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.

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.

A portrait of Carlo Catani

I went to a meeting of the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society last night and I am sitting there during the meeting looking at the pictures they have on the wall and  I think 'that looks like Carlo' and I have a closer look as soon as the meeting was over and it was Carlo! To say I was excited is an understatement.

This is the portrait  of Carlo. The Berwick Pakenham Historical Society meet in the old Shire Offices in Pakenham and this is hanging in the Council Chambers which has a really high vaulted ceiling and the portrait was about fifteen feet from the floor and I only had my phone, so it was hard to take  a good photo. Thank you to Paul Caine for improving and adjusting the image. There is a photo at the bottom of this post which shows all the frame.

This is the caption  - 

C. CATANI, C.E.

Late Chief Engineer

Public Works Department

Presented to the Iona & District Pioneers Association by

Geo. Clowser, J.P. Secretary for Public Works

6 July 1923

I knew about the existence of this portrait as I had come across a reference to it in Trove

George Clowser presents a portrait of Carlo Catani to the Pioneers' Association of Iona.

The Argus, December 1 1923  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1982329

The short newspaper report reads - At the annual banquet of the Pioneers' Association of Iona an enlarged  framed photograph of the late Mr Catani was presented to the hall committee by Mr G. Clowser, secretary for public works, who was formerly pay-master of the settlement when the swamp was first opened up, and Mr Catani was the engineer. Mr O. Kavanagh (president) accepted the gift on behalf on the committee. It is interesting that the date on the portrait appears to be 6  July 1923 and the article is from December 1923, so if the newspaper report is correct it took a few months for the portrait to actually be presented.  George Clowser died  very shortly after he made this presentation at Iona, he passed away January 22, 1924 at only 61 years of age, so perhaps his ill health caused the delay in the presentation. As the pay-master for the Public Works Department, George had a connection to many of Carlo Catani's project and obviously held him in high esteem. I plan to do a blog post on George Clowser in the future.

The next question is why is this portrait at the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society? We will start with a short history of the Society. The Berwick Pakenham Historical Society was formed in 1962 as the Historical Society of Berwick Shire and when the Berwick Shire split in 1973 to form the City of Berwick and the Shire of Pakenham they changed their name to the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society. The old Berwick Shire  covered the area from the Dandenong Creek all the way east along the railway line through to Bunyip, north to Narre Warren North, Harkaway, Cockatoo and Gembrook etc and south of the line to a small section of the old Koo Wee Rup Swamp - Nar Nar Goon South, Cora Lynn, Vervale and Iona. Iona, of course, being the location where George Clowser presented the portrait.

Iona was a Village Settlement on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. The Village Settlement concept was introduced to the newly drained Swamp by Carlo Catani.  The 1890s was a time of economic depression in Australia and various Government Schemes were implemented to provide employment and to stop the drift of the unemployed to the city. One of these schemes was the Village Settlement Scheme. The aim was for the settlers to find employment outside the city and to boost their income from the sale of produce from their farms. Under this Scheme, all workers had to be married, accept a 20 acre (8 hectares) block and spend a fortnight working on the drains for wages and a fortnight improving their block and maintaining adjoining drains. The villages were Koo Wee Rup, Five Mile, Cora Lynn, Vervale, Iona and Yallock. The first 103 blocks under this scheme were allocated in April 1893.  

Iona soon developed into a small community and the Pioneers' Hall was opened on April 26, 1895 (1) and it was in this Hall that the portrait of Carlo Catani resided. I  have written a history of the Pioneers' Hall, here. I am unsure when the Hall was demolished - maybe the 1940s or a bit earlier.  Anyway,  my theory is that the portrait was stored somewhere after the hall was demolished and donated to the Historical Society of Berwick Shire after its formation in 1962.

The Pioneers' Hall at Iona where the portrait of Carlo resided after  it was presented by George Clowser. 

The Advocate, November 16, 1922  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page20363246

The Iona Pioneers' Hall Committee. Mr O. Kavanagh, who was President of the hall committee is seated in the middle in the front (see footnote 2 for the other names) 

It was Mr Kavanagh who accepted the portrait of Carlo from George Clowser.

The Advocate, November 16, 1922  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page20363246

Who was the photographer? I don't know that but the same portrait was published in the The Herald of February 15, 1917, see below. The paper had a tribute to Carlo, who had just announced his retirement from the Public Works Department, read it here.  The headline of the tribute was Works of use and beauty will be his monument. He brought Italy's charm to bear on service here.

Portrait of Carlo Catani.

The Herald February 15, 1917. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242453435

Coming across this framed portrait of Carlo at Berwick Pakenham Historical Society has also solved another mystery as we have this same photograph at the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society and I didn't know where it came from as it seemed to be the only portrait of Carlo in a public collection.  I have used the Koo Wee Rup photo before in this blog (and some of my other blogs)  and more recently it has been used by CO. AS. IT, the Italian Historical Society in their exhibition Carlo Catani: Visionary, Creator, Genius, which was on display from December 2018 until March 2019 and  the City of Port Phillip on their interpretive sign in the Catani Gardens, see here. The Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society was formed in 1974 and one of the co-founders, Jack Mills, was a very good photographer and I believe he would have taken a photo of the framed portrait and reproduced it for the Koo Wee Rup collection. 

This is the version of the photograph which we have at the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.

My original photo, you can see all the frame. 

