The Gothic Bank and Its Museum

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 | historicalragbag

This post is the first in a series I’m hoping to write about small museums and libraries, their histories and collections. They will predominantly be in Melbourne and surrounds, but I’ll add the odd international one too. These sorts of posts give me the excuse to explore my city and my state. To find new ways to look at the places I’ve probably driven or walked past hundreds of times and to explore the fascinating small pieces of history that they hold.

I am beginning with the Gothic Bank in Melbourne and the banking museum that is underneath the building.

The banking museum itself is under the gothic bank in a space that was used for many years by Australia Post. It was first opened in May 1985. It was part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of a Royal Charter which was granted to the Bank of Australasia, which was one of the banks from which ANZ originates. The museum was significantly refurbished in 2007, when ANZ redesigned the layout of the exhibits and updated the content.

While I was unable to take any pictures inside the museum it is a fascinating little institution. It tells the story of banking in Australia, beginning with the indigenous economy and going right up until the 21st century. I actually learnt a lot that I didn’t know.

For example:

From 1817 until 1910 Australian banks issued the bank notes. In 1910 the Commonwealth took over with the introduction of the Australian Note Act.

In World War I close to half the staff of the Union and Australian banks volunteered. Women were employed to fill the vacancies but they weren’t allowed to handle cash or deal with the customers.

The museum is open from 10-4 (traditional bankers hours) on weekdays and entry is free.

Now while the museum itself is interesting it is the building that it stands in that for me was more fascinating. As a medievalist living in Melbourne, I don’t get many chances to see medieval architecture and while the bank and its interior is Victorian Gothic, rather than the real thing, it is still very lovely.

The bank was a collaboration between banker Sir George Verdon and architect William Wardell. Verdon was appointed General Manager of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank (which is now part of ANZ) in 1872. In 1881 he invited 3 architects to submit designs for a new headquarters in Australia. Wardell was successful. Work began in 1883 and the final cost was just over 77 000 pounds.

I especially like the attention to detail

And the gargoyles.

All buildings should have at least one gargoyle.

As magnificent as the exterior is, it is the interior that really shines

The columns and brackets are cast iron which were made in a foundry in Carlton. They were covered with canvas, fixed with white lead and cement and had five coats of oil paint. The ceiling was hand painted and gilded. In the centre of each panel are the shields and arms of England, Scotland and Australia as well as the arms of the bank and the arms of the main cities in which it operated.

The sky light is a later addition and the banking room was expanded in the 1920s to include the entrance to the former stock exchange building.

The gothic bank does not stand alone. The stock exchange building was added in 1891 with architect William Pitt winning a design competition in 1888. The vestibule of the stock exchange, most of the actual work went on upstairs, is an impressive 20m by 15m. It contains six Harcourt granite columns which weigh between 16 and 20 tonnes. They are capped by white Tasmanian marble. They were transported all the way from Bendigo by teams of 30 horses. It is unsurprisingly known as the cathedral room.

The details on the walls are truly impressive

The beautiful tiled floor is not original but it was based on the original colours and patterns.

There is also a magnificent stained glass window. Up the very top you can see a miner ‘panning off’ which is meant to represent the origins of the wealth of Victoria. The central figure is a woman representing ‘labour’. The window also depicts the coats of arms of both Britain and Australia and symbols of the four divisions of the globe.

There is also other decorative stained glass work.

The other building constructed at the same time as the stock exchange is the Melbourne Safe Deposit. It was also designed by William Pitt and was completed by 1890. It is six stories above the ground, but there is a vault beneath it which holds 3000 safes. The floor was concrete which was laid directly onto rock. The walls were 1m thick. The actual strong room was raised off the floor and was built of wrought iron boiler plate and it was lined with un-drillable steel. The whole thing weighed nearly 200 tons. It was the first safe deposit building in Australia. It is still in use today. It is not open to the public sadly, but it is pretty incredible from the outside.

In 1989 ANZ found itself with three significant and beautiful gothic buildings. More than 20 million was committed to restoring the old buildings and a linking atrium was built.

At the same time a modern ANZ headquarters was being built and it retains elements of the gothic style to mirror the original buildings and to bring them all in together as one complex.

The gothic bank and its museum are a truly beautiful and fascinating building that are well worth a visit. I’m just pleased that this is the sort of thing I can go at look at in Melbourne. Exploring these sorts of buildings is why it can be so incredible to really look at your own city, to find the places that you’ve never noticed. To find the small corners of history that each city holds.

References:

Site visit 2018

ANZ’s Gothic Bank: A commitment to preservation (booklet)

The photos are mine.

Victorian History Crossword

August 23, 2016August 23, 2016 | historicalragbag

NB: If it looks like you’ve seen this crossword before, you have. I put it up yesterday but there was a technical error so I had to take it down. There should be no problems with this version. The questions and answers are all the same as yesterday’s, the lay out is just a little different.

