Advertisement for the newly constructed Watten Villa.
The Argus December 16, 1876 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5912568
She lived there with her four children - ten year old Mary Jane, eight year old Alice, six year old Charles and four year old William (3). The enterprising Mrs Gardner operated two businesses from this commodious villa - a boarding house and a Furrier showroom and workroom.
Mrs Gardner's advertisement seeking boarders
The Herald May 11, 1877 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244265798
It was through Mrs. Gardner's boarding house business that I first came across the English actress,
Emily Soldene who stayed here whilst her Repertory Troupe was playing at the Prince of Wales Opera House in Melbourne. Emily later wrote about her time in Melbourne we lived at St. Kilda, at Mrs. Gardiner's [sic] and she described Watten as - a long, low house of one storey, built on piles, with a broad passage running down the centre, and ten or twelve rooms opening off on each side (4). You can read more about Emily Soldene, here.
Mrs Gardner's advertisement for her Furrier business at Watten Villa.
The Argus April 17, 1878 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244519053
Mrs Gardner was also a talented furrier, who advertised that she was a Royal Warrant holder - 'by appointment to the Duke of Edinburgh.' Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh (1844 - 1900) who was the second son of Queen Victoria and had purchased some of her furs. The Herald of April 11, 1877 had an article on the rising popularity of furs due to the advent to England of a royal bride from Russia, where the use of warm furs is found so necessary and convenient, caused recently, an unbounded run upon furs by English ladies.....This fashionable mania for furs extended, of course, to these colonies, where the latest fashions in London and Paris are closely watched and quickly assumed (5). The Russian Royal bride was the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, the daughter Tsar Alexander II who married Prince Alfred in 1874.
The article continues As an instance of the favor which furs at present find in the eyes of Melbourne ladies, it may be mentioned that, within the last few days, Mrs Gardner, of Watten Villa, Park road, St. Kilda, has made, to the order of the lady of an eminent physician in Collins street east, a large seal jacket, which cost no less than 130 guineas. We have seen this beautiful and costly garment, and must say it is most creditable as an article of Victorian manufacture, and would do credit to any London house. The jacket is trimmed with sable tails -which alone are valued at 100 guineas -and lined with black silk. It will readily be understood that Mrs Gardner, having manufactured articles which have been worn by Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, has been well qualified to execute such an extraordinary order as that which she has just completed. During one of his visits to these colonies, His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh selected at Mrs Gardner's establishment, which was then in Collins street west, articles of fur, as presents to Her Majesty the Queen, and the Princess of Wales, to the value of £300.
At Watten Villa there is to be seen a perfect museum of beautiful articles manufactured from the skins of the dingo, native bear, and other Australian animals. The presents which His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh brought home to his Royal Mother and sister-in-law were designed as specimens of Australian natural products, utilised for fashionable attire. Articles made from the dyed skin of the opossum are very much worn in Victoria, and are elegant and expensive. Mrs Gardner's stock includes articles composed of the skins of the skunk, beaver, squirrel, ermine, silver fox, red fox, chinchilla grebe and many other animals; which are turned into jackets, handmuffs, coirnrettea, victorines and so forth. Some of the furs, both native and foreign, shown at Watten Villa are extremely beautiful, and well worthy the inspection of the streams of fashionable ladies that constantly pour into that beautiful villa on the St Kilda beach (5).
It would appear from the article that Mrs Gardner's business was a profitable one, however according to the City of St Kilda Rate books (6) she is only listed at Watten Villa for 1877. Now is the time to go back to the start of Mrs Gardner's life to see the path that took her to Watten Villa. She was born in Bris in Lancashire in England in January 1833 to Richard and Sarah (nee Axil) Hamer and married William Eddleston in May 1851. They at least one child, a daughter Sarah Ann in 1855. William died in August 1855. All these events occurred in Lancashire (7). The next we find of Mary Jane is that she marries 44 year old Frederick Gardner in Westbury, in Tasmania (8). Frederick was a furrier and Mary Jane worked with him and learnt the business (9). When Mary Jane arrived in Tasmania and how they meet I cannot tell you.
