"...Feeling rather uncertain of his whereabouts, he betook himself to a source of information that was all of a piece with other characteristic(s) of that early date of settlement. This was the encampment of a tribe of Aborigines, to which he had been guided by the fires that had flickered in front of their wigwams..."
Documentation concerning the Aborigines of the Port Phillip colony is often scanty and undoubtedly inaccurate. The settlers who came had little or no understanding of the Aborigines and their way of life; nor did they care. They were unable to differentiate properly between each tribe or clan because of the nomadic nature of the Aborigines, who were seen in many parts of the colony on their expeditions. The early settlers tended to make sweeping generalisations, identifying different tribes by the locality where they were encountered. As such, this caused a great deal of confusion in early documents. Some Aboriginal groups were identified under several different names, all linked to general localities.
It is now known that there were five major territories surrounding Port Philip Bay and covering most of Victoria. Each of these territories was occupied by one major group of Aborigines who were further broken down into smaller groups or clans. They were linguistically linked to each other within the boundaries of the territory. The Woiworung occupied an area that extended from Port Phillip Bay to Kilmore and the Werribee River to Mount Baw Baw.[1] The Woiworung were divided into five smaller groups, 'each of which identified with a particular part of the tribal territory...'[2]. The clan of the Wurrundjeri. Willam occupied an area to the north of Melbourne, which covered the Carlton area. The head of the Wurrundjeri. Willam in the 1830s was Billibellary, one of a group of tribal leaders who 'signed' the treaty with John Batman in 1835.
Any archaeological evidence of Aboriginal presence in the Carlton area has long since disappeared under the progress of streets and houses. It is only in the pioneers own accounts that mention of the Aborigines being seen in the area occurs and this material is scanty and vague. William Kyle for example, recalled that in 1841, the Murray and Goulburn tribes, when visiting the district, camped on Ryrie's Hill, while the Corio and Western district tribes located themselves on the site of the General Cemetery, or sometimes west of Sydney road, near Royal Park...'[3]
A popular traditional meeting place for the tribes to gather for meetings and ceremonies was on the banks of the Yarra River. It was a common sight in the 1840s to see Aborigines camping in and around various parts of Melbourne whilst attending these ceremonies. William Westgarth in his book, The Colony of Victoria... to the end of 1863, recalled the story of a man who had gone to visit a friend who was situated several miles in a northerly direction out of Melbourne ...Peeling rather uncertain of his whereabouts, he betook himself to a source of information that was all of a piece with other characteristic(s) of that early date of settlement. This was the encampment of a tribe of Aborigines, to which he had been guided by the fire that had flickered in front of their wigwams... The site of that native encampment is now that of Melbourne University.[4]
Melbourne's development was rapid over the next few decades and for the Aborigines the loss of their traditional hunting and camping grounds quickly eroded their way of life; eventually they died out as their culture died. Attempts were made to relocate them in other areas but this was to a large extent unsuccessful and for a few more years they continued their nomadic lifestyle in an environment that was rapidly changing beyond recognition.
In 1852, Government Surveyor Robert Hoddle surveyed an area that is now south and central Carlton. Because of its good elevation and natural drainage it was both attractive and valuable real estate. Hoddle's plan for Carlton included large areas of parkland, squares, churches, public buildings and broad, tree lined streets. In all his work, Hoddle displayed 'an appreciation of the ecology'[5] which he incorporated into his designs. The plans ensured that if land speculation occured, the suburb would remain free from the kind of undisciplined growth that characterised other settlements such as Collingwood and Fitzroy.
Carlton flourished through the 1860s to the 1880s. It started as a suburb for the well to do gentry which was mainly made up of professionals and businessmen, and included many Melbourne City Councillors. One of Carlton's more notable residents was Redmond Barry, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and founder of the University of Melbourne. By 1857 all of the subdivided allotments had been sold in the area bounded by Rathdowne, Grattan, Victoria and Swanston Streets. The areas around North Carlton and Princes Hill however, remained largely semi rural with little development until the 1870s. By comparison to Sydney, Melbourne developed in a remarkably short space of time. Only seventeen years after Batman's arrival, Hoddle and other surveyors were laying down the plans for the burgeoning city and surrounding suburbs. The gold rush of the early 1850s was the main reason for this development and helped to determine the evolution of the suburbs. This and subsequent immigration dramatically increased the economic prosperity of Melbourne and ensured the rapid growth of the city.
Carlton was one of the suburbs to benefit immediately from the economic boom. The early 1850s saw an overflow of gold rush immigrants into these semi rural, half established suburbs, creating a huge demand for permanent housing and accommodation. Lack of suitable accommodation soon became an enormous problem as demand greatly exceeded the supply. Such housing that was available was often rented at exorbitant rates. Tents and shanties soon became characteristic of south Drummond Street from 1854 until the 1860s when they were replaced by more substantial housing, most of which still stands today. James Watson, in his 'Personal Recollections of Melbourne in the Sixties', remembered Carlton as 'a place with some dwellings and a few shops erected, and none of its streets formed east of Madeline [Swanston] Street...'[6]. During the late 1870s to the early 1880s, however, Carlton, in particular Drummond and Rathdowne Streets, became a highly desirable residential area. The home of Redmond Barry in Rathdowne Street for example, was built in a prime area, close enough to the city to be convenient for travelling yet still retaining its semi rural aspect. Part of Carlton's success as a desirable residential area was its close proximity to the township of Melbourne. It
'needed only a little stimulation to develop as a higher class boarding house district....[As] the upward trend continued,...the proximity of the international exhibitions of 1880 and 1888 brought South Drummond Street to its zenith as a desirable residential area.'[7]
Another reason for the success of Carlton was its careful planning by Robert Hoddle. His plans ensured that Carlton remained relatively free from the undisciplined growth that characterised the neighbouring suburbs. Collingwood, for example is not noted for its architecture and street layout. Its location and poor drainage made it undesirable for the wealthy to settle there so it was the poor and unfortunate who did. On the other hand, Carlton, with high elevation and good drainage, attracted interest from those who were well able to afford the cost of the land. The period from the mid 1880s to the early 1900s marked the start of the general decline of Carlton. It was no longer as fashionable as it once was, although in fact, even in the 1880s it had been inhabited mainly by artisans and clerks.[8] By the turn of the century it was a thriving community with shops, businesses, schools, churches, sporting clubs, the University, and well established parks and gardens.
