My family connection to Carlo!

My great-grandfather, James Rouse, selected land on Murray Road at Cora Lynn in 1903 - the lease was dated July 1. On June 25, 1909 there was a Land Board Hearing at Garfield to take evidence in connection with the many complaints of high valuation in this district.

Report of the Land Board Inquiry which sat at Garfield on June 25, 1909,

Bunyip and Garfield Express July 2, 1909

James Rouse was one of the sixty settlers who gave evidence and he said that he had spent more than £100 on the land and had not got more than tucker in return. He asked for a five year suspension of payments and a reduction in capital value. The Land Board came to a decision a year later, on June 1, 1910 - the result was a reduction in capital value to £6 and, I believe, a three year suspension of payments. However, of more interest is the fact that Carlo Catani was one of the officials sitting on the Land Board. That means that my great grandfather must have actually met and spoken to Carlo Catani. To say that I am excited would be the understatement of the century, I am absolutely exhilarated by this family connection to Carlo!!

A report in the Weekly Times commenting on the delay the settlers had in getting a decision from the Land Board about the revaluation of their land.

Weekly Times  May 28, 1910

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221811532

Land Board report on James Rouse, June 1909.

4817/130.383 James Rouse Public Office of Victoria Land Selection and Correspondence files

VPRS 5357 Consignment number: P0000 Unit number:3659

This is the page from Great-Grandpa's Land Selection file at the Public Records Office of Victoria - and there is Carlo's signature - bottom right. We have Carlo Catani, P. Campbell and A.A. Peverill.  The trio were 'gazetted' as a Land Classification Board in the May 18, 1910 Government Gazette (see below).  Peter Campbell was a surveyor. The alliteratively named Augustus Albert Peverill, is listed in the 1909 Electoral rolls at 142 Williams Road, Prahran  with an occupation as Civil Servant. 

Victorian Government Gazette  May 18, 1910

Not sure how the appointments to the Land Classification Boards worked, Carlo also had an appointment 'gazetted' in 1902, see here.

James Rouse - the man who met Carlo!

This is James Rouse, my great-grandfather, above.  He was born July 26, 1862 at Stratford on Avon in England and died at Cora Lynn on August 29, 1939. He had married Annie Glover of Clydebank (Victoria) on February 2, 1892 and they had five children.  Sadly Annie, born July 7, 1865 died on February 7, 1899 aged 33. She was pre-deceased by their two daughters Ruth and Annie. Another daughter Emily died in tragic circumstances  - she was found drowned in the Yarra on August 24, 1919, aged 25. Lucy (born September 2, 1895) died October 27, 1981. Finally, my grandfather Joseph Albert Rouse was born at Clydebank on November 9, 1892 and died September 3, 1954. Joe had come with his Dad to Cora Lynn, Emily and Lucy remained in Clydebank or Sale (not sure where) for a few years with some aunties.

The mystery of the Stanford Fountain bluestone seats

I'll admit that this is only a very tenuous connection to Carlo, but it is such a great story it's worth telling. In 1872, a fountain was erected near Parliament House in Spring Street in Melbourne. It is in a reserve which had been severed from the Parliamentary Reserve in 1863 as a site for the Burke and Wills statue, and is bounded by Spring Street, Macarthur Street and Carpentaria Place. Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills and their exploration party were the first explorers to cross the continent from south to north, leaving Melbourne on August 20, 1860 and reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria on February 9, 1861 - hence the name of Carpentaria Place. As we all know, they never made it back. A statue, by Charles Summers (1825 - 1878), was made to honour the men and erected, not in the reserve, but on the corner of Russell and Collins Street in April 1865.

This 1872 engraving shows the four bluestone seats, an integral part of the fountain design. There are some sources that say there were originally eight seats, I have addressed that issue further down.

Fountain designed and executed by William Stanford. Artist: Albert Charles Cooke. Engraver: Winston

Published in The Illustrated Australian News February 29, 1872.

