Another of his descendants, Bill Medlyn, tells us George 'came to Victoria either with [John] Batman or very soon after. He must have been given a ticket of leave because he was a policeman in Geelong in 1839'. Lee Taylor believes George had to seek permission from
the then Lieutenant-Governor of the Port Philip District of NSW, Charles La Trobe, to serve in the police force. She adds that while at Geelong, George hurt his hand and was advised by Dr Alexander Thompson - who was on the ship with John Batman that came from
Tasmania and later served as Mayor of Geelong - to leave the police force and take up
farming pursuits. George land at Carapooee in the 1860s and died and was buried at St Arnaud in 1872. His tombstone reads: 'In memory of George Lee of Woolwich, Kent England. Died 17 May 1872 aged 52 years. Farewell! thou art gone to rest/Thy toils and cares are o'er/And sorrow, pain and suffering now/Shall ne'er distress thee more'. Thus saith the Lord. Set thine house in order: for thou shall die and not live (Isaiah 58)'.
Mary and William had no children. She and George had only one child, a daughter, Mary Lee (1854-1910), who was the first white child born at Salt Lakes near Cope Cope. Mary married James Henry Medlyn (1843-88) at St Peter's Anglican Church at Carapooee on 8 May 1873. Their wedding certificate indicates that James was born at Wendron in Cornwall, the son of William Medlyn (1800-1889) and Martha Jenkin (1803-89) both of whom were also born at Wendron. The 1851 and subsequent English censuses show that William and his sons were farmers, their holding being 40 acres in 1851 and 70 acres in 1881. The 'Medlyn' 'Shepherd' and other family trees on Ancestry tell us that William and Martha had at least eight children: Joseph, John, Mathew, Phillippa Johns, Grace Jenkin, James Henry and Martha Anne Medlyn. Ancestry's Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria, 1852-1923 shows that James (21) and his brother Joseph Medlyn (28) emigrated to Victoria on the QUEEN OF NATIONS in 1872. At the time of his marriage to Mary, James was farming land at Stuart Mill. Mary was a nineteen year-old spinster living at her parents' home at Carapooee. According to Paul Clatcher, Carapooee is an aboriginal name meaning 'Land Of Plenty'.
Mary and James settled at Western Creek after their marriage and had six children there - Mary Grace, Martha Elizabeth, Philipa Lee, Alice Ann, James Henry and George William Medlyn - before James' death at Carapooee on 9 November 1888. The 1903 electoral roll for the Grampians Division (Carapooee polling place) shows the widowed Mary living at Mooleer (otherwise known as Western Creek) near St Arnaud in central Victoria. As the following newspaper notice taken from the 'Jody Lee Family Tree' on Ancestry relates, Mary died at Western Creek seven years later:
As mentioned above, James and Mary Medlyn nee Lee had six children we are aware of, three of whom - Martha Elizabeth (1877-1935), Alice Ann (1881-1966) and James Henry Medlyn (1888-1967) - never married. We have discovered a little more about the remaining three as follows:
1) Mary Grace Medlyn (1873-1960) married Robert Davis Wembridge (1873-1934) in 1902 probably at St Arnaud although this has to be confirmed. Robert was the son of Thomas Frederick Wembridge (1819-98). According to Yvonne Palmer's history of St Arnaud, Track of the Years, Thomas was born into a farming family of Ashill in Devon and attended school at Brighton. 'On leaving school he had been apprenticed to a malster but soon forsook his trade to follow other occupations in various countries until wanderlust led him to the Victorian goldfields'. In 1852 Thomas sailed from England to Australia on the STATESMAN whose passengers included two other Brighton school attendees, Frederick Steward and James Greville. After their arrival at Port Philip on 23 September, the three friends headed inland to the Avoca-Amherst district where they and five other colleagues prospected for gold.
