Frankston is a suburb in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...

, located within the

City of Frankston The City of Frankston (officially known as ''Frankston City Council)'' is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 130 square kilometres, and in June 2018, the City of Franksto ...

local government area. Frankston recorded a population of 37,331 at the 2021 census. Due to its geographic location north of the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Ge ...

, it is often referred to as "the gateway to the Mornington Peninsula". European settlement of Frankston began around the same time as the foundation of Melbourne in 1835—initially as an unofficial

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

serving the early Melbourne township. Prior to its settlement, the Frankston area was primarily inhabited by the Mayone-bulluk clan from the

Bunurong The Boonwurrung people are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory includes part of what is now ...

tribe of the Kulin nation. The official village of Frankston was established in 1854, with its first land sales taking place on 29 May. It has subsequently given its name to the broader Frankston local government area since 1893, and serves as both its activity and

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

. Situated on the eastern shoreline of

Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completel ...

, Frankston has been a popular seaside destination of Melbourne since the 1880s. Frankston Beach is still one of the most frequented in Victoria, and is recognised as one of the cleanest in Australia. It was also home to one of the largest

exhibitions An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

of sand sculpting in the Southern Hemisphere. Localities in the suburb (within its postcode 3199) include: Frankston Central Business District (CBD), Frankston East, Frankston Heights, Karingal, Long Island, Mount Erin and Olivers Hill. The independent suburb of

Frankston South Frankston South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Frankston South recorded a population of 18,801 at the ...

also shares the same postcode as Frankston. At the

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

the suburb of Frankston recorded a population of 36,097. The

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for someone from Frankston is a Frankstonian.

Toponymy

The toponymic origins of Frankston are subject to conjecture, and of which there are four popular theories. One of the earliest of these theories (published in the '' Victorian Historical Magazine'' in March 1916) is that it was named after one of its early European

settler A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

s, Frank Liardet, who also became one of its first official land owners. The Liardets were prominent pioneers of early Melbourne and arrived aboard the ''William Metcalfe'' from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1839. Liardet's father, Wilbraham, founded what is now the Melbourne inner suburb of Port Melbourne and the family established and managed

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s around Melbourne as well as the first

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

service of the early township. Frank Liardet settled in the Frankston area in 1847,Ballam Park

Victorian Heritage Database The Victorian Heritage Inventory, commonly known as the Heritage Inventory, is a list of all known historical archaeology sites in Victoria, Australia. It is maintained by Heritage Victoria , the Victorian State Government’s principal cultural ( ...

Heritage Victoria Heritage Victoria is a Victorian State Government agency responsible for administering the ''Heritage Act 1995'' and supporting the work of the Heritage Council of Victoria. Heritage Victoria was formed from the earlier Historic Buildings Pre ...

. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 14 September 2015 after taking out a 300-acre

depasturing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range, roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human digest ...

license for land that is now the Frankston locality of Karingal.Staff Writer (17 November 1843).
Government Gazette
. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''.

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased '' The Sydney Morning Hera ...

. p. 4. Retrieved 30 September 2015 During this time, Liardet built the first wooden house in the Frankston area—which would later become part of his Ballam Park

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...

after the formal

land sales Rural land sales in real estate refers to the sale of undeveloped land, usually as a parcel or tract of several acres (in the U.S.) of a ranch. Definitions The term ''rural'' can be defined as "the comprehensive, nonspecific word referring t ...

of 1854. Prior to settling in the area, Liardet had also worked on the cattle run of the first

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of the Port Phillip District,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Benjamin Baxter, which was located over what are now the

suburbs of Langwarrin and

Langwarrin South Langwarrin South is an official bounded locality in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 47 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Langwarrin South recorded a populat ...