The opening of the railway line in 1888 and between. The early 1890s, a period of great the cable tram on Rathdowne Street in the same year economic decline, marked the beginning of slum greatly improved transport and communication with growth that reached its peak in the 1930s. It was to the City of Melbourne. Carlton was developing into be almost a century later before Carlton was once a working class suburb, however, and its once more a fashionable suburb, and houses that were houses were rented out or converted into cheap formerly earmarked for demolition by the Housing boarding houses, as worker's cottages sprang up in Commission were instead preserved and restored.
"This is one of the best places in the city...They've got the Exhibition. They've got all the trams so you can get anywhere around here you want. You met some friends and I suppose you met some enemies but they don't bother you. They're very good the people here." [9].
For anyone walking around Carlton today, it seems impossible that the area was once covered by forest, populated only by animals and birds with groups of Aborigines passing through, occasionally setting up camp before moving on. Over the centuries the landscape saw little change until the arrival of the Europeans. Within a few decades the landscape had been completely transformed from the vast expanses of scrub and forests into a landscape of streets, houses and public buildings. The Europeans had created for themselves an environment that suited them; an environment that contained all the elements of a lifestyle that befitted their new found wealth and status, a re creation of the life they had known in their native country. The Australian bush was an alien place which they did not know or understand except in terms of their own vision.
Kearney map, 1853
The development of the suburb of Carlton in the 1850s and 1860s kept pace with the rapid expansion of the Melbourne township. This development was greatly influenced by waves of immigrants coming to the goldfields so that Carlton in the 1850s was characterised by few houses, but many tents and shanties. By the 1860s, Carlton had become firmly established as a village with sub divided allotments, new houses were built, churches, a school, the University, cemetery and extensive parklands. There was also the convict stockade which later became the 'lunatic asylum' and finally a primary school. The Corporation quarries were worked by convict labour and produced quantities of bluestone for building purposes.
Nettleton's Studio, catering to Carlton's gentry
North Carlton remained largely semi rural and covered by forests until about the 1870s. Much of this area was intended to be left parkland, as part of Governor La Trobe's 'Green Belt' plan, but this was greatly reduced in extent by the establishment of the Cemetery, the Carlton Football and Cricket Clubs, and residential housing. Areas of bushland were eventually alienated as parklands were fenced off, although for many years, cows and goats were allowed to graze in them. In 1855 there was a clear demarcation between the developed areas and natural bush. This is best illustrated in Kearney's sectional map of 1855 (opposite). Grattan Street formed the separation between the civilised and sophisticated layout of streets, with specific areas set out in a well ordered manner, and the largely untouched natural bushland.
The layout of the streets in South Carlton was a triumph of Regency planning. They were neat and well ordered streets in Hoddle's classic grid iron pattern, with spaces reserved for churches, schools and garden reserves. In his Chronicles of Early Melbourne 'Garryowen' describes the area north of Melbourne in the 1840s as:
a nice afternoon stroll from the inhabited portions of the township, amongst the luxuriant gum and she oak trees beyond the (now) Carlton, spread out as in some old grand park. No one outside a lunatic asylum would think of going into business beyond Lonsdale Street, which was the point of demarcation between town and country and ...[with a few exceptions], no human being could have an abiding place there. [10].
In other words it was a nice place to visit but...
Within a decade of Hoddle's survey, South Carlton had been subdivided and the allotments sold. By the end of the 1860s the area had been fully built up, whereas much of the north and central Carlton did not develop into residential housing until the 1870s. One early pioneer, James Watson, continued his recollections: 'I saw bullock teams drawing ploughs through [the] streets forming channels or gutters on each side and the centre of each preparatory to ballasting and metalling the roadway.' [11].
Carlton rapidly became a fashionable suburb to live in. In 1856 one of Carlton's most notable residents, Redmond Barry, built himself a large and spacious house on Rathdowne Street. The attraction of Carlton lay in its semi rural environment which had the general appearance of 'some old grand park'.[l2] Carlton's good natural drainage and good elevation, provided what people believed to be a 'healthier' climate. It was the 'paleozoic hill'.[l3]
St. Andrew's Gaelic Church, Drummond Street, Carlton, 1933 (Closed 1938 and moved to Gardiner).
"all the country around by Royal Park and the Hill of Hotham revealed a vista of hill and dale, well wooded and grassed, well suited for a delightful rambling excursion. The perspective is now an untold treasure, planted in the soul and cropping up in splendid mansions, handsome villas, busy marts, spacious streets, squares parks and gardens, and stately churches all these practical elements of civilisation." [13]
Carlton's main advantage, apart from its generally healthier aspect, was its close proximity to the city (therefore convenient for travelling purposes), and yet it was far enough away from the town to be in the country. James Watson in his account recalled Redmond Barry riding to the Supreme Court in La Trobe Street from his Rathdowne Street home. [14].
Once the gold rushes ceased to draw immigrants inland, people began to turn to the city and establish for themselves permanent residences to suit their newly found wealth and life style. In the newly fashionable suburb of Carlton they built fine houses and terraces that reflected their prosperity and which eventually replaced the temporary wood dwellings and tents. These new houses embodied all that represented the 'comfort and conveniences of English life.'[15] John Foote, an Englishman who came to Australia seeking his fortune on the goldfields, built Elim Houses (1878)[16], a set of terraces in Grattan Street. There had been a severe shortage of accommodation caused by the waves of immigrants who passed through. To help ease the problem in Carlton the Wesleyan Immigrants' Home was established in 1855 in Queensberry Street, a home which remained in use until the late nineteenth century. However, the demand for shelter exceeded supply and speculators were quick to take advantage of the situation.
La Trobe's green belt vision was severely undermined as the Government began to look at the proposed parklands as resources to be exploited. The University and the cemetery helped to bring the city ever closer to Carlton so that by 1866 all the land up to Palmerston Street had been fully subdivided and was rapidly being developed. The Government's attitude to the use of the land was accepted and encouraged by the early colonists, whose own vision lacked the scope of La Trobe and Hoddle. The land was soon exploited by speculators and estate agents. Land that had been subdivided into average size blocks was carved up again by the speculators into ten times the planned number. Even some of the original laneways were blocked off and tiny cottages with frontages as small as eleven feet were erected. At one Government auction in 1870 for example, a block of land with ten subdivided allotments was bought and redivided into seventy two allotments.
