Walter and Veda Thewlis and their happy time at Middle Park

My grandfather, Walter Herbert Thewlis, was born on December 15, 1900 at Monea North. He was the youngest child of Frederick and Catherine Maria (nee Roberts) Thewlis, and had four older brothers.  The family later moved to Locksley and then to Euroa, where on leaving school after completing Grade 8, Wally started work at Burton's Store. When he was 20, he came down to Melbourne to work in hardware/ironmongery stores and learn the business. Wally worked at Alfred Tharratt, P/L at 373-385 High Street, Northcote and J. E Thomson, 223 High Street, Preston. (1) He boarded with Mary Murray at 63 Waterloo Road in Northcote and whilst he was there he met Mary's niece, Veda Read, his future wife and my grandmother. 

In 1925, he opened his own business at 712 Sydney Road, Brunswick in the recently completed Whiteway buildings and called his business Whiteway Hardware shop. Wally and Veda were married on May 4, 1929 at the Church of the Epiphany, Northcote by Mr James Hughes. Veda was a teacher and had taught at Thornbury State School and Mr Hughes was the Head Master. He then retired and became an Anglican clergyman. After they were married they boarded at a house near the Moreland Railway Station but then decided it would be nice to live near the beach, so they moved to Middle Park.

Life by the beach at Middle Park - Wendy, Wally and Veda's daughter, at 15 months, 

with her cousin George. Taken around December 1935. 

The buildings on the right, originally a terrace of four, are on the corner of Harold Street and Beaconsfield Parade (2). The building on the left is 197 Beaconsfield Parade, a double storey terrace. The block to the right of this,  is where the flats at 199 were built, which Wally and Veda moved to at the end of 1936. 

Photo: Veda Thewlis

They moved firstly to 174 Canterbury Road, and then around 1932 they moved again to 328 Danks Street. This was a large house owned by Mrs Agnes Collis, a widow. She had no children of her own, but her husband had three children from his first marriage - they were grown up with families.  One of them was a Mrs Dixon, who lived in Wright Street, and whose back gate opened onto the lane which ran beside Mrs Collis' house. Mrs Collis was apparently known as Collie, but asked Wally and Veda to call her Billie (for some unknown reason).

Wendy, on her first birthday, in her pram, at 328 Danks Street, Middle Park

Photo: Veda Thewlis

Wally and Veda rented three unconnected rooms in this house - a bedroom, lounge room and kitchen/ dining room. Mrs Collis also had three rooms and another family, the Mansfield's rented three rooms. There were two bungalows out the back where two single men boarded. There was one bathroom and one laundry and each of the ladies had their own washing day.

Wally and Veda's daughter, Wendy was born in September 1934, when they were at Danks Street and this made their three rooms a bit crowded, so they decided to move. However, because Mrs Collis' was furnished, they had to save to buy their own furniture, thus it was towards the end of 1936, that they moved to 199 Beaconsfield Parade, right across the road from the beach. It was a flat with 2 bedrooms, a lounge, a breakfast room, a kitchen/laundry and  a back verandah. The building was erected around 1935/ 1936and the block next to them was a vacant allotment and not built on until after the War. The benefit of this was that three of the rooms all had windows facing the side-way, so they received a lot of light. 

199 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park. Wally and Veda had the flat downstairs on the right.

Photo: Veda Thewlis

They were living at 199 Beaconsfield Parade when their second daughter, Marli, was born in January 1938. In December 1939 they moved back north to a house in Bell Street, Coburg, to be closer to the shop and then in December 1941 moved again to 4 Butler Grove, East Coburg, where they lived for the next 25 years. 

Wendy, four years old, at 199 Beaconsfield Parade.

Photo: Veda Thewlis

Whilst at Middle Park Wally joined the Middle Park Surf Club. The Club, based at the end of Nimmo Street, was established in 1917.   A report in The Herald in February 1917 said that objects of the Club are to promote swimming and life saving, and help to maintain order on the beach at Middle Park. An energetic secretary and enthusiastic committee have been elected, and have already met with great success, more than 140 financial members having been enrolled. A diving board is in use, and a floating raft is being constructed (3).

