X is for Xiàmén

In 1881 my husband Greg’s great great grandparents John Plowright (1831 – 1910) and Margaret Plowright née Smyth (1834 – 1897) adopted a boy—their grandson—named Frederick Harold Plowright. The child’s father was James Henry Plowright; his mother was Elizabeth Ann Cooke, née Onthong.

Elizabeth Ann Onthong was born in 1862 in Avoca, Victoria, to Thomas Onthong and Bridget Onthong née Fogarty. The Onthong family later used the surname Cook (or Cooke). Elizabeth was the fourth of six children; she had four brothers and one sister, Mary Ann.

Elizabeth’s parents Bridget Fogarty and John Tong were married on 17 October 1855 in the Church of England vicarage at Carisbrook.

Marriage certificate (Victoria Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages) for FOGARTY, Bridget and TONG, John; Year: 1855, Reg. number: 2887/1855

The marriage certificate has them both living in Avoca. Neither could sign their name.

John Tong, son of William Tong storekeeper, was born in Amoy, China. His occupation was cook, and he was 26 years old. The certificate notes that he “could not tell his mother’s name (Chinese)”. This presumably meant that he was unable to transcribe the sounds of her name into English letters. He was probably also illiterate in Chinese.

Bridget Fogarty was born at Burr (Birr), King’s County (now County Offaly), Ireland. She was a servant, she stated her age was 21, and her parents were Michael Fogarty, farmer, and Ann Whitfield.

John Tong’s birthplace Xiamen 廈門 (pinyin: Xiàmén) is a city on the Fujian coast of China. For many years, the name, pronounced ‘Emoui’ in the Fujian dialect, was rendered ‘Amoy’ in Post Office romanization.

Amoy’s harbor, China. Painting in the collection of Sjöhistoriska Museet; image retrieved through picryl.com.

Xiàmén is 7,300 km north of Avoca, Victoria. Map generated using Google maps.

At the end of 1854 it was estimated that more than 10,000 Chinese lived and worked on the Victorian goldfields. In 1855 alone more than eleven thousand Chinese arrived in Melbourne, many of them indentured labourers from the province of Fujian via the port of Amoy.

John Tong arrived before the Victorian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act 1855, legislation meant to restrict Chinese immigration by imposing a poll tax of ten pounds upon every Chinese arriving in the Colony and limiting the number of Chinese on board each vessel to one person for every 10 tonnes of goods. (£10 was worth about $9,000 today in comparing average wages then and now [from MeasuringWorth.com])

Though at the time of his marriage John Tong’s occupation was cook, he later worked as a miner at Deep Lead near Avoca. Three of his sons were also Avoca miners.

John Tong was also known as Thomas or Tommy Cook. Tommy Cook was mentioned several times in the newspapers. In 1866 he was noted as having “attained considerable proficiency in the English language.” In 1871 his son William gave evidence in a court case and he, William, was the son of “Thomas Cook, a miner, residing at the Deep Lead, Avoca.” In 1875 Bridget bought a charge of assault against her husband, Ah Tong, alias Tommy Cook. He was described as “a tall, powerful, and rather wild-looking Chinaman”. Bridget said he “was very lazy, and when he got any money would go and gamble it away.”

In October 1890 Tommy Cook and his son George Cook gave evidence in the inquest of the death of George Gouge. From the report in the Avoca Mail:

Tommy Cook deposed – I am residing at Deep Lead, near Avoca. I am father of George Cook. Knew deceased. I found the body lying about six o’clock on Friday morning about 200 yards from the hotel …

MURDER AT AVOCA. Avoca Mail 7 October 1890

I do not know when and where John (Tommy Cook) died nor where he was buried. Bridget died in the Amherst hospital in 1898 but her death certificate had no details of her marriage or children.

In 1935 the “Weekly Times” had a picture of an old hut on the Avoca gold-diggings.

READERS’ CAMERA STUDIES (1935, February 23). Weekly Times (Melbourne,
Vic. : 1869 – 1954), p. 38 (FIRST EDITION). Retrieved
from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223890597

A newspaper clipping published in the 1930s claims that this was the hut of Henry, George, and Frank, three of the sons of John and Bridget. The hut was said to have been known as “Cook’s Hut”.

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Related Posts

• Finding the parents of Frederick Harold Plowright born 1881

Wikitree:

• Frederick Harold Plowright (1881 – 1929)
• Elizabeth Ann (Onthong) Wiffen (1862 – 1927)
• John (Tong) Cook (abt. 1829 – aft. 1890)
• Bridget (Fogarty) Cook (1825 – 1898)

W is for Willunga

In 1849, diagnosed with tuberculosis and possibly hoping to benefit from South Australia’s drier, warmer climate, my fourth great grandfather John Plaisted (1800-1858) emigrated there from England. With him was his wife Ann, their six children, and Ann’s sister, Abigail Green.

Several of their relatives had already established themselves in the new colony. In 1838, eleven years previously, Sarah Bock (sister of Ann Plaisted) with her husband Alfred Bock, and Ann’s brother William Green with his wife Tabitha (sister of John Plaisted) had settled there.

The Plaisted family travelled on the ‘Rajah‘, reaching Adelaide on 12 April 1850 after a passage of 4 1/2 months from London.

A month later, on 16 May 1850, the Quarterly Government Sale of Crown Lands was held at the Police Commissioners Court. John Plaisted successfully bid on seven blocks in the Hundred of Willunga, one of eleven cadastral units in the County of Adelaide, about 50 km south of the city. John Plaisted’s brother-in-law, Alfred Bock, was the licensee of the Horseshoe Inn at nearby Noarlunga.

