By REBECCA BILLS
TIME and time again the Mount Evelyn History Group is asked the same question: “How was Mount Evelyn named?”
And despite initial reports it was named after the late Richard Heals’ daughter, historian Karen Phillips has found this isn’t so.
“He didn’t even have a daughter called Evelyn,” she said.
“There was a book by L. Blake called ‘Place Names of Victoria’ and that is where the story of the so-called ‘Evelyn Heals’ came from.”
Ms Phillips said through her research she had found that Mount Evelyn was named by the Lilydale Shire Council and the Railway Commissioners.
“There were problems with the old Mount Evelyn station being called Olinda Vale,” she said.
“It upset people in Olinda and Mount Dandenong as it confused them.
“The preferred name was South Wandin but as there was already a Wandin station they really wanted to think of a better name.”
Ms Phillips said although how the name Mount Evelyn came to be was not specified, it was likely it was named after the County of Evelyn.
Ms Phillips said through old local newspapers she tracked down a report in the Lilydale Express on 1 November 1907 talking about a meeting with councillors and commissioners about the naming.
“In a previous report from a Box Hill newspaper on 11 October 1907 it said that the meeting would take place the Friday after publication,” she said.
“That means it would have been renamed sometime in October 1907.
“It was very common at that time that if a station wasn’t named after the place it would be named after a parish or something like that, so that is why it is more likely that the town was named after the County of Evelyn.”
Ms Phillips said the booklet also traced the name ‘Evelyn’ back through the Crusades to Biblical times.
For those interested in purchasing Mount Evelyn History Groups booklet ‘How Mt Evelyn was Named’, please email historygroup@mountevelyn.vic.au.
The cost is $6.
