Carlo's Naturalisation in 1892

Carlo Catani was naturalised in 1892 - what date? Not sure - he filled out the form on February 15, it was witnessed on February 16, his 'Memorial for Naturalisation' was acceded to on February 18 but he still had to take an Oath of Allegiance and pay one pound for the 'Letters of Naturalisation' to be prepared and issued. Carlo's Oath of Allegiance was done on March 11, the date the money was receipted. I don't know how the Naturalisation process works - is the date February 18 or the day the Public Service received the money which was March 11? These papers have been digitised by the National Archives of Australia.

National Archives of Australia NAA: A712, 1892/U1939

The envelope the Naturalisation papers are contained in

National Archives of Australia NAA: A712, 1892/U1939

Memorial for Letters of Naturalisation - this is what we would call the application form and is signed and dated February 15, 1892

National Archives of Australia NAA: A712, 1892/U1939

Carlo's Oath of Memorialist - declaring in front of a witness, W. Galbraith, J.P,  that what he said was true, dated February 16, 1892. William Galbraith was the Secretary for the Public Works Department - was promoted to that position in July 1889 and he retired in  September 1893 and he died in 1905.

National Archives of Australia NAA: A712, 1892/U1939

W. Galbraith, who witnessed Carlo's Oath (above), certified that he had know Carlo for three years.

National Archives of Australia NAA: A712, 1892/U1939

Carlo had to pay one pound for his Letters of Naturalisation, dated February 18 1892 and Carlo's Oath of Allegiance is dated March 11, 1892.

Carlo and the 'popular culture' magazine 'Table Talk'

We all know about Trove - one of my favourite things of all time - it has (amongst other things) digitised Australian newspapers from 1803  and was designed by Librarians at the National Library of Australia (and I'm a Librarian, so that makes my heart sing). Anyway, one of the more interesting (to me)  newspapers on Trove  is Table Talk: a journal for men and women - in reality, it's not much more than a gossip magazine, it's light entertainment - it had extensive social columns and covers all the Society weddings or fashionable weddings as they call it, a  fashion column and the comings and goings of society folk, theatre and bit of political gossip.   So I wondered did Carlo ever feature in Table Talk?  As it turns out, not very often, but he doesn't sound like the type of person to chase the limelight just for the sake of  it. 

Here's a nice account of  Carlo from February 15, 1912  - a cheery son of Italy, an eye for landscape garden effects and a model of urbanity and discretion and Ministers like him so well that they will be induced to father his road beautification schemes, even when they scarcely know where the money is to come from.

 Table Talk  February 15, 1912

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146573700

Carlo has found for himself a  legitimate war time activity  - that of providing lanoline to the Italians, where there was a shortage according to his  brother, Lieutenant Colonel Catani. I wonder if anyone used his skills as a  intelligent interlocutor to export their lanoline to Italy? We do also find out that he is practical and creative and add that to the urbane and discrete characteristics from the previous article and we are building up quite a nice picture of Carlo and his personality.

Table Talk November 11, 1915
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146640912

This is a report of his retirement  - this is a  great description of him (and a less flattering one of his colleagues) - Catani is about the only man who ever galvanised the Victorian Works Department into anything in the form of aesthetic life. Probably he was able to do so much with the slow moving civil servants around him because he was blessed with unusual vigor himself and could paint a rosy scheme in treble languages. He was about the best story teller the Department ever had, so that in addition to losing an able engineer, the service is parting with a pleasant social light. 

 Table Talk May 3 1917

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146475536

This is an interesting article called Beautiful Victoria: Notes on our Tourists' Resorts and it  talks about Carlo's visionary planned 'motor road' from Melbourne to Sorrento. The article has some neat descriptions of the towns around the Bay, most of which are now suburbs.

Table Talk October 27, 1921

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146318090

What else does Table Talk have to say about the Catani family? It had a lot to say about Carlo's brother, the artist Ugo (or Signor Catani as they refer to him) but that will be a future blog post. I could only find about 15 mentions of the Carlo family - here are some of them - In September 1912, Miss Vera Catani was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Sydney Cullis-Hill and Grace Court. She wore a  pretty pale blue crepe-de chine frock, trimmed with plaited frill and a pearl Juliet cap. There were a few other mentions of Vera at social events, including  one from July 1913 when she attended the St Kilda Dinghy Club Ball - the bright and enjoyable dance was held at the St Kilda Town Hall - Miss Catani wore a white satin frock with geranium red tunic.  You can read a bit about the Dinghy Club here on the St Kilda News website. In January 1918, Mr Catani and the Misses Catani were guests at Erskine House in Lorne. In July 1932, Table Talk announced the engagement of Enid to Keith Kenneth McKenzie of Richmond. In 1932 she was around 33 years of age, fairly old for getting engaged in those days, given the average age of marriage at the time was early 20s (not judging, just stating a fact) She didn't end up marrying the alliteratively named Keith Kenneth McKenzie (or anyone for that matter) There is a Keith Kenneth McKenzie in the Electoral  Roll at 48 Docker Street, Richmond from 1928 to 1937 - occupation Railway employee - and also at the address is a Kenneth McKenzie (occupation Engine driver) - so is this Him? Possibly - but by 1930 Enid and Vera were living in Sydney, so how did they meet? Why was the engagement called off? Don't know and Table Talk does not tell me.

Table Talk July 28, 1932

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147288448

What did Carlo wear?