Section
326
332
333
335
506
514
515
516

Acres
80
80
80
80
482
83
83
84

Price £ s.
£80 1s.
£80 1s.
£86 0s.
£80 1s.
£573 0s.
£88 0s.
£83 1s.
£103 0s.

John Plaisted’s blocks formed two contiguous areas, one of 320 acres near the coast, the other 742 acres close to what has since become the settlement of Willunga.

Allotments purchased by John Plaisted in May 1850. J.P. Manning bought section 519 marked in blue.
Map of Hundred of Willunga retrieved through Wikimedia Commons. (Section 714 on this map is numbered 514 on the November 1850 version of the map)

Willunga district photographed in 1924 by State Government Photographer – The History Trust of South Australian, South Australian Government. Image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons.

One of Plaisted’s neighbours was John Pitches Manning, who bought an adjacent block, later called Hope Farm, at the same auction. A family history of Manning and Hope Farm describes his purchase:

"During May 1850, George Pitches Manning journeyed south to Aldinga in search of suitable farming land but was not impressed with the country, which was covered by stunted gum and sheoak trees. His attention was then drawn to a parcel of Crown Land at McLaren Vale, which was, in later years to be the property known as Tintara Vineyards, of which more will be said later. This property was put to public auction but unfortunately he was outbid by a Mr Plaisted."

(Tintara winery was acquired by Thomas Hardy in the 1870s)

Advertising postcard for Hardy’s Tintara Wines – 1906 Image retrieved from flickr.com

There are several newspaper reports of the Plaisted family’s activities in the district. A few months later on 28 July 1850, Alfred Bock, John’s wife’s brother-in-law, hosted a divine service at his hotel in Noarlunga after the laying of the foundation stone for a new church. John’s daughter Sally, my 3rd great grandmother, played the organ for the service.

"Noarlunga—The foundation stone of the new church to be dedicated to St. Phillip and St. James, was laid on Friday, the 28th ultimo, by the Bishop of Adelaide, in the presence of a numerous, and highly respectable, concourse of the inhabitants. His Lordship read the impressive service used on such occasions, which was listened to throughout with profound attention. Divine service was performed for the first time on Sunday last, at the "Horse Shoe" Inn. Mr Bock, the worthy landlord, fitted up the room for the occasion, and Miss Plaisted led the various hymns on a splendid organ. The arrangements for the accommodation of the congregation were simple yet comfortable, and, in fact, the whole was a great improvement upon the pro tempore places of worship previously used at Noarlunga."

St. Philip and St. James Anglican Church, Old Noarlunga, South Australia, photographed 2013 by Les Haines and retrieved from Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0
By 2018 the church had been deconsecrated and was being sold.

Horseshoe Inn Noarlunga, about 1860. Taken on the day of the Oddfellow’s Picnic to Aldinga, a band sits atop the horsedrawn coach. Image from the State Library of South Australia B7931

My 3rd great grandmother Sally Hughes nee Plaisted (1836 – 1900) from the book Cherry Stones by Helen Hudson

The next year in April 1851 John’s eldest daughter Sally Plaisted married Samuel Hughes of Noarlunga.

MARRIED.
On Tuesday, 29th April, at Willunga, by the Rev. A. B. Burnett, Mr. Samuel Hughes, of Noarlunga, to Sally, only daughter of John Plaisted, Esq., of Hornsey, late of Muswell Hill, near London.

In September 1851 John Plaisted, Alfred Bock, Samuel Hughes, and John’s son John Plaisted junior attended a meeting called to establish a monthly market in Noarlunga township. John Plaisted addressed the meeting.

In December 1851 John Plaisted sailed for Melbourne. In the 1850s he and and other members of his family seem to have travelled quite frequently between Melbourne and South Australia.

In February 1852 John Plaisted of Market Square (Melbourne) was one of the merchants and brewers who registered their names and residences with the Chief Inspector of Distilleries in Victoria.

In February 1852, back in South Australia, Mr Plaisted (it is not clear whether this was John or one of his sons) won a prize of potatoes at the Noarlunga monthly market.

In March 1852 Thomas Plaisted was receiving cargo in Adelaide of 179 bags of flour and 35 bags of bran. In March and in May Job Plaisted (probably John) received mail in Adelaide. In May 1852 a Plaisted received 32 bags of flour.

In November 1852 J Plaisted, S. Hughes and A. Bock were subscribers to a fund for erecting a church at Noarlunga. The three men were generous in their donations, especially. J. Plaisted, who donated 10 pounds.

In 1853 John Plaisted was described as a farmer Hornsey Farm, Long Gully, McLaren Vale

In August 1854 Messrs. Bell and Plaisted, were in business as grocers at 67 Queen-street. In March 1855 they had moved to 57 Queens Street, advertising a range of goods from pianos to barrels of haddock.

When John Plaisted died of tuberculosis in Melbourne on 4 May 1858, his death certificate stated he had been in Victoria 5 years, thus since 1853; he had been in South Australia for only 3 years.

In his will John Plaisted left to his wife the rent of Hornsey Farm, McLaren Vale, South Australia, and the rent of the Blacksmiths Shop at Noarlunga.

Related posts:

• Plaisteds Wine Bar
• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)
• The Green family in Australia
• Tabitha Plaisted 1806 – 1891

Wikitree:

• John Plaisted (1800 – 1858)
• Ann (Green) Cowper also known as Plaisted (1801 – 1882)
• Sally (Plaisted) Hughes (1826 – 1900)
• Sarah (Green) Bock (1809 – 1883)
• Alfred Bessell Bock (1807 – 1889)

T is for Tattaila

My husband Greg’s great-great-great grandfather was a gold-rush digger named George Young. He and his wife Caroline had thirteen children, including twins, Charlotte and Harriet, who were born on 13 July 1861 in Lamplough, a mining settlement about four miles south of Avoca, Victoria.

