Posthumous tributes to Carlo

Carlo was a man admired by many people throughout Victoria and there were numerous tributes paid to him when he was alive and you can read some of them here. The tributes did not stop after his death on July 20, 1918, and this post records some of them. 

Mr Catani had a long and distinguished 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 and beauty spots of Victoria are due, notably Mount Buffalo. He also took a keen interest in the welfare of the people in the back-blocks, and the residents of Dargo and South and East Gippsland will always remember the sympathetic manner in which he supported their requirements.
Gippsland Mercury, July 23, 1918, see here. Obituary of Carlo.

He was highly esteemed and a clever engineer, who took great interest in public improvements.
Koo Wee Rup Sun, July 24, 1918, see here. Obituary of Carlo.

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.
Prahran Chronicle, July 27, 1918, see here. Obituary of Carlo.

At the Avon Shire Council meeting on Monday, Cr. Riggall feelingly referred to the death of the late Mr. Catani, who had shown much sympathy towards people living out-back. They all recognised the worth of Mr. Catani, who was unfortunate to lose a son in the war. He had, with the Avon Shire councillors, attended the opening of the Dargo road, and on many occasions had shown sympathy with the Dargo people. He (Cr. Riggall) moved that the council express its regret at the death of Mr. Catani, and that a letter of condolence be forwarded to his family. In seconding the motion, which was
unanimously carried, Cr. Carter stated that it was on his motion that a motion had been passed expressing appreciation of Mr. Catani's services on his retirement from the Public Works Department. Since he had entered the council he had been acquainted with the deceased, who was universally respected. He had proved a good officer, his sympathies always being with the settlers who laboured under disabilities.

Gippsland Times, August 1, 1918, see here.

Cr. Barnett said they could not get away from the fact that Mr. Catani overworked himself. He was an enthusiast who evoked enthusiasm. He was a practical man but there was poetry in all that he did.
(Cr. Love) had to admit that Mr. Catani had beautified St. Kilda until it was the envy of the Commonwealth.
Prahran Telegraph, August 3, 1918, see here. References to Carlo Catani at the St Kilda Council meeting held July 29, 1918. 

The beauty of the foreshore will ever remain as a bouquet to the memory of a good man who loved his art, and who was, at the time of his death perhaps the finest landscape gardener in Australia, though he was of such high standing as an engineer and surveyor.
The Prahran Telegraph, October 11,  1919, see here. Article about St Kilda Foreshore improvements.

This work was carried out under the immediate supervision of Carlo Catani whose work in the improvements of the River Yarra are a lasting monument to his memory.
Daily Commercial News and Shipping List, September 13, 1922, see here. Report of an address, by Gerald Wilkinson Mitchell,  to the Institute of Engineers in Sydney, referring to the Anderson Street Bridge. 

And satisfied with a first view of Buffalo as a tourists' home and pleasure place, one should turn a thought to the man who largely created it, and whose enthusiasms were never chilled by red tape or routine - the late Mr. Catani. The mountain lake has been named in his honour, but the whole place is the memorial of the kindly, lovable, Italian gentleman who was, above all things the man of vision and of action.
The Argus, December 2, 1922,  see here. The Crest Of Buffalo by Donald MacDonald. 

I have mentioned Lake Catani, another memorial to the man of vision who did so much for the conquest of the Buffalo to the everlasting gain of tourists and view finders, not to mention the merry skaters, who find there alone in the heart of winter a hit of Norway or Switzerland artificially created for their benefit.
The Argus, December 9, 1922, see here. Mountain of Silver Blue by Donald McDonald. 

Skating on Lake Catani. 

Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. State Library of Victoria Image H93.456/27

The dream of the late Mr. Catani, the landscape engineer with a vision of beauty, will then become a reality.

Prahran Telegraph, December 15, 1922, see here  Article about St Kilda Foreshore improvements.

Our foreshore should be made into a dream of beauty. This was the vision of the late Mr. Catani, who realized vividly that our coast from Port Melbourne to Portsea with small outlay and artistic direction could be made to rival the famed Riviera.
The Herald, November 24, 1925, see here. Article about St Kilda Foreshore improvements.

Mr. Catani's work, however, included much more for which the citizens of Melbourne owe him gratitude especially as the work they know best was done as a labour of love and not as part of his official duties.....It will be admitted by the suburban municipalities that it was the work done by him that gave the lead to the movement that has resulted in the establishment of beauty spots throughout the metropolitan area.
The Argus, January 4, 1926, see here. Beautifying Melbourne: our debt to Mr Catani, maker of playgrounds.

