Mrs Ernest Cooke of Princes Avenue, East Caulfield received this New Year postcard from all at The Manse, Mordialloc. The postcard is not dated, but I would estimate it was sent 1912, give or take a few years either side. This post looks at the postcard photograph of the Mordialloc Pier; the recipient, Mrs Ernest Cooke; and the sender of the New Year greetings, the Presbyterian Minister or his wife.
Mordialloc from the Pier
New Year Greetings
Mordialloc Pier
The postcard is a photograph of Mordialloc from the pier. In January 1867, The Australasian reported -
A meeting of market gardeners was held on Wednesday evening, at the Cheltenham Hotel, Cheltenham, for the purpose of receiving a report from the Market Committee appointed at a previous meeting to devise means for the establishment of the Emerald hill Market, and to take steps for the erection of a jetty at Mordialloc, and the removal of the Metropolitan Manure Depot to the latter place. (1)
The value of a pier to Mordialloc was explained by The Age -
The farmers and market gardeners about Brighton and Mordialloc, who are bestirring themselves to procure the erection of a pier somewhere near Picnic Point present a claim which deserves favorable consideration for more reasons than one. At present the farmers of the district cart their produce a distance of eleven miles or so to Melbourne, which is of course their chief market; but in addition to their journey on market day, they have to send about three times a week for a supply of the manure which is indispensable to replenish the natural poverty of their soil. Of course these constantly recurring journeys to and fro involve an expenditure which would be vastly reduced if they had transport by water instead of by land. They say that if they had a pier, the saving in money value to the district in regard to manure alone would not be less than £18,000. Nor would the benefit be all on their side. Think of the material aid to the great sewage question which so perplexes the brains of our city Solons. Here is a way of getting rid of our night-soil, if you wish to got rid of it. (2)
Perhaps due to the pressure exerted by the farmers, in February 1867, £500 was assigned to the Mordialloc Pier in the Government Estimates. However nothing came of this, and thus in November 1868, it was reported that -
A deputation from the residents of Mordialloc were introduced, Wednesday, to Mr Jones by Mr Crews, M.L.A. They asked that a sum of £1000, promised by Mr Vale for the erection of a jetty, should be appropriated for that purpose with as little delay as possible. (3) Mr Jones was the Minister of Roads and Railways and Commissioner of Public Works.
The jetty was built around 1870. However by 1873 a deputation from the Moorabbin Council met with the Public Works Commissioner in regard to elongation of the Mordialloc Pier, as the pier at present was useless, on account of there not being sufficient depth of water to allow vessels to come along side. (4). It doesn't appear that it was lengthened at this time, as 16 years later, in 1889, another deputation of Mordialloc residents to the Commissioner of Customs requested that the pier be extended (5). However well before then, the railway line to Frankston had opened in stages - Caulfield to Mordialloc in December 1881 and Mordialloc to Frankston in August 1882, and so providing the farmers an alternate transportation mode. (6) The pier was thus then a pleasant location for promenading and fishing, as illustrated on our postcard.
Mrs Ernest Cooke and the Manse Residents
The Electoral Rolls around this time - 1912 - list Edwin Henry Cooke, his wife Emily Sarah Annie Cooke and his sister Annie Cooke at the address on the postcard, Princes Avenue, East Caulfield; their exact address was Rudland, 10 Princes Avenue (they were also there in the 1903 Electoral roll). Edwin had a brother Ernest William, who along with his wife Mary Catherine - the Mrs Ernest Cooke from the postcard - were listed at Dandenong Road, East Caulfield, however their two daughters were born at residences in Princes Street in 1900 and 1903 and by 1915 they were living at 7 Princes Avenue. (7)
I looked at newspaper articles on Trove to find out who was the Presbyterian Minister at Mordialloc was at the time and found that the Reverend Hugh Jones was appointed to Mordialloc in June 1908 and preached his final service there in March 1916, when he then moved to the Ormond Presbyterian Church. (8) I felt that it must have been the Reverend Jones, or Mrs Jones, who wrote the postcard and when I looked at the will of Edwin Cooke (9) and I found that his executors were his brother, Ernest, and his brother-in-law, the Reverend Hugh Jones, and so it all fell into place.