What did Carlo wear on a daily basis? Let the Beechworth newspaper, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, tell us. They printed an article in the April 7, 1915 edition with the heading Our Melbourne Letter, sub-heading Marked Personalities. The Marked personality that they wrote about was Carlo Catani. They start by telling us about his employment and then continue on with this

When there is anything to be done which concerned the Public Works Department the short, natty figure of Mr Catani is sure to appear some time during its stages. In age he is somewhere in the middle fifties. His hair is greying, and his dark bushy eyebrows are getting slightly bushier. But he is the same alert Italian that he was when he came to Victoria a young man in the seventies. His friends say that his hair may change in colour, but his clothes never for he seems to be wearing the same sac suit of navy serge he wore years ago. He is a busy man, and a public servant must be devoted to his work. There is a story by his friends that when Mr Catani thinks his suit needs changing he puts his head in at  his tailors and says 'Another of the same' and in due time another of the same comes home. 
The article continues with an account of his arrival in Australia and his various achievements. You can read it here.

On the right is a photo of Carlo from The Australasian of February 8, 1908* of Carlo - a rare and clear image of him standing up - is he wearing a 'sac suit of navy serge'?


So that is what Carlo wore - a 'sac suit of navy serge'. What is a sac suit? There is a description and illustration here in this blog, Mens Clothing line in 1888
https://mensfashionin1888.weebly.com/ Apparently the sac suit was worn from the mid 1880s until the early part of the 20th century, so it seems that Carlo kept to the style that he liked, rather than be a fashionista. Serge, as a matter of interest, is a type of material with an even sided twill weave, similar to garbadine.

This illustration here is of a Scottish Tweed sac suit, advertised in the Sydney Stock and Station Journal on May 31, 1910. It cost 35 shillings. It was described as 'well cut with nothing extreme about it' and I feel that this description would most likely apply to Carlo's navy serge sac suits. Carlo's suit coat in the photo, above, looks a little different from the one on the left, as the suit coat appears to be more cut away.

*The photo from The Australasian of February 8, 1908 can be found here. I am grateful to my friend and fellow Carlo aficionado, Isaac Hermann, for finding this photo for me.

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Drainage history

Being born and bred on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, I feel I always knew about Carlo as he was one of the Public Works Department engineers that worked on the drainage scheme and the town of Catani is right next door to Cora Lynn, where I grew up. This is the extended version of my history of the drainage of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. If, by some extraordinary chance, you are not as enamoured by the history of Koo Wee Rup Swamp drainage as I am, then you can read the short version of this history on one of my other blogs, here.

I must acknowledge the books  From Swampland to Farmland: a history of the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District by David Roberts (Rural Water Commission, 1985)  and the chapter Draining the Swamp in The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (F.W. Cheshire, 1968) in the preparation of this history. 

The Koo Wee Rup Swamp originally covered about 96, 000 acres (40,000 hectares) is part of the Western Port sunkland. Very non-scientifically, the land sunk thousands of years ago between the Heath Hill fault and the Tyabb fault, and the streams that originally drained straight to the sea, such as the Cardinia, Toomuc, Deep Creek, Ararat, Bunyip and Lang Lang now descended onto the flat sections of the sunkland, flowed out over the land and created the swamp conditions.

Small scale drainage projects on the Swamp began as early as 1857 when William Lyall (1821 - 1888) began draining parts of the Yallock Station to drain the excess water from the Yallock Creek. In 1867, Lyall and Archibald McMillan, owner of Caldermeade, funded a drain through the Tobin Yallock Swamp and created a drain to give the Lang Lang River a direct outlet to the sea. Lyall also created drainage around Harewood house (on the South Gippsland Highway Koo Wee Rup and Tooradin).

In 1875, landowners including Duncan MacGregor (1835 - 1916), who owned Dalmore, a property of over 3,800 acres (1,500 hectares) formed the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Drainage Committee. From 1876 this Committee employed over 100 men and created drains that would carry the water from the Cardinia and Toomuc Creeks to Western Port Bay at Moody’s Inlet. The Cardinia Creek outlet was eight metres at the surface, six metres at the base and 1.2 metres deep, so no mean feat as it was all done manually. You can still see these drains when you travel on Manks Road, between Lea Road and Rices Road - the five bridges you cross span the Cardinia and Toomuc Creek canals (plus a few catch drains)

It soon became apparent that drainage works needed to be carried out on a large scale if the Swamp was to be drained and landowners protected from floods. The construction of the Railways also provided a push to drain the Swamp. The Gippsland railway line, which straddled the northern part of the Swamp, was completed from Melbourne to Sale in 1879. The construction of the Great Southern Railway line through the Swamp and South Gippsland, to Port Albert, began in 1887. These lines, plus a general demand for farm land bought the Government into the picture.

The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites (1853 - 1907) is almost forgotten in Swamp history, and should get more credit than he does. Thwaites surveyed the Swamp in 1887 and his report recommended the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where it entered the Swamp, in the north, to Western Port Bay and a number of smaller side drains.

 This is the Main Drain (Bunyip River) - a 1940s postcard. That would be the road bridge at the front and the rail bridge at the back

There was a scientific background to this scheme - Lewis Ronald East, engineer with  and later Chairman of  the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) , published a paper called Swamp Reclamation in Victoria in 1935. East writes that the drainage plan was based on the formula Q=CM3/4 - where Q was the discharge in cusecs, C a coefficient and M the area of the area of the catchment in square miles. 50 was adopted as the value of C for ordinary floods and 100 for extraordinary floods. The Scheme was worked out in detail to deal with ordinary floods, but for some unaccountable reason - possibly shortage of funds - it was recommended that the drains be constructed in the first instance to only 1/3 of the designed dimensions, but the reserves were to be of sufficient width to allow future enlargement. East says that the intention of the “Swamp Board” was to merely facilitate the removal flood waters and thus permit the use of land between floods.

