Dozens lay claim to airport land registered to John Pascoe Fawkner in 1850

MELBOURNE founding father John Pascoe Fawkner might not have had any children, but dozens of people are laying claim to a parcel of land last registered in 1850 to the former MP.

JOHN Pascoe Fawkner might not have had any children but many people are laying claim to a parcel of land last registered in 1850 to the Melbourne founding father.

So far 24 people have inquired about their eligibility of ownership of the 6770sq m tracts of land, west of Melbourne Airport.

MYSTERY OF LAND OWNERSHIP

PM COMMITS TO AIRPORT RAIL LINK

The federal Department of Infrastructure is trying to find the owner of the property so it can be acquired for the expansion of the airport. Fawkner is its last registered owner.

The Melbourne Daily News reported on November 26, 1850, that Fawkner instigated a land scheme to allow poorer families to own their own land, forming the Victoria Co-operative Freehold Land Investment Society.

The federal Department of Infrastructure is seeking the owner of the strips of land (marked in yellow) near Melbourne Airport. Source: Google

It is not known if the land was allocated to another person or if it simply fell through the administrative cracks when first registered to Fawkner 168 years ago.

The former MP and his wife Eliza had no children but reportedly adopted a child, Richard. Fawkner died in 1869, and Eliza later remarried and had children.

Many people also are descended from Fawkner’s sister Elizabeth by her two marriages.

One of those is Randal Young, of Oakleigh, who has studied his lineage back seven generations.

“It would be mind-numbing the number of potential descendants,’’ Mr Young, who is not making a claim, said.

The land is needed for expansion of Melbourne Airport. Picture: Supplied

FREE AIRPORT PARKING, BUT THERE’S A CATCH

A department spokesman said staff were collating and assessing information that had been sent to them.

The department has described the area on Bassett Rd, Tullamarine, as “dirt tracks and grass”.

The land is needed for a third runway at Melbourne Airport as it prepares to deal booming numbers of passengers. Annual numbers are expected to double to 64 million by 2033.

If the owner of the land cannot be identified, the land will be acquired for the project.

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