Boroondara Cemetery Postcards

Friday, November 4, 2022

Boroondara Cemetery Postcards

An unusual subject for postcards is that of Cemeteries. I have three postcards of Fawkner Cemetery, sent by Martha Bamber to her family in Sydney in the 1920s, you can read about them here. Here are two more from my collection, both from the Boroondara Cemetery, Kew.

The land for the Boroondara Cemetery (also known as the Kew Cemetery) was set aside in late 1855, I can't find an actual gazettal date, and the earliest references I can find are in reports in the newspapers of the need for a Cemetery at Richmond. As there was no suitable land in Richmond, they had to look further afield and the site in Boroondara was mentioned. It was described in this November 1855 letter to the editor as a very fine and suitable place as a cemetery for Hawthorne and Kew, but will in no way benefit Richmond.

Letter to the Editor - the first reference I can find to the Boroondara Cemetery.

The Argus, November 15, 1855. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4823438

A month later, the following article in The Argus reported that the people of Kew had been granted 32 acres of a Government Reserve on Bulleen Road (now called High Street) for a Cemetery. The remaining 26 acres could be made available for the people of the Municipality of Richmond (1) for a Cemetery. I have written about the Richmond Cemetery, here.

This article about the desire for a Cemetery for the inhabitants of the municipality of Richmond includes a reference to the Boroondara Cemetery.

The Argus, December 13, 1855 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4825642

The Boroondara Cemetery bounded by High Street (Bulleen Road) and Parkhill Road, in Kew. The Recreation Reserve was the area set aside for the Richmond Cemetery.

Borough of Kew, Parish of Boroondara, County of Bourke. Surveyed and compiled by Holland Loxton,

drawn by Edmund Adderley. Published by Arnall and Jackson in 1888.

State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117382

The first Trustees for the Boroondara Cemetery were appointed in December 1858. They were Henry Box (2), Thomas Judd (3), John Charles Lloyd (4), Thomas Johnson (5), Jabez Bunting Chambers (6), John Sharp Denbigh (7), Christian Finger (sen.) (8), Thomas Cubitt Balmain (9) and Michael O'Grady (10).

Trustees appointed to the Boroondara Cemetery

Victoria Government Gazette, December 21 1858 http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1858/V/general/170.pdf

The Boroondara Cemetery website (11) notes that the Cemetery was surveyed in 1859 and that the first burial was that of Ellen Quick, who was buried on March 12, 1859. Ellen was only 36 years old when she died on March 9 from Phthisis (Tuberculosis). Ellen had been born in Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire, England to Thomas and Patience (nee Petherham) Derrick. She married John Quick, a stonemason, in Bristol in 1848, at the age of 25. The couple arrived in Melbourne on the Duke of Northumberland in January 1849. Their four children listed on her death certificate were - Samuel William aged 9; Marianne aged 5; Lucy Ellen aged 3 and Edward John aged one year (12). A very sad situation, though sadly not uncommon in those times, for the family to lose their mother, when she was so young and when the children were so young. Ellen was buried in the Baptist Section, her funeral bring conducted by the Baptist Minister, Mr Foy (13). The death certificate lists two witnesses to the burial - her brother Samuel Derrick (who was also the Informant) and Uriah Whidycombe, whose name you might expect to find in a Charles Dickens novel. John Quick died August 22, 1899, aged 83 and is buried in the same grave (14).

The Age published this interesting letter in 1936, in response to a query about the ship, the John Bunyan. The letter is from William Bevan about his grand-parents, Thomas and Patience Derrick and their two daughters who arrived in Melbourne in 1852; no doubt to join their other daughter, Ellen Quick. The letter states that one of the daughters married Uriah Whidycombe, who was a crew member on the John Bunyan. So that explains the connection to Ellen Quick, he was her brother-in-law.

Letter to The Age from Ellen Quick's nephew, William Bevan.

The Age, May 16, 1936 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/19258691

Postcard of the entrance to the Kew Cemetery

As I said, I have two postcards of the Kew Cemetery. This one shows the Caretaker's Lodge and Administrative Office, built in 1860 and designed by Charles Vickers (1820-1883) (15). There were various later additions, designed by Albert Purchas (1825-1909) (16), an Architect and member of the Cemetery Trust, including the clock tower which was erected in 1899. The Booroondara Cemetery is heritage listed, you can read the Victorian Heritage citation, here.

The erection of a handsome tower, in which will be a large clock....

The Age, June 14, 1899 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202618497

A Temple Tomb, Boroondara

Image has been cropped. Produced by Godfrey B. Roberts, 143 Glenferrie Road, Glenferrie (17)

My other postcard is the Springthorpe Memorial, erected in 1897 by Dr John Springthorpe (1855-1933) (18) for his wife, Annie. The Victorian Heritage database notes that It was designed by Harold Desbrowe Annear and includes Bertram Mackennal sculptures. It contains twelve columns of deep green granite from Scotland supporting a Harcourt granite superstructure, and a glass dome roof of lead lighting (19).

John William Springthorpe had married Annie Constance Maria Ingles in 1887. She was the daughter of John and Maria (nee Hale) Ingles of Vaucluse, Richmond. They had four children - daughter Dorothy who lived for 22 days in December 1887; daughter, Enid, in January 1889; a son in November 1890 and another baby boy who was born prematurely on January 23, 1897, the same day that Annie died aged 30. His death notice lists his children as Enid Totton, Lance and Guy (20).