On 2 October 1882 Charlotte married George Edward Wilkins at the Avoca Anglican church, St John’s. Charlotte was 21, employed as a domestic servant. George was 25, a miner from Percydale, five miles west.

St John’s Church, Avoca

Charlotte and George had three children: Ethel born in 1883 in Avoca, and George and Eva, born in 1884 and 1886 at Tattaila (sometimes spelt Tataila or Tattalia), near a large grazing run of that name at Moama in New South Wales, across the Murray river from Echuca.

Satellite view of Tattaila and countryside from Google maps

Google street view of Tataila Road

They had moved to Tattaila because, no longer a gold miner, George Wilkins had become a teacher, appointed in October 1884 to the school there, with his position formally recorded as Classification 3B on the New South Wales Civil Service list in 1885.

Sadly, George and Charlotte’s daughter Eva, born on 21 January 1886, died three days later, according to her death certificate from premature birth and inanation (exhaustion caused by lack of nourishment). She was buried on 25 January in the grounds of the Tattaila Public School.

Why in the school-grounds? Sadly, there seems to have been nowhere else, no suitable burial place within range. Perhaps this arrangement provided some consolation for the parents.

In July 1887, a year and a half later, with George Wilkins still the Tattaila schoolteacher, Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales, passed through on a tour of inspection. The Sydney “Australian Town and Country Journal” wrote:

'EDUCATIONAL.-Not long ago I was in the Moama State School, listening to the children practising " God Save the Queen" for the Governor's visit. On that occasion the children of Latalia [sic], under the charge of their teacher, Mr. Wilkins, amalgamated with those of the Moama School under the charge of Mr. Bruce, and the practising was done under Mr. Wilkin's tuition. The children acquitted themselves admirably, subsequently earning praise from Lord Carrington, and, what was, perhaps, much dearer to the infantile heart, a whole holiday. I was considerably impressed with the progress evidently being made by the children, and not a little astonished at the advanced curriculum of the State schools in this colony. Children in New South Wales are being educated in many things of a practical as well as a scientific nature which are neglected across the border. The inference is obvious.'

The local “Riverine Herald“, published in Echuca, had predicted on 16 July that:

'Mr Wilkins has taken a good deal of pains to coach the scholars up, and their singing yesterday showed that they had profited by his teaching. The children kept time very well and sang the Anthem with considerable expression, so that they should acquit themselves very favourably on Tuesday next.'

His Excellency Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales, photographed about 1887. Retrieved from the National Library of Australia.

In 1889 George E Wilkins of Tattaila was promoted by examination to Classification 3A.

At the end of that year, he transferred to the Victorian education system, appointed in December 1889 as head teacher at School 1798, Major’s Line, near Heathcote. (‘Major’s Line’ refers to wheel tracks left by the NSW Surveyor-General Major Mitchell in his 1836 journey of exploration.)

On 1 January 1891 George was ‘certificated’—approved to teach, and appointed as a teacher—by the Victorian Department of Education. In October 1891 he transferred to School 1567 in Richmond and appointed junior assistant on probation. It was noted on his file that George gambled, but otherwise the probation inspection was satisfactory.

In 1892 George Wilkin’s appointment was confirmed, and he was also qualified to teach military drill. In 1893 he was transferred to School 2849, Rathscar North. His annual reports were positive. In 1899 he was
transferred to School 1109, Mount Lonarch. In 1901 he transferred to School 3022, Warrenmang. In 1902 he was at School 2811, Glenlogie. Later that year he returned to Warrenmang. In 1907 he was transferred to Homebush School, 2258. All these schools were in in the Central Highlands administrative region. He remained at Homebush until December 1921, when ill-health forced his resignation.

George Wilkins with his pupils in about 1896 at Rathscar North. From the 1988 book by Neville Taylor (1922 – 1992): Via the 19th Hole : Story of Convicts, Battlers and High Society. Neville was the son of Eva Taylor nee Squires.

George Wilkins, his children Ethel (1883 – 1955) and George (1884 – 1909), and wife Charlotte. Photograph about 1898.

Though not formally employed by the Education Department Charlotte Wilkins helped her husband with his teaching duties, brought up their children, and raised two of her nephews after their mother, her sister-in-law, died in childbirth. Charlotte was also busy in her local community. I have found no mention of Charlotte in Tattaila district newspapers, but in later years the Avoca newspapers give some better account of her activities there. for example as a hostess for various functions associated with the Homebush Soldiers Comforts Fund during World War I.

Lower Homebush School photographed some time between 1910 and 1920. In the back row are Laura Squires, Charlotte and George Wilkins. Laura Squires was sewing mistress from 1910 to 1920. She married George Wilkins after Charlotte’s death in 1925.

On 2 April 1925, following three years of paralysis, Charlotte died in Lower Homebush at the age of 63 and was buried in Avoca Cemetery.

Related posts

• Y is for Young family photographs
• W is for George Wilkins writing from Western Australia
• Cecil Young and family: Cecil’s early life up to end World War I

Wikitree:

• Charlotte Ethel (Young) Wilkins (1861 – 1925)
• George Edward Wilkins (1857 – 1944)

Q is for Monkira Station in Queensland

Orfeur Charles Cavenagh, fifth of the ten children of Wentworth and Ellen Cavenagh, and so one of my great great uncles, was born on 24 April 1872 in Kensington, a suburb of Adelaide.

He died of fever at the age of 18 on 17 December 1890 at Monkira Station in Queensland. My grandmother told me that at the time of his death her uncle Orfeur was a jackaroo (a young man working on a station—a large farm—to learn at first hand the business of sheep or cattle grazing).

Apart from these few facts, I know nothing about my great great uncle Orfeur Charles. I do not even have a photograph of him.