Having little success the group decided that Wembridge, Steward and two others should explore the area around Carapooee and beyond and send for the remainder once a suitable prospecting site was found. As Palmer describes, they eventually discovered a rich lode in a place they named 'New Bendigo' (later St Arnaud north) and were able to work it for several months before word of the find got out and the inevitable rush of miners and other hopefuls took place. The 'Hecker and Kick Family Tree' on Ancestry informs us that Thomas married Diana Davey (1836-1920) at Dunolly in 1860 and had nine girls and one boy, Robert Davis Wembridge, who was born at St Arnaud in 1873. Thomas eventually settled at St Arnaud where he bought a 30-acre block of land on Lexell Creek. There he established a large and productive garden that became a show place for townspeople and visitors alike who would partake of sumptuous afternoon teas beneath Thomas' blossoming fruit trees.
The Australian electoral rolls show that Mary Grace and Robert Davis Wembridge, who worked initially as a miner and then for the Victorian railways, lived for a time at Watchem but mainly at St Arnaud (on Canterbury Road). Mary continued to live at St Arnaud after Robert's death there in 1934. She died and was buried at St Arnaud in 1960. According to Robert White, Mary and Robert had six girls and two boys all born at St Arnaud. He adds that their third daughter, Mary Diana Wembridge became Mrs M. V. Augherston while their fourth daughter, Alice Maud Wembridge (1913-36) who worked as a nurse all her life, never married. We know their youngest daughter, Kathleen Wembridge, worked as a teacher and married Raymond James Griffiths, a meteorologist at Camberwell in Melbourne in 1948 but very little else. We have found out a little more about their three other girls as follows:
According to the Argus newspaper, Elsie Wembridge (1903-55) married a farmer from Nar-Nar-Goon near Pakenham in Victoria, Rowland George Moore (1898-1968), at Christ Church St Arnaud on 11 April 1925. The Australian electoral rolls show Elsie and Rowland living on his farm at Nar-Nar-Goon in 1931. By the time of the 1936 election they had moved from Nar-Nar-Goon to Geelong where Rowland worked for a time as as a hairdresser before again farming at Moolap. They continued living at Moolap until Elsie's death there in 1955 and burial in the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. Although still to be confirmed, we think Rowland then returned to Melbourne where he died at Mitcham in 1968. The electoral rolls indicate that he and Elsie had at least one daughter, Fay Moore, who was working as a teacher in Geelong in 1954.
Elsie's sister, Marian Wembridge (1905-86) married George Alfred Yorston (1901-78), the son of John Yorston and Mary Grace Mcconchie, at Glen Huntley in Melbourne in 1930 (Marion and Alfred are the first two in the photo on the left which was taken at the wedding of their daughter, Mary Diana Yorston, to Frank Coulter whose parents, Keith and Amelia Coulter nee Brundsdon, are the other two in the photo). The Australian electoral rolls show that after their marriage Alfred, who worked as a draughtsman, and Marian, a school teacher, lived in the Melbourne suburbs of Mentone, Hawthorn, Deepdene and Balwyn (where George died in 1978). The Ryerson Index shows that a Marian Yorston died at the St George's Hospital in Melbourne in 1986, aged 82 years. She is buried at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery (Dr McLorinan Lawn, Row T, Grave 47).
According to the 'Brunsdon Family Tree' on Ancestry (which was also the source of the photo), Marian and Alfred had only the one child, Mary Diana Yorston, who as we have seen, married Frank Coulter sometime before 1963, The Australian electoral rolls show they both trained as teachers and lived in Melbourne while Frank studied for his doctorate at Monash University. They were registered at Townsville in 1977 and Claremont in Western Australian in 1980 (Frank was described as a lecturer in both places while Diana was an occupational therapist). Although still to be confirmed, we think Frank was the Dean of Education at the University of Western Australia before, at the end of 1980, being appointed as Head of Education at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (later the University of Canberra). The 'Brunsdon family Tree' tells us they had three children, all of whom married and provided their parents with at least five grandchildren. While in Canberra the family lived in the lake-side suburb of Yarralumla.
The 'Smith Family Tree' on Ancestry informs us that Martha Lee Wembridge (1918-2003) married John Corneille Smith (1912-2005) and had at least one child, still living. John was born at Henty in NSW and served in the Australian Army between April 1942 and December 1945 (at which time he was a Cpl in the 2/1 Australian Armoured Recconnaisance Squadron). In civvy street he worked as a grazier and later a stock salesman at Yarrawonga on the Murray River. It seems they spent the latter part of their lives on the Mornington Peninsular where Martha died in 2003 and John in 2005.