.Staff Writer (4 June 1985).
A Chapter of Baxter's History
". ''Hastings Sun''. Westernport Publishing Company. pp. 8–9. (republished by the Baxter Residents and Traders Progress Action Committee). Retrieved 14 September 2015 By the time Liardet had taken out his depasturing license for the Frankston area in 1847 an unofficial

was also developing around its

foreshore The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

. Considering Frank Liardet's early presence in the Frankston area, and his connections to the early mail services of Melbourne, it is plausible that "Frank's Town" became

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday speech to the internationally agre ...

for describing the area and its unofficial village. As a consequence it is possible that the name of "Frankston" was further adapted from it when officially naming the village for its formal land sales in 1854. However, in a letter to the editor of '' The Argus''

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

(published on 30 May 1916) a member of the Liardet family said that this was in fact not true.Liardet, C. Evelyn (30 May 1916).
Naming of Frankston
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 9. Retrieved 29 January 2014 In the letter was excerpts of correspondence between the Liardet family and the Victorian state Department of Lands and Survey which refuted the theory. Instead, it puts forward the theory that Frankston was named after the Irish-born settler Charles Franks; who was the first European to be killed by

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

s in Melbourne. Charles Franks arrived in Melbourne aboard the ''Champion'' from

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...

in 1836 and made a squatter's claim to land on the western side of

near Mount Cottrel (northeast of what is now the Melbourne outer-western suburb of Wyndham Vale). Franks' land neighboured that of the early Melbourne explorer and surveyor John Helder Wedge, which was managed by his nephew Charles Wedge—prior to him gaining a pre-emptive right to land license of his own for the Frankston area. The correspondence with the Department of Lands and Survey states that, at the time of surveying the area for the land sales of 1854, the name "Frankston" was probably suggested to honour the Wedge's deceased former neighbour. Another theory—that has become

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

—is that Frankston was named after a pub named "Frank Stone's Hotel". Charlwood, Don (8 February 1930).
Early History of Frankston
(first article in a series). '' The Frankston & Somerville Standard''. p. 6. Retrieved 29 January 2014 In 1929 the author Don Charlwood, a student of Frankston High School at the time, compiled a history of Frankston using both local records and oral sources supporting the theory (published in '' The Frankston & Somerville Standard'' newspaper on 8 February 1930). The pub to which Charlwood refers was originally named the Cannanuke Inn and was the first permanent building in the Frankston area. It was built by the pre-emptive Frankston settler James Davey in the 1840s. The

states that it was located on the present site of the Frankston Mechanics' Institute; at 1 Plowman Place in the Frankston Central Business District (CBD).Former Cannanuke Inn site

. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 28 September 2015 According to Charlwood, it was purchased by a "Mr. Stone" in the early-1850s who, after the birth of his son, "Frank", renamed it "Frank Stone's Hotel" and around which the village developed and also had its name adapted from for its formal land sales in 1854. As there appear to be no licensing records for the Cannanuke Inn, it is difficult to determine if this is in fact true. However, Charlwood does mention that Stone had purchased the Cannanuke Inn from "a man named Standring". Licensing records state that Benjamin Standring was the owner of the Frankston Hotel from 1857 to 1860. Also, according to the terms of his pre-emptive right to land licence, Davey did not have the right to sell or sub-let the Cannanuke Inn. It is therefore unlikely that Stone purchased or leased the Cannanuke Inn from Davey or Standring before the formal land sales for Frankston in 1854—and after which the name "Frankston" was already in use.Map of the Village of Frankston at Kananook Creek, Mount Eliza, Port Phillip Bay
(1 May 1854). Office of the Surveyor General of Victoria. Government of VictoriaAdvertising — Victoria
(19 May 1854). '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 5. Retrieved 29 September 2015Staff Writer (26 April 1854).
Domestic Intelligence
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 5. Retrieved 29 September 2015 A more recent theory, put forward by the author and historian Michael Jones in his local history book ''Frankston: Resort to City'' (published in 1989), is that Frankston was named after the heroic

British army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

Sir Thomas Harte Franks. The theory is strengthened by the fact that a number of places near Frankston also have names that are derived or adapted from those of British army generals and statesmen (such as Cranbourne,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...

, Lyndhurst, Mornington and Pakenham). Jones states that the Surveyor General of Victoria from 1853 to 1858, Sir

Andrew Clarke Andrew Clarke may refer to: *Andrew Clarke (British Army officer, born 1793) (1793–1847), Governor of Western Australia *Sir Andrew Clarke (British Army officer, born 1824) (1824–1902), Governor of the Straits Settlements, son of the above *And ...

, named all of these places.