Have a shot, see how you go. Click this link for a printable version of the crossword grid. Crossword Puzzle

Crossword Puzzle Maker_ Final Puzzle

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 6.50.45 PM Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 6.51.10 PM

Cemeteries: St Kilda Cemetery

July 26, 2016 | historicalragbag

This is the second in my series of posts about cemeteries. The first was about Melbourne General Cemetery and can be found here. This time I’ll be discussing St Kilda Cemetery. St Kilda is a suburb in southern Melbourne and its cemetery is an an excellent example of Melbourne’s inner suburban cemeteries.

I’ve always found cemeteries interesting as a lens through which to view a city, or a town, and I’ve always found the history they so neatly incapsulate fascinating. St Kilda has a personal connection for me as well because there is a plot there in which several of my ancestors are buried. One of them, Robert Henry Woodward, was originally buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. The family believes, however, that he was moved to St Kilda to be with his wife Letitia at a later date. His grave at Melbourne General Cemetery is certainly unmarked.

The Woodward Graves.

Robert Henry Woodward and Letitia Woodward

The site of Robert Henry Woodward’s original grave at Melbourne General Cemetery

Screen Shot 2016-07-12 at 7.25.39 PM

What the Woodward grave looked like in the 1970s. My extended family and I are in the process of restoring it somewhat.

Robert Henry was one of my first ancestors to come to Australia in the 1850s, and Letitia was born here in 1824 when her father was stationed in Sydney. So I was interested to see where they were buried.

The cemetery itself also has a fascinating history. It was first laid out in 1851 by an assistant of Robert Hoddle, best known for laying out the grid of Melbourne’s CBD. It opened in 1855 and the brick wall enclosing it was added in c. 1883.

The walls of the Cemetery

The cemetery covers 18 acres and contains approximately 53 000 burials. St Kilda has been a desirable place to live for over a hundred years and as urban sprawl in Melbourne has increased there have been several attempts to have the cemetery closed. Fortunately none have been successful. The cemetery is laid out in religious denominations as can be seen in the map below.

St Kilda Map-V3_DPMG - FINAL

Although in comparison to Melbourne General Cemetery St Kilda is quite small, it is still large for a suburban cemetery. It certainly feels vast when you step inside, as you can see from the photos below.

St Kilda also houses many beautiful funerary monuments. A number of which can be seen below.

Urns

Religious Figures

Angels

Crosses

Scrolls

Ornate fences.

There are also memorials to a number of well known people in St Kilda Cemetery.

I don’t feel it is necessary to go into the history of each of them, but I would like to discuss one in particular. Ferdinand Von Mueller, best known in Melbourne as the Director of the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens from 1857-1873.

A050353_246x550

Von Mueller

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266

His memorial can be seen below.

Von Mueller was born in 1825 in Rostock in Mecklenburg-Schwerin in what is now Germany. He trained as a pharmacist, but specialised in botany as part of his degree. He came to Australia in 1847 with his two remaining sisters, seeking a warmer climate for his sister’s health. He began his time in Australia in Adelaide, where he investigated the local flora as well as working as a pharmacist. He came to Melbourne in 1852 when Governor Latrobe appointed him Government Botanist. In Melbourne Von Mueller began collecting specimens of the local indigenous flora. He was instrumental in cataloguing Victorian and in fact Australian flora, adding new genera and greatly expanding exisiting knowledge. He travelled a great deal within Australia and was at the heart of bringing together isolated information from disparate sources on indigenous flora.

When he was appointed director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens in 1857 he immediately arranged to have the herbarium built, added his own extensive collection of specimens and began collecting seeds and plants from all over Australia as well as internationally. In the herbarium he built what is now one of Australia’s most important dried plant, algae and fungi collections. Under his stewardship the gardens began to build towards the magnificence which you see today. They can be seen in the photos below.

Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Native mexico

Cork oak, Quercus suber

Botanic Gardens Melbourne

Part of the Children's Garden next to

Children’s garden Melbourne Botanic Gardens

Herb Garden, Botanic Gardens Melbourne Herb Garden Melbourne Botanic Gardens.

Along with the Melbourne Botanic Gardens Von Mueller played a role in the establishment of some of Victoria’s numerous rural botanic gardens. For example when the gardens in Hamilton were established in 1870 Von Mueller supplied 450 shrubs and trees, providing the start of planting for the garden. The tree below is possibly one of the ones he sent.

Corsican pine Botanic Gardens Hamilton

Von Mueller was also one of the first to recognise the importance of the native forests of Victoria and campaigned against indiscriminate clearing. Sadly there began to be complaints about Von Mueller’s management of the gardens in around 1868. There seemed to be the feeling that he was focusing too much on the plants and not enough on the beautification of the gardens. Complaints were along the lines of “‘no foundations exist … neither are statues erected … works of art we can call forth at pleasure, while time lost in forming the plantations cannot be regained”[1] He stoutly defended what he saw as the object of a botanic garden, saying in an 1871 lecture

“that from the early transcendental days of Greece up to the most recent decennia all institutions designated as botanic gardens were mainly or exclusively devoted to the rearing of such plants as were adopted for medicine, for alimentary or industrial purposes; and it would be little short of relapsing into barbarism, were we to alienate any such institutions of ours entirely from their legitimate purpose.”