According to the Australian Archives Mary and Robert's two sons, Thomas Medlyn Wembridge (1910-67) and Robert Fyfe Wembridge (1914-86), both served in the Australian armed forces during the Second World War (they also show that Thomas had earlier served with the 22 Militia Battalion initially as a private soldier and later as an officer). Thomas was then working as a garage proprietor at Mirboo North in Gippsland and was married to Doreen Marjorie Jean Milner (1913-99), daughter of George Milner (1886-1966) and Margaret Jane Williams. They continued to live at Mirboo North after the war. Thomas died there in 1967 and was buried in the local cemetery. His headstone reads: VX53837 Lieutenant T. M. Wembridge 2/5 Infantry Battalion 11 August 1957, aged 57. Dearly loved and sadly missed by wife Marjorie, daughter Joy and son Ian'. Marjorie died in the Traralgon Hospital on 4 October 1999 and was buried with Thomas at Mirboo North. Her tribute, published in the Herald Sun on 5 October, tells us she was the 'dearly loved Mum of Joy and Bruce [and] Ian and Kanjana. Nana of Anthony, Darryn, Nicole and Michael, Troy, Lee, Ketsara, Ping and Bow. Great Nana to many'.
The Australian electoral rolls show that Thomas' younger brother, Robert, worked as a butcher's assistant and was living with his mother, Mary Grace, on Canterbury Road in St Arnaud at the time of the 1936/7 and 1942 elections. He served in the Australian Army from March 1941 until November 1945 his last posting as a Cpl in the 3 Australian Base Supply Depot. Sometime after this he married Bernice May Robinson (1918-82), the daughter of Angus Roderick Robinson (1892-1980) and Ettie Proven Cadzow (1893-1961). At the time of the 1949 and 1954 elections, Robert and Bernice were living on Watson Street in Charlton where Robert was working as a 'superintendant'. Ancestry's index of Australian bdms show that Bernice died at Portland in Victoria in 1982. Her headstone in the Portland Cemetery tells us she was the devoted mother of Peter, Ross, and David'. Robert, or Bob as he was known as, died at Portland four years later and was buried with Bernice.
2) Philippa Lee Medlyn (1879-1957) married James McMullan Taylor (1869-1927) at the Medlyn residence at Western Creek near St Arnaud in 1905. According to the 'Jody Taylor Family Tree' on Ancestry, James was the son of an Irishman William Taylor (1830-1905) and Prudence McMullen (1840-1904). The same source contained the following newspaper report of the wedding: 'A quiet but pretty wedding was celebrated on the 10th inst., Mr J. Taylor of St Arnaud, being married to Miss Phillipa Medlyn, third daughter of the late Mr J. H. Medlyn. The ceremony which was performed by the Rev. Mr Beeman, of Donald, took place at the residence of the bride's mother, Western Creek. The bride, who was given away by her uncle, Mr W. Fyfe, was attired in white silk; wreath and veil, and carried a bouquet of heath and fern. The honeymoon was spent in Gippsland. The bride's travelling dress was of blue Panama cloth; black hat trimmed with tuile and feathers. A large number of valuable and useful presents were received'.
James parents were William Taylor (1830-1905) and Prudence McMullen (1840-1904)
who, we think, were married in Ireland in around 1858 and emigrated to Australia soon
after. The birth dates of their children show they made their way to Donnellys Creek,
located in the Gippsland ranges some 40 kilometres north of the town of Walhalla, and
where gold had been discovered in August 1862. In around 1870, the family moved from
Donnellys Creek to Walhalla where, according to the 1903 electoral roll, William and
Prudence and their youngest son William John Taylor (1877-1954) were farming land near
Ostler's Creek. Around this time they also purchased a residence in Melbourne where, as
reported in the Argus on 15 February 1904, Prudence died: 'TAYLOR - On the 12th
February, at her residence, 16 Bourke-street, Brunswick, Prudence Taylor, the beloved wife
of William Taylor, late of Walhalla, and mother of George Taylor, Penal department; Sara,
J.W.; Mrs Ireson, New Zealand; and Mrs Marks, Moondarra [north of Moe in Gippsland},
aged 64'. On 5 December the following year, the same newspaper informed its readers of
the death 'on the 2nd December, at the Sale Hospital, [of] William Taylor, late of Walhalla, the beloved father of George, James, William, and Sarah Taylor, Mrs R. H. Marks, of Moondarra, and Mrs H. Ireson, of New Zealand, aged 75 years'. The Melbourne Greater
Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust website shows that William and Prudence are buried in the
Presbyterian Area of the Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery (Section P, Grave 445).
