Beautiful StKilda, then less so: 1841-99.

StKilda once celebrated its reputation as a centre of privilege and taste, the wealthiest suburb in C19th Melbourne. Although spouse and I lived in St­Kilda from 1976 on, I knew nothing of this cool C19th history. So I was very pl­eased to connect old StKilda to a broader context, apprec­ia­t­ing the way C19th StKilda reflected and affected the social, pol­it­ical and economic history of early Victoria. See a new book StKilda 1841-1900: Movers and Shakers and Money-makers by Carmel McKenzie (2023)

 StKilda 1841-1900: Movers and Shakers and Money-makers

by Carmel McKenzie, 2023

StKilda 1841–1900 is a beautifully presented and well illust­rated social history of one of Melbourne’s best-known bayside sub­urbs. The first settler arrived in the nameless suburb in 1841, building simple houses in a grassy knoll. Superintendent of the Port Phil­l­ip District, Charles La Trobe, named the suburb StKilda for his sch­ooner in 1842.

Having identified the driving forces behind the early urban development of what was an attractive grassy knoll, Carmel McKenzie charts the beginnings, the rise to opulence and the subsequent de­c­line of the suburb, over a 60-year period. The government’s release of land, and the desire of well-heeled buyers looking for a relat­ively isolated place on which to build, led to European occupation in 1841. Of course, the influx of Brits into the StKilda area had a devastating impact on the Yaluk-ut Weelam, the local clan meaning People of the Yarra River. I was very grateful since I hadn’t heard of this clan before.

  
The Terminus Hotel was built in 1857 opposite StKilda’s newly op­­­ened railway station. Later architect HB Gibb was engaged to design an extension for the hotel, now renamed The George Hotel. It is still in the renaissance rev­ival style, featuring a read­ily rec­og­nised circular corner tower (photo above) and then a great dining room. A large decorated Victorian space that could accommod­ate the ever growing guest numbers.

St Kilda Pier dates to the mid 1800’s as an early working jet­ty and the beach was very welcoming. By the 1860s, the beach sub­urb of St­Kilda had grown to become one of our most pop­ul­ar sub­urbs, an impact increased by the arrival of cable trams some years later.  Exclusive sporting facilities and clubs soon emerged for the fortunate participants.

StKilda Pier, 1850s

and kiosk

Grants from the City of Port Phillip’s Cultural Devel­opment Fund and the StKilda Historical Society were important in bringing this beautiful book to publication. It included 185 high quality images, well researched text, detailed end notes and bibliography.

The lives of many barris­ters and pol­iticians living in StKilda in a great time, who variously created the foundation of Victoria's pol­it­ical and legal system. So all of the movers and shakers in the book title were part of a soc­ial network that connected them to other in­divid­uals in Vict­oria bank­ing, merchant and political circles. Not surprisingly, the book showed the mans­ions owned by the merchants and profess­ion­als who stamped their dreams on StKilda.

The house I would have most loved was that built by the Michaelis merchant family in Acland Street in 1870. Linden was a two-storied Italianate mansion having been designed by architect Alfred Friedrich Kursteiner. Landscaper of the Royal Botanic Gardens, William Guilfoyle, designed the extensive  grounds that originally surrounded the building but were eventually built over. Linden was purchased by the St Kilda City Council in 1983 and became home to the Linden Arts Centre and Gallery in 1986.

Eildon Mansion,

first built 1850

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The Michaelis House, Linden

built 1870

Carmel's fascinating hist­ory covers many topical issues including the living conditions and treatment of the Indigenous people of the area: women generally and in particular the disadvantage suffered by domest­ic workers. She examined the nastier culture of the elite, which shocked me terribly. My family were dedicated socialists who valued all work­ers equally, and I assumed only British migrants oppressed servants and alienated the Chinese men and the Indian men brought out as ser­­­vants. Nonetheless I was still surprised to see that the choices of the upper ech­elon unknowingly sped up the coll­apse of StKilda’s golden age in the 1890s Depression when the dirtier nature of St­Kilda became obvious. Cl­assy families left and the elegant ball­rooms became graceless board­ing houses, one of the changes in the suburb's extra ordinary C19th rise and fall. And as the metropolis of Melbourne grew and grew, StKilda looked like a smaller suburb.

Cable tram, Fitzroy St

Appropriately this book won the 2023 Victorian Premier’s History Award.

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