Frederick was a furrier of some note according to this article in The Herald of February 15, 1864
A few days ago we examined a quantity of rugs, carriage mats, etc, prepared and dressed by Mr H. Gardner, furrier, 66 Collins street, from furs principally obtained from various Tasmanian animals, including the black opossum, the native cat, the tiger cat, etc. These furs are very much superior to anything of the kind in Victoria, and many of them compare favourably with the Canadian furs. Mr Gardner has carried on the business of a furrier in Launceston for many years, and has recently opened the above establishment, he contemplates offering in the coming winter season a very beautiful selection of furs, for ladies and children's wear (10).
The Great Hall of the Intercolonial Exhibition. Both Frederick and Mary Jane Gardner had displays of fur products at this Exhibition.
Artist: Arthur Charles Cooke. Engraver: Frederick Grosse.
Published in Australian News for Home Readers on October 26, 1877 State Library of Victoria Image IAN27/10/66/8-9
Frederick also exhibited at the Intercolonial Exhibition held in Melbourne October 24, 1866 until February 23, 1867. The Exhibition showcased the arts, agriculture and industry of the various Australian colonies and New Zealand and was visited by over 270,000 people in the four months that it was open (11). You can see the full catalogue of the Exhibition, here. Frederick's exhibition in the 'Animal products' class was listed as a Trophy of Australian opposum rugs and ladies furs. His exhibit won the prize medal in his class for a superior and choice collection of manufactured colonial furs for ladies' wear, and for the general excellence in preparation and workmanship of the black, grey, and ring tailed opossum, cat-skin, and emu rugs. Mary Jane also had an Honourable mention is also due to Mrs. Gardner for an elaborate and interesting birdskin table cover (12).
The Intercolonial Exhibition medal, which was perhaps given to Frederick Gardner for his prize winning display of furs.
The medal was designed and modelled by Charles Summers, who created the Burke and Wills statue (13). The design represents Victoria, receiving her six sisters, who each bring some contribution peculiar to the industries of the several colonies represented on the occasion.
The Australian News for Home Readers, March 20, 1867 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63170725
The couple had the four children Mary Jane, Alice, Charles and William, born between 1866 and 1873; however in October 1879 Mary Jane filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion. Her divorce deposition (14) makes for some interesting reading. Mary Jane alleges that in June 20, 1873 Frederick announced that he was leaving and would no longer support her or the family. He accused her of having committed adultery with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh when he was on a visit to Melbourne in the year of one thousand and seventy eight and had had a child of which his Royal Highness was the father. As a matter of interest, Duke undertook the first ever Royal tour of Australia from October 1867 until June 1868. Also as a matter of interest, Mary Jane gave birth to daughter Alice on November 2, 1868. Mary Jane denied that she had an affair with the Duke, which seemed rather implausible.
The deposition says that Mary Jane had supported her family with no assistance from Frederick, that Frederick was violent towards her and that he had returned to live in London in 1875, but returned to Victoria in September 1879 and is now endeavouring to obtain possession of my property and to compel me to return to live and cohabit with him. The Court found in favour of Mrs Gardner His Honour said he had no doubt that the property was the result of Mrs. Gardner's separate earnings (15).
So we know that Mrs Gardner was at Watten Villa in 1877 and 1878. In her divorce deposition she describes herself a Hotel keeper. In September 1878 Mary Jane was granted the licence for the Victoria Hotel in Victoria Street, Carlton and began offering good accommodation for boarders (16). The Hotel, sometimes advertised as being in Alfred Place, Victoria Street Carlton, was located between Cardigan and Lygon Streets, on the corner of Orr Street.
Mrs Gardner's advertisement for boarding at her Hotel.
The Argus, January 16, 1879 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5928596?
Mrs Gardner had the hotel for about a year until October 1879 (17) and after that I can't trace her until January 1888, when she is listed in the Borough of Port Melbourne Rate books at 86 Nott Street, occupation furrier. She is then listed at various residences in Port Melbourne until 1894 (18). I then lose track of her until 1915 when she was recorded as the next of kin on her son Charles' AIF enlistment papers, her address being 1 Fawkner Street, South Yarra. In December 1917, she notifies Base Records Office of her change of address to 200 Marrickville Road, Marrickville in Sydney. Mary Jane dies in Sydney July 29, 1920; while her eldest daughter Mary Jane had been living in Sydney since the mid 1890s (19). Frederick died on December 9, 1909, aged 94, at the Victorian Home for the Aged and Infirm at Royal Park (20).