Monkira Station is in the Channel country 120 kilometres east of Bedourie, the closest settlement; Bedourie has a population today of about 120. It is 1300 kilometres north of Adelaide, 170 north-east of Birdsville.

The Channel Country is called this from the many intertwined rivulets that cross the region. The major rivers, which run only after flooding rain upsteam, are the Georgina River, Cooper Creek, and the Diamantina River. The primary land use continues to be cattle grazing.

The Diamantina River runs through Monkira Station which runs 7,800 cattle on 373,000 hectares (921,700 acres). Monkira is owned by the North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo). When it floods the river spreads out widely between sandhill country to the west and lightly grassed low hills to the east.

The Diamantina River runs through Monkira Station which today is a cattle station with 7,800 cattle on  373,000 hectares (921,700 acres) owned by the North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo). The river floods the country which has some sandhill country and some lightly grassed low hills on the eastern side.

Monkira Station, south west Queensland. Satellite view from Google maps.

Monkira Station set a record which lasted for over 40 years from 1892 with the Monkira ox, the heaviest bullock ever slaughtered in Australia. It was bred at Monkira and walked to Adelaide. Its live weight was 1,378 kilograms (3,042 pounds); dressed 902 kilograms (1,992 pounds). When it was slaughtered in 1894 it was claimed to be the heaviest ox in the world.

Monkira has a claim to another world record. One of the world’s largest trees, known as the Monkira monster, is a Coolibah (Eucalyptus coolabah) growing at Neuragully Waterhole on the property, 24 kilometers south west of the homestead. Its crown has a diameter of 73 metres (240 feet).

Mr Bob Gunther, manager of Monkira, and the giant coolabah, 46 feet around the girth. Photograph by Arthur Groom in 1952. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-146211212

In 1995 some of my cousins visited the grave of Orfeur Cavenagh and sent my grandmother a photograph of it.

Related posts:

• K is for Kenneth – another relative who died on a property in western Queensland

Further reading:

• Website of the North Australian Pastoral Company https://napco.com.au/ 
• Kowald, Margaret & Johnston, W. Ross (William Ross), 1939- & North Australian Pastoral Company (1992, 2015). You can’t make it rain : the story of the North Australian Pastoral Company 1877-1991. Boolarong Publications with North Australian Pastoral Company, Brisbane viewed through Google Books pages 133 ff 
• Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation entry for Brooks, Albert Ellison (1908 – 1978) at https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005128b.htm :
  • “In his 1964 book Tree Wonders of Australia, Albert Brooks mentions a giant Coolibah (Eucalyptus coolabah Blakely & Jacobs 1934), also known as the ‘Monkira Monster’. The tree is located at Neuragully waterhole in Western Queensland. In 2010 the tree was still alive and has been protected from stock.”

Wikitree:

• Orfeur Charles Cavenagh (1872 – 1890)

O is for ‘Ottawa’ Gladstone Parade Elsternwick

My great great grandfather Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850-1927) worked for the Bank of Victoria. His obituary in the Argus (Melbourne), on 12 March 1927, outlines his career:

[Crespigny] joined the service of the Bank of Victoria in June, 1866, as a junior clerk. After spending a few years in country districts in service of the bank he was promoted to the position of manager at Epsom, and he filled a similar position at other country towns. Subsequently he was placed in charge of the South Melbourne branch of the bank. At the end of 1892 he was appointed assistant inspector, and he continued to act in that capacity until 1908, when he took the office of chief inspector. In 1916 he became general manager of the bank in succession to Mr George Stewart.

As a branch manager Philip was entitled to accommodation provided by the bank. In 1887 he moved from the Elmore to the South Melbourne Branch. In 1888 he was appointed Assistant Inspector of the Bank of Victoria. This position no longer came with a house.

The 1889 rate books for the City of Brighton record Philip C Crespigny, Banker, renting a 9-room brick house on the Esplanade.

The household comprised Philip, who had been widowed since 1883, his two sons Philip and Constantine Trent (known as Con when young) who were aged aged 10 and 7 in 1889. Philip’s mother Charlotte had been widowed in September 1889. She probably spent time helping Philip raise the two boys but at some stage seems to have moved to live with her married daughter Rose at Eurambeen near Beaufort. Viola, one of her two unmarried daughters, was also living there. Charlotte’s second unmarried daughter, Ada, probably lived with her brother Philip.

After only a year or two Philip was renting “Wyndcote”, a 7-room weatherboard house on Tennyson Street in Brighton.

In June 1891 Ada lost a bracelet and advertised for its return in The Age:

LOST, lady's Bracelet, Brighton, between St. Andrew's Church and Tennison sts., Sunday. Reward. Miss De Crespigny, Tennison st, Brighton.

Philip married for a second time on 2 November 1891 to Sophia Beggs .

CRESPIGNY—BEGGS.—On the 2nd inst., at Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava, by the Rev. Dr. Torrance, Philip, only surviving son of the late Philip Robert Champion Crespigny, police magistrate, to Sophia Gratton Montgomery Beggs, fourth daughter of the late Hugh Lyons Montgomery Beggs, of Bushy Creek Station, Glenthompson.

Philip and Sophia’s son Frank was born in September 1892. From The Argus 27 September 1892:

CRESPIGNY. —At Wyndcote, Tennyson-street, Brighton, the wife of Philip Champion Crespigny—a son.

In July 1892 Mrs Crespigny advertised in The Age newspaper for a general servant:

SERVANT, general, wanted, must be good cook. Mrs Crespigny, Wyncote, Tennyson-st. Brighton Beach.

In January 1893 the Crespigny family sought a nursegirl in The Age and placed a similar advertisement in The Argus:

NURSEGIRL, young, wanted. Mrs. Crespigny, Wyncote, Tennyson-st., Brighton Beach.