A tender for works was advertised in 1889. In spite of strikes, floods and bad weather by March, 1893, the private contractors had constructed the 16 miles of the drain from the Bay to the south of Bunyip and the Public Works Department considered the Swamp was now dry enough for settlement. At one time over 500 men were employed and all the work was done by hand, using axes, shovels, mattocks and wheel barrows.

In spite of what seemed to be good progress - the Public Works Department had been unhappy with the rate of progress and took over its completion in 1893 and appointed our friend, Carlo Catani.

The 1890s was a time of economic depression in Australia and various Government Schemes were implemented to provide employment and to stop the drift of the unemployed to the city. One of these schemes was the Village Settlement Scheme. The aim was for the settlers to find employment outside the city and to boost their income from the sale of produce from their farms. It was in this context that Catani implemented the Village Settlement Scheme on the swamp. Under this Scheme, all workers had to be married, accept up to a 20 acre (8 hectares) block and spend a fortnight working on the drains for wages and a fortnight improving their block and maintaining adjoining drains. The villages were Koo Wee Rup, Five Mile, Vervale, Iona and Yallock.  The first 103 blocks under this scheme were allocated in April 1893.

Many of the settlers were unused to farming and hard physical labour, others were deterred by floods and ironically a drought that caused a bushfire. Many also relied on the wages they received for working on the drains, however this work finished in November 1897, so unless they could find other employment, or their farm was enormously successful they chose (or were forced by circumstance) to leave the Swamp.  The Village Settlement Scheme on the Swamp was abandoned in 1899 and the land was opened for selection in the regular way.

My great grandfather, James Rouse, a widower, arrived on the Swamp with his nine year old son Joe, in 1903. James, who had been a market gardener in England, was part of a second wave of settlers who were granted land as they had previous farming experience.  By 1904, over 2,000 people including 1,400 children lived on the Swamp. By the 1920s, the area was producing one quarter of Victorian potatoes and was also a major producer of dairy products. In fact, as we know, Koo Wee Rup remains an important potato growing area and the importance of the potato was celebrated by the Annual Potato Festival during the 1970s and 1980s. Today, 93% of all Australian asparagus is produced on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp.

The existing drainage works that we see on the Swamp today are really the result of a reaction to various floods. As East wrote in 1935 it was soon evident that the drainage provision made was quite inadequate.  There was a flood in 1893 and according to East the drains were enlarged by at least 50% in 1895 and then enlarged again in 1902, the catalyst being the 1901 flood.  The 1902 work had the objective to remove all floodwaters from a maximum flood within three days

There were some additional drains created in 1911 and by 1912 East says that the drainage scheme had cost £234,000 and the Government had recouped only £188,000. There were arguments over who should fund the scheme - many land owners were opposed to being charged for any work and it was not until after more floods in 1916 and 1917 they agreed in principle to an annual flood protection charge and the ‘Lower Koo Wee Rup flood protection district’ came into being. 

The State Rivers scheme provided for substantial remodelling and enlargement of existing drains, new channels and additional drains next to the Main Drain to take the water from the converging side drains. Other work carried out at this time included giving the Lang Lang River a straight channel to the bay and at the western end of Swamp tapping the Deep Creek into the Toomuc Drain created in 1876. 

Before I go on to the devastating 1934 flood I am going to tell you about the LubeckerSteam dredge. Apparently Catani was interested in using machines on the Swamp in the 1890, but as this was a time of depression the Public Works Department felt that this would take away jobs so it wasn’t until 1913 that Catani could import his first dredge. It was the Lubecker Bucket Dredge, costing £4,716 which arrived in 1913 and started work on the Lang Lang River. When it finished there in 1916 it started on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp on the Main Drain, Cardinia Creek and the Yallock Drain. It weighed 80 tons and had a capacity of 80 cubic metres per hour. A labourer at the time dug about 8 cubic metres per day. It had nearly completed its useful life in 1935 when East wrote his report. 

 The now demolished Memorial Hall at Koo Wee Rup in the 1934 flood

Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society photo

None of the existing works could prepare the swamp for the 1934 flood. In October of that year, Koo Wee Rup received over twice its average rain fall. November also had well above average rainfall and heavy rain fell on December 1 across the State. This rainfall caused a flood of over 100,000 megalitres or 40,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) per day. This was only an estimate because all the gauges were washed away. The entire Swamp was inundated; water was over 6 feet (2 metres) deep in the town of Koo Wee Rup, exacerbated by the fact that the railway embankment held the water in the town; my grandparents house at Cora Lynn had 3½ feet of water through it and according to family legend they spent three days in the roof with a nine, five, three year old and my father who was one at the time. Over a thousand people were left homeless. This flood also affected other parts of the State, including Melbourne.

There was outrage after the 1934 flood, directed at the SRWSC and it was even worse when another flood, of about 25,000 megalitres (10,000 cusecs) hit in April, 1935. After this flood, 100 men were employed to enlarge the drains.

As a result of the 1934 flood, the SRWC worked on new drainage plans for the Swamp and these plans became known as the Lupson Report after the complier, E.J Lupson, an Engineer. A Royal Commission was also established in 1936. Its role was to investigate the operation of the SRWSC. The Royal Commission report was critical of the SRWSC’s operation in the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District in a number of areas.  It ordered that new plans for drainage improvements needed to be established and presented to an independent authority. Mr E. G Richie was appointed as the independent authority. The Richie Report essentially considered that the Lupson Report was ‘sound and well considered’ and should be implemented. Work had just begun on these recommendations when the 1937 flood hit the area. The 1937 flood hit Koo Wee Rup on October 18  and water was two feet (60cm) deep in Rossiter Road and Station Street. The flood peaked at 20,000 cusecs (50,000 megalitres) about half the 1934 flood volume.