[Sale] At the recent council meeting the Mayor (Cr. T. M. Cullinan) reported that some tourists had been chopping the willow trees that were growing on the river banks in the reserve, which, he said, was a scandalous thing. It was on the suggestion of the late Mr. Catani that the willow trees and couch grass were planted on the river bank to prevent erosion. For sentimental reasons the vandalism was to be deplored for Mr. Catani was the greatest man the Public Works department ever had.

Bairnsdale Advertiser, January 29, 1926, see here. 

Mr. Catani, for many years an engineer in the service of the Public Works Department, was the originator of the masterly and beauteous ornamentation scenes that now adorn the St. Kilda foreshore. The greater part of it, indeed, was completed under his personal supervision, and, day by day as time goes on, Nature is doing its part in adding to the glory of the resplendent effects produced. In other parts of the State, too, Mr. Catani originated and carried out engineering works of skill that stamps him as a man of exceptional ability vision and judgment. What he achieved during his career will for ever prove valuable assets to the State. By reason of the great work he did for St. Kilda, the people of that city will always hold the name of Mr. Catani in respectful reverence.
Prahran Telegraph, June 11, 1926, see here. Article on a proposed memorial for Carlo.

Mr. Catani, one of the best engineers the Victorian Government has employed. 
Sunshine Advocate, August 21, 1926, see here. Report of a speech of Cr George McKay, Braybrook Shire.  

The river would present no difficulties to navigation in America, for the great scheme of that man of  vision, Mr. Catani, would have been long adopted, and four locks above the Johnston Street Bridge would have overcome the trifling difficulties of Dight's Falls and the rapids. This name of Mr. Catani stands out in the history of the metropolis as a man of imagination and foresight. He saw the possibilities of the city waterway, and of the Yarra Valley to which it led, in all its loveliness. He planned a boulevard to Heidelberg, and the sections now constructed from Alphington to Heidelberg are part of his plan. This did not stop with roads, however. He visioned a great waterway for pleasure craft for the length of the river, so that craft could sail from the hot city to the cool valley of Heidelberg. He proposed the acquirement of small parks and picnic grounds at intervals, so that travellers could be refreshed before they turned for home. That was in 1909....

The Herald, November 27 1926, see here. Report of a speech by S. Tuxen of the Town Planning Commission. ‘

Above Dight's Falls I see in prospect the fulfilment of Catani’s dream of a noble lake, set in park lands.
The Herald, November 12,  1927, see here. Article by the  Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Stephen Morell. 

I took part with him in starting the St.Kilda Foreshore Trust. I did the legal, literary, and financial part of the job and he, a landscape genius, if there ever was one, the engineering work, together with the beautification. What a man! His monuments are everywhere - at Buffalo, the Alexandra Gardens, St.Kilda, Donna Buang. As place-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 has added wealth to our country. He saw possibilities to which others were blind. It is well that his works are his memorials.
The Herald, February 4, 1928, see here.  Fifty Years In Public Life by H.O. Allen. 

The late Mr. Catani had been a public servant of long vision, and the beauty of the St. Kilda foreshore to-day was largely due to his efforts.
Prahran Telegraph, February 15, 1929, see here.  

… the poetical charm of the Italian Renaissance style may be regarded as being expressive of the virile life of this great man and his aesthetic aspiration.
The Building: the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant, Vol. 46 No. 276 (12 August 1930), see here.  Catani Memorial Tower: a review of the Competitive Designs. 

The excellent work that is often done without flourish of trumpets by public servants was again stressed when recently a memorial tablet was unveiled at Mount Buffalo to "Carlo Catani, Chief Engineer of Public Works, 1910-1917." The Minister for Public Works said that probably to no other individual was so much credit due for the opening up and development of such tourist resorts as Mount Buffalo, the Grampians, Mt. Donna Buang and the War burton, Healesville and Marysville districts.

The Australian Worker, November 12, 1930, see here. 

Mr. Catani possessed constructive imagination, and if he was apt to underestimate the cost of some of his schemes, he had the vision of a true civic idealist.
The Age, December 31, 1931, see here. Article on the Yarra Boulevard. 

More than 25 years ago it was dreamed by a great Victorian, Carlo Catani, Engineer for Public Works, whose public service today is a tradition and behind whose engineering brain lay the perceptions of a great artist.
The Herald, September 4, 1937, see here. Article on the Yarra Boulevard. 

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, see here. Great Thoroughfares of the World.  

Catani has a gift for beautifying. He was one of those individuals who could dream of wonderful schemes and then apply the realism necessary to put them into effect. He was a small and wiry man with unparalleled enthusiasm for his work.
The Age, May 17, 1947, see here.  Article on Carlo, Ettore Checchi and Guido Baracchi.