Less than a year later, in June 1893, Mrs Crespigny advertised again in The Age newspaper for a general servant:

SERVANT, general, must be good cook. With references, Mrs. Crespigny, Wyndcote, Tennyson-st., Brighton Beach.

Philip Crespigny at “Wyndcote”, Tennyson Street in Brighton with members of his family in 1894: Constantine Trent, Sophia Montgomery Grattan nee Beggs, and Francis George Travers

The boys, Philip and Con, attended Brighton Grammar School. The family were parishioners of St Andrews Brighton.

In 1894 Philip and his family moved to ‘Ottawa’, a 10-room brick house at 16 – 18 Gladstone Parade, Elsternwick, leased from Alfred Felton, a wealthy businessman, remembered for his philanthropy. The villa was built between 1890 – 3; Philip Crespigny was the first recorded occupant.

A photograph of Ottawa, then named Kambroona, when it was being sold in 1933.

In September 1894 Sophia Crespigny was again advertising in The Age and in The Argus for a nursemaid, from the new address:

NURSEGIRL wanted. With references, Mrs. Crespigny, Ottawa. Gladstone-par., Elsternwick.

The Crespigny family seems to have been a little careless about its portable property, scarcely able to venture abroad without losing something. In 1896 there was a reward offered in The Age for a lost brooch:

LOST, between Elsternwick station and Gladstone-par., gold Brooch. Return to Ottawa, Gladstone-par. Reward.

In 1897 Con lost a bicycle cape:

LOST, on Saturday, Boy's Bicycle CAPE, on Mornington-rd. Apply C. Crespigney, Gladstone-parade, Elsternwick

In 1901 a puppy went missing:

LOST, Sunday, between Regent-st., Elsternwick, and Balaclava, Black Cocker Spaniel Puppy. Reward. Ottawa, Gladstone-par., Elsternwick.

In July 1906 another brooch was lost and a reward offered in The Age:

LOST, in St. Mary's Church, Caulfield, or between it and Gladstone-par., Elsternwick. Gold Brooch, with diamond in centre. Finder rewarded on returning to Mrs. de Crespigny, Ottawa, Gladstone-par., Elsternwick.

The same month there was an advertisement for lost eyeglasses:

LOST, Eyeglasses, Elsternwick, between Gladstone-par. and station. Return Ottawa, Gladstone-par

I wonder if any of the advertisements produced results and the items were returned?

In 1907 more staff were sought through The Age:

SERVANT, general; also Nursery House Maid. Crespigny, Ottawa, Gladstone-par., Elsternwick.

Philip and Sophia had two more sons in Elsternwick: Hugh Vivian on 8 April 1897 and Royalieu Dana on 11 November 1905. On 15 March 1908 their youngest son, Claude Montgomery, was born in “Vierville”, 20 Black Street.

Philip had been promoted to Chief Inspector at the Bank of Victoria in 1908, and perhaps on the strength of this, he purchased a house in Black Street, which remembering the family origins in France, he named “Vierville”. Philip lived in the house until his death in 1927.

“Vierville” in Black Street, Brighton, photographed in 2019
20 Black Street, Brighton [now renumbered as 18 Black Street]
Philip and his wife Sophia lived here from 1908 until his death in 1927

“Ottawa” is still standing. It was sold in 2014; the real estate advertisement described it as:

'Ottawa' Circa 1885 - A Grand Victorian Mansion Home Unlike Any Other
The unique romance and whimsical character of this 14-room home will appeal to families requiring versatile accommodation in a prize position.
Set amongst quality homes within easy walking distance of the best schools, Glenhuntly Road, Martin Street, parkland and bayside.
The property is sited on 915m2 with a broad frontage of 24.4m, charming gardens and views of the bay.

The house was converted into flats and altered in the 1930s, given what the Heritage report describes as ‘an eclectic make-over’.

Google Street view of Ottawa in 2010. The tower-like bay at the front is a 1930s addition.

Maps showing Philip Crespigny’s addresses in Melbourne. The headquarters of the Bank of Victoria where he worked was in the city.

Related posts

• BRAVE BOY IN SHOOT-OUT WITH BUSHRANGER, LATEST NEWS
• Trove Tuesday: discreditable conduct in church
• Wedding Wednesday: Philip Champion de Crespigny married Annie Frances Chauncy 25 October 1877
• E is for entertainment in Epsom
• Q is for Queenscliff in 1882
• de Crespigny – Beggs 1891 wedding
• The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street

Wikitree:

• Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850 – 1927)
• Sophia Montgomery Grattan (Beggs) Champion de Crespigny (1870 – 1936)

H is for Heathcote – renovated

One of my third great grandfathers, Philip Chauncy (1816 – 1880), was educated as a surveyor.

In 1839 he emigrated from England to South Australia. Two years later he married Charlotte Kemmis, a fellow emigrant, and moved to Western Australia to take up a government appointment as assistant surveyor. Charlotte died in 1847.

In 1848 Chauncy remarried, to Susan Mitchell, second daughter of the Reverend William Mitchell, a chaplain of the Colonial Church Society in Western Australia.

Philip Chauncy 1878

Susan Chauncy nee Mitchell

In June 1853 the family, which then included three young children, left Western Australia for Victoria. On their arrival in Melbourne the Chauncys stayed with Philip’s brother William in Sandridge, now known as Port Melbourne. Within a month Philip bought a small cottage and allotment in the suburb of Prahran “at a very high price”, took an office in the city, engaged a clerk, and went into business as a land surveyor and commission agent. This venture was unsuccessful, however, and he “soon discovered the only thing I could do well was spend money”.