The Australian electoral rolls show James McMullen, who worked as a butcher, and Phillipa Taylor living on Napier Street in St Arnaud in 1909. By the time of the 1914 election, they had also moved to Victoria's capital where they lived first at South Melbourne and, from 1919, on Moreland Road in Coburg (later East Moreland). The 1926 and 1927 rolls have James' sister, Sarah Taylor, living with them. James McMullen Tayor died on 15 February 1927. His death notices in the Melbourne Argus tell us he was 'the dearly loved husband of Phillipa Lee Taylor, of 159 Moreland road, East Moreland (late of Walhalla and St. Arnaud), loving father of Arthur James (late of PP Bank, Kerang and Dimboola), Harold George, and Frank' and 'dearly loved brother of George (deceased), Sara (Essendon), Mrs Marks (Traralgon), Mrs Ireson (Traralgon), and William John (Oakleigh)' (17 February 1927). James is buried with his parents in the Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery. Phillipa Lee Taylor nee Medlyn continued to live at 159 Moreland Road until her own death there on 12 September 1957. Ancestry's Victorian Cemetery Records and Headstone Transcriptions, 1844-1997, shows she is buried in the Church of England section of the Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery along with her son, Frank Medlyn Taylor, who died, aged 49, on 23rd March 1967. As noted, Philipa Lee and James McMullan Taylor had three sons as follows:
1) Arthur James Taylor (1906-96) married Jessie Griffith (1910-2007) in Melbourne in 1937. Their engagement notice, published in the Melbourne Argus on 28 December 1936, tells us Jessie was the eldest daughter of the late Mr Owen Griffith and Mrs H. Griffith of 'Bronfeldu' in Nagambie Victoria. According to his obituary in the Kilmore Free Press on 9 April 1936, Owen Griffith (1872-1936) was 'a native of Carnarvonshire, Wales, and emigrated to Victoria 43 years ago. He spent some time in the St Arnaud district, but upon the opening of the goldfields he moved to Western Australia and engaged in mining pursuits in that State, for about 10 years, during which period he visited his home in Wales. Leaving WA, he travelled to South Africa, and for two years was employed in the Rand, Johannesburg'. After returning from South Africa, Owen married Helena (Lena) Flett (1880-1966) at Eaglehawk near Bendigo in central Victoria on 5 December 1906. Their wedding certificate states Owen was a 34 year-old bachelor farmer and son of Ellis Griffiths and Mary Owens. Lena, 26, was born and still living at Sydney Flat (later Woodvale) north of Bendigo. According to the 'Rhoda Doreen Wylie Family Tree', her parents were Nicholas Flett (1854-1938) - born at Eaglehawk and died at Bendigo - and Jessie Louisa Ingham (1858-1934) who was born at Elysian Flat in Victoria and died at Eaglehawk. Nicholas and Jessie were married in Victoria in 1878 and had eight children in addition to Lena. These included Stephen Nicholas Laundy Flett (1895-1916) - pictured on the right - who was killed in action at Villers-Bretonnaux in France while serving with the 12th Australian Infantry Battalion, and Jessie Louise Robina Flett (1893-1912), who, a report of her untimely death in the Bendigo Independent tells us 'was of a bright and cheery disposition and . . . a great favourite. A few weeks ago . . . she had to be taken to the [Bendigo] hospital sufferlng from typhoid. She died at the institution yesterday' (2 February 1912). Helena's mother, Jessie Louisa Flett nee Ingham, died at Eaglehawk on 10 February 1934. Her death notice in the Melbourne Argus states she was the 'dearly beloved wife of Nicholas Flett and loving mother of Frances (Mrs Johnson), Lena (Mrs Griffith), Margaret (Mrs Thomas), Stephen (deceased), Robert, Jessie (deceased), William, May (Mrs James), Susie (Mrs Kirkpatrick), and loved sister of Mrs Johnson, aged 76 years' (12 February 1934). Lena's father died at Bendigo four years later and is buried with Jessie in the Eaglehawk Cemetery (Grave Mon L2 Plot 140). Lena Flett's grandfather, Nicholas Flett snr (1825-1906) was a native of Birsay in Scotland's Orkney Islands (his parents, Magnus Flett (1793-1854) and Margaret Merriman (1791-1850), were both born and died at Birsay and are buried in the local Chuchyard there). Nicholas' obituary, published in the Bendigo Advertiser on 24 October 1906, says he
. . . came to Australia about the year 1848 in the ship ISABELLA WATSON. He ran away from his ship when it was anchored in Hobson's Bay, and for some time was engaged in various occupations until the discovery of gold, when he was attracted to the fields, and followed the roving life of a digger for some time, eventually settling down on a piece of land at Sydney Flat where he engaged in farming pursuits until two years ago, when, owing to failing health he retired. Since then he resided with his son [Nicholas Flett Jnr].