I have looked at the history of the first twenty five years of the building and when Mrs Gardner had Watten Villa it was owned by James Maxwell Clow, who had possession of it until 1880 (21). Clow was the son of the Reverend James Clow, who conducted the first Presbyterian service in Victoria in December 1837. You can read Reverend Clow's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. James Maxwell Clow held a large number of Government appointments, here is a selection listed in the Victorian Government Gazettes (22) - Appointed Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Goldfields district at Mount Alexander on February 14, 1852; Resident Magistrate for the Districts of Mt Egerton, Steiglitz and Ballan on May 5, 1856; Warden of the Goldfields January 4, 1858; Chinese Protector February 28, 1859 and Police Magistrate at Steiglitz December 28, 1868
As well as Watten Villa, Clow owned a number of other St Kilda properties. His nephew, Daniel Wilkie, managed these properties from March 1875 to December 1878 and we know this because Clow went to Court in June 1879 to recover £5,500 from him. You can read an account of the court case, here. The article also reported that the properties brought in an annual income of £750, which was a substantial income. For comparison a tradesman such as baker, saddle or tanner earnt up to £3 per week or £156 per annum and a house maid only £36 per annum (23). Clow's wife, Jane, died at Kilfern, Mary Street St Kilda in April 1881 and he died at Seacroft, Beaconsfield Parade, St Kilda in April 1894 (24).
The next owner of Watten Villa was St Kilda grocer, Matthew Egan, who had the property from 1881 until 1892 (25) when the St Kilda Rate books list the owner as the A. D.M. Bank. The only other thing I know about Mr Egan was that in March 1892 he took over as ‘the landlord of the Mitre Tavern’ in Melbourne, according to the Prahran Telegraph of March 26, 1892.
Watten Villa was being operated as a boarding house all thorough this time and from various sources (26) I can tell you that the operators were Henrietta McDonald from 1878 until 1879; Emma Mahany from 1880 until sometime in 1883, when Abraham Levy took over. Abraham Levy was a tobacconist and it was Mrs Frances Levy who operated Watten Villa as a boarding house (27). The Levy's were there until 1892, when Clara Kong Meng took over for a short time.
Mrs Levy's advertisement seeking boarders at Watten Villa.
The Argus, June 14, 1886 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6098971
The Levy's also advertised Watten Villa in German - '3 minutes from the Station. Pleasant apartment, good German cuisine' according to Google Translate.
The Argus June 4, 1887 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7915854
Watten Villa no longer exists, but there are two large palm trees and other mature trees on the block. The palm trees especially may have been there when Watten Villa was a boarding house.
Photo: Isaac Hermann.
What was the fate of Watten Villa? It was in the 1893 Rate Books that the street numbers in the area were first listed and we find that Watten Villa or Ancona was 15 Park Road (later changed to Street). According to a 1897 MMBW plan at the State Library of Victoria, Watten Villa 15 Park Street is three properties from Mary Street and this property today is now 19 Park Street, so at some time the street was renumbered. View the plan here. The house is demolished and it is now the back garden of a property which faces Beaconsfield Parade.
This crop of the 1897 MMBW plan shows Watten Villa at 15 Park Road, the third property from Mary Street (next to the 615 number)
Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works detail plan, 617, 616, 615, 614, City of St. Kilda, 1897.
Acknowledgment - Some of this research was done either by or in conjunction with my research colleague, Isaac Hermann. He also found the photo of the Intercolonial Exhibition medal and discovered that the street numbers in Park Street had changed so that No. 15 in the 1890s is now No. 19.
Trove List - I have created a list of articles on Trove, every article referred to here is on the list. Access it here.
Footnotes
(1) Park Road was later renamed Park Street. It is one street back from Beaconsfield Parade, it starts at Fitzroy Street and runs to Fraser Street.
(2) The Argus, December 16, 1876, see here.
(3) The dates of birth of the children come from the Mary Jane Gardner's Divorce Petition, dated October 21, 1879 - Victorian Divorce Records, held at the Public Records Office of Victoria and published on Ancestry.com. Mary Jane (1866-1950) married John Hallihan (1865-1900) in 1888; Alice Maude (1868-1942) married James Frederick Gardiner in 1889; Charles born 1870, I have no other details; and William Gardner (1873-1932) served in the First World War, SN 4493, and had the unusual occupation of a Comedian.
(4) Emily's description of Watten Villa comes her story of her trip from Sydney to Melbourne by Cobb & Co coach in the book They came to Australia: an anthology, edited by Alan Brissenden and Charles Higham (F.W. Cheshire, 1961). Emily's story was published under the title A coach ride to Melbourne.