State Library of Victoria Image IAN29/02/72/56

The fountain erected around May 1872 was of  bluestone and was created by William Stanford, who was a prisoner at Pentridge at the time. It had been at Pentridge, since it was completed, around September 1871.   The Illustrated Australian News of February 29, 1872 reported on the fountain and also had the illustration of it, above - This work has been designed and executed by Mr. William Stanford, who, for the last seventeen and a half years, has been an inmate of the penal establishment, having been therein immured from the early age of fifteen. It is, therefore, unnecessary to add that he is not merely self-taught in the usual acceptation of the term, but it is an actual fact that he literally never saw a work of art, worthy of the name, previous to his recent liberation from his long captivity.You can read the full article here and more of his life story in his obituary, here.  There are many reports of his life in various newspapers - they differ a bit  -  so here's one version - Stanford had been sentenced in 1853, when he was 15 (some reports say he was 13) for being involved in bushranging, then released and was caught stealing horses, so returned to gaol, but was pardoned by the Government  after he created the fountain and opened a monumental yard in Prahran. One article says that it is not surprising that William Stanford's talent was recognised by prison authorities and others. He was given lessons by Charles Summers (born in 1825), the first artist to practise sculpture in Melbourne, and creator of the Burke and Wills statue. (The Age, March 19, 1949) This makes it rather fitting that Stanford's fountain was located in the space designed for the Burke and Wills statue.

How great is this photo? It is titled, Fountain in the Parliament Reserve, Melbourne.  It is from the State Library of New South Wales collection and is dated c. 1872 -  c.1878,  so not long after the fountain was erected in Spring Street and you can see three of the bluestone seats that originally surrounded the fountain.

Views of Victoria and N.S.W., ca. 1872-1878 - photographic album, Bequeathed by D. S. Mitchell, 1907. State Library of New South Wales Image FL1059770   http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110318895

On January 5, 1933 there was an article in The Herald (read it here) with the headline Mystery of the Missing Fountain Seats - 8 tons of basalt vanishes. The author, B.M.G. writes -
The graceful fountain carved by the prisoner Stanford was originally designed to be surrounded by four seats, each carved in bluestone in a decorative design conforming with the general scheme of the fountain. The seats were part of the whole; the fountain is incomplete without them. Stanford carried out the work on the four seats as part of his conception. They were completed and placed in position in the small open reserve in front of the Old Treasury buildings. They were there for many years, each separated from the coping of the fountain by a few feet. They were certainly in position in 1907.
Between that year and 1924 they had disappeared into thin air— a matter of six or eight tons of solid basalt. Nobody saw them being removed and nobody knows what became of them.

The next day The Herald had a follow up article - Officials of the Public Works Department are unable to throw any light on the mystery of the four stone seats which have been missing for years from around the fountain in the reserve beside the Old Treasury Building. The Public Works Department attends to the reserve.

The day after, on January 7, The Herald published this photograph with the head line There's no doubt the seats were there! But the Mystery remains unsolved.  Some of the article reads - The  mystery of the disappearance of four ponderous seats from the fountain between Parliament House and the Old Treasury Building has not been solved, but the accompanying photograph should remove any possible doubt that they really were there in years gone by.

The  Stanford Fountain photo published in The Herald on January 7, 1933 proving that the seats did exist.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243190614

This article from January 7 mentions interviews with some 'older public servants' regarding the seats - Like the Secretary for Lands (Mr Fricke), many of the older public servants remember the seats distinctly. But they cannot fix the time when they last saw them any more definitely than that it was "many years ago." They stated that about 30 years ago, when the seats were in their position around the fountain, the garden was fenced. Later the fence was removed, and the lay-out of the garden was changed. It was possible that the rearrangement of the garden was carried out when the present King, as Duke of York, visited Australia. But they could not be certain of this.

The improvement of most of the gardens around the Treasury and Parliamentary buildings was carried out under the supervision of the late Mr Carlo Catani, who was then Chief Engineer for Public Works. The early records of this department might reveal some trace of the seats, but so far no examination of them has been made.