Mrs Ernest Cooke (nee Mary Powell)
Edwin and Ernest were the sons of Henry Cooke and Amelia Annie Job Ham. As listed in Edwin's will there were two other sons - Arthur James Cooke and Charles Wilkinson Cooke and five daughters - Annie Amelia Cooke, Florence Maude Mary McNaught, Edith Isabella Jones (the wife of the Reverend Hugh Jones), Hattie Winifred Cole and Olive Theodora Sloggatt. (10)
Their father, Henry Cooke, along with his brother John had founded The Age newspaper in 1854; they relinquished ownership after a few years and Henry returned to his previous occupation of a merchant, and he was also a City of Melbourne Councillor. (11) He married Annie Amelia Ham on August 5, 1851 in Sydney. Amelia was the daughter of the first Baptist Minister in Melbourne, the Reverend John Ham. The Minister and his family had arrived in Melbourne in 1842 and he firstly conducted services at the Athenaeum and then at the first Baptist Church in Collins Street which was erected in 1845. His three sons, Thomas, Theophilus and Jabez, were lithographers and the publishers of the Illustrated Australian Magazine from 1850. Thomas and another brother, Cornelius, later founded the firm of C.J. & T. Ham, Auctioneers and Estate Agents. Cornelius was also a City of Melbourne Councillor, the Lord Mayor and a member of the Legislative Council, amongst other public roles. (12)
Illustrated Australian Magazine promotion, c. July 1850 published by the Ham Brothers, the uncles of Ernest, Edwin and Edith Cooke.
State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/243327
Ernest William Cooke was an accountant and he married Mary Catherine Powell in October 1896 and their wedding was reported in The Australasian -
The wedding of Mr. Ernest William Cooke, fourth son of the late Mr. Henry Cooke, and Mrs. Amelia Cooke, Egglestone, Oakleigh, and Miss Mary Catherine (Kate) Powell, eldest daughter of the late
Mr. Levi Powell and Mrs. C. Powell, of Rugeley-road, Oakleigh, was celebrated very quietly at the residence of the bride's mother on Wednesday, October 7. The drawing room was filled with masses of white flowers. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. George Lloyd, the bride's cousin. Miss Powell was married in her travelling dress, a tailor-made gown of grey flecked tweed, the revers edged with passementerie. The coat opened over a vest of ivory silk. Her large hat was of white chip, with choux of chiffon and clusters of white plumes. She carried one of Cheeseman's shower bouquets of lilies of the valley, roses, azaleas, and asparagus fern. The bride was given away by her cousin, Mr. John Williams, and was attended by Miss Elizabeth Powell, her sister. Mr. E. H. Cooke, the bridegroom's brother, acted as best man. Wedding tea was served in the dining room. Only immediate relatives were present. The young couple will spend a short honeymoon at the seaside. (13) The report continues with a list of the guests, including the Reverend and Mrs Hugh Jones, and the wedding presents.
Mary was the eldest child of Levi Powell and Annie Price, who had married at the Wesley Church in Melbourne on February 16, 1860; they had seven children between 1861 and 1877. (14) Levi Powell was an Architect and he died on March 17 1885 - the Ovens and Murray Advertiser had this obituary -
The death is announced of Mr Levi Powell, architect, which took place at his residence, Carlton,
on the 17th inst., at the age of 63 years. The deceased gentleman will be remembered by old residents of Beechworth, where he resided some thirty years ago, and superintended the erection of the local Wesleyan Church, and other buildings. He shortly afterwards removed to the metropolis, and the "Herald," in noticing his demise, remarks: - Mr Powell, who was of a genial disposition, was well known among the builders and architects of Melbourne, and his death is much regretted. He had been professionally connected with a number of our largest institutions. (15)
Ernest and Mary had two daughters - Elsie Winifred born in December 1900 and Mary Constance in April 1903. Ernest died aged 63 on September 1, 1924 at the age of 63. Mary, Mrs Ernest Cooke, the recipient of the postcard, died on December 13, 1937, aged 77. They are buried at the Brighton Cemetery with their two daughters, neither of whom married, and both of whom lived to a good age - Elsie died in August 1987 aged 86 and Mary three months later in November 1987 aged 84. Elsie and Mary are listed in the Electoral rolls at 7 Princes Avenue until the late 1960s. Princes Avenue has now been devoured by the Monash University Caulfield Campus and none of the original houses remain. (16)
Princes Avenue, Caulfield East, June 4 1951. Photographer: Airspy.
Caulfield Technical School (now part of Monash University) is the prominent building in the centre with the sports grounds. It is located in a triangle bounded by Sir John Monash Drive to the right, Dandenong Road (Princes Highway) to the left and Queens Avenue to at the bottom. Caulfield Railway Station is bottom left.
Princes Avenue, which consists of only 14 houses, is the dog-leg street running from Railway Avenue to Queens Avenue.
