Postcards of Carlo's Playgrounds

There was an article in The Argus of January 4, 1926 (read it here) with the headlines - Beautifying Melbourne - Our debt to Mr Catani - Maker of Playgrounds

The Argus of January 4, 1926 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3727092

Traditionally, when people visited 'Playgrounds' or recreational or beauty spots, they sent a postcard, so I thought we would have  a look at some postcards, connected to places which Carlo was involved with. There are a lot of postcards on the State Library of Victoria (SLV) website, but I am just limiting this to cards which were actually sent through the post. These three cards were all sent to  Miss M. Prisk, 116 Windermere Street,  Ballarat. There are 22 of her postcards at the SLV.  The State Library has transcribed the messages on the postcards and it seems that she not only collected the postcards but also sent cards to other collectors - around 1906 to 1908 when these cards were sent - postcard collecting was a 'regular rage'. On the back of the Beaconsfield Parade card it is written - Many Thanks for P.C. Would you send my mother one now instead of sending me two each time as she would like some Ballarat Views. Please. Louis [...?] & C. Yes - I would like some more snow scenes - please. The writing on the back of the Japanese Gardens card is  Wishing your Collection Every Success. J. C.  Another of Miss Prisk's postcards at the SLV has this on the back  Dear Miss Prisk, Many thanks for P.C. received . Have you many P.C. in your Collection. It is a regular rage here in town, & I do not think their is a house without an album. I don't know [whither?] Ballarat is [infected?] to the [Ra..?] degree.

Who was Miss Prisk? The cards are generally addressed to Miss M. Prisk but she is also addressed as May, Maisie, Mazie and Mavis. Miss Prisk, was born Rosina May Prisk in 1888 to John and Margaret (nee Allen) Prisk. We can confirm this as the 1906 Electoral Rolls have John Henry Prisk, carter and Margaret Prisk, home duties listed at 116 Windermere Street. May was married to Lieutenant Edward Thomas John Kerby on May 3, 1911 at the Lydiard Street Methodist Church in Ballarat (notice in the Ballarat Star of  April 29, 1911). Edward served in the First World War; he enlisted with the rank of Captain and was later promoted to Major.  They had two children - Donald Edwin Hosking, born in 1912 and James Allan, born 1913. Both the boys served in the RAAF in the Second World War. In 1945, May and Edward divorced and she married Oliver Gladstone Longstaff.  There was already a family connection as Patricia Longstaff, Oliver's daughter by his marriage to his first wife, Margaret Grimes (died 1930), had married May and Edward's son James in 1934. Sadly, James was Killed in Action in Germany in January 1944. Did grief bring May and Oliver together? Oliver Longstaff died in 1965, Edward  Kerby in 1971 and May died in 1980. I wonder if she kept her postcard collection right to the end? The postcards were a gift to the SLV from the National Trust in 1985

Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda

Message on verso - Many Thanks for P.C. Would you send my mother one now instead of sending me two each time as she would like some Ballarat Views. Please. Louis [...?] & C. Yes - I would like some more snow scenes - please.

State Library of Victoria Image H85.70/126

Beaconsfield Parade was one of Carlo's first jobs - in an article published in the Prahran Telegraph of May 26, 1917 just after his retirement, Carlo looked back at some of his career and said that in 1870 I had to give levels for what we used to call the military road along Beaconsfield Parade to South Melbourne. We took sand from the mounds there, and used it to level the road. (Read the full article, here)

Japanese Gardens, Treasury Reserve, Melbourne
"Best wishes"16/6/1906. Message on verso - Wishing your Collection Every 

Success. J. C.

State Library of Victoria Image H85.70/114

The Treasury  Gardens (or Treasury Reserve as it was known) was designed by Clement Hodgkinson in 1867. The gardens were allowed to deteriorate in the long period of Government frugality from 1892 (Rex Swanson*) The Japanese Garden, in the Treasury Gardens, was designed by William Guilfoyle, Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, in 1902. It was bull-dozed in 1948 due to anti-Japanese sentiment after the War.  There was further work at the Treasury Gardens in 1907 when the boundary fences were removed and  in the same year Guilfoyle  was asked to provide plans to improve the gardens, but Rex Swanson writes that the Government of the day did not find the funds to carry it out.  Carlo, through the Public Works Department, was involved with the 1902 work on the Japanese Gardens and the on-going maintenance of Melbourne's Gardens. In 1929 the gardens were taken under the control of the City of Melbourne. 

The Leader newspaper of June 8, 1912  clearly links Carlo with the beautification works -  The St. Kilda shore committee and a number of St Kilda councillors gave a complimentary dinner to Mr. C. Catani at the Savoy Cafe to wish him bon voyage on the occasion of his trip to revisit Italy the and of his birth, an absence of thirty-seven years. Cr. Gibbs occupied the chair, and all present were lavish in their praises of Mr. Catani's work of beautification, not only at the foreshore, but at Alexandra-avenue, Treasury Gardens, and numerous other places. Mr Catani left by the Macedonia on Tuesday, and will be absent for four months. (read the article, here)

Alexandra Avenue, Melbourne
'Best wishes' 12/?/ 1906. There is no message on verso, just Miss Prisk's address. 

State Library of Victoria Image  H85.70/112

Carlo's vision for Alexandra Avenue was to achieve that very important factor of forming a beautiful promenade, worthy of Melbourne, on the bank of the river, where all classes could meet.**  He did achieve that aim and in 1937 The Argus said this about the Avenue - 

Alexandra avenue, whose shadowed and dappled beauty ....must stand, while the City of Melbourne endures, as a lasting monument to the genius, foresight, and pertinacity of Carlo Catani. (The Argus, November 13, 1937, read article, here) I have written before about Carlo's involvement  with Alexandra Avenue and Alexandra Gardens

Sources

*  Melbourne's Historic Public Gardens: a management and conservation guide by Rex Swanson. City of Melbourne, 1984.

I also used Civilising the City: a history of Melbourne's Public Gardens by Georgina Whitehead (State Library of Victoria, 1997)

** Catani’s letter to Inspector General of Public Works, Davidson - 24 July 1896, notes from the Alan Holgate Collection provided by Don Bartlett – VPRS 1139 Unit 2 - courtesy of Isaac Hermann.