Paul Blair
Hi Paul,
The Men of KokodaOn this day 64 years ago, July 15 in 1942, 95 officers and men of B company 39th Militia battalion arrived at the airstrip...
The Maribyrnong River was known as the Salt Water River until about 1913. In the 1850s the infant settlement of Footscray was known as Salt Water River.
If you have the certificates, and buttuming they are birth registrations and not church records, it would be useful for you to have a look at the name of the registrar and try and pin down where he was living at the time.
People often travelled quite a way to register children, possibly on their way to do other business. I know of births that took place in Craigieburn that were registered in Flemington - I presume on the way into town for business or other reasons. From Geelong you had to cross at the punt (or bridge) at Footscray to get into Melbourne.
If you are talking about a civil registration in the 1850s, there weren't registrars at every tiny place, like Sal****er Ridge. They were in population centres, so unless you find that Geelong or some other large place down that way used to be known as Salt Water, I'd be putting my money on Footscray.
Best wishes,
Lenore
