Honora Riley, Shoreham pioneer
Honora Riley (1839–1916)
If you visit Flinders Cemetery on Stokes Street, you will come across the gravesite of a remarkable woman who made a significant contribution to Shoreham and the Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The story of Honora Riley (above) features in HERstory: Women of the Mornington Peninsula, a public art initiative that runs from Saturday 8 March to Sunday 8 June, 2024.
Born in Ireland, Honora travelled by ship to Melbourne in 1859, with her widowed mother Ellen Byrne, two sisters and four brothers. This was a period of mass migration from Ireland due to famine and economic hardship.
Three of her brothers went searching for gold near Ballarat, but soon bought land in Shoreham, where blocks of 100 to 200 acres were being offered to settlers. Edmund Riley arrived in Victoria in 1858 and, after working the goldfields, bought two blocks on Stony Creek near the Byrnes brothers. Edmund married Honora in June 1861.
It was hard work for everyone - clearing blocks, cutting sleepers for the new railway to Frankston and establishing mixed farming properties. A row of cypress trees on the Riley’s driveway led to the house where visiting priests would traditionally stay.
These were hard-working Catholic families. Honora had 10 children, only three of whom married. She wanted her children to have a good education and her sister Johanna sold two acres to the government for a school, which opened in 1875. Her children were among the first students at Stony Creek school, renamed to Shoreham School in 1880.
Beck Davis, from the Mornington Peninsula Shire Arts and Culture, said that although Honora wasn’t a public figure, “she navigated a male dominated world with resilience”.
'The Shire is bringing historic photographs to a mainstream audience who might never otherwise see them and learn the stories they tell.”
The exhibition acknowledges that the art project focuses on the story of non-Indigenous women, as one piece of the history of the Mornington Peninsula.
Thanks to the Shire and Susie Utting, of the Flinders District Historical Society, for the information about Honora Riley.