Acknowledgement: I found some of these tributes by trawling through the newspapers on Trove, however I got many of them from my fellow Carlo researcher, Isaac Hermann. Thank you again, Isaac.

Richard Fiddes Brown (1876-1936)

Carlo Catani retired from the Public Works Department on April 28, 1917, the day he turned 65. Subsequently on May 9, at the Lands Department,  Sir Alex Peacock, Premier of Victoria, presented Carlo with a magnificent illuminated address as a token of our pleasant association with you. The illuminated address was the work of Richard Fiddes Brown, of Messrs. Mason, Firth & McCutcheon, a printing, lithography and publishing firm, established in the 1870s (1).  

The illuminated address, which is now held by the State Library of Victoria, was bound in morocco leather and had the signatures of the Premier, members of the Cabinet, heads of all departments, and officers of the Public Works Department. There were also views of  the Governments’ Public Offices at 2 Treasury Place, where Catani was based and views  of some of his major projects and sites: Alexandra Avenue, the Yarra River Improvements, Eurobin Falls, and Lake Catani. 

Carlo Catani's Illuminated farewell address  - the work of Richard Fiddes Brown.

State Library of Victoria Manuscripts collection. Image: Isaac Hermann.

Carlo Catani's Illuminated farewell address - the signatures of the Politicians

 and Public Servants.

State Library of Victoria Manuscripts collection. Image: Isaac Hermann.

Carlo Catani's Illuminated farewell address  - the work of Richard Fiddes Brown. 

Illustrations depict - Governments’ Public Offices at 2 Treasury Place,  Alexandra Avenue and the Yarra River,  Eurobin Falls and Lake Catani. 

State Library of Victoria Manuscripts collection. Image: Isaac Hermann.

It was, perhaps, no coincidence that this firm produced the farewell address as the manager of the firm, Robert George McCutcheon, knew Carlo Catani. McCutcheon was the member of the Legislative Assembly for the seat of St Kilda from 1902 until 1917, and he, along with Carlo, were among the original members of the St Kilda Fore Shore Committee, established in 1906 (2). At a St Kilda Council meeting in May 1917, the Council expressed their appreciation to the recently retired Carlo for his service to St Kilda and the State of Victoria. Both Carlo and Robert McCutcheon were invited guests at the meeting and it was reported that -

Mr. McCutcheon said he was extremely sorry that Mr. Catani had resigned from the public service. He had given magnificent service to the State, and during his long career in the Public Service he had gained the good-will and esteem of all with whom he had come in contact (3).

Richard Fiddes Brown, the talented artist, was born on April 5, 1876 in Oxley near Wangaratta in 1876. He was the third child of  Robert Brown and Dorothy Anne Fiddes, who had married on January 19, 1873. He had six brothers and three sisters. We can track the location of the family from the birth places of the children; Robert Brown was an engine driver, presumably with the Victorian Railways, which may explain why they moved around so much. The next child after Richard was born in Barnawartha;  the following three in Malmsbury from 1880 to 1884; and the last three were born in Richmond from 1887 to 1893. It is therefore likely that Richard attended school in Malmsbury and finished his schooling in Richmond. He possibly then started an apprenticeship with Mason, Firth & McCutcheon or a similar firm (4). 

Richard was married to Florence Edith Brown on November 18, 1902 at St Johns Church of England, which was in La Trobe Street, Melbourne by the Reverend Cadwalader Pierce Thomas.  Flora was 29 years old, born in Sydney and the daughter of Charles and Mary (nee Orkney) Brown.  Their daughter Marjorie Fiddes Brown was born in 1904 in Brunswick and a son Stewart Fiddes Brown in 1906 in South Melbourne. The 1913 to 1919 Electoral Rolls show the family were living in Northcote; during the 1920s they were in Canterbury and in the 1930s in Camberwell. In spite of the fact that he was clearly a skilled artist, his occupation throughout the years was that of a traveller (salesman). (5)

The first reference I can find to Richard's community activities is in 1902 when he was listed as the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the local M.H.R, James Hume Cook, who as a member of the Protectionist Party, represented the Bourke Electorate from 1901 until 1910.  Hume Cook had previously been a member of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria from 1894 until 1900 and was also a president of the Australian Natives' Association (A.N.A.) (6). Fiddes Brown was one of  Hume Cook's groomsmen when he married Miss Nellie Maine at the Brunswick Presbyterian Church in March 1902. One of Nellie's bridesmaid was Florence Brown, the future wife of Fiddes Brown. I wonder did they know each before they were both members of  the wedding party or is that how they met? A notable guest at the Hume Cook wedding was the Prime Minister,  Edmund Barton. (7).

