My great great grandfather Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850 – 1927) was General Manager of the Bank of Victoria.
One of my cousins recently obtained a photograph of the staff of the bank in 1917 from the Historical Services Curator of the National Australia Bank (which was formed by the amalgamation of the Bank of Victoria with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1927 and the National Bank of Australasia in 1982).
Staff of the Bank of Victoria in 1917
The photo appears to have been taken on the roof of the bank’s head office in Collins Street. There are no names with the photo, but clearly recognisable seated at the centre is Philip Champion de Crespigny.
[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.
At the time of his first marriage, to Annie Frances Chauncy in 1877, Philip de Crespigny was the manager of the Bank of Victoria branch at Epsom five miles north-east of Bendigo. His oldest son Philip was born there in 1879. In early 1882 Philip moved from Epsom to Queenscliff, a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula, 30 kilometres south-east of Geelong. The Bank of Victoria was at 76 Hesse Street. Philip’s son, my great grandfather Constantine Trent, was born at Queenscliff in March 1882. Philip’s wife Annie died at Queenscliff in 1883.
In 1886 Philip transferred to be manager of the Elmore branch, forty kilometres northeast of Bendigo. In 1887 he was appointed manager of the South Melbourne branch. In 1888 he became Assistant Inspector of Branches, and was appointed Inspector of Branches in 1908. In 1916 he became the bank’s General Manager.
Another obituary, in the Melbourne Herald of 11 March 1927, notes that Philip was remembered for his “ability as a financial expert [and this] was known throughout Australia. During the war period, he gave his services freely to the Government, his advice having been of the greatest value to the country.”
A 1918 photograph of the Bank of Victoria’s office in Collins Street shows an advertisement for the 7th War loan.
Edward Walter Hughes, my great great grandfather, was born on 11 July 1854 in Noarlunga, South Australia, second of the eight children of Samuel Hughes and Sally Hughes née Plaisted.
On the 11th instant, at Kingston, Noarlunga, Mrs Samuel Hughes, of a son.
South Australian Register 13 July 1854
When he was two years old the family moved to Bendigo in Victoria, where his grandfather Edward Hughes was in the timber business. Samuel Hughes moved to Melbourne with his family where he set up an importing and timber merchant firm with the name ‘Hughes Lord & Co’.
Walter Hughes and his brother John went to school at Scotch College from 1867 – 69. In 1869 the family moved to Mount Gambier, in South Australia, where Samuel again founded a timber business.
In about 1870 Walter joined the National Bank of Australasia in South Australia; he ended up in charge of its Naracoorte branch. He resigned in 1873 when his father Samuel returned to Melbourne to establish Samuel Hughes & Co, Importers and Merchants. At this time, the family lived in Moonee Ponds.
In Melbourne, Walter, then nineteen, joined the Bank of Victoria. He was posted for some time to Dunolly as relieving officer, but by 1882 had returned to Melbourne.
Edward married Jeanie Hawkins in Dunolly on 25 September 1883.
HUGHES—HAWKINS.—On the 25th ult., at the Presbyterian Church, Dunolly by the Rev. J. W. Lawson, brother-in-law of the bride, Edward Walter, eldest son of Samuel Hughes, Tan-y-ffordd, Ascotvale, to Jeanie, youngest daughter of the late S. P. Hawkins, Melville Forest Station, Coleraine.
The Argus 2 October 1883
They had four children, the first two born in Melbourne, the second two in Beaufort, where Walter had been posted by the Bank of Victoria:
Beatrix 1884–1943
Reginald Hawkins 1886–1971
Vyvyan Westbury 1888–1916
Cedric Stuart Castlereagh 1893–1953
Walter and Jeanie’s four children – Reginald, Beatrix, Cedric and Vyvyan, in 1902
Early April 1916 – (back) Jeanie, Olive Hughes (Chatfield), Vyvyan, Walter (seated) and Beatrix de Crespigny (Hughes); (front) Nancy and Geoffrey de Crespigny
Walter spent thirty-three years working for the Bank of Victoria in Beaufort. Busy in local affairs, he was described on his retirement due to ill-health in 1919 as “one of the most active residents of Beaufort”.
BEAUFORT. VALEDICTORY. Over £50 was subscribed for the purpose of making a presentation to Mr E. W. Hughes (for 33 years manager of the Bank of Victoria, Beaufort) prior to his departure for Melbourne. A number of representative citizens met Mr and Mrs Hughes on Monday, and expressed their appreciation of their valuable services to the town and district. On behalf of the people of Beaufort and district, Mr J. R. Wotherspoon presented Mr Hughes with a pigeon blood ruby ring and a purse of sovereigns, and Cr R. A. D. Sinclair (shire president) presented Mrs Hughes with a solid leather travelling bag. Both gentlemen referred in eulogistic terms to the good qualities of Mr and Mrs Hughes as citizens, expressed regret at their departure, and wished them health, prosperity and happiness in the future. Their remarks were endorsed by Messrs E. J. Muntz, G. H. Cougle, and A. L. Wotherspoon. Mr and Mrs Hughes feelingly returned thanks.
The Ballarat Star 23 October 1919
On 2 July 1922 at his home at 19 Oakwood Avenue, Brighton, Walter died at the age of sixty-seven, from diabetes and heart failure. He was buried in Brighton Cemetery.
The remains of Mr. Edward Walter Hughes, 67, who died on Sunday at Oakwood avenue, North Brighton, were interred today in the Church of England portion of the Brighton Cemetery. The Rev. Perry Martin officiated at the graveside. Born in South Australia, Mr. Hughes had lived in Victoria for 50 years. He was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort for 30 years. He has left a widow, two sons, and a daughter. The funeral arrangements were carried out by Monkhouse and Son.