Shortage of housing occasioned by the gold rush years, an influx of immigrants and new industries created a huge demand for housing which the speculators were quick to take advantage of. Carlton was to a large extent exempt from the wholesale subdivision of land that was occurring in Collingwood and Fitzroy, but it did have a significant impact on the overall streetscape pattern. Rows of tiny workers' cottages were soon found to be competing for space alongside the fashionable terrace houses of the well to do. It was therefore not unusual for a person to own up to thirty different properties in one or more suburbs. Robert Hepburn for example, an estate agent, owned twenty six Carlton properties in 1864. Others such as John Foote and the French Consul, Count de Castelan, built rows of terraces and either lived in one house and leased the others, or as in the case of the Count, lived in them for a couple of years and then leased them out. His home, Caroline Terrace, was built in Drummond Street in 1866. He lived in the terrace for two years before leasing it to merchants and professionals.
A Carlton Gentleman at work. The interior of Crammond House, Queensbury Street, Carlton.
Exploitation of the land in this way helped to contribute to a decline in Carlton as a fashionable suburb and possibly ushered in the decline that eventually turned Carlton into a slum area. In 1868 the Argus reported that the residents who were opposing the proposed Building Act were all land speculators 'of the most sordid description [and who only cared to] fill their own pockets at whatever the cost.' Carlton, it claimed, was fast becoming 'overrun with inferior bricks and mortar' and if something was not done about it soon, 'a whole district of the city, naturally pleasant and healthy, will become noisesome and pestilential through overcrowding.' If Carlton was allowed to continue to develop unchecked, then the district would be 'without any other breathing places than the public streets, and it is dreadful to imagine what might arise through such a state of things ...[for example; small pox], or some other deadly diseases.' [17].
Sanitation and water supply was an enormous problem during the early days of the colony. By the 1850s the Yarra was severely polluted by the influx of obnoxious industries on its banks and the increase in human waste. No adequate system of disposal had been developed and soon Melbourne was wallowing in filth and a highly unpleasant stench created by the system of open drains in its streets, cess pits and privies. It was said that in Carlton 'the want of...drainage... intensified mischief caused by its back slum right of ways, where are kept hundreds of horses, cows, goats, fowls, with ducks filtering the green filth of the gutters through their bills...' [18].
Such conditions contributed to the decline in the general health of the community. The existence of cess pits throughout the city, along with defective drainage, were condemned as being the main source of disease measles, typhoid, whooping cough and diphtheria.. The filth of the gutters 'caused residents to sicken easily and die early.' One visitor wrote, 'The death smell I experienced entering one of these shanty cabins [in Carlton] was horrible.' The stench from one bedroom, in which lived a married couple with six children, made him 'recoil as if stricken with a blow.' [19].
Carlton also had the additional problems of the Reilly Street drain. The drain (in what is now Princes Street) was from the very beginning a total failure. It was originally built to drain the Collingwood flats to enable people to live there. However it quickly became polluted and in winter it had a tendency to overflow into the road. Even so it was later extended as far as Carlton, bringing with it an ever increasing flow of garbage, pollution and consequent anxiety to the residents.
There were also problems associated with the drainage in the Melbourne Cemetery. It was alleged that water was being drained from the vaults and into the Reilly Street drain. [20] This would have caused the Carlton residents some concern as in the early days of the colony, cemeteries were highly unsanitary places especially where graves were used for mass burials.
"the want of drainage intensified mischief caused by [Carlton's] back slum right of ways, where are kept hundreds of horses, cows, goats, fowls, with ducks filtering the green filth of the gutters through their bills."
The Melbourne General Cemetery was opened in 1853 to replace the original one on Burial Hill, now the Flagstaff Gardens. When the Old Cemetery closed in 1854, it contained some ten thousand graves in an area 'only 830 feet long by 540 feet wide'.[21] Mass burials were also common in the new cemetery and in 1877 'Vagabond' (John Stanley James) wrote of the typical paupers burials which commonly took place there.
'Considering that this is the chief necropolis of this great city, it is not half large enough; and even with the present system of crowding the graves together, it is rapidly filling up... Everywhere I was struck with the manner in which graves were crowded together... I was in search of the Potter's Field, where the poor are buried... [22].
Paupers did not have funerals but were packed into graves and covered with a thin layer of dirt. In one grave up to three or four bodies would be interred but in the graves of children and infants there were no limits to the numbers. Clergymen were contracted by the Government to come and read a short service over the grave before it was finally covered. It was rare for the families to attend the services as it could be some time before the minister came. 'According to the Act of Parliament, there must be space of three feet from the last coffin to the original surface of the ground; and if this is carried out, there can only be a mere layer of soil between the three coffins put in a seven foot grave![23]
It was, to say the least, highly unsanitary, and 'Vagabond' was distinctly put off by the smell emanating from the graves. Paupers' burials were conducted as 'the most calm business arrangement as possible.' [24].
Few of these graves were given a tombstone. Generally they were left as simply unmarked graves showing an iron plate with the plot number stamped on it. Some had terracotta borders or wooden crosses with the name painted on them; many simply had no markings at all. In contrast to the other sections in the Cemetery, the paupers graves were generally left neglected and overgrown with moss and plants.
The Cemetery was designed and laid out by Baron von Mueller (formerly the director of the Botanical Gardens) as a series of formal gardens; 'flowers bloom luxuriantly, and praiseworthy efforts have been made in the cultivation of trees and shrubs.' [25] The Cemetery was one of the first of its kind where the different Christian denominations had their own separate sections. Some people such as 'Vagabond were openly critical about this concept of dividing according to religion. 'Even in death... these [denominations] must not mingle together.'[26] In 1900 the Cemetery was closed to allow the new cemeteries at Fawkner and Springvale to become established. It was reopened in 1925 and radical alterations made during the 1930s: new roads were constructed, the main entrance gates moved and the administration buildings restructured. The alterations lost the 'imaginative network of curving driveways [along which] trees and shrubberies were originally laid out.' [27]
Plan of Melbourne General Cemetary
Few schools, would have had their beginnings in a convict stockade and 'lunatic asylum' as did the Lee Street Primary School. Only the bluestone foundations of the original buildings survive, buried under the playground of the existing school. The Collingwood Stockade opened on the 3rd February 1853, covering six acres of virgin bushland. Smaller and less important than Pentridge, it was built as temporary accommodation until a permanent place could be established, and provided accommodation for up to sixty prisoners. Within a few years however, its buildings were extended to house three hundred prisoners, most of whom worked on the Corporation quarries (now Curtin Square), quarrying the bluestone needed for building purposes.