The main recommendation of the Lupson / Ritchie report was the construction of the Yallock outfall drain from Cora Lynn, cutting across to Bayles and then essentially following the line of the existing Yallock Creek to Western Port Bay. The aim was to take any flood water directly to the sea so the Main Drain could cope with the remaining water. The Yallock outfall drain was started in 1939 but the works were put on hold during World War Two and not completed until 1956-57. The Yallock outfall drain had been originally designed using the existing farm land as a spillway ie the Main Drain would overflow onto existing farmland and then find its own way to the Yallock outfall drain. Local farmers were unhappy at this, as the total designated spillway area was 275 acres (110 hectares). They suggested a spillway or ford be constructed at Cora Lynn so the flood water would divert to the outfall drain over the spillway. The spillway was finally constructed in 1962.

There is on-going work on the Main Drain all the time - recreation of levee banks, removal of vegetation etc but the opening of the spillway was basically the last major engineering works to happen on the Swamp.

Today we look at Swamps as wetlands, worthy of preservation, but we need to look at the drainage of the Swamp in the context of the times. Koo Wee Rup was only one of many swamps drained around this time; others include the Carrum Swamp and the Moe Swamp. To the people at the time the drainage works were an example of Victorian engineering skills and turned what was perceived as useless land into productive land and removed a barrier to the development of other areas in Gippsland.

Construction of the Spillway at Cora Lynn, October 1962 - the Main Drain is on the right, separated by a soon to be removed levee bank from the spillway which is ironically underwater, due to a flood. Photo: Rouse family collection

Carlo and the safety of the Patterson River bridge

In the Colony of Victoria, until 1884 all the military or defences forces were volunteers. This changed in 1884 with the introduction of the Victorian Military Forces. These men were paid, enlisted for a fixed period but were part time. Every so often they would attend training camps at various locations including the Langwarrin Military Reserve.  In 1894, this encampment lasted six days.

I came across this article, below, about the 1894 encampment - new field guns had to be transported to Langwarrin and had to cross the bridge on the Patterson River at Carrum. There were clearly worries about the strength of the bridge which might have caused a disastrous prelude to the Easter encampment if it was not strong enough to bear the weight of the guns and so Mr Davidson, the Inspector General of Public Works and Mr Catani, engineer of roads and bridges inspected the bridge. They recommended that the guns might be transported across the bridge in safety but that there was an undoubted risk and they would not take responsibility of advising that the route was safe one. This sounds like a typical public service report - a bit of  a bet each way - so credit could be taken if it was a success and no responsibility would be taken if it ended badly. In the end it was decided that the guns would be transported one at a time over the bridge and there was no disastrous prelude to the Easter encampment and Carlo's professional reputation remained intact!

The Argus March 24 1894

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8732367

If you are interested in the Langwarrin Military Reserve then you might want to read Australia Aldershot: Langwarrin Military Reserve Victoria 1886-1980 by Winty Calder (Jimaringle Publications 1987)

A tribute to Carlo - What a man!

In The Herald of February 4, 1928 Mr H. O Allan* looked back on his 51 years in the Lands Department in the Victorian Public Service. As The Herald described the article  - Mr H. O. Allan, who has just retired from the position of Under Secretary of the Lands Department, after half a century of service, has in this special article recalled for readers of The Herald some of the many stories, mostly gay, with which his memory is stored. Yes, it was indeed described thus, and is a perfect example of how our language had changed over the years. However, the important piece of his recollections for us is his tribute to our friend, Carlo Catani.

The Herald  February 4, 1928

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243902653

I cannot end this short article without paying  a tribute to the late Carlo Catani. I took part with him in starting the St Kilda Foreshore Trust. I did the legal, literary and finance part of the job and he, a landscape genius if ever there was one, the engineering work together with the beautification. What a man! His monuments are everywhere - at Buffalo, Alexandra Gardens, St Kilda, Donna Buang. As pace-maker to the municipalities he is responsible for much beautification  they subsequently put in hand. His reclamation work at Koo Wee Rup and at Carrum have added wealth to the country. He saw possibilities to which others were blind. It is well that his works are his memorials. No others has been proposed by his fellow citizens, who have honored less worthy men.

*Mr H. O. Allan was Henry Octavius Allan, the son of  John McMahon Allan and  Caroline Farrell (sometimes listed as O'Farrell). He was born in 1862 in Warrnambool. He died in St Kilda  on July 10, 1930. He was cremated at the 'new Melbourne General Cemetery at Fawkner' according to an obituary in The Argus.

Catani Clock Tower unveiled at St Kilda in 1932

The residents of St Kilda erected a memorial to Carlo Catani, in the form of a clock tower,  which was unveiled on August 22, 1932, on the Upper Esplanade.  The St Kilda Council had set aside £750 at their Estimates meeting in November 1929 for the memorial. In the December it was announced that Competitive designs are to be invited, under the auspices of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. The cost of the tower is not to exceed £2500. A premium of £50 will be paid for the best design, and £25 for the second (1).  

