Showing posts with label Artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artists. Show all posts

Sunday, February 26, 2017

PERFORMANCE ASIATOPA 2017

Aristophanes at Studio 28, VCA: Photo: Julie Clarke (c) 2017
Still from a video by Dadang Christanto. Photo: Julie Clarke (c) 2017

It was interesting to hear Aristophanes in conversation on Wednesday afternoon at Studio 28, the Victorian College of the Arts, part of the AsiaTopa Festival.

Aristophanes, a Taipei-based hip-hop artist, who fuses poetry, electronica and jazz, spoke of her attempts to negotiate the male dominated area in which she has chosen to perform her craft. Amidst a myriad of diverse voices (Chinese as well as Western Rap artists) she continually strives to discover her identity closely linked with her own culture.
It was not surprising that she had struggled with sexual harassment and other difficulties associated with being female as well as being a performance artist. She spoke of an ideal, that of being able to see more females working in the industry. When asked whether singing in Mandarin might alienate English speaking listeners, especially her feminism and political stance evidenced in her lyrics, she explained that music transcends language.

Prior to this event I saw videos and amazing still photographs that documented the work of performance artists in Southeast Asia. Political Acts is at the Arts Center until 21 May and the most compelling image for me was from Dadang Christanto's Tooth Brushing (2017). With his coughing up or spewing forth of crimson matter from his mouth he references the bloody anti-Communist purges in Indonesia during 1965-1966. I was reminded in part by performances by the Australian artist Mike Parr, particularly his 'The Emetics' 1977 and 'Cathartic Action' 1977.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Enza Benincasa in her studio Sunday 4 September 2016

Enza in studio. Photo: Julie Clarke (c) 2016
Enza and Julie with Enza's work in progress. Photo by Enza's sister.

Julie in front of Enza's paintings. Photo: Enza Benincasa (c) 2016



I was luck to be able to catch up with two friends this week. On Friday Leonie Osowski and I saw a well curated exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, which focussed on landscape and afterwarfds we had a delicious vegan lunch at Gluttony in Smith Street.
Today I visited Enza Benincasa in her studio at Shakespeare Grove, St. Kilda. In her large-scale paintings on paper the night sky, with its myriad of stars and electric lights is a conduit from the earthly to an other-worldly or spiritual plane. City buildings, sentinals of iron and steel are transformed under her hand into structures of fantasy. Draped with small jewel-like fairy lights, the metropolis wears a delicate crown. This emphasis on the precious is reflected in her recent small works; as opals or other rare gems are recalled in the strong colors that blend effortlessly on canvas as though they have been plucked carefully from the earth. The phallic woman, represented by the iconic Madonna of Christianity features in many of her past works and speaks of the power of feminity and spirituality, a hallmark of her work. In some paintings Mary stands alongside or enveloped in the city space, which she protects. References or influences on Benincasa's work lie unashamedly on top of her work bench. Large tomes of Olsen and Catapan to name just a few. Olsen's strong, yet fluid mark making is reflected in Enza's work through a soft, delicate hand that creates a calligraphic line tracing a path over a colored ground. Enza's view of the city as we Melbournian's know it differs from Cattapan's dark vision, for her view of the city posit it as veiled often in discrete pastel colors.

I really enjoyed seeing Enza's work in the studio and I equally enjoyed walking through the community garden; the flowers were in bloom, the chickens were happy. If you would like to see more of Enza's work please visit:
www.enzabenincasa.com.au

Sunday, May 8, 2016

FRANCIS OSOWSKI DIED

It is with heavy heart that I advise readers that Francis Osowski (the other half of FnL, Leonie Osowsky) died peacefully and pain free in the Palliative Care Unit of the Royal Melbourne Hospital at 8pm last night. I visited Frank in hospital on Thursday morning and read from some of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems, which he appeared to enjoy. I feel content to have been able to do that as we were friends for many years. Frank was born in Germany in 1947 and emigrated to Australia in the 1960s. He was a computer programmer before spending much of his time in the past two decades making unique artworks with his wife Leonie. Unfortunately he did not finish his translation of numerous works of Heidegger. You may find some of my commentary about the artworks of FnL at this link