The conditions for prisoners were hard both in the quarry and at the Stockade. Full time medical officers had been appointed when the Stockade opened and every month the prison surgeon was supposed to make his rounds to inspect the prisoners. The Argus reported in 1856 that according to the convicts themselves, the surgeon had 'only inspected once in eighteen months.'[28] The spiritual welfare of the convicts was taken care of by a Church of England minister who made a twice weekly visit to the Stockade to visit the convicts and to hold Sunday services.
Education classes and a Sunday School were instituted at the Stockade in the late 1850s. Attendance was not compulsory at either of these but both attracted many of the inmates as they were able to earn themselves extra remissions for participation. They could also earn remissions by working harder or longer hours in the quarries. Sometimes these extra remissions were not enough as
'the promise is held that when half the term of their sentence has expired, a ticket-of-leave will be granted to them ..but the number of ticket holders who are, resentenced for some crime, on gaining their liberty and come back to serve the remainder of their original term, as well as their second sentence, prove that their good conduct is not the result of a reformation of their habits, but merely that the strictness of the discipline compels them to behave well...their receptions and discharges describe a sort of rotary process, out one month and in the next.' [29]
Punishments and discipline were often severe to the point of cruelty in the colonial penal system. As early as 1856 the system was under attack by the public and the press and there were many allegations of deliberate cruelty, brutality and neglect by the warders towards the prisoners. Lack of adequate supervision resulted in many escape attempts, and improper classification of convicts was also heavily criticised by the public. There was no classification of prisoners beyond dividing them, according to the Argus,
into two classes those sentenced to hard labour...and those who are merely imprisoned, whether awaiting trial or undergoing sentence. Beyond there is no attemptat classification, and when the men are turned into the yards in the morning felons of the worst class are mingled with those who are merely confined for a few days. [30]
It was not unusual for first offenders to be grouped with the insane sent to the Stockade because there was no room for them in the already overcrowded asylums and hardened criminals. Conditions at the Collingwood Stockade were very much like penal institutions elsewhere. There were frequent attempts at escape as there was poor supervision of the prisoners and the temporary nature of the buildings made it easy to leave. Henry White, a former warder of Collingwood Stockade recalled an occasion when three prisoners cut 'a hole in the roof and in less than half an hour had succeeded in getting out and lowering themselves by rope into the yard.'[3 1] Escapees who were recaptured were sentenced to an additional twelve months' imprisonment. There were many complaints by the public about the inadequate supervision of the convicts, especially at the quarries. At any one time it was estimated that out of the thirty seven warders supposedly at the Stockade. only seventeen were to be found actually guarding the prisoners. The conduct of the warders themselves also came under fire as their involvement was alleged in numerous incidents. Little was done in official circles and more often than not, such crimes were passed off as warders' administering punishment for petty crimes and misdemeanours. One such incident occurred in 1857. '...One of the worst cases of which ...was brought to the public, viz., Thomas Bourke's at the Collingwood Stockade. It was rumoured that this man had been very severely beaten...'[32] This case was investigated by a Dr. Singleton, Mr. Little and the notorious John Price, Inspector General of Prisons (who was hated and feared by convicts everywhere). At the Stockade they found the prisoner with 'two wounds to the head, one on the chin, two on the cheeks ...one on the hands, and one on the ankle, and a bruise on the hip.' [33]
It was alleged that the wounds had been inflicted by the Chief Warder Turnham who was described by the Age as someone who amused 'himself by obliterating the natural features of the prisoners...'[34] The case eventually came to nothing and the effect of 'the visit of Dr. Singleton and Mr. Little had about as much result as if they stayed at home.'[35] As for Thomas Bourke, he was sentenced to an additional one month's hard labour. Eventually the complaints gave way to public meetings and calls were made to have the Stockade closed. In the mid 1860s it was no longer desirable to have the Stockade located where it was in the up and coming suburb of Carlton. It was suggested as early as 1863 that the Stockade be turned into a 'lunatic asylum' to ease the problem of overcrowding in the existing asylums and the gaols. The | proposal was not acted upon until 1866. The Stockade was closed, I the convicts transferred to Pentridge and the buildings adapted to house the mentally ill.
Like the Stockade, the asylum was intended to be only temporary, its main function being to ease the burden on the other asylums. It provided accommodation for up to 'one hundred and fifty quiet, harmless, incurable lunatics.'[36] Known at different stages of its history as the Collingwood Stockade Asylum, the Carlton Receiving House and the Carlton Lunatic Asylum., it remained in use for seven' years and performed a service to the community that was grossly inadequate but in keeping with the times.
Few structural changes were actually made to the existing Stockade buildings which had originally been built to last for only a couple of years. They were then thirteen years old and remained in use until the primary school came into being. Although the buildings were considered to 'answer the purpose of a Receiving House in a satisfactory manner'[37], in reality they were, barely adequate for both the staff and inmates. 'Dark, dank, badly ventilated dormitories, with the rank odour of urine saturated palliasses, ...bed bugs infested the excreta soiled straw palliasses and rats feasted on food scraps secreted by the patients.'[38]
Lee Street Primary School. Fourth Grade, 1924
The patients included men, women and children, some of whom were foreigners, particularly Chinese. Mental illness in the nineteenth century was considered a criminal charge and many of those classified as insane were often housed in gaols alongside convicts. Classification of the insane, like that of convicts, was vague and misleading. Statistics show that in 1867, one in five hundred and fifteen of the total population of the colony (659,887) was classified as insane. [39]
Lee Street State School. Sixth Grade, 1927.
