Baxter Family, Benjamin and Jane
Benjamin Baxter arrived in Sydney early in 1837, in charge of convicts.
Baxter Family Picnic, with Capt Baxter on the right
He resigned from the Army, and at the end of 1837, Governor Bourke appointed Captain Benjamin Baxter of His Majesty’s 50th regiment to the positions of Postmaster and Clerk of Petty Sessions at Port Phillip.
Baxter was Melbourne’s first Postmaster, and Martha Baxter dispatched the first home mail direct from Hobson’s Bay.
The Baxter family eventually settled in the Moorooduc/Baxter area when Benjamin bought 450 acres.
He may have been the first white man to settle on the Mornington Peninsula, and his house the first substantial dwelling.
Melbourne's first Post Office
He became a member of the first Mornington Roads Board, remaining on it for many years. He also served as a Shire Councillor and President.
He passed quietly away aged 87 years in 1872 at his home.
Jane Baxter
Jane, the third of Martha and Benjamin's nine children, was born in a small two-roomed cottage which was serving as Melbourne’s first Post Office, in Flinders Street Melbourne.
