Carlo is appointed Chairman of the Motor Traffic Committee

The 1903 Local Government Act placed all roads under the control of the local municipality. It soon became apparent that there were a number of issues associated with this such as the fact that some Councils were spending up to sixty per cent of their budget on road maintenance (1); that there was a lack of co-operation between local Councils and that there was no overall central body to oversee road construction and maintenance (2).   In 1910 William Davidson (3), Inspector General of Public Works, recommended the establishment of a Roads Board to take control of main roads. The Country Roads Board Bill was proclaimed on January 1, 1913 and the Country Roads Board (CRB) came into existence. The first meeting of this Board was held in the chambers of the Minister for Public Works on March 31, 1913 with William Calder (4), the Chairman, W.T.B. McCormack (5)  and F. W. Fricke (6), being the other members.

At one stage Carlo Catani was considered the most likely candidate for the Chairmanship of the CRB. Punch reported in October 1912 that The Chairman of the Main Roads Board is to receive £800 a year. He will almost certainly be Mr. Catani, who has been thinking out the engineering problems of the Public Works Department for many years, and yet gets only £650 a year, a remuneration which the average successful engineer in private practice would scorn (7). The Bendigo Independent reported in December of that year that When the bill was first introduced Mr C. Catani, Chief Engineer of Public Works, was accepted as almost a "certainty" for the position of chairman of the board. Under the new State reclassification scheme Mr. Catani's position will be so improved that it is just possible he may prefer to remain with the Public Works Department (8). However in January 1913, Punch reported that Carlo had declined to leave his present position (9).

Photo of Carlo - Chairman of the Motor Traffic Committee 

(or the committee which has suggested new regulations as The Herald says)

The Herald May 22, 1916  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242328115

Continuing his career in the Public Works Department did not stop Carlo's involvement with roads and  roads maintenance as in February 1916 the Minister of Public Works, W. A. Adamson (10) appointed him as Chairman of the newly created Motor Traffic Committee. The purpose of the committee was to suggest legislation [to deal] with the problem of alleged destruction of roads by motor traffic (11). The other members of the Committee were William Calder and Frederick Fricke of the CRB and  A.T. Clark (12), Public Works Department Engineer of  Roads and Bridges.

The Victorian Year Books (13) give us some interesting statistics about the increasing popularity of motorised vehicles.  On June 30, 1912  there were 3,944 motor cars registered and 2,784 motor cycles; on December 31, 1916 - 10,713 motor cars and 8,123 motor cycles; and on December 31, 1918 - 15,158 motor cars and 9,928 motor cycles, so even the War didn't dint the enthusiasm for motor vehicle ownership, and thus it was not surprising that roads designed for horse traffic were not coping with more traffic and heavier vehicles.

The Committee reported back to Mr Adamson a few months later in May 1916 and recommended that legislation be enacted to (a) to protect roads from damage by the unrestricted use of heavy motor vehicles, and to require owners of vehicles to contribute toward the cost of special contribution and maintenance necessary for the case of traffic; (b) to protect roads from injury by excessive speed of heavy and light motor vehicle; and (c) to require large contribution to the fund for main road maintenance from users of motor cycles and motor cycles with side car attachment (14).

The Automobile Club (15) objected to the speed restrictions of commercial vehicles and  argued that roads should be built to suit the traffic and allow produce to be transported at the fastest speed at which a mechanically propelled vehicle can travel. The Motor Committee  said that if this was done it would cost the state £344,205,000 (16).  At the time Victoria had 68,841 miles of roads - that's about 111,000 kilometres (17).

As  a matter of interest it was recommended that the speed of heavy vehicles be restricted to eight miles per hour, but they could travel on any road. If the heavy vehicles were restricted to particular routes then the speed limit  could be increased to ten miles per hour (18). The  Automobile Club  also suggested that as a way to raise extra revenue for road maintenance all horses in Victoria should be taxed as it was ridiculous to assert that the 10,000 motor vehicles of all descriptions had caused more damage than the 562,321 untaxed horses (19). 

