Carlo Catani: January 2026

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Carlo defends his work on Red Bluff

Carlo faced some criticism both during his career and posthumously; not in this blog, of course, because that's not I am here for, I only write positive things about the greatest Civil Engineer who ever worked in Victoria. (1)

The following article was published in The Age in May 1917, a few weeks after his retirement on April 28, 1917. Carlo defended his work, especially the removal of Red Bluff at Point Ormond and also criticised the Brighton Council over the foreshore drive.

Foreshore Improvements Mr Catani's Work
Mr. C. Catani was the guest of St. Kilda council on Monday night, and received the congratulations of that body on the beautification works carried out by him as a public officer in St. Kilda and other parts of the State. The Mayor, (Cr Barnet), expressed his satisfaction that Mr Catani was retaining his position as Government representative on the Foreshore Trust.

Mr. Catani, in acknowledging the compliment paid to him, said he retired from the Government service for private reasons, his domestic arrangements had been changed by the war. After referring to the various works carried out at St. Kilda, he said that he had been blamed for spoiling the Red Bluff but that was a dangerous place for children before he reduced its cliffs to a gentle slope. He had laid the foundation for a foreshore drive from Port Melbourne to Sorrento. Brighton objected to the drive, but the foreshore was as much public property as the sunshine that warmed them. He had carried out Alexandra-Avenue on the same principle. The first section reached Church-street-bridge, but he had established another five-mile section between Ivanhoe and Heidelberg. There was nothing to stop those two sections being connected. One thing he greatly regretted was that St. Kilda was attracting some very undesirable visitors - brutes who not know how to behave themselves in broad daylight. That evil would have to be dealt with a very firm hand. (2)

The Red Bluff landscaping/removal/destruction works (whatever your views on the subject are) took place in 1904 and the rock was removed for road gravel and railway ballast. (3) Carlo had his supporters at the time for this work. The Leader published these photographs in August 1905 with the caption -

The Red Bluff (Point Ormond), St. Kilda, no longer exists. It has been improved off the face of the earth. The picture reproduced gives a representation of it as it was 20 years ago, and the photograph shows the place as it now appears. (4)

The Red Bluff, St Kilda.

The Bluff 20 -Years Ago. From a Painting by J. R. Williams, St. Kilda. 2. The Bluff at the Present Time.

The Leader, August 26, 1905 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198193075

In 1926, The Argus, published an article, under the headlines Beautifying Melbourne: Our debt to Mr Catani - maker of playgrounds and had this to say -

and turning his attention to the bare eyesore that was once the Red Bluff, transformed it into the Point Ormond of to-day. (5)

So here we have it - Red Bluff was considered dangerous, an eyesore and a hazard for little children. I understand the criticism of the Red Bluff works, but they need to be looked at in the context of the time; like much of the country, it was seen as a resource to be exploited. Nor was it the only landscape 'tidied up' or beautified. Foreshore reclamation works, such as those at St Kilda (6) markedly changed the natural environment and yet there does not seem to be any criticism of those works. The Sun News Pictorial, under the headline - From Reeking Marsh to Garden Beauty: St. Kilda’s Foreshore Represents Miracle of Achievement, described this area as a noisome expanse of marsh which was transformed into the vistas of lawns, gardens and shrubberies that extend for nearly two miles along the sea-front and are unsurpassed by anything else of the kind in Australia. (7) This foreshore park was later named the Catani Gardens, after Carlo. Would St Kilda have the reputation as a desirable and fun destination if the foreshore was still a reeking marsh?