State Library of Victoria image H2010.91/371 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4223329
Ernest's brother Edwin and his wife Emily (nee Kernot) were, as we saw before, also residents of Princes Avenue. Edwin was a partner in the firm C.J. & T. Ham, the firm started by his mother's brothers. Edwin and Emily did not have children and Ernest died November 26, 1927 and Emily on January 28, 1943; they are buried at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery. (17) Emily's short obituary noted that -
As hon. treasurer of the Carlton Home, Carlton, for 40 years, and a sympathetic worker in several church and charitable activities, Mrs. Cooke devoted her long life, with untiring devotion, and won a wide circle of friends by her gentle character. (18)
Before we leave the Cooke family - Emily Cooke (or Mrs Edwin Cooke as she would have been known) was the daughter of Charles and Mary (nee Archer) Kernot. Charles Kernot was a member of the Legislative Assembly on and off between 1868 and 1880. Her brother, William Charles Kernot was the foundation professor of engineering at the University of Melbourne; another brother Wilfred was also an engineer and eventually held the same role as professor of engineering that his brother had. A third brother Maurice was was engineer-in-chief of the Victorian Railways from 1907 to 1923 and her sister, Lillie, was married to Calder Edkins Oliver, engineer-in chief of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works. (19)
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Mordialloc Presbyterian Church, c. 1930
Image courtesy Mordialloc & District Historical Society
The Reverend Hugh Jones and Mrs Edith Jones (nee Cooke)
So now we know who Mrs Ernest Cooke was, we will look at the sender of the postcard, either the Reverend Hugh Jones or his wife Edith Isabella, and I suspect it was Edith, writing to to her sister-in-law, Mary Cooke. Edith and Hugh had married on June 11, 1896 at the Oakleigh Congregational Church; this was four months before the marriage of Edith's brother Ernest to Mary Powell. The Australasian reported on the wedding -
The marriage of the Rev. Hugh Jones, M.A., Wharf-street Congregational Church, Brisbane, eldest son of the late Mr. Thomas Jones, Williamstown, and Edith Isabella Cooke, third daughter of the late Mr. Henry Cooke, Melbourne, and Mrs. Henry Cooke, Egglestone, Dandenong-road, Oakleigh, took place at the Congregational Church, Oakleigh, on Thursday, 11th June. The decorations consisted of floral arches, flower initials, and wedding bell. The Rev. Professor Gosman, assisted by the Rev. Geo. Chapman, performed the ceremony. Mrs. Powell, organist, played a festival march on the entrance of the bride, and the "Wedding March" as the party left the church. The bride, who was given away by Mr. Edwin H. Cooke, the bride's eldest brother, wore white surah silk with square train, chiffon, lace, and pearl trimmings; wreath of orange blossom and tulle veil; shower bouquet of white flowers, and diamond and opal brooch (gift from the bridegroom). The bridesmaids were Miss Hattie Winifred Cooke and Miss Olive Theodora Cooke (sisters of the bride), and Miss Emily Jones (sister of the bridegroom). They were in cream and buttercup silk, chip hats with buttercup crowns and chiffon, shower bouquets of golden flowers; gold-bar brooches, with star and crescent of pearls (gifts of the bride groom). The best man was the Rev. J. J. Hewitt. After the ceremony a reception was held at Egglestone, and about 120 sat down to breakfast served in a marquee. The toast of the bride and bridegroom was given by the Rev. Professor Gosman. The travelling dress was of dark brown fancy cloth trimmed with shot silk and passementerie, velvet cape, Thibet fur and toque to match. (20)
The report continues with a list of the guests and the wedding presents.
Edith and Hugh had three daughters - Edith Gwendolen (born 1897), Mary Enid (1902) and Lorna Doreen (1909). The first two girls were born in Queensland and the third girl, whilst they were at Mordialloc. (21). Hugh, who was born in Williamstown, Victoria had trained at the Victorian Congregational College, Melbourne University and Ormond Theological College. After some time in Germany to learn the language, he was appointed to the Oakleigh Congregational Church, no doubt where he met Edith. In April 1895, he was appointed to the Wharf-street Congregational Church in Brisbane, where Edith joined him after their marriage. In April 1903 he retired from the Brisbane Church to return to Victoria. As the Brisbane Telegraph reported - This important step has been rendered necessary by the fact that Mr. Jones's general health has given his family and his most intimate friends some anxiety, for since a partial breakdown of about two years ago, his health has never fully re-established itself. (22)
We then find that in October 1903, the Reverend Jones defected/left the Congregational Church and becomes a Minister of the Presbyterian Church (23). It would be interesting to know the reason - was his partial breakdown caused by a spiritual crisis? In May 1904, Hugh was appointed to the Wallan Presbyterian Church and from there he moved to Mordialloc, where his induction was held on June 4, 1908. (24) As is the life of a Minister's wife, Edith would have packed up the house and the girls and moved with her husband to the new Manse, which of course had the advantage of being much closer to her family members, including her mother, Amelia Cooke, who died the next year on October 6, 1909. Henry Cooke, Edith's father, had died March 18, 1899 (25).