He continued

“The objects of a botanic garden must necessarily be multifarious, nor need they be, in all instances, precisely the same; they may be essentially modified by particular circumstances and local requirements, yet, in all cases, the objects must be mainly scientific and predominently instructive. As an universal rule, it is primarily the aim of such an institution to bring together with its available means the greatest possible number of select plants from all the different parts of the globe; and this is done to utilise them for easy public inspection, to arrange them in their impressive living forms, for systematic, geographic, medical, technical or economic information, and to render them extensively accessible for original observations and careful records. By these means, not only the knowledge of plants in all its branches is to be advanced through local independent researches, conducted in a real spirit of science, but also phytologic instruction is to be diffused to the widest extent; while simultaneously, by the introduction of novel utilitarian species, local industries are to be extended, or new resources to be originated; and, further, it is an aim to excite thereby a due interest in the general study and ample utilisation of any living forms of vegetation, or of important substances derived there from. All other objects are secondary, or the institution ceases to be a real garden of science.”[2]

Unfortunately he was not successful in his arguments as he was replaced as director in 1873. He remained Government Botanist, but he was so upset by his dismissal from the gardens that it is said that he never set foot in them again. Von Mueller was a dedicated worker, writing over 3000 letters a year, publishing over 800 papers as well as a number of books. By the time he died in 1896 he was largely responsible for the international recognition that was given to Australian scientific endeavour. His work was also of the quality and magnitude that much of it has still not been superseded. He is to me one of the most fascinating people with a memorial in St Kilda cemetery.

St Kilda Cemetery as a repository of history has many more stories to tell apart from Von Mueller’s and the Friends of St Kilda Cemetery do run regular tours. Information can be found here.

St Kilda, like other cemeteries, is a fantastic place not just for its own history but also for the survival of the stories of the people who are buried there. It also creates an area of community space in a tightly urban precinct. It is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. Cemeteries, like St Kilda, are a vital part of the community.

The photos are all mine apart from the photo of Von Mueller from the Dictionary of Biography and the Botanic Gardens and Hamilton Gardens pictures which were kindly provided by garden writer and photographer Penny Woodward.

For more information on St Kilda Cemetery see:

http://stk.smct.org.au/our-history/

For more on Von Mueller see:

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266

https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/about-us/our-story

For the entirety of his speech in 1871 in defence of Botanic Gardens see

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout33-t4-body-d9.html

[1] http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266

[2] http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout33-t4-body-d9.html

ANZAC Day

May 2, 2015January 26, 2017 | historicalragbag

I know ANZAC day has come and gone, but it represents something interesting in Australia and I thought it was worth a post.

There has been so much written about ANZAC day I’m not going to retread old ground.

You can see from the list of articles at both New Matilda and The Conversation that it is in many ways a controversial topic. Especially when it comes it Australia’s indigenous population, both in the lack of recognition of their contribution to Australian war efforts and whether the the white occupation of Australia can be considered a war. I am not offering a personal opinion in this second matter because political opinion is not the purpose of this blog.

https://theconversation.com/search?q=anzac

https://newmatilda.com/?s=anzac+day

This year was the centenary of ANZAC. I thought it was worth having a very quick background of what ANZAC day actually is.

ANZAC to start with stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC day began originally to commemorate the Gallipoli Landings on the 25th of April 1915.

The purpose of the Gallipoli landings was to draw the Turks away and to stop them over running the Russians in the Caucasus. Russia had suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Germany and Turkish forces in the Caucasus were pushing them hard. So Russia appealed to its ally Great Britain to launch an attack against the Turks. The British were in favour partly because they saw it as part of protecting the Suez Cannel.

Several tactics were somewhat cautiously tried but ultimately it was decided that attacking the Dardanelles with troops was the preferred option. The ANZACs were training in Egypt and were thus perfectly placed to serve in the attacking force.

For more information and a map of the Gallipoli peninsula see

http://www.gallipoli.gov.au/why-gallipoli/events-leading-up-to-the-landing.php

So on the 25th of April 1915 a mixture of nationalities, it wasn’t all ANZACs, tried to land on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Many died before they even made it to the beach. There is debate over whether they were sent to the correct position or not, but regardless they were faced with hilly, sandy and scrubby terrain with little cover. The attack on Gallipoli lasted until the 3rd of May 1915 and was a failure for pretty much everyone. The Turks lost a lot of men, more than the allies, and the allies retreated defeated.

The numbers that died at Gallipoli are debatable but a rough estimate is

Gallipoli dead
Ottoman Empire	86000
Australia	8700
New Zealand	2700
British Empire (apart from A & NZ)	27000
France and French colonial troops	9000

http://www.gallipoli.gov.au/frequently-asked-questions/faq-the-gallipoli-campaign.php

Overall roughly 134 000 died at Gallipoli which is approximately 600 a day.

