I have been for a few drives and photographed all the Catani street signs in Victoria. There is also a Catani Place in Monash in the A.C.T., of which I received some photos from a kind Canberrian. There is also a Catani Place at Helensvale in Queensland, north of the Gold Coast, the only sign not photographed. For a short time (1918-1919) The Boulevard which runs between Heidelberg and Ivanhoe, was called Via Catani, and I have written about this here.
Catani Boulevard, Bend of Islands. The sealed road is Henley Drive.
Catani Boulevard, Bend of Islands
Catani Boulevard, Bend of Islands, is the most scenic of the Catani streets. Bend of Islands is an Environmental Living Zone, part of the Shire of Nillumbik and the location of the Warrandyte-Kinglake Nature Conservation Reserve. The name comes from the fact that the Yarra River bends around and there is a small island in the bend, called Moniques Island. You can see the Bend of Islands Conservation Association website, here.
Catani Boulevard was established in 1929. Mick Woiwod, in his book Once Around the Sugarloaf (1) describes how it came about in March 1929, Ned Haughton subdivided his 320 acre estate into thirty-six lots - thirty-five of which had river frontages, averaging five acres apiece, with the remaining land-locked central block measuring 124 acres. Access to the river blocks was provided for by the construction of a circuitous road (Via Catani Boulevard), carved out with horse and scoop by Jack Kennedy, a local contractor.......Aware of Catani's universal popularity, Ned Haughton named the road through his subdivision 'Via Catani Boulevard' (2).
Aubrey Edward 'Ned' Haughton was an auctioneer and real estate agent from the firm of Coghill & Haughton (3). He admired Carlo Catani's vision of a grand boulevard which would run from Princes Bridge to Yarra Glen and in 1927 decided to take on the project. The Herald reported on his plans - Few citizens, perhaps, remember that the late Mr Catani, the noted Public Works officer, visualised a river boulevard from the city to Yarra Glen, where it would join the Healesville road, and at Healesville link up with the highway over the Blacks' Spur and the mountains beyond - to Sydney....Applying himself to the task of "seeing it through" Mr A. E. Haughton (of Coghill and Haughton, city) appeals to citizens and Government departments concerned to help forward the great driveway scheme.
Mr Haughton divides the driveway into three sections, as follows: 1. Prince's Bridge to Heidelberg. This is being looked after by the Public Works Department. The Lake Thwaites' scheme has been planned on this section. 2. Heidelberg to Warrandyte, via Eltham. This section can easily be arranged, as recent sub-divisons and existing Government roads need only a few additions to make it possible. 3. Warrandyte to Yarra Glen on the north side of the river. This is the longest section, and the land is held by only a few owners. Mr Haughton considers that "the Government should acquire the big timber areas before they are converted into week-end sites, which is likely to happen soon." (4).
Sadly, neither Carlo's nor Mr Haughton's vision ever came to fruition. You perhaps might wonder if Mr Haughton's vision of the grand boulevard was influenced by the prospect of increasing his business through land sales along the route. Table Talk profiled him in 1914 and had this to say - Land salesmanship is Mr. Haughton's forte, he combines with a sound, all-round knowledge of town and country values a persuasive address, which counts for a great deal at an auction sale (5).
In 1975 you could have purchased 8 acres on Catani Boulevard for $21,000.
The Bend of Islands area was previously part of Kangaroo Ground.
The Age, November 15, 1975
Catani Court, Broadmeadows.
Catani Court, Broadmeadows, is in my 1973 Melway, but not in the original 1966 Melway, so this gives some idea when the Court was established. It is in the City of Hume. It was very hard to take an attractive photo of the sign; as you can see from the photo the housing estate was established before the days when power lines were placed underground. Catani Court is in a pocket of streets named after Victorian towns - Heywood, Dimboola, Cavendish, Coleraine, Timboon, Sorreno, Benambra amongst others.
Catani Court, Burnside Heights
Burnside Heights is part of the City of Melton. Catani Court was proclaimed in 2006 according to the City of Melton Road Management Plan, see below. Catani Court is off Arbour Boulevard and some of the surrounding street are named after parks - Como, Domain, Hyde, Regent, Centennial, so I presume that is the reason Catani was selected.
City of Melton Road Management Plan, March 2021
Catani Mews, Caroline Springs
Nine hundred metres from Catani Court, Burnside Heights is Catani Mews, Caroline Springs. Catani Mews was proclaimed in 2004 according to the City of Melton Road Management Plan, above. Catani Mews is also in a pocket of streets with Park names - Studley Park Way, Kings Domain, Edinburgh Lane and a street called Alexandra Gardens.
Catani Place, Craigieburn
Catani Place in Craigieburn, is also in the City of Hume. It seemed to be a very short street - 20 metres, if that, which lead to a gate, but I have just found that 4-10 Catani Place was sold in November 2016 in one lot as
6 residential properties being 'offered in one line' allowing purchasers to secure residential investments with commercial returns. Tenant: Department of Education & Training. Lease Term: 15 years (comm. Feb 2003) plus options. These houses were all behind the gate, so it is a small gated community. This is the advertisement for the sale,
here. Catani Place was in the 2003 Melway in dotted lines, which is what they use to denote proposed developments. Studley Park Way, Fawkner Lane, Kings Glen are three close streets, so I presume it was named to fit into this Garden theme.
