Beautiful sea kissed St Kilda welcomes the British Fleet

In November 1923, the Royal Navy Special Service Squadron embarked from Plymouth on a trip around the Empire. The Squadron consisted of two battle cruisers, the Hood and the Repulse, and five light cruisers, the Danae, Dauntless, Delhi, Dragon and Dunedin.  Their first stop was Sierra Leone followed by other ports in Africa, over to India, Penang and Singapore and then south to Fremantle, the first of eight Australian ports and then onto New Zealand and Fiji. This was the first naval cruise around the world since 1882 (1) and was a reminder of the kinship of the British Empire to its outlying dominions and that after the Great War, Britannia was still the Mistress of the Seas (2). 

Visitors on Princes Pier, waiting to tour the Delhi, during the visit of the British Fleet.

Photographer: Allan C. Green, State Library of Victoria Image H91.108/356 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/27798

The fleet arrived at Port Phillip Heads at dawn on Monday, March 17, 1924 and in a triumphal procession (3) accompanied by hundreds of water craft made their way up the Bay. The Hood, Repulse, Delhi and Danae moored at Princes Pier, the Dunedin at the  Town Pier at Port Melbourne, and the Dauntless and the Dragon at Victoria Dock (4).

The Danae at Princes Pier

This is from an album of photographs connected to various families including the Gilmour and Penhalluriack families (5). Photo supplied by Isaac Hermann.

The Hood, Repulse, Delphi and Danae at Princes Pier, March 24, 1924.

Public Records Office of Victoria - Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners, 

Progress of the Port of Melbourne - Lantern Slide 62 (the image has been cropped).

On the Tuesday, March 18, St Kilda was honoured by a visit of the Admirals and other dignitaries. Meticulous planning had been undertaken for  this event by the town Clerk, Mr F. W.  Chamberlin (6).  St Kilda historian, J.B. Cooper, had this praise for him: So skilled was Mr Chamberlin in organising events for Royal and Vice Regal welcomes that Royalty itself has been graciously pleased to speak, in after years, of the welcomes at St Kilda as ones that could not have been better organsied anywhere in the British Empire (7).

The planning had began at a St Kilda Council meeting held on Monday, January 21, 1924 when Cr Unsworth moved a motion That, in order to commemorate the visit of the British Fleet to Melbourne during the month of March, 1924, a St Kilda Gala week be arranged from the 17th March to the 22nd March inclusive or such other week as will fit in with the date of the proposed visit; that the co-operation of all the citizens, patriotic bodies, clubs, business people, entertainment proprietors be sought to make the proposed St. Kilda Gala week a fitting recognition of this most important event, and that the Mayor be empowered to call a meeting of citizens with a view to making the necessary arrangements (8).  Cr Taylor seconded the move.  Cr Clarke said a small committee should be appointed to draw up a programme, even though the Mayor, Cr Allen, said the Town Clerk, will no doubt do most of the work (9).

The motivation to host the fleet was twofold. Cr Unsworth said St Kilda was an ideal city and the only one that could lay itself out to have a gala week in honour of the the visit of the British Fleet and Cr Taylor said that it was the least they could do....to show their gratitude to the Jack Tars (10) who had done so much for them during the war (11).

St Kilda welcomes Vice-Admiral Field and senior officers on March 18, 1924.

Visit of the British Special Service Squadron from J.B. Cooper's History of St Kilda (12).

Tuesday, March 18 was a day of sunshine and early Autumnal mildness (13) when Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field and senior officers arrived at St Kilda pier in the Vice-Admiral's pinnace at 11.00am (14). In beautiful sea-kissed St Kilda (15) they were greeted by the Town Clerk and then presented to the Mayor, Cr Allen, and a number of speeches were made. There were two thousand children from the three local state schools, Brighton Road, Elwood and St Kilda Park, who had each been given a small Australian flag to wave. A choir of 700 children from the schools sung Rule, Britannia and the National Anthem, accompanied by the St Kilda City Band.  The choir master was the head master of Brighton Road, Mr H. E. F. Lampe (16). The day had been declared a public holiday and this ensured a good crowd, estimated at 30,000 (17).

This photograph of the Palais Pictures and Palais de Danse, St Kilda, was taken, I believe on March 18, 1924, the day St Kilda welcomed the British Fleet. The film showing at the Palais Pictures was The Cheat with Pola Negri which had a short run from March 17 to March 19 (18).  The sign under the Palais Pictures lettering says 'St Kilda's Hearty Welcome... British Fleet'. There are many children in the photo, perhaps they are some of the 2,000 children from the local state schools who gave the Vice- Admiral and the senior officers a hearty welcome.

The Palais Picture Theatre and Palais de Danse, St. Kilda. SK 0992. 

Image courtesy of Port Phillip Collection.

But this was not the only event in St  Kilda as Mr Chamberlin had planned a gala week, which had started the night before. The Age had a comprehensive report of the activities of the Tuesday night: Men, women and children came by train, tram, bus, motor car, and every other conceivable form of conveyance, each of which was crowded to its utmost capacity. People hung on to the sides of tram cars or stood, several deep, in motor buses, but once they reached St. Kilda they plunged into the fun and forgot all about the trials and troubles of getting there until it was time to get back home again. 

The Esplanade itself was a struggling mass of humanity under a blaze of myriads of colored lights.... and every side show and amusement place added its quota of vari-colored lights. In the band stand, which had been artistically decorated, a band played catchy melodies that set the feet of the sailors and their newly-made friends itching to dance. A few could not resist the temptation to dance in the street, but most of the others found their way to one or other of the palais de danse, where men in uniform were admitted free. The  scene at the Wattle Path Palais was a particularly brilliant one. A large number of officers and men accepted the invitation of the management to free dancing, and all appeared to be enjoying themselves to the full. At no time did any of the tars seems to have any difficulty in finding an abundance of partners. 

Luna Park, with its many side shows and attractions, was the rendezvous of hundreds of the men of the fleet. They tackled, the scenic railway, the "big dipper" and other thrills with shouts and whoops that left no doubt as to how they were enjoying the fun. At all the other places of amusement the scene was equally gay and care-free. Sailors and citizens joined in fun and frolic. There was much laughter, shouting and joking, but through out the evening the fun was harmless. St. Kilda's welcome will undoubtedly serve to place that city 'on the map' as far as the visiting sailors, at least, are concerned (19). 

The activities went on throughout the week and the Saturday was a day of water sports and activities including yacht, dinghy and motor boat races and exhibitions of diving and aquaplaning (20). The Gala week finished off with a bang with a fireworks display from 8.30 pm which concluded at 10.00am with a grand illumination of the sea front (21).