Nicholas snr died at Eaglehawk in Bendigo on 23 October 1906 and is buried in the Eaglehawk Cemetery (Grave Mon A2 Plot 73} Lena's grandmother, who Nicholas married in Victoria in 1853, was Frances Germyn (1825-75) who hailed from County Cavan in Ireland. She died at Eaglehawk on 2 October 1875 and is buried with Nicholas in the local cemetery.
After their marriage in 1906, Owen and Lena Griffith farmed land near Kilmore until 1923 when they sold up and moved to Nagambie in the Victorian High Country. Owen died at his residence, 'Tarrangower', there on 21 March 1936 aged 63 years. His death notice,
published in the Melbourne Age the following day, tells us he was the 'beloved husband of Helena, father of Hugh, Jessie, Helena, Mary (deceased) and May'. The WILLS and
ESTATES section in the Melbourne Argus, published, on 29 April 1936, informs us he left 'real estate of a gross value of £4,754 and personal property of a gross value of £535 to his wife and son with gifts to his daughters'. The Australian electoral rolls show that after her husband's death, Lena continued to live on the farm at Nagambie with her son, Hugh Griffith (1907-88) and his wife Eva Jane Anderson (1908-2000) who he married in Victoria in 1942 (they had three children we know of: David, Frances and Geoffrey Griffith). The Ryerson Index tells us Lena died at Nagambie on 11 May 1966. She is buried with Owen in the Nagambie Cemetery.
The Australian electoral rolls show that after their marriage in Melbourne in 1937, Arthur, who worked for most of his life as a public servant, and Jessie Taylor nee Griffith lived with Arthur's mother, Phillipa Lee Taylor nee Medlyn, at 159 Moreland Road Coburg until after the war when they moved to 1 Pine Road in the beach-side suburb of Aspendale. They both died at Aspendale, Arthur on 12 May 1996 and Jessie on 11 July 2007 and are memorialised in the St Arnaud Cemetery. Their plaque there tells us they were the 'Parents of Bernard, Gwenda Lee, Phillip and Dawn'.
2) Harold George Taylor (1909-75) who married a South Australian, Dora Fay Copas (1905-2011), in Victoria in 1936. Dora's parents were John Percy Copas (1882-1978) and Alice Susette Gameau (1882-1968) who were married in Adelaide in 1905. After their marriage, Harold, who worked as a clerk, and Dora lived at Port Augusta in South Australia where, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs' WW2 nominal roll, he enlisted in the Australian Army on 9 April 1942. He served until October 1945 by which time he was a L/Cpl in the 6th Battalion VDC. The Ryerson Index shows that a Harold George Taylor, 'late of Payneham South in South Australia and formerly of Moreland and Port Augusta', died at Adelaide on 27 March 1975, and a Dora Fay taylor, 'formerly of Port Augusta', died at Adelaide on 18 January 2011, aged 105 years. We haven't as yet been able to determine whether they had any children.
3) Frank Medlyn Taylor (1917-67) served in the Australian Army from September 1942 until October 1945 by which time he was a Corporal in 2/163 Australian General Transport. After the war he worked as a salesman and lived with his mother in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg until her death there in 1957. We have not been able to trace him after that although we do know he died in Melbourne in 1967 and is buried with Phillipa in the Anglican section of the Coburg Cemetery.