The St Kilda Foreshore Committee matched the Council's contribution and donated  £750 (2). The Prahran Telegraph reported on how the rest of the finance would be obtained -  Town Clark, Mr F. Chamberlin (3) , explained that the rest of the money would come from allocations of local carnivals in past years [where] there is available the sum of £635; Messrs. H. F. and L. Phillips, of the Palais de Danse, have promised a donation of £50. The article goes on to say that although there will be no direct appeal for subscriptions voluntary contributions would be gladly received by the Town Clark, St Kilda. (4). 

The competition received 46 entries and they were assessed by Thomas Buchan (5)  President of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. In July 1930, he selected, and it was accepted by the St Kilda Council, a design  in the Italian Renaissance style by  Geelong Architect, Norman Schefferle. (6)  A review of all the designs was written up in  Building: the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant, Vol. 46 No. 276 (12 August 1930) - you can read it here.

The Clock Tower under construction. Photographer: Albert Jones.

This image has been cropped, see the original at the State Library of Victoria 

here http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/43083

Carlo's daughter, Enid, was in attendance at the unveiling where the Chairman of the Memorial Committee, Frederick Michaelis (7), said the tower was a worthy memorial to a worthy friend of St Kilda (8). At the foot of the clock tower was a bust of Carlo Catani, by sculptor, Paul Montford (9).  The bust is mounted on a sandstone plinth, with a bronze plaque which includes the words A great Public Servant of Victoria 1876 - 1917.  The bust was unveiled by long-term St Kilda Councillor, Edward O'Donnell (10), who also had the honour of starting the clock's mechanism.

This fabulous photo, by Isaac Hermann, shows the bust of Carlo at the foot of the clock tower, with one of Carlo's palms in the background and the shadow of a palm on the tower.

At the foot of the clock tower is a bust of Carlo by Paul Montford. 

Photo: Isaac Hermann.

This article from The Argus reports on the unveiling. 

An account of the unveiling of the Clock Tower, which is transcribed, below.

The Argus August 23, 1932 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4469746

The report of the unveiling of the Clock  Tower, from The Argus - 

CATANI CLOCK TOWER - Unveiled at St. Kilda.

After the death of Mr. Carlo Catani, a former chief engineer of the State Public Works department, in 1918, it was decided to erect in his memory a clock tower on the upper esplanade at St. Kilda. The tower, which occupies the site of the old band rotunda on the esplanade, was completed at a cost of about £2,800, collected from residents of St Kilda. It was unveiled before a large gathering yesterday. Among those present was Miss Enid Catani, a daughter of the late Mr. Catani. The tower, which is built in brick in Italian renaissance style, was designed by Mr. N. E. Schefferle. It will be illuminated at night. At the foot is a bronze bust of the late Mr. Catani by Mr. Paul Montford.

The chairman of the memorial committee (Mr. P. D. Michaelis) said that the tower was a worthy memorial to a worthy friend of St. Kilda. The mayor of St. Kilda (Councillor H. Moroney) said that the State was full of monumental tributes to Mr. Catani's genius. Councillor Edward O'Donnell, who unveiled the bronze bust and started the mechanism of the clock, recalled Mr. Catani's enthusiasm for the beauty of the St Kilda foreshore. The Minister for Public Works (Mr. Jones) was represented by the chief engineer for public works (Mr. G. Kermode).

The Clock Tower is a landmark in St Kilda, and the subject of many photographs and postcards, some of which you can see here.

Footnotes

(1) The Herald, December 17, 1929, see here. 

(2) The Age December 18, 1929, see here.
(3) Frederick William Chamberlin, City of St Kilda Town Clerk . According to his obituary he was born in England, arrived in Victoria in 1881, appointed assistant Town Clerk in 1897 and became the Town Clerk on  May 1, 1913.  Mr Chamberlin died suddenly on October 11, 1934 when he collapsed outside the Town Hall on his way to a Council Public Works Committee meeting. He was 62 years old.  You can read his obituary in The Argus, here and The Age, here. This is irrelevant to the clock tower story, but of interest - Chamberlin's daughter, Marie (1902 -1993) was a Senator. She married  Robert Tweeddale Breen in 1928, he was a Mayor of the City of Brighton and this gave Marie a public role and she was involved in groups such as the Brighton Baby Health Centre Association and Victorian Family Council. In 1945 she joined the newly established Liberal Party,  and stood for the Senate in the 1961 election, she did not seek re-election when her term expired at the end of June in 1968. She was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1979. Dame Marie Breen died in June 1993. Read more about her, here, on the Senate website.