The week was an outstanding success, the Prahran Telegraph described it as St Kilda's triumph (22).   Vice-Admiral Field wrote to the Mayor of St Kilda thanking the Council and mentioned that the facilities which you gave, particularly to the Petty Officers and men of the Squadron, enabled those who had only a few hours leave to obtain real enjoyment and meet friends who were pleased to welcome them within a very short distance of their ships. The Vice-Admiral also wrote that We were all greatly impressed by the opportunity St. Kilda affords for healthful recreation and amusement, and we wish you and the people of St. Kilda all success and prosperity in the future (23). 

The Prahran Telegraph summed up the week - How the sailors would have been welcomed if there had been no St. Kilda, we do not know. They would have had a poor time compared to the time they have had...The hospitality of St. Kilda has been of the most generous and lavish description, and nothing has been too much to do to give the bulk of the sailors innocent pleasures (24).

Acknowledgement
Thank you to my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, for alerting me to the photograph of the Palais Picture Theatre and Palais de Danse, St. Kilda and to Sandy Khazam, Team Leader Arts and Heritage, City of Port Phillip for kindly supplying me with the photograph. Isaac also provided me with some research and realised that the photo of the warship from the Gilmour and Penhalluriack album (see footnote 5) was actually the Danae and that it was taken during the visit of the fleet in March 1924. 

Trove list: I have created a list of newspaper articles on the visit of the Fleet, mainly relating to St Kilda, you can access it here.

Footnotes
(1) The Sydney Sun, November 28, 1923, see here. There is also detailed Australian itinerary on the Naval History Society of Australia website, here. 

(2) Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a city and after 1840 - 1930, v. 2 (St Kilda City Council, 1931), p. 307. 

(3) The Age, March 18, 1924, see here. 

(4) The Argus, March 19, 1924, see here. 

(5) My research colleague, Isaac Hermann, came across this album and supplied this photograph for me. I have written about the Gilmour and Penhalluriack here   http://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2019/12/australian-farmers-centre-draft.html

(6)  Frederick William Chamberlin, City of St Kilda Town Clerk. According to his obituary he was born in England, arrived in Victoria in 1881, appointed assistant Town Clerk in 1897 and became the Town Clerk on  May 1, 1913.  Mr Chamberlin died suddenly on October 11, 1934 when he collapsed outside the Town Hall on his way to a Council Public Works Committee meeting. He was 62 years old.  You can read his obituary in The Argus, here and The Age, here.

(7) Cooper, op.cit., p. 306.

(8) The Age, January 22, 1924, see here.

(9) The Prahran Telegraph, January 25, 1924, see here.

(10) Jack Tar - a nickname for sailors - Jack being the generic name for a 'common man' (such as 'Jack of all trades') and tar coming from tarpaulin, a canvas made waterproof with the application of tar. Source: Royal Museums Greenwich, see here. 

(11) The Prahran Telegraph, January 25, 1924, see here.

(12) Cooper, op. cit. - photo opposite page 306. 

(13) Cooper, op. cit, p. 307.

(14) Cooper, op. cit, p. 307.

(15) Prahran Telegraph, March 21, 1924, see here.

(16) Herman Ernest Franz Lampe. He retired from the Education Department after fifty years of service in March 1926. You can read a report of his retirement in the Prahran Telegraph, here.

(17) Reports in the Prahran Telegraph March 21, 1924, see here and The Age, March 19, 1924, see here. 

(18) Pola Negri in The Cheat - interesting choice of film given the sailors were away from their wives and girl friends and perhaps succumbed to the temptations of the flesh, while they were in the various ports. The other film on through St Kilda Gala Week was What Fools men are.

Prahran Telegraph, March 14, 1924 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/19668377

(19) The Age March 18, 1924, see here.

(20) The Herald, March 22, 1924, see here.

(21) The Age, March 22, 1924, see here. 

(22) Prahran Telegraph, April 4, 1924, see here.

(23) The Herald, March 28, 1924, see here.

(24) Prahran Telegraph, March 21, 1924, see here.

Kalara, Grey Street - St Kilda's birthplace of the Helena Rubinstein Beauty Empire

In 1901, Helena Juliet Rubinstein, moved into Mrs Isabella Stern's boarding house Kalara at 77-79 Grey Street, St Kilda (1).  A year or so later, Helena's cosmetics business was established, which by the time of her death in 1965 was worth 60 million dollars (2).  It is accepted that James Thompson, the Managing Director of the Robur Tea Company, was instrumental in the establishment of Helena's business by providing financial, business and marketing support and advice. It is said that they met while she was waitressing at the Winter Garden Tea Rooms in the basement of the Block Arcade or the Cafe Maison Doree in Swanston Street (3), but new evidence has come to light that they first met at Mrs Stern's boarding house, and thus 77-79 Grey Street, St Kilda can be considered to be the birthplace of the Helena Rubinstein's beauty empire.

Helena Rubinstein in 1904

Image: War Paint: Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, their lives, their times, their rivalry 

by Lindy Woodhead (Virago, 2003) (4)

We know that Helena lived for  a time with Mrs Stern's but because of  a robbery at the boarding house we now know that James Thompson also lived there. Mrs Stern made a police report on December 2, 1904 that a  silver cigarette case and light-grey tweed coat, belonging to Morris Kozminsky and a flat top pearl shirt stud; a gold round knob scarf pin and a pair of boots with patent leather toes belonging to James H. Thompson were stolen from her premises.

Robbery Report at the boarding house

Victorian Police Gazette, No. 49. December 8, 1904

We will look at the main characters in this story starting with Isabella Stern, who owned the building where Helena first met James. Isabella Stern was the second child of nine of Rabbi Moses and Elvina Rintel. The Rabbi had arrived in Sydney in 1844 where he served the Sydney Congregation as  the Principal of the Hebrew School.  In January 1849, he was appointed as the Reader of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, and in 1857 he established the Mikveh Yisrael Melbourne Synagogue (5). Elvina's father, John Hart had served in the British Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, later migrated to America and then Australia. He died at his house, Trafalgar Cottage, Albert Street in Windsor in January 1864 (6).

Isabella, aged 24,  married Abraham Stern, aged 37, on September 15, 1875. Her father officiated at the wedding, held at the Synagogue in Lonsdale Street. Abraham was born in Schirwindt in Prussia and his father, Louis, was also a Rabbi. They had three daughters, Ruby, Eda and Rita. The family first lived in Victoria Street in Carlton, later moved to Dalgety Street in St Kilda and around 1895 they moved to 79 Grey Street (7). 77 and 79 Grey Street are two adjoining residences, made of brick, each of nine principal rooms which had been built three years earlier by Gavin Shaw, a wine merchant (8).  Shaw was also the Mayor of St Kilda for two years from 1881 (9).  After his death in June 1894, his widow Jane owned the property, and the Sterns leased it from her (10). We know that the Sterns later owned both 77 and 79 Grey Street and they possibly purchased it from Jane Shaw's estate, after she died in May 1900 (11).