History

Pre-history

Indigenous history

Prior to the foundation of Melbourne by

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (20 ...

in 1835, the area surrounding

was originally populated by

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

of the Kulin nation for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. Particularly, the Frankston area was inhabited primarily by the Mayone-bulluk clan from the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

of the Kulin nation. The tribes of the Kulin nation were a

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic people with no sedentary settlements. As a result, there is minimal physical evidence of their past. The Bunurong tribe in particular were mainly hunter-gatherers that maintained an ecologically

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

tradition of travelling between areas of seasonally abundant

resources Resource refers to all the materials available in our environment which are technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and wants. Resources can broadly be classified upon their ...

. For the Mayone-bulluk clan; Kananook and Sweetwater creeks and the former swamps and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s of the Frankston area were rich sources of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

and eel as well as

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

s.Frankston Coastal Arts Discovery Trail
(2006).

. p. 15 An important meeting place for the Bunurong tribe clans of the greater

region was the present site of the Frankston Mechanics' Institute, at 1 Plowman Place in the Frankston Central Business District (CBD), which was used for corroborees and as a trading place.Frankston Coastal Arts Discovery Trail
(2006).

. p. 23. Retrieved 8 October 2015 Bunurong territory, of which Frankston is a part, stretches from the Werribee River in the western metropolitan area of

east to Wilsons Promontory in Gippsland and was referred to as ''marr-ne-beek'' ("excellent country") amongst the Kulin nation tribes. According to the Indigenous Australian mythology of the

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his col ...

, the Bunurong territory was created by the ancestor spirit ''Lohan''.

Patrilineally Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

, all Bunurong tribe members are considered direct descendants of ''Lohan''. The creator of the Kulin nation-proper was the deity eaglehawk spirit ''

Bunjil Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria. Creation stories In the Kulin nat ...

'', and the protector of its

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

s and keeper of the

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

was the trickster

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term " raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

spirit '' Waa''. ''Bunjil'' and ''Waa'' are the two moiety totems that govern the

kinship system In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says tha ...

of the Kulin nation tribes. The Mayone-bulluk clan of the Frankston area was closely linked through

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

to the Wurundjeri-balluk clan of the

Melbourne city centre The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city l ...

area, from the neighbouring

Woiwurrung The Woiwurrung, also spelt Woi Wurrung, Woiwurrong, Woiworung, Wuywurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance. The Woiwurrung people's territory in Central Victoria extended from north of ...

tribe, based on this system. Two

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s of eagles, inspired by ''Bunjil'', by artist Bruce Armstrong; a 5-

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its p ...

version on Mayone-bulluk clan land, erected on Young Street in Frankston in 2001,Sentinel art installation
Visit Frankston. Frankston City Council. Retrieved 25 August 2015 and a 25-metre version on Wurundjeri-balluk clan land, erected on Wurundjeri Way in Melbourne Docklands in 2002, are representative of this link. The earliest recorded encounter of the Bunurong tribe with Europeans in the Frankston area was in early 1803, when

Charles Robbins sailed his

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguishe ...

the '' Cumberland'' into Port Phillip on the

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

expedition headed by Charles Grimes. On 30 January, Grimes went ashore at Kananook Creek in search of

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

and made peaceful contact with "around 30 of the natives"—most likely members of the Mayone-bulluk clan. Another possible encounter of the Mayone-bulluk clan with Europeans in 1803 was in late-December, with three

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

s that had escaped from the failed settlement by Captain David Collins at Sorrento on the southern

. Among the escapees was William Buckley, who later lived with the Wadawurrung-balug clan from the neighbouring

Wathaurong The Wathaurong nation, also called the Wathaurung, Wadawurrung and Wadda Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin ...

tribe of the Kulin nation for 32 years. After travelling north up the

for two days, Buckley describes coming to a

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

that ran "near to the bay"—most likely Kananook Creek and Long Island in the Frankston area—where they encountered a "large tribe of the natives...armed with spears" but did not make direct contact. The number of Bunurong tribe members at the time of contact with Europeans in the 1800s was estimated to be 300. James Fleming, a member of Charles Grimes' surveying expedition in early 1803, reported observing

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a n ...

s on members of the Kulin nation tribes he had encountered—indicating that an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

had affected them prior to 1803. Smallpox arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788 and reached the Port Philip area in 1790, via the first European settlement in Australia at

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman ...

