02 July 2024

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
Facebook

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.


 



32 comments:

roentare said...

I would try to find the book. Looks like a good read.

Deb said...

My parents were very conservative and in the late 1960s would not have liked me socializing in Acland and Fitzroy streets. They worried about drugs, motorbike riders in leather and alcohol.
They never knew that StKilda was once rich.

jabblog said...

It's interesting to see how communities develop and change over time.

Hels said...

roentare

Good choice :) I found the book being sold at
Amazon https://www.amazon.com.au/St-Kilda-1841-1900-Movers-Shakers/dp/0646870211
John Reed Books https://www.johnreedbooks.com.au/p/st-kilda-1841-1900-movers-and-shakers-and-money-makers
Dymocks https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/st-kilda-1841-1900-movers-and-shakers-and-money-makers-by-carmel-mckenzie-9780646870212

Hels said...

Deb

I have no doubt that in the 1960s many parents were anxious about their daughter's welfare, but somehow St Kilda won a reputation that it may not have deserved. Yes the suburb had more migrants and more workers than in the 19th century, but that never meant that young women were introduced to illegal drugs while drinking coffee in the welcoming family coffee shops.

Hels said...

jabblog

Agreed. We all know of many suburbs and towns that cleaned up their acts after WW2, gentrifying the houses and streets, and adding new, attractive facilities for the young families moving in.

But we don't often hear of the opposite situation when beautiful homes are converted into boarding houses, and green lawn bowling clubs closed and built over.

Ирина Полещенко said...

Hello, Helen! It's a very beautiful suburb of Melbourne! Thank you for telling about it!

Hels said...

Irina

when we were still living away from home after 5 years, my beloved flew back to Melbourne in 1975 and bought a house, sight unseen. When I got back to Melbourne, I found he had bought a beautiful Victorian house in St Kilda, within 2 ks of our favourite beaches, coffee and cake shops, schools, galleries and Victorian synagogues. It was a beautiful suburb.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

The history of our towns and cities is for the most part unknown to the majority of us which is a shame

hels said...

Jo-Anne
That is so true. But if historians were offered a contract to write the "Causes and Outcomes of the Crimean War" Vs "Council Debates About Beaches in Geelong", local histories might seem trivial.

River said...

The only thing I remember about St Kilda is walking along the Esplanade and buying a piece of painted slate to hang in my house. Apparently we lived there very briefly when I was very small, maybe two years old. I think my brother was born there.
The book looks interesting.

Victorian Heritage Database said...

Eildon Mansion in St Kilda is of architectural significance as one of the most sophisticated examples of a Renaissance Revival style mansion built in 1850 by Melbourne architects, Reed and Barnes. It is of architectural significance for the original section of the house, which remains within the later house. It is of historical significance as the home of pioneer pastoralist John Lang Currie, an expression of the Victorian squattocracy’s status. It is also of historical significance as an example of the evolution of St Kilda from a fashionable bayside suburb in the late 19th century. It was run as a guesthouse until 2006, then it became a French language school.

Victorian Heritage Database

Hels said...

River

I have a vested interest in St Kilda because I lived there for so long, but even today I love meeting the Ladies Who Coffee in Acland St or opposite the beach. Next time you are coming to Melbourne, drop me a note first and I will take you to my favourite cultural centres.

Hels said...

Victorian Heritage Database

Carmel McKenzie's book wrote about Eildon Mansion at length and included some excellent photos, so I should have included some details of this important estate in my post. Many thanks for reminding me.

Andrew said...

What a marvellous book. I haven't seen that cable car photo before.
I would have liked The George photo taken with a Victorian Railways tram crossing Fitzroy Street to climb the Grey Street hill.
The Linden is a lovely building but I think there are nicer grand buildings is St Kilda. There was one which I think was nice, in behind the Fitzroy Street shops. It was called something like Racine Voltair...I can't quite remember the name now.

Parnassus said...

Hello Hels, I am adding this book to my list. It seems on the surface that the story of St. Kilda is similar to so many American cities--built up to be beautiful, then a decline occurs and the city seems to "shell out," losing many structures and damaging many others. This is one of the major themes of the writer Booth Tarkington, but of course he is more concerned with families and people than with houses and buildings. (See especially his enjoyable and enlightening novel The Magnificent Ambersons.)
.
I agree with you about the Linden. Italian villas are one of the most elegant and livable architectural styles, and I often find myself gravitating toward them.
--Jim

Hels said...