Saturday, April 18, 2015

CRAIGIEVAR

CRAIGIEVAR
71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn
____________

Julie Clarke & Erin Powell (c) 2015

This research grew out of my son’s desire to know more about a grand old house he lived in with me and his father between 1984 and 1991 that no longer exists. At the beginning of this year he discovered vital early information as well as other key data about the house and its first two owners and then handed the baton onto me to continue the research. Erin's research from Trove's digital newspapers may be found at this link. It was a joyous task undertaking this research because when we lived at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn I had an insatiable appetite for knowledge about the house and its previous occupants. I was too busy at that time (coordinating the Hawthorn Community House, studying part time and undertaking my motherly and wifely duties) to do much about it except speak to Gwen McWillam from the Hawthorn Historical Society. Also, the Internet was in its infancy so was not an available tool that could be readily used for research as it is now.

We have yet to locate a photo of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn that reveals its size and grandeur, but we do have the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works map of Craigievar in 1902.  I was hoping that Google Street View would provide an image of the house prior to it being demolished, however it only goes back to 2007 and the student apartments were built on the site in 2006. I contacted Meredith Gould Architects who undertook the Hawthorn Heritage Study, but she reminded me that any photographic negatives she might have of the building were pre-digital and may be difficult and time consuming to locate, after all the study was undertaken in 1992; the house was over one hundred years old, lacked an attractive front garden and was showing its age.

Of course, the most ideal photograph of Craigievar would be just after it was built, with circular path leading to the front door and the lush garden. In my mind’s eye I can see those first residents sitting or standing languidly on the front verandah, the children are playing in the garden, each person wearing what we now call ‘period’ clothing. The sun would be shining gently over Hawthorn and the scene idyllic. However, this notion of perfect is elusive and resides only in our imaginations, as must any narrative we weave about those who lived there. Suffice to say I’ve attempted to stick to the facts and speculate only when necessary. I do hope that readers enjoy inclusion of information about my own family, which hopefully adds to the richness and texture of the investigation.

Craigievar. MMBW Map 1902
THE HUTCHINGS FAMILY ~ THE FIRST OWNERS
Sometime in the late1870s James Hutchings (b. 1822 d. 1884) and his much younger wife Jane Jones (b. 1850 d.1893), daughter of William Jones (d. 1893) built an extensive, single storey Villa with pink, black, brown and cream Hawthorn bricks. The slate roofed villa, called Craigievar (possibly named after the fairytale Craigievar castle in Scotland) situated at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn was impressive with its four bedrooms, dining room, ballroom, two kitchens, bathrooms, servant’s quarters and stables. Here is the only photograph that we have, which shows only one of the three bay windows that jutted out from the front of the house, the timber decorated veranda and motif decorated brickwork.


Erin Powell in front of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. Photo: Anna Laverick (2000)


James Hutchings who built the Villa was the successful proprietor of the agricultural works T. Robinson and Co Melbourne for over thirty years . Indeed, whilst the fledgling company employed six workers in 1854, by the time James died in 1884, 130 men were ‘constantly engaged in the manufacture of machinery, which had done more than anyone can describe in the advance of agriculture in the Australian colonies.’ Strangely enough a report was made in The Argus from their Ballarat reporter that a protest was made against Messer’s T. Robinson and Co receiving the first prize for steam thrashing plant at the late Spring show because the firm used a steam engine owned by Mr. J. Hickman. I don’t know how the issue was resolved but it serves to show that the business obviously had some fierce competitors.

Between 1870 and 1883 Jane Hutchings gave birth to four children: Isabella, Frederick Hawthorn (1874-1926), Lucy Maud (d. 1894) and Elsie Blanch. Tragically Elsie died in 1883 just prior to her first birthday. She probably died on 15 June 1883 of Typhoid Fever as approximately 12,000 Victorians died of the disease in that year due to the lack of adequate sewerage in the greater Melbourne area. Peel, Zion and Yule explain: ‘The un-sewered city fell prey to regular bouts of typhoid and cholera, diseases which did not differentiate between class or suburbs, and Hawthorn’s sanitary conditions in the mid 1880’s left much to be desired’. (A History of Hawthorn, Victoria Peel, Deborah Zion, Jane Yule, 1993).