Fast forward to 1931 where in the November it was reported that the Club was financially strong, with funds of £250, one of the soundest in Victoria, as well as having club-rooms and equipment such as the diving platform valued at £500. There was a new President Arthur Russell, one of the foundation members of the club, a prominent business man in the city, who has been engaged in moving picture presentation from the business for years, and who has numerous other business interests. He was also well known in swimming, world for his successes, took the quarter-mile championship of the State, and had many other wins. It was Mr Russell who coached Ian Macintyre, the winner of the Yarra three-mile swim. He has now formed a staff of expert swimmers at Middle Park Surf Club, and these have taken over many of both sexes whom they are teaching to swim. Arthur Russell guarantees to teach any non-swimmer in half an hour, and judging by his successes, this is no idle boast (4). The Club received  a lot of publicity, not surprising as it was noted for the number of journalists it has among its members. These are combining to produce a small, bright surf club paper, which gives all the M.P.S.C. news each week (5).

It was this very successful Club which Wally joined, he was in 'good' company some of the new members who joined in 1931 included  Frank Winslow, who won the championship of Scotch College; Fred and Will Findlay, the sons of the well-known golf professional, who were other old Scotch collegians; Billy Buck, the old Geelong Collegian; Clive and Rus Niall, old Melburians (6). Another swimmer who has appeared prominently in various club events to date was Wal Thewlis (7). This is the first connection I can find between Wally and the Club. Interestingly the newspaper did not report on his education pedigree - eight years of schooling at Locksley and Euroa State Schools.

At the Annual General Meeting in November 1932, Arthur Russell was re-elected President and there were six Vice-Presidents elected - Messrs. H. Sholl, W. Thewlis, J. Buck, E. Buck, J. Meisenhelter, J. Saunders, by then there were 271 members (8). The Emerald Hill Record reported that Club provided swimming classes for children and adults were opened, and there are now numerous trained instructors at the beach daily ready and willing to teach any child or adult the art of swimming. Lessons are free, and thus there is no excuse for anyone not securing knowledge of this valuable art (9).

In October 1933, the Sporting Globe reported that due to the good work of Messrs J. Ludlow, Frank Russell, A.F. Russell, F. Findlay, W.H. Thewlis and others, the Middle Park Surf Club are in the remarkable position of having a credit balance of £275 9 7. The loyalty of the members and their enthusiasm for the club is responsible for such a excellent position, and members can indeed praise their executive when the annual meeting is held at St Anselm's Hall, Langridge Street, on October 26 (10).

Veda (right) and her sister Merle, sitting on the sea-wall at Middle Park, early 1934.

The Middle Park Baths are in the background.

Photo: Wally Thewlis

The Club members were obviously impressed by Wally's good work because at the Annual General Meeting held in 1934 he was elected President. Wally had a dramatic start to his Presidency as at the end of November a huge storm hit Melbourne and their Club rooms were destroyed - The Herald of December 1, had an extensive report on the storm, beginning with - After two days and a night of buffeting, Melbourne today took stock of its storm destruction. It revealed a toll of eight lives, tremendous damage along the foreshore, over the watershed of the River Yarra, in the flooded areas of Kensington and Elwood, and in public parks and gardens...At least 6000 people were forced to leave their homes...Postal Department reports the greatest damage on record, 3500 suburban and 150 trunk lines being affected. This has cut off communication from many in the city and country (11).   

The damage to the Clubs along the Bay was extensive - it is worth reporting the article from The Age of December 4, 1934 in full -
Tens of thousands of pounds and years of tireless efforts by swimming and life-saving clubs were wiped out by the storm, and has resulted in clubs both along the foreshore and the Yarra being homeless and in a serious financial position. On the eve of what promised to be a busy season the effect on clubs' operations will undoubtedly be most severe, as both on the seafront and along the River Yarra clubs have lost their all.

