The Emigrants
From Armdale,Sutherland toArmadale, Australia
Armadale, Australia
A history of High Street Armadale Victoria from the local website. Itwas around this area that William Bell’s great, great, greatgrandfather James Munro and his son Donald developed a businessduring the boom years of the 1880s. Was this Armadale named afterour Armadale?
“Yes it is Armadale Sutherlandshire that Armadale, Melbourne isnamed after. Funny thing is I always thought it was named afterArmadale on the Isle of Skye, since that is where the MacDonald's camefrom. Actually they came from the little island of Scalpay off the northcoast of Skye. It wasn't until I understood the importance of Parishesin Scottish and English place names that I realised I was a couple ofhundred kilometers out. I suppose it was the large picture of FloraMacDonald my Grandma had in her living room and the herromantic view of Bonnie Prince Charlie reinforced the idea that it wasArmadale Skye. Grandma once told me that if I got involved with aCampbell she would disown me. To her the massacre of Glencoe wasonly yesterday and not 200 years before.” William Bell.
First Settlement
This area once formed part of the territory of the Wurundjeri people.The Aborigines were nomadic and, prior to European settlement, usedthe water from the spring on the site of the present Malvern Gardens.
Land in this area was first sold in 1854, when the roads now known asGlenferrie Road and High Street were surveyed. From the firstsettlement in the 1850s, market gardens, nurseries and a few houses onlarge allotments lined the rough bush roads. Around this time, theArmadale Hotel in High Street started life as a four roomed ‘beerhouse’.
1880s:
The Boom YearsPrior to the introduction of public transport, commercial developmentwas slow. However this rural atmosphere changed in 1879, when thefirst trains ran through Armadale. This new method of transport tothe previously isolated district, stimulated land subdivision anddevelopment of both commercial and residential areas. Land valuesrose and High Street developed into a thriving shopping centre.
Malvern Shire Hall
With the land boom of the 1880s, the area prospered and thecompletion in 1886 of the Malvern Shire Hall was an indication of thedistrict’s prosperity. Opposite the Shire Hall, at the south-west corner ofHigh Street, the Town Hall estate was sold by auctioneers DonaldMunro and William Baillieu in 1888. The same year, the E.S. & A.Bank was erected on the south-east corner. (This early bank buildingwas replaced with the present building in 1959).
Traders and Storekeepers
From around 1890, High Street was lined with a variety of traders andstorekeepers, including bootmakers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, tailors,dressmakers, milliners, upholsterers, ironmongers, saddlers,tobacconists, butchers, grocers, produce merchants, greengrocers andfuel merchants. A bank had been established on the corner of GooyongRoad, not far from Emma Baker’s Mission Hall in High Street.
1900s
Following the arrival of Malvern’s first tram in 1910 and thesubsequent increase in population, Malvern was proclaimed a City in1911. High Street, with its variety of traders, manufacturers andretailers in the 1920s, including the Malvern Buick Taxi Service, aMasonic Hall, Miss Williamson’s School of Domestic Economy, aChristian Science Library and in 1938 a Sustenance Office, changed inthe 1940s when a few antique dealers began to appear.
Malvern City Square
The Malvern Boys’ College was established on this site in 1891. From1900 The Tradesman’s Club, renamed the Malvern Club in 1918,occupied the building from 1900-until 1922. Two years later, elevenshops, designed by prominent architect Walter Burley Griffin, were builtwith frontages to High Street. By 1971, Council had acquired most ofthe site and the Malvern City Square was opened in 1989.
High Street Today
Today High Street continues the tradition of serving local communitiesand visitors with its sophistication and elegance.Renowned as one of Melbourne's distinctive strips it boasts a range ofdesigner clothing stores, bridal boutiques, cafes and restaurantstogether with the largest number of galleries and antique shopsconcentrated in any one place anywhere in Australia.
Donna Fearne, AustraliaWrites on 23rd March 2005
“Our Mackays had been in the area for some time but the mostaccurate we have is that Robert & Eliza Mackay had at least one sonGeorge Scobie Mackay who married Isabella McLean daughter ofArchibald McLean and Ann Craib. They were married in Aberdeen butGeorge was from the highlands and returned home where they were thefirst tenants and probably the last tenants of Moine House. Georgeworked as the gamekeeper for the Duke of Sutherland for the area ofthe Moine and a good bit else. He was succeeded by his son William. His wife died young but George lived to a ripe old age. William had 5children. His only son died as a young man and so there was nosuccessor (it seems) although we haven't tracked down ALL of Georgeand Isabella's families. One of the children of George and Isabella(who died and was buried in 1863, we have the headstone inscriptionfor this because George wrote it in letter. The headstone itself cannotbe found). Hewas James Patterson McKay who married Margaret
Campbell of Golval and later Portskerra and who worked as adomestic. They left the highlands after the wedding having listed theTongue Inn as their residence on the marriage records.