, claiming at least half the population of the combined Kulin nation tribes. Following permanent European settlement in 1835, another smallpox epidemic reduced the number of Bunurong tribe members to 83 by 1839. An

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

epidemic during the 1840s further reduced their number to 28 by 1850. The last full-blood member of the Bunurong tribe, ''Yam-mer-book'', also known as Jimmy Dunbar (from the Ngaruk-Willam clan, which was geographically close to the Mayone-bulluk clan) who lived to the north of Frankston near Mordialloc, died of natural causes in 1877.

European settlement

Fishermen were among the earliest Europeans to unofficially settle the Frankston area following the foundation of Melbourne on 30 August 1835. Living in tents and

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

huts on its

and around the base of Olivers Hill, they would travel by

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...

to the early Melbourne township to sell their catches., p. 6 Charlwood, Don (5 October 1949).
Early History of Frankston
(abridged version). '' Frankston Standard Leader''.

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...

. p. 13. Retrieved 29 January 2014 James Davey arrived in the Frankston area in 1840, gaining a 640

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

pre-emptive right to land license over what are now the suburbs of Frankston and

from Olivers Hill south to Daveys Bay. Davey built the Cannanuke Inn in the mid-1840s, which was the first permanent building in the Frankston area,, p. 7 and was located on the site of the present Frankston Mechanics' Institute at 1 Plowman Place in the Frankston Central Business District (CBD). He built the first permanent

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

in the southern Frankston area located near Daveys Bay on Olivers Hill in 1851—which was originally known as "Old Man Davey's Hill". Charlwood, Don (5 October 1949).
Early History of Frankston
(abridged version). '' Frankston Standard Leader''.

. p. 16. Retrieved 29 January 2014Fascinating Historical Facts – Frankston Waterfront
Discover Mornington Peninsula. Retrieved 15 September 2015 In 1843 Frank Liardet, the eldest son of the early

Wilbraham Liardet Wilbraham Frederick Evelyn Liardet (17 July 179921 March 1878), was an Australian hotelier, water-colour artist and historian, who was responsible for the early development of Port Melbourne. Early life and career Liardet was born on 17 July 179 ...

, took out a 300-acre

license for what is now the Frankston locality of Karingal. Liardet built the first permanent wooden house in the eastern Frankston area in 1847—which would later become part of his Ballam Park

after the formal

of 1854. Davey later partnered in the cattle run of

Benjamin Baxter, the first

and former Clerk of Petty sessions for the Port Phillip District, during the early-1850s. Their run covered the majority of what are now the

suburbs of Langwarrin and

. The fisherman James Oliver built his house on northern Olivers Hill around this time, so he could keep watch for

schools of fish In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. A ...

in the waters below, and after whom the locality is now known by its current name. The explorer and surveyor Charles Wedge also arrived around this time, gaining a pre-emptive right to land license over what are now the City of Frankston suburbs of Carrum Downs and Seaford.Wedge's station

. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 28 September 2015Banyan complex

. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 28 September 2015 Thomas and Grace McComb arrived in the Frankston area in 1852.Staff Writer (5 October 1949).
Grace McComb was Frankston's Florence Nightingale
. '' Frankston Standard Leader''.

. p. 43. Retrieved 2 October 2015 Thomas assisted with the development of the local

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

, and Grace was the first nurse and midwife in the area. Thomas Ritchie arrived in 1854 and established a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers wh ...

that same year on what is now Nepean Highway in the Frankston CBD. The central Frankston area was surveyed by Thomas Hanbury Permein for the Victorian colonial government in early 1854. The only pre-existing permanent building in Permein's survey is the Cannanuke Inn. The plan for the new

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Frankston was drawn by James Philp from the Office of the Surveyor General of Victoria on 1 May 1854—with the Cannanuke Inn as a central point and located on Lot 1 of a block bordered to the west by Bay Street, to the north by Davey Street, to the east by Wedge Street (now Young Street) and to the south by a public reserve (now Plowman Place and Frankston Park). Philp's plan consisted of 29 standard lots, 49 suburban lots, nine country lots of 430 acres, and also reserved place for a village centre that would eventually become the Frankston CBD. The first formal

for the new

of Frankston took place on 29 May 1854. Frankston was gazetted in late-April of that year as being "well watered with

springs Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

...the odour and flavour of the water being remarkable". The road to Melbourne was extended from Brighton to Frankston (now the Nepean Highway) with

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s over Kananook Creek and Mordialloc Creek in late 1854. Liardet became one of the first official land owners in Frankston after the formal land sales—establishing his Ballam Park

on the land that he had a depasturing license for. There is a popular

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may ...