Catani Lane, Curlewis. The Land borders Connor Park.
Curlewis is around 20 km past Geelong. Catani Lane is in the Curlewis Parks Estate, which was established around 2011. The Estate was originally advertised as being in Drysdale, but is now called Curlewis. Curlewis itself is an old locality. Coriyule Homestead, built in 1849 for pioneer squatters Anne Drysdale and Caroline Newcomb, is located in Curlewis. Curlewis Catholic School was established in January 1851, changed it's name to Point Henry in 1869 and closed in December 1873. Curlewis State School, No. 1559, operated form 1875 until 1880 (6). Catani Lane is surrounded by Chatsworth Way, Hyde Way, Centennial Boulevard and streets with English names - I can't see a connection between Catani and the other street names. Connor Park was presumably named for the pioneering Connor family (7).
Catani Avenue, Koo Wee Rup
Catani Avenue, Koo Wee Rup is in the Shire of Cardinia, as is the town of
Catani. It is in the Shelton Park Estate, established around 2010. In my 2015 Melway, Catani Avenue came off Rossiter Road, and it was still like that in December 2018 when Greg, Nima and Katherine Catani visited as we took a photo of them under the sign, but part of it has now been changed to Shelton Park Drive. The street was named for Carlo Catani, who was of course responsible for drainage works on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp from 1893.
This is from the 2015 Melway Greater Melbourne Street Directory, clearly showing Catani Avenue (bottom left) running off Rossiter Road. Today that section of Catani Avenue is called Shelton Park Drive and Catani Avenue starts where it turns eastwards.
Catani Court, Newborough.
Looking south down Dinwoodie Drive, with the Strzelecki Ranges in the background.
Catani Court is in what appears to be a 1980s sub-division. Surrounding streets include Dinwoodie Drive - there was a Dr Collin Dinwoodie who practiced in Moe in the 1920s (Moe is the town adjacent to Newborough); Howitt Street - Alfred Howitt was an explorer; Strzelecki Road - Count Strzelecki - another Gippsland Explorer; McMillan Court - Angus McMillan - yet another Gippsland explorer; McDonald Court - presumably George McDonald who surveyed McDonald's Track from Lang Lang into the Strzelecki Ranges. So, am I assuming that the name Catani was selected due to his work of draining the Moe Swamp.
Catani Place, Monash, A.C.T.
Image courtesy of Gaia Livni (© Gaia Livni)
Catani Place, Monash, A.C.T. Looking down William Hudson Crescent to
Thompson Place playground.
Image courtesy of Gaia Livni (© Gaia Livni)
Catani Place is in Monash, a suburb of Canberra. Monash is named after Sir John Monash (1865-1931) Engineer, General and Chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. Along with Carlo, other engineers are also honoured in this sub-division by having streets named after them. Here are a few - William Hudson Crescent - William Hudson (1896-1978) - Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme; Scratchley Place - Sir Peter Scratchley (1835-1885), Military Engineer; Ballard Place - I presume this is Robert Ballard (1839-1912), Railway Engineer; Arnot Place - Arthur James Arnot (1865-1946), Electrical Engineer; Checchi Place - Ettore Checchi (1853-1946) - Engineer, specialising in hydrography and friend of Carlo. They migrated to Australia together along with Pietro Baracchi. Steffanoni Circuit - Victor Lewis Steffanoni (1901-1974) - Surveyor and Military Engineer. You can find more information about these chaps in the
Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/ The only one not listed is Mr Steffanoni, I found out about him from the Australian Capital Territory Public Place Names Act 1989 Determination No. 73 of 1990 (see
here).This also gives as idea of when this sub-division was created - around 1990.
Acknowledgement
Isaac Hermann, my Carlo research colleague, compiled the original list of Catani Streets. He also supplied the photo of Catani Lane, Curlewis. I added the other photos and the details, mainly using my extensive collection of Melway Street Directories, however it was Isaac who told me about Mick Woiwod's book and thus Ned Houghton's original land sub-division on the Bend of Islands. Thanks, Isaac. Isaac also organised for the photo of Catani Place, Monash, Canberra to be taken. Thank you to Gaia Livni for taking the time and effort to photograph Carlo's Canberra street sign for me. I was so thrilled to receive the photos.
Footnotes
(1) Woiwod, Mick Once around the Sugarloaf: the transformation of a Victorian landscape and the story of its people (Bend of Islands Press, 1992).
(2) Woiwod, op. cit, p. 197 and 201.
(3) Audrey Edward Haughton was the son of William Haughton, Town Clerk of Oakleigh, He married Jessie Cameron on May 16, 1906. She was the daughter of Ewan Hugh Cameron, M.L.A. Their wedding notice was in
The Argus June 15, 1906, see
here. He was profiled in
Table Talk, January 29, 1914, see
here.
(4)
The Herald, April 13, 1927, see
here.
(5)
Table Talk, January 29, 1914, see
here.
(6) Curlewis School information from Vision and Realisation : a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake. Published by the Education Department of Victoria, 1973.