It appears rather queer to me thinking about the splendorous contents of the house knowing full well that the dark secret, was that each evening the ‘night man’ would visit homes and empty the privies into an enclosed cart to be dumped; the disposal of urine and excrement into trenches or market gardens or into the Yarra River or occasionally into ‘open gutters on the roadside’ certainly added to the spread of disease in the community. With so many children, her husband absorbed in work and with so much to worry about it’s no wonder that the Hutchings family placed an advertisement in 1880 for ‘a respectable young person for the nursery and a good general servant’.

Apart from work, one imagines that the Hutching’s social life was better than good; having owned a large and lavish house, a Grand as well as a concert piano and no doubt would have enjoyed the entertainment of pianists, singers and fine dances in the ballroom. When we lived there between 1984 and 1991 we had heard about the ballroom but had never seen it as the doors that lead from our half of the large house to the other side had been permanently sealed creating one long dark hallway. The hallway, had what can only be called a ‘cold spot’; there was also one in the lounge room. Our cat Lester would do his best to avoid the cold spots by walking around the areas whenever he was near them. We imagined that there was some sinister occurrence that had instigated such icy zones. But the house was already cold with its high ceilings and wide open fireplaces in the lounge room and both large bedrooms. The people that lived there must have been continually burning wood to keep warm. Erin’s asthma worsened when we moved there so I installed a large gas heater in the lounge room, which made living there for seven Melbourne winters tolerable. Strange phenomena that occurred whilst we lived there included a reel to reel tape playing backwards and Erin’s Tonka crane spinning around. We envisage now that perhaps the toy was moved by the spirit of little Elsie. Since 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn was the largest house I’d lived in; we had space to hold soirees and parties with friends, writers and visual poets, namely Raimondo Cortese, Des Cowley, Bruce Dickson Jas Duke, Kris Hemensley, Bernie Janssen, Peter Murphy, Bevan Roberts, Charles Roberts, Jurate Sasnitis, Alex Selenitsch, Pete Spence and Tony Figallo just to name a few, and we delighted in the fact that our visitors were impressed by the house’s previous grandeur.

I know little about the Hutching’s daily lives, however this description may shed some light: ‘Inside the middle-class villas, with their drawing rooms, servant’s quarters and multiple bathrooms, was a desire for privacy and the practice of civility, in which meals were ceremonial affairs and ‘home culture’ usually centered on the piano, part of everyday life’. Also up until the 1950s the middle-class wife didn’t have to leave home to shop, as milk, bread, meat, fruit and vegetables were delivered daily. City stores also delivered orders for purchases. I feel quite ancient writing this particular section because when I was a child I remember the ‘butchers boy’ delivering meat to my grandmother’s place on his bicycle and also remember vividly the bread van coming in the morning, opening its back doors so that we could select which bread we wanted. Of course the milk man was still delivering to houses until 1958.

On the 25 May 1884 at the age of 62, James Hutchings died at his residence (71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn). Jane Hutchings and her family continued to live at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn and seven years after her husband’s death in December, 1891 she married John Zevenboom (b. 1822 Netherlands) ~ a Dutchman, renowned brush manufacturer and councilor with the Melbourne City Council who conducted his business at 101 Canning Street, North Melbourne. I lived in Canning Street, North Melbourne from 1997 until 2010, and when I was born, my father’s occupation (on my birth certificate) stated that he was a brush maker. 
John Zevenboom SLV Digital Collection.

Zevenboom began his business in 1862 but in 1977 his business closed down for good.John Zevenboom was initiated in 1864 and installed as Master of the Combermere Masonic Lodge in 1869 and was a hard working member of the Melbourne community. Indeed Zevenboom Lane in Melbourne is named after him.  As such, one imagines that Zevenboom’s wealth (his brush making business was the first in the southern hemisphere and his brushes are still sought after collectables) and his connections throughout Melbourne would have made their life most pleasant. However the death of Jane’s youngest daughter in 1883 and the death of her first husband must have played heavily on her emotions.

On the 13 March 1893 (two years after marrying John Zevenboom) Jane Zevenboom died at Craigievar. She was only 43 years old. Strangely enough she died in the same year as her father William Jones.