That is, in fact, the only connection to Carlo Catani in this story, but he would clearly have known of the seats, after all he worked at 2 Treasury Place, a very short stroll from the fountain. Did he ever sit on one of the bluestone seats, while he was  eating his lunch or perhaps just getting some fresh air before returning to his many and onerous duties? As  a matter of interest, Mr Fricke, the Secretary for Lands, is photographed with Carlo in a group photograph of the officers of the Public Works Department, taken by Algernon Darge and published in Punch on June 20, 1912, see it here.

A Letter to the Editor on January 11, 1933  from Mr E. Wilson Dobbs of Caulfield, confirms they weren't there in 1927 and they are also not in a photograph published in Isaac Selby's "Memorial History of Melbourne" which was published in 1924.

In the end The Herald could offer no solution to the mystery of the bluestone seats. As  a matter of interest, one report (Weekly Times, May 4, 1872) says that the seats were in fact to have been pedestals for the reception of marble statues, but the Government refused to supply so expensive a material. How grand would that have been?

You can see one of the bluestone seats (or pedestals)  on the right. Beautiful photo, it's a shame the photographer is unknown, so we can't give them credit.

Stanford Fountain, 1910. 

Harold Paynting collection, State Library of Victoria Image H2009.60/52

I have included this photo as I have a crop of it below - it shows General Gordon's statue, with the Stanford Fountain, behind on the left - showing only four bluestone seats.

Spring St. from the Treasury steps Melbourne, c. 1891 - c. 1897. Photographer: J.W. Lindt

State Library of Victoria Image H2009.48/23

Was the fountain surrounded by four bluestone seats or eight bluestone seats? The Victorian Heritage Database entry on Gordon Reserve says that there was originally eight seats, but doesn't list any sources (read the report, here) The 1872 illustration looks like it had an octagonal base and according to The Illustrated Australian News of February 29, 1872  there were also eight drinking fountains, which form the principal ornaments of the lower basin: these are zinc castings of a complex character, consisting of eagles standing on shells, in the act of seizing lizards. So were there eight seats to match the eight eagles, which were cast by the talented Mr Stanford? If so, why do people only remember there being four seats in 1933? Had four already disappeared, pre-1907 when The Herald states the four seats were certainly in position? I find this unlikely, I believe there were only ever four seats, not eight. The photo from the 1870s, Fountain in the Parliament Reserve, Melbourne, only shows three seats, the fourth being obscured by the fountain; the photo from the 1890s - Spring St. from the Treasury steps (above, and with cropped version below) - clearly only shows four seats. Happy to be proven wrong, but where is the evidence that there were originally eight seats?

This photo from the 1890s, clearly shows only four bluestone seats surrounding the fountain, and I believe there were only ever four seats, not eight. See the original photo on the State Library of Victoria website, here.

Cropped  version of - Spring St. from the Treasury steps Melbourne, c. 1891 - c. 1897. Photographer: J.W. Lindt

State Library of Victoria Image H2009.48/23

Gordon Reserve was formally named in 1961. It also has also a statue by Hamo Thornycroft (erected in 1889) of Major-General Charles Gordon who died at Khartoum in 1885 and a statue of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon erected in 1932. This statue was done by Paul Montford, who also did the Carlo Catani bust at the foot of the Clock tower in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda. You can read Montford's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. The poet's statue replaced the Eight Hours Day Memorial that was erected in 1890 and then moved to its current location intersection of Russell and Victoria Streets.  This information, and the information at the top of the post about the severance of the reserve for the Burke and Wills statue comes from Melbourne's Historic Public Gardens: a management and conservation guide by Rex Swanson. (City of Melbourne, 1984.)

