan MS renewed for 1 year from 1-7-1918
4-2-19 J.S. Wylie on behalf of Wiseman, Hawkins, Low states Contractor would not deliver close in wayside boxes
13-7-1920 J (Jim) Parker : Re allowance insufficient
11-8-20 Telephone-Telegraph facilities granted
17-6-1922 PM Desires telephone removed to another part of the building
5-4-1927 Office removed to the residence of Mrs J J (Janie) Parker (Albert Parker's "Widford" Wiseman Rd)
5-6-1942 Assistance Miss Jean Frances Parker (Janie's daughter)
14-2-1942 - A H (Alfred/"Unk") Hollis - Complaint - P.O. not provided with letter box
30-12-1942 approval to pay Military allotments
27-1-1944 approval to pay Old Age / Invalid Pensions
13-5-1946 Assistance - Edith Martha (Judy - Janie's daughter) Parker
20-5-1946 approval to pay war pensions
30-1-1951 resignation of P.M. (Postmistress). New: Eva Parker (Joe's wife, Janie's daughter in law)
1- 6-1951 illegible entry - office moved up Wiseman Road (from"Widford' up the hill in Wiseman Rd)
1- 8- 1951 advance increased
19-3-1954 A.H.A. increased
22-11-1963 resignation of postmistress (Eva Ellen Parker nee Turner)
15-12-1963 Burleigh Post Office - Permanently closed