Carlo and the Chalet Geneve on Albert Park Lake

The Albert Park Lake Kiosk was officially opened on December 9, 1911 by the Mayor of South Melbourne, Cr Donald McArthur. His speech was reported in The Age - The kiosk was an ornamental and imposing structure, and it would add to the improvement and beautification of the park, which, with its area of 600 acres, gave breathing space to the the residents of the city and suburbs.... The park was a national park, open to everyone in and around Melbourne (1).

Also present were other South Melbourne Councillors, Councillors from St Kilda and other officials such as Henry Allen, Secretary of the Albert Park Committee and Carlo Catani. The Kiosk, later renamed the Chalet Geneve, was operated by Rosana Savary and her sisters, Frances and Katherine Mathieu. I have written in detail about the Chalet and the Mathieu sisters and their operation of the Chalet Geneve as well as the ones in the Fitzroy Gardens and Central Park, Malvern in another blog post, here (2). 

This post is about the role Carlo played in establishing the Albert Park Lake Kiosk and his reported speech on the day. We (3) have also found a photo of Carlo and a very rare photo of his wife, Catherine, at the opening ceremony, which you will see below.

The refreshment kiosk at Albert Park Lake was one part of grander plans for the Park proposed by the Albert Park Committee or Trust. In 1907, there were newspaper reports that £10,000 would be spent beautifying the park and that a scheme be prepared by Mr. Catani, engineer of the Public Works department, and the engineers of the two councils for consideration (4). Nothing came of this, but two years later the South Melbourne Council proposed a £20,000 scheme for improving Albert Park. It was suggested that once again Mr Catani should prepare a comprehensive scheme for the improvement of the park (5).  However, in the end the Council decided that they should call for competitive designs for the park and the winning designer would receive £50 (6). As the money for this scheme was not forthcoming it did not go ahead, however the Albert Park Committee, of which Carlo Catani was a member, proceeded with the idea of building a kiosk (7).

The Chalet Geneve, photographed on the opening day, December 9, 1911.

Punch, December 14, 1911 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177535383#

Carlo was invited to speak at the opening and his speech was reported in the Prahran Telegraph thus - Mr C.Catani, C. E., said that to improve the park £25,000 would be required - as a beginning. They would have to begin by making a promontory to take off the flat look and to show the landscape. They required to raise the ground, and they wanted to get rid of the
Tips to the right of us,
Tips to the left of us,
Cows all around us.
They wanted the Government to give them a big waggon to bring plenty of good soil, so as to raise the level of the ground by two feet, and they wanted to plant trees properly. That would take money. It was up to the Trust to raise £25,000, and he would undertake that it was spent properly (8).

Tips to the right of us....

Prahran Telegraph, December 16, 1911, see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165112312

The report of the opening in the Prahran Telegraph had the heading - Albert Park Tea Kiosk. Official Opening. 'The Cow Ranch' (9). The Albert Park Committee allowed the agistment of cattle and other livestock in Albert Park, because it was a source of income. In 1907 it was reported that there were 129 horses, 210 cows and 43 calves in the Park (10).  At the opening of the Kiosk in December 1911, Cr Baragwanath of South Melbourne said the Trust had been doing a good bit of work up to date, but he would not be satisfied until the cows and horses were out of what he called the Cow Ranch (11).  Cr O'Donnell of St Kilda, responded to this the Trust had done its level best to improve the park, but he didn't know about getting rid of the cows which Cr Baragawanath talked of. The cows gave them an income of £600 a year, which enabled the Trust to improve the park (12).

One of the  tips which Carlo referrred, was still there in 1930. The burning off in the tip was apparently a source of distress to the thousands of people who attended the football at the Park, even though Miss Fitzpatrick, who was then the owner of the Chalet had no complaints (13).

Guests at the opening ceremony of the Chalet Geneve, December 9, 1911.

Punch, December 14, 1911 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177535383#

This post is a brief look at the role Carlo played in the development and opening of the Albert Park Chalet. The guests at the ceremony are pictured above.  Seated at the first table on the left is the Mayor of South Melbourne, Cr Donald McArthur. Next to him is Henry Allen, then the dignified woman with the fur stole is Catherine Catani and next to her is Carlo. I have never seen a photo of Catherine before, so even though it is very grainy, it is gold.