The Victorian Heritage Database also lists two other items of significance in Gordon Reserve - a series The women's underground public toilet is one of a group of eleven such facilities built by the City of Melbourne between 1902 and 1939. Underground toilets were then thought to be more discreet than street level toilets, as they were out of direct public view. This group is now unique in Australia.  The other feature are the Canary Palms - The five Canary Island date palm trees that can now be found at the site were planted in the early 20th Century when the plantings were rationalised and the link fences were installed that delineate the site and cordon off the General Gordon Memorial. This coincides with the time that Carlo Catani worked on the Treasury Gardens (see here) and he was an advocate of palm trees, so it is possible that they were planted under his direction. The Victorian Heritage Database citation can be found, here.

This is the fountain taken in 1949. Photographer: Colin Caldwell.

State Library of Victoria Image  H84.276/1/4C

I have created a short list of articles on Trove, on the missing seats and the Sandford fountain, you can access it here. All the articles referenced here are on the list.

Carlo goes to Europe and this 'Apostle of the Beautiful returns with his head full of ideas and his notebook bulging out with sketches'

On June 4, 1912 Carlo Catani boarded the Macedonia for London. The Macedonia was built in 1904 by Harland, Wolff Ltd in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (or P. & O. as we know it), it was 11,000 tons, a twin funneled steam ship. It was also a Royal Mail Steamer, authorised to carry the mail for the Post Office and on Carlo's trip also had an unusual and valuable cargo - £360,100 of gold in sovereigns and bullion.

The Register (Adelaide) June 5, 1912.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59069464

Carlo was a well known man and various papers had reports on his trip telling us that he is visiting Italy -  the land of his birth; Italy - his native country or Italy -  where he is making a short visit to his own people. This was the first time he had been back to Italy since his arrival in Victoria in 1876. The Public Works Department held a bon voyage party where Mr. Edgar, Minister for Public Works, eulogistically referred to the manner in which Mr. Catani had fulfilled his duties and presented him with a travelling bag and rug. (Geelong Advertister, May 31, 1912) Another function was held by the St. Kilda shore committee and a number of St. Kilda councillors gave a complimentary dinner to Mr. C. Catani at the Savoy Cafe (The Age Jun 1, 1912)

The papers were also predicting glorious things for Carlo on his return - the Weekly Times of June 1, 1912 said that it is probable that when the National Roads Board is constituted Mr Catani will be chairman and Punch May 30, 1912 said that  possibly when his furlough ends will become next Inspector-General of Works, a post which he has earned by much fruitful service. Neither of these happened - the Inspector General of Public Works position held by William Davidson  was abolished when Mr Davidson retired in September 1912. I believe the National Roads Board that was referred to may have been the Country Roads Board, the Legislation for which came into effect on January 1, 1913. There was conjecture that Carlo would be Chairman of the CRB, read about this here.

R.M.S Macedonia - the ship that took Carlo to London in June 1912

http://passengersinhistory.sa.gov.au/node/930761

What did he do when he was overseas? The Ballarat Star of October 15, 1912 has this report Mr C. Catani, Chief Engineer of Public Works, who has just returned from a four months tour in Europe, returned to duty yesterday, and was cordially welcomed back by Mr. Edgar, Minister for Public Works, and the officers of the department. In the course of a chat, Mr Catani said that he was very much impressed with the beautification and cleanliness of Berlin. The gardens were charming, and were most carefully looked after. While in England and Scotland he was unfortunate in encountering unpleasant weather. With Edinburgh as a city he was much pleased. He had brought back a few ideas with him, which he hoped he would be able to use for the benefit and delight of the public. Reports regarding dredge building, and others matters are to be submitted to the Government by Mr Catani.

It was obviously one of Carlo's projects to source a dredge -  Mr. Catani, chief engineer of the Public Works department, was deputed to secure a dredge in Germany, so that the main canal could be dredged from Cora Lynn to the sea (The Age, October 12, 1912) and the dredge he acquired was the Lubecker Steam dredge which arrived around June 1913, read about it here There is an account of other dredges that he looked at when he was overseas in Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XVI 1916 (14)  - read it here on the University of Melbourne Digitised Collections page.