Fiddes Brown shared with Hume Cook an involvement with the A.N.A.  The A.N.A was a Friendly Society, established in Victoria in 1871, and open to Australian born or 'native' men to promote and protect Australian interests, to promote the social and intellectual improvement of members and to provide medical benefits - such as the attendance of a Doctor when required, sick pay when ill and death benefits to the wife on the death of a member. It also banned any discussion of religion or an allusion calculated to excite sectarian feeling (8).

J.E. Menadue, in his history of the A.N.A., (9)  notes Fiddes Brown's involvement as -
a member of the Brunswick Branch and was Assistant Secretary and President of the Branch. He was Chairman of the Metropolitan Committee in 1917 and 1918. It was the first time anyone had been Chairman for the second time. He was also a member of the Board of Directors (1917-1919) and a delegate to Annual Conference for 15 years.

Menadue also lists another achievement of Fiddes Brown -
[to him] goes the honour that as a result of an interview with Mr F. Tate, Director of Education, Victoria it was decided that the Australian Flag, and not the Union Jack, was to be saluted at Australian ceremonies.

Richard Fiddes Brown, on his election to the President of the Working Men's College

The Herald, January 27, 1917 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242461917

In January 1915, Fiddes Brown, was elected as the Vice-President of the Working Men's College (later to become the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and two years later he was appointed the President (10).1917 was indeed a busy time for Fiddes Brown as The Herald noted -
As president of the Working Men's College Council for 1917 and chairman of the Metropolitan Board of the Australian Natives' Association, Mr. Brown's spare time this year will be well occupied. (11). Added to these roles was the creation of Carlo's illuminated retirement address, presented in the May.

Fiddes Brown clearly had an interest in Technical education and in August 1917 he presented a lecture on the subject at the Glen Huntly Hall. Some of the more interesting parts of his speech are transcribed here (you can read his full speech in the Cheltenham Seaside News, here)
Technical education, he said, was one of the most important questions of the day.... In Victoria there is no systematic method of finding out what calling a lad is adapted for, and the worst instance of improper selection is found to be in the parents themselves. In giving examples of this, he referred to five callers recently at the Working Men's College. Each parent wanted his boy to be an Electrical engineer or a mechanical engineer. In many instances owing to faulty selections, boys are being put to trades for which they are unsuitable, and frequently after two years work it is found that the boy's time, and the parents money had been wasted.

When the war was over they would have a hard trade war, and workmen could not compete unless they attended technical schools and were given the necessary training. New South Wales were spending £2,500,000 on education, whilst Victoria spent £1,500,000. Mention had been made of an effort to secure a technical  school in Caulfield, and he would, urge that a site be selected which would permit of room for expansion. It is absolutely essential that the land be sufficiently large to provide for additions, as taking the other suburbs such as Brunswick, the day the school opened it would be filled. The Australian can hold his own against any race in the world. He is quick and smart to pick up a thing, and you will find that many high positions are held by those who have been students at the Working Men's Collage. The British monitors doing such fine work in this war were designed by an ex-student of the Working Men's College, and the automatic firing, which was fitted up in the trenches at Gallipoli to delude the Turks during the evacuation, was an invention of an ex-student of the same college. The man who is technically trained is better equipped to fight than he would be otherwise.

On the question of repatriation much good work has been done by the college in training returned soldiers in the work of boat clicking and in this the State War council has given great help and up to date eighty men have been trained and enabled to take up work, earning £3 per week and giving satisfaction to the employer and employee alike. Wool sorting has also been taken up and the men after selection some eight months ago have been trained and fifty of these have started work for this wool season. The others now being trained will take up the work next year. Toy-making at the Collingwood school has also been successful notwithstanding reports to the contrary (12).

The dapper Richard Fiddes Brown on the left  with Mr M. Devine at the A.N.A fete in Janaury 1919

The Australasian, February 1, 1919 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140218074

Scouting was another activity in which Fiddes Brown took an interest.  In August 1918 it was reported that -
The dinner arranged by the Scout Masters' Association in commemoration of the amalgamation of Baden Powell and Australian Imperial Scout Sections was held at the Cafe Royal on Saturday evening, when 60 Scout Masters, members of the central executive committee and invited guests were present, Brigadier-General Burston occupied the chair and was supported by Mr Fiddes Brown, Mr Coe, chairman of the central executive committee, being unavoidably absent....The function will be long remembered by those who were present (13).

In May 1921,  The new Scout Hall at Blackburn was officially opened on Saturday afternoon. Mr R. Fiddes Brown, chairman of the Headquarters Staff in declaring the hall opened, spoke of the spirit of citizenship displayed by Mr Saunders, who is nearly 80 years of age, and built the hall for the benefit of the Blackburn troop (14). 