A typical case is Middle Park Surf Club, which has had its dressing sheds and equipment, built at a cost of £500, demolished. From Williamstown to Mentone and all along the Yarra the scene of desolation beggars description. Baths battered beyond recognition, club houses and dressing sheds swept away or submerged ten and fifteen feet, and banks and concreted pools battered down, all provide a disheartening sight. The Williamstown baths, the home of the local swimming club, are practically demolished, but the new club house of the life-saving club, built at a cost of £1000, escaped lightly. The South Melbourne ladies' baths are another almost complete wreck, while at Albert Park the club's premises suffered a severe battering and the loss of the life-saving reel. Further east along the foreshore Wright-street club has lost its dressing shed and all equipment, as did clubs in Middle Park proper. 

The premises of Middle Park Surf Club, Middle Park club and Middle Park Baths club, the latter with its head quarters in the local council baths, were completely demolished, while club equipment, wireless sets, &c were swept away. The premises of the three clubs were reduced to matchwood, excepting the front portion of the baths. By an irony of fate the baths club's opening day was scheduled for the week end, and instead a special meeting was held amidst the debris of what was once the baths, and £10 10/ was voted to Mrs. Lamb, the lessee, who with her children was compelled to leave the baths during the height of Friday night's storm, losing most of their belongings. West St. Kilda lost its diving platform, which was driven ashore, but its neighbors, Melbourne club, whose head quarters were in St. Kilda baths, lost every thing except their club records, the club-rooms in the old wooden portion of the baths being swept away. Middle Brighton baths and Brighton baths also suffered severely, but further around the Bay at Mentone, the baths, the home of the new Mentonian club, were practically demolished with the exception of the front kiosk (12)  

The Middle Park Surf Club banded together and by December 15, had made a temporary shelter, which will serve until it is decided what will be done to provide a permanent structure. An effort may be made to replace the demolished club premises with a structure capable of withstanding the worst storms known on the beach (13). By May 1935, the plans of the Club room and Dressing shed were completed (14)  and the Annual General Meeting in  October was held in the the new Club rooms, built at a cost of £326. A further £76 had been spent of diving boards, springboards and the like (15).

During the 1930s the Middle Park Surf Club continued to take part in Victorian Amateur Swimming Association Carnivals, their Water Polo team was still strong and they also participated in inter-club events such as the "Ray Nuzum" junior teams' challenge shield, in 1936. Cr Ray Nuzum represented  Canterbury Ward in the South Melbourne Council from 1930 until 1949 and was Mayor in 1935/1936 (16)  The Shield that year was won by Wright Street over the Langridge Street Club and the Middle Park Surf Club (17).  

The Sun Swimming Cup being presented to the President of the 

Middle Park Surf Club Team, Walter Thewlis. 

Undated clipping - but from the 1930s, from our family collection.

Another inter-club event took place in February 1937, when the Middle Park Surf Club competed for the Sol Green Trophy against other Foreshore Clubs.  The competition was discussed at a meeting held at the Middle Park Baths on Monday, representatives from Middle Park, Middle Park Surf, Middle Park Baths, West St. Kilda, Langridge Street, Wright Street and Albert Park were present, and conditions were discussed for a competition for the "Sol" Green trophy.  Mr. W. Thewlis (Middle Park Surf) was elected chairman, and Mr. J. Graham (secretary). It was agreed to hold the surf competition at Middle Park Baths on Sunday, February 7 (18). Once again the Wright Street Club was successful and they took home the Sol Green Shield (19).  Sol Green was a bookmaker, racehorse breeder and philanthropist who had what The Age described as a picturesque career. He died in 1948, aged 79 and left many charities in Melbourne a substantial legacy (20). 

In May 1936,  a Ladies Section of the Middle Park Surf club was formed with Miss D. Armistead as the inaugural President, and Miss P. McDowell as the secretary and treasurer (21). A table tennis Club was also established at the Club, perhaps to provide activity during the colder months. The Club also held an annual Cabaret Ball during the 1930s - venues being Leonard's Cafe, St Kilda and Earl's Court. These Balls were well reported in the newspapers and often included the names of the guests (22).  It was not surprising that the Balls were held or table tennis was on offer as it was reported in 1936 that the Middle Park Surf Club had made substantial progress, in its chief objective - swimming, and in its secondary objective - sociability (23).   

