Plaque under the bust of Carlo Catani on the Clock Tower memorial at St Kilda. You will notice the the date of birth is April 25. There is more information on the memorial, here.
Photo: Isaac Hermann
The Clock Tower memorial, unveiled on August 22, 1932 on the Upper Esplanade at St Kilda has his birth date as April 25, 1852 (1). Carlo's daughter, Enid, was a guest at the unveiling - did she notice the date and if it was wrong did she comment? Or was it the correct birth date, so all was well?
Prahran Telegraph of August 19, 1916 - his date of birth is listed as April 28.
The Prahran Telegraph of August 19, 1916 had a lovely article (read it here) about Carlo, headlined Mr Carlo Catani - Engineer and Artist: an appreciation. In this detailed article about his life and work it states that he was born April 28, 1852. Now this article was written when Carlo was still alive, so is this more likely to be correct than the ADB entry and the memorial plaque, both created posthumously? I had a look through the next issue to see if Carlo had written a letter about the date of birth, but there wasn't one - most likely he was far too busy to write letters to the editor about such frivolous matters, even if the birth date was incorrect.
The Age April 30, 1917 - a report on Carlo's retirement on his 65th birthday on Saturday last, April 28.
We have another three sources that back up the April 28 date - the report, above, from The Age of April 30, where it says he reached 65 on Saturday last - April 28, which was the day he retired from the Victorian Public Service and the report from The Herald, below. Both these sources, like the Prahran Telegraph article were published, of course, when Carlo was still alive, which doesn't make it true, but I feel it gives the date some credibility. However, April 28 was a Saturday in 1917 - why would you retire on a Saturday, if you had already turned 65 on previous Sunday (the 22nd) or the previous Wednesday (the 25th)?
The Herald, April 28, 1917 - lists his birthday as April 28.
Further proof of Carlo's birthday is his illuminated farewell address (2), presented to him on May 10, 1917 at the Lands Department by Sir Alexander Peacock, Premier of Victoria, as a token of our pleasant association with you. The address is dated April 28, 1917, which was the day of his retirement, his 65th birthday.
Part of Carlo's illuminated farewell address presented to him on May 10, 1917 by the Premier of Victoria. The address was the work of Richard Fiddes Brown (1876 - 1936), of Messrs. Mason, Firth & McCutcheon, a printing and publishing firm.
State Library of Victoria, Manuscripts collection. Image: Isaac Hermann.
The Statistical Register of the Colony of Victoria for 1890 has a full list of public servants, which includes their date of birth, date of commencement of employment and more. This lists Carlo's birth date as April 28, 1852 which gives great credence to that date as the correct date.
Carlo's date of birth from the Statistical Register of the Colony of Victoria for 1890
What other sources are there? I would have thought his birth date would be on his Naturalisation papers, but they only list his age (see here). The only way to know for sure is to get his birth certificate from Florence - I will work on that, once I know how to go about it. In the meanwhile, due to overwhelming evidence, I believe April 28 is the correct date.
Footnotes
(1) Thanks to my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, for alerting me to this date discrepancy on the plaque on the Memorial Clock Tower.
(2) Isaac also reminded me that the illuminated farewell address was dated April 28, 1917 - the day of Carlo's retirement on his 65th birthday.