Carlo also brought back some seeds when he was overseas (clearly no biosecurity concerns back in 1912). The Malvern Standard of February 15, 1919 had an enthusiastic article about the beauty of the St Kilda foreshore  and how the Esplanade is clad in a raiment of superlative finery that has perhaps never yet been equalled. It also mentioned that Some pittosporum have their origination from seed brought from Monte Carlo by the late Mr. Catani. A previous article from 1913 about the beautification of the Port Melbourne foreshore, had Carlo  praising A species of pittosporum, known as the Cheniese, which was illustrated growing close to the water's edge, was also loudly praised and said to be suitable. He also suggested the planting of tree palms, and said he had plenty of these in Melbourne. (Port Melbourne Standard, April 12, 1913) Whether they were planted in the end at Port Melbourne, I don't know, but the St Kilda ones were due to be planted in 1914 according to the Prahran Telegraph of September 6, 1913 -  The article compared St Kilda to various resorts overseas - Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo and Naples - Yet at Cannes will be seen a hedge of pittosphorum cinensis actually growing most luxuriously in the sands of the foreshore, a living rampart to screen the promenaders from the sea spray, flanked, along the boulevard, by magnificent palms, sometimes forty or fifty feet in height. Next season similar pittosphorum cinensis, the seeds of which have been imported, will be planted out at St. Kilda.   The article also said that the St Kilda Foreshore Trust has had the great advantage of the advice and assistance of Mr. C Catani, chief engineer of the State Public Works Department, a gentleman with an artistic taste for landscape gardening, an enthusiast in the adornment of public parks, who has only recently returned from a trip to Europe, in the course of which he collected many fresh ideas for transplantation in Victoria.

The plant on the left, which is casting its shadow on the Catani Archway, is a pittosporum - is it a pittosporum cinensis, perhaps grown by a  seed brought back by Carlo from Monte Carlo in 1912? I like to think it is! Plus we see three palms of which Carlo was so fond.

Photo: Isaac Hermann.

Finally, the Prahran Telegraph of October 19, 1912 had a  light-hearted look at the proposed construction of the breakwater at St Kilda to protect the yacht club - this was a Public Works Department project and they had this to say about Carlo's trip abroad - Catani, the apostle of the beautiful, is back from Europe with his head full of ideas and his notebook bulging out with sketches, and is to put in hand at once the work of enclosing the sacred waters of the golden strands whereon the white wings wander.  I wonder what happened to the notebook?

I have created a list of newspaper articles on Trove on Carlo's trip to Europe,  you can access it here. All the articles referenced here are on this list, which also includes two web sites with information about the R.M.S. Macedonia.

What did Carlo earn?

Carlo Catani was an extraordinarily busy man as Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department of Victoria and his design and engineering skills were much in demand, so what did he earn for all this work? Well, it turns out that he just got the normal Victorian Public Service salary.

The Age reported on February 25, 1910 that at a meeting of the Executive Council held yesterday, Mr. C. Catani, engineer-of roads, bridges and harbor works, was promoted to be chief engineer of the Public Works department. His present salary is £600 a year. Class B 2, to which he has been raised, carries a salary ranging from a minimum of £560 to a maximum of £650.

The Age February 25, 1910.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196082294

So it appears that officers in Class B 2, could be paid as much as £650 per annum, but The Argus on the same day said that  Carlo's appointment came with  a salary of £600 a year and that No increase was made in Mr. Catani's salary, so he had taken on additional responsibilities for no extra money.

Carlo must have eventually had a salary increase as Punch reported on October 24, 1912 on some political gossip about the appointment of the new Agent-General in London and  Other important State appointments are contingent on the carrying of the Main Roads Bill this session. The Chairman of the Main Roads Board is to receive £800 a year. He will almost certainly be Mr. Catani, who has been thinking out the engineering problems of the Public Works Department for many years, and yet gets only £650 a year, a remuneration which the average successful engineer in private practice would scorn. But that is the way with Victorian Governments. They stop short with their salaries for just those valuable expert officers whose brain work means success or disaster to the State's largest public undertakings. Ministers get so little themselves - only from £1000 to £1200 - that they cannot see that it pays the public to pay handsomely for the best expert knowledge.

