Harkaway - Place - eMelbourne - The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online (original) (raw)

(3806, 42 km SE, Casey City)

A dairying area and township 3 km north of Berwick, like Thomastown, Harkaway was one of a number of German settlements established in Victoria between 1840 and 1860. Most of the Harkaway Germans were Lutherans from Silesia. The name is reputed to derive from either a famous English racehorse of the 1830s, or a farmer's call to his cattle dog. Writer Martin Boyd and other members of his artistic family stayed at his property in A'Beckett Road, The Grange (now demolished), and it appears as Westhill in three of his books. Artist Jessie Traill also had a studio here.