The Mordialloc Presbyterian Church, St Andrews, is in McDonald Street, on the corner of Barkly Street. It was designed by Reed, Henderson and Smart and officially opened in January 1889. (26) There is some mystery as to where the Manse was at the time the postcard was written; Hugh and Edith Jones are listed in the Electoral Roll in McDonald Street; his successor Reverend John Frederick Heyhoe Sims, has an Ashmore Avenue address. It would appear that these two properties may have been rented as in March 1924 The Age reported that -
Mordialloc Presbyterian Church - At the annual Congregational meeting authority was given for the erection of a brick manse, and for the preparation of plans and specifications of a new kindergarten room, the need for which is being increasingly felt. (27)
Erection of Manse and Kindergarten Hall
The Age, March 1, 1924 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204093852
This new Manse was behind the Church and facing Barkly Street, between the new Kindergarten Hall and Mordialloc State School, No. 846 (now known as Mordialloc Beach Primary), as you can see in the image below. I presume the Manse was erected 1924 or 1925 and it was certainly there when the next Minister, the Reverend Nasib Jaboor arrived. He was inducted on May 23, 1928, and his address in the Electoral Rolls was The Manse, 58 Barkly Street, Mordialloc. The Manse is no longer stands and the land is now part of the adjoining School. As noted in Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria - in 1967, the purchase of the site of the neighbouring Presbyterian Manse helped relieve the crowded playground. (28)
Mordialloc Presbyterian Church and Manse, c. 1929
Mordialloc Presbyterian Church facing McDonald Street; adjoining the Church and facing Barkly Street are a Kindergarten Hall and another Hall or Sunday School building. The Manse is on the next block of land, immediately to the right of the School, Mordialloc State School, No. 846 (now known as Mordailloc Beach Primary).
Image courtesy Mordialloc & District Historical Society
Reverend Jones preached his farewell service at Mordialloc on March 26, 1916 and then moved to the Ormond Presbyterian Church, and he was there until he retired in 1934, when he was 70 years old. (29). Well, he partially retired as he when he died on October 16, 1935 in Adelaide, a short obituary in the Williamstown Chronicle noted that he was the minister at the Ulney Presbyterian Church, a suburb of Adelaide. He was buried at the Magill Cemetery also in Adelaide. Edith returned to Melbourne and she died in Boronia on March 7, 1942 age 70. She was buried at Springvale Cemetery. (30)
Hugh and Edith had three daughters, as we mentioned - Edith Gwendolen, known as Gwen, married Alfred Frank Gerald Garrett in 1927, she died in Sydney in July 1948 and her death notice lists three sons, David, Gerald and Michael. Mary Enid, known as Enid, married a Mr Price, and she died in 1982 in Melbourne; she had two daughters, Judith and Gillian, but I have no further details of her husband. (31)
The youngest daughter, Lorna Doreen, attended Presbyterian Ladies College and became a Doctor. She worked in Brisbane and then from June 1939 until December 1953 she practiced at Boronia. Her sister, Enid, lived with her for a number of years. The Mountain District Free Press reported on her farewell function -
Never before in the history of district has anyone been given a more spontaneous and sincere farewell, than Dr. Jones, who has endeared herself to man, woman and child alike, in her fourteen years of unstinted service to the community. On her arrival at the hall, Dr. Jones was escorted to the beautifully decorated stage by Mrs Allan Chandler, as the audience of many hundreds sang, "The more we are together." Dr. Jones and her sister, Mrs Price, were then welcomed by Mrs Chandler and presented with charming bouquets. The evening then took the form of a concert, with a splendidly balanced program from local artists..... Lorna died On October 15, 1963, aged only 54. (32)
Dr Lorna Jones, c. 1947
Image: Boronia “The good old days” Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/759569961240851/posts/1830718844125952/
This, then, is the story of the postcard sent from The Manse at Mordialloc, then occupied by the Reverend Hugh Jones, his wife Edith (nee Cooke) and their three daughters Gwen, Enid and Lorna. It was sent to Edith's sister-in-law, Mary Cooke, the wife of Ernest and the mother of Elsie and Mary, who all lived at No. 7 Princes Avenue, Caulfield East.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Mordialloc and District Historical Society members Peter Ratcliff, Wayne Imlach and Paula McCarthy, who provided me with photographs from their collection and information as to the location of the Mordialloc Manse. It was Wayne who identified the Manse building on the c. 1929 aerial photograph, which I have used here, and also modern photos of the location. Thank you!
