Tom Sheehy, the history officer for the City of Moorabbin, wrote in 1979 about grape growing in the 1850s. At one time, the Parish of Moorabbin and the neighbouring Parish of Prahran produced 157,000 pounds of grapes between them. The vines were producing table grapes, raisons, and grapes for wine making. A few years later the vines were destroyed with a disease and the land reverted to market gardening.
Tom Sheehy, writing in 1970 in the Mordialloc-Chelsea News, tells of some significant events in the growth of Mordialloc and Mentone. He mentions men who made their mark on our history: John O’Shanassy, Colonel Mair, Thomas Bent and Percy Dobson. There are other business men and Mrs Patrick with her drapery store. Some of the events Sheehy mentions are the first land sales at Long Beach, the building of the Mordialloc Coffee Palace, and the first attempt to control the waters of the Carrum Swamp.
Pioneer Settlers was written by Tom Sheedy thirty nine years ago when he was the History Officer for the City of Moorabbin. It contains the names of 119 settlers who were petitioning for a local Post Office and some whose descendants still live in Kingston today.
