Peter McGinnisPrint Page

First pioneer - Peter McGinnis  1819 - 1886

Laid in honour of Hopetoun`s first settler who, by taking such giant strides into the remote vastness of the Mallee, paved the way for generations to follow.  McGinnis and partner George Bell stood on the grass covered shore of Lake Corrong, with their flock of two thousand sheep and lambs, declaring this place "Lake Corrong Station"on 9th July 1846.

Peter and his wife Rose lived in a humble pine log homestead and had nine children, seven of whom survived to adulthood.  They adaopted an aboriginal boy, Jowley, as a small child.  As wealthy squatters, they retired to Newtown in Geelong in 1874.  By 1881, the McGinnis`s had moved to a new palatial residence in Northcote, Melbourne.  Peter suddenly died here at the age of 67, on the 11th of July 1886, only forty years after he had first set foot in the Mallee.  He is interred in Booroondarah Cemetery, Kew, Melbourne, beneath a grand tombstone.  Rose died seventeen years later, aged 84 years, in July 1903.

During this period, new station manager, Edward Harewood Lascelles continued to open up this land for selection and to develop the wool industry side by side with cereal farming.  At is peak of prosperity, Lake Corrong Station, Lot 60A, Allotment 1, Parish of Goyura, Shire Borung (Warracknabeal), was renamed Hopetoun in 1891.  Lascelles named his new limestone residence and town after his friend John Adrian Louis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun and Governor of Victoria 1889 - 95.

As Marquis of Linlithgow and Knight of the Thistle, in 1901, Lord Hopetoun became the first Governor General of Australia.

Hopetoun House and this historical Coorrong Station homestead are located on the southern end of Evelyn Street, Hopetoun.

As all maintenance of this Dr Pete`s Memorial Park is carried out by voluntary members of the community, any coin donations are  greatly appreciated.

Hopetoun Progress Association 2004