The very rare photograph of Catherine Catani and Carlo.

Opening ceremony of the Chalet Geneve, December 9, 1911. Punch, December 14, 1911   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177535383#

Acknowledgement

It was my colleague, Isaac Hermann, who on closer examination of the photo of the guests at the opening of the Chalet Geneve, discovered that Carlo and Catherine were front and centre in the photo.  It was an amazing discovery. As I said, we have never seen a photo of Catherine before. Great work, Isaac. 

Trove - I created a list connected to the Albert Park Chalet and the two other refreshment kiosks operated by the Mathieu sisters - one in the Fitzroy Gardens and the other at Central Park, Malvern. Access it here.

Footnotes
(1) The Age, December 11, 1911, see here.
(2) https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-chalet-geneve-on-albert-park-lake.html
(3) I say we, but it was actually, Isaac. See the Acknowledgment.
(4) Emerald Hill Record, June 8, 1907, see here.

(5) Prahran Telegraph, August 28, 1909, see here.

(6) Prahran Telegraph, August 28, 1909, see here.

(7) Barnard, Jill & Keating, Jenny People's Playground: a history of the Albert Park (Chandos Publishing, 1996) p. 74.

(8) Prahran Telegraph, December 16, 1911, see here.

(9) Prahran Telegraph, December 16, 1911, see here.

(10) Barnard & Keating, op. cit, p. 70.

(11)  Prahran Telegraph, December 16, 1911, see here.

(12)  Prahran Telegraph, December 16, 1911, see here.

(13) Emerald Hill Record, June 7, 1930, see here.

What Carlo thinks of rockeries and the issue of cows in the Albert Park

This was in the Bulletin, published August 22, 1912 and I think it is very amusing. You can see the original, on Trove, here.

Melbourne continues to burst into eruptions of street rockeries, which Carlo Catani, Victorian Public Works engineer, once described in his mellifluous Anglo-Italian as “the stone age of gardening.” Hardly a suburban street nowadays but is transformed into the semblance of a macadamised waistcoat with a row of stone buttons down the middle, all in the sacred name of municipal gardening.The City Council is expectorating on its hands (purely by proxy, in order not to offend against the by-law) and is trussing up its bowyangs preparatory to forming a plantation builded upon a rock at the intersection of Molesworth, Harris,and Curzon streets, West Melbourne. Meanwhile, the designers of that portion of the city, aware that this form of art will cost £300, want to know why some of the rocks that will make the city beautiful are not being pounded into road metal to repair the dreadful highway and low ways and middle ways in the same ward. Perhaps when a councillor returning home by a late windy moonlight, has been manhandled by one of the hoodlums that are beginning to infest these rockeries o’nights, much as the Great Auk frequented the Allaloneston in Kingsley's fairy story, the City Council will be sorry spoke.

The journalist quotes Carlo's comment that rockeries are the stone-age of gardening. He made that comment at a public meeting in April 1907 where the fate of the Albert Park speedway (a trotting track at the Albert Park) was being discussed. The Speedway at Albert Park was officially opened on September 1, 1903, by the Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor, Sir John Madden. It was established by a group of well known business and professional men and all they wanted to do was to have a place to drive a horse along, it wasn't for racing.  It was to have two tracks - one a mile in length and one of six furlongs (furlong is 220 yards).

Albert Park Speedway, 1903

State Library of Victoria Image H96.28/2   http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/462028

Many locals objected to the Speedway. The Mayor of South Melbourne, Cr W.J. Mountain, who attended a meeting organised by the Albert Park Trust on the issue was against the idea as it was a public park, and should be kept so. There was a roadway already formed for those that wanted to drive through it. The 'speedway' would be a source of great danger to children. (The Age June 17, 1902)  However, the Albert Park Trust did allow it to go ahead. So, no change there in the past 117 years with governments at all levels still allowing the alienation of public land into private hands.

