Pigeon Bank Occupancy

  1. 1848.  Francis Rogerson (1820-1868) joined with John Barr (1818-1867) to purchase jointly 160 acres at Kangaroo Ground.  They agreed on an equal division, Rogerson accepting the 80 acres which he called Pigeon Bank and erecting the first farm buildings (of which a ceiling still remains).
  2. 1866. By the terms of his will, Francis left all his real estate to John  Bell (1820-1891) of Kangaroo Ground,  his sister’s brother, and James Moodie of Kyneton “all rent and profits therefrom to be paid to my widow - Jane Byers (1820-1899)”. 
  3. C 1866.  John Bell’s daughter Agnes (1844-1924) and her husband Ewen Hugh Cameron (1831-1915) began their long tenancy of Pigeon Bank which lasted until 1915.  Ownership changes during this time have yet to be discovered.
  4. 1916.  Albert Saunders Pepper (1866-1922) acquired ownership.
  5. 1919.  Gordon Douglas Cameron (1885-1960) a son of Ewen Hugh and Agnes Cameron and born at Pigeon Bank acquired the property with the assistance of the Closer Settlement Board.
  6. 1922.  Ownership transferred to Sydney Gilbert Matthews (1884-1969).
  7. 1931.  Alexander Moncrieff Brumfield (1896-1955) acquired the property with the assistance of the Closer Settlement Board. 
  8. 1946.  Brumfield negotiated a new lease at an agreed price much lower than the 1931 price.
  9. 1951. Brumfield acquires an additional 36 acres fronting the Kangaroo Ground-Warrandyte Road, land formerly owned by the Merriman Family.
  10. 1957. Senator James Francis Guthrie (1872-1958) acquired  Pigeon Bank property, now reduced in size to 11 acres.  
  11. 1959. Ownership passed to Peter Francis McCracken (1886-1957).
  12. 1968. Vera Margaret Haughton (1908-1987), a grand-daughter of Ewen Hugh and Agnes Cameron, and her husband Ernest Menzies Jackson (1901-1990) became joint proprietors.
  13. 1980. The Bishop Family. 
  14. 2001. Susan Gilchrist acquired ownership.