There weren’t really any winners here.

I think one of the most moving depictions of Gallipoli I have ever seen is Eric Bogle’s song And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. I learnt it in Primary School and it has stuck with me ever since. A picture story book has been created of it with Illustrations by Bruce Whatley. You can see some of the book here. And the video below shows Eric Bogle singing the song.

The final verse of the song is I think an interesting look at how ANZAC day is seen now.

And now every April I sit on me porch

And I watch the parade pass before me

I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,

Reviving old dreams of past glories.

But the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore.

They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten old war

And young people ask, what are they marching for?

And I ask myself the same question.

http://ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricspdf/andbandplayedwaltzingm.pdf

What ANZAC day has come to mean for Australia is a tricky one. It seems to be all about mateship and Australian identity. Despite the fact that it is based on a defeat, it has somehow come to be seen as the forging of an Australian identity. You have to remember federation was only 14 years before the battle so there isn’t much else that can be seen as a turning point to Australia seeing itself as a nation in it own right rather than an outpost of Great Britain.

ANZAC day has come to be commemoration of those who have fallen in all wars that Australia has fought in, though again some are possibly excluded. It certainly means a lot to a lot of people.

Leading up to ANZAC day it was everywhere from biscuits

To historical displays. Like this one at the Prahran Mechanic’s Institute.

To full installations of replica trenches such as those at the Caufield RSL

There were also installations of knitted poppies across the CBD

If it is possible to be hagiographic about an event then that is how Australians are about ANZAC day. It is somehow sacred, the holy day for a largely irreligious country. Criticism is not permitted. But even though school children learn the basics of the history the realities are forgotten in the push to canonise the ANZACs. I am not for a moment saying that they weren’t very brave, that what they did shouldn’t be commemorated. I just think the reality of the situation which was in many ways remarkable is being lost in this canonisation. I think in putting the ANZACs on a jingoistic pedestal we are losing their humanity. Two works from Leunig sum it up beautifully.

http://jasongoroncy.com/2015/04/22/on-war-commemorations/

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/anzac-commemorations-jingoistic-element-is-deeply-alienating-20150421-1mpytk.html

As this year was the 100th anniversary I went along to the dawn service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. I was there by about 5:10 am and there were already thousands and thousands of people. It obviously really means something to Australians.

The weather was horrific, it rained the whole time and it was cold and everyone was standing there for nearly two hours, packed into the crowd. I couldn’t even get close enough to see the speeches. They had screens up everywhere to make sure people could see something.

There was no issues and no loud complaining.

Below you can hear the Ode for Remembrance and the last post as well as the minute’s silence. You have to remember that there were thousand’s of people there and despite this the silence was still absolute.

The Ode to Remembrance that is read out at most war commemoration services is part of a longer poem.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/laurence-binyon-for-the-fallen.htm

I think the stanzas that are read out are by far the best part of the poem. It was written by Robert Laurence Binyon and was published in the Times on the 21st of September 1914, months before Gallipoli and it was written only a few weeks into World War One, so well before the true extent of WWI was really known.

Personally I prefer the war poetry of Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. I’d like to finish on my favourite of Sassoon’s poems. One I think that sums up the horror of war, better than anything I’ve ever seen or anything I could say. It isn’t a poem about sacrifice, or bravery, or heroism. It’s a poem about the reality.

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/suicide.html

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

I think I’ll leave it at that.

Churches of Melbourne: St Joseph’s

April 24, 2015 | historicalragbag

Having lived in and around Melbourne for many years I’ve noticed that Melbourne has some truly beautiful churches and that individual areas seem to have common qualities when it comes to their churches. So I thought it might be interesting to have a look at a few. I wanted to begin with St Joseph’s Catholic Church on Orrong Road in Elsternwick because this was where my grandparents were married in 1944.

My grandparents are, obviously, in the middle of the photo and my great grandmother is on the left.

St Joseph’s was founded in November 1897.

The first priest of St Joseph’s was Rev. Fr Carey, but he was Dean of St Mary’s Church in West Melbourne rather than a priest for St Joseph’s alone.The second priest was Rev Fr. Gough, he was the parish priest for St James’ Church in North road to which St Joseph’s was attached to at the time.

The first priest of the combined parishes of St Joseph’s and Holy Angels was Rev. Fr. John Barry.[2]Barry was born in Cork in 1875 the eldest of ten children. He arrived in Australia shortly after his ordination in 1899. He was a parish priest in Mansfield before St Joseph’s and after his time at St Joseph’s he went on to be an administrator of St Patrick’s Cathedral and was appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Melbourne by Archbishop Carr of Melbourne. Archbishop Carr died shortly after this appointment, but it was confirmed by Archbishop Mannix and Barry was in charge of the Archdiocese of Melbourne during Mannix’s absence overseas in 1920. In 1924 Barry was appointed Archbishop of Goulburn and was immensely influential in establishing catholic institutions in Canberra. He died in 1938 and his obituary described him as “Always practical and with his skilled fingers forever on the spiritual pulse of his Diocese”. [3]

He can be seen in the photo below second from the left.