Such a high figure was a result, in part of the fact that immigrants arriving for the goldrush often brought with them senile or mentally ill relatives or unstable children of respectable families who were glad to see them depart for the colonies. Other inmates of the asylums would have included, apart from the genuinely ill, unwed mothers committed by their families, women suffering from what is now recognised as post natal depression, the physically disabled such as the eight year old deaf mute whose condition was diagnosed as 'idiocy from infancy' [40], and alcoholics. The statistics also show that an extraordinarily high number of foreigners were classified as insane, many of whom were unfortunate victims of a language barrier. The ever informative 'Vagabond' questioned how the 'colonial physicians [could] testify to the insanity of Celestials. Of course in some cases of epilepsy and imbecility, nature has planted indelible signs, but there were several cases ...in which no outward sign could be discovered and 'the mental delusions could not be tested without knowledge of the language.' [41] Mental health in the nineteenth century was still essentially in the dark ages as far as classification, treatment and accommodation of the inmates were concerned. Conditions in asylums, particularly the Carlton Asylum were primitive and unsanitary. There were regulations governing the personal hygiene of the inmates and for the general maintenance of the asylum buildings grounds but they were rarely enforced.
The asylum was closed in 1873 after proposals were made to have the buildings turned into a school. There was great demand for schools after the population explosion of the early seventies and suitable sites were in short supply. It was decided to turn the asylum buildings into temporary schoolrooms until a more permanent school could be established in North Fitzroy. Little was done initially to alter the existing asylum buildings and for the next few years of the school's existence there were numerous problems affecting the structure of the buildings. Attempts made to fumigate the buildings with sulphur, including what was once the superintendent's house, were largely unsuccessful. All the rooms were swarming with bugs, mice and rats. Ventilation was poor and the roof leaked in the rain, resulting in dampness and mould under the floorboards. Not until 1875 that plans were drawn up for new buildings to be erected on the site. It was a further three years before they were actually implemented. [42]
The Carlton Stockade School, as it was first known, opened on the 28th July 1873 by the first Headmaster, Mr. Henry Jones. It opened with an enrolment of two hundred and forty six children but within days that number had doubled. Mr. Jones accurately forecasted that the school was easily 'adapted to become under proper management, one of the largest in the Metropolis.'[43].
Formal primary and secondary education did not reach Carlton until the late 1860s when the Faraday Street Common School was built. Prior to that, children had to go elsewhere or, if affluent, be educated at home by their governesses if they were to receive an education at all. A look at the Sands and MacDougall Directories shows that there were some small establishments set up in private homes which catered for about half a dozen students. (The Academy for Young Ladies on Madeline Street, on what is now the site of the Royal Women's Hospital, was one such school.) By the turn of the century Carlton was well catered for with a large number of Government schools and a few private and denominational ones. Most of these have, over the years been closed down and used for other purposes.
The Faraday Street Common School was the first Government school to be built in Carlton. It was designed by Joseph Reed and built in 1869. Reed modified and expanded it in 1877, when it was renamed the Faraday Street State School. The new plans were based on a standard design that was in common use at the time. These plans, commonly known as the 'Buninyong plans' [44], were named after those drawn up by W.H. Ellerker in 1874 for a school in Buninyong.Versatile and easily adapted to suit the individual requirements of each school, they were widely used. In their basic form, the Buninyong plans consisted of a
'central part of two parallel sets of rooms sharing that windowless wall which was a natural consequence of the pupil teacher system of school organisation. Two large schoolrooms of maximum size formed wings which were separate from the central block by traverse corridors that gave access to all rooms. Entry to each room was made via a porch at either end. Externally .....the building had no naturally centralising feature.' [45]
In the case of the Faraday Street School, the ends of both the wings were moved back to form a straight line across the back of the school whilst in the front they jutted out, forming a quadrangle effect.[46] This design is the same that was used for a school on Castlemaine a few years later. In the alterations, Reed and Barnes incorporated the existing Gothic features of the old buildings into new ones, maintaining harmony throughout the design.
The Faraday Street Common School
By the time the Princes Hill Primary School opened in 1889 in Arnold Street, Carlton already had five Government schools with a total enrolment of five thousand children. [47] The 1872 Education Act had forced the eventual closure of many of the smaller, private and denominational schools (such as the Congregational College and the National School), and instead, created a huge demand for new schools as education had become both compulsory and free. Part of this demand was also due to the dramatic increase in the population as the rest of Carlton was finally subdivided and built on. Until the Princes Hill Primary School was built in Princes Hill, there were no other schools north of the Lee Street Primary School. All the schools at this point (including the one at St. George's, formerly known as Sacred Heart) had been concentrated in the more established parts of the suburb. 'Anyone who has had any knowledge of Carlton [wrote the Carlton Gazette for any length of time cannot but feel astonished at the rapid headway it has made during the past few years, [especially]...in the northern part of the district.
" What a couple of years ago was nothing but quarry holes and quagmires of mud, is now the site of handsome houses from the neat cottages of the workingman to the pretentious villa residences of successful merchants...one can scarcely turn a corner in the north without coming into contact with builder's scaffolding." [48]
Initially there was opposition from some of the Carlton residents who felt that Carlton had enough schools and that more were not needed. They believed 'that the residents of Princes Hill might well wait another five years for a school, or perhaps not get one at all.'[49] However, Dr. Pearson who declared the school opened, was gratified to note that...the people living in the vicinity of Princes Hill had appreciated the action of the development in erecting the school in their midst...'[50] On the first day of the school's opening, there had been an overwhelming response from the public and 230 children '...enrolled themselves that morning at the school. The building would only accommodate 300 pupils... [Dr. Pearson] would be delighted to add to it if the that that should be done.' [51] By the 1900s new wings had been added to the original buildings as the enrolment had reached a total of seven hundred students. Until the new wings were built, many of the students were relocated in temporary buildings around Carlton. In 1924 the infants were relocated in a new school in Pigdon Street which, in 1959, became the new primary school. The old school buildings were used for the Princes Hill High School (renamed a Secondary College in 1987) until they were destroyed by fire in 1970. Three years later the new school buildings were built on the old school site.
Lee Street State School Marching Team, 1927
The University of Melbourne was the first educational institution to appear in Carlton. Officially opened in 1855 with Redmond Barry as Chancellor, it consisted only of a few buildings set amongst forty three hectares of land. Of the original buildings, only 'the Quadrangle, built in 1856, the Cloisters, now the Law School, built in 1857 and the West Wing remain, 'along with the Old Commerce School which was built in 1856.'[52] In its first year, the University had only sixteen students but by 1900, that number grew to a thousand. Within a couple of decades of its opening it had become 'an institution of world reputation.'[53] Until 1860, there were only two schools at the University, the Arts and Law Schools. A lectureship in Civil Engineering was set up in 1861, followed by the establishment of the Medical School in 1862.
