I came across this photograph of J. A. Deneys' store, in Dimboola, on the Museums Victoria website when I was looking for photos for the Lost Country Victoria Facebook page, and as it is a bit of an unusual surname, I thought I would do some research.
Joseph Deneys with his wife Agnes, son Charles and daughter Elizabeth, c. 1905 outside their store in Dimboola.
Museums Victoria https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/769750
Another Laborite Gone - The sudden passing away of Joseph Antonia De'neys came as a great shock to a large number of his old Victorian acquaintances and comrades. Joe Deneys, as he was familiarly termed, was born in Roubaix, France, and came to Australia in the early eighties. He worked at his trade, as a carpenter at Townsville and Charters Towers for several years. The comrade came to Melbourne in 1890, and then went to Warrnambool, where he followed the calling of his trade. In 1901 he started business as a news agent and tobacconist in Jeparit, and shortly afterwards he opened another similar business in Dimboola. It was through his pushfulness that the "Tocsin" (now the "Labor Call") became fairly well known throughout that part of Victoria. Our old friend had a very fine tenor voice, and he was never known to refuse to sing at any charitable or Labor gathering when asked. We extend our deepest sympathy to his widow and grown-up son and daughter. (1) The obituary has one mistake, Joseph went to Warracknabeal and not Warrnambool.
As noted in his obituary, Joseph first lived in Queensland and it was there that he married his first wife Elizabeth Ann Ladd Goodliff on January 26, 1889 in Charters Towers. Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Mary (nee Scrivens) Goodliff and had been born in Hackney in London (2). Their daughter, Alice Maud was born on April 15, 1890, but she sadly only lived eleven weeks and died on July 8, 1890 at King Street, Charters Towers. (3) The couple then moved to Victoria where their son Charles was born in 1891 in Warracknabeal. Elizabeth died on July 26, 1898, aged 39, from heart disease and was buried at the Warracknabeal Cemetery. Her death certificate notes that she had been five years in Queensland and seven years in Victoria. (4)
After the death of Elizabeth, Joseph married Agnes Stewart Heatly on November 6, 1901, when she was 34 and he was 43. Their marriage certificate shows that he was 43 year-old storekeeper of Jeparit and Agnes a 34 year-old housekeeper from South Yarra. She had been born at Castlemaine to Charles and Elizabeth (nee McAuslan) Heatly; Charles worked for the Victorian Railways. On May 23, 1896, Charles who was the Station Master at Hawksburn, was struck by a train whilst he was standing on the tracks between two platforms and died later in hospital; he was buried at St Kilda Cemetery. (5)
Joseph retired in 1922 and he and Agnes moved to Roubaix, 26 Norwood Road, Caulfield and this is where he died suddenly on December 8, 1924. Agnes continued living at the family home in Caulfield, until her death at a private hospital in Windsor on July 21, 1933. Agnes was well regarded as her five siblings, George, Bertha, Leah, Gilbert and Elsie inserted a lovely notice to their dearly beloved eldest sister after her death. Joseph and Agnes are buried together in the Presbyterian Section at the Brighton General Cemetery. (11)
Joseph's birth place was listed on the marriage certificate as St Nicholas, Belgium, which differs from the obituary which was Roubaix, France. Roubaix was the name he gave to his house in Melbourne, so this seems the more likely birth place. His father was Augustin Deneys, a Cabinet maker, and his mother Carlotta Von Mullum. Joseph became a naturalised British Subject in Queensland on October 31, 1887. (6)
I am going off on a tangent here, but the Minister who conducted the Presbyterian service was William Stothert Rolland, the father of the Very Reverend Sir Francis William Rolland - famous in Presbyterian circles for his mission work at the Smith of Dunesk Mission based at Beltana in South Australia and for helping the Reverend John Flynn launch the Australian Inland Mission (and Flynn later established the Royal Flying Doctor Service). Francis Rolland was also a practical Chaplain with the AIF in World War One serving in Egypt, England and France, where he ministered to the men in the trenches. He was Principal at Geelong College and later the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. He also reorganized the training of Deaconesses, and the Deaconness Training College in Carlton was named Rolland House in his honour (where my aunty did her training to become a Deaconess). (7)
Back to Joseph and Agnes - they had two daughters - Elizabeth Ernestine (Bessie) born in 1902 at Jeparit and Angele, born in 1908 at Warracknabeal, who lived only six days. (8) From 1903, the family are listed in the Electoral rolls in Dimboola, where Joseph operated the store, as shown in the image at the start of this post, as well as taking up the profession of a photographer, which his son Charles also practiced (9)
One of Joseph Deneys' photographs - Clearing sale, Dimboola, c. 1910s.
State Library of Victoria image H2008.27/1
Detail of his signature, on bottom right of the photo above.