Rescue came soon in the form of an offer of appointment as Surveyor-in-Charge of the McIvor district, present-day Heathcote. This he accepted in August 1853. His yearly salary was was £400, the equivalent of several hundred thousand Australian dollars today, with an additional £200 annually for travelling expenses and equipment, rations for himself and five men, forage for one horse, and firewood.

In “Memoirs of Mrs Chauncy”, a biography of his wife Susan which Chauncy wrote in his retirement, he describes their 72 mile journey from Melbourne to Heathcote. It took ten days, nine of them rainy. The axle of their wagon broke, they became bogged, they were robbed, and their servant abandoned them.

At that time the McIvor diggings had about three thousand diggers and storekeepers. The Commissioner’s camp housed some 150 Government employees, all living under canvas. Philip, fortunately, had brought four tents of his own.

Philip laid out the town of Heathcote, and conducted other surveys in the district, notably a survey of the Murray River settlement which became the town at Echuca. His office was also responsible for land sales in the district. Chauncy’s staff included four assistant surveyors and their subordinates.

Living and working under canvas was uncomfortable and Philip wrote often to the Government authorities in Melbourne asking to be provided with better accommodation. He recorded in his diary that on Christmas Day 1854 the temperature in his tent was 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45°C).

The Government provided £1546 (roughly $AUS 1.5 million today) towards the construction of a stone building on the main street in the centre of Heathcote. This was to serve as the Survey Office, with living quarters for Chauncy and his family. The Chauncys lived in the Government camp for over a year; their new house was completed in February 1855. It was the Chauncey’s home for five and a half years. Philip made a garden with vines and fruit trees. This was extended into an adjoining block he purchased in 1854 (now occupied by a house at 49 Wright Street).

1857 sketch of the Survey Office, Heathcote, by Philip Chauncy. The children playing are Therese born 1849 and William born 1853. Image retrieved from the Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 14517/P0001/25, K493

Philip also bought land in the district, including a farm six miles from Heathcote, which he name Datchet after his birthplace in Buckinghamshire. As well, he built a brick house, ‘Myrtle Cottage’, in Heathcote’s High Street (probably at about 152 High Street, since demolished).

From a map of Heathcote township drawn by Philip Chauncy in 1853 showing the survey office (red *) and blocks of land bought by Philip Chauncy (blue *)
Note the spelling of present-day Chauncey Street is Chauncy Street on this map
Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 8168/P0002, DIST65; HEATHCOTE TOWNSHIP; CHAUNCY P

In 1860 Philip was transferred to the Dunolly Survey District, sixty miles west of Heathcote. He moved there in 1861.

The Survey office and Chauncy residence (where my great great grandmother Annie Frances (1857 – 1883) was born) still stands. When I first saw it on a visit to Heathcote in 2007 it was very run down.

Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in 2007 viewed from Chauncey Street

Renovations in progress on the Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in March 2020

The restored former Heathcote Government Surveyor’s Office in March 2022

Extensive renovation since then has considerably restored its colonial mid-Victorian character and charm. It now operates as a fine restaurant, named Chauncy.

Related posts

• E is for emigration
• Charlotte Kemmis (1816-1847); first wife of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy
• Remembering Susan Augusta Chauncy née Mitchell (1828-1867)
• 1854 : The Chauncy family at Heathcote
• H is for heartbreak in Heathcote
• Heathcote revisited
• D is for drama in Dunolly
• Provenance of a photograph of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy

Further reading:

• Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy. Lowden Publishing Co, Kilmore, 1976.
• Conservation management plan 2011 for the Former Survey Office, 178 High Street, Heathcote, https://www.vgls.vic.gov.au/client/en_AU/search/asset/1147925 The documentation and the photos of the state of the building before restoration highlight the enormous work done by Ron and Elva Laughton in bringing the building back to life
• Chauncy restaurant: website
  • Breheny, Emma. “Chauncy Brings Euro Poise to 16-seater in Historic Heathcote.” Good Food, 21 Jan. 2022, www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/just-open/chauncy-brings-european-poise-to-16seater-in-historic-heathcote-20220120
  • Cody, Gemima. “Proof in Cheesy Puff: Chauncy is a Story You Have to Love.” Good Food, 22 Feb. 2022, www.goodfood.com.au/chauncy-heathcote/chauncy-heathcote-review-20220221

Wikitree: Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880)

G is for Glenthompson

My great grandfather Trent de Crespigny (1882 – 1952) was a doctor. He studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne, graduating with first-class honours in 1903. His first position was on the staff of the Melbourne Hospital.

Report of Brighton Grammar School prize distribution
Our Schools (1904, December 17). Brighton Southern Cross (Vic.), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165442751

Three years later, in 1906, he married Beatrix Hughes, daughter of E. W. Hughes, manager of the Bank of Victoria in Beaufort, about a hundred miles west of Melbourne. By then Trent de Crespigny had gone into private practice in Glenthompson, a small settlement about sixty miles further west, near the southern end of the Grampians.

Approaching Glenthompson from the west on the Glenelg Highway. From Wikimedia Commons, by user Melburnian. CC BY 3.0

1906 wedding of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny to Beatrix Hughes at Beaufort, Victoria.

WEDDINGS. (1906, September 15). The Ballarat Star (Vic.), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210684752

Trent and Beatrix de Crespigny’s first child, my grandfather Geoff, was born in Glenthompson on 16 June 1907.

Family Notices (1907, June 22). Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic.), p. 12. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221258251

Geoff de Crespigny at St Marnocks near Beaufort in 1908 with his great uncle Frank Beggs.

Towards the end of 1907 Trent de Crespigny sold his Glenthompson practice and moved back to Melbourne, where he established himself in Fitzroy. In addition to this local practice, de Crespigny worked as Health Officer of the Fitzroy Council, and he became an honorary physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

In 1909 he moved from Melbourne to Adelaide in South Australia to take up an appointment as Superintendent of Adelaide Hospital.