As there were no residential colleges until 1871, it was necessary for the students to arrange their own lodgings in the town and ride to their lectures on horseback, or walk. This situation began to change in 1871 with the building of Trinity College, designed by Leonard Terry. Ten years later Ormond College was built and named after its benefactor. It was designed by Joseph Reed who was to design some of Carlton's schools, churches (for example, St. Jude's) and other public buildings around Melbourne. Newman and Queen's Colleges were not built until early this century. Newman College was designed by Walter Burley Griffen and said to be his finest piece of work. Initially, however, it caused a great of controversy. It was based on the traditional 'ecclesiastic collegiate design...[set in amongst] splendid gardens.'[54]
The first students graduated in 1858 with their Bachelor of Arts. As well as the lack of residential colleges there was a lack of rooms in which to teach so most teaching was done in borrowed rooms. Wilson Hall was built in 1878 and was the showpiece of the University. It was described as the 'most exquisite piece of architecture that the colony contains.'[55] Alexander Sutherland called it 'beautifully proportioned...[it lifts its flowery tapers over Gothic windows of light and elegant form...and its interior is stately and imposing in the extreme.'[56] Wilson Hall was gutted by fire in 1952 and was replaced by a more modern building with its main feature, a large and dramatic mural on one wall.
Melbourne University, 1872
Redmond Barry was born end educated in Ireland and emigrated to Australia in 1835 after the death of his father. He soon involved himself in every phase of Melbourne's social and cultural development and was the instigator of many institutions and associations ranging from the Carlton Bowling Club to the Melbourne University. He was also one of the earliest Carlton residents to build a permanent home. His home was built on Rathdowne street, opposite the Carlton Gardens in 1856, a spacious fourteen room place, set amongst its own extensive grounds and including a coach house and stables.
The attraction which Carlton held for Barry initially was its semi rural aspect. Although the gardens were proclaimed in 1855, little work was done and they remained more or less in their natural state for many years. When a road was planned to cut through the gardens to link Carlton with Fitzroy, Barry was one of its principal objectors and campaigned to have the proposal rejected. He lived in Carlton for twenty years and helped to found the Carlton Bowling Club and the University (Carlton) Cricket Club. Barry left Carlton in 1876 and moved to his East Melbourne farm where he stayed until his death in 1880. The house on Rathdowne Street was sold for £10,000 and the site used for the Hospital for Sick Children (later the Royal Children's) then the St. Nicholas Hospital for retarded children.
Redmond Barry never married but formed a close and intimate liaison with a Mrs. Louisa Barrow who had four children by him, all of whom took Barry's name. They did not live in Barry's Carlton home but in a house he built for them in Fitzroy on Nicholson street. They often appeared in public on outings as a family. Mrs. Barrow died some years after Barry and was buried with him in the Melbourne Cemetery although this is not recorded on the grave.
During his lifetime, Barry stood out for his energy, enthusiasm and capacity for work. His career was a long and colourful one which encompassed more than just his legal cases. He involved himself in the development of the colony instigating projects which might never have come about, or would have developed much later, if it were not for his enthusiasm. Stated the Argus in 1880 'When others were busily engaged in amassing wealth during the feverish times which followed the discovery of gold, Sir Redmond Barry recognised the necessity which existed for the two great institutions... [that is; the University and the Public Library]. He saw that, although the race for riches absorbed attention at the time, it would soon be found that a nation could not live by material wealth alone. [57]
In his public life, Barry conducted himself with great dignity and formality, and appeared to all intents and purposes a respectable and impeccable man, yet he never attempted to hide his relationship with Mrs. Barrow. This liaison did not appear to have had any adverse social effects, nor did it affect his career in any way. As he grew older, he was often criticised for being autocratic and conservative and lacking subtlety in dealing with people and thus he was unpopular with many of his colleagues. In the legal profession he was not an innovator although in many ways his views on Aborigines were far ahead of his time and he was, generally regarded as 'open minded and unprejudiced.' [58]
It is ironic therefore that if Redmond Barry is to be remembered at all these days, it is not for what he did during the early days of the colony by way of establishing different organisations, but because he was the judge who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang. In recent times, as the Ned Kelly legend grew, Barry came to be known as the 'hanging judge', yet his apparent harshness was in keeping with the times in which he lived.
He saw the colony in the process of development, still an unsettled place where the judicial system was in its infancy. He believed that in the law would assert itself end become more moderate, but in the meantime, its administration had to be severe if complete lawlessness was to be prevented. Barry was a strong believer in criminal rehabilitation and gave strong support to the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society.
Redmond Barry died on the 23rd November, 1880 from a 'congestion of the lungs and exhaustion.'[59] 'Garryowen' summed up his career by stating that he was the most remarkable personage in the annals of Port Phillip, for he threw in his lot with the destiny of the Province when it was a weak struggling settlement in 1839, and identified himself with every stage of its wonderful progress until he left it a bright and brilliant colony in 1880.'[60]
Research: Marie Sturt
Written by: Marie Sturt
Edited by: Katie Holmes
Historical adviser: Pat Grimshaw
Layout and design: Marg Fallshaw and Katie Holmes
Cover design: Catherine Gleeson
Thanks to Princes Hill School Park Centre, Ann Clendinnen and Biddy Williams, for accommodating and sponsoring us, and to Richard Broome, for his guidance; Gary Presland for his information on Aborigines Colin Fairweather, Archivist at Melbourne City Council. Thanks also to the staff of the La Trobe Library for their patience and assistance in our search for photographs. Barson Computers provided a computer, Co Design ergonomic chairs, and CEP the funding to make the project possible.
1. Wiencke, Shirley W., When the Wattle Blooms Again: the life and times of William Barak. last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe, Victoria, 1984, p.4.
2. Presland, Gary., unpublished article, 1987, p.1.
3. Daley, C., 'Reminiscences from 1841 of William Kyle, a pioneer', Victorian Historical Magazine, v.x, no.3, 1925, p.l65.
4. Westgarth, William, 'The Colony of Victoria the end of 1863' in Gray, Les, Carlton, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1973.