The Motor Traffic Act was debated in the Victorian Parliament in November and December 1918, I am unsure if it was passed. The Parliamentary debate included Mr Bayles (20) arguing that iron wheels and horses' feet were more destructive to road surfaces than motor cars; Mr Weaver (21) arguing that vehicles should be taxed on weight and not horse-power and Mr Prendergast (22) arguing that a distinction should be made between those who used motor vehicles for commercial purposes and those who used them for pleasure (23).

Carlo had an obvious interest in roads and road maintenance both from an engineering viewpoint and from the value that good roads had in opening up areas for farming and tourism. He knew that they also improved the amenity of people living in country areas by giving them better access to markets, shops, education and social activities. He was especially sensitive to the isolation of women in rural areas - It was not right to keep women in this back country unless they had proper road communication. The woman had to bear children. She was doctor, mother, teacher, everything, in this part of the world, and for her sake alone it was the duty of Governments to provide roads to enable her to get in and out. She was entitled to the same rights and privileges as the ordinary civilised being. These she could not have without decent means of communication (24).

The Victorian Year Books also have statistics on the number of people who were licensed by the Chief Commissioner to drive a motor vehicle. In 1912 there were 8,467 licenses; 1916 - 21,634 and 1918 - 27,423. I wondered whether Carlo had a licence and drove a motor car. There are many articles in the newspapers where he is driven, or 'motored', to various locations, often with politicians such as the Minister for Public Works, who I would assume had a government car and driver; or with other public servants or local councillors. I haven't come across any references to Carlo specifically being the driver, but I feel that with his interest in machinery, technology and new innovations that he would almost certainly have learnt to drive a car. Did he own a car? There was not a car listed in his assets in his Probate papers, so it doesn't appear that the Catani family owned a car (25).

Trove List
I have created  a list of articles on Trove related to the Motor Traffic Committee and the suggestion that Carlo's would be appointed as the first Chairman of the CRB, access the list here.

Notes
(1) Lay, Max Melbourne Miles: the story of Melbourne's Roads (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2003) p. 46.
(2) Country Roads Board Victoria 1913-1963: Fifty Years of Progress (CRB, 1963), p. 14. There is also a history of the early days of the CRB in Roads for the People: a history of Victoria's Roads by W.K. Anderson (Hyland House, 1994).
(3) William Davidson, Inspector General of Public Works. Mr Davidson retired in 1912, you can read an interesting account of his life, here, in The Argus of August 24, 1912. He died  September 2, 1920 aged 75.
(4) William Calder (1860-1928) - the namesake of the Calder Highway. Read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here.
(5) William Thomas Bartholomew McCormack - before he was appointed to the CRB he was an engineer with the Public Works Department. After William Calder's death he was appointed as the Chairman of the CRB. He died on January 22, 1938 aged 59. Read his short obituary, here, in the The Argus of January 24, 1938. Mr McCormack was the honorary engineer of the Great Ocean Road Trust and  a Memorial Arch and Tablet was unveiled in his honour in November 1939, read about this here.
(6) Frederick William Fricke, became Chairman of the CRB after Mr McCormack's death. He had previously been with the Lands Department and retired from the CRB in 1940.  Frederick's brother, Frederick Thomas Allan Fricke (they really were both called Frederick) was the Secretary for Lands. Frederick William died December 15, 1949 aged 79, read his obituary here.
(7) Punch October 24, 1912,  see here.
(8) Bendigo Independent December 25, 1912, see here.
(9) Punch, January 2, 1913, see here.
(10) William Addison Adamson (1858 - 1924). Read about him here on the Victorian Parliament website - Re-Member Former Members.
(11)  The Age July 11, 1916, see here.
(12) Alfred Thomas Clark. Appointed Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department Roads, Bridges and Harbours in October 1909 (Victorian Government Gazette October 20, 1909). Appointed as a member of the St Kilda Foreshore Committee to replace Carlo Catani in August 1918 (see here). His wife Evelyn Annie  Clark instituted divorce proceedings against him in 1920 (the file is at the PROV). This seems to have been the start of a decline in his behaviour, in 1923 he was charged with having obstructed the footpath in Elizabeth Street (see here) - must be more to that story than was reported. In July 1928 he was charged with drink driving (see here) and a month later was the subject of a Public Service Inquiry  due to alleged misconduct under the provisions of the Public Service Act (see here). The verdict of the Inquiry was not proved (see here). Perhaps connected to this, his services were Dispensed with (Victorian Government Gazette August 27, 1930). However, unless there were two A.T. Clarks, both Public Works Department engineers, there are still reports in the newspapers of Alfred working with the Public Works Department after this date (such as here), so perhaps he was reinstated. I believe his final position was as Shire Engineer at Warracknabeal (see here). He died December 19, 1949, aged 69.
(13) Victorian Year Books are digitised from 1973 - 2002, access them on the State Library of Victoria website https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/vicgovpubs/yearbooks
(14) The Age September 7, 1916, see here.
(15) Automobile Club of Victoria, now the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. For a history read The Crown of the Road: the story of the RACV by Susan Priestley (Macmillan, 1983)
(16) The Herald September 11, 1916, see here.
(17) The Age September 7, 1916, see here.
(18) The Herald September 11, 1916, see here.
(19) The Age September 7, 1916, see here.
(20)  Norman Bayles (1865 - 1946) Read about him here on the Victorian Parliament website - Re-Member Former Members. 
(21)  Isaac Job Weaver (1869 - 1954) Read about him here on the Victorian Parliament website - Re-Member Former Members. 
(22)  George Michael Prendergast (1854 - 1937)  Read about him here on the Victorian Parliament website - Re-Member Former Members. 
(23)  The Argus, December 5, 1918, see here.
(24)  Weekly Times, June 1 1912, see here.
(25) Probate papers at the Public Records Office of Victoria.