Wally resigned as President of the Middle Park Surf Club at the Annual General Meeting in November 1939, after five years at the helm. At the meeting  Cr. Nuzum, in presenting a smoker's stand to Mr. Thewlis, said his chief reward would he the remembrance of his services, which had placed the club in such a sound position, for the benefit of swimming and life-saving. He moved that a record of those services be placed in the minutes, This was supported by Mr. J. P. Barry, Mr. J. W. Chapple and Mr. Findlay, and was carried by acclamation. Mr. Thewlis said he had not severed his connection with the club, which was so full of happy memories; and where he had made many friendships (24).

Wally and Wendy, on the pier at Port Melbourne, April 1938. 

They often walked down to see the ships.

Image: taken by a street photographer.

Wally was also involved in another Middle Park organization - the Old Buffers Club. The Old Buffers were a sporting body, with no politics, and benevolence the one creed (25).  It was established in 1908 with a football match to determine whether the south side of Armstrong Street could beat a team from the north side. A match  was then held yearly on the King's Birthday holiday to raise money for charity, and by the 1930s the Old Buffers held a street parade up Armstrong Street, a carnival and football match. In 1937 it was reported that in the last three years, for Prince Henry's Hospital, the Mayor's Relief Fund, and local charities, the sum of nearly £800 had been raised (26). Interesting group, which deserves more research one day.

In 1939, the family, as I said before, moved from Middle Park to be closer to Wally's shop in Sydney Road, Brunswick to which he was travelling to everyday by public transport as the family did not have  a car, and so their time of living by the beach was over. The house in Butler Grove was still near the water, it actually backed onto the Merri Creek, not quite the same though as having the Bay at your front door step. 

Sadly, Wally's life was cut short - he was killed in a hit and run accident at the age of 49. He was riding his bike home from the shop and was nearly home, but he was struck by a car on the corner of Nicholson Street and The Grove, East Coburg on September 6, 1950. He died the next day. We still have all the Condolence cards, letters and cards that arrived with the wreaths that were sent including the one from the Middle Park Surf Club. There was also this letter, below, from the Victorian Amateur Swimming Association.

The letter to Veda from the Victorian Amateur Swimming Association, after Wally's death,

This is not of course, a comprehensive history of the Middle Park Surf Club, or a comprehensive history of Wally and Veda's life, but it is a look at the happy years that they spent by the beach at Middle Park.

Acknowledgement - Much of this is  based on the memories of my mother, Wendy Rouse. Ironically, given how involved Wally was with the Middle Park Surf Club, neither Mum or her sister Marli ever learnt to swim! I also received valuable help from the Middle Park History Group in identifying the buildings in the background of two photographs - see Footnote 2.

Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Wally and the Middle Park Surf Club, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) High Street has been renumbered at some time in the past. The 1920 Sands & McDougall Directory lists Alfred Tharratt, P/L at 373-385 High Street, Northcote, corner of Arthurton Road. The building is still there and is now a Chemist Warehouse. The 1925 Sands & McDougall Directory lists J. E Thomson at 223 High Street, Preston. This was on the Bell Street side of the Rechabite Hall, which is still there and now numbered 251 High Street. The J.E. Thomson building still appears to be there behind some later add-ons.

(2) I am indebted to members of the Middle Park History Group, Max Nankervis, Sonya Cameron and Meyer Eidelson for identifying the buildings on this photo. Max wrote - I'm  quite a bit more certain it is the terrace block on corner of  Harold St. Google Street view shows two different houses near the corner,  but those sites were originally terrace houses as part of a set of four. Only one (the far right) is intact, the adjoining one is almost intact, the next to the left has had the verandah section bricked-in, and the corner is completely new. They also confirmed that the building in the background of  the photo of Veda and Merle, was the Middle Park Baths.

The buildings on the corner of Beaconsfield Parade and Harold Street, Middle Park, 

from Google Street view.