There is one more story of Fiddes Brown worth sharing, that of his support for the retention of the Old Melbourne Cemetery. The Age reported on a protest held in 1920 -
Old Melbourne Cemetery. Protest against Desecration
That the opposition to the City Council's proposal to utilise the old cemetery for the extension of the general market adjoining is growing, both as to numbers and influence, was evidenced yesterday, when some hundreds of people assembled at Batman's monument to participate in the annual Foundation day service. Sir John Monash, who presided, laid a tribute to the work of Mr. A. H. Padley and those associated with him for the efforts made to defeat the council's proposal. He said that many of the men who were on active service were, like himself, astounded to learn that such an historic area was to be callously desecrated, and feared that the harm would have been done before they returned. Thanks to Mr. Padley and others this was avoided and the opportunity being afforded him, he intended to do everything possible to bring councillors to see the wrongfulness of what they proposed. (Applause.)

The cemetery, was the most historic and sacred spot in Victoria, and it would be a national crime to destroy it. The very idea of turning it into a vegetable market was revolting, and if carried into effect would prove that the people of Melbourne were utterly devoid of sentiment, and utterly lacking in gratitude to the pioneers who had blazed the trail they were following. (Applause.)

Apart altogether from the sentimental aspect, it would be a great breach of faith, amounting to robbery, to those who had paid for the graves and, the right of their dead to lie in peace for all time, while to do it at a period when they were talking of erecting memorials would be to show themselves a community of hypocrites. (Applause.)

Dr. Springthorpe, in moving a motion of protest, said he would sooner become a carniverous animal and live without vegetables altogether than eat vegetables sold on such a sacred site; a place sanctified by the burial of the first ten thousand of Melbourne's dead. The motion was seconded by Mr. I. Selby, who argued that the cemetery, because of its sacred, historical and democratic associations, was the ideal location of a national memorial to those who fell in the war. Mr Long (Educational department) moved, and Mr. Fiddes Brown (A.N.A.) seconded, that a deputation wait on the Lord Mayor to seek his support in preserving the cemetery. Both motions were unanimously agreed to. (15)

In spite of the high profile support, the Cemetery was closed and only the marked graves were exhumed and reinterred at other cemeteries. The rest remain buried under the Queen Victoria Market.

As was common in those days, it was the men who were involved in public life, but we do have one reference of Florence Fiddes Brown taking part in a community activity, and it is more than likely she was involved in many other activities. In June 1918, The Herald reported -

When a small hand held out 10/ yesterday to help in the penny offensive at the Town Hall, Mrs R. Fiddes Brown, to whom the money was given, was surprised, and questioned the boy Vernon Hodgson, of The Parade, Ascot Vale. The boy had made £1 by the sale of paper beads which he had made. He gave 10/ to the Comforts Fund and 10/ to his school fund. (16).

Richard and Florence's children both married.  Marjorie was married in 1937 to Joseph  Frances Forster and her death notice in The Age of November 29, 1982 lists five children and sixteen grandchildren.  Stewart married in 1929 to  Evelyn Rosetta Margaret Reaby. He was a Solicitor and they lived in Horsham.  Florence died on July 30, 1929, aged 55 and  Richard died November 13, 1936, aged 60.  They are buried at the Box Hill Cemetery (17).

Acknowledgment - some of this post was written and researched in conjunction with my colleague, Isaac Hermann, and has been published in our Victorian Collections story on Carlo Catani   https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/carlo-catani-an-engineering-star-over-victoria

Trove list - I have created a short list of articles about Richard Fiddes Brown and his work, personal life, community activities and people he was associated with. Access it here. 

Footnotes

(1) Report of the presentation - The Herald, May 9, 1917, see here.

(2) Robert George McCutcheon (1841 - 1918) - obituary: The Argus, October 21, 1918, see here; Spectator and Methodist Chronicle, October 23, 1918, see here. St Kilda Fore Shore information - Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a city and after 1840 - 1930, v. 2 (St Kilda City Council, 1931), p. 204. 

(3) Malvern Standard, May 26, 1917, see here.

(4) Family information - Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate;  Indexes to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.

(5) More Family information - Marriage certificate; Indexes to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com

(6) James Hume Cook (1866-1942) - Parliament of Victoria  https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/426; Commonwealth Parliament  https://handbook.aph.gov.au/Parliamentarian/K4I. Australian Dictionary of Biography entry https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cook-james-newton-haxton-hume-5762

(7) Hume Cook wedding - Punch, March 27, 1902, see here.