State Library of Victoria image H2008.27/1
Joseph was very involved in the community life of Dimboola and surrounding area - a Provincial Grand Master of the Wimmera District Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows; Chairman of the Dimboola Progress Comittee; a member of the Western Wimmera Waterworks Trust; he organised a petition to have part of the Dimboola Shire annexed to the Wimmera Shire and put his name forward for pre-selection for the Labor Party in various elections. (10)
Joseph retired in 1922 and he and Agnes moved to Roubaix, 26 Norwood Road, Caulfield and this is where he died suddenly on December 8, 1924. Agnes continued living at the family home in Caulfield, until her death at a private hospital in Windsor on July 21, 1933. Agnes was well regarded as her five siblings, George, Bertha, Leah, Gilbert and Elsie inserted a lovely notice to their dearly beloved eldest sister after her death. Joseph and Agnes are buried together in the Presbyterian Section at the Brighton General Cemetery. (11)
Before we leave the Deneys well have a look at the lives of their two surviving children, Charles and Elizabeth. Charles married Emma May Forlington in 1912 and they had five children - Kenneth Charles (born 1913), Joseph Harold (1914), Elizabeth (1916), William Harry (1922) and Jack Fortington (?-2014). Charles was a photographer, based in Dimboola until the early 1940s when the Electoral Rolls list them at 139 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda. Charles died in 1959, aged 68 and Emma in 1971, aged 79. They were both cremated at Springvale Crematorium and their ashes were interred there. (12).
As we said before, Charles was also a photographer and the State Library of Victoria has some of his photographs, one of which is shown below.
.jpg)
Lochiel Street, Dimboola. Photographer: Charles Deneys
State Library of Victoria image H2019.50/31. See others of Charles photographs here http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4181545
Joseph and Agnes' daughter Elizabeth, or Bessie as she was known, married James Frederick Rigby in 1926 and they had two daughters, Leonie and Claire. James was a clerk and the couple lived with Agnes at Roubaix, 26 Norwood Road, Caulfield; Bessie inherited the property in 1933 after her mother's death. James died on September 13, 1979 aged 79 and Elizabeth on February 1, 1982 aged 79. They were both cremated at Springvale Crematorium and their ashes were interred there. (13)
We will finish this post off with this interesting observation about Joseph Deneys. In 1929, the Horsham Times published an article entitled After Many Years: A Visit to the Old Town, where Nathan F. Spielvogel (14) looked back at his time in Dimboola, which he left in 1905 and where he had been a school teacher, and he noted this about Joseph - Joe Deneys, ever ready to abuse the Capitalist. (15)
(1) Labour Call, December 18, 1924, see here.
(2) Index to Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages; information on Elizabeth's death certificate.
(2) Index to Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages; information on Elizabeth's death certificate.
(3) Index to Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages; death notice of baby Alice - Northern Miner, July 10, 1890, see here.
(4) Index to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Elizabeth's death certificate.
(5) Deneys/Heatly marriage certificate; I found out about Charles Heatly's accident from - Rigg of the railways: stationmasters of the Victorian railways by Tom Rigg (published by the Author, 2001). Charles Heatly - report of accident The Age, May 30, 1896, see here and death and funeral notice - The Argus, May 30, 1896, see here.
(6) Deneys/Heatly marriage certificate. Natauralization - from his Grant of Probate Public Records Office of Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/46AD1A5B-F1F2-11E9-AE98-2DD3255274EB?image=7
(7) Geelong Grammar website - https://gnet.tgc.vic.edu.au/wiki/ROLLAND-The-Very-Rev-Sir-Francis-William-Kt-CMG-OBE-MC-MA-DD Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rolland-sir-francis-william-frank-8261
(8) Index to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages
(9) Electoral Rolls from Ancestry.com
(10) Ballarat Star, April 20, 1904, see here; Horsham Times, July 19, 1907, see here; Horsham Times, December 20, 1907, see here; Horsham Times, January 26, 1915, see here; Dimboola Banner, July 14, 1914, see here; Horsham Times, July 21, 1914, see here; Labour Call, July 14, 1921, see here.
(11) Joseph - short obituary Horsham Times, December 12, 1924, see here; death notice - The Argus, December 9, 1924, see here. Agnes - death notice The Argus, July 22, 1933, see here, short obituary - Horsham Times, July 28, 1933, see here. Brighton Cemetorians database https://www.brightoncemetorians.org.au/
(12) Index to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Electoral Rolls; Jack Deney's death notice https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/death-notices/deneys-jack-fortington/4844126/ ; Springvale Botanical Cemetery https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery
(13) Index to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Springvale Botanical Cemetery https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery
Agnes Deneys Probate papers Public Records Office of Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/E57EF78F-F576-11E9-AE98-EF468208D602?image=1
(14) Nathan Frederick Spielvogel - Nathan was listed in the Electoral Roll as a school teacher. He died in September 1956 -
Nathan F. Spielvogel, historian of Ballarat, and former State School teacher, died this morning at his home. He was 84. Mr Spielvogel was prominent in local community life and founded the Ballarat Historical Society. He was the author of several books on travel and early Ballarat history, including the Eureka rebellion. Tomorrow evening, he was to have been elected president of the Historical Society for the 23rd year. (The Argus, September 11, 1956, see here)Mr. Nathan Spielvogel, who died this week, at an advanced age, was the very symbol of the old Ballarat Jewish Community. The late Mr. Spielvogel’s family was associated with that community from the very first, almost a century. (Australian Jewish News, September 14, 1956, see here).
Australian Jewish Herald of September 14, 1956 had a longer obituary, see here.
In the December 14, 1956 issue of the Australian Jewish Herald (see here) there was this note about his work - The Australian Jewish Historical Society’s meeting on Thursday, December 20, will be devoted to an appreciation of the writings of Nathan F. Spielvogel, whose death in September last seemed to close an epoch in the history of the Australian Jewish community. As a teller of tales of Australian Jewish life - the only one of his period - his writings speak and breathe the atmosphere of an era that is fast slipping into the past.
(15) Horsham Times, June 11, 1929, see here