I wonder if that is when the Sterns decided to operate a boarding house to help defray some of the cost of purchasing the properties. Abraham's occupation in the Rate books and Electoral roll was that of warehouseman. He was a wholesaler in the drapery business, and had retired selling his entire stock by tender in  April 1908 (12).

77-79 Grey Street, St Kilda, an imposing duplex built 1892.

Photo: Isaac Hermann

Grey Street at the time was highly regarded by the well-to-do citizens of Melbourne as a place to live (13) and it would not have been hard for Mrs Stern to attract boarders. Maurice Kozminsky, who was also a victim of the robbery, was the son of Abraham and Esther (nee Goldberg) Kozminsky. Abraham's occupation in the Electoral Roll was listed as an Investor and Maurice was a commercial traveller. In March 1906, the Kozminsky family held their son Clifford's Bar Mitzvah at Kalara, 77 Grey Street. In the 1903 Electoral Roll the family was at 32 Beaconsfield Parade but from the 1906 Electoral Rolls they were at 6 Burnett Street, St Kilda and it appears they were living with Mrs Stern for just a short time (14).  6 Burnett Street was for sale by auction in April 1905 (15), and though the Kozminsky's purchased it then, they looked to have been temporarily staying at Mrs Stern's boarding house, while it was being renovated.  Maurice enlisted in the A.I. F. in May 1915, with the rank of 2nd Lieutanant, and sadly died of wounds (gun shot wound - abdomen) in France in August 1916. His brother, Clifford, also served in the First World War (16). Abraham was the brother of Simon Kozminsky, the jeweller and antiques dealer, who started his business in Melbourne in the 1860s (17).

James Thompson, was a tea merchant, associated with the name of Robur Tea from 1893 when he and a Mr Bell produced a booklet for the tea Hawthorn, Rhodes & Co., called Tea, its origin, cultivation, manufacture, effects on the human system, and how to tell good tea. The authors looked at various brands of tea and said Robur Tea was prepared on scientific lines and would produce a perfect tea. This booklet was sent to newspaper offices in Victoria, who then gave column space to the ideas set forth in the booklet and thus Robur Tea gained some publicity and  brand recognition (18). By 1900, James was the President of the Robur Tea Company (19).  In 1903 his address in the  Electoral Rolls was 79 Grey Street, where, as we know, he was the victim of a robbery and where he also met Helena Rubinstein.

Accounts of Helena's life are many and varied, it's hard to pin down dates and Helena herself also gave different birth dates throughout her life and embellished her life story, so what follows is as accurate as can be surmised. Helena was born in the 1870s (20)  in Krakow in Poland and arrived on the Prince Regent Luitpold in September 1896 (21).  She then stayed with her uncles, Louis and Bernhard Silberfeld in Coleraine in western Victoria (22). They had a fancy-goods shop in town, though she found that many of the local women were keen to buy her face-cream that she had brought with her from Poland. This cream had been made by her mother's friend Jacob Lykulokis, a Hungarian chemist (23).  After three years in Coleraine, some sources say that she worked as governess for the Fairbairn family of Meltham of Geelong; this leading to a year's position as Governess to Lord Lamington, the Queensland Governor, in Toowomba (24).  After Helena returned to Melbourne around 1901, she became a nanny, at Linden, the Acland Street home of Moritz Michaelis and family (25).

Firstly to free herself from the stricture of living-in domestic work she took a room at Mrs Stern's boarding house in Grey Street, St Kilda (26) where she met James Thompson.  To support herself, she worked as a waitress at the Winter Garden Tea Rooms and the Cafe Maison Doree. James and Helena formed a friendship, but were they lovers?  Perhaps they consorted, though as both were single, their dalliance was not an adulterous one, as others have inferred. (27).

In 1902, the Winter Gardens Tea Room was the venue for their business meeting which Helena attended with her sister, Ceska, who had recently arrived from Krakow. At this meeting James introduced his artistic designer, who helped to create a label  for Helena's cream. James also introduced her to a printer, for the production of  labels, which James financed with a £100 loan or gift.  It is also said that she  borrowed £250 to establish a beauty salon at 138 Elizabeth Street, and most likely this money also came from Thompson (28).  In February 1903, Helena trade-marked, a toilet preparation known as skin food and at the same time trademarked the distinctive label, though not the name. The name Valaze was not trademarked until June 1905 (29).

The distinctive label, trademarked by Helena Rubinstein in February 1903.

The label is written in Polish an approximate translation of which is - removes wrinkles freckles impetigo, gives face delicate fair transparent.
National Archives of Australia  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5003647

I had a look at the newspapers on Trove to find the first time Valaze was mentioned as a product and came across this advertisement, below, which markets the preparation as Dr Lykulokis' product.

Early advertisement for Valaze.

The Argus January 29, 1903 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9815828 

On February 26, 1903 Table Talk had an advertorial on the product, extolling the virtues of Dr Lykulokis' Valase, imported by Helena Rubinstein & Co. of 138 Elizabeth Street. Helena had learnt from James Thompson the value of free publicity under the guise of editorial content.  Table Talk explains what Valaze was - Valaze is really a skin food, which is prepared by the most celebrated of all the European skin specialists, Dr. Lykuski (sic), from herbs which grow in the Carpathian Mountains, the dividing range between Galicia and Hungary. It is in no sense a "make-up" ; in fact, it is not visible upon the skin in any way. It is in the truest sense of the word a "skin food." When rubbed into the skin it is absorbed into the pores, and creates a perfectly healthy condition. By its aid all impurities are removed, and the skin becomes re-invigorated (30).

One month after the first advertisement appeared, and two days after the Table Talk promotion, another advertisement, below, appeared for Valaze and this time there was no mention of Dr Lykulokis at all.

Advertisement for Valaze Skin Food.

The Argus February 28, 1903 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9825760 

Australian women fell in love with the product and sales earnt Helena £12,000 in two years, enabling a move to 243 Collins Street (31). Initially the potion was imported from Europe, but it was soon made in her own laboratory with the ingredients coming from the firm of Felton, Grimwade & Co. They were a drug company, and later branched out into glass manufacturing (the Melbourne Glass Bottle Works (32)) and a chemical works. They most likely also supplied the glass containers for her potions as well. It is possible that Helena was introduced to one of the founders of the company, Frederick Grimwade, by Moritz Michaelis (33). 