5. Wilson, Granville, and Sands, Peter, Building a City: 100 years of Architecture, O.U.P., Melbourne, 1981, p.l61.
6. Watson, James, 'Personal Recollections of Melbourne in the 'sixties', victorian Historical Magazine, v.12, no.4., 1928, p.223.
7. Carlton. North Carlton and Princes Hill Conservation Study. Melbourne, 1984.
8. Cassell's Picturesque Australasia in Gray (op.cit).
9. O'Brien, Dennis ('Dinny'), unpublished oral interview, Lee Street Primary School, oral history collection, 1985, p.5.
lO.Wiedenhofer, Margaret (ed.), 'Garrvowen's Melbourne: a selection from the chronicals of Early Melbourne. 1835 1852 by 'Garryowen', Nelson, Melbourne, 1967, p. 83.
11. Watson, James, op.cit
12. Wiedenhofer, Margaret, op.cit.
13. 'Garryowen', The Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835 52, Ferguson & Mitchell, Melbourne, 1888, Centennial edition, p.29.
14. Watson, James.
15. 'Garryowen', p.30.
16. Hoddle's Carlton, Carlton Association, (revised edition), p.10.
17. Argus, 11/1V1868, p.4.
18. Walker, W., ('Tom Cringle'), 'On the Philosophy of stinks which do not affect public health, whilst the neglect of house ventilation fills our graveyards', Melbourne, 1873, in Cannon,
Michael., Life in the Cities, Nelson, 1975, p. 158.
19. ibid.
20. Barrett, Bernard, The Inner Suburbs, M.U.P.,1971, p.ll3.
21. Cannon, p. 129.
22. 'Vagabond' (John Stanley James), The Vagabond Papers: sketches of Melbourne Life, George Robertson, Melbourne, 1877, p.59.
23. ibid., p.69.
24. ibid.
25. ibid., p.60.
26. 'Vagabond', p.60.
27. Chambers, p.3.
28. Argus, 13/1V1856.
29. Argus, 10/5/1859.
30. Argus, 19/5/1859.
31. White, Henry, 'Crimes and Criminals' in Pratt, Valma, Passages of Time, Das Printing, 1981, p.l3
32. Age, 6/1/1857.
33. ibid.
34. ibid.
35. ibid.
36. Brothers, Dr. C.R.D., 'Early Victorian Psychiatry 1835 1905' in Pratt, p.30.
37. ibid.
38. Pratt, p.27.
39. ibid, p.26.
40. ibid., p.37.
41. 'Vagabond' in Pratt, p.33.
42. ibid., p.43.
43. ibid.
44. Burchell, Laurence, Victorian Schools: a study in Colonial Government Architecture 1837 1900, M.U.P., 1980, p.97.
45. ibid., p.98.
46. ibid., p.104.
47. Argus, 3/9/1889.
48. Carlton Gazette, 11/lV1886
49. Argus, 3/9/1889
50. ibid.
51. ibid.
52. Harvey, Anthony, The Melbourne Book, Hutchinson Group, Australia, 1982, p.l36
53. ibid.
54. ibid.
55. Sutherland, Alexander, Victoria and its Metropolis. Past and Present, v.1., Melbourne,1888, p.573.
56. ibid.
57. Argus, 24/11/1880
58. Australian Dictionary of Biography.
59. Argus, 25/11/1880
60. Australian Dictionary of Biography.
p.5. La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. H82.206/6, mfn 654.
p.6. Map Collection, State Library of Victoria. 821.09 A.
p.7. La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. H5199, mfn 303.
p.8. La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. H4854,pfn, 1020.
p.9. from Jill Eastwood, Melbourne: The Growth of a Metropolis, Nelson, Australia, 1983
p.lO.La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. H422744/4.
p. l l.La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.l2.Don Chambers, 'Sandstone, Cast Iron and Marble', Tour 4 in Carlton Association Series, 1975 p.l4. Courtesy Marjorie Palmer.
p.l5. Courtesy Marjorie Palmer.
p.l6.Courtesy Marjorie Palmer.
p.17. Lee Street Primary School archives.
p.18. La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.
p.l9. La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. H351100, mfn 250.
1835 [THE FOUNDING OF MELBOURNE.]
1837 [First land sales in Melbourne.]
1850 Land for the new cemetery set aside in Carlton 40 acres.
Cemetery plans drawn up.
1851 [SEPARATION YEAR: VICTORIA BECOMES A SEPARATE COLONY]
Carlton Gardens proclaimed.
[Melbourne's population reaches 29,000]
1852 Robert Hoddle surveys and plans Carlton.
Cemetery trustees appointed.
Wesleyan Immigrant's Home built.
1853 Collingwood Convict Stockade opens.
Cemetery officially opened and first burials are made.
The founding of Melbourne University
1854 [Acute housing & accommodation shortage in Melbourne.]
Cr. Smith for Bourke Ward proposes the Carlton Gardens be made into a new site for waste depot.
Building is commenced on St. Andrew's church.
Drummond qt.: still tents and shanties.
1855 Melbourne University officially opened.
St. Andrew's Gaelic Church officially opened.
Bluestone Church built is later taken over by St. George's as a school.
1856 Quadrangle and old Commerce School built at Melbourne University.
Lying in Hospital built.
Trades Hall grant of half an acre of land.
Redmond Barry builds home in Carlton.
Stockade accommodates up to 300 prisoners.
1857 Law School.
All subdivided allotments sold area bounded by Rathdowne, Grattan, Victoria and Swanston streets.
Edward Bateman designs Carlton Gardens.
1859 'Barkly Inn.'
Trades Hall built as a wooden building.
Bluestone Wall built at the Stockade. 50 Chinese prisoners.
1860s Carlton named as such.
Apostolic Church built.
1861 Lectureship in Civil Engineering
established at Melbourne University.
1862 Medical School established at Melbourne University.
Princes Hill named after Prince Alfred's visit to Melbourne.
1863 Curtin's Hotel.
1864 'Stockade Hotel'.
1865 Public meetings held to have the Stockade closed.
Princes Park fenced off for grazing cattle.
1866 Stockade closes down.
St. Judes designed by Joseph Reed.
Nth. Palmerston St. still semi rural.
'The Dove' & 'The Royal Dane' hotels built.
Carolina Terrace built for Count de Castelan.
