Robert Olley Snr.
Robert Olley was born in Trimingham Norfolk on the 11th December 1829, son of John and Sophia (Banyard) Olley, and he arrived in Australia aboard the "Mahomet Shah" in 1848.
He first bought land opposite The Briars, where he established an orchard and hand-made all the bricks used for the building of his home Clydebank.
The steep gradient of the road near Clydebank just over Balcombe Creek was known as Olley’s hill.
Robert Olley Snr married Christina Milne in 1849, and had the following children:
Osborne Wesleyan Church 1872
| Margaret Ann | b. 1850. Died 1853 |
| John | b. 1852. Died 1853 |
| Robert Jnr. | b. 1853. Married Emma Allchin, of Sutton Grange, in 1889 |
| David | b. 1857. Married Caroline Maddocks in 1875 |
| James Milne | b. 1859. Married Ellen Lester in 1884 |
| Sophia Deborah | b.1861 Married Samuel Sherlock in 1888 |
| John | b. 1864 Married Alice Chapman in 1886. |
Robert Olley Snr. died on March 16th 1917 in his 87th year, at the home of his son-in-law, Captain Samuel Sherlock in Frankston.
"The first application for Government aid to establish a school at Green Island (Osborne) was made in 1870 by Robert Olley and George Hutchins and the first school was started in a small brick church used by the Wesleyans - where Robert Olley conducted services. The school opened in 1872 just south of the intersection of Dunn’s and Benton’s Roads. Sophia Olley, his daughter, was appointed work mistress at the Osborne school in 1875."
Extract from "Mornington in the Wake of Flinders" by Leslie Moorhead