Trademark application for name Valaze.
National Archives of Australia  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5027799

In 1905, the year she trade-marked the name Valase, Helena went to Europe to study skin treatments and upon her return opened the Valaze Institute at 274 Collins Street, which was a full service beauty parlour (34). On May 17, 1907, Helena applied for Australian citizenship and her referee was  Frederick Grimwade, of Felton, Grimwade & Co., who attested to her good character (35).

An original Helena Rubinstein & Co. of Melbourne bottle, likely to have been manufactured by the Felton, Grimwade & Co. subsidiary, Melbourne Glass Bottle Works. 

In 1908 Helena took her company overseas and it became successful on an international scale. Helena had drive, energy and highly developed business acumen. An acquaintance from the early days in Melbourne, Abel Isaacson, is quoted as saying  Without Mr Thompson - he was the manager of the Robur Tea Company - she wouldn't have done what she did. He helped her. He taught her. He made her. Mark my words, he was the brains behind the little lady' (36). Would Helena have had the success that she did,  had she has not met James Thompson in Mrs Stern's boarding house? We will never know, but Kalara, 77-79 Grey Street deserves its place in history as the birthplace of  a global cosmetic empire.

Acknowledgements

I first found out about Helena's connection to Isabella Stern's boarding house, from my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, who sent me the link to Cosmetics and Skin  http://cosmeticsandskin.org/companies/helena-rubinstein.php  I then found this report of the robbery at Mrs Sterns.

The Age December 3, 1904 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189425539

The report noted the date that the robbery took place and an address in Grey Street, though it wasn't until I found the original report in the Police Gazette on Ancestry that we had the correct address. Then Isaac realised that Mr James Thompson, was Helena's mentor and so we gathered that their first meeting was not a cafe in Melbourne but Mrs Stern's boarding house where they both lived. The research in this post is very much a collaboration between Isaac and myself. Isaac also supplied the photos of the cobalt blue Helena Rubinstein bottle.

Footnotes 
 (1) Woodhead, Lindy War Paint: Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, their lives, their times, their rivalry (Virago, 2003), p. 44. Also quoted in the website Cosmetics and Skin: Stories from the history and science of cosmetics, skin-care and early Beauty Culture http://cosmeticsandskin.org/companies/helena-rubinstein.php 
(2) Poynter, J. R Helena Rubinstein - Australian Dictionary of Biography entry http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rubinstein-helena-8293 
(3) Woodhead, op. cit. p. 47 implies she met Thompson at the Winter Garden Tea Rooms. The Cosmetics and Skin website says they met at the Cafe Maison Dore.
(4) This was Helena's press photo that she supplied to Table Talk in 1904. The image credit in Lindy Woodhead's book is the Helena Rubinstein Foundation.
(5)  I have written about Rabbi Rintel and the establishment of his Mikveh Yisrael Synagogue, here. I have also written about Henri Rintel, Isabella's brother, here.
(6)  John Hart's life is partly mentioned in his son, Henri's obituary in the Jewish Herald of May 2, 1884, see here. John's death notice, published in The Argus of January 25, 1864, tells us that he lived and died at Trafalgar Cottage in Windsor, see here.
(7) Isabella Rintel and Abraham Stern - information about their marriage, his birth place and parents come from their marriage certificate. They had three daughters - Ruby (1876-1945, married Edward Lazarus in 1909, they had no children; Eda (1878-1879) and Rita (1881-1960, never married). The birth notices of the daughters provided the Victoria Street address and the St Kilda Rate Books available on Ancestry provided the Dalgety Street address and the move to Grey Street.
(8) Victorian Heritage Database citation https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1113
(9) Gavin Shaw died aged 64 on June 2, 1894. You can read his obituary in the Prahan Telegraph of June 9, 1894, here.
(10) St Kilda Rate books, available on Ancestry.
(11) Isabella died February 3, 1921. Her will (on-line at the Public Records Office of Victoria) lists all her property, including 77 and 79 Grey Street. Jane Shaw died May 18, 1900 Her death notice was in both the Argus and The Age the next day.
(12) Abraham Stern - you can read the list of his goods that were put to tender in April 1908 in The Age, April 1, 1908, see here (last column, under Tenders). Abraham died April 8, 1912. He had a short obituary in the Jewish Herald of April 12, 1912, see here. He and Isabella are buried at Brighton Cemetery.
(13) Victorian Heritage Database citation https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1113
(14) Information about the Kozminsky family comes from the Electoral Rolls on Ancestry. The information about Clifford's Bar Mitvah was from a snippet in the Jewish Herald March 24, 1905, see here.
(15) I assume that they purchased 6 Burnett Street in April 1905, and that a renovation was the reason they were temporarily at Mrs Stern's boarding house.  6 Burnett Street was described as a semi-detached two-storied brick and cement residence, known containing drawing, dining, breakfast rooms, kitchen, scullery, wash house, 8 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, spacious tiled verandahs and balconies. Attached to the house, on the south side, is a  large billiard room, of wood. The outbuildings and stables are also of wood. The Age, April 8, 1905, see here. See the Victorian Heritage Database citation for 6 Burnett Street, here.
(16) National Archives of Australia. Maurice's A.I.F record can be read here and Clifford's here.
(17)

An advertisement for Simon Kozmisky's business from Punch, November 21, 1907

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175798930

(18) Thompson and Bell's booklet was reported on in The Launceston Examiner of July 15, 1893; The Herald, August 24, 1893 The Kyneton Observer, August 31, 1893, The Avoca Mail, September 5, 1893. 

(19) Letter to the Editor of The Age, November 29, 1900, see here.

(20) Her record on the passenger list for the Prince Regent Luitpold, the ship she arrived in Melbourne on in September 1896, says she was 20, thus born 1876; her Australian Naturalisation papers have her birth date as Christmas Day, 1897. She died April 1, 1065 and claimed to be 94, this born 1871.  

(21) Unassisted Passenger List at the Public Records Office of Victoria and Ancestry.

Helena's record from the Prince Regent Luitpold - she embarked from Genoa, her age was 20 and nationality listed as German.
(22) Louis and Bernhard were her mother's brothers. Louis Silberfeld, a bachelor, who died April 23, 1908 at the age of 54, had the store at Coleraine with his brother and then a grocery store at Merino. You can read a short obituary in the Hamilton Spectator of April 27, 1908, here. He was granted a Grocer's License for Merino in December 1905, see Hamilton Spectator, December 9, 1905, here. He is buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery.
Bernhard Silberfeld died June 25, 1923, aged 86. He had one daughter, Eva, who married Louis Levy (divorced in 1896). Eva had three sons, Reg, Fred and Theo. The three boys all enlisted in the First World War, Fred was discharged on medical grounds, but the other two served overseas. Bernhard is buried at Brighton Cemetery.
(23) Gardiner, Frank  The Fields of Coleraine (published by the Author, 2003), pp. 165-166.
(23) Woodhead, op. cit., pp 42-46; Poynter, op. cit -  ADB entry, see here. Helena's Naturalisation application  from May 1907, has this time-line: Arrived in Australia July 1897 on the Prince Regent Luitpold; three years in Coleraine, one year in Toowomba and five years in Melbourne.
(24) Woodhead, op. cit., p. 46.