(published in the '' Victorian Historical Magazine'' in March 1916) that Frankston was named after Liardet due to his earlier presence in the area.

19th century

Following the first formal

for the new village on 29 May 1854, on 12 December, Samuel Packham was granted the licence to establish the Frankston Hotel.Staff Writer (13 December 1854).
Quarterly Licensing Day
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 5. Retrieved 29 September 2015 Licensing records (and newspaper articles) suggest that it was located on what is now the northwest corner of Davey Street and Nepean Highway (the present site of the Pier Hotel). Packham advertised the Frankston Hotel as a country retreat, and employed a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

tracker and organised game hunting expeditions from the hotel. Charles Wedge established his Banyan sheep station on his pre-emptive right to land over what are now the

suburbs of Carrum Downs and Seaford after the formal land sales of 1854, and James McMahon purchased lands over what are now the City of Frankston suburbs of Sandhurst and

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

at this time. The first permanent brick

in Frankston was built at Ballam Park in 1855 and replaced the 1847

en house on the site. It was built by Frederick Liardet, the younger brother of Frank, and was designed in a

French Colonial French colonial architecture includes several styles of architecture used by the French during colonization. Many former French colonies, especially those in Southeast Asia, have previously been reluctant to promote their colonial architect ...

Gothic Revival style by their father Wilbraham. The house is listed on the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

and Australian heritage registries through the National Trust of Australia.Ballam Park
Australian Heritage Database. Australian Heritage Council. Department of the Environment. Government of Australia. Retrieved 14 September 2015 It is now managed by the Frankston Historical Society which conducts tours of the house and also maintains a local history museum at the estate.Ballam Park
Frankston Historical Society. Retrieved 14 September 2015 A site for a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

( Anglican) was reserved after the formal land sales.History
St. Paul's Anglican Church (Frankston).

Anglican Diocese of Melbourne The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Victoria in the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847burial ground. A temporary hall was built in 1856 and served as both a

place of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is some ...

and as a school (which later became the Woodleigh School).History
. Woodleigh School. Retrieved 1 September 2015 The first

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

in Frankston opened on 1 September 1857 which also initially operated from the hall.

Early economy

Frankston's fishing industry was further developed with the assistance of Thomas McComb, who funded the construction of Frankston Pier in 1857.Frankston Coastal Arts Discovery Trail
(2006).

. p13. Retrieved 8 October 2015 Following a petition by residents, to the Victorian colonial Department of Public Works, the pier was extended into deeper water in 1863. A gaslamp was installed at the end of the pier and a lamplighter was also employed. Frankston Fish Company was founded in 1867, by a consortium of local businessmen including Thomas Ritchie, in order to transport the catches of local fishermen in bulk to the fish markets of the Melbourne city centre. In 1870, Ritchie established his first general store on what is now the southwest corner of Playne Street and Nepean Highway in the Frankston Central Business District (CBD). Ritchies Stores is now the largest independent grocery chain in Australia—with its headquarters still located in the Frankston area. Frankston, 1886 (Charles Samuel Bennett)

Frankston, 1886 (Charles Samuel Bennett)

On 15 November 1873, William Davey Jr., grandson of pre-emptive Frankston settler James Davey, applied for the license to establish the Bay View Hotel, on what is now the northeast corner of Davey Street and Nepean Highway (the present site of The Grand Hotel) in the Frankston CBD.Notices — Publicans' and Other Licenses
(13 November 1873). '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 12. Retrieved 2 October 2015 It was constructed with a guest house which Davey had shipped from

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

. Following a petition by residents to the Victorian colonial Department of Education in 1873, headed by Grace McComb, the first government school in Frankston was built on Davey Street in 1874.History
Frankston Primary School. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 31 August 2015 The No. 1464 Frankston School (Which later became Frankston Primary School) opened on 1 November of that year with an initial enrolment of 45 students. Mark Young purchased the Frankston Hotel on 13 August 1875 for £380, and renamed it the Pier Hotel (under which name it continues to operate).Pier Hotel
ALH Group Limited. Retrieved 25 August 2015 Young spent an estimated £3700 on improvements to the hotel, making it one of the finest in the colony of Victoria at the time. In 1879, following a conference of city councils in inner-Melbourne, the Frankston area was chosen as the preferred site to replace the Melbourne General Cemetery.Staff Writer (20 March 1879)
The Cemetery Conference
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

''.

