He went to Commeralgyp Station (4) at Rokewood, south of Ballarat to work and remained there until 1860 when he established the Barclay Flour Mills at Rokewood Junction (5). It was described in the Geelong Advertiser in March 1867 -
A visit to Moody's flour mill, or more properly called Barclay's mill, situated three miles from Rokewood, will show colonial enterprise. The building has only been erected nine months. It is built of wood, forty-five by twenty-five feet, in six flats. At the present time two stones are in operation, driven by a fourteen horse-power engine, producing above five hundred bushels of pulse per week, but the proprietor is so much pressed that two additional stones will be added shortly. The grain is received principally from the Ondit district (6).
Christopher married Jane Halbert Hyslop on October 6, 1863 in a Presbyterian ceremony at Junction Diggings, in the Rokewood District. They were both 30 years old and their address was Roseneath Farm (7). They had eight children, all born at Rokewood - Clara (1864-1906), John Austin (1865-1867), Isabella Mary (1868-1940), Edith (1869-1927), Jessie (1870-1960), Jane (b. & d.1872), Christopher John (1873-1943) and Celia (1874-1958) (8).
Christopher purchased 1,686 acres of the Great Swamp Run at the land sales held on March 25, 1875 for the amount of £2,451 (9). Moody and the other land owners had to clear and drain their land. The family lived on their property called Invermead, on the South Gippsland Highway, east of the Inlets. The homestead had a dairy, workshops, slaughter house, poultry pens, pigstyes and kitchen garden (10).
Moody was elected as a Cranbourne Shire Councillor in 1884 and served until his resignation in January 1894 (11). His obituary in the Koo Wee Rup Sun of November 18, 1920 said that in all municipal matters, especially on roads, his sound and practical knowledge made his services of value. Moody was one of the strong personalities on the Council and Niel Gunson, in his book The Good Country, describes him as an astute councillor and man of inflexible principle (12).
In 1890, Moody who owned what was to become the site of the Koo Wee Rup township sub-divided the land between Rossiter Road and the Main Drain and Denham’s Road and the Highway. Very little of the land was sold due to the 1890s depression. The sub-division set out Moody, Gardner (called Koo Wee Rup Street by Moody), Henry (called Christopher Street by Moody) and Salmon Streets (13).
Christopher Moody was a public spirited man who exercised influence for the advancement of the district (14). Moody donated the land for the Presbyterian Church and the Public Hall in Koo Wee Rup (15) and he was a Vice President of the Tooradin Mechanics’ Institute which opened Boxing Day 1882 and a member of the Tooradin State School Board, which had opened in 1875 (16).
Jane Moody died on December 8, 1885 at the age of 51, and is buried at Cranbourne cemetery. Of Christopher and Jane Moody’s children it would appear that only one of them married – Jessie married Edward Percy Walker in 1898. Edward and his father operated the Tooradin store for a while and after his marriage, Edward had a store at Lang Lang and later at Dandenong (17). Jessie and Edward had seven children - Jean, Christopher, George, Marion, Edward, Keith and Lachlan. The five sons all enlisted in the Army in the Second World War. Their eldest son, Christopher, was the chief sub-editor and assistant editor of the Melbourne Sun when he enlisted. A report at the time of his death said that he preferred to fight as a Private rather than accept a commission as official broadcaster. He was killed fighting in Syria in June 1941 (18).
Christopher Moody moved to his house, Shepton, in Rossiter Road in Koo Wee Rup when it was built in 1902. He died on November 17, 1920. A report in The Argus in January 1921 said that his Estate was worth £51,862 of which £3,910 was real estate and the £47,952 other assets (19). In this Will dated April 7, 1910 Moody left the Shepton estate of 586 acres, together with all the rest of his real estate to his son, Christopher. The residual of the Estate was to be sold and divided into five equal shares for his son and daughters Isabella, Jessie and Celia. His other daughter, Edith, was to receive the income from her share to support her, and if this was not enough, then part of the principle. After Edith’s death the Will stated that the remaining part of her share was to be divided equally between the Melbourne, the Alfred, the Austin and St Vincent’s Hospitals. This suggests that she was unwell or in need of support, even in 1910 when the Will was written (20). After Edith died on October 24, 1927 her share of the Estate was distributed to the four Hospitals. In 1927 this amounted to £7,200, and in 1929 another £1,147 was distributed (20).
Christopher Moody is buried at Lang Lang, for some reason not at Cranbourne with his wife. The head stone also has the incorrect date on it and says he died in 1921. It seems a bit of a sad end for a man who contributed so much to the Community.
Koo Wee Rup Sun obituarySome of this information was taken from his Obituary published in the Koo Wee Rup Sun, Thursday, November 18, 1920. It is transcribed here -
A link binding the present with the past has been severed on the death of Mr Christopher Moody, sen., which sad event took place at his residence, "Shepton," Kooweerup, early on Wednesday morning. The deceased, who was 88 years of age, had been ailing for some time, and despite the best medical attention and tender nursing he passed away as above stated. The late Mr Moody was born on February 7, 1833 at Shepton Mallett, Somerset, England. He left Liverpool on June 5, 1854, when 21 years of age, in the Morning Star, arriving at Hobson's Bay on August 20. Immediately after landing he went to Commeralgyp Station, Rokewood. After experiencing several years of station life, he established Barkley flour mills at Rokewood Junction, in the Ballarat district, in 1860. In 1870 he came to the Gippsland district and bought 2000 acres on the Kooweerup Swamp, part of which the township is now on. While here he built "Invermead," which is now occupied by Mr. R. Preston. These were stirring days, and only those associated with the hardship and struggles of the pioneers have any conception of what had to be faced. While living here many pioneers when passing through found in deceased a hospitable friend and guide. He later built a place near the Monomeith station, and later still erected "Shepton," where he has since resided. Deceased was a public-spirited man and exercised his influence for the advancement of the district. He served in the Leigh Shire Council for nine years, and was a member of the Cranbourne Council for a similar period. In all municipal matters, especially on roads, his sound and practical knowledge made his services of value. He was the first to advocate the use of swamp gravel on the roads in these parts, and in other respects he earned the appreciation of both councillors and ratepayers as a sterling worker. His wife pre-deceased him 35 years ago. He leaves one son and four daughters to mourn the loss of an upright and devoted father, and the district will be bereft of a good and honest citizen. The remains will be privately interred in the Lang Lang Cemetery to-day (Thursday) in the Anglican portion of the cemetery.
Footnotes
(1) Birth date from obituary - Koo Wee Rup Sun Thursday November 18, 1920 - and parents from marriage certificate. There are some sources which list his mother's surname as Berkley, but the marriage certificate says Perrett.
(16) Tooradin : 125 years of coastal history - Blind Bight, Cannons Creek, Dalmore, Sherwood, Tooradin North and Warneet. Published by the Tooradin celebrates together 125 years Education Committee in 2000.