(25) Lindy Woodhead, p. 46, says she was a nanny at Morty Michaelis. Moritz Michaelis  (1820 - 1902) -  the founder of the Michaelis, Hallenstein Tannery at Footscray, read about that here. Read his obituary in the Jewish Herald of December 2, 1902, here. Linden, is now owned by the City of Port Phillip and is an art gallery, see here and read the Victorian Heritage Database citation, here.

(26) Woodhead, op. cit., p. 46.
(27) Woodhead (p. 47) said they were lovers and that the relationship was doomed due to the inevitability there was a Mrs Thompson. The relationship may have been doomed but James Thompson did not get married until 1906. This was to Isabella Grist (nee Hutchings) and they had one daughter together, Thelma Belle, born on March 27, 1908.  Isabella died September 1918 at the age of 50. Thelma married Frank Hartley in May 1930, you can read a report and see a photo of the lovely bride, here in Table Talk, May 22, 1930. James died on August 23, 1933, aged 72. Helena married Edward William Titus in 1908 in London. They had two sons, Roy and Horace, read about the marriage in the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.
(28) Poynter, op. cit -  ADB entry, see here.
(29) The trade mark applications are digitsed at the National Archives - the 1903 application can be read here and the June 1905 application here.
(30) Table Talk, February 26, 1903, see here.
(31) Poynter, op. cit -  ADB entry, see here.

(32) Melbourne Glass Bottle Works established in 1872 and in the 1920s amalgamated with Australian Glass Manufacturers, and later became Australian Consolidated Industries. Source: Encyclopedia of Australian Science, see here.
(33) Woodhead, op. cit., p. 48; Cosmetics and Skin website, see here. Felton, Grimwade & Co - established by Alfred Felton (1831-1904), read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here and Frederick Shepphard Grimwade (1840-1910), read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. It is Lindy Woodhouse (p. 48) who suggests that Helena was introduced to Frederick Grimwade by Moritz Michaelis.
(34) Poynter, op. cit -  ADB entry, see here.
(35) Citizenship application has been digitised and can be accessed on the National Archives of Australia, see here.
(36) Woodhead, op. cit., p. 46

St Patrick's Society and the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation - neighbours in Bourke Street

In a recent post I looked at the second Synagogue built in Melbourne by the Mikveh Yisrael Congregation which was established  by Rabbi Moses Rintel in 1857. The Synagogue was officially dedicated in March 1863. This building was designed by the architectural firm of Knight and Kerr, who a few years earlier had designed Victoria's Parliament House, where the first sitting was held on November 25, 1856.

Before Parliament House was opened, the Victorian Parliament sat at St Patrick's Hall in Bourke Street, just west of Queen Street, and which was located next to Melbourne's first Synagogue.  The first parliamentary session held in St Patrick's Hall was on November 13, 1851. The hall, designed by Samuel Jackson, was the only building at the time in Melbourne large enough to accommodate Parliament. Jackson had arrived in Melbourne in 1835 on John Pascoe Fawkner's Enterprise. He then returned to Launceston but arrived back in Melbourne four years later.  Jackson designed some of Melbourne's notable early buildings including St Francis' Church and the first Scots Church in 1841 and the Melbourne Hospital in 1846 (1).   St Patrick's Hall opened on June 5, 1849 with a ball attended by nearly 400 people, where the dancing was kept up with great animation until nearly daylight (2).

In 1872, the Hall was was enlarged and renovated with  a new handsome front, entering to the hall, lowering the bottom floor to the level of the street, and doing away with the present unsightly steps. It is anticipated that by this means the appearance of the building will be improved, and greater accommodation secured (3). The works were designed by J. M. Barry (4).

St Patrick's Hall (right) and the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in 1852. 

The Hall hosted the Victorian Parliament from its first sitting on November 13, 1851 until 1856. The names of all the representatives present at the first sitting are listed in the scroll work. 

St. Patrick's Hall, the first Legislative House of Victoria, c. 1852. Artist and engraver: David Tulloch. 

State Library of Victoria Image H86.4/1

The hall was built by the St Patrick's Society (5).  The Society was established on June 28 1842 for the encouragement of national feeling, the relief of the destitute, the promotion of education, and, generally, whatever may be considered by its members best calculated to promote the happiness, the honor, and prosperity of their native and adopted land (6).   Other groups who used the Hall included the Hibernian Society, the Ladies Hibernian Society and the Young Ireland Society.

The St Patrick's Day March started at the Hall every year and over the years it was also the venue for balls, concerts, meetings and lectures, both educational and political. A branch of the Irish Republican Association, which advocated for Irish independence from the British, was formed at a meeting at the Hall in January 1921 (7). From the late 1920s to the 1940s it was also the venue for Tone Pearse Republican Cumann activities. This was a group that promoted Irish interests and culture. Cumann is Irish for a political party branch - the motto of organization was 'The aims of Tone, the means of Pearse' (8).  Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) was an Irish nationalist who fought to overthrow British rule in Ireland (9) and Patrick Pearse was the President of the 1916 provisional Irish Government and commanded the Irish forces in the 1916 Easter Uprising. After the uprising failed he was shot by the English by firing-squad (10). 

In 1947, the hall became the home of the Ballet Guild, the forerunner of the Victorian Ballet Company (11). St Patrick's Hall was put up for sale in 1951 and sold for £42,500 to an undisclosed buyer (12).  It was resold in February 1957 to the London Assurance Company who planned to erect a modern office building on the site (13) which opened November 20, 1958 (14).  It is sad that a building that played such a significant role in the early history of Victoria and the political and cultural life of Irish Victorians was demolished, but some of it remains in St James the Great Anglican Church in Inkerman Street, St Kilda East. The Age reported on the laying of the foundation stone of this Church in February 1959 that two of the pillars to be incorporated into the building came from St Patrick's Hall (15). I wonder if any other parts of the Hall still exists?

St Patrick's Hall, with the extension or handsome new front (right) and the Synagogue. 

St. Patrick's Hall and Jewish Synagogue, c. 1876-1894.  Photographer: John William Lindt. 