It was a short-lived enterprise and at a report of the meeting that Carlo attended in April 1907, the Emerald Hill Record said the club under whose auspices the Albert Park Speedway was opened with such success nearly four years ago has regretfully come to the conclusion that the speedway as such has served its turn. Though the club had at the outset 103 members, and although from £1000 to £1200 was spent in preparing and fencing the track, constructing rockeries, and planting young elm trees— almost the only deciduous tree which will flourish on that soil — the enterprise has had to be abandoned. Very soon the members began to lose interest in the track, which was never really popular with the general public, because there was little for them to see. (Emerald Hill Record, April 27, 1907).

The speedway area was handed back to the Albert Park Trust, who then wanted to improve or beautify the area. One of the issues was, according to the Record,  at the present the casual visitor to the open spaces of Albert Park would be justified in the impression that it is the local cow which really counts. The depasturing of cows does not improve the park in any way. Naturally, when  a organisation wanted advice on the beautification of an area, they turned to Carlo for an opinion -

When questioned on the subject of the speedway, the chief engineer of the Public Works department (Mr. Catani) quickly demonstrated that there were difficulties in the way of beautifying the surrounding land, although he admitted that the speedway might be used as a drive. The presence of an existing road in the vicinity however, detracted to some extent from its value. "We might do something," he said; "the matter is open for consideration. Where ever possible we are taking down fences and planting flowers and shrubs, as in Alexandra-avenue, for our experience has shown that the public will respect their own property."

But you cannot expect a cow to learn the lesson of respect for property?

"Of course, where there are cows the fences will have to remain. Then as to the general  beautification of the park, the question of funds is an important one. The soil of Albert Park is, for the most part, sand, impregnated, except just at the surface, with salt. It could not support trees unless the surface were raised two or three feet. And as it would cost £10.000 or £12,000 to treat the whole of Albert Park, that is out of the question. It is not proposed to make any expenditure on the speed-way—we have too many claims on our limited funds. It will cost £70 to paint the fence every two years."

As to maintaining the rockeries?

"Rockeries are the stone age of gardening! I certainly would like marble balustrades, with nice caps and beautiful statuary, but we haven't the money! The purists say, ' You are doing monstrous things, but between nothing and rockeries there is a great gulf fixed. And even with rockeries it must be remembered that every improvement means maintenance, so that when a certain limit was reached the cost of maintenance would absorb all the money available from improvements. Cows? The Public Works department gets £350 a year from those cows, and it can't afford to lose it! It is a barbarous thing but we want the money. We can't do much with it, but we can do a little."  (Emerald Hill Record, April 27, 1907)

Albert Park Speedway  

State Library of Victoria Image H96.28/1   http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/321109

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

Sources:
People's Playground: a history of Albert Park by Jill Barnard and Jenny Keating (Chandos Publishing, 1996)
Article - Albert Park Speedway  Emerald Hill Record  April 27, 1907. Read full article, here.
Article -  Proposed Speedway at Albert Park  The Age June 17, 1902. Read full article, here.
Article -  Sporting Notions column The Bulletin  August 22, 1912. Link is here.

The problem of weeds in Albert Park Lake - Carlo has a solution

On January 13, 1904 the South Melbourne Council discussed the interminable question of cleansing the Albert Park Lake of weeds (The Age January 15, 1904) Three suggestions were put to the Council to resolve the issue. One suggestion was a simple one - Cr. Strangward asked if hand-pulling had been tried, as he had seen a small amount of work done near the Yacht Club shed, and he thought it might be possible to do it by hand-pulling. (Emerald Hill Record January 16, 1904)

A second suggestion concerned swans.  Cr. Craine's idea was that a number of swans would keep the weeds down. He had got several down from Bairnsdale, but one was stolen, one had been killed, and two had gone over to the Botanical Gardens.....Cr. Craine said he would like to see the swans given a trial. During a trip to Gippsland he had seen them in the lakes, and had taken particular notice of them. They had the same weeds growing there, and the swans kept them clear. He would be prepared to get a further supply if they were looked after. So a nice idea, but it seems that some of the swans preferred the more up-market address of the Royal Botanic Gardens.  (Emerald Hill Record January 16, 1904)

