Carlo and the Lubecker Steam dredge

Photographs of Carlo are very rare but my research colleague and fellow Carlo Catani historian, Isaac Hermann, has just identified him in these two photographs of the Lubecker Steam Dredge.  Carlo Catani spent four months in Europe in 1912 and while he was away investigated various dredges and selected the Lubecker steam driven bucket dredge. I have written about the dredge here.

The photographs were taken, I believe, on May 21, 1914. According to the Lang Lang Guardian it was on this day that the dredge on the Lang Lang River was started in the presence of a representative official party, including Mr Hagelthorn (Minister of Public Works), Messrs Cattanach and Dethridge (members of the Water Supply Commission), with Mr Catani (Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department), Mr Kenyon (Chief Engineer of the Water Commission), Mr Drake (secretary Public Works Department), Mr Kermode (engineer Ports and Harbors), and Mr Grenlees (naval architect). There was also a representative attendance of landowners of the surrounding district and others interested in the starting of this machine, and the weather being pleasantly fine and sunny, those who attended had an enjoyable outing, as well as being greatly interested witnesses of the working of a machine which is the first of its kind to be put into operation in Australia.

The Lang Lang Guardian also reported that there had been a trial run on April 15, at which Carlo was present. You can read the full report in the Lang Lang Guardian of May 27, 1914, here.

The Lubecker Steam Dredge May 21, 1914. Carlo is second from right.

Channels and channel excavation in the Lang Lang (Koo-wee-rup) district. State Rivers and Water Supply Commission photographer. State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u866

This is a cropped section of the photo above. This is clearly Carlo on the right, with a set of plans in his hand. Compare the hat and the coat to this photograph of him, below,  at the load bearing test of the Anderson Street bridge, in 1899. Isaac and I have written about the Anderson Street bridge in our Victorian Collections story on Carlo Catani, here.

Carlo is in the front row, second from left - same style of hat and coat, as in the image above. Under his overcoat is his characteristic sac suit, read more of this here.

Test of Anderson St. Bridge, 1899. Photographer: S. Brearley. Image:  National Library of Australia

The Lubecker Steam Dredge May 21, 1914. Carlo is on the ladder.

Channels and channel excavation in the Lang Lang (Koo-wee-rup) district. State Rivers and Water Supply Commission photographer. State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u855

This is a cropped section of the photo above - that's Carlo on the ladder.

There are other photographs of the Lubecker Dredge taken on the same day at the State Library of Victoria, access them here.

What did Carlo wear?

What did Carlo wear on a daily basis? Let the Beechworth newspaper, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, tell us. They printed an article in the April 7, 1915 edition with the heading Our Melbourne Letter, sub-heading Marked Personalities. The Marked personality that they wrote about was Carlo Catani. They start by telling us about his employment and then continue on with this

When there is anything to be done which concerned the Public Works Department the short, natty figure of Mr Catani is sure to appear some time during its stages. In age he is somewhere in the middle fifties. His hair is greying, and his dark bushy eyebrows are getting slightly bushier. But he is the same alert Italian that he was when he came to Victoria a young man in the seventies. His friends say that his hair may change in colour, but his clothes never for he seems to be wearing the same sac suit of navy serge he wore years ago. He is a busy man, and a public servant must be devoted to his work. There is a story by his friends that when Mr Catani thinks his suit needs changing he puts his head in at  his tailors and says 'Another of the same' and in due time another of the same comes home. 
The article continues with an account of his arrival in Australia and his various achievements. You can read it here.

On the right is a photo of Carlo from The Australasian of February 8, 1908* of Carlo - a rare and clear image of him standing up - is he wearing a 'sac suit of navy serge'?


So that is what Carlo wore - a 'sac suit of navy serge'. What is a sac suit? There is a description and illustration here in this blog, Mens Clothing line in 1888
https://mensfashionin1888.weebly.com/ Apparently the sac suit was worn from the mid 1880s until the early part of the 20th century, so it seems that Carlo kept to the style that he liked, rather than be a fashionista. Serge, as a matter of interest, is a type of material with an even sided twill weave, similar to garbadine.

This illustration here is of a Scottish Tweed sac suit, advertised in the Sydney Stock and Station Journal on May 31, 1910. It cost 35 shillings. It was described as 'well cut with nothing extreme about it' and I feel that this description would most likely apply to Carlo's navy serge sac suits. Carlo's suit coat in the photo, above, looks a little different from the one on the left, as the suit coat appears to be more cut away.

*The photo from The Australasian of February 8, 1908 can be found here. I am grateful to my friend and fellow Carlo aficionado, Isaac Hermann, for finding this photo for me.