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FIND KNOX | December
www.findknox.com.au
Moses Dickson and his Family HERITAGE & HISTORY By Russ Haines OAM
The Dickson family were one of the earliest settlers to the North Ringwood and still have many relatives in the area. There was, humorously, a rumour going around that the area should have been named ‘Dicksonville’. Moses Dickson, Senior, was born in 1841 in Northern Ireland. His family lived for several generations at Ballygargan in County Armagh, the ‘Orchard Country’. His father and his grandfather were married in the Seagoe Parish church, in a nearby village. Moses came to Melbourne from Liverpool on the ship Elizabeth Ann Bright, which arrived at the beginning of November 1861. He was recorded on the passenger list as an Irish labourer, single and 19 years of age. He was accompanied by his 20-year old brother, Thomas. In 1865, Moses Dickson married Elizabeth, a daughter of Stewart Sergeant, often described as a farmer of 'Seagoe' on the Blackburn Creek or a market gardener of Box Hill. Prior to his farming life, he was a cab-driver residing in a lane off Little Bourke Street. He later moved to Box Bill working as a carter. Moses applied for a Crown selection licence in May 1870 over the area bounded today by Oban, Wonga and Warrandyte roads in Ringwood, allotment 31B which was around 121 acres in size. Moses Dickson could only sign by a mark. To apply for a lease in 1873, Dickson had erected 132 chains of post and rail fence, living in a dwelling of four rooms made of slabs and sawn timber measuring 31 by 13 feet in all. Unfortunately, only one acre of land had been cleared of tree stumps, which was insufficient to qualify for a grant or lease, and Dickson had to apply for another licence in January 1874. In order to make improvements to the property in 1878, he borrowed £120 from the Colonial Bank on mortgage loan at 12 per cent interest. The grant was finally issued in 1880. Moses Dickson unfortunately died at Ringwood on 1st October 1904. Three of his sons, Stewart, Moses Jnr. and Alfred, settled on the land in North Ringwood, and planted further orchards. All three had sons, who were to follow in their footsteps, and there were many Dickson families on orchard properties in North Ringwood.
Stewart Dickson, Moses' eldest boy, was born in January 1876. He married Edna Rose Davis of Elsternwick, the oldest of the three daughters of Frederic and Emma Davis in May 1898 and settled in Williams Road for which he paid £5 10/per acre. They produced five sons and four daughters, and by the time of their 60th Anniversary had 23 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. He died in 1963, aged 86 years. After clearing his land and planting out his orchard, Stewart carted wood to Melbourne with a horse and dray, and worked at Tom Petty's property in Park Orchards until his trees were fruit-bearing. Between rearing nine children, Mrs. Dickson milked cows, had calves and pigs, made butter and sold it together with other farm produce. She sold her livestock at Ringwood sale-yards at the Ringwood Street market. Moses Dickson Jnr. was born on the property on the north side of Warrandyte
Rd on 23rd December, 1878, not far from the Junction Store at the Loughnan Road corner. He married the daughter of another pioneering family, the Knees of Croydon, and they built a home and reared a family of 4 sons and 3 daughters. John Dickson has a mixed farm and an orchard at Kyabram; Les has an orchard at North Ringwood; Bill Dickson had a estate agency and Ron was a very popular owner of a fruit and vegetable shop in Ringwood. Of the Dickson daughters, Mrs. Goulding married an orchardist of North Ringwood; Mrs. Wooley married a Red Hill orchardist; Mrs. Ken Milne was the wife of the proprietor of the North Ringwood Post Office and grocery shop. As the oldest Ringwood-born pioneer, Moses Dickson unfurled the flag at the Australia Day Carnival in 1953 with the help of four-year old Denise Gabe in her Switzerland costume (see photo).