Anzac Memorial Highway

In February 1917 Mr Horace Washington Harrison (1), editor and founder of the Australian Motorist magazine suggested the construction of the "Anzac Highway" from Perth to Brisbane, and linking up these capitals with Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney and that this would be a fitting memorial to the Australian soldiers who have fallen in the war (2). 

The idea soon took hold and a correspondent with the pen name of Roman Roads wrote a letter to The Argus  suggesting that we could plant it with a double row of olive trees, symbolic of both the scene of our brave fellows' deeds, and of the "olive leaf" that these deeds will have helped to hold out to an outraged world. This tree is proof against every adversity, and shady and pleasing to the eye. Such a mammoth avenue of them would grow to yield £1,000,000 a year (3).

The  Anzac Highway concept was also taken up by  the Road Users' Association. This group had been around for well over  a decade, starting as the National Touring Association. In 1905 it changed its name to the Touring and Good Roads Association (4) and in January 1917, the name changed again, this time to the Road Users' Association (5).  The original purpose of the Group, as the name suggests was a touring association and one of the members was George Broadbent. Mr Broadbent (1863-1947) was a keen cyclist who held many Australian and Victorian records, including that of riding 203 miles (327 km) in 24 hours on a penny farthing - apparently that record has never been beaten, so if you are up for  a challenge (and happen to have  a penny farthing bicycle handy), then give it  a go. George began producing maps initially for cyclists but later for other road users and formed the company,  Broadbents Official Road Guides (6).

The Secretary of the Road Users' Association was Eric Boult and he wrote an article, published in the Truth newspaper about the Anzac Highway. The idea that the road should be a monument to fallen soldiers was expanded upon. As well, Mr Boult compared the Anzac Highway to the Roman Roads in Britain - now, these Roman roads have lasted because they were well built-far better built than those of our Country Roads Board and it is probably desirable that this highway, if built, should be constructed up to as high a standard as possible, with a view to making it thoroughly permanent (7). 

The road would also have a number of other benefits - it could be built entirely by returned soldiers from labourers to engineers. It would also provide ongoing employment as returned soldiers could be employed as patrol men along the route. The road would open up land for settlement and thus would permit very large numbers of returned soldiers being settled on the land. The road would also be of  military value and would aid in the defence of the country as well as being of benefit to motorists generally (8). 

There were also various suggestions that plaques and memorials to fallen soldiers would be erected along the length of the road and that members of the public or communities could donate money to have, for instance, a bridge built to honor  a fallen soldier (9).  Each state would be responsible for their section and could incorporate existing roads into the project or make new roads. The proposed road was compared to the Lincoln Memorial Highway which was being built across the United States (10).