(3) The Herald, February 23, 1917, see here.
(4) Sporting Globe, November 21, 1931, see here.
(5) Sporting Globe, November 21, 1931, see here.
(6) Sporting Globe, December 12, 1931, see here.
(7) Sporting Globe, December 12, 1931, see here.
(8) Emerald Hill Record, November 5, 1932, see here.
(9) Emerald Hill Record, December 10, 1932, see here.
(10) Sporting Globe, October 18, 1933, see here.
(11) The Herald, December 1, 1934, see here.
(12) The Age, December 4, 1934, see here.
(13) Emerald Hill Record, December 15, 1934, see here.
(14) Emerald Hill Record, May 25, 1935, see here.
(15) Emerald Hill Record, November 2, 1935, see here.
(16) Cr Nazum - Elected - Emerald Hill Record, August 30, 1930, see here; defeat - Emerald Hill Record, August 27, 1949, see here.
(17) Report of the participants in the Ray Nazum Challenge - Emerald Hill Record, March 7, 1936, see here.
(18) Emerald Hill Record, January 23, 1937, see here.
(19) Report of the result of the Sol Green Cup - Emerald Hill Record, February 13, 1937, see here.
(20) Sol Green - Obituary Australian Jewish News, May 14, 1948, see here; Obituary The Age May 12, 1948, see here; Report of his Will - The Age, May 21, 1948, see here.
(21) Emerald Hill Record, May 2, 1936, see here.
(22) See my Trove list  for reports of the Balls.
(23) Emerald Hill Record, October 10, 1936, see here.
(24) Emerald Hill Record, November 4, 1939, see here.
(25) Emerald Hill Record, February 13, 1937, see here.
(26) Emerald Hill Record, February 13, 1937, see here.

Telling time with flowers - Floral Clocks

One of the new attractions at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1930 was the Floral Clock. The Argus was one of the newspapers who reported on this clock - All the works, which are electrically operated, were improvised by the showgrounds staffs with odd material available, including a cream separator and a number of bicycle wheels. The ground of the clock face is a garden bed planted with a carpet of violas, pansies and red and white daisies. The figures around the circumference are picked out in light green exhibition border, and the hands are troughs of earth in which pansies and exhibition border are planted. The seconds hand, by reason of its rapid movement, is the most spectacular part of the setting. It is claimed that this is the only floral clock in the world which has a seconds hand. Mechanism, buried in a pit below the garden bed, chimes the hours and half hours, and at each quarter-hour a set of sprinklers on the circumference waters the plants. An amusing novelty connected with the clock is the "information bureau." By placing the appropriate iron key in a spot, the bell below the bed may be made to give such information as the daily attendance at the show, the number of exhibits, the number of workmen and attendants employed, the rainfall for the last month, and many other statistics (1).

Floral Clock, Royal Agricultural Showgrounds, Ascot Vale.

State Library of Victoria Image H93.228/30

The Clock was a popular exhibit at the Show and in the 1930s the newspapers reported in great detail about the thousands of flowers that were used.  In 1937, for instance, 6,000 flowers were required to plant out the Clock (2).  This report from The Australasian in 1935 is typical of the many detailed reports - The clock, which covers a diameter of about 25ft., has as a central ground work a choice, low-growing, white-flowered sweet alyssum variety Little Dorritt. This is a bushy plant 3in. to 4in. in height, with a spread of 3in. or 6in. A couple of thousand young plants, just commencing to flower, have been used, and are smothered in white bloom. It would be an ideal plant for crazy paving or path edging, for planting as a low bordering plant in borders. Viola papilio in soft lilac blue shades cover the space between the hours, and the hours are worked in a dwarf Pyrethrum, P. excelsior, golden green, a variety of the well-known Golden Feather, which grows slowly and retains its compact low habit. A good strain of pansies, Roggli's Giants, is planted between the hours. The blooms are large, and in rich yellow-brown to purple tonings. Bounding the clock are Anemone Scarlet Emperor, and the violet shaded strains of St. Brigid anemones (3).

The Clock was planted out in the early years by  C. E. Isaac and Sons of Noble Park.  Cyril Everett Isaac established his firm in 1922 and by the 1930s had the largest seedling trade in Victoria (4). Cyril trained as a School Teacher and in February 1911 was appointed the inaugural Secretary of the newly established Victoria State Schools' Horticultural Society; one of its aims was to promote amongst teachers and pupils a genuine love of gardening and flowers (5). He was a Shire of Dandenong Councillor from 1922 until 1931, then 1937 until 1941 and a member of the Legislative Council from 1940 until 1952 (6).