Lee Terrace built for Benjamin Lee.
Stockade reopens as the Collingwood Lunatic Asylum.
Redmond Barry first president of the Carlton Bowling Club.
Rev. Mc Eachran new minister for St. Andrews Church.
1869 Faraday Street Common School built.
'The Hiberninan' hotel built.
Asylum stops being a receiving house.
Inspector General's report on the Asylum.
1870 New ward of Victoria created by the M.C.C.
ANZ bank built, Lygon Street.
1870s Suburbia begins to close in. Carlton extends as far as Park street.
Lygon street's commercial prosperity increases sign)ficandy.
1871 Trinity College built.
1872 Kew Asylum opens and the Carlton Asylum becomes one of its wards.
Establishment of T.Atyeo's Monumental Masons and Decorators. (see 1942.)
1873 Carlton Lunatic Asylum closed and all patients transferred to Kew.
Lee Street Primary School opens as the Stockade School.
1874 New Trades Hall building. Designed by Joseph Reed.
Transepts added to St. Andrews.
1876 Redmond Barry's house bought for demolition. Later replaced by the Hospital for Sick Children. (Royal
Children's; later became St. Nicholas.
Faraday Street School designed by Reed & Barnes.
95 pubs in Carlton.
Land between the cemetery and Pigdon street subdivided.
1877 Faraday Street State School built on site of the Common School.
1878 Lee Street State School new buildings.
Joseph Reed designs Wilson Hall.
Act of Parliament to set aside 20 acres of land for the Exhibition Buildings.
1879 Exhibition Buildings. (1879 80)
1880 Queensberry Street State School.
International Exhibition Exhibition Buildings.
1880s North Carlton fully developed.
St. Anne's Hostel for Girls established.
Wesleyan Immigrants' Home demolished.
Gas lighting appears on the streets of Carlton
1881 Ormond College.
State School 177 opens in the Trades Hall.
Queensberry Street State School opens.
1884 State School 177 closes: students transferred to Rathdowne Street State School.
1885 St. Michaels built.
1886 Cemetery 125,000 burials since 1853.
1887 Hospital for Sick Children enlarged.
Land bought for Princes Hill Primary School.
Johnson St. Bridge cable tram opens.
1888 Railway line is opened. Opening of the Nth Carlton station.
Rathdowne St. Cable tram opened
Paterson family establishes 2 homes in Carlton.
1889 Princes Hill Primary School.
Grand National Baby Show at Exhibition Buildings.
1890s [End of the Boom Years and start of the depression.]
1891 Carlton's population reaches c 32,000; Nth Carlton, 16,000.
1891c Beginning of slum development in the Carlton area.1892 Carlton Relief Society set up.
1893 Amalgamation of Queensberry and Rathdowne Street State Schools despite local opposition.
Teaching retrenchments at Rathdowne Street school.
1895 'Benevenuta' built.
1896 Carlton Cricket and Football clubs gain permission to occupy Carlton Gardens.
1897 Sacred Heart Church. (St. Georges.)
1899 Princes Hill Primary School, Arnold st.
1900 St. John's Greek Orthodox Church.
1901 Exhibition Buildings houses the first
Federal Parliament.
First Carlton kindergarten, Bouverie st, founded by Miss Maud Williams.
1902 Teacher training resumes at Rathdowne
Street State School.
1906 P.H.P.S. extensions to cope with overcrowding problems.
Miniature rifle range approved by M.C.C.
1907 Land purchased for St. Mark's church, Lygon street.
1911 Kadimah the Jewish institute established.
1914 [World War One.]
1917 Mother's Story Telling Club formed at the P.H.P.S: First Mother's club in Victoria.
1918 [End of World War One.]
1919 Exhibition Buildings converted into a temporary hospital during the 'flu epidemic.
1920s [Electric lighting appears on the streets.]
1921 [Steam trains replaced by electric trains.]
1924 Infant school, Pigdon street. (Later became P.H.P.S.)
1925 Picket fences are removed from the Carlton Gardens.
1927 Sqizzy Taylor shot in the back streets of Carlton.
1930 Exhibition Buildings scene of a Christmas party for the unemployed.
1935 [Centenary of Victoria.]
1936 St. Mark's school opens.
1938 St. Andrew's closed down and transferred to Gardiner.
1939 [World War Two.]
Carlton: a place "well wooded and grassed, well suited for a delightful rambling excursion." This 1880's reminiscence of Carlton bears no resemblance to the terraces, streets, parks and shops of Carlton we know today. Carlton's forest was felled with the development of Melbourne. The suburb's early inhabitants ranged form the French Consul living in Drummond Street, to the less respectable inhabitants of the Collingwood Stockade, now the site of the Lee Street Primary School. In between lived people with a mixture of trades and professions: bootmakers, judges, stonemasons, politicians, grocers, mothers, engineers, servants, tanners, prostitutes.
The work of uncovering some of the details of Carlton's diverse and varied past has been one of the tasks of the Carlton Forest Project. Earlier work by the Carlton Association Historical Group, oral history work undertaken by children at Lee Street Primary School, and the Carlton History Catalogue compiled in 1986, stimulated local interest in Carlton's past. The initiative for the Carlton Forest Project came from interested Carlton residents and a request came also from the Carlton Library for more information on the suburb's history. The Carlton Forest Committee was formed Noelle Belcher, Marg Fallshaw, Pat Grimshaw, Graeme Loughlin, Liz Loughlin, Mia Mikin, Marian Turnbull and, sponsored by the Princes Hill School Park Centre, received funding from the Community Employment Programme for a six month project. In July 1987 five people began work researching Carlton's past. The result is Among the Terraces, a series of booklets tracing different themes of Carlton's past:
CARLTON FOREST GROUP:
Catherine Gleeson
Katie Holmes (coordinator)
Annemarie Law
Elizabeth Stafford
Marie Sturt
Printing: Ability Press, Regent, Vic.
Publisher:
Carlton Forest Project
C/o Princes Hill School Park Centre
Arnold St., Nth. Carlton, Vic.
Copyright: This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without the
written per mission of the publisher.
Photos on pp. 5,6,7,8,10,11,18,19, courtesy of the La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. Copyright for photos, pp. 5,6,7,8,10,11,18,19, La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria.
ISBN: 0 9587922 1 6