Barry’s boss while he was administrator of the Melbourne Archdiocese was Archbishop Daniel Mannix, a towering figure in Melbourne history. Another Irishman from Cork, he was born in 1864 and was Archbishop from 1917 until his death in 1963. The magnificent St Patrick’s Cathedral was the heart of the diocese.

Archbishop Mannix’s statue can be seen outside the Cathedral. I will probably write more about Mannix at a later date, but for more information now see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mannix-daniel-7478

Mannix also solemnly blessed St Joseph’s in 1918 and a stone was laid in the church to commemorate the occasion.

Rev. Fr. John Collins was priest when St Joseph’s was blessed, but he was still priest of a combined parish. The first priest appointed parish priest of St Joseph’s alone was Rev. Father Michael Dolan who died in 1936 aged 69. He was the first Melbourne priest to be ordained in St Patrick’s College in Manly, the primary Australian Catholic Seminary founded in 1889, in 1895.[4]

The clergyman at St Joseph’s at the time of my grandparent’s marriage was Walter P Walsh. Walsh died in 1951 and is buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. [1]

The interior of St Joseph is interesting.

There are several memorial windows and as far as I have been able to establish most relate to the Cross family. One window is dedicated to Margaret Pape, the wife of Max Pape. Margaret was the daughter of William John Cross, who is commemorated in another window. She died in 1901 at the age of 39 and her husband predeceased her. [5]

William John Cross is commemorated in another window with his wife Catherine Mary.

William John and Catherine probably had a son John who is possibly the John commemorated in another window. Catherine probably died in 1865 at 40 years of age so the window must have been put in some time after her death. [6] William John probably died in 1889 in his St Kilda Road home called Cintra.[7] William John and Catherine were probably married in 1854 and were both from Ireland. William John was from Country Kilkenny and Catherine was from Carrick on Suir. [8]

The main bridge in Carrick on Suir.

There is also another William John Cross, called WJ in his window and his profession is listed as gentleman. He too lived in St Kilda road, but he was married to Margaret Cross who died some time before 1883 when William John was appointed an executor of her will. [9]

Margaret’s Cross’ window is on the right.

There is also quite a lovely window donated by the group the Children of Mary.

St Joseph’s is typical of many Melbourne churches in that it reflects the local community and the people involved with the church. It is by no means the most beautiful of the churches but it is still lovely in its own way and is firmly part of the evolution of Melbourne as a city. Also its red brick exterior is typical of churches in the area. You can see the similarities in the Uniting Church just down the road. I am hoping to find out for about this church in the future.

[1] Obituary of Walter P Walsh. The Argus 1951. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/23091500

[2] Details of St Joseph’s Church obtained from the manuscript: Historical notes on schools, churches, etc. in Elsternwick and Caulfield. Available from the State Library of Victoria. Accession number: MS 9308

[3] Obituary of John Barry. Canberra Times 1938. http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/barry-john-67

[4] Obituary of Michael Dolan. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11930493

[5] Obituary of Margaret Pape. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/9620132/3?print=n.

Deceased details from St Kilda Cemetery. http://stk.smct.org.au/deceasedsearch/result/42604S

[6] Obituary of Catherine Mary Cross. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/5771864/4?print=n

Division of estate of Catherine Mary Cross to her son John Cross. Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/8452440/5?print=n

[7] Death notice of William John Cross. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/170503498/3?print=n

[8] Marriage notice of William John Cross and Catherine Mary Dynan. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/4796762/3?print=n

[9] Division of the estate of Margaret Cross. Trove. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/8498070/5?print=n

The photos are either mine or my family’s apart from the photo of Barry which can be seen at: http://www.cg.catholic.org.au/news/newsletterarticle_display.cfm?loadref=70&id=582

Historic Buildings, Modern Art.

February 27, 2015March 5, 2015 | historicalragbag

In many cases historic buildings are finding a new meaning in an increasingly technological world as canvases for modern art. Whether it is as a cinema, or a projection space or as a place for installations. This sort of repurposing brings new life and new significance to historic buildings.

There are many examples, but I thought I’d just discuss a few. I’d like to begin with some I have previously mentioned in an earlier post.

Fontevraud is an abbey in France that was founded in the 11th century. Various parts of it have been used for artistic installations. The Cloister. You can walk on this sculpture, creating whole new ways of seeing an ancient building.The dormitory. You are able to lie in these boats, simulating the experience of the sleeping monks.

The two installations in Fontevraud both work with the history of the building to give alternative ways of experiencing it.

Another example from France is Foix Castle not that far from Toulouse. You can see the castle below. It is perched on a a lump of carboniferous limestone and parts of the castle itself date from the 11th century. It was involved in the Albigensian Crusade and was part of an area of known Cathar sympathisers.

