I have three postcards of the Fawkner Cemetery, which was also known as the New Melbourne General Cemetery. It does seem like an unusual subject for a postcard. Did people buy a postcard at the cemetery kiosk after a funeral and send it to a loved one? Possibly. The person who sent these Fawkner Cemetery postcards ran the tearooms, more of which later.
The Fawkner Cemetery opened on December 5, 1906. The opening had been delayed for months for various reasons including issues the Board of Health had with the Cemetery's rules and regulations (1). The first burial took place five days later, on December 10, and it was of five year old Doris Gladys Knapp, the daughter of the assistant station-master at Brunswick Railway Station. Little Doris had passed away August 19 1906, and owing to repeated delays in opening the cemetery her parents had to have her embalmed whilst they waited for the cemetery to open and she could be buried (2).
The new Fawkner Railway Station was constructed on the Somerton line, right at the entrance to the Cemetery and was opened at the same time as the Cemetery. This allowed both coffins and mourners to journey to the Cemetery from the Flinders Street Mortuary Station (3). There was also a railway line from the Springvale Station to the Necropolis which operated from February 7, 1904 to December 19,1951 (4).
A Crematorium opened at Fawkner on June 19, 1927 (5). It was the second such facility in Victoria. The first cremation had taken place at the Necropolis at Springvale in April 1905, when Edward Davies was cremated. He had specifically requested this in his will and also that his ashes be scattered to the four winds of heaven (6).
My postcards were all sent by the same person, Martha Bamber, to her mother and her sister, Clara, who lived in Sydney. They are shown below, in what I believe is the order they were sent.
Railway Station at the New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner.
The letter on the back of this card reads - Our place is just as you come out of the white gate but of course not on the photo. How is my darling niece, Roslyn (?). I should love to see her. I am awfully dissapointed [sic] I thought to be able to come to Sydney this year, but unless things alter cannot. I hope you are feeling stronger. I went to a Masons dance on Sat. Annie lent me her dress because I had been to so many in mine, it was a very nice affair.
Railway Station at the New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner - letter.
View at Entrance, New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner
The letter on the back of this card reads -
Dear Ma & Clara,
I know you will think me unkind but really I seem to have so little time, I am up here 7 days a week & if Annie was not good, I couldn't do it. We are doing a bit better but Harry will finish here on the 30 of March so I don't know how we shall go on about his wage. I hope things will mend up. Mrs ? says if we can only hold out 12 months we shall have the best paying (?) cuisine in Melbourne and Geelong
View at Entrance, New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner - letter.
Waiting Rooms, New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner.
The letter on the back of this card reads - This is our place, only where the verandah is is our shop. We are doing very well week ends but week days very quiet. We are looking for a house as we have finished up here. We got one Frazer had been paying 18 /- and they were going to charge us a 1-0-0, behold someone came and offered 25/- so I would not take it. I do not know where we shall get to now (?) Molly (?)
Waiting Rooms, New Melbourne General Cemetery, Fawkner - letter
What go these letters tell us? The writer may be called Molly - that's what the last word of the last letter looks like. She is upset that she can't visit her family in Sydney and this suggests that is where she came from originally. They also tell us that money may have been a bit tight as she couldn't afford a new dress to go to the dances and had to borrow one from Annie. Running the refreshment kiosk was a seven day a week business with poor returns and the family relied on Harry's wage. The fact that Molly said they were looking for a house as we have finished up here suggests that they may have lived on a house on the Cemetery property.
On December 23, 1925 The Argus reported that the Fawkner Cemetery tearooms operated by the Misses Bamber and Jackson had been broken into (7). The tearooms at Fawkner Cemetery opened in around 1923 in a temporary wooden building, which was replaced in 1928 by a new brick building designed by Charles Heath, who had also designed the Crematorium (8). As Molly says that her place is in the waiting room building (middle postcard) this suggests that the postcards were written between 1923 and 1928, when the new tearooms opened.
Fawkner Cemetery tearooms broken into
The Electoral Rolls of 1924 and 1925 show a Harry and Martha Bamber were at 5 Rodda Street, Coburg. His occupation is listed as a caretaker. Was he the caretaker at the Fawkner Cemetery and Martha operated the tearoom? It would actually be more likely that a caretaker would have a house on the property and if he was finishing up, then they would need to find another. In the 1922 Electoral Roll, their address is the Coburg Cemetery and once again Harry is listed as a caretaker.
Harry and Martha Bamber - 1922 Electoral Roll
Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Harry & Martha Bamber - 1925 Electoral Roll
Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Martha Bamber died February 9, 1936 at the age of 59, and her death notice said she was the loving sister of Mrs Annie Monk (9). Is this the same Annie she borrowed a dress for the dance from and the same Annie who was good and helped her in the tearoom? She was also the mother of Harold Bamber.
Martha Bamber's death notice
There are two other mysteries - who was Frazer, who had a rented a house for 18 shillings a week? I cannot tell you. Secondly, who was Miss Jackson who operated the tearoom with Miss Bamber? She was possibly connected to J. Jackson, late A.I.F, who managed the new Refreshment rooms in 1929 (see below).
J. Jackson is the manager of the Refreshment Room at Fawkner in 1929
I believe that the three postcards of the Fawkner Cemetery were written by Martha Bamber, wife of Harry, who was for a time the caretaker at Fawkner. To support this we have the report of the break-in at the tearooms, the fact the she had a husband named Harry who was the caretaker at the Coburg Cemetery and possibly Fawkner and finally she had a sister Annie and an Annie is mentioned in two of the three postcards. The only thing working against this is that the third card looks like it was signed Molly. Molly was used historically as a pet name for Mary however it may also have been used by Martha's family for her. I am at least 85% percent sure that Martha Bamber is the person who sent these postcards.
Footnotes
(1)
The Argus, November 14 1906, see
here;
The Argus, November 28, 1906, see
here.
(2)
The Argus, December 12, 1906, see
here.
(3)
The Age, December 6, 1906, see
here.
(4) Harrigan, Leo J Victorian Railways to '62 (Victorian Railways, 1962), p. 287.
(5)
The Age, June 20 1927, see
here.
(6)
The Age, April 14, 1905, see
here. Don Chambers has written an interesting history of the Necropolis -
City of the Dead: a history of The Necropolis,
Springvale (Hyland House, 2001)
(7)
The Argus, December 23, 1925, see
here.
(8) I can't find a specific date of the opening of either the old or new tearooms, however, an article in the
Adelaide Advertiser of February 22, 1928 (see
here) talks about the new refreshment rooms being built and that the
board of management of New Melbourne Cemetery five years ago arranged a tearoom and flower-stall, for the convenience of visitors, in a temporary wooden building. (9) Her parents are listed as Richard Wignall and Elizabeth Kenyon.
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