State Library of Victoria Image H42502/11

The building to the west of St Patrick's Hall in Bourke Street was the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. The Foundation stone was laid on August 25, 1847 by the President of the Congregation, Solomon Benjamin (16).  It was reported that nearly all of the Jewish persuasion resident in Melbourne attended the ceremony (17). According  to the  March 1846 Census, the total European population of the Port Phillip District was 32,184 of which 117 described themselves as Jewish (18). The Synagogue, designed by Charles Laing, was officially consecrated on March 17, 1848 (19).  Charles Laing also designed St Peters, Eastern Hill Anglican Church and the Melbourne Benevolent Society in North Melbourne (20). 

This building, which was built at the rear of the block, as you can see in the image at the top of this post, was always intended as a temporary building (21) and on December 1, 1853, the foundation stone was laid for a new building in front of the original one (22). This stone was laid by David Benjamin, Solomon's brother (23) and it was opened the Sunday before Passover in 1855 (24). The new building was designed by  Charles Webb whose other work includes the Alfred Hospital, the Royal Arcade and the South Melbourne Town Hall (25). Three years later in 1858 five months of work was undertaken to transform what was one of the plainest and uninviting interiors in the City into one of the most tasteful and elegant. The work required the building to be re-consecrated and this happened in the September (26). 

The Synagogue, 1860s.

State Library of Victoria image H2004.55/12

I wondered if there was much formal interaction between the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and the St Patrick's Society. Lazarus Goldman (27) writes of a few examples. Asher Hymen Hart (28) President of the Congregation from 1844, who was popular amongst all classes of citizens, was especially welcome amongst the Irish, often contributing towards their funds. Mr Hart attended St Patrick's Day Dinners and was said to admire the St Patrick's Society advancement of education (29).  In 1877, the Jewish school which occupied the original Synagogue,  had to relocate for a month as there was an outbreak of scarletina in the family of one of the officials who lived on the grounds, so the children attended school in the St Patrick's Hall (30). School concerts were also held in the Hall (31).  Different cultural practices also caused some issues as Goldman  writes that the noise from the dancing in the St Patrick's Hall next door interfered with the services held in the Synagogue on Kol Nidre nights, and only by individual efforts of some committeemen did the organisers of the dances refrain from holding functions on the eve of the Day of Atonement (32). 

The Synagogue and St Patrick's Hall in Bourke Street.

Synagogue Bourke Street, dated 1914-1941. State Library of Victoria Image H22992

Eighty years of coexisting as neighbours came to an end in 1930, when the Congregation built a new Synagogue in South Yarra. The last service held in Bourke Street was on January 19, 1930 (33).  The building had been sold in November 1927 for £52,500 (34) to the Equity Trustees Company who demolished it in April 1930 to erect their new building on the site (35). 

The Synagogue being demolished - all that remains of the building in this photo are the six pillars.

The Argus, April 4, 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4079390

The Equity Trustees building, designed by the Architects, Oakley and Parkes, opened in 1931. Their address is 472 Bourke Street, on the corner of what was Synagogue Lane, the only reminder of the former Synagogue. It hasn't been called Synagogue Lane for some years, looking at old newspapers the name was used in the 1880s, then became Bourke Lane, then renamed Little Queen Street around the 1910s.

The only reminder of the Synagogue in Bourke Street.

Image: Isaac Hermann (taken March 2022)

Footnotes

(1) Samuel Jackson (1807 - 1876). Read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(2) Geelong Advertiser, June 9, 1849, see here.

(3) The Advocate, April 12, 1951, see here, led me to the original article I quoted from in The Advocate of January 6, 1872, see here. There is also a detailed account of the extensions and renovations in The Advocate, June 1, 1872, see here and The Advocate of November 23, 1872, see here.

(4) John Michael Barry (c. 1826 - 1911). Born in Dublin, worked in Melbourne for 19 years until he returned to Dublin, where he spent the rest of his life. Amongst other work, Barry also designed the Western Market which opened 1868.  Dictionary of Irish Architects, 1720-1940, see here.

(5) The Advocate, April 5, 1951, see here.  The article looks back at the history of the St Patrick's Society and the early days of the Hall.

(6) Port Phillip Gazette, July 2, 1842, see here.

(7) The Advocate, January 25, 1923, see here. The article has a full report of the resolutions which were passed. 

(8) The Advocate, January 20, 1927, see here. The organisation was formed in January 1927, see The Advocate, January 20, 1927, here.

(9) Wolfe Tone - born Theobald Wolfe Tone. Britannica on-line, see here.

(10) Patrick Henry Pearse, (1879 - 1916). Britannica on-line, see here.

(11) The Argus, June 28, 1947, see here.

(12) The Argus, April 19, 1951, see here and The Age, April 19, 1951, see here.

(13) The Age,  Feb 22, 1957, accessed on Newspapers Plus - an add-on to Ancestry.

(14) The Age, October 28, 1958, accessed on Newspapers Plus - an add-on to Ancestry.

(15) The Age, February 7, 1959, p. 8,  accessed on Newspapers Plus - an add-on to Ancestry. I have written about St James the Great Anglican Church, here.

The Age, February 7, 1959, p. 8

(16) Goldman,  Lazarus Morris The Jews in Victoria in the  Nineteenth Century (published by the Author, 1954), p. 54. The ceremony was reported in the Port Phillip Gazette of August 28, 1847, see here. Solomon Benjamin had arrived in the Colony in 1838. He died at the age of 70 in 1888, you can read about his life in his informative obituary in the Jewish Herald, of April 13, 1888, see here.

(17) Port Phillip Gazette of August 28, 1847, see here. 

(18) Goldman, op. cit., p. 53.

(19) Goldman, op. cit., p. 57. 

(20) Charles Laing (1809-1857). See his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(21) Freeland, J.M. Melbourne Churches, 1836-1851: an Architectural record (Melbourne University Press, 1963), p. 143. This is a great book if you have an interest in Colonial Melbourne and historic Churches. 

(22) Freeland, op. cit., p. 144.

(23) Freeland, op. cit., p. 144. There is a short obituary for David Benjamin in the Jewish Herald of July 14, 1893, see here. He is also mentioned in Solomon's obituary, see link in Footnote 16.

(24) Freeland, op. cit., p. 144.

(25) Charles Webb (1821-1898), see his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(26) The Age, September 3, 1858, see here.

(27) Goldman, op. cit

(28) Asher Hymen Hart (1811-1871). We started this post off with Rabbi Moses Rintel. The Rabbi's wife was Elvina Hart. Elvina's sister Isabella married Asher's brother, Edward, in 1844 (Goldman p. 47). Asher died in London on January 15, 1871. 

(29) Goldman, op. cit., pp 49-50.

(30) Goldman, op. cit, p. 247. The official was Marcus Josephson and his role was the Shamos, which Mr Goldman describes as a 'Beadle'. He has a useful glossary in his book on pages 413-417.