The installations below could be found inside and were both representations of people at prayer. Again repurposing an old building and using its own history for art.

Fontevraud and Foix notwithstanding, probably the best known historic building repurposed for art is The Louvre itself in Paris. It is an ancient palace and castle and now one of the most famous art galleries in the world. As you can see from its foundations, incidentally one of my favourite parts of The Louvre, it has been there for a long time. In fact it began its life as a fortress commissioned by Phillip Augustus to protect Paris in c. 1190. This fortress was large even for its time, with a keep measuring roughly 15m diameter and 30m in height. Within the Louvre itself you also have the repurposing of rooms, such as Napoleon III’s apartments, for the display of modern art. In this particular case they were integrated to simultaneously blend in with the overt opulence and to reflect it.

Historic buildings are not just used for static art. They are also used for performances, such as the Vivaldi concert in the stunning Sainte Chapel you can see below. Sainte Chapel was commissioned by Louis IX, later Saint Louis, and was originally built to house his collection of holy relics. It is one of the few survivors of the full colour that would have been present in many of the larger churches and cathedrals. It also has one of the largest collections of 13th century stained glass.

Aside from music and art installations historic buildings are becoming canvasses in their own right. This often happens in festivals such as the recent Melbourne White Night. Melbourne has many historic buildings, by historic in Melbourne I mean 1800s and early 1900s not medieval, and on White Night several come alive with astounding light and sound displays.

The State Library of Victoria is one of my favourite buildings in Melbourne. The SLV has been on its site, though in a smaller building, since it opened in 1856. The founders wanted to create a place of learning for all Victorians and a place to preserve Victoria’s heritage. It is not one building. It is actually made up of 23 individual buildings that have been repurposed and integrated over the years. In the SLV my favourite room is the Latrobe domed reading room which was opened in 1913. The dome itself is 114 feet in diameter and 114 feet high. It is a wonderful place to study or write. During a normal day it looks like this. But on White Night this year, this happened.

Other buildings were illuminated externally. Such as the Forum Theatre. The Forum opened in 1929 and is slightly insane in its own right even without illumination. It was built as an immersive theater and the interior has a large number of greek and roman statues as well as a blue sky with stars. This is what is looks like normally.

Interior

Exterior

And this is what it and its surrounding buildings look like when they’re lit up.

The final building I wanted to look at is in some ways the most spectacular and the most important historically. The Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens was completed in 1880 for Melbourne’s first international exhibition. It is one of the world’s oldest examples of exhibition pavilions. It was also the site of Australia’s first parliament in 1901. The Argus described the event as.

The atmosphere was radiant and illuminated the vast spaces of the building and the great sea of faces with a bright Australian glow. A sight never to be forgotten was the assemblage which, in perfect order but with exalted feeling, awaited the arrival of the Duke and Duchess in the great avenues which branch out from beneath the vast dome of the Exhibition Building. (Argus 10 May 1901)

And it was depicted in the famous Tom Roberts painting below.

PA0013

This is what the Exhibition Building looks like during the day, a beautiful example of exhibition architecture. promo-reb-thebuilding

Below is the truly stunning work of moving modern art it became on White Night. Sorry about any talking in the background.

Historic buildings have their own story and their importance and purpose is fundamental to what they are. Integrating modern art allows whole new interpretations of the past, new ways of viewing history and art and the ability to bring these buildings to brand new audiences.

For more information see…

http://museumvictoria.com.au/reb/

http://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Parliament_House_Art_Collection/Tom_Roberts_Big_Picture

http://www.forummelbourne.com.au/history.php

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/history-our-building

http://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/content.php?pid=405532&sid=3319092

http://www.grands-sites-ariege.fr/fr/chateau-de-foix/detail/34/presentation-2

http://www.louvre.fr/en/history-louvre

The photos and videos are all mine apart from:

The inside of the Forum, which can be found at http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g255100-d258068-i46387954-Forum_Melbourne-Melbourne_Victoria.html#85255678

The Exhibition Building which can be found at http://museumvictoria.com.au/reb/

The Tom Roberts painting which can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Parliament_House_Art_Collection/Tom_Roberts_Big_Picture

Cemeteries: Melbourne General Cemetery.

February 19, 2015March 5, 2015 | historicalragbag

Cemeteries are always a really interesting lens through which to view the history of a city. In the case of Melbourne is has several old cemeteries as well as the more modern ones. I thought I’d start with the Melbourne General Cemetery as it is one of the oldest and I believe the biggest.

I first went to the Melbourne General Cemetery a year or so ago when I found that my great great great grandfather Robert Henry Woodward was buried there. He was one of the first of my ancestors to come to Australia so I was interested to see where his grave was. Unfortunately it is no longer marked. You can see where he is buried in between the two other graves in the photo below.