Footnotes
(1) The Australasian, January 12, 1867, see here.
(2) The Age, June 25, 1869, see here.
(3) The Argus, February 7, 1867, see here; The Leader, November 7, 1868, see here; The Hon. C.E. Jones - Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers, August 8, 1868, see here.
(5) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 26, 1889, see here.
(6) Harrigan, Leo. J. Victorian Railways to '62 (Victorian Railways, 1962)
(7) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne, suburban and country directory - available at the State Library of Victoria; various family notices in newspapers on Trove.
(8) Reverend Hugh Jones - The Argus, May 6, 1908, see here; Mornington Standard, June 13, 1908, see here; Moorabbin News, March 18, 1916, see here; Cheltenham Seaside News, April 22, 1916, see here.
(9) Edwin Cooke's Will and Probate papers at the Public Records Office of Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/CE2BBC2A-F567-11E9-AE98-9B0037504020?image=1
(10) Ibid.
(11) Henry Cooke - https://emhs.org.au/history/people/cooke_henry_1818%E2%80%931889
(12) Cooke/Ham marriage - Sydney Morning Herald, August 6, 1851, see here; Punch, May 23, 1907, see here; Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ham-theophilus-job-3904 and Obituaries Australia - https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/ham-theophilus-job-3904
(13) The Australasian, October 17, 1896, see here.
(14) The Argus, February 17, 1860, see here; Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(15) The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, March 19, 1885, see here.
(16) Elsie birth - The Australasian, December 22, 1900 see here; Mary birth - The Argus, April 20, 1903, see here; Ernest death - The Age, September 2, 1924, see here; Mary death - The Age, December 14, 1937, see here. Brighton Cemetorians database - https://www.brightoncemetorians.org.au/
(17) Edwin - The Age, November 28, 1927 see here; Obituary - The Age, November 28, 1927, see here; The Age, January 30, 1943, see here; Friends of Cheltenham & Regional Cemeteries database https://www.focrc.org/
(18) The Age, February 3, 1943, see here.
(19) Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kernot-charles-3948 ; https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kernot-wilfred-noyce-6937 ; https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kernot-william-charles-556; William Charles Kernot obituary - Bendigo Advertiser, March 16, 1909, see here.
(20) The Australasian, June 20 1896, see here.
(21) Indexes to the Victorian and Queensland Births, Death and Marriages.
(23) Williamstown Chronicle, October 17, 1903, see here.
(24) Williamstown Chronicle, May 7 1904, see here and Footnote 8.
(26) The Argus, January 16, 1888, see here; Caulfield and Elsternwick Leader, January 12, 1889, see here.
(27) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne, suburban and country directory - available at the State Library of Victoria; The Age, March 1, 1924, see here.
(28) Induction of the Reverend Sims - Moorabbin News June 3, 1916, see here; Reverend Sims had left Mordialloc by February 1927 - The Age, February 12, 1927, see here; Induction of the Reverend Jaboor, Dandenong Journal, June 21, 1928, see here. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, May 30, 1966 - Registered Celebrants, see here; Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake (Education Department of Victoria, 1973), v. 3, p. 310-311.
(30) Adelaide Advertiser, October 18, 1935, see here; Williamstown Chronicle, October 26, 1935, see here. Edith - The Age, March 9, 1942, see here.
(31) Indexes to the Victorian Births, Death and Marriages; Gwen - death notice, The Age, July 21, 1948, see here. Lorna Jones' death notice, inserted by Enid Price, lists Enid's daughters as Judith Court and Gillian Price - The Age, October 16, 1963, p. 27 on Newspapers.com.
(32) Indexes to the Victorian Births, Death and Marriages, Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; The Age, February 6, 1926, see here; Brisbane Courier Mail, September 1, 1934, see here; Fern Tree Gully News, June 9, 1939, see here; Mountain District Free Press, December 31, 1953, see here; death notice - The Age, October 16, 1963, p. 27 on Newspapers.com.
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