(4) Prahran Telegraph, March 14, 1930, see here.
(5) Thomas Johnston Buchan (1874 - 1962) became President of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in 1930. He was a partner in the Architectural firm of Laird and Buchan. He began his career in 1891 in Geelong when he was articled  to  J. A. Laird, where in 1906 he became  a Partner in the firm. He studied at the School of Architecture at the Gordon Institute of Technology. The firm designed Churches, banks, houses and some outstanding architectural memorial, which are among the leading ornaments of Geelong. Source: The Herald, February 25, 1930, read the article here.
(6) Norman Edwin Schefferle (1899 - 1983),  also studied at Gordon Technical College in Geelong, but he as he was younger than Thomas Buchan, so their time at the College did not overlap. Schefferle was with the firm Schefferle and Davies.  He designed Geelong's Art Deco Carlton Hotel built in 1936, the Point Henry Signal Station ( the Geelong Harbour Control building) built 1939 and the Kilmore Hospital in 1953.  As well, he designed the Caulfield War Memorial, unveiled in 1932. Read more about Norman Schefferle, here.
(7) Frederick David Michaelis (1861 - 1935) was a partner in the firm of Michaelis, Hallenstein & Co, leather merchants. He was a member of the St Kilda Foreshore Committee and the St Kilda Cemetery Committee and on the Board of Management of the Alfred Hospital. He was also a supporter of Wesley College, where he went to school. Like Carlo Catani, Mr Michaelis, had a son who died in the First World War - his son Frank Moritz Michaelis (Service number 31586) enlisted on August 23, 1916 at the age of 24 and died of disease on May 14, 1917. Another son, Archie, was a Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery, you can read his biography in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here.  You can read Frederick Michaelis' informative obituary in the Hebrew Standard of Australasia, here and shorter obituaries  in The Age, here and in The Argus, here.
Michaelis, Hallenstein operated a very large tannery in Footscray, you can read about it and see photos of it on the Living Museum of the West (LMW) website, here. They were said to be the first employers to introduce the eight hour day for their employees. The Company also had their own World War One memorial to their nineteen employees who lost their life in the War - Frank Michaelis is listed on the memorial as well.There is a photo of the memorial on the LMW website. I have done a blog post on the Michaelis, Hallenstein Tannery war memorial on my Victoria's Past - Rescued and Retold blog, here.

(8) The Argus August 23, 1932, see here.  

(9) Paul Montford. Paul Raphael Montford (1868 - 1938)  was born in England and worked there until he came to Australia at the age of 54. His work includes the statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon in Gordon Reserve in Spring Street and the George Higinbotham sculpture near the Old Treasury Buildings. You can read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, by Jenny Zimmer, here.
(10) Edward O'Donnell was a St Kilda City Councillor for 44 years, inaugural member of the St Kilda Foreshore Committee (formed in 1906) and Chairman of the Committee from 1919. He died in 1933 at the age of 88.  O'Donnell Gardens in St Kilda is named for him, where there is an elaborate fountain erected as a memorial, which was unveiled in August 1935. You can read his obituary in The Argus, here

Moe Swamp and the Carlo Catani Memorial

Growing up on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp I was well familiar with Carlo's work there, however, a few years ago we went for a drive north of Trafalgar and came across this monument to Carlo. It's  a good looking memorial, with a list of the names -  the 'Pioneer roll of renown' - of the families that selected land on the Moe Swamp prior to 1914. I do think we could have a memorial for Carlo on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp - of course we have the town of Catani, but is that better than a memorial stone and bronze portrait?  Not sure, I rather like the monument.

Photo taken May 2021.

The Memorial at Trafalgar, on Willow Grove Road,  was erected in 1988 by the Trafalgar Bicentennial Community Committee. There is a small plaque on the north side of the rock which says Erected to commemorate the settlement of the Moe Swamp "Trafalgar Meadows" at the turn of the century. The selectors overcame many difficulties to successfully farm the area. The Moe Swamp was renamed to the more euphonious (1) name of Trafalgar Meadows around 1918. The first reference I can find in the newspapers is in January 1918, when there was a reference to the Trafalgar Meadows Drainage Area (2). The Trafalgar Meadows Drainage Trust came into existence on August 13, 1918 (3). There are numerous references to Trafalgar Meadows in the papers in the 1930s, but very few after that (4).

The bronze memorial plaque was created by sculptor, Stanley Hammond.

Photo taken May 2021. See the photo at the end of this post, taken in 2010, when the plaque had a patina.

The artist responsible for the bronze plaque was Stanley Hammond. The following information comes from Stanley's obituary, written by David Roper, which was published in The Age on March 2, 2000. Stanley Hammond was born on August 1, 1913 in Trentham. He attended Daylesford Technical School and at 17 became an assistant to Orlando Dutton and worked with him on the stone sculptures at the Shrine of Remembrance. In 1933, Stanley began working with Paul Montford, to learn to work in bronze. During the Second World War, he joined the Army and produced accurate scale models of military hardware for recognition purposes. He resumed his career after the War. His works include a bronze of Sir Walter Scott at Ballarat and one of John Batman in Melbourne. He worked with George Allen to carve the 125 ton Victorian Second World War Memorial - Fallen Warrior - which is in the forecourt at the Shrine. In 1970, he created a 3 metre bronze statue of an Australian World War One soldier which was erected in Mont St Quentin, France to commemorate the Second Division. He also created six bronze panels for the entrance to Albert Park Reserve. Stanley died February 1, 2000. 

Interesting that Stanley worked with Paul Montford as it was Paul Montford who created the bust of Carlo at the base of Memoral Clock Tower in St Kilda. You can read about this, here.

Stanley Hammond's signature.

The Pioneer Roll of Renown on the Moe Swamp Memorial

What do we know about the Moe Swamp? I have an article by Lewis Ronald East, engineer with  and later Chairman of  the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, called Swamp Reclamation in Victoria, published in 1935 by the Institute of Engineers, Australia.  This is what he says (inter alia) about the Moe Swamp 

The Moe Swamp, which parallels the Main Gippsland Railway from Darnum to Moe, is approximately 2 miles wide and 11 miles in length. The streams which discharge into the Swamp are the Moe River and the Shady Creek, they drain 79 and 75 square miles of hilly country respectively and other smaller creeks bring the total catchment  to about 250 square miles. The reclamation of the Swamp began in 1887.  East says the 'works proposed and constructed were, however, hopelessly inadequate'. The scheme comprised a main drain through the middle of the Swamp from the Moe River to the Narracan Creek and thence to the Latrobe River and a herring-bone system of minor drains. Around the edges of the Swamp irrigation channels were constructed as well a subsidiary side drains. 