. p. 3. Retrieved 6 October 2015 The roughly 3000 acre Crown land site was bordered to the north by Charles Wedge's Banyan sheep station (over what are now the City of Frankston suburbs of Carrum Downs and Seaford), to the south by Frank Liardet's Ballam Park estate (in what is now the Frankston locality of Karingal),Staff Writer (22 May 1879).
Proposed Cemetery Site
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 7. Retrieved 6 October 2015 and is now the suburb of Frankston North. Its south-west corner is described as being "about a mile .6 kmnorth of the village of Frankston, and the same distance east of the beach". Frankston Mechanics' Institute was established on the former site of the Cannanuke Inn, at what is now 1 Plowman Place in the Frankston CBD, in 1880.Staff Writer (2 June 1880).
Frankston
. ''South Bourke and Mornington Journal'' (1872–1920). p. 2. Retrieved 4 October 2015 Its construction was funded by public donations, headed by a residents' committee, and supported by

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

and temperance societies including a Frankston group of

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and the Independent Order of Good Templars, Independent Order of Rechabites and Manchester Unity of Oddfellows.Staff Writer (24 March 1880).
Frankston
. ''South Bourke and Mornington Journal'' (1872–1920). p. 3. Retrieved 4 October 2015 Its foundation stone was laid by committee president Mark Young on 22 March of that year, and the building was opened on 24 May at a cost of £280. Mark Young's Pier Hotel, Frankston, 1888 (Clarence Woodhouse)

Mark Young's Pier Hotel, Frankston, 1888 (Clarence Woodhouse)

On 16 March 1881, the Colonial Bank of Australasia (later the National Bank of Australia) was the first bank to open a lending branch in Frankston. It was located next to Mark Young's Pier Hotel on what is now Nepean Highway. The first

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

in Frankston, the Frankston Free Library, opened at the Mechanics' Institute to mark its first anniversary. The first 400 books of the new library were a donation from the banker H.D. Larnach. To service the proposed new metropolitan cemetery the railway line to Melbourne was extended from Caulfield to Frankston between 1881 and 1882.Staff Writer (19 December 1881).
Monday, December 19, 1881
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 5. Retrieved 6 October 2015Staff Writer (13 September 1880).
The Proposed Railway to Frankston
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 7. Retrieved 6 October 2015Staff Writer (13 September 1880).
The Commissioner of Railways at Frankston
. ''South Bourke and Mornington Journal'' (1872–1920). p. 3. Retrieved 6 October 2015 The first section from Caulfield to Mordialloc opened on 19 December 1881. The second section from Mordialloc to Frankston opened on 29 July 1882.Staff Writer (1 August 1882).
Opening of the Frankston Railway
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 6. Retrieved 6 October 2015 The course of the railway line was directly influenced by the location of the proposed cemetery. From Mordialloc to Seaford it runs adjacent to what is now Nepean Highway—which was built over a 1000-year-old sand dune that once ran parallel to the coastline.Natural reserves within Frankston City
. Frankston City Council. Retrieved 24 August 2015 After Seaford it curves inland eastwards to where a "mortuary station" was to be located (now Kananook railway station) near the border of the proposed cemetery, then continues to Frankston. Due to concerns from undertakers about sandy soil and underlying granite at the Frankston site, the proposed cemetery was abandoned—which was later established in the Melbourne southeastern suburb of Springvale in 1901. It was also briefly considered as one of the possible sites to replace the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum in 1887—which was later established in the southeastern suburb of Cheltenham in 1911.

