Person:Noah Holloway (1)

1841 - With parents at Wilsford, Wiltshire.

1844 - Baptism: Noah, son of James HOLLOWAY and Elizabeth.

1851 - Farm Labourer, with father at Haxton Barn, Fittleton, Wiltshire.

1853 - Scholar at Rokewood School, aged 13yrs (with Mark 10yrs).

Employment included: Groom at Traveller's Rest Hotel; Cobb and Co stage coach driver.

1862/7 - Labourer (Geelong)

1867 - Farmer at Mt.Gellibrand 71 acres purchased 7/2/1877 (Dairy).

1868 - Groom (Applied for Land Selection in Birregurra). BIRREGURRA LAND SELECTION: Applied: 6th November, 1868; Allotment: 52B with an area of 71acres, 1rood, 18 perches at Birregurra; Next door neighbours: Charles BEAL and James NORTH - shared payment for portion of fencing; Garden: about half an acre for Fruit Trees; Dwelling: Weather Board House with shingle roof, 30’ x 22’ with 6 rooms, valued at £100. It has a stockyard and Cattle Sheds.

The family started living there in December 1869, stating that they wish the right of Purchase which was finally granted to them on the 7th February 1877.

The final report before the Grant was accepted, states that some portion of the land is stony but none of it has been cleared as the stone runs below the surface. There is no timber on the land. None of this is cultivated except for a garden.

1877 - Farmer. Owner” of property at Mt.Gellibrand.

1899 - Federal Referendum: "Holloway, Noah, Mt.Gellibrand, Farmer."

1902 - DEATH CERTIFICATE: Date: 2nd December 1900, Mt. Gellibrand nr Birregurra, Shire of Colac, Co of Polworth, Victoria; Name: Noah Holloway, Farmer; Age: 60 years; Cause: Cardiac Degeneration, Heart Failure, Chronic; Parents: James HOLLOWAY, Farmer, and Mother unknown; Informant: John HOLLOWAY, Son, Manifold Street, Camperdown; Buried: 5th December, 1900, Irrewarra Cemetery by Rev.Lowe, Church of England; Marital Status: Ann Maria MURRAY, Geelong, 50yrs married; Children: Mary Ann 34yrs; John 32yrs; Richard 31yrs; Rosanna 29yrs; Bedelia 29yrs; Noah 27yrs; Elizabeth 26yrs; Thomas 24yrs; Margaret 22yrs; Francis 20yrs.

DEATH CARD: “In loving Remembrance of Our Dear Father ߝ Noah HOLLOWAY ߝ Died December 2, 1900, Aged 60years. “One Less at Home.” The charmed circle broken ߝ a dear face missed day by day from its accustomed place, but cleansed and saved and perfected by grace, ONE MORE IN HEAVEN! ߝ ONE LESS ON EARTH! Its pain, its sorrow, its toil to share! One less the pilgrams daily . One cross to bear, One more the crown of ransomed saints to wear, AT HOME IN HEAVEN. / DEEPLY REGRETTED.”

Buried: Warncoort Cemetery. HEADSTONE: NOAH HOLLOWAY / WHO DIED 2nd DECEMBER 1900 / KEEP ................ER..S / THOU .........../ EVER .................

WILL: Noah Died Intestate. Probate of £300 (Real Estate) was granted to Ann Maria HOLLOWAY.

Sue Holloway writes: "Noah was only 13 yrs when he arrived in Geelong with his family. He worked at a General Station hand on Comeralghip (maybe with horses), By 1862, he had moved to Geelong, aged 22yrs, working as a labourer. He married in that year and lived in Geelong until 1867 when they moved to Mt.Gellibrand near Birregurra, where they were to live until the end of the Century. Noah was quick to take up an Occupation License as soon as the first parcels of land became available for Selection in the Birregurra area. In a very shaky hand, he signed up for 71 acres at Mt.Gellibrand in 1868. Birregurra was little more than a plan on the surveryor's map at this time. Mt.Gellibrand was only a short distance away and situated on what we today call the Princess Highwy. It was a much older settlement, centred around the well-known Traveller's Rest Hotel, which was a busy staging post on the Geelong to Warrnambool Cobb & Co coach route.

"After 10 years of hard work, Noah encountered no difficulties with the Lands Board when he applied for his Crown Grant. Noah's land was used for dairying. He fenced the whole property with 70 chains of chains of post and split stuff railings and wires. As he had done this back in 1870, the fences were pronounced to be in "a fair state of repare" when Mounted Constable Hadfield made his inspection tour 10 years later.

"The house that Noah had built met with approval. Consisting of 6 rooms and measuring 30 by 22 feet, it was built of weatherboards and had a shingle roof.

"Noah cultivated about half an acre of ground and planted fruit trees and a vegetable garden. He erected a stockyard and a cow shed.

"Although not a full time farmer, Noah was in fact an employee of the Cobb & Co Royal Mail Coach Line that operated between Geelong and Warrnambool, being a Groom at the Traveller's Rest staging post around the 1870's. Noah's grooming days were at an end. He had now become one of those undisputed "Knights of the Road". He had made the great leap from Groom to that of a Cobb & Co Coach Driver. Then he finally attained the heady heights of the box seat just as the coach line ceased its dusty journey past his front gate.

"When the railway was finally extended to Warrnambol in 1890, Noah reluctantly hung up his 'ribbons'. The coaching era in the Western District was over. Now aged 50, Noah returned to his property and became a full-time farmer. For the final few years of his life, Noah was chronically ill with heart disease. Unfortunately all of the Holloway brothers were afflicted by this illness, although Noah died particularly young at the age of only 60 in 1900. The dairy farm was sold and Ann Holloway moved into Camperdown, where her eldest son, John was living in Manifold St. She died there in 1919."