Later that year, on 14 October 1893 the contents of the house were sold and the wealth of the Hutchings/Zevenboom alliance was indisputable given the list of unique and exquisite objects they possessed, and I name only a portion of them below listed in the auction notice:

Concert and Grand piano.
Beautiful walnut drawing room furnishings in claret satin and brocatelle.
Rich silk plush and tapestry window drapery and embroidered lace curtains.
Inlaid walnut chairs.
Brass and Nickel bedsteads
Ebonized and gold cabinet and walnut tables.
Venetian and Bohemian glass.
Dresden china, very rare crystal.
Massive marble timepiece.
Massive mahogany sideboard.
Leather lounge chairs.
Oil paintings by J. A. Turner and Koek Koek and others.

I was not surprised that when I lived there, and having received a small inheritance from Leonard Massey the man who boarded with my grandmother after WW2 and was considered a surrogate father to us, to be insistent on purchasing a brass queen size bed frame, as, unbeknown to me at that time, the Hutchings family owned brass and nickel bedsteads. I also purchased within the seven year period that I lived there, an antique piano roll cupboard, carved sideboard and an Australian Art Deco dining room table, obviously influenced either by the period of the house (Gwen McWilliam, the then president of the Hawthorn Historical society told me that the house was most probably built in the 1870s and was quite grand) or the Hutchings desire for beautiful things was asserting an influence beyond the grave. Not surprising either, that since horses remained a form of transport right up until WWII and in particular circles it was considered un-lady-like to ride on public transport, the Hutchings family would own their own horses and Pony Phaeton. Notably, it was ‘only the wealthiest ten percent of Melbournians who could afford to buy a carriage’. There is an interesting link between the Hutchings family and one of my ancestors. Frederick Hawthorn Hutchings was in the Light horse Regiment during WWI and so was my grandfather Charles Winter Clarke.

Whilst the Hutchings family owned oil paintings by various artists namely J.A. Turner, the Australian landscape artist and KoekKoek one of the famous Amsterdam artists the most we hung on our walls were our own artworks and in particular a 1970s triptych (drawing of sexual intercourse) by the Melbourne artist Godwin Bradbeer. The triptych was not owned by us, we were simply looking after it for its owner Peter Spence (friend). When I was studying art at RMIT in 1989 Godwin had mentioned in a lecture about his work that he’d ‘lost track’ of the triptych and was absolutely surprised (as were the other students) when I said it was hanging on our wall. He later came to view it. I remember the day so clearly in 1990 because the Gulf War had broken out and I could no longer watch the televised reports of death and injury to women and children.

I remember also when we lived there, that a portion of paint had peeled off near the mantelpiece revealing a tiny fragment of exquisite wallpaper, firing up our imaginations again about what the house may have looked like in the past. Part of the carved fireplace surround and mantelpiece may be seen in the following photograph.


The Hutchings family could afford to cover the large windows with ‘rich silk plush and tapestry window drapery and embroidered lace curtains’, however, when we moved into the house in 1984 the windows remained bare until I ordered some deep pink velvet curtains. Here are two photos of the windows in the large front lounge room prior to the curtains being installed.


The following photograph shows the cut-glass effect on the front door as seen through one of the two doors that lead from the lounge room.
After the sale of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn and its contents John Zevenboom, who was at that time vice-consul to the Netherlands took up residence at 39 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. It was also an impressive Victorian garden Villa that has since been demolished and like number 71 has been replaced with apartments.

Isabella Hutchings (I can find no birth or death record for her) married Hubert Charles Grist, son of Hubert G. Grist Ashleigh, St. James's Park, Hawthorn at St. Colomb’s Church, Hawthorn in 1886.  In 1890 she gave birth to a son Ashley Roy Grist (b. 1890 d. 1916). During WW1 he was a member of the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, but died of Tuberculosis in 1916. Tuberculosis and Diarrhea were the two biggest killers of people in Melbourne at that time.   Unlike his nephew Ashley Grist, Frederick Hawthorn Hutchings survived his participation in WW1 in the 13th Light Horse Regiment and the Second Boer War (1899-1902 Victorian Imperial Bushmen Unit) and in 1907 married Annie Macgregor. He lived until he was 52 years old. Lucy Maud Hutchings married John George Coles in 1894 and in 1896 they had a daughter Olive Coles who sadly, only lived for 48 hours. Lucy died that same year.