(8) Menadue, J.E. A Centenary History of the Australian Natives' Association, 1871-1971 (Horticultural Press, 1971), p. 10.

(9) Menadue, op. cit.

(10) The Age, January 27, 1915, see here.

(11) The Herald, January 27, 1917, see here.

(12) Cheltenham Seaside News, August 25, 1917, see here.

(13) Weekly Times, August 31, 1918, see here.

(14) The Herald, May 23, 1921, see here.

(15) The Age, January 26, 1920, see here.

(16) The Herald, June 25, 1918, see here.

(17) Indexes to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Family notices in the newspapers.

Marooned in Mallacoota and the Mallacoota Port Schemes

On Monday, March 3, 1913 the Minister of Public Works, William Edgar; the Honorary Minister, James Cameron; Carlo Catani, chief engineer of the Public Works Department and George Kermode, the assistant engineer, set off for East Gippsland in the State motorcar. They were destined for Mallacoota as -
For a considerable period there has been an agitation that the Department of Public Works should construct a permanent entrance to Mallacoota Inlet at an estimated cost of £60,000. Mr C. Catani, chief engineer for the Department, expressed the opinion that if a harbor were made at Gabo Island, and a connecting causeway constructed with the mainland, the same purpose would be served, while the cost of maintenance, through the liability to silting up of the Mallacoota Inlet would be considerably less. A departmental surveyor has been at work for some time surveying a tram route between Mallacoota and Gabo. Mr Edgar, Minister for Public Works; Mr Catani, and another Public Works official are leaving to-day for Mallacoota to make a complete inspection (1). 

The next day, Tuesday, they arrived in Orbost at 6.45pm. They inspected an island which had formed in the centre of the Snowy River, which impeded water flow,  and later that evening a deputation of councillors waited upon the Ministry at the municipal chambers with a view to getting a new bridge erected over the Snowy River at Orbost, also Bridges over Tonghi Creek and Delegate River and further road works on the Genoa-road (2).  The official party left Orbost on Wednesday for Mallacoota, a distance of 145 km.  The tour, however, was attended by several unexpected incidents which have interfered considerably with the programme of the trip (3). 

Unfortunately the car broke down at a way-back place called Cabbage Tree, as The Argus reported (4). They then continued on horseback to Mallacoota, about 120 km, which seems to me to be an extraordinary thing to do, but clearly at the time not beyond the endurance of Ministers of the Crown and Public Servants. 

A 1940's map of East Gippsland - Orbost, Cabbage Tree and Mallacoota 

are circled in green. Click on map to enlarge. 

The map shows the railway line was through to Orbost, but unfortunately for Carlo 

and his colleagues, the line from Bairnsdale to Orbost did not open until April 1916.

Tourist map Greater Gippsland, Victoria, Australia,  issued by the Victorian Railways Commissioners.

State Library of Victoria  http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/166067

Misfortune befell the party again when they reached Mallacoota where seven inches of rain (5) was reported to have fallen in two days and they were marooned there until the weather improved.

Headline from The Argus of March 10 1913

There was much interest in the papers about their situation and The Herald took a light-hearted view - 
Ministers complain of the stress of work, but excessive work is often brought about by want of thinking beforehand, and so a Minister is much occupied by undoing the work of his predecessor. Mr Edgar at Mallacoota has a fine opportunity for a quiet think, "on man, on nature, and on human life," including the public works of his department. It is rather a pity that Ministers do not get marooned regularly. There ought indeed to be an official island to which Ministers could go every year, for a month or so deprived of all official papers. Its library should consist of the Bible, Shakespeare, one or two more of  "the hundred best books." A stock of fowling pieces, fishing rods, axes, a boat or two, and something equivalent to Friday for a servant might be allowed.... If a man and a Minister could not be happy under such circumstances, then he should for ever hold his peace about the worry of work. He would have no deputations to nag at him, no unfulfillable promises to make, no press or other criticisms to annoy him. From his island home he could see life steadily and see it whole, and recover probably what men in cities so often lose, the power of original thinking. It is gratifying for Victorians, too, to learn that in their small country, sometimes sneered at as a cabbage garden, there is yet ample room and verge enough for isolation for from the madding crowd. Mr Edgar, with his two engineers, returning from the wilds clad in the skins of wallaby, and native bear, will be a concrete proof of this when they land at No. 8 Wharf by the steamer they may catch at Gabo (6). 

The last sentence about the steamer was part of the speculation on how the party would return to Melbourne. It was reported that a telegram has been forwarded by the ports and harbours branch to the lighthouse-keeper on Gabo Island instructing him to keep a look-out for a steamer to bring Mr Edgar and party back to Melbourne (7).

