Mount Eliza

Captain Hobson named Mount Eliza after the wife of John Batman in 1836. He arrived on the ship the Rattlesnake. Permein surveyed the area and the first auction of land took place in September 1854. Early settlers of note were William Davey and John Thomas Smith. Another well-known resident was Thomas Ritchie, who established the original Ritchies Store in Frankston. In 1863, four of his five children were killed when his cottage caught fire. A prominent early family was the Grice family who owned Moondah, a magnificent property later purchased by Reg Ansett.

 "Broadscale clearing of the natural vegetation throughout Mount Eliza began with European settlement, with much of the timber being transported to Melbourne for firewood or used locally in lime kilns.

Until the 1950s, Mount Eliza was mainly a holiday home area. The sub-division of old estates saw Mount Eliza develop rapidly from the late 1960s. The Ranelagh Estate, designed by Walter Burley Griffin of Canberra fame, saw blocks of land with sea views developed in sympathy with the contours of the land. Mount Eliza became the home for the well-to-do. Two of the more prominent schools have their homes in Mount Eliza, Toorak College and the Peninsula School.

By the 1950's the only uncleared land remaining was regarded as poor agricultural land, or land unsuitable for development."

This section of the MEAFEC Web Site is designed with several objectives in mind:

• to provide residents and particularly students, with knowledge of both Mount Eliza's and their own past so that they may locate themselves in time and place with more accuracy and greater understanding
• to provide residents with the skills to enable them to identify problems, determine antecedents, distinguish constraints and offer alternative solutions
• to provide residents with opportunities to explore a great variety of resource material that relate to themselves, Mount Eliza and the Mornington Peninsula in a regional setting
• to engage residents in a series of environmental stimulating exoeriences that are of themselves satisfying and worthwhile