Town and Suburban Lands at Gisborne in the County of Bourke

Rare early detailed map of Gisborne showing  landholders, town reserves, police offices, goal, Commissioner’s residence. Noted are the Bridge Inn and New Bush Inn. The town was generally known as the ‘Bush Inn’ until 1851.

Gisborne was first settled on 24 March 1837 by George Hamilton although the area further south of Gisborne had been settled earlier by John Aitken, who squatted on the land having shipped his merino sheep from Tasmania. In 1840, Henry Fyshe Gisborne, Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Port Phillip District, set up an outpost for his Border Police troopers to assist colonialists with the suppression of Aboriginal resistance. The Bush Inn was built near the barracks in the same year and first licenced on 13th April, 1840 it was renamed the Gisborne Hotel in 1850, in honour of Henry Fyshe Gisborne. The Gisborne Post Office opened on 22 March 1850. Shown is the site of the school which was officially opened 26th December, 1853.