Nunawading Who's Who
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Distinguished and Famous people from Nunawading
🌱 John and Eliza McClelland
John and Eliza McClelland arrived from Ireland in 1863 with their infant son and established themselves in the Nunawading district. From 1869 they rented land at Tunstall, later buying it and developing a market garden. Produce travelled by horse and dray to suburban and city markets. Their home, The Elms, grew from an early wattle-and-daub dwelling into a substantial timber house. Part of the family’s property subsequently became the site of brickmaking. Their history follows the district’s changing uses of the same ground: food production, family settlement and then industry.
🧱 Charles Staples
Charles Staples established the Tunstall Brick and Pottery Company in 1888 on land purchased from the McClelland family. The enterprise joined a local industry exploiting clay deposits as Melbourne’s demand for building materials expanded. His involvement also illustrates the risks behind the boom: financial difficulties and insolvency followed, and the works closed for a period. Nunawading’s industrial history was made by ventures whose fortunes could be considerably less solid than their bricks.