(31) Goldman, op. cit, p. 261.

(32) Goldman, op. cit, p. 247. 

(33) The Hebrew Standard of Australasia, January 24, 1930, see here.

(34) The Age, November 1, 1927, see here.

(35) The Argus, April 4, 1930, see here.

(36) The Herald, March 23, 1931, see here.

Rabbi Rintel's Synagogue becomes the City Creche

In January 1849, Moses Rintel, was appointed as the Reader of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation. Moses, born in Edinburgh, Scotland had arrived in Sydney in 1844 where he served the Sydney Congregation as the Principal of the Hebrew School. Even though, Rintel was not a professional clergyman before his arriving in Melbourne, he nevertheless, because of his upbringing and background, was well able to carry out the duties of a minister and few public men were to become better known in the city during his time as the 'Rabbi Rintel' as he was called (1).  Rabbi Rintel, was described as a man with a colourful personality and picturesque character, [who] possessed a strong mind and a will of his own and combined it with a soft heart and natural ability (2). After some disputes Rabbi Rintel fell out with the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, whose Synagogue was in Bourke Street (3) and resigned as their Minister on April 1, 1857 (4). Very soon after he formed a new congregation with Henri John Hart, the brother of his wife, Elvina. This new congregation was called the Mikveh Yisrael Melbourne Synagogue, which was also known as the East Melbourne Congregation (5).  

The Congregation met in a series of temporary premises, firstly to Spring Street, with successive relocations to Latrobe and Lonsdale Streets (6) until they were able to build their own Synagogue. Rabbi Rintel, on behalf of the Congregation, had applied for a Crown grant for a Hebrew School and this was granted May 17, 1859. The land was on the corner of Exhibition (then called Stephen Street ) and Little Lonsdale Streets, with  trustees Rabbi Moses Rintel, Henri John Hart (7), Moritz Michaelis (8), Morris Nelson (9) and Abraham Woolf (10).

Notification in the Government Gazette about the land grant.

Victoria Government Gazette, May 20 1859

Even though the land was specifically granted for a school, the construction of an actual synagogue  soon commenced, with the foundation stone laid on December 29, 1859 (11).  The building was dedicated on March 29, 1863 and you can read a comprehensive account of this event, here (12). It was designed by Architects Knight and Kerr, who had designed a rather more grand building a few years earlier, Victoria's Parliament House which opened in 1856 (13). The Mikveh Yisrael Congregation spent less than twenty years in Exhibition Street and moved to a new Synagogue in Albert Street, the official opening of which took place on September 5, 1877 (14).  The Exhibition Street building had already been sold for £2870 to the Education Department for a ragged school as The Herald called it (15).  A ragged school was a free school to educate poor children, who generally had ragged clothes.

Rabbi Rintel's Synagogue in 1933 when it was the City Creche. 

The signs on the buildings next door as for Union White Flash, a petroleum product, and Witch Soap, a J. Kitchen & Sons product.

City Creche [Cnr Exhibition & Little Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne], 1933. Photographer: John Kinmont Moir. 

State Library of Victoria Image H4900.

On March 1 1878, this ragged school - State School No. 2030 - opened in the old Synagogue after the Department had spent £960 on additions and alterations (16).  The school was in a slum area and this led to its closure just over ten years later. The District Inspector reported that it was as well to close this school. It is too distinctively a slum school to be of much moral good to the scholars and the Inspector General's report described many of the students as from the slums and poorly clad. The school was closed on December 20, 1889 (17). 

It doesn't sound like it was a school where there was much joy or hope, however a past pupil wrote a letter to The Age in January 1938, under the pen-name 'Old Scholar' and shared his happy memories of his time there - 

Sir, -  I was a scholar of State school 2030, Exhibition-street (formerly old synagogue, now S. A. home). It was ably conducted by Mr. J. Cullin (the head master), and master Best (about

1883). Mr. Allen was singing master. The scholars were Selman, C. Herring, Nancy Watson, brother who hurt his leg at a circus; Miss Harris and Needham, Sister McHarg, Edwards (son of the grocer near the school), the Rosiers, Tuskins, Kennedy. As far as I can recollect, Miss Freeman was teacher of the Infant class. We had a few scholars who went to Hebrew; while Dr. Strong and his ladies conducted the scripture lessons. We sang some fine hymns in those times. We had a fine trip to Bendigo about the year 1887, and to the juvenile exhibition. I never thought I would live here for 40 years. We got on very well, but Mr. Cullin was very strict, and could use the cane expertly, which I do not forget. When I left I attended Mr. Brandon's school at night in Fitzroy. -

Yours, &c., Bendigo. OLD SCHOLAR. (18)

Interesting letter, especially the part about the singing of the fine hymns, given that the 1872 Education Act, which came into effect on January 1, 1873,  stipulated that schooling in Victoria should be free, secular and compulsory for students of not less than six years nor more than fifteen years, but perhaps as the Act actually specified 'secular instruction' the hymn singing was considered to be entertainment. (19). 

After the school closed it was used by the Salvation Army as Free Labour Bureau and then a refuge for the unemployed (20).  In June 1897, the Salvation Army was given a seven year lease on the building for £1 per annum for use a refuge for destitute women. This was reported in The Age - 

An old building in Exhibition-street, formerly used as a State school, was yesterday handed over by the Minister of Education to the Salvation Army, for the purpose of being made into a night shelter for destitute women. The building had been asked for by Mrs. Booth on behalf, as she expressed it, of "the gaol birds, who live between the prison cell and the beer shop; the poor old vagrant wanderers, the slaves of want and whisky, the dirty and degraded, the women who have ranked themselves amongst the company of the great unwanted and unwashed; the out of work women, who have nothing to hope for." A home of this kind was opened some time ago in Canada by Mrs. Booth, and proved of great service to the class for which it was designed. In granting the use of the building the Minister stipulated that it should be renovated and kept in good repair, and this condition was readily assented to (21). 

The Salvation Army refuge was closed in July 1905 and the building was later leased to the Melbourne Central Mission, part of the Methodist Church.  The Mission had been established in 1893 as a practical response to alleviate the impacts of the 1890s depression (22).  A report from the Central Mission in the Methodist newspaper, the Spectator and Methodist Chronicle, in May 1918 looked back at this time -

In June 1908, the  use of an old State school building, in Exhibition-street, near Wesley Church was granted to us. It was then known as 'Hope-Hall,' but since as the 'Central Mission Guild House.' With some assistance from the Education Department, we renovated the whole place, and it has been used for Mission services, for the home of the City Free Kindergarten, and for the meeting-place of our Junior and Senior Girls' Guilds (23).