From this we learn that Carlo was now on £650 per annum, the maximum for Class B 2 Public Servant; that Government Ministers earnt between £1000 to £1200;  that Carlo should have been paid more and the Punch considered that he would be a suitable Chairman  of the Main Roads Board, which paid £800 per annum. Did Carlo ever apply for the Chairman's role? Returning to Punch, in January 1913 they reported that he had declined the position. It may have been because his own position was reclassified in late 1912 and that his salary increased to around £800 per annum (Bendigo Independent).   In the end the organization was known as the Country Roads Board and the first chairman was William Calder (1860 - 1928).  The Calder Highway is named for Mr Calder and you can read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here.

Punch October 24, 1912

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175803175

When the role of Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department was created the role of Chief Architect was also created. The Herald of May 4, 1910 reported that Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. Watson, a senior architect of the Public Works Department, has been appointed Chief Architect of that Department at a salary of £560 a year.  This was £40 per annum less than Carlo. Was Lieutenant-Colonel George William Watson worried about this? Don't know, but he sadly died in July 1915 and Samuel Charles Brittingham was appointed acting Chief Architect. Due to the War no permanent appointments were being made. Mr Brittingham retired in 1922.

Of course, we do not know how Carlo spent his money, but he obviously used some of it to support community groups and works in St Kilda. This article, below, published after he died, said that he had voluntarily worked for St Kilda Foreshore Committee for 12 years and had even lent the group  £1,400 to  help it continue it work - that's two years worth of salary - a generous amount of money.  Carlo did not leave a will but his probate papers valued his estate at just over £3,645 - £1,448 in real estate and £2,245 in personal property.

Carlo's generosity. The memorials to Carlo came  a bit later - the gardens designed by Carlo on the St Kilda foreshore were named after him in 1927 and the Memorial Clock Tower was unveiled in 1932.

Prahran Telegraph  August 17, 1918

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75258567

An article published in The Age of November 25, 1925 was scathing in reporting this matter, of Carlo having to lend money to the Foreshore Committee in order that they could carry out their beautification works.

A report mentioned Carlo's generous loan to the St Kilda Foreshore Committee. Sadly, the reported  short sighted, unenterprising state of mind that existed in the Government at the time, still exists in Governments today - so no change there.
The Age of November 25, 1925
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155677079

To put these salaries that I have mentioned above into perspective the 1915 Commonwealth Year* book has lists of average wages for the time and a metal worker such as a blacksmith earnt about £170 per annum and and a general labourer about £124. A male shop assistant or clerk was on £91 to £130 and a female on £54 to £78. Clearly, compared to the average man in the street, Carlo was doing well, however given the massive contribution that he made to Victoria and the esteem and affection with which he was held then  I must agree with the Punch writer that They [the Victorian Government] stop short with their salaries for just those valuable expert officers whose brain work means success or disaster to the State's largest public undertakings. 

* Access the Commonwealth Year books, here. Click on Past & Future releases.

I have created  a list of articles on Trove about Carlo's salary - access it here. All articles referenced here are on the list.

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

The City of Port Phillip honours Carlo Catani

In the past few months, the City of Port Phillip have erected three interpretive signs connected to Carlo Catani - one in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda, one at the Catani Archway and the other at the site of Carlo's now demolished house in Blessington Street in St Kilda.  Well done to the City of Port Phillip for recognising and celebrating their history!

This is the sign in the Catani Gardens

This is the wording - the photo was supplied by the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society, of which I am President. Ironically, there is no memorial for Carlo on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp unless you count the Swamp town of Catani, which is of course, named for him. However, some sort of memorial is on my list of projects for this year!