The Herald (Melbourne, Victoria) 4 July 1922
HUGHES On the 2nd July at his residence, 19 Oakwood Avenue, Brighton. Edward Walter, the beloved husband of Jeanie Hughes, aged 67 years. (Private Interment.)
The Argus 4 July 1922
Mr Edward Walter Hughes died on Sunday at North Brighton. Born in South Australia, Mr Hughes had lived in Victoria for 50 years. He was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort for 30 years. He has left a widow, two sons, and a daughter.
The Ballarat Star 5 July 1922
Walter Hughes was something of a poet, and some of his verse was published in various newspapers between 1902 and 1916. My cousin Gordon Hughes has compiled a booklet of his poems, “E. W. Hughes’s Poems”, and has kindly given me his permission to attached it here.
One of his poems was published in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News with the remark that “Mr E.W. Hughes, of Beaufort, has followed up his recent successes, by winning the ‘Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News’ first prize of £1 1s for the best verse of eight lines descriptive of Cup Day. He also was placed third in the paper’s competition for best anecdote of a Melbourne or Caulfield Cup day.”
These successes, however, were insufficient foundation for a career as professional poet and, like the Lloyd’s bank-clerk T.S. Eliot, Walter Hughes did not abandon his day job. [It is interesting to note that Eliot had a high opinion of the cultural significance of Derby Day, and horses, though not necessarily thoroughbreds, appear in his verse, among them the famous lonely cab-horse who steams and stamps.]
CUP DAY
'Tis the Melbourne Carnival once again,
and the heart of the sportsman is glad;
Though a stranger would think at the
Flemington show we'd all gone galloping mad.
In the grandstand the shimmer of silk is
seen; on the flat the simmer of fun;
And the "Books" on the Hill, with the
pencil and quill, are laying the "odds" – bar none.
In the saddling paddock, before "The Cup" race,
the "punters" are keen on their "tips",
And wagers are laid in stentorian tones,
and also by feminine lips.
Horses in line—they're off!—and the sheen
of the colours passing the crowded stand
Makes a race to remember—no matter who
wins—the "Gem" of this Southern land.
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.
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.
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 …
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”.
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.'
'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.'
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.
[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.
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.
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
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.
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' 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’.
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 1878Susan 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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
My mother-in-law Marjorie (Marjorie Winifred Young neé Sullivan, 1920 – 2007) liked to talk about her childhood, her later life, family stories, and the family tree. I enjoyed her reminiscences, and I took notes for my family history database.
Marjorie in Castlemaine in the 1940s. I do not have any photos of her as a child.
Marjorie’s family often moved when she was a child, for her father was badly affected by what in those days was called ‘shellshock’ from his time as a soldier in the trenches and he found it difficult to stay in the same job.
Marjorie was born in Oakleigh, a suburb of Melbourne, the fourth of six children.
When she was about three the family moved to Tatura, near Shepparton, about 160 km north of Melbourne. Marjorie’s brother Roy was born there in 1926. This was the year Marjorie started school. Her father, she said, would not allow any of his children to start school before they were six nor start work before they were sixteen. Marjorie went to school at Tatura for a short time and could not remember much about it.
In 1927, the family moved to Castlemaine. She remembered the Castlemaine school as very large. She wasn’t there for long. After only a year or so in Castlemaine, the family moved again, to Chewton, a small settlement about 5 km away.
North Castlemaine state school about 1925. Photograph from Flickr uploaded by user HistoryInPhotos. There are several schools in Castlemaine and I am not sure which one Marjorie attended.
Marjorie, then eight or nine, went to the Chewton village school. She began in the first grade but was quickly promoted to second grade. A visiting Inspector asked the children how to sound ‘again’. Most said “agane”. Marjorie, however, said “agenn”. This was considered to be the correct pronounciation, and she was allowed to go up to a grade. Although Marjorie’s brother Arthur was a year older, in Chewton she caught up to him at school and afterwards they were always in the same class.
Marjorie was pleased to recall the story of the Inspector’s visit. Her confidence, she said, was greatly boosted by her promotion.
Chewton State School 1054 established : present building opened 1911. Photograph from VIEWS IN AND AROUND CHEWTON (Vic.). (1921, May 21). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 – 1946), p. 56. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140259231
In 1931 the Sullivan family moved to Kyneton, about 40 km south of Castlemaine, where she became a teacher’s assistant in one of the junior classes. Every day she would spend some time in the junior school helping out.
About 1932 the family moved again, this time to Malmsbury, about 10 km from Kyneton. There, with two other girls, she again became a kindergarten teacher’s assistant. Without being required to sit an examination they were awarded the Merit Certificate and were entitled to leave school at fourteen. Marjorie enjoyed teaching and wanted to be a teacher but the nearest Teachers’ College was too far away to attend and the family was too poor to support her.
Malmsbury Primary School yard and children playing Ring A Rosie about 1930. Photograph in the collection of the Malmsbury Historical Society and used with their permission.
In Malmsbury on 6 January 1933 the Sullivans had their sixth child, Gwendolyn Phyllis, called ‘Gwenny’. When Marjorie left school she helped care for her. In 1935 Gwenny died of meningitis. Marjorie remembers that Gwenny was was sick with stomach cramps on Monday, and died on Wednesday.
The family moved from Malmsbury to Castlemaine about 1937 and Marjorie started work in the woollen mills there as a weaver.
The places the Sullivan family moved to in the 1920s and 30s
Anne's Family History 