The Herald of March 13,  printed an article on how the official party occupied their time at Mallacoota and how they travelled back to Melbourne - 

To be marooned at Mallacoota, with ample funds in hand is a very pleasurable experience. Mr G Kermode, of the Public Works department, who returned to Melbourne yesterday afternoon, after being weather-bound at the lonely little East Gippsland town for some days, stated that he had never lived more luxuriously. [They] did not mind their "marooning" said Mr Kermode....Fish of many succulent varieties, wild ducks of surprising plumpness, tenderness, and flavour, were freely provided. Garden vegetables and fresh fruits from the orchard (including many tropical varieties) were sampled, and voted "excellent," and by way of dessert there is is always honey in the comb, and rich cream. 

As a set-off to the high living, the company had to endure heavy and continuous showers. In two days over 7in of rain fell. An inspection of the proposed tramway route between Mallacoota and Gabo was made in a "blinding storm," the Ministers and engineers endeavouring to take in the details of the survey whilst they frantically clung to their umbrellas, which showed a reprehensible desire to turn themselves inside out.

On Saturday Mr Cameron and Mr Kermode travelled by motor to Bruthen. "We had to ford numerous creeks and rivers that were swollen by the rains," said Mr. Kermode, and he had frequently to use the axe to clear a path along the tracks. Mr Cameron used the axe like the expert woodsman that he is. It was the intention of Mr. Edgar and Mr Catani to inspect Gabo Island as soon as the weather cleared up sufficiently, and then to return to Melbourne by launch, motor and rail. The launch will take them to Eden, and there they can get a motor-car to take them to Cooma." Mr Edgar is expected to reach Melbourne either late to-night or early tomorrow (8). The last part of the journey from Cooma to Melbourne was by train and the expected arrival of early tomorrow, was Friday March 14, eleven days after they had set off. 

From Mallacoota West looking towards Gabo, 1921. Photographer: John Henry Harvey.

State Library of Victoria Image H90.161/517

The purpose of this trip, which in the end turned into quite an adventure, was to open up this stagnant area, as it was called, by either constructing a permanent entrance to Mallacoota Inlet thus allowing all-year shipping access or else to construct a harbour on Gabo Island and connect the Island to the mainland  by a causeway and a tramline to the causeway. The Age reported in November 1913 under the headline - 

Mallacoota Port Schemes - Rival Engineering Projects - Extraordinary estimates of cost -

With a greater degree of enthusiasm than it usually displays, the Public Works department is developing its new scheme for the opening up of a harbor at Gabo island, to serve as an outlet for Mallacoota district. This has been put forward as a superior and more economical scheme than the old one, which aimed at the construction of a permanent channel at Mallacoota Inlet. The latter scheme has been in contemplation for some years, and has been made the subject of reports by three or four experts. The Gabo Island proposal, on the other hand, was not heard of until a few months ago, and has not yet been seriously investigated. Nevertheless, the Public Works department, from Minister downwards, seems to have jumped to the conclusion, on very meagre and inconclusive data, that the Gabo Island scheme is superior in respect of cost, permanent suitability and general effectiveness, and the project for the opening of the Inlet is in danger of being shoved aside. There is so far no justification for the abandonment of what has been recommended as a feasible and practical scheme in favor of one which at the present stage cannot reasonably be claimed to be anything more than a visionary project (9). 

The costs were indeed extraordinary and it is worth noting that the investigations into the Mallacoota port had started four years previously in 1909. The Age reported the details and costings of the various schemes for a port at Mallacoota- 

The Public Works department sent Mr. T. H. Smith, marine surveyor, to see what could be done. He reported in May, 1909, that to provide a permanent channel it would be necessary to construct two retaining walls. The project would be started with one wall, at an estimated cost of £25,000, made up of timber viaduct, £8750; rubble wall, £10,000; railway to quarries and contingencies, £6250. Concerning a local suggestion that an ocean jetty should be built in a sheltered spot 350 yards inside Bastion's Point at a cost of £5000, Mr. Smith expressed the opinion that it would not greatly assist the development of the country, as there would be no certainty of regular calls from trading vessels, owing to the reposed nature of the position, and that the frequent handling of freight would be inconvenient and expensive.

Following upon that report Mr. Catani, now Chief Engineer of the Public Works department, submitted for consideration a scheme involving the construction of two groynes and training walls, at an estimated cost of £42,240, to provide a depth of 9 feet at low water. To this Mr. Davidson, Inspector-General of Public Works, appended a note that, with the data available, he did not think a less expensive project was feasible, and it would require the expenditure of about £10,000 additional for wharfage and the deepening of the shipway thereto. At that stage the reports were pigeonholed. 