C.E. Isaac's advertisement in the Australian Home Beautiful October 1, 1930, 

featuring the Floral Clock at the Showgrounds.

Digitised on Trove, here.

The Floral Clock was still a feature at the Show in 1940, but I can find no reference to it after that until 1965 when The Age reported that the floral clock, which has been absent from recent Melbourne Royal shows, will return this year as a centrepiece of an enlarged floral display in Centenary Hall (7). The Age also reported on the clocks heart of junk  (the cream separator etc) and said it had been made by the Showgrounds Plumber, Mr Jack Carlton (8). Was the Floral Clock on display at all in the 1940s and 1950s? I cannot tell you.

However, by the 1960s Melburnians had another Floral Clock  - the one in the Queen Victoria Gardens on St Kilda Road. In November 1965, the City of Melbourne Parks and Gardens Committee recommended that Melbourne plant a floral clock as a contribution to the City's 'beautification.' Cr Bren, the chairman of the committee was quoted a saying this will bring us into line with places like Edinburgh - nearly all the world's big cities have floral clocks (9). The cost of the clock was estimated to be £4,100. 

The Floral Clock in the Queen Victoria Gardens, taken in 1967 a few months after it was installed.

Photographer: Brian Ferguson. The report said he went up in one of the 

Council's travel towers to take the photograph.

The Australian Women's Weekly, April 19, 1967  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41853863

Fortuitously for the Council, on March 8, 1966, Mr Gerard Bauer, the President of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Makers, presented the Clock to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Cr Ian Beaurepaire. It was a gift to mark the Federation's participation in Third International Trade Fair (10).  The Clock was actually displayed at the Trade Fair, which  was held at the Exhibition Buildings from March 5 - March 19, 1966 (11).  After the Fair the Clock was also on display at a  Ball given by the Lord Mayor at the Melbourne Town Hall in the July (12). It was later installed in the Gardens where it was officially 'opened' by Cr Beaurepaire on Friday, November 4, 1966. The weekend before the opening the Clock was attacked by vandals who pulled out seedlings and bent the hands of the clock, however  the damage could be repaired before the opening (13). The Clock is 20 feet in diameter, the long hand is nine feet long and the report in the Women's Weekly in April 1967 said it took 10,000 plants and that it would be replanted three times per annum  (14). The Clock is still a feature of the Gardens.

A postcard of the Melbourne Floral Clock. 

The statue is of King Edward VII. It was erected in 1920 and was 

made by Sir Edgar Bertram McKennal (1863-1931) 

Postcard published by Bartel.

Ballarat also has a floral clock, which was presented by the the Ballarat Begonia Festival to the City. The Clock, which was 20 feet in diameter, had hands 14 feet and 11 feet long and was made in Melbourne (15). It was started by the Mayoress of Ballarat, Mrs Cutts, on March 6, 1954. As is appropriate for a City that owed its existence to gold mining, Mrs Cutts used a gold key to start the Floral Clock, which was located in gardens in Sturt Street (16). March 6, 1954 was  golden day in Ballarat as that was the day that the Queen visited the town, as part of her visit to Australia and New Zealand. The Clock was moved in 1980 to the Botanical Gardens, where it was operating until around 2003 when the hands were damaged by vandals. It was finally repaired in 2017 as as part of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens 160th anniversary celebrations (17).

The Floral Clock. Sturt Street Gardens, Ballarat

Photographer: Frank Hurley. State Library of Victoria Image H2014.76/108e

The Queen's visit was also the catalyst for the installation of other floral clocks - Two floral clocks, each with a face 18 ft. in diameter, have been made in London to commemorate the Queen's visit to New Zealand in December. One will be displayed at Auckland, the other at Christchurch (18). 

The Floral Clock, Albert Park, Auckland.

Postcard published by A.H. & A.W. Reed.

I also found a report that in preparation for the Queen's visit to Yallourn - women are working against time in the Town Hall to complete an 18 ft. by 15 ft. floral clock containing more than one million blooms (19).  I have no other information about the Yallourn clock. 