THE MCBEAN FAMILY ~ THE SECOND OWNERS
The McBean family story begins in Australia when James McBean (b. 1833) immigrates to Australia from Inverness, Scotland and begins a business in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne using the skills he acquired as a watchmaker, jeweler, optician and surgical implement maker in his native town.  His extremely successful business moved to The Block Arcade, Melbourne in 1858 where the shop displayed the most artistic efforts of the gold and silversmith’s art.

Image from the following website:http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18484&start=35
James McBean’s business did very well, not only because he was an excellent craftsperson, but because the ‘well to do’ of Melbourne would dress in their finest clothes and ‘do The Block’. Meaning, I suppose that they would stroll around the building, look at the shops, purchase items and take tea.  James McBean met and married Susannah Morrison, one of the Irish Famine Orphans, who came from a workhouse in County Antrik. She arrived in Melbourne on the Diadem in 1850 (when she was 15 years old) and was engaged as an apprentice by Jane McSweeney of Lonsdale Street, Melbourne for 12 months at 9 Pounds per annum. Of course, we may only speculate, but it may have been because she worked in bustling Melbourne city that she met James.  I can think of no other reason since Susannah arrived in Australia as a person of poverty with no connections or family and James possessed such wealth. Susannah and James McBean married on 29 December 1856 and had five children. William (1858), John (1860), Maryanne (1861), James Earl and Frederick Charles.  Maryanne McBean married prominent business man James Burston, in Melbourne.  It’s fascinating that they married at Collins Street, Independent Church (now St. Michael’s Uniting Church) where my first marriage was conducted.

However it is to Susannah’s first born William W. McBean (1858-1921) that we are concerned for he married Margaret Lucy Leontine Mortimer (1862-1949) child of John Thomson Mortimer (Aberdeen 1821) and Ann Scolley Gray, and  was employed as a jeweler in his father’s business. Although a hard worker, he was also on the committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club in 1901.

William, who had worked for his father for thirty-two years, took over the business in 1890 when his father retired. Four years later in 1894, William McBean and Margaret Lucy Leontine Mortimer (McBean) purchased Craigievar, 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn and I have no doubts at all that James and Susannah would have visited their grandchildren there.

Prior to the purchase of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn Margaret Lucy Leontine Mortimer (known as Lucy and documented as L. M. McBean) had four children: Charles Mortimer (1887-1949), William Harold (1889), Florence Muriel (1890) and Annie Dorothy (1893). Lucy had another son: Fred Waydill (1902 - 1984) who was born in Auburn Road, Hawthorn.  It must have been wonderful for the children – a seven year old, a five, four, and three year old to have lived in such opulent and spacious surroundings.

On 1 December 1900 a D. Hardie advertised that he had cocker spaniel puppies for sale at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. He was, according to Ian McBean who I met with today (August 12, 2015) the groom who lived at the McBean residence.  I suppose that life was fairly ‘normal’ for this wealthy family who were, like those less well off, touched by war.  In 1915 Charles Mortimer McBean was still listed as living at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn when he was in WWI and was described after the war as being a salesman.  He died at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne on January 31, 1949. His death is advertised in The Argus. Charles was just one of the five hundred sons ‘given unselfishly by Hawthorn mothers for the war effort’ after the Hawthorn Citizen championed the war cause and reminded residents that the insignia on the Hawthorn coat of arms (a train and the Latin motto: Ex Umbra in Solem) was something of a watchword for the war – ‘out of the darkness into the light’.  In all, 2266 Hawthorn residents enlisted in World War One. Lucy McBean may have been one of the middle class women of Hawthorn who, with the finances to employ home help, could afford to engage full time in fervent patriotism by working for the Red Cross, making up bandages and supplies for the war effort, but that doesn’t mean that she did. I imagine that the McBean family like many Hawthorn families would have decorated the front of their house with an Australian flag to celebrate Armistice.

William Harold McBean, known as ‘Billy’ McBean, played for his school’s (Scotch College) football team and played one year in the Australian Football League in 1909. Florence Muriel McBean (b. 1890) called ‘Muriel’ married Charles Colin Campbell in 1917 and died in that same year. Annie Dorothy McBean (1893) remains elusive. Long after the house was sold Fred Wardill McBean married Ida Beatrice Stewart Oldham in 1939. He died the year that we moved into the house.