The Free Kindergarten was opened by Lady Carmichael on August 15, 1910 (24). It was the first free kindergarten in the City, although there were others established in some suburbs. The role of the kindergarten was seen as a way to help 'slum' children rise out of poverty. A report of the opening confirms this -

Mr Edgar, M.L.C., said that the institution of free kindergartens within the city boundaries would in time probably solve the problem of the Melbourne slums. Dr Maloney, M. H. R., in seconding the motion, hoped that kindergartens would soon be established in every quarter of the city. A destitute woman should be able to go to the Government and say, "My child lacks clothes and food, and it is your duty to save this future unit of Australia." (25)

In May 1915 it was announced that the City Free Kindergarten Committee are opening a creche in connection with their kindergarten in the hall, corner of Exhibition and Little Lonsdale streets. All working mothers and guardians' are requested to communicate with Mrs. W. Ramsay, hon. sec., 80 Swanston street, or with the directress at the Kindergarten Hall (26). 

The building in 1949.

City Free Kindergarten, 1949. Photographer: Colin Caldwell.

State Library of Victoria Image H84.276/1/50D

The City Creche as it was known served Melbourne until March 1948 (27),  when it closed as it the building was deemed inadequate for its purpose. In fact it was described as a disgrace by the Secretary of the Association of Creches. Mrs L.T. Gedye (28). The building was still owned at the time by the Education Department. Melbourne City Council took over the building and after extensive renovations it reopened  in June 1950 (29).  In 1954, the City Creche was named the Ethel Nilsen Day Nursery in honour of Mrs Nilsen who for 17 years had been a non-stop and generous worker for the creche (30). 

The building operated as a creche until at least 1989 when according to a report in The Age the tenants have been removed from the Ethel Nilsen Kindergarten, Exhibition Street with the Government non-committal as to what heritage protection it will impose, if any, once the building is sold (31). This was not the first threat to the building's existence as in May 1947 it was reported in The Age that the Chief architect of the Public Works Department (Mr. P. Everett) said a new building was intended for the site. At present, a multi-storied building was planned, with accommodation for a kindergarten and creche on the ground floor and an adult education centre on the floors above (32). 

The building has survived and is currently used as a restaurant. Perhaps the prayers and good thoughts of  Rabbi Rintel and his congregation and the folk of the Salvation Army and the Methodist Melbourne Mission, with the addition of the fine hymns sung by the scholars of the State School, No.  2030, are the reason that this small historic building still stands, despite the onslaught of progress that has wrought the destruction of so much of our city's built heritage.

Footnotes:

(1)  Goldman,  Lazarus Morris The Jews in Victoria in the  Nineteenth Century (published by the Author, 1954). p. 62. You can read Rintel's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. I have written about his son, Henri, here, and Footnote 2 - has some information about the Rabbi's family.

(2) Goldman, op. cit., p. 267.

(3) Bourke Street Synagogue  - the foundation stone was laid in 1847. It was demolished in 1930 as the Congregation had moved to a new Synagogue in South Yarra. 

(4) Goldman, op. cit., p. 133. Goldman writes about the various disputes between Rintel and the Melbourne Congregation in chapters 11 - Immigrants and 12 - A new Congregation.

(5) Goldman, op. cit. p. 133 and 135.

(6) Goldman, op. cit. p. 135.

(7) Henri John Hart (1820 - 1884) You can read about Henri's life in his informative obituary in the Jewish Herald, May 2, 1884, here.

(8) Moritz Michaelis  (1820 - 1902) -  the founder of the Michaelis, Hallenstein Tannery at Footscray, read about that here. Read his obituary in the Jewish Herald of December 2, 1902, here. Goldman describes him as the Acting Prussian Consul (p. 136). 

(9) Morris Nelson - laid the foundation stone of the Exhibition Street Synagogue (Goldman, p. 137). I believe he was a merchant, part of the firm of Nelson Brothers of Orange, who died July 5, 1877 at the age of 58 at his home in Sydney (death notice in the Sydney Mail, July 14, 1877, see here.) 

(10) Abraham Woolf - I cannot confirm any other information about Mr Woolf.

(11) There is a  short report in The Argus, December 29, 1859, here [middle of third column] and Goldman, p. 137.  The newspaper report says Rabbi Rintel laid the stone, Goldman says Morris Nelson laid it.

(12) The Herald, March 30, 1863, see here.

(13)  You can read about the process of designing Parliament House on their website, here. John George Knight (1826 - 1892), read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. Peter Kerr  (1820 - 1912), read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.  I became aware of the architects of the Synagogue through the Victorian Heritage Database citation, here.

(14) The Age, September 6, 1877, see here. The Albert Street Synagogue, still serves the community, https://www.melbournecitysynagogue.com/

(15) The Herald, September 4, 1877, see here.  Read more about ragged schools here on Culture Victoria.

(16) Blake, L. J (editor) Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria,  (Education Department of Victoria, 1973), vol. 3. p. 79.

(17) Blake, op. cit., vol. 3. p. 79.

(18) The Age, January 29, 1938, see here.

(19) Read the Education Act here (it is only 6 pages long)   http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/tea1872134/

(20) Blake, op. cit., vol. 3. p. 79.

(21) The Age, June 10, 1897, see here. The Mrs Booth referred to is, I believe, the wife of Bramwell Booth, the General of the Salvation Army from 1912 to 1929 and the son of the founders William and Catherine Booth. Catherine had died in 1890. Read more about the Booths here, on the Salvation Army website.

(22) Later called Wesley Central Mission and now called Wesley Mission.

(23) Spectator and Methodist Chronicle, May 15, 1918, see here.

(24) The Argus, August 16, 1910, see here. Lady Carmichael (nee Mary Nugent), was the wife of Sir Thomas Carmichael,  the Governor of Victoria from 1908 to 1911. 

(25)  The Argus, August 16, 1910, see here.  Mr Edgar, M. L. C., - William Haslam Edgar (1858-1948), see here. Dr Maloney is William Robert Maloney - Doctor, Politician and Humanitarian, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry here.

(26) The Argus, May 5, 1915, see here.

(27) The Age, June 30, 1950, see here.

(28) The Age, May 20, 1947, see here. Mrs L. T. Gedye was Mrs Leonard Talford Gedye (nee Ethel Rose Heydt). She spent years raising funds for and awareness of the need for creches, I will write about her one day, she's worth more than a footnote.

(29) The Age, June 30, 1950, see here.

(30) The Argus,  August 24, 1954, see here. Ethel (nee Williams) was the wife of Oliver John Nilsen, who started the radio station 3UZ. You can read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(31) The Age, July 19, 1989 - accessed on Newspapers Plus - an add-on to Ancestry.

(32)  The Age, May 20, 1947, see here.