CONCERNING PEOPLE. (1909, June 18). The Register (Adelaide, SA), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57857621

Related posts:

• Wednesday Wedding : 11 September 1906 de Crespigny and Hughes
• B is for Beatrix
• Remembering my paternal grandfather on his birthday
• Miniature portrait of Geoff de Crespigny by Olive A Chatfield
• A miniature note
• Deckchairs on the Mooltan
• No 3 AGH (Australian General Hospital) Lemnos Christmas Day
• R is for No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen
• U is for Unibic biscuit tin

Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Wikitree:

• Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny (1882 – 1952)
• Beatrix (Hughes) Champion de Crespigny (1884 – 1943)
• Geoff Champion de Crespigny

F is for Finniss Point

In 1856 in West Tamar, Tasmania, one of my fourth great aunts Theresa Walker nee Chauncy (1807 – 1876) married George Herbert Poole. He had been a teacher in the Royal College of the British Indian Ocean possession of Mauritius; she was an artist and sculptor.

Theresa self-portrait in cast wax, about 1860. In the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

In a memoir of Mrs Poole, Theresa’s brother Philip Chauncy wrote:

Theresa had for some time fallen in with the religious tenets of Mr. George Herbert Poole (1806-1869), who was the founder of “The New Church” [Swedenborgian New Jerusalem Church] in Adelaide. He [Poole] had returned from Mauritius, where he had been a professor in the Royal College, to Sydney in January 1850, had left Melbourne for England in 1852, and returned to Launceston in 1856, where they [George Poole and Theresa] were married.

From the Hobart Colonial Times of 19 September 1856:

MARRIED. On the 15th instant, at the Manse, West Tamar, by the Rev. James Garrett, GEORGE HERBERT POOLE, Esq., late professor in the Royal College, Mauritius, to THERESA SUSANNA, widow of the late John Walker, Esq., Lieutenant, R.N.

It appears that Poole may have had a connection with Truro, in Cornwall, for a notice in the Cornish West Briton on 16 January 1857 states he had resided there:

At the Manse, West Tamar, Australia, of the 15th of September last, Mr. George Herbert POOLE, formerly of Truro, to Theresa Susana, widow of the late John WALKER, Lieutenant, R.N.

Following their marriage the Pooles began a farm in Tasmania, bought, her brother notes, “with Theresa’s money”. Two years later they sold the farm and moved to Victoria, where George, with no great success, tried gold mining. In 1861 the Pooles became partners in a vineyard near Barnawartha on the Murray near Albury. Among others in this arrangement was Theresa’s half-brother William Chauncy (1820-1878), who at that time lived in Wodonga. George Poole “was supposed to be a thorough vigneron, as well as a connoisseur of the best methods of tobacco growing.” (Although in 1843 Mr G.H. Poole wrote about the cultivation of the vine for the South Australian Register, unfortunately Poole was accused of plagiarising this piece. The Geelong Advertiser reported Poole had 20 years experience of growing vines in southern Europe but I am not sure this fits with the facts of his life.)

Poole was appointed local manager of the vineyard.

The scheme was successful for a couple of years but in 1864 it collapsed. George Poole returned to Mauritius in November and Theresa followed in April 1865.

Port Louis, Mauritius.
This scene was recorded by the British naturalist Charles Darwin, who visited this island in April and May 1836 during the five years of the second survey voyage of HMS Beagle.

In late 1866 both husband and wife became ill with an epidemic fever. They shifted to India, then after a brief return to Mauritius, in February 1868 moved back to Adelaide.

George Poole gained a job as a teacher of a school at Finniss Point near Riverton, about sixty miles (80km) north of Adelaide. In 1869 he became ill and died.

From the Adelaide Evening Journal 2 August 1869:

Deaths: POOLE.—On the 29th July, at Finniss Point, near Kapunda, George Herbert Poole, Esq., aged 63 years.

From The South Australian Advertiser 7 August 1869:

The remains of Mr. George Herbert Poole, licensed teacher of Finniss Point, were interred in the Riverton Church burial-ground on Saturday, the 31st ult. The deceased gentleman had been ailing for some time past, but suffered severely during the last month of his earthly pilgrimage from disease of the liver.

Finniss Point, also known as Finnis Point, is a few miles south of Riverton. The settlement no longer exists.

Finnis Point is about 10 km south of Riverton and about 85 km north of Adelaide. From Google Maps.

Finnis Point Road in 2008 from Google Street View

Related posts

• T is for Theresa

Wikitree:

• Theresa Susannah Snell (Chauncy) Poole (1807 – 1876)
• George Herbert Poole (abt. 1806 – 1869)

E is for Evelyn Street Bentleigh

In 1853 my husband’s great grandfather John Morley (1823-1888), with his wife Eliza née Sinden (1823-1908) and their two children, Elizabeth aged 3 and William aged 1, emigrated to Australia. They sailed on the ‘Ida‘, arriving in Melbourne on 12 July. John was an agricultural labourer; the family was from Sussex.

They first settled in Collingwood, an inner city suburb, where four more children were born. Three of their six children died there. In 1861, when their daughter Anne was born, the family moved to Brighton. The youngest child, John William George, was born there in 1864.

In 1862 the rate books for the City of Moorabbin show John Morley living in a weatherboard house owned by Edward Carroll on Tuckers Road. The annual value was 8 pounds, significantly lower than neighbouring properties; the rates were 8 shillings. (Using average weekly earnings to measure worth £8 would be the equivalent in 2022 of about $10,000.)

In 1884 John Morley, carpenter, was occupying 1 acre and a 4 room house on Centre Road. It was owned by Cain Thorne. It was valued at £12 10 shillings (about $11,000). Next door Elizabeth Morley, no occupation, was occupying 5 acres on Centre Road valued at £10 and owned by G. P. Burney.