Apart from the impact of World War 1, life would have been disrupted for the McBeans in 1916 due to the construction of the tram line down Riversdale Road and the installation of drainage pipes, however, life changed drastically when William McBean died at Craigievar on 17th April 1921, aged 64 years.


The house was sold on October 28, 1922 and the contents were sold in August 1923. The description of the Villa at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn had changed from its original. The ballroom was not mentioned and instead the following is an account of what was considered the layout of the house.

SOLIDLY BUILT BRICK VILLA, slate Roof containing drawing room, dining room, billiard room, four main bedrooms, breakfast room, maid’s room, two kitchens, bathroom and heater, two pantries. Brick stable, coachouse, man’s room, loft. AVB stables and rooms. Two large building allotments (The Argus, Wednesday 11 October, 1922)

Given that a William McBean is listed as residing at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn in 1922 and his father William died in 1921 we may assume that it was William’s son William Harold McBean who was the resident. Margaret Lucy McBean moved to and lived at 41 Stevenson Street, Kew in 1941 until her death.
 
Afterward.On Thursday, 13 August 2015 I met up with Ian McBean son of Frederick McBean. He provided me with a number of photocopies of original photographs of Craigievar and some valuable information about his father, such as the fact that Fred was the rebel of the family, voted Labor all his life and was extremely egalitarian. He spent a happy childhood at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. There is some anecdotal evidence that his father William played the organ and at one time even played at the Melbourne Town Hall. The McBeans had a kitchen garden in the block adjacent to their property and interestingly enough Fred studied at Dookie Agricultural College, much to his father's displeasure since Fred had not passed his matriculation at Scotch College (year 12). He also told me that  the name Craigievar came from Craigiever Castle, which is located in Aberdeenshire. It is a beautiful tower house in the hand of the National Trust of Scotland. The connection with the family is through William McBean's maternal grandfather John Mortimer. The ancient family of Mortimer owned the land on which the castle is built and commenced construction but sold to the Forbes family who completed the castle.  I can only surmise that since Craigievar was written on the top of the MMBW map then it was written after the Hutchings family had vacated the house. I was delighted to see the following photographs and post them here for your enjoyment.
James McBean standing in doorway of Elizabeth Street business.
Front view of Craigievar, 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn.
Photograph: Ian McBean
 
Fred at wheel and Murial seated in McBean car outside old stables. 1906
With kind permission of Ian McBean. Photographer unknown.

 


According to the Sands and McDougall Street Directory (on microfiche at the Boroondara Library) the house remained vacant in 1923 and 1924, however in 1925 a Mrs L. Crawford (possibly Laura Eliza Crawford Edith’s mother) and Norman Forbes Willis, born in 1890 in Prahran, employed as a Clerk in Hawthorn in 1914 and a gunner in WW1 - 3 Divisional Ammunition Column, and 1 to 8 Reinforcements (Jun 1916 - Feb 1917), became residents of the property. Norman may have been a boarder who lived in the Maid’s room or servants quarters.  Mrs. Lousa Crawford continued to be a resident in 1926 and 1927. I can only assume that she bought the house and when she died it was left to Edith.
Ellen Lyons from: http://www.lyons-ryan.org/marong1/Lyons-Hart_Gallery.html
Ellen Lyons lived at 71 Riversdale Road in 1920 even though the McBean’s still lived there, perhaps she was the maid? Her obituary dated 8 September 1930, states that she is ‘late of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn.’

Joanna Lyons, Anita and Kevin. Image from: http://www.lyons-ryan.org/marong1/Lyons-Hart_Gallery.html
I know nothing about her except that she had excellent eye sight and could read without glasses when she was eighty two years old.  Ellen Lyons daughter Johanna Josephine Hart (Babs) (Nee Lyons) was born in Marong in 1876 and married James Hart in 1900 and she is listed in 1930 as residing at 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn with her daughter Anita and her son Kevin Hart (1909-2002) who is the grandfather of the current Archbishop of Melbourne, The Reverend Dennis Hart. On 21 October 1930 probate of the Will of Ellen Lyons was granted to Johanna Josephine Hart of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. Johanna passed away in Hawthorn on 21 January, 1966. The photograph above appears to show 69 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn in the background.