This inadequate work was  not the fault of the Public Works Department, according to East (so that mean's not Carlo's fault!)  but rather the 'Swamp Board' which designed a scheme that would 'merely be one of partial drainage that would enable the land, although subject to floods, to be utilized'.

Upon completion the land was subdivided into holdings from 15 to 150 acres and sold by auction. The first land was sold on December 3 1899 and East said the swamp from end to end was under water! Other works took place and the cost to reclaim 9,000 acres was £83,000 (although East also lists the size of the Swamp as 12,682 acres).Land sales recouped £76, 000. The works turned land that was 'practically useless' into  a very prosperous settlement chiefly devoted to dairying and root crop production.

One of the conditions of settlement was that the farmers had to maintain the drains. 'This they did not do satisfactorily' according to East, so the drainage was taken over by the Narracan Shire and the Trafalgar Meadows Drainage Area was established.

I don't know how much time Carlo spent at the Moe Swamp but here are two reports that put him on the spot.

Report about Catani's visit to the Moe Swamp to attend to the classification of the land.

Warragul Guardian August 29, 1899 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68740721

In 1902 Catani visited both the Koo Wee Rup and Moe Swamps, with a view to widening the drains.

  West Gippsland Gazette  February 11, 1902  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68718051

Acknowledgement

I wrote this post in October 2018 and it wasn't until May 2021 that I even wondered who the artist was who created the bronze plaque of Carlo and that was only because, my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, asked me the question. I went for a drive and found Stanley Hammond's signature on the plaque and did some research. Thank you, Isaac, as I believe Artists should be acknowledged for their work, so this is a belated recognition of Stanley Hammond's work on the Carlo memorial.

Footnotes

(1) Adams, John  So Tall the Trees: a Centenary history of the Southern Districts of the Shire of Narracan (Narracan Shire Council, 1978). p. 15.

(2) Narracan Shire Advocate, January 23, 1918, see here.

(3) Adams, op. cit., p. 173. 

(4) Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ -  117 references in the 1930s, four in the 1940s and one in the 1950s.

I took this photo of the memorial plaque in March 2010. Compared to the image, above, 

it seems to have been 'cleaned up' sometime in the last ten years,  as it has lost its patina. 

Carlo passes away

Carlo passed away on July 20, 1918. Here is an obituary from the Prahran Chronicle July 27, 1918. I have transcribed it, but you can read the full article here.


General regret has been expressed at the death of Mr Carlo Catani, formerly Chief Inspector of Public Works, which took place at his residence, Wyndam, Blessington Street, St. Kilda, on Saturday. A few days previously he was standing on a scaffolding superintending the erection of additions to his home, when he was suddenly seized with illness, from which he never recovered. The late Mr Catani retired from the public service twelve months ago. He was 66 years of age. 
He was born in Florence, Italy, and came to Australia as a youth in company with Mr Baracchi, formerly Government astronomer of Victoria. Mr Catani had a long and successful career in the Public Works Department as an engineer of high attainments. To his energy and enthusiasm the development of many of the popular mountain tourist resorts are due, especially Mount Buffalo. He also took a keen interest in the scheme for the beautification of the Yarra, and planned many improvements that have been carried out in the metropolis. 
Mr Catani was a member of the St. Kilda Foreshore Committee, and the magnificent decorative work that has been effected along the frontage must be ascribed to his exceptional skill as an engineer, and one well versed in the art of beautification and landscape gardening. Always courteous and unassuming, the deceased gentleman was extremely popular in public and private life, and by his kindly disposition he had formed very many life long friendships.
Mr Catani leaves a widow and son and daughter. A son, Captain Catani, was killed in action a few months back. The funeral took place at the Brighton cemetery on Monday afternoon, when there was a representative attendance, including the Mayor, Town Clerk, and Councillors of St. Kilda.

The Death notice and funeral notice for Carlo from The Argus July 22 1918

The town of Catani

Carlo was honoured by having a railway station on the Strzelecki Railway line named after him. The Railway officially opened June 29, 1922. You can read about the history of what turned out to be a short-lived railway line, here.

Report on the names of the new Railway Stations

The Age June 30 1922  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205046493

It was either the Bunyip Pioneers' Association or the Koo Wee Rup Pioneers' Association who could claim credit for suggesting the name of Catani for the railway station to the Public Works Department.

The Bunyip Pioneers' Association suggests the new railway station should be called Catani.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal  March 4, 1920 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66197618

Thr Koo Wee Rup Pioneers' Association suggests the new railway station should be called Catani

Weekly Times March 6, 1920 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222562046

Whoever did suggest that the Station should be named after Carlo, it was a popular choice according to Niel Gunson, in his book The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire   Dr Gunson quotes the memories of H.J. Boxshall of Yallock.

Mr Catani was well known to most of the men employed on the drain work, no matter how far away or how small the drain, he would insist on having  a look at it to see how the work was progressing. He got to know many of the men by name and would sit on the drain bank and have his lunch with them. These trips meant long rides on horseback and often longer distances on foot, but it was all in a day's work for Mr Catani. Henry John Boxshall, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Mills) Boxshall, early Yallock settlers.

There wasn't anything at Catani before the station was established and the area was considered to be part of Yannathan. But a small community developed in the vicinity of the station - a general store (now closed) was built early on as the storekeeper, Robert Bush is listed in the 1921/22 Cranbourne Shire Rate books. His listing that year says there was already a building on the block and a notation in one of the columns has the date 6/3/22, which I assume was the purchase date*.

