RIDDELLS CREEK SUTHERLANDS ROAD off, BOLINDA PARK- Amess house-SOMHS 1992-3 sheet 10 00191

Graeme Butler images from Macedon Ranges cultural heritage and landscape study 1994:.

`Samuel Amess, then cited as a building contractor of William

Street, Melbourne, was granted three allotments [CA 6 (80 acres,

bisected by the Dry Creek), CA 7 (83 acres), CA 8 (40 acres)] of

this property in 1860, for the cost of £100, £167 and £61

respectively{ RGO APP.1990}. He was then aged 33.

.

He also purchased Crown Allotments 4 & 17/A and 13 while John

Amess acquired CAs 3-5 which adjoin on the west. The total contiguous holding was around 330 acres

(referred to as 337 acres in rate books). Samuel also owned two

small allotments on the north side of Riddells Creek, off

Wheelwrights Road, just west of a stone reserve on the creek's

edge which presumably may have served his business at one stage..

.

The first available rate listing is in 1866 when both John and

Samuel each have a house and land near Riddell, both in Samuel's

name. The next year meant a vastly increased acreage

and valuation for both properties, indicating a construction date

for the major part of this house{ RB1867, 10f}. In 1869, John

Amess lives on the property which was owned jointly by the

brothers and the house was described as `bluestone', on 337

acres. Another John Amess was listed in a cottage on

46 acres and Samuel in a cottage on 198 acres. At that

time, Samuel was listed as a Melbourne builder and John, a

Riddell farmer. Both John Amess senior and junior were

referred to in municipal records through the 1870s..

.

By 1871, John jnr. occupied 391 acres and the `homestead',

jointly owned by Sam and John snr., and a further 160 acres of

land owned by John snr. In the next year, the

sawmiller, Alex Carnie (q.v.), began leasing what appears to be

this property, but the land was reduced in area to 297 acres. Carnie later built his own house in Royal Parade

(Light Hill). .

.

No Amess was listed at Riddells Creek in c1884, although many

farmers and two stonemasons, Whittaker and Devitt, were{

WD1884-5}. Whittaker (and Devitt?) provided ballast for the

railway line from local basalt quarries{ Reid,p.111}. A John

Amess died at Carlton in 1888 (possibly John jnr. or snr.){

`Pioneers Index'}.

.

Samuel Amess married Jane Straughan (or Strachan) and his son,

John WB Amess, also settled at Riddell on this property although,

he like the rest of Samuel's family, was born in Melbourne{ BDM

`Pioneers Index'}. Altogether three persons called John Amess

lived at Riddells Creek in the 1860s and 1880s, one married to

Margaret Scott, another to Margaret Morris and Sam's son, JWB

Amess, was married to Isabella Anderson in 1886{ ibid.}. .

.

The death of John William Amess in 1928 left the farm to his

widow Isabella and daughters, Ella (1888-) and Marjory who

remained at the farm after their mother's death in 1942..

.

However, the Amess family continued to prosper in the district,

with WS Amess serving as the Romsey Shire president 1932-3,

1949-50, 1956-7, and Ian Amess 1967-8, 1978-9{ Reid, p.233}..

.

Samuel Amess.

Samuel Amess was a Scottish stonemason (born Newburgh) who worked

on the Murray River to Melbourne line, erecting the stone bridge

archways at Riddell in the late 1850s along with many important

buildings in Melbourne (first stage Melbourne Post Office, the

Customs House, Kew Lunatic Asylum, government printer, the

Ballarat railway station). As well as

Bolinda Park, he also owned Warrawee at Bolinda. .

.

He had come to the colony in 1852 during the gold rush but

returned to Melbourne in 1853 to start his contracting business{

V&M, p628}. He was elected to the Melbourne City Council in 1864,

was Lord Mayor 1869-70 and was made an alderman in 1879{ ibid.}..

.

Another of his enterprises was the reputed acquisition of

Churchill Island from John Rogers in 1872 and the construction of

a summer house there which survives today. He also planted Norfolk Island pines near the house

and installed a canon from the `Shenandoah' which he is said to

have fired every New Years Day. The Amess family sold the island

in 1929.'

Done