The rate book of 1886 describes John’s property as 1 acre and 2 room weatherboard house and Eliza’s property as 2½ acres. Ownership had not changed. John’s property was valued at £15 and Eliza’s property at £19.

On 9 November 1888, after an illness of 3 months, John Morley died at 7 Evelyn Street East Brighton of malignant disease of the stomach.

Tucker Road, Centre Road, and Evelyn Street are near each other. Perhaps the three addresses refer to the same property.

Satellite view from Google maps showing 7 Evelyn Street Bentleigh , and Centre and Tucker Roads. It is much more densely settled today than when the Morleys and Sullivans lived there.

It seems Eliza kept cows. These sometimes strayed, and in 1890 for this she was fined 7s 6d with 2s 6d costs in the Brighton Police Court.

In 1891 Eliza Morley was the owner and occupier of a house and land at East Brighton. Her address was Village Street, not on current maps. The value of the property was £18.

On 23 April 1908, Eliza, 85, died at 7 Evelyn Street Bentleigh after an illness of ten weeks. Her death was attributed to ‘asthenia’ (generalised weakness, probably the result of a cancer of the pharynx). There are no probate papers.

On 17 February 1887 Henry Sullivan married Anne Morley at the residence of the Reverend Samuel Bracewell, a minister of the Primitive Methodist Church, at Lygon Street, Carlton. At the time, both Henry and Anne were living at East Brighton (later known as Bentleigh). On the marriage certificate Henry gave his profession as gardener and his age as 24 (he was really 23). He did not know who his parents were.

Henry and Anne had five children, all born at 7 Evelyn Street:

• Mabel 1887-1960
• Rosina 1889-1969
• Arthur 1891-1975
• Henry 1894-1969
• Francis William 1899-1956

Henry and Anne Sullivan lived at 7 Evelyn Street Bentleigh all their married life. They called their house “Navillus”, “Sullivan” spelled backwards.

Florence Sullivan (nee Hickson), the wife of Frank; Elaine Sullivan, their daughter; Anne Sullivan (nee Morley); and Henry Sullivan. Photograph taken about 1940 at “Navillus”, 7 Evelyn Street, East Bentleigh. Behind Ann and Henry is the house nameplate.  From the collection of a cousin, used with permission.

Henry grew fruit and vegetables for sale at Navillus. He appears to have had an interest in flowers, too, for it is said that he bred a variety of violet naming it Navillus.

From the 1938 catalogue of Law, Somner Pty. Ltd. seed merchants and nurserymen: page 46 – “VIOLETS.—Navillus (New), semi-double, large rosette, sweet scented, long stems, free blooming, 6d. each, 5/- dozen” Retrieved from Deakin University Library repository

Henry died in 1943. When Anne Sullivan died three years later, there was a public sale of some of the household contents.

Advertisement for the sale of household furniture and effects from 7 Evelyn Street, Bentleigh. Included was a Wertheim sewing machine and garden tools.
Advertising (1946, May 25). The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206103947

The house was sold. In the 1990s it was bulldozed and the site redeveloped.

Related posts

• Arrival of the Morley family in 1853
• H is for Henry

Wikitree:

• John Morley (1823 – 1888)
• Eliza (Sinden) Morley (1823 – 1908)
• Anne (Morley) Sullivan (1861 – 1946)
• Henry Sullivan (1863 – 1943)

D is for Drummond Street

My husband Greg was born in the Ballarat Base Hospital in Drummond Street, one of the main north-south streets in the west part of the city.

The hospital is not far from where we live now in Mair Street; Greg likes to joke that for seventy-one years he’s moved himself an average of only three metres a year from his place of birth.

Ballarat Hospital on the corner of Sturt and Drummond streets

When he was born the Young family lived at 505 Drummond Street, five blocks south of the hospital.

505 Drummond Street in the 1990s

505 Drummond Street in 2017

In those days Ballarat had a network of trams. One ran along Drummond Street. This was very useful to a family without a car. The Ballarat trams were replaced by buses in 1971.

From a map of the Ballarat tramways in the collection of the Ballarat Tramways museum and used with permission. 505 Drummond Street, the hospital (H), and the SEC depot are marked in red.

A tram on Sturt Street Ballarat in 1945. Photograph from the National Archives of Australia, A1200, L2579, id 6816240

After the War, Greg’s father Peter was employed as an S.E.C. (State Electricity Commission) linesman. His gang had its base at an electricity power station, now gone, on the corner of Ripon Street and Wendouree Parade, a block north of where we live.

Peter travelled to work by bicycle. The S.E.C. depot was a mile or so from the Drummond Street house, ten minute’s pedal.

In 1953, when Greg was three, the Young family moved to Shepparton, then, a year later, to Albury, over the border in NSW. Greg has some memories of this move, but almost none of the house in Drummond Street.

Wendouree Parade looking at East power station on the corner of Ripon Street in the 1930s or 40s. Image from Rotary Club of Ballarat. A flour mill occupied the site before the Ballarat ‘A’ Power Station was constructed on the site in 1904. Part of the mill was used for the main power station building. The State Electricity Commission of Victoria took over operations of the station in the 1930s from the Electricity Supply Company Ballarat. The station ceased operation in
the 1950s and the site became the Mid Western Electricity Supply Region Office and Depot. In 1983 the major portion of activities conducted on the site were transferred to a new depot
in Norman Street Ballarat and the site completely closed in 1993. It has since been redeveloped for housing. From 1994 Environmental Audit report.

Related posts

• N is for New Guinea
• A picnic in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens
• S is for Sebastapol school records

Wikitree:

• Peter Young