EDITH M. CRAWFORD ~ THE THIRD OWNER
Edith Maria Crawford (1875 - 1970) was born in 1875 in Dergholm (near Casterton), Victoria, Australia to Robert Crawford and Laura Eliza (Horne) Crawford from Tasmania, and was an only child. The Mercury Hobart recorded the marriage between Robert and Laura as April, 1872. Edith died in 1970 in Hawthorn, Australia at 95 years of age.  Edith Maria Crawford's last known residence is at Hawthorn, Australia

From 1928 to 1939 Miss Edith Maria Crawford who was the owner of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn lived at the residence. I consulted the Boroondara Rate Books from 1941-1942 (on microfiche) and Edith M. Crawford is listed as the owner of the property, however there are five other residents in the five flats. She obviously divided the house up in the 1920 when she became the owner. The five residents were:

Flat 1, Kenneth Frank Varley Hudson, radio announcer.
Flat 2, Alice Maud Armstrong.
Flat 3, Raymond Arthur Roberts, traveller.
Flat 4, Norma Gordon Holland and
Flat. 5, Frederick Rosenbaum, draftsman.

I can only surmise that she moved into one half of the house and rented the other half to Johanna Hart and her children Kevin and Anita, or, perhaps they already lived there with their mother Ellen Lyon?

Kenneth Hudson was a radio announcer with 3KZ (See: The Argus, Wednesday 10 September 1952) – article that reads: DON'T be surprised if there are sundry titters from radio announcer Ken Hudson's customers when his
Family Quiz session comes on 3KZ tonight. To say the least, Hudson is going to look slightly out of the ordinary in his full make-up and World War I lieutenant's uniform. Fancy dress? No-he is Playing in "Journey's End" at the Little Theatre, and the curtain goes up 15 minutes after he stops quizzing.

Journey's End gives a glimpse into the experiences of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War I. The entire story plays out in the officers' dugout over four days from 18 March 1918 to 21 March 1918, during the run-up to the real-life events of Operation Michael. (Wiki)

In 1940, 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn is simply listed as ‘flats’ perhaps because a division had been made between one side of the house and the other – Flat 1 and Flat 2. No names were attached to the property at this time. However, an unnamed woman (most probably Edith Crawford) advertised in The Argus in 1943 for a ‘Trustworthy woman over 45 all domestic duties villa flat, one lady, Flat 1, 71 Riversdale Road’.  And ‘Gordon’ was listed alongside the address 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn under a for rent advertisement.

Each of the doors at 71 Riversdale had large keyholes below the handles and small plaques with numbers upon them suggesting that at some stage that it was a boarding house with residents being able to find some privacy by locking their bedroom door.

In 1951 Edith Crawford’s name appears again next to the 71 Riversdale listing in the Sands and McDougall Street Directory (on microfiche at the Boroondara City Library) and remained there until 1963. She was the person whose name is associated with the house (1928-1962). Given that she died in 1970 there must have been at least one more owner of the property.

In 1973 Daphne Olga Gonsalvez, school teacher at Hawthorn Primary School, lived at Flat 2/71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. She died in 2014. 

Between 1984 and 1991 the Powell family – myself, Erin Powell and David Powell lived at Flat 2, 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn.

 
I feel confident to assume that there were many residents of 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn before we lived there and after we lived there. 71 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn was demolished to make way for contemporary student accommodation in 2006.




This document will be lodged with the Boroondara Historical Society and it will contain vital links to the information provided here.