Victoria does not get the credit for the oldest floral clock in Australia - this honour goes to Sydney where on Wednesday, December 19 1928 - Sir Arthur Rickard set going the floral clock which he has presented to Taronga Park Zoo. The clock is situated close to the seals' pool, and seven varieties of plants have been used to make the clock-face and the hands. In all 14,000 plants wore used by Mr A. N. Allen, who carried out the design for the trustees of the park. The clock-face is a replica of that to be seen in Princes-street Gardens, Edinburgh (20).

Floral Clock, Taronga Park Zoo. Note the Harbour Bridge in the background. 

Photographer: Frank Hurley. 

National Library of Australia https://nla.gov.au:443/tarkine/nla.obj-160111046

The Edinburgh Floral Clock in Scotland, mentioned by Cr Brens and the inspiration for the Taronga Park Floral Clock, was first planted in 1903 with up to 40,000 plants in an ornate design reflecting a different theme each summer. The idea came from James McHattie, City Superintendent of Parks and James Ritchie, the Edinburgh clockmaker, using the mechanism of a redundant turret clock. In 1905 a cuckoo which pops out every hour was added (21).  I rather like the idea of cuckoo.

The Floral Clock in Edinburgh, taken in August 1945 by Cyril Hampden Isaac, the son of C.E. Isaac, who first planted out the Showgrounds Floral Clock (22).

Australian War Memorial Image P00687.885

In 1904, a year after the Edinburgh Floral Clock was installed, the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri, in the United States, was held and a very grand floral clock was on display. The clock was reported on in the Sydney Mail -
Time's fleeting hours are ticked off at the World's Fair at St. Louis on a wonderful chronometer. This is the floral clock which lies on the slope of the hill in front of the main entrance in the north facade of the Palace of Agriculture. The floral clock has a huge dial all of brightly blooming flowers, marking off the numerals and minute spaces. Spread on the side of the hill, it announces to visitors in far-off parts of the enclosure what hour of the day it is.

The dial is 100ft in diameter and the minute hand 50ft in length. The numerals marking the hours are 15ft long. These numerals are all picked out, in bright coloured coleus, a foliage plant of dense growth, which is kept symmetrical by pruning without danger of impairing its growth. Flowers of variegated hue cover the entire face of the clock, and to ensure a perennial bloom the plants are changed frequently. Collections of 12 distinct plants fill the circles surrounding the numerals, each collection being 25ft long and 15ft wide. The hands of the clock are of steel troughs, in which plants are growing.

A thousand incandescent electric lights illuminate the clock at night, the white light bringing out the brilliant hues of the flowers and foliage as vividly by night as by day. The machinery of the clock is housed in an ornamental pavilion at the summit of the hill. The pavilion is glass enclosed, the  movements of the works being visible to visitors. The hours and quarter hours are struck by  a great brass bell in the pavilion, which may be heard throughout the greater part of the fair grounds. In the pavilion is also a large hour-glass of the time of our grandfathers, the evolution of the process of ticking off time being thus shown in contrast with the most modern methods of keeping account of the passing of the hour (23).

Floral clock and north end of Palace of Agriculture, from Ceylon Building, 

St. Louis World's Fair, 1904.

Photographer: Truman Ward Ingersoll

Library of Congress http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s03592

We will finish off this post with this unusual floral clock at Water Works Park, Detroit in Michigan in the United States. It was unusual for two reasons as firstly it was water-powered and secondly it was vertical. This following account of this clock is written by Dan Austin, from the Historic Detroit website, here. 

The clock was unveiled in the park in 1893 and was designed by Elbridge A. “Scrib” Scribner, the superintendent of the park's grounds. Scribner's clock ran on cup-shaped paddlewheels that moved as water flowed. The clock itself was made up of more than 7,000 plants that were held in place by chicken wire. It stood seven-and-a-half feet high and was 10 feet across. The dial was 6 feet in diameter and had numerals made out of alternantheras, a type of shrub. The rest of the clock's face was sempervivum Tectorum, known as common houseleek. In front of the clock sat beds of tulips or begonias.