3) George William Medlyn (1890-1939) married Jane ('Jean') Thwaites (1890-1975) at Carapooee in 1920. The Thwaites family website tells us that Jane's parents were John Thwaites (1855-1935) and Jane Donald Murray (1856-1945) who came respectively from Daylesford and Rushworth in Victoria and farmed at Carapooee West. Her siblings were Elizabeth Ann, William Thomas, Isabella, Robert, John and James Thwaites. George, who farmed land at Western Creek near St Arnaud, and Jean had three children: George Lee, William James and Francis Murray (Frank) Medlyn. George Medlyn senior died at his residence at Medlyn near St Arnaud on 12 February 1939. His death notice, Published in The Sun News Pictorial on 21 February, tells us he was 'a Masonic Lodge member, was connected with all district sporting fixtures, and was a member of the Carapooee St Peter's Church'. George's wife Jean died at St Arnaud on 11 April 1975 and is buried with George in the St Arnaud Cemetery (CofE Section 5, Grave 13).
We believe their eldest son, George Lee Medlyn (1921-94) and his wife Elvie Smith had no children. He worked as a sheep farmer and wool classer but also became an avid collector of rare colonial bottles. In 1985 he bought a former Clunes school house that was then being used as a knitting mill to house his bottle collection. According to an article written in 2009 by Madeline Jenkins and published in the local Advocate, 'with more than 6000 bottles on display, the Clunes Bottle Museum now houses the largest bottle collection on display in Australia. Mr Medlyn continued collecting bottles until his death in 1994, when he bequeathed the collection and building to the Shire of Talbot and Clunes. The museum's committee members are currently redesigning the displays and exhibition spaces with the help of a $20,000 grant from the Hugh Williamson Foundation. Ms Turner said every bottle in the collection was unique and, when the project was complete, the museum would be a great educational tool and tourist attraction'. George and Jean's youngest son, Frank Murray Medlyn (1928-2020) worked on the family farm for most of his life. We believe he married Casterton-born Elizabeth Withers (1929-2006) in 1971 and, like his older brother, had no children.
George and Jean's second son, William James (Bill) Medlyn (1924-2017) - pictured on the right - was working as a farm hand when he enlisted in the Australian Army on 21 October 1942. After serving in the Citizen Military Forces for around eight months, he transferred into the Second AIF and spent time in both Australia and PNG. After being injured in a motor accident he was discharged as medically unfit on 17 December 1945. On 11 February 1948, Bill married a local girl, Thelma Amy Wright, at St Arnaud. He was then still working as a farm hand but later became a farmer. Bill passed away peacefully after a short illness at St Arnaud on 30 September 2017. His obituary in the Herald Sun tells us he was the 'dearly loved husband of Thelma and loving father and father-in-law of Kaye, Neil and Maree, Fiona and Chris Page, Lexie Walker and Harry, John, Robert and Mandy, Lyndon and Sue, Diedre and Austin Freeman. Adored Grandfather of 17 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren (3 October 2017). Bill is buried/memorialised in the St Arnaud Cemetery.
Mary married George Lee (1820-1872) in around 1853 (probably at Rich Avon Station). George was a former convict who was tried in the Kent Assizes on 18 October 1831 and sentenced to seven years transportation to Van Diemen's Land. He was transported on the SURREY which left England on 19 November 1832 and arrived at Hobart Town on 7 April 1833. The Convict Conduct Registers contained in the Tasmanian Archives show that he was transported for stealing geese and had earlier spent time in prison for stealing rabbits. According to one of his descendants, Lee Taylor, 'when he arrived in Tasmania, George was sent to work as a ploughman on a farm in West Launceston. The name of the farmer was Wilett I think from memory'. The Convict Conduct Registers show that while in Tasmania George continued to fall foul of the law, receiving: 25 lashes on 4 August 1834 for 'improper conduct to a Court'; a reprimand for drunkeness and bad conduct on 5 January 1835; 25 lashes on 18 January 1835 for drunkeness; and 3 days solitary confinement on 30 August 1836 for being disorderly and for fighting.