The Ballarat Star in July 1898 had this report on the monument and gives all the credit to Bertram Mackennal -

A Splendid Monument

One of the most sumptuous and artistic pieces of monumental sculpture ever seen in Melbourne will shortly be erected in the cemetery here. It has been designed and is being erected by Mr Bertram Mackennel, a native of this city, at his studio in London. It takes the form of a circular Greek temple, with columns of black and an entablature and plinth of white marble. The dome is composed of rose-tinted glass, through which soft and tender light fails upon the recumbent figure of a beautiful young female, the size of life, carved in the purest Carrara marble, and to which a faint flash of life will be given by the illumination from above. This figure rests on a sarcophagus, and at its head will stand a small statue of Love and at its foot one of Grief. The latter, by the way, is exhibited in the Royal Academy this year. When completed the whole work will have cost £2000, the munificent commission of Dr Springthorpe, of Collins street east. This pathetic and beautiful tribute to the memory of a wife, taken out of this life in the bloom of youth, will be unique of its kind in the Melbourne Cemetery, and will mark a new departure in art as applied to mortuary purposes, Mr Mackennal is also busily at work preparing the model of the statue of the Queen which is to be erected in marble in front of the

Town Hall in Ballarat West (21).

Two different women - Ellen Quick and Annie Springthorpe - both died young and left young children behind, and both found eternal rest at the Boorondara Cemetery.

Footnotes

(1) Richmond was created a Municipality on April 24, 1855; proclaimed a Town, September 28, 1872 and a City, February 17, 1882. (Victorian Municipal Directory and Gazetteer, 1940)

(2) Henry Box - Died February 1882, aged 82. Buried in the Church of England section. I believe this is Henry Box as listed in the 1860 Sands, Kenny & Co.'s commercial and general Melbourne directory as a Merchant and a Saddlers' and Coachmakers' Ironmonger of Little Collins Street.

(3) Thomas Judd - Died May 1915, aged 93. Buried in the Presbyterian Section. A officer of the Customs Department; read his short obituary in The Australasian of June 5, 1915, here.

(4) John Charles Lloyd - Died November 1887, aged 64. Buried in the Presbyterian Section. His death notice has his address as Bella Vista, Alma Road, Caulfield.

(5) Thomas Johnson - Possibly the Thomas Johnson who died May 1907, aged 86 and is buried in the Wesleyan Section.

(6) Jabez Bunting Chambers - Commission Agent, declared Insolvent in 1855 (The Argus, November 18, 1854, see here; The Argus, February 15, 1855, see here). Appeared as a witness in a case at the Kyneton Court in 1883 (see report in Kyneton Observer of May 10, 1883, here). Died in Lancefield in 1888 aged 71. I have no information as to his connection to the Kew area.

(7) John Sharp Denbigh - Died February 1875, aged 48. Buried in the Baptist Section. An officer of Mining Department. There was a hearing into Mr Denbigh's death in 1876 where it was alleged that it was caused by tyrannical treatment and overwork by the Secretary of mines, Mr Brough Smyth. Reports in The Age, February 16, 1876, see here; The Argus, May 2 1876, see here and a brief follow-up article in The Argus of August 16, 1876, see here. There any other articles on Trove about the hearing into Brough Smyth's conduct.

(8) Christian Finger - Died August 1884, aged 85. Buried in the Lutheran Section. In the 1870s he was the Trustee of land in East Melbourne reserved for a Lutheran Church and School; he was listed as a farmer of Boroondara (The Argus, November 1, 1872, see here)

(9) Thomas Cubitt Balmain, of Thornton Lodge, Kew. - Died aged 36, 1864.Buried in the Unitarian Section. Chief Clerk in the Public Works Department. Death notice The Argus, January 19, 1864, see here ; information about a compensation claim for his wife in The Argus, May 12, 1866, see here. Information about the sub-division of the Thornton Estate, here.

(10) Michael O'Grady - Died January 1876, aged 51. Buried in the Catholic section. The Hon. Michael O'Grady, M.L.A. Obituary in The Herald of January 8, 1876, see here; Obituary and the report of his funeral in The Advocate of January 8, 1876, see here. Public subscriptions were invited for a memorial to Mr O'Grady and there is an illustration of it in The Advocate of January 5, 1878, here.

(11) Boroondara Cemetery https://kewcemetery.com.au/

(12) Information from Ellen's Death Certificate; England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 and Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923 - both from Ancestry.com

(13) Joseph Foy - the following is from A sketch of Boroondara by James Bonwick, published in 1858 and digitised at the State Library of Victoria (see here)

Mr Joseph Foy, most laudably commenced Sabbath morning and evening service at his house in the then wild bush, south of Cotham Road, in March 1853. No place of worship existed within two miles of it. The form of service was a Prayer meeting, following an address from Mr Foy; who without much literary ability, had a fluency of speech, and and honest desire to do good to his neighbours. A Baptist Chapel was opened in the Cotham Road in September 1854.

Reverend Foy, died on May 3, 1879 aged 69 and is buried at the Boroondara Cemetery.

(14) Boroondara Cemetery website; Ellen's Death certificate and John's death notice.

The Age, August 23 1899 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202614711

(15) Boroondara Cemetery website. Charles Vickers (1820-1883) - more information on the Kew Historical Society website https://kewhistoricalsociety.org.au/khs/the-arts/

(16) Albert Purchas (1825-1909) - more information - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation website https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003876b.htm and short obituary in The Argus, September 30, 1909, here.

(17) Postcard image - the original postcard has the image printed at a slight angle, so I straightened it up, but you can see it below. Godfrey Roberts of 143 Glenferrie Road, who published the postcard, established his Photographic Studio in June 1914, read about this here, in the Hawthorn, Kew and Camberwell Citizen of June 5, 1914.