England to Gippsland & Upper Yarra Valley

My Great Grandparents

Wife's Birth: Mary ‘Jane’ Hort nee Knight was born in the Spitalfields area of London about 1855 the second eldest of ten children of Isaac Knight a Labourer and Mary Ann Bolter (sometimes spelt Boulter). No birth or baptism was found for Jane, but she indicated she was born in Spitalfields/Chapel Street when she filled in her son Isaac’s birth registration.

                                                                                        John & Jane Hort

Wife's Arrival in Australia 1870: Jane's father Isaac then aged 35years and his pregnant wife Mary Ann aged 36years, along with 15year old Jane and her siblings Susanna 11, Dinah 8, Harriet 7, Emma 4, and 2year old infant Charles, sailed from Plymouth as unassisted passengers on the 31^st of July 1870 aboard the ship the “Alumbagh”. Mary Ann gave birth to twin girls on the voyage naming them Winifred Alumbagh and Minnie Alumbagh. The birth registrations for these two children differ. Winifred’s birth is registered in the Marine Register Book and states born 14^th October 1870 41° 10" South 95° 20" East, At Sea. Minnie’s birth is registered in the district of South Melbourne and states born 14^th October 1870, At Sea. The reason for this is Minnie arrived when the ship was in Australian waters and had to be registered at the first port of call.

The “Alumbagh” docked in Melbourne on the 30^th of October 1870 after a journey of three months. When Isaac registered the birth of his daughter Minnie he gave his place of residence as 212 Little Collins Street Melbourne.

Isaac and Mary Ann added a ninth child to their brood with the birth of Henry Richard in 1872.

Link to Jane Hort's Knight Family 

Marriage: On the 4th September 1875 John married a young lass Mary Jane Knight (known as Jane) the daughter of Isaac Knight and Mary Ann Bolter/Boulter. The wedding took place at the Registrar Generals Office Melbourne. John was aged 24years and Jane 20years. Because Jane was a minor she had to have the consent of her father Isaac. Witnesses to the marriage were John’s parents Samuel and Caroline. Jane’s father Isaac Knight gave his occupation as a Carman (a carrier of goods) and Samuel Hort at this time was employed as a painter.

John and Jane Hort's married life saw them living in the areas of Dandenong, Gippsland and the Yarra Valley.  In the years between 1875 and 1898 they had a large family of eleven. (John himself was one of eleven).

Over many years John is listed in the Buln Buln rate books. He had purchased 11acres, Lots 11&12 of 169 in the Parish of Drouin West. He seems to have had this 11acres up until at least 1919, along with another 7acres he owned at lot 1 of 9 Longwarry.  John’s address changes to Warburton in 1911 but he still had land at Longwarry until 1919. It is thought John and Jane moved permanently to the Yarra Valley about 1911 following the timber industry to the Warburton area.

The Horts move to Warburton

My Great Grandparents

John & Jane Hort

Outside their mill home the East Warburton Seasoning Works.

Note the timber tramline running along in front of the house.

The Horts moved to Warburton in about 1911. The township of Warburton lies alongside the Yarra River 66kilometres northeast of Melbourne nestled deep in the valley below towering timbered slopes. Gold first attracted miners to this beautiful area in 1859 and many of these miners and new settlers made the valley their home. During the period prior to the First World War Warburton was the centre of Victoria’s premier sawmilling district. At this time there were sixty-six major sawmills and many smaller mills employing up to twelve men established in the forests surrounding the town.

The Grant family who ran a Melbourne coach building business, setup and established the East Warburton Seasoning Works in 1914, creating a new technique for kiln drying Australian hardwoods. Vern Hort, my uncle, remembers his grandparents John and Jane Hort living at the East Warburton Seasoning Works in a mill house supplied by the company for their employees. This would indicate John being employed at the seasoning works by the Grants in these early times. (My parents also lived in one of the seasoning works houses when I was born in 1946.

With the timber industry booming, all the mills were linked to the railway at Warburton through a fascinating and extensive network of tramways. To transport the sawn timber on bogies to the railhead and to the seasoning works depended to a large extent on horsepower on hardwood rails.

Link: Photographs of Warburton & more details

Deaths of John & Jane

John Hort died on the 6^th April 1923 aged 71years, both deaths were registered at Big Pats Creek and they are buried together at Wesburn Cemetery.