In early May the Road Users' Association formed a committee to  provisionally formulate a scheme to give effect to the proposition (11).  Amongt those on this committee were William Edgar, President of the Association (12).  Mr Edgar was the former Minister for Public Works (13). Also on the committee was Carlo Catani, the recently retired Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department. A report of his retirement function in Table Talk quotes Mr Edgar as saying Mr. Catani would in future bear the honor due for the work of the proposed Anzac memorial highway to link up the Australian States. It was at his suggestion that this scheme has been put before the public, and it has a very worthy object in its proposed employment of returned soldiers (14).  The first job of this new Committee was to obtain the co-operation of kindred groups in other States or if none existed, the automobile club (15). 

This was a very grand scheme but in the end it was only partially successful as there is no Anzac Highway which links Brisbane to Perth. There is an Anzac Highway in South Australia which runs from Adelaide to Glenelg. As early as August 1917 the proposal was made to widen this road, which was called Bay Road,  with the addition of  a tram track down the centre along with memorials to soldiers, resurface it and add landscaping and rename it the Anzac Highway (16).  From reports in the newspapers it seems to have been referred to as the Anzac Highway from the early 1920s, but the name was officially changed in November 1924 (17).  In 1925, there were plans to plant the entire length of the Highway with Norfolk Island Palms. Sir Sidney Kidman, the pastoralist, donated £250 towards the project and Adelaide Register reported that to plant the tree and erect guards costs £2 2/ each tree, and it has been decided by the Treeplanting Advisory Board that a contribution of that amount would carry with it the privilege of having a tree dedicated to the memory of any fallen soldier and a tablet placed on the guard (18). 

The Adelaide Chronicle wrote One cannot imagine a more fitting memorial than the living evergreen tree typifying as it does, the ever-present memory of our glorious dead, their heroic achievements, and their final sacrifice that we might be free. Many of them came from the country, and loved the flowers and trees, and would not have hesitated to select a living tree as their monument (19).

Anzac Highway / Bay Road, in South Australia, flooded. 1926.

State Library of South Australia Image B 28557

We did have an Anzac Highway in Victoria, it is now known as the Great Ocean Road. The road from Barwon Heads to Warrnambool was proposed in December 1917 by Cr Howard Hitchcock (20), Mayor of Geelong as a memorial to the fallen soldiers (21).  Early the next year, Cr Hitchcock, Mr. Fricke, of the Country Roads Board and Mr Edgar, the Road Users' Association President and  others toured the area and were impressed. Mr Edgar had this to say the scenery was one magnificent panorama of ocean views, rugged coast line, and undulating forest country. The country is second to none in Victoria as a tourists' resort. The vegetation is luxuriant (22).  The Road Users' Association  appointed Mr C. Catani to represent us in any action which may be taken (23).   Early reports in the press referred to the road as a part of the Anzac Memorial Highway, but the  Trust that was established on March 22, 1918 to oversee the project was called the Great Ocean Road Trust, so that appears to be the favoured name from the start (24).

Sadly, Carlo passed away only a few months later on July 20, 1918 so he played little role in the development of the Great Ocean Road, even though he was a committee member of the Trust (25).  It was Cr Hitchcock who oversaw the project as the President of the Great Ocean Road Trust and generous benefactor towards the project. Cr Hitchcock passed away August 22, 1932 (on the day that the Catani Memorial Clock Tower was officially dedicated) just three months before the roadway was officially opened on November the 26th by Sir William Irvine, the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria. Sir William paid tribute to Cr Hitchcock -
Before proceeding to the task which I am here to perform, I must express my profound regret that he to whose energy and devotion the completion of this Ocean road is mainly due has been called away on the eve of the consummation of his life's ambition. But no nobler monument could be erected to the memory of the late Mr. Howard Hitchcock than that which his own enthusiasm has taken such a large part in creating, and which will always be associated with his name (26).

The Great Ocean Road, near Lorne. 

This great image gives a good idea idea of the obstacles faced in the construction of the road.

Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. State Library of Victoria Image H90.160/82

...........................................................................................

Acknowledgement: I found out about Carlo Catani's connection to the Anzac Highway and the Great Ocean Road, from my research colleague, Isaac Hermann. Thanks, Isaac!

Trove List - I have created a list of articles connected to the Anzac Highway, Carlo Catani's involvement and various other things I have written about in this post, access it here.

Notes
(1)  Horace Washington Harrison was the secretary of the Victorian  Chamber of Automotive Industries, which he founded around 1912 and the editor and founder of the Australian Motorist. According to his obituary, in 1950 he held the oldest driving licence in Victoria. Mr Harrison died in 1952, aged 73. His obituary was in the Herald, August 13, 1952, see here.
(2) Reported in The Argus February 12, 1917, see here.
(3) The Argus February 15, 1917, see here.
(4) Table Talk, February 16, 1905, see here.
(5) Geelong Advertiser,  January 25, 1917, see here.
(6) Information about George Broadbent comes from his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry by G.F. James, read it here.
(7) Truth, March 3, 1917, see here.
(8) Truth, March 3, 1917, see here.
(9) Geelong Advertiser May 9, 1917, see here.
(10) Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, March 2, 1917, see here.
(11)  The Argus May 5, 1917, see here.
(12) Mr Edgar took over as President in March 1917 - The Herald, March 12, 1917 see here.
(13) William Haslam Edgar (1858-1948) - member of the Legislative Council from 1904 to 1913 and from 1917 until 1948. Source: Parliament of Victoria Remember database, see here.
(14) Table Talk May 17, 1917, see here.
(15) The Argus May 5, 1917, see here.
(16)  The Adelaide Advertiser August 8, 1917, see here.  I initially found out about the connection about the Anzac Highway originally being called Bay Road from a document on the Australian Garden History Society website. The document is on Avenues of Honour, see it here.
(17)  The Adelaide Advertiser November 7, 1924, see here.
(18)  The Adelaide Register, October 26, 1925, see here.
(19)  The Adelaide Chronicle, October 31, 1925, see here.
(20) Howard Hitchcock (1866 - 1932) You can read about his life here, in his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, written by Ian Wynd, here. I initially found the connection between Cr Hitchcock and the Great Ocean Road in the Victorian Heritage Database citation, see here.
(21) The Argus December 4, 1917, see here.
(22) The Herald February 18, 1918, see here.
(23) The Herald February 18, 1918, see here.
(24)  The report of the formation of the Great Ocean Road Trust can be read in the Colac Reformer of March 23, 1918, see here. References to the Great Ocean Road as part of the Anzac Memorial Highway can be found in the Herald of March 22, 1919 (see here)  where they are discussing the screening of  a new film of the Great Ocean Road, which was a comprehensive pictorial presentment of the route the proposed Anzac memorial highway will follow. George Broadbent wrote an article called The Great Ocean Road: Inception and Development and writes inter alia that it is further intended that the Great Ocean road shall be an Anzac memorial highway. It's a very informative article with photographs and  a map, read it in The Argus of April 29, 1922, here.
(25) Colac Reformer March 23, 1918, see here. The Committee of the Great Ocean Road Trust, as listed in the Colac Reformer were President, Cr Hitchcock, Mayor of Geelong; Vice-presidents, Cr Swinton, Warrnambool; Hon. A. Bell, M.L.C. Ballarat ; Messrs J. D. Deaney, Jas. M'Donald, Robt. Purnell, Duncan M'Lennan, M's.L.A. Committee - Cr J. Hancock, Colac; Hon. W. H. Edgar, M.L.C.; Mr P. H. Lock; Hon. T. Livingston, M.L.C.; Mr G. Broadbent, Cr W. Fletcher, Messrs W. B. Volum, John Pettit, C. Catani, Ed. Black, J. M'Phillimy, J. T. Anderson (Lorne), G. F. Sydenham, G. S. Mackay (Warrnambool), A. K. Stanford (Apollo Bay). Treasurer - Union Trustee Company of Australia. Organising secretary, Mr E. E. Hendy
(26) The Argus November 28, 1932, see here.