Andrew

You were correct! Opposite the Tolarno, Mirka found a site which she believed was the former French consulate. In 1968, the impressive Victorian Voltaire-Racine building, was demolished to make way for apartments. Apparently when the first French consul to Melbourne, Count Lionel de Chabrillan, brought his bride here in 1854, she had just published her memoirs. Élisabeth-Céleste Vénard had been a courtesan of distinction. She must have expected high quality :)

StKilda Historical Society
https://stkildahistory.org.au/mirka/the-project/st-kilda-fitzroy-street-tolarno-1966-1970

Hels said...

Parnassus

The recently arrived wealthy families who arrived from Britain and bought up land in the countryside would have wanted elegant mansions for annual holidays in the city each year. So although they loved middle Victorian British mansion architecture, perhaps the local architects knew better - with hot summers and close to the beach, Italian villas might have been much more suitable for their new homes.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Hels - so much change - but a fascinating history you've given us. I just remember the piggeries of Notting Hill - not so much now! It's great we can read about the changes ... I've got one on the rivers of London - that are now underground ... lots of social history. Cheers Hilary

Hels said...

Hilary

social history is fascinating, but it doesn't get the same attention in schools, universities and academic journals as military, religious or colonial history for example. So thank goodness for books like "StKilda 1841-1900: Movers and Shakers and Money-makers"...which has been very helpful to our continuing learning.

DUTA said...

What is based on cheap, foreign work, as with StKilda suburb, is later on doomed to decline. No surprise here.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Like many places StKilda has seen many changes since it was founded way back when it's been up and down and all over the place and books about the history of any place are of interest to me.

hels said...

DUTA
That is what happened when colonial powers took over the New World :( The land owners wanted beautiful homes, clubs and churches, but wouldn't do the dirty work themselves. So they hired cheap labour who had no choice about work or pay. Only much later did the Council protect the suburb and the unions protect the workers.

hels said...

Jo-Anne
Ups and downs, yes. The issue for me was that I lived in StKilda when it was cultural rich and architecturally protected. I didn't know anything about its downs. Good history is essential.

Katerinas Blog said...

They are extremely interesting books like the one you present and go deep into local history! How much injustice against the natives! I think we should learn them so we don't make the same mistakes! Stkilda looks great from your old photos though!
Thank you!

Hels said...

Katerina

I imagine that workers were treated badly everywhere, from outright slavery in some countries to underpaid workers living in appalling conditions. It took a very long time before Australia became an independent, federated nation where protection for the oppressed could be ensured by law. Even now, aboriginal workers have more people in gaol, more distance to medical care and poorer chances of getting into tertiary education.

Probably all nations still have a lot to improve, yes!

Luiz Gomes said...

Boa tarde e uma excelente quinta-feira. Excelente matéria, nem sempre temos a oportunidade de conhecer, essas matérias aqui no Brasil.

Hels said...

Luiz

yes.. that is probably true in most communities. We need to thank Carmel McKenzie for her social history, beautifully produced.

Andrew said...

Thanks Hels. I had the name close. I understand there is no evidence of it being a former French Consulate.

Hels said...

Andrew

some of the stuff we learn in blogs can't be found in school history text books :)

carmel mckenzie said...

Thanks so much for this Helen - I really appreciate it!
Given your interest in social justice, I was clearly correct in my guess that you would find some of the content illuminating, precisely because many local histories stop short of probing the darker aspects of the history on our doorsteps.

The book also received a very pleasing review in the June issue of the Victorian Historical Journal, and I'm chuffed to see that it's now been picked up by 26 libraries. Sales are a bit slow, but will hopefully keep ticking over with word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews. Kindest regards, Carmel

Hels said...

Carmel

I am not familiar with the VHJ, so thank you very much for the reference. And great to hear about the libraries.

Victorian Historical Journal June 24, Vol 95, number 1
https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/product/victorian-historical-journal-june-24-vol-95-number-1-digital-copy/