(5) The Herald, April 11, 1877, see here.
(6) City of St Kilda Rate Books from 1859 to 1900, available on Ancestry.com.(7) Mary Jane Gardner's family information comes from various sources on Ancestry - mainly the English Birth, Death and Marriage records and Census records. Her daughter by her first husband, Sara Ann Eddleston came to Australia to live in 1866 at the age of 11, accompanied by her maternal grandmother. She married Francis Joseph Fleming in 1873 and died in 1894.
(8) Frederick and Mary Ann's marriage was published in the Launceston Examiner on July 20, 1861, see here.
(9) Mary Jane Gardner's Divorce Petition, dated October 21, 1879 - Victorian Divorce Records, held at the Public Records Office of Victoria and published on Ancestry.com. She wrote that I assisted my husband in his business as a Furrier and that previous to her marriage to Frederick she worked as a domestic servant.
(10) The Herald, February 15 1864, see here.
(11) The Argus, February 25, 1867, see here.
(12) The Argus, February 14, 1867, see here. Mrs Gardner's birdskin table cover was made of Penguin skin.
(13) Charles Summers (1825 - 1878) see his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. He also gave lessons to William Stanford, who created the fountain in Spring Street whilst he was in Pentridge Gaol, read about this here.
(14) Mary Jane Gardner's Divorce Petition, dated October 21, 1879 - Victorian Divorce Records, held at the Public Records Office of Victoria and published on Ancestry.com.
(15) The Australasian, October 25, 1879, see here.
(16) Mrs Gardner was granted the licence of the Victoria Hotel on September 17, 1878, see here. The advertisement for board at her hotel comes from The Argus, January 16, 1879, see here
(17) Charles Smart advertises in The Argus of October 31, 1879 (see here) that he has taken over Gardner's Family Hotel.
(18) Borough / Town of Port Melbourne Rate Books from 1860 to 1901 available on Ancestry.com
(19) Buried at Rookwood General Cemetery in Sydney - Ancestry.com.
(20) I bought Frederick's Death Certificate. He was listed as a widower on his Marriage Certificate available on-line on the Tasmanian Archives website and I had hoped that his death certificate may have some detail about his first marriage but it said 'particulars of marriage not known.' It did, however list his occupation as a Furrier so I know I have the right certificate.
(21) City of St Kilda Rate Books from 1859 to 1900, available on Ancestry.com.
(22) Victorian Government Gazette, 1836 -1997, http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/
(23) The list of wages comes from an article in The Argus of January 5, 1868 - The Colony of Victoria in 1878 a look at the history, industry, demographics and other facts about Victoria. Read it here.
(24) Death notice for Jane Clow was published in The Argus, June 19, 1881 and for James Clow in The Argus, April 9, 1894
(25) City of St Kilda Rate Books from 1859 to 1900, available on Ancestry.com.
(26) The names of operator's of Watten Villa come from the City of St Kilda Rate Books; Sands and McDougall Melbourne and Suburban Directory at the State Library of Victoria, see here and advertisements in newspapers on Trove, see my Trove list, here.
(27) Abraham and Frances Levy were married on September 13, 1865 in Melbourne by Rabbi Moses Rintel. She was daughter of William and Sophia (nee Hecht) Neuman. Abraham died November 30, 1911 aged 77 and Frances died March 28, 1926, aged 80. They are buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery. They had six children - Fannie, Minnie, Victor, Tessie, Myer and Jack. [Marriage notice in The Argus, September 19, 1865; Abraham's death notice in the Prahran Telegraph December 9, 1911 and Frances' death notice in The Argus, March 29, 1926. The information about her parents comes from the marriage notice and the Victorian Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages]
(28) The last mention I could find of the building being called Watten Villa was a ‘For Sale’ advertisement in The Herald on February 25, 1891, see here. The first mention of the name Ancona was an advertisement in The Argus September 26, 1893, see here. The name could have changed earlier but I feel it would have been unlikely that the Levy's changed the name in 1892, because they had established their business as Watten Villa.
(29) City of St Kilda Rate Books from 1859 to 1900, available on Ancestry.com. There was also a Death notice of an Arthur Watt, of Ancona, Park Road, St Kilda, the son of Charles Watt, in The Argus, August 29, 1901, see here.
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