 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

LIKE TEARS IN RAIN



The title of this expose, exhibition, revealing, showing and telling was inspired by Roy Batty's (Rutger Hauer) death soliloquy in the science fiction drama Blade Runer (Ridley Scott, 1983). Roy reminisces on his short but very bright life as a Nexus 6, genetically engineered replicant:  I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Poignant, beautiful.
I was fascinated by the fact that in the film the replicant Rachel (Sean Young), unaware than she was not human believed that her 'humanity' and memories were verified by photographs; as if they were tangible evidence of her prior existence and not a medium that could be constructed or manipulated.
We believe when we are told, that the photograph of us is indeed ourselves as a baby even though we have no memory of that time, likewise, we view a photograph of ourselves and don't believe that it’s a true resemblance of our visage - the photographic medium lies or we tell tales to ourselves, believing, and rightly so, that we are more than our mere image. And there may be a photograph of ourselves that we have taken and yet people will say ‘surely that is not you’ for the camera has captured something in your face that they do not recognize and yet you do.
We have memories that are not supported by photographic documentation and there are photographs that hold memories that will never be told. Photographs then, are an approximation - memories too, are tainted - they may be buried or almost forgotten; however the photograph may allow them to be resurrected and reconsidered.
I asked friends to provide a photograph of themselves from any era, up to three words to accompany the photograph and a short explanation of the significance of the words. As you can see, I had varied responses.
Like Dr Who our many faces and many life experiences inhabit our psyche and this project was intended as prompter, as vehicle for recuperation, to retrieve a memory that may have been lost in time. I chose to present the photographs I received in Polaroid format for several reasons. It harkens back to a particular moment in photographic history - I was one of  many using the Polaroid SX70 camera and to me the empty, white space underneath the square-framed photograph always called out for text. Finally, I'd just viewed Blade Runner for the umpteenth time in my life and coincidentally found a self-portrait I'd taken with a Polaroid camera in 2000.



I had already been around Europe for a year as a runaway beatnik at 15 and was about to depart for Australia. Now, more than four decades later I see a defiant and suspicious young man who believed that freedom could be gained by putting distance between himself and his past.


Werner Hammerstingl


My only sister died suddenly in September. Her death leaves a black hole.
Art is where we turn to explain and express our grief and sorrow, a place to keep our memories. Art remains when life is gone.
I will do what I love, and be with those I love. 
Naomi Faith Bishop



this city wears black well
pockets of dark desire
bias cut. stretching to fit
bodies of thought –
that muscular space
beyond the avant-garde
and ragged dreams.
each street weaves urban
into states of cool opaque
mind full of self espresso. 
uncoloured threads of reverie
hem the wake of workers into lanes
where night-graffitied shutters uncloak
secrets. raw yarns spinning shadows
for the heady days where noir is
the new black this city wears

cecilia white


Left alone, got straight into the lipstick
Pezaloom Wd.


Today's St Kilda footsteps echo softly into last century's footsteps with my deceased brother and deceased sister. Their footsteps echo loudly. I tumble. I steady. Take another glimpse. I tumble over and over into the black precipice. I will never trade yesterday's proud and lonely footsteps, for today's gold.
Julie Boustead 

At the peak of my clinical LSD experience I was hyper-globular and totally tidal wave wherein I exited my corporeal self. In the instant in which I thought I would die, I was catapulted back into self awareness and the LSD trip. It was a palpable and utterly unforgettable experience.
Brecon Walsh

This picture was taken in 2005 at Safeco field in Seattle, where I was watching a Mariners baseball game. You can see the game in the reflection of my sunglasses. I had just returned to the US from Australia, and was very happy to be way up high watching my favorite sport.
John Mcgowan-Hartmann



This manifestation of self
barely remembered - although, she is also me,
lies hidden beneath the
lines & cracks
that trace the surface of 
this aging asphalt.
All is ultimately
stone and bone. 
Julie Clarke 

Photo by Alex Garton
Andrew Garton


I close my eyes and remember falling.  So hard and so fast that I hit the bottom before I even knew I’d gone over the edge.  Everything changed from that moment.  Sometimes I even feel grateful for it.  
Kim Anderson 

1. absorbed in or involving thought process - “brows drawn together in thoughtful consideration” - studious, curious, delighted and engrossed.
2. showing understanding for the needs of other people - “she was attentive and thoughtful” - however, most certainly not to the detriment of her own needs.
Tracey Lamb




This photo was taken by Francesca Jurate Sasnaitis at Sappho's Bookshop and Cafe in April 2012. Jurate and I are very old friends but hadn't seen each other for over 20 years. We both found ourselves at a outdoor reading & while April it felt like winter. Jurate took this picture without my knowledge.
Mark Roberts


I sit unaware of the company of my big shadow, smug, content as it takes over my mood. Overcome in my malaise, depression, flat, without vigour. My eyes! Unrecognizable, where HELL did I go? land of disgust, defeat, anger? A Duality moment, struggle with self.
Enza Benincasa