Seaside resort

Scene on Kananook Creek, Frankston, 1886 (Charles Samuel Bennett)

Despite not becoming the site of the new metropolitan cemetery, Frankston benefited from its new railway line. The travel time to the Melbourne city centre was reduced from several hours by horse-drawn carriage to 90 minutes by steam train, making it a popular seaside destination for excursionists and weekend holidaymakers from the mid-1880s. Mark Young constructed enclosed sea baths in 1883,Staff Writer (9 May 1883).
Frankston
. ''South Bourke and Mornington Journal'' (1872–1920). p. 3. Retrieved 7 October 2015Staff Writer (4 October 1884).
Melbourne — Its Infancy and Growth
. '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 13. Retrieved 7 October 2015 on a bed of granite located roughly 100 metres off the coastline of Frankston Beach, at a cost of £950. They were connected to the coastline by a wooden pathway that led to a suspension bridge over Kananook Creek to Young's Pier Hotel. During this time, an article in '' The Argus'' newspaper on the growth of outer Melbourne (published 4 October 1884) describes Frankston as "going ahead rapidly" with "50 to 60 new houses... nthe last three years" as well as having "two hotels, a wine shop, four boarding-houses, three general stores, an ironmonger, two saddlers' shops ndfive brick-yards". Frankston's Market Gardeners' and Fruit Growers' Association was founded around this time, in order to transport the produce of local farmers by steam ship to New South Wales and Tasmania, and the majority of trade for the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island, as well as south-west Gippsland, is also described as passing through Frankston. Prince of Wales Hotel, Frankston, 1890 (Clarence Woodhouse)

Prince of Wales Hotel, Frankston, 1890 (Clarence Woodhouse)

On 8 December 1884, John Storey Petrie was granted the license to establish a third hotel in Frankston, the Prince of Wales Hotel, on what is now the southwest corner of Davey Street and Nepean Highway (the present site of Davey's Bar and Restaurant) in the Frankston Central Business District (CBD).Staff Writer (17 December 1884).
Police Courts
. ''South Bourke and Mornington Journal'' (1872–1920). p.3. Retrieved 7 October 2015 It was designed in the

Queen Anne style and was constructed of bluestone and locally-made bricks. The intersection of Davey Street and Nepean Highway with Young's Pier Hotel (northwest corner), Davey's Bay View Hotel (northeast corner) and Petrie's Prince of Wales Hotel (southwest corner), became known as a "hotel corner" from the 1890s,D.J.H. (13 December 1890).
Town and Country Sketches — Frankston After 10 Years
. '' Mornington Standard'' (1889–1908). p. 3. Retrieved 9 October 2015 and contemporarily as "pub corner". Around 100 years later, in the mid-1990s, they were joined by a nightclub on its southeast corner.Clifton-Evans, Louise (11 February 2013).
Frankston strip club to turn into upmarket restaurant
. '' Frankston Standard Leader''.

. Retrieved 9 October 2015 Frankston Brick Company was founded in 1886,Advertising — Public Companies
(7 August 1886). '' The Argus'' (1846–1957). p. 12. Retrieved 7 October 2015 by a consortium of local businessmen including William Davey Jr. and Thomas Ritchie—most likely in order to capitalise on the Melbourne land boom during the mid-1880s—and was later publicly floated. It was the first large-scale employer in Frankston, consolidating the existing local brick-yards onto a single site close to Frankston Pier, and producing approximately 50,000 bricks a week. The Victorian colonial government established a large military camp in what is now the City of Frankston suburb of Langwarrin in 1886, which aided in the growth of the Frankston area.Former Langwarrin Military Camp

. Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 13 October 2015Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve
. Parks Victoria. Department of Environment and Primary Industries. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 12 October 2015 The entrance to the Langwarrin Military Camp was located on the corner of McClelland Drive and Robinsons Road, and it is now the Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve. Old School House Museum, Frankston (October_2015)

Old School House Museum, Frankston (October_2015)

By the mid-1880s, No. 1464 Frankston School was classified as a "class 4" school (approximately 250 pupils) and had previously been expanded with an extension to the existing wooden school house in 1880. Due to its growing enrolments, and following a petition by residents to the Victorian colonial Department of Education, an additional 20 x 30 feet brick school house was built in 1889. The brick school house is now operated as an education history museum by the Frankston Historical Society.Old School House
Frankston Historical Society. Retrieved 14 September 2015 A new Anglican church building was opened on 5 February 1887. It was designed in a Victorian Gothic Revival style by the

ecclesiastic {{Short pages monitor