The third suggestion was from Carlo Catani - a high-tech solution, with a dual purpose of being useful but also a source of pleasure to the locals. Mr. Catani had reported that it would be necessary to build a paddle steamer with a weed cutter at the rear to deal with the weed nuisance. It was proposed to use the steamer also for excursions, improve the island, and hold concerts and entertainments on it.  (Emerald Hill Record January 16, 1904)  A report in the  North Melbourne Courier of January 15, 1904 suggested the ways in which the Lake and Island could be improved - Steps will probably, be taken to make the Albert Park Lagoon a somewhat similar sheet of water to Lake Windouree [Wendouree], Ballarat. A scheme has been formulated by Mr. Catani of Public Works Department, for the eradication of the weeds, by means of a steamer, which would also take passengers for trip. There is also a plan in contemplation to erect kiosks on the island, and other attractions.

What did they decide? It was the Albert Park Lake Trust that made the decision and it was announced,  at a community meeting, by the South Melbourne Mayor, Cr. Baragwanath, who caused some surprise by announcing that the trust had, at its last meeting, authorised the sending of a cable message to England ordering a weed cutting steamer on six months' trial at a cost of about £300, with the proviso that if it proved unsuccessful the trust would take no responsibility. The steamer was not, however, as originally suggested, to be used for carrying passengers on the lagoon (The Age, April 19, 1904)

Other reports said that the cost of this steamer would be £270 to £300 and the annual cost for maintenance £80. There was a number of criticisms - it was too expensive, other methods had not  been tried and a question was asked why they were importing a machine when,  a local resident, Mr. Donald, had invented a machine which was fully capable of dealing with the weeds, and had proved itself by trials, at one of which the trust was represented. He asked why such invention had not been given consideration before accepting an offer from an English firm ?  (Emerald Hill Record, April 23, 1904)

Motor Weed Cutting Launch, Albert Park Lagoon

The Leader  April 29, 1905   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198166236

The steamer from England arrived and  a trial was held. We will let The Argus of November 18, 1904 tell us how it went and how it worked  - A public trial was given yesterday on the Albert Park Lake of a new weed-cutting machine purchased by the committee of management to clear the lake of weeds which had grown to such an extent that aquatic sports were greatly hampered. Amongst those present were Mr Davidson inspector-general of public works, Mr Catani, engineer, members of the Albert park committee the South Melbourne and St Kilda councils. The boat, which is about the size of an ordinary ship's boat, has a stern wheel, which is driven by a low-speed oil engine. The engine also works two V shaped knives which are fixed on each side of the boat and work underneath it, clearing a space 10ft wide. Those present expressed themselves highly pleased with the result of the trial. The committee of management of Albert-park were so well satisfied with the test that they have decided to purchase the cutter and motor launch at a cost of about £275. 

There is a detailed technical description of the weed-cutting steamer in The Leader of  April 29, 1905. You can read it here. The same article says that the trustees of the Albert Park lagoon have found great difficulty in getting rid of the weeds, which grow more or less all over the lagoon. Much money has been fruitlessly spent upon this work, and many devices tried, amongst them being a steam dredge (costing about £2000, which was unsuccessful, and was, eventually sold at the price of old iron). £2000 - that was a lot of money, in those days. The article held higher hopes for the steam launch - The motor launch ... has in a very short space of time almost cleared the lagoon, and it, is claimed that it will in time stop the growth of these noxious weeds by keeping them cut, thus preventing the generating power of air and light having any stimulating effect, and weakening them to such an extent, that they will cause very little trouble.

The Age also had a report that suggested that the steam launch was a success. It reported on the Albert Park Easter Regatta - On Saturday the ten-mile course was sailed, for the first time in several years, over the whole length of the lagoon, an improvement due to the successful operations of the weed cutting steam launch imported by the Albert Park committee of management providing a clear sailing area. The improvement made in this fine sheet of water was greatly appreciated by contesting yachtsmen. (The Age April 24, 1905)

In the end, the weed-cutting steamer wasn't designed so it could also be used for excursions, as Carlo had proposed, but it does appear that it was a success in removing the weeds.


I have created a short list of articles on the weed-cutting steamer from 1904 and 1905 on Trove. You can access the list, here. All the articles referenced here are on the list.