Tharle Butchers, Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, undated

The Tharle family and the Journal have been intertwined throughout their time in Dandenong. Both arrived 150 years ago and Dandenong and District Historical Society member Rodney Edwin Tharle remains a regular reader today. His great grandfather, Barton Barnaby Tharle and his wife Louisa Jane Bradley migrated to Australia shortly after they wed on the Isle of White in 1863.

They settled on land on Dandenong-Frankston Road, Dandenong, in early 1864 and later moved to McCrae Street. They had nine children, including Barton Barnaby junior, who became a farmer and auctioneer. He in turn had seven children with wife Emily Jane Hunt and ran slaughter yards in Power Road, Doveton, and a butcher’s business in Dandenong.

In 1919 they brought their home in Macpherson Street from Jeffrey Macpherson. It had housed the private Dandenong Grammar School, which Mr Macpherson ran. Their eldest child, Barton, known as Bart, married Alva Sayers who played with the Dandenong Croquet Club for 40 years.

Bart started in the meat trade at the age of 14 and with brothers Frank and Victor (Vic), ran a butchery business in Foster Street after their father and uncles sold their butcher’s business in Lonsdale Street. When Frank and Vic decided to leave the business, Bart carried on and at one stage operated four shops.

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