Robert Henry’s is not the only grave that is unmarked in the cemetery because, while the records of those buried survive not all the headstones do. Robert Henry is only one of the approximately 300 000 people buried in the Cemetery since 1853 and their graves can be seen covering a staggering 106 acres. The Cemetery is truly vast. Some burials date even earlier than 1853 though, as a portion of the burials removed from the Old Melbourne Cemetery were re-interred in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The Old Melbourne Cemetery is an interesting story in itself because it stood on the land that now houses the Queen Victoria Market.

The Old Melbourne Cemetery was closed in the 1850s and many of the red gum headstones were stolen for firewood. An estimated 10 000 people were buried there, including many indigenous burials and John Batman the ‘founder’ of Melbourne. When the Queen Victoria Market expanded in 1917, 914 bodies were re-interred in other cemeteries including the Melbourne General Cemetery. However there are still thousands of bodies beneath the Queen Victoria Market and its car park today. The market does not have a multi story car park because, due to all the bodies buried there, you can’t go underground. Unfortunately there is no record of those interred in the Old Melbourne Cemetery as the official records were destroyed during a fire in the Melbourne Town Hall. The only sign of the thousands still beneath the earth is a memorial to John Batman, in the car park, and a memorial called Passage, dedicated to those still buried beneath the market and its car park. Passage

Many of the burials in The Melbourne General Cemetery have interesting origins as well. The cemetery itself is quite varied. As you can see below it is divided into a number of sections.

The Cemetery was also designed specially like a public park with winding roads, separate religious rotundas and a large number of evergreen trees and shrubs.

There are a number of buildings on site as well, including the heritage listed gatehouse that was rebuilt in the 1930s. The oldest building is the Jewish Chapel which dates to 1854.

The Gatehouse.

There are also a number of significant people buried there. Including several Prime Ministers.

John Gorton

Robert Menzies and Pattie Menzies

A memorial to Harold Holt who disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach on Point Nepean.

This is a memorial wall to Australia’s Prime Ministers, not everyone listed in dead.

There are some very interesting individual memorials as well. Including the monument below which is dedicated to indigenous man Derrimut whose timely action saved early settlers from a massacre.

Other memorial monuments include:

A memorial dedicated to Elvis.

A memorial dedicated to Burke and Wills and their expedition force.

And a memorial dedicated to Hungarian Freedom Fighters.

There is also a wide range of funerary monuments such as:

Unmarked graves.

Whole families in one place.

Decorative towers.

Small buildings.

Towering plinths.

High Crosses.

Angels and angel like figures.

Simple grave stones.

Modern mortuary chapels.

And plaques in the rose garden.

The Melbourne General Cemetery is a fascinating, if overwhelming and slightly haphazard, look into Melbourne’s past. It is also a working cemetery so it will continue to be part of Melbourne’s heritage in years to come. It is well worth visiting not only as a place with a fascinating history, but also somewhere that is surprisingly beautiful and very peaceful.

Also if you make it there during Melbourne Open House, you might get to see the vintage hearse.

For more information

http://mgc.smct.org.au/about-our-cemetery/

http://www.qvm.com.au/about/history/

All the photos are mine apart from the plan of the cemetery which can be found at.

http://mgc.smct.org.au/Assets/Files/Melbourne%20Cemetry_V3_DPMG%20-%20FINAL.pdf

Point Nepean

October 20, 2014October 21, 2014 | historicalragbag

Point Nepean: the end of the Mornington Peninsula, one of the ‘heads’ of Port Phillip Bay, a national park, the site of a disappearance of an Australian Prime Minister, a series of army forts, a former army training area and the site of the first shot fired by the British Empire in WWI.

Point Nepean Aerial

Photo from http://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/NewsMedia/PhotoGallery/tabid/216/AlbumID/645-1/Default.aspx

For those who haven’t been there Point Nepean is about an hour and a half’s drive from Melbourne Australia. It is is one of the few places where you can stand on a spit of land with the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. It is also the place that claimed one of Australia’s Prime Ministers. Harold Holt went swimming at Cheviot beach, see the photos below, in December 1967. He never returned. He was officially pronounced dead on the 19th of December. There have been many theories over the years, ranging from a Japanese submarine to sharks. The last is actually a possibility. I think he just drowned. It is a very unsafe swimming beach with unpredictable currents and frequently a number of rips.

There are also several of army forts along the length of Point Nepean, from WWI and WWII, such as the Cheviot Beach fortifications, Fort Pearce and the Eagle’s Nest. All of which can be seen in the photos below.

Fort PEarce
cheviot I think Point Nepean is probably best known for the role it played in WWI. WWI was declared at 11pm on the 4th of August 1914 in Britain (9am of the 5th Australian time). A German cargo steamer the SS Pflaz, having anticipated a declaration of war, was trying to get clear of the heads of Port Phillip Bay and find a neutral port in South America.