A year or so later the residents renewed their agitation, and in the early part of 1911 Mr. Kermode, another departmental engineer, was sent to investigate. He recommended the construction of two 500 feet piers to enclose the channel. This, he estimated, would cost £53,000, and provide a channel deep enough for vessels drawing a maximum of 10 feet. 

That report, too, was pigeonholed, and Mr. H. A. Blomfield, a harbor expert in the service of the New South Wales Government, was brought to Victoria at the end of the year to supply another report. The scheme propounded by Mr. Blomfield is much more ambitious, and consequently more expensive, than those of the Victorian engineers. The previous projects had aimed at strengthening the scour from the lake, but he apparently adopted the view that the main consideration should be to protect the entrance from the shallowing action of the sea. He advocated the construction of a breakwater almost

parallel with the line of Bastion Point, with the addition of two small training walls and the dredging of the channel to a depth of 10 feet at low water. The material for the breakwater would be red granite from Gabo Island, conveyed by a tramway which could be retained for the subsequent conveyance of timber to the harbor. His estimate of the cost was: - Breakwater, £71,662; northern training wall, £5337; southern training wall, £7700; dredging between the training walls, £3500; dredging inside the entrance to a depth of 9 feet, £3000; contingencies, £4560; total, £95,759. As a modification of the scheme, sufficient to start with, he suggested: - Breakwater, £61,267; northern training wall, £2450; southern training wall, £5070; dredging, £6500; total, £79,054. (10).

Dorran's jetty, Mallacoota, where the proposed tramway to the Gabo Island 

causeway would commence.

Dorran's jetty, Mallacoota, looking S.W.,  October 1921. Photographer: John Henry Harvey.

State Library of Victoria Image H2009.100/500

These were the costings for a port at Mallacoota, but as The Age had noted the Public Works Department seemed to be favouring a harbour on Gabo Island. This would require firstly the causeway and also for the freight to be brought in small boat to a landing known as Dorran's, situated on the eastern side of the lake (11) and a tramway, eight miles in length -

The estimated cost of the whole of this work - tramway, causeway, pier and breakwater - is £32,000, an estimate which on the face of it seems too good to be true. The tramway itself would for a distance of 6 miles traverse sound country, but the last 2 miles would be across a series of shifting sand hummocks, so unstable that telegraph poles are not infrequently buried underneath them. Mr. Catani claims that he sand could be easily and cheaply fixed and fortified through the planting of Marram grass, to protect the tramway. So easy a disposal of what in many places has proved a difficult and expensive drawback seems like a triumph of hope over experience (12). 

The Age added if four engineers were instructed to estimate successively the cost of the proposed harbor at Gabo and its accessories, the expenditure would quickly mount to something more than £100,000 and that also to be factored into the costing was the need to remove the wreck of the steamship Easby, which lies somewhere in the waterway (13). The Australasian reported on the fate of the Easby in April 1907 - 

Messrs. James Paterson's steamer Easby struck the Skerries Reef at 3 o'clock on the morning of April 7 [1907], and had her bottom seriously damaged, the water gaining in the vessel so rapidly that she had to be beached for safety in Gabo Harbour....The Easby is a steamer of 1,498 tons gross, and was built of iron at Stockton on-Tees in 1873 for Messrs. James Pater son and Co., her present owners. Her dimensions are: Length 250ft., beam 32ft., and depth 21ft. She has been in the habit of making one trip from Melbourne to Newcastle every fortnight, and bringing about 1.800 tons of coal on each visit... The Government steamer Lady Loch proceeded to Gabo Island, and brought the deck hands to Melbourne. The Easby is submerged from the stern to the bridge. She is lying about 150ft. from the jetty used by the Lady Loch for landing stores for the light housekeeper (14). 

It is perhaps then, no surprise that with the widely varying costings of either opening up the Mallacoota Inlet or constructing a harbour on Gabo Island with a connecting causeway and  tramline that this project was not proceeded with and no doubt the Great War starting in August 1914 delivered the coup de grace to the scheme. 

Trove List - I have created a list of articles on Trove on this topic, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) The Herald, March 3, 1913, see here.

(2) The Argus, March 7, 1913, see here.

(3) The Age, March 8, 1913, see here.

(4) The Argus, March 7 1913, see here.

(5) Some reports say only three inches of rain fell. 

(6) The Herald, March 10, 1913, see here.

(7) The Argus, March 8, 1913, see here.

(8) The Argus, March 13, 1913, see here.

(9) The Age, November 7, 1913, see here.

(10) Ibid

(11) Ibid

(12) Ibid

(13) Ibid

(14) The Australasian, April  20, 1907, see here.