Streets named Catani

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

https://www.melton.vic.gov.au/Services/Building-Planning-Transport/Roads-and-traffic/Road-management

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.

(7) http://zades.com.au/gandd/index.php/bellpen/towns1/drysdale/drstreet

Unnamed street in St Kilda given the name Cavell Street.

There are a few landmarks named after  Carlo such as the town of Catani, Lake Catani at Mount Buffalo, Catani Gardens in St  Kilda; the Boulevard in Ivanhoe was for a short time called Via Catani and Meredith Park near Colac was for  a while known as Catani Park. The other day I wondered what else might been proposed to have been named after Carlo, so I put the search term 'named after Catani' into Trove and I came up with this article from the Malvern Standard of  March 28, 1914, entitled An unnamed street - from Upper to Lower Esplanade, you can read it here.

The light-hearted article starts thus by the erection of Luna Park and the Palais de Danse, a new street has been formed from the St. Kilda Esplanade towards the sea shore. It goes on  It hasn't a name, and therefore stands a chance of  having no lawful visible means of support! It is a vagrant amongst streets, and it is therefore up to the St. Kilda Council to do a kindly act by giving it a name at the earliest opportunity. A splendid chance is here given for one of the city fathers to have his name immortalised by having the street named after him. It is an honor that anyone should covet. 

The journalist offers few helpful suggestions - such as naming it after Cr Hewison (1), Cr Molesworth (2), or Cr Love (3).  In fact, "Love street" would sound particularly appropriate. Again, why not name the street after the Mayor (Cr O'Donnell (4))? As for Cr Barnet (5), he is so unassuming that he would be one of the first to commit an act of self-sacrifice by allowing the honor to fall thickly upon someone else! "Catani street" wouldn't sound too badly, either! 

So, what did they do? Well, nothing at all for close to two years, which is a bit surprising because in the past Councillors everywhere have been extraordinarily keen to name things after themselves. It wasn't until December 1915 that the St Kilda Council came to a decision. The Malvern Standard of December 11, 1915 reported the roadway from the junction of the Upper and Lower Esplanades, adjacent to Luna Park, be called "Cavell" street. The recommendation was adopted. Cr Barnet mentioned that the name was suggested by the Town Clerk in honor of Nurse Edith Cavell, who was so cruelly shot by the Germans. Nurse Cavell (added Cr Barnet) was noted for her fondness for children, and he trusted that in the near future they would name one of their public reserves after her.

Edith Cavell, was born in 1865. She was nurse, served in the Great War and joined the Belgium Resistance. Nurse Cavell was arrested by the Germans, found guilty of treason and executed  by firing squad on October 12, 1915. There is a website on her life, Edith Cavell 1865-1915, see here and an interesting post about her, on the History Press website, see here.

I thought there might have been more streets in Victoria named in honor of Nurse Cavell at the time, but it seems St Kilda was the only council to honor her. In  November 1915,  a councillor to Ararat Council put a motion to rename High Street in honour of Nurse Cavell, but the motion failed to find a seconder.  There was also a  report that Richmond wanted to rename Hamburg Street to Cavell Street in June 1916, this never went ahead, but in 1940 when anti-German feelings were strong again, it was renamed to Cotter Street. There is a memorial to Nurse Cavell that was erected in Kings Domain on November 11, 1926. You can read about the monument on the Monument Australia website, here. The sculptor was Margaret Baskerville. Her other works include the statue of Thomas Bent, Victorian Premier, which is in Brighton and the James Cuming memorial at Footscray. You can read about her in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. Margaret Baskerville founded the Yarra Sculptors' Society in 1898, with others including Charles Douglas Richardson (1852 - 1932) whom she married in 1914. You can read more about him, here.

So, even though I am a big fan of Carlo and would be happy to have streets named everywhere after him,  in the end naming the small street after Nurse Edith Cavell was a great and rare tribute to her.

Edith Cavell memorial, Kings Domain. 

Sculptor: Margaret Baskerville. Unveiled November 11, 1926.

State Library of Victoria Image H94.145/11

Biographical footnotes:
(1) Hewison, Joseph Henry. Elected to St Kilda Council in 1910 and Mayor 1914/1915. Died in 1923 aged 56.  You can read his obituary in the Prahran Telegraph, here.
(2) Molesworth, Robert Arthur.  Died 1920, aged 76. He was a serving Councillor when he died. There is an account of his funeral, here.
(3) Love,  John Jeremiah. Mayor of St Kilda 1915/1916.   Died 1937, aged 69.  You can read his obituary, here. I have a bit of an interest in Church Architecture and Cr Love's son Allan was an architect with the firm of Scarborough, Robertson and Love and they designed, amongst other buildings, the Presbyterian Church in Elwood which opened in 1939.*
(4) O'Donnell, Edward. Mayor of St Kilda six times. O'Donnell Gardens in St Kilda is named for him and Cr O'Donnell unveiled the bust of Carlo Catani on August 22, 1932, which is at the foot of the Catani Clock Tower on the Upper Esplanade. Died in 1933, aged 88. You can read his obituary, here, and a short account of his life, here, in the Friends of St Kilda Cemetery newsletter.
(5)  Barnet, Henry Florian. Mayor of St Kilda 1916/1917. Died 1933, aged 74. You can read his obituary, here.

* I have to thank my research colleague, Isaac, for telling me this interesting snippet of information.

I have created a short list of articles on Trove about the naming of Cavell Street, you can access it, here. All the articles referenced here, are on the list.