Signal flags were raised at Fort Nepean, at the very end of Point Nepean, and Queenscliff ordering the SS Pflaz to stop. There was no response and a ‘heave to’ shot was fired from the gun emplacement at Fort Nepean. Eventually the SS Pflaz returned to the harbour under armed guard. This shot was the first shot fired in WWI by the British empire. This was the only shot fired in anger from Australian territory in WWI

Incidentally Fort Nepean also fired the first Australian shot from WWII on the 4th of September 1939. The SS Woiniora failed to identify itself as it came through the heads. Once the correct code was signalled the ship was allowed to continue on its way. The remains of the gun below are in the position the shot was fired from and the other photo is the view from the gun emplacement.

PN head boat 2

Point Nepean also served as a quarantine station from the 1850s until 1952 when it was taken over by army cadets, with the proviso that it would be vacated if it was needed again for quarantine. Many immigrants were quarantined there from passengers, steerage and first class, from the 1850s all the way through to assisted immigrants in the early 1950s who were kept there while their belongings were fumigated against foot and mouth disease.

1912 saw the largest intake of the quarantine station with 1291 from the ship, the Irishman. They were mainly agricultural labourers. The photos below are some of the quarantine buildings. The final photo is the view along the balcony of one of the hospital buildings.

Also Point Nepean has been in use as an army base of some form for centuries and there are many of the beaches you still can’t walk on because of unexploded ordinances.

Point Nepean is a truly beautiful piece of land as well as a fascinating peace of history. If you get the chance to go there, it’s worth it. It is quite lovely and for the moment very unspoiled.

Parliament House Melbourne

September 17, 2014February 3, 2016 | historicalragbag

Melbourne Australia is my home city and I’ve always felt that many of its more interesting buildings are undervalued by residents. Parliament House is one of these and one of my favourites. While most Melbournians could tell you where it is and to some extent what goes on in there, very few have actually been inside. Melbourne is a gold rush town in many ways and Parliament House epitomises this. It is opulent to say the least.

The above photo is the central light in the library. All the gold you can see is 22 carat gold leaf. In many parts it’s double layered because the only way to mend it was to apply a second coating.

Parliament House was built in stages. It began in 1856 with the Legislative Chambers. The work was completed in an astonishing ten months in time for Victoria’s first Parliament to meet there.

There are two Chambers.

1. The Lower House: The Legislative Assembly parl leg coun

2. The Upper House: The Legislative Council.

parl leg as

parl leg cou seat

Today the carpet and the decor of the majority of Parliament House is divided into green, for the Legislative Assembly, and red, for the Legislative Council. When you pass from one half of Parliament House to the other the colour scheme immediately changes.

The next stage of the building process was the library and it was completed in 1860. It joined the two Chambers together into a u shaped building. It’s probably my favourite room.

Queen’s Hall and the Vestibule were the next stages. They were finished between 1878-79. They filled in the space between the two Chambers, making the building much more like the one we are familiar with today.

Queen’s Hall was dedicated to Queen Victoria and you can see her statue there today, alongside paintings of Victoria’s Premiers.

You enter Parliament House into the Vestibule and it has two noteworthy items.

1. The pressed metal roof which was intended to be temporary. Though I think it looks pretty amazing for a temporary structure.

2. The Minton floor tiles. The inscription, which you can’t actually see in the below photo, is from Proverbs 11:14 and reads `Where no Counsel is the People Fall; but in the Multitude of Counsellors there is Safety’

The West Facade and the Colonnade were completed between 1881-1888. There was also supposed to be a 20 story dome, but unfortunately economic conditions had changed and there simply wasn’t the money. The photo below is the Colonnade.

The steps and lamps were completed in 1888-1892.

The North Wing was finished to basement level in 1893. Former Prime-Minister Billy Hughes erected a tin hut on the top of the North Wing to have somewhere to hide where the press couldn’t find him. It was known as the Billy Hughes Hideaway.

The final work on Parliament House was completed in 1929 with the building of the refreshment hall, also known as the North East Wing. It was financed with the 50,000 pounds stirling that the Federal Parliament gave to the Parliament of Victoria as a thank you gesture for being permitted to use Victoria’s Parliament House. The Federal Parliament sat in Parliament House in Victoria before Canberra was built.

Parliament House is still incomplete. Some of today’s MPs work from portable classroom like buildings out the back. They may not have the prestige of offices in Parliament House, but they do have decent air conditioning and heating, which have been fairly recent additions to Parliament House proper. They also have windows which some of the ministers who have offices in the Parliamentary basement are not able to enjoy. These buildings are affectionally known as the chook house.

Two final interesting Parliament House facts. Both from the Legislative Council.

This room retains a handful doors to nowhere from the days before the Vestibule and Queen’s Hall were built. You used to be able to walk though this door onto a walkway and then straight onto Bourke Street.

There are also a number of angels that decorate the roof of the Legislative Council. Many of them have traditional titles such as justice. There is one, however, who is uniquely Victorian. This angel is holding a cornucopia in one hand to symbolise the fertile riches of Victoria. With the other hand she is scattering gold dust. This beautifully summarises how Victoria came to be, first as a colony and then a state.

See http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/the-parliament-building/history-of-the-building for more information. Or if you live in Melbourne go on a tour. They run pretty regularly, are free and really interesting.

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