Catani State School, No. 4154, opened on January 30 1923 - in a building described as a pavilion...and which also served as a church and dance hall** The school moved to another part of town in 1927 to a new building and closed in the 1993. From various newspaper reports I have discovered that in April 1923 a Postal Receiving Office opened and in October 1923 mail deliveries were established. In November 1925 the Post Office was raised to an Allowance Office, and could also provide money order facilities (I don't know what that means). The Soldiers Memorial Hall opened October 19, 1928, and a Presbyterian Church (now Community Church) opened in April 1933. Electricity came to the town in 1936. 

From 1923, Catani had a football team with the local Junior Football Association and played home games, thus the Recreation Reserve must have been established then. 1927 is the first year I can find mention of Senior team playing.


* The Local Government year used to run from October to September thus the 1921/22 Rate Books cover October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1922 so his store was erected sometime in that period. The Cardinia Local Heritage Study Review 2008: Volume 5 - Stage B Individual Places (Draft June 2008), prepared by Context P/L, actually says Robert Bush purchased the land July 13, 1922. Either way, Robert Bush is definitely listed in the 1923/24 Rate books as a Storekeeper at Catani. 

  **Vision & Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria

Carlo Catani - a short biography

The town of Catani, in West Gippsland,  is named after Carlo Catani who was one of the Engineers in charge of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Drainage scheme. I thought it would be interesting to find out a bit about the man behind the name.

Carlo was born on April 28, 1852 in Florence in Italy. He was the son of Enrico Catani, who was a merchant, and Augusta Geri. He was educated as a Civil Engineer at the Technical Institute of Florence. Carlo and his two friends, Pietro Baracchi and Ettore Checchi, arrived in Melbourne, via New Zealand, in September 1876.

Carlo Catani

Image from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

The trio were employed as draftsmen by the Department of Lands and Survey. In 1880, Catani was registered as a Surveyor and in 1882 he and Checchi joined the Public Works Department as Engineering draftsmen. By 1886, they were both assistant Engineers. Checchi (1853 - 1946) went on to become an Engineer with the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission when it was established in 1906. Baracchi (1851 - 1926)  became the Acting Government Astronomer for Victoria and later joined the Commonwealth Government as an Astrologist and Meteorologist.  Catani was promoted to the Head of his Section in 1892. In 1893, the Public Works Department resumed the control of the Swamp drainage works from private contractors and Catani was appointed as the Engineer. Catani implemented the Village Settlement Scheme. Under this Scheme, all workers had to be married, accept a 20 acre block and spend a fortnight working on the drains for wages and a fortnight improving their block and maintaining adjoining drains. The villages were Koo-Wee-Rup, Five Mile, Cora Lynn, Vervale, Iona and Yallock.

Catani was also responsible for the first mechanical equipment used on the Swamp. He had ordered the Lubecker Steam Bucket Dredge in 1912 and it arrived in 1913 at a cost of £4,700. It weighed 80 tons and had a capacity of 61 cubic metres per hour. A labourer at the time dug about 8 cubic metres per day. It was used on the Lang Lang River, then on the Main Drain, Cardinia Creek and Yallock Drain.

Catani’s other work with the Public Works Department included flood mitigation works on the Yarra River. He was responsible for planting the elms, oaks and poplars along Alexandra Avenue. He designed the Morell bridge. The laying out and planting of the Alexandra Gardens was also carried out under Catani’s direction. His last major project was the reclamation of the St Kilda foreshore. The gardens he designed at the end of Fitzroy Street were named after him as was the Catani arch bridge on the St Kilda foreshore. There is a bronze bust of Carlo Catani on the Clock tower on the St Kilda esplanade. Contemporaries of Catani said that he 'saw possibilities to which others were blind' and that he had 'unfailing courtesy and a kindly nature.'

Carlo was naturalised in 1892. He married Catherine Hanley of Port Fairy on May 18 1886 at the Free Church of England in Fitzroy, by the Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman,  They had six children, Edoardo or Edward (b.1886 and d.1887), Elvira May (1888-1947), Enrico Ferdinando (b.1891-killed in Action in France in 1916), Ettore Luigi (1893-1967), Eugenia Anastasia (1895-1915) and Enid Marguerite (1899-1950). Catani died July 20,  1918 at the age of 66 and is buried at the Brighton cemetery. Catherine died in 1925, aged 68. None of the children married.

I looked at Enrico's Military Record at the National Archives of Australia and found that he was Killed in Action on July 29 1916. Enrico was a Second Lieutenant, had served at Gallipoli before serving in France. He was buried at Cemetery Post Station, near Pozieres. However in a interesting and poignant twist, in 1932 the body of an 'unknown' soldier was exhumed from another location and this was identified through the identification disc and other personal effects to be Enrico Catani. There are a series of letters in Enrico's Military file between the Australian War Graves Service and Enid Catani regarding this discovery. In the end Enrico was buried again in the Serre Road Cemetery near Beaumont Hamel, in France. The body of the Officer, who was initially thought to be Enrico, now has a headstone stating that he is an 'unknown Australian Lieutenant'. In one of the letters Enid sent to the Government regarding the discovery of her brother's body, Enid said that her surviving brother, Ettore, had never recovered from the shock of Enrico's death and is under the care of the Master-in Equity of the Supreme Court. The Master-in-Equity looked after people who did not have the legal capacity to care for themselves. It sad to think that effectively, the family lost two sons to the First World War.

Most of this information comes from the article on Carlo Catani, written by Ronald McNicoll, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, access it here.


I originally wrote this post for the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society newsletter and it also appears on my  'work' blog http://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com