Footnotes

(1)  Call of the Bunyip: history of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk, 1847-1900 by Denise Nest (Bunyip History Committee, 1900)

(2) The men in the hall committee photograph are - back row - left to right - W. Kraft, J. Dowd, W. Browne and C. Grummich. Front row seated - R. Grummich, O. Kavanagh and C.J. Donald. Source: The Advocate November 16, 1922, see here.

Is this Carlo Catani?

I came across this photo the other day and as soon as I saw it, I thought - this has got to be Carlo.  It was taken at the works to divert the course of the Yarra in 1897 to help prevent flooding. You can see a map of the Yarra River Works, here. I am convinced that the man is Carlo Catani - same build, same bowler hat I have seen in other photos;  he had a beard and a moustache like the man in the photo does;  he wore that cutaway style jacket and he was clearly involved with the Yarra River works. Carlo was a very hands-on engineer and it would have been just like him to check out the progress. If it isn't Carlo, then who is it?

Yarra diversion works, Melbourne, 1897. Photographer: John Henry Harvey

State Library of Victoria Accession no: H2009.100/66

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.

Carlo Catani - a short biography

The town of Catani, in West Gippsland,  is named after Carlo Catani who was one of the Engineers in charge of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Drainage scheme. I thought it would be interesting to find out a bit about the man behind the name.

Carlo was born on April 28, 1852 in Florence in Italy. He was the son of Enrico Catani, who was a merchant, and Augusta Geri. He was educated as a Civil Engineer at the Technical Institute of Florence. Carlo and his two friends, Pietro Baracchi and Ettore Checchi, arrived in Melbourne, via New Zealand, in September 1876.

Carlo Catani

Image from the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

The trio were employed as draftsmen by the Department of Lands and Survey. In 1880, Catani was registered as a Surveyor and in 1882 he and Checchi joined the Public Works Department as Engineering draftsmen. By 1886, they were both assistant Engineers. Checchi (1853 - 1946) went on to become an Engineer with the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission when it was established in 1906. Baracchi (1851 - 1926)  became the Acting Government Astronomer for Victoria and later joined the Commonwealth Government as an Astrologist and Meteorologist.  Catani was promoted to the Head of his Section in 1892. In 1893, the Public Works Department resumed the control of the Swamp drainage works from private contractors and Catani was appointed as the Engineer. Catani implemented the Village Settlement Scheme. Under this Scheme, all workers had to be married, accept a 20 acre block and spend a fortnight working on the drains for wages and a fortnight improving their block and maintaining adjoining drains. The villages were Koo-Wee-Rup, Five Mile, Cora Lynn, Vervale, Iona and Yallock.

Catani was also responsible for the first mechanical equipment used on the Swamp. He had ordered the Lubecker Steam Bucket Dredge in 1912 and it arrived in 1913 at a cost of £4,700. It weighed 80 tons and had a capacity of 61 cubic metres per hour. A labourer at the time dug about 8 cubic metres per day. It was used on the Lang Lang River, then on the Main Drain, Cardinia Creek and Yallock Drain.

Catani’s other work with the Public Works Department included flood mitigation works on the Yarra River. He was responsible for planting the elms, oaks and poplars along Alexandra Avenue. He designed the Morell bridge. The laying out and planting of the Alexandra Gardens was also carried out under Catani’s direction. His last major project was the reclamation of the St Kilda foreshore. The gardens he designed at the end of Fitzroy Street were named after him as was the Catani arch bridge on the St Kilda foreshore. There is a bronze bust of Carlo Catani on the Clock tower on the St Kilda esplanade. Contemporaries of Catani said that he 'saw possibilities to which others were blind' and that he had 'unfailing courtesy and a kindly nature.'

Carlo was naturalised in 1892. He married Catherine Hanley of Port Fairy on May 18 1886 at the Free Church of England in Fitzroy, by the Reverend Nathaniel Kinsman,  They had six children, Edoardo or Edward (b.1886 and d.1887), Elvira May (1888-1947), Enrico Ferdinando (b.1891-killed in Action in France in 1916), Ettore Luigi (1893-1967), Eugenia Anastasia (1895-1915) and Enid Marguerite (1899-1950). Catani died July 20,  1918 at the age of 66 and is buried at the Brighton cemetery. Catherine died in 1925, aged 68. None of the children married.

I looked at Enrico's Military Record at the National Archives of Australia and found that he was Killed in Action on July 29 1916. Enrico was a Second Lieutenant, had served at Gallipoli before serving in France. He was buried at Cemetery Post Station, near Pozieres. However in a interesting and poignant twist, in 1932 the body of an 'unknown' soldier was exhumed from another location and this was identified through the identification disc and other personal effects to be Enrico Catani. There are a series of letters in Enrico's Military file between the Australian War Graves Service and Enid Catani regarding this discovery. In the end Enrico was buried again in the Serre Road Cemetery near Beaumont Hamel, in France. The body of the Officer, who was initially thought to be Enrico, now has a headstone stating that he is an 'unknown Australian Lieutenant'. In one of the letters Enid sent to the Government regarding the discovery of her brother's body, Enid said that her surviving brother, Ettore, had never recovered from the shock of Enrico's death and is under the care of the Master-in Equity of the Supreme Court. The Master-in-Equity looked after people who did not have the legal capacity to care for themselves. It sad to think that effectively, the family lost two sons to the First World War.

Most of this information comes from the article on Carlo Catani, written by Ronald McNicoll, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, access it here.


I originally wrote this post for the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society newsletter and it also appears on my  'work' blog http://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com