By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE historic Doveton Heights Cottage is set to go under the hammer next month.
The cottage, which sits in Doveton Avenue in Eumemmerring, was built in 1894 by Captain John Doveton and his wife Margaret Elisabeth Doveton, after which the suburb was named.
The Victorian home will be auctioned on Saturday 9 April by Donaldson Real Estate, after which the property’s rich history will be passed on to a new owner.
The solid brick house sits on a 969m sq allotment and includes three bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge room, a bathroom and a laundry.
Realtor Les Donaldson said he expected Doveton Heights to capture a lot of interest.
“We’ve had probably 20-odd inspections in 10 days, naturally the locals are very interested to see it, because it’s such a historic home,” Mr Donaldson said.
“And the City of Casey hasn’t got an abundance of historic homes.”
The suburb of Doveton was named after Captain John in 1954, 60 years after the captain and his wife, Margaret, built Doveton Heights.
Doveton, the suburb, was established by the Housing Commission to provide homes for the employees of the ‘Big Three’ industrial companies which had set up factories in the area – International Harvester, Heinz and General Motors Holden.
Originally, the region was known as Grassmere or Eumemmerring, according to information gathered by the Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation.
The first mention linking Captain Doveton and Margaret to the suburb appears to be a listing in the 1893-’94 Shire of Berwick rate books.
The records show that Captain Doveton owned a house and 2.5 acres at Lot 53 in Grassmere, then the following year he is reported as having another 2.5 acres at Lot 56.
The Casey Cardinia Library Corporation has also unearthed records from The Argus on 11 October 1873, highlighting Captain Doveton’s time serving as a Second Officer on the steamship known as the Durham, which had just arrived from London after 50 days at sea.
The Argus also has various reports, in the Shipping Intelligence column, of Captain Doveton arriving and departing Melbourne as the Captain of the Julia Percy, then the Tamar, and then the Southern Cross.
In the information gathered by the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation, it is concluded that Captain John Doveton and Margaret Elisabeth Doveton were in fact first cousins, as their fathers were brothers, and notes that Margaret should have as much status as the ‘namesake’ of the suburb of Doveton as her husband.
For more information, visit the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation website at www.cclc.vic.gov.au.