This is the Catani Archway in the Catani Gardens - the plaque, mounted on a bluestone plinth, is on the left.

This is the Catani Archway plaque

The Catani Archway plaque includes, the text, above and the image, below.

In 1912, the Catani family home, Glenluce, in Elm Street in Armadale was demolished to make way for the duplication of the railway line between South Yarra and Caulfield, read about this here, and the family moved to Wyndham, 39 Blessington Street,  St Kilda. The house was sold by the family after Catherine Catani died in August 1925. The house has been demolished, the street has been re-numbered (that's why the plaque is at No. 61) and  a block of flats was built on the site, maybe in the 1930s.

This is a close-up of the plaque at Blessington Street.

The Argus, August 21, 1926

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3803792

Wyndham was put up for Auction on Saturday, September 18, 1926. If only I could go back in time, I'd buy the house and make it a permanent shrine to Carlo. Sadly, we don't have  a photograph of Wyndham but this auction notice has a description of the house -  very nice brick villa containing nine rooms, including large dining room. All the rooms are in perfect order. The house is particularly well built and on good foundations...there is also a brick garage with cement floor for 2 cars. Seems too good to have been pulled down and have flats erected on the site however I guess the location situated  in one of the best positions on St Kilda, being near the tram and a splendid shopping centre, sealed it's fate like so many other beautiful houses.

Images: The two photos of the Catani Gardens interpretive sign were taken by me. The four images of the Catani Archway and the two images of  the Blessington Street sign were taken by Isaac Hermann, thanks Isaac!

Postcards of Carlo's Playgrounds

There was an article in The Argus of January 4, 1926 (read it here) with the headlines - Beautifying Melbourne - Our debt to Mr Catani - Maker of Playgrounds

The Argus of January 4, 1926 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3727092

Traditionally, when people visited 'Playgrounds' or recreational or beauty spots, they sent a postcard, so I thought we would have  a look at some postcards, connected to places which Carlo was involved with. There are a lot of postcards on the State Library of Victoria (SLV) website, but I am just limiting this to cards which were actually sent through the post. These three cards were all sent to  Miss M. Prisk, 116 Windermere Street,  Ballarat. There are 22 of her postcards at the SLV.  The State Library has transcribed the messages on the postcards and it seems that she not only collected the postcards but also sent cards to other collectors - around 1906 to 1908 when these cards were sent - postcard collecting was a 'regular rage'. On the back of the Beaconsfield Parade card it is written - Many Thanks for P.C. Would you send my mother one now instead of sending me two each time as she would like some Ballarat Views. Please. Louis [...?] & C. Yes - I would like some more snow scenes - please. The writing on the back of the Japanese Gardens card is  Wishing your Collection Every Success. J. C.  Another of Miss Prisk's postcards at the SLV has this on the back  Dear Miss Prisk, Many thanks for P.C. received . Have you many P.C. in your Collection. It is a regular rage here in town, & I do not think their is a house without an album. I don't know [whither?] Ballarat is [infected?] to the [Ra..?] degree.

Who was Miss Prisk? The cards are generally addressed to Miss M. Prisk but she is also addressed as May, Maisie, Mazie and Mavis. Miss Prisk, was born Rosina May Prisk in 1888 to John and Margaret (nee Allen) Prisk. We can confirm this as the 1906 Electoral Rolls have John Henry Prisk, carter and Margaret Prisk, home duties listed at 116 Windermere Street. May was married to Lieutenant Edward Thomas John Kerby on May 3, 1911 at the Lydiard Street Methodist Church in Ballarat (notice in the Ballarat Star of  April 29, 1911). Edward served in the First World War; he enlisted with the rank of Captain and was later promoted to Major.  They had two children - Donald Edwin Hosking, born in 1912 and James Allan, born 1913. Both the boys served in the RAAF in the Second World War. In 1945, May and Edward divorced and she married Oliver Gladstone Longstaff.  There was already a family connection as Patricia Longstaff, Oliver's daughter by his marriage to his first wife, Margaret Grimes (died 1930), had married May and Edward's son James in 1934. Sadly, James was Killed in Action in Germany in January 1944. Did grief bring May and Oliver together? Oliver Longstaff died in 1965, Edward  Kerby in 1971 and May died in 1980. I wonder if she kept her postcard collection right to the end? The postcards were a gift to the SLV from the National Trust in 1985

Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda

Message on verso - Many Thanks for P.C. Would you send my mother one now instead of sending me two each time as she would like some Ballarat Views. Please. Louis [...?] & C. Yes - I would like some more snow scenes - please.

State Library of Victoria Image H85.70/126

Beaconsfield Parade was one of Carlo's first jobs - in an article published in the Prahran Telegraph of May 26, 1917 just after his retirement, Carlo looked back at some of his career and said that in 1870 I had to give levels for what we used to call the military road along Beaconsfield Parade to South Melbourne. We took sand from the mounds there, and used it to level the road. (Read the full article, here)

Japanese Gardens, Treasury Reserve, Melbourne
"Best wishes"16/6/1906. Message on verso - Wishing your Collection Every 

Success. J. C.

State Library of Victoria Image H85.70/114

The Treasury  Gardens (or Treasury Reserve as it was known) was designed by Clement Hodgkinson in 1867. The gardens were allowed to deteriorate in the long period of Government frugality from 1892 (Rex Swanson*) The Japanese Garden, in the Treasury Gardens, was designed by William Guilfoyle, Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, in 1902. It was bull-dozed in 1948 due to anti-Japanese sentiment after the War.  There was further work at the Treasury Gardens in 1907 when the boundary fences were removed and  in the same year Guilfoyle  was asked to provide plans to improve the gardens, but Rex Swanson writes that the Government of the day did not find the funds to carry it out.  Carlo, through the Public Works Department, was involved with the 1902 work on the Japanese Gardens and the on-going maintenance of Melbourne's Gardens. In 1929 the gardens were taken under the control of the City of Melbourne. 

The Leader newspaper of June 8, 1912  clearly links Carlo with the beautification works -  The St. Kilda shore committee and a number of St Kilda councillors gave a complimentary dinner to Mr. C. Catani at the Savoy Cafe to wish him bon voyage on the occasion of his trip to revisit Italy the and of his birth, an absence of thirty-seven years. Cr. Gibbs occupied the chair, and all present were lavish in their praises of Mr. Catani's work of beautification, not only at the foreshore, but at Alexandra-avenue, Treasury Gardens, and numerous other places. Mr Catani left by the Macedonia on Tuesday, and will be absent for four months. (read the article, here)

Alexandra Avenue, Melbourne
'Best wishes' 12/?/ 1906. There is no message on verso, just Miss Prisk's address. 

State Library of Victoria Image  H85.70/112

Carlo's vision for Alexandra Avenue was to achieve that very important factor of forming a beautiful promenade, worthy of Melbourne, on the bank of the river, where all classes could meet.**  He did achieve that aim and in 1937 The Argus said this about the Avenue - 

Alexandra avenue, whose shadowed and dappled beauty ....must stand, while the City of Melbourne endures, as a lasting monument to the genius, foresight, and pertinacity of Carlo Catani. (The Argus, November 13, 1937, read article, here) I have written before about Carlo's involvement  with Alexandra Avenue and Alexandra Gardens

Sources

*  Melbourne's Historic Public Gardens: a management and conservation guide by Rex Swanson. City of Melbourne, 1984.

I also used Civilising the City: a history of Melbourne's Public Gardens by Georgina Whitehead (State Library of Victoria, 1997)

** Catani’s letter to Inspector General of Public Works, Davidson - 24 July 1896, notes from the Alan Holgate Collection provided by Don Bartlett – VPRS 1139 Unit 2 - courtesy of Isaac Hermann.