By the 1930s, however, the clock had become a liability. Park visitors were no longer enraptured by its water-powered wonder. It also stopped keeping accurate time. In 1934, automaker Henry Ford had a fascination with clocks -- not to mention relics of American history -- and bought the floral timepiece to display at his Greenfield Village. The clock was altered, however, replacing the water-powered mechanism with a traditional pendulum-and-weight mechanism. Unlike its days being powered by water, the floral clock had to be wound twice a day. But also unlike the old days, the clock now kept accurate time. The restored clock sat near the Greenfield Village Gatehouse and was dedicated July 4, 1935. Much like it had at Water Works Park, the clock would delight visitors to Greenfield Village for another 39 years.

In 1974, however, the clock started breaking down, and it was decided to retire the old timepiece. In 1989, Greenfield Village returned the clock to the City of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department, which oversees what was Water Works Park. The clock was moved to the entrance on the island side of the MacArthur Bridge in 1990 (24).

Floral Clock, Water Works Park, Detroit, Michigan, c. 1900-1910.

Library of Congress http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a22205/

Are floral clocks kitsch or are they an essential and decorative ornament to a big City, as Cr Bren believed in 1965? I like massed plantings of flowers, but with Councils out-sourcing their Parks and Gardens Departments and recent water restrictions floral displays are not as common as they used to be. It is unlikely that we will ever see new floral clocks that require the planting of thousands of seedlings on a regular basis, so we just have to treasure the floral clocks which remain.

Acknowledgement - The title of this post - Telling time with flowers - I wish I could say I thought of it, but it is from The Herald, September 19, 1935, see here.

Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Trove, connected to Floral Clocks, access it here.

Footnotes
(1) The Argus, September 10, 1930, see here.
(2) The Herald, September 22, 1937, see here.
(3) The Australasian, September 28, 1935, see here.
(4) Dandenong Jubilee Celebrations Souvenir and Official Program, 1933. Digitised at the State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/248012

(5) The Leader, February 4, 1911, see here.

(6) Cyril Everett Isaac (1884 - 1965) was born in Brunswick to Abraham and Mary (nee Judd) Isaac. Abraham was a Congregationalist Minister. Cyril married Elizabeth Brown in 1907 and they had seven children - Percival Everett (b. 1908). Cyril Hampden (1910), Edna Myrtle (1911), Arnold Frederick (1913), Ruby Alice (1914), Bernard Miles (1916), Dory Pearl (1917). Cyril enlisted in the A.I.F in June 1917, had the rank of Lieutenant and Returned to Australia in July 1919. Council dates  http://seha.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/dandenong-mayors-and-councillors.pdf  and articles on Trove.   Legislative Council dates and some family information from  https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/1312

(7) The Age, September 8, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(8) The Age, September 18, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(9) The Age, November 25, 1965, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(10 The Age, March 9, 1966,  from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.
(11) There is a photo of it here, but I can't use it as it is still in Copyright - https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/796146

(12) The Age, July 14, 1966, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on.

(13) The Age, November 1, 1966, from newspapers.com, an Ancestry.com add-on

(14) The Australian Women's Weekly, April 19, 1967, see here. 

(15) The Age, December 8, 1953, see here; The Australian Women's Weekly, March 10, 1954, see here

(16) The Herald, March 5, 1954, see here.  Mrs Catherine Cutts (nee Garrett), was the wife of the Ballarat Mayor, Francis John Cutts, who was listed as a painter in the 1954 Electoral Rolls.

(17) Report and photo in the Ballarat Courier, November 23, 2017. I could access it on July 31, 2021 but it is now behind a pay-wall - https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/5074176/time-is-ticking-for-ballarat-botanical-gardens-floral-clock/

(18) Weekly Times, October 7, 1953, see here.

(19) The Herald, March 2, 1954, see here.
(20) Sydney Morning Herald, December 20, 1928, see here.

(21) Edinburgh City Council https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory-record/1086024/floral-clock

(22) Cyril Hampden Isaac is the son of Cyril Everett Isaac, so it is no wonder that he was interested in the floral clock. I was trying to find a good photo of the clock to use, saw this on the Australian War Memorial website, looked at the photographer's name, and was surprised and thrilled with the connection. Cyril enlisted in the RAAF in February 1941 and was discharged in December 1945. His brothers Arnold and Percy served in the Army in the War

(23) Sydney Mail, September 21, 1904, see here.

(24) https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/floral-clock-at-water-works-park