Eliza Fraser of Pakenham, Hotel-Keeper

Michael Kelly established a hotel in Pakenham, known as the Pakenham Hotel, on the west side of the Toomuc Creek in 1869 (1). From September 15, 1881, the hotel was operated by Eliza Fraser (2). 

We can find out something about the Frasers from a Licence renewal hearing which took place in December 1882 at the Berwick Court and was reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal.  Mrs Fraser had applied for the renewal of her licence for her hotel and billiard table. This was opposed by Sergeant McWilliams on the grounds that her house was so badly kept that it disturbed the quiet of the neighborhood, and that she had got a husband living with her, therefore was not a responsible person to hold a publicans' license, as she might be called away by her husband at any moment (3). She had also been fined for Sunday trading. Her hearing was postponed until January 5, 1883 and this was also reported in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal.   At this hearing, Sergeant McWilliams said that the problems at the hotel were getting worse and that two months ago there was a drunken man lying outside covered with blood, apparently having been in a fight. Mrs. Fraser interfered, when Mr Fraser kicked her and gave her a blow in the face (4). 

The Sergeant went on to give other evidence against Mrs Fraser -
Some time ago, about 17th May, 1882, he was on duty in Berwick about nine or ten o'clock, when he was met by Mrs. Fraser in a great state of excitement, who rushed into his arms, exclaiming that she had run away from her husband, as she thought he was going to kill her. At his persuasions, on that occasion, she, after some trouble, returned home. Shortly after that she telegraphed down for the witness to come up to her hotel for the purpose of protecting her against the cruelties of her husband, which witness did. Afterwards she took out a summons before Mr. F. Call in Melbourne, binding her husband over to keep the peace towards her. He also said the outside buildings were in a very dilapidated condition, and what with its being surrounded by pigs and geese and other animals, it was in a most disgusting and beastly state (5).

 
Mrs Fraser's lawyer, Mr Gillott, appeared on her behalf and answered some of the allegations and said that she was dependent on the profits of the hotel for the support of herself and three children. Other information presented about Mrs Fraser included the following-
She had held a publican's licence for thirteen years; eleven years in Melbourne at the Inverness, Royal George, and Kirks Bazaar Hotels. There were twelve rooms in the Pakenham Hotel - Michael Kelly, the owner of the hotel, sworn, stated that if the license was granted he was prepared to put the hotel in proper order. The house had been continually licensed for the last fourteen years. The present applicant had been in it since 15th September 1881 (6). 

Mr. Gillott made an able address, and after joining issue on all of the objections that had been raised, said the only tenable one was her unsatisfactory marital relations with her husband which was not misconduct on her part but her misfortune for which she should not be deprived of her only source of livelihood and thrown upon the world with only a few sticks of furniture to sell to enable her to commence life afresh (7). The Court granted her licence to keep the hotel for another year on the condition that it was better conducted and the building put in order. For some reason the licence for the billiard table was not granted. 

Eliza Fraser has her licence renewed at a Licensing hearing in Berwick in December 1883.

South Bourke and Mornington Journal, December 12 1883 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70042299

The next few years the licence was renewed without an issue in her name, however at a hearing in June 1886, the licence was formally transferred from Alexander's name to Eliza's name (8). I am unsure how it could have previously renewed in Eliza's name if Alexander was the licensee. 

Fraser's Hotel was part of allotment 1 & 2, Section 2, to the left (or west) of the Toomuc Creek. You can see Bourke's La Trobe Inn (also called Bourke's Hotel) on the other side of the creek.

The Township of Pakenham, County of Mornington. H. Permein, Assist. Surveyor ; lithographed at the Public Lands Office, Melbourne, April 22nd, 1858 by T. Ham. Victoria. Public Lands Office

State Library of Victoria - see the full map here - http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/100195

Eliza was the daughter of Phillip and Hannah Mulcahy, she was born in County Cork in Ireland, in c. 1846. On September 12, 1869 she married Arthur Ward in the Catholic Church at  Clunes. The marriage certificate noted that he was  30 year old hotel keeper, born in Hertfordshire, England. Her age was listed as 24. They had three children - Anna Maria, born in Clunes in 1870 and died aged 9 months; and two sons both born in  Ballarat -  John James in 1872 and Arthur born in 1874 (9). Her husband Arthur died May 26, 1874, from a coach accident whilst descending Anthony's Cutting, just out of Bacchus Marsh. At the time of his death he was a Cobb & Co. coach driver and was actually driving at the time. Eliza came to Bacchus Marsh from Ballarat to see her husband, who died twenty six hours after the accident. The Bacchus Marsh Express reported that - 

The distress of Mrs. Ward during the time her husband was lying speechless and dying in a strange hotel among strangers was most pitiful, and on the arrival of her father and mother from Melbourne on Wednesday a few days after her husband breathed his last they finally persuaded her to return home to Ballarat (10). John was two years old and little Arthur was only three months old at the time of their father's death. The inquest found the accident was caused by brake failure,  due to the inferior quality of the wood the coach was made from. (11).  

Eliza then married Alexander Fraser on January 23, 1878, in the Catholic Church in West Melbourne. Interestingly, she married under her maiden name of Mulcahy and said that she was a spinster, not  a widow. Her age is stated as 31  and her occupation as a hotel keeper. Alexander is listed as being 22 (thus born c. 1856), having been born in Aberdeen in Scotland. His occupation was an engineer and his usual place of residence was 'at sea.'  They had one son, Alexander, born in 1879. (12).

In Memoriam notice for Eliza, inserted by her sons John and Arthur Ward. I wonder why Alexander was not listed; he was 10 or 11 when his mother died. 

The Age November 17, 1891 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/190624713

Eliza died August 16, 1890 at the age of 44 (13). Her Probate papers list her property as - 

that piece of land at Pakenham being part of allotment 1& 2, Section 2, Parish of Pakenham on which is erected a weather-board house containing seven rooms, and kitchen and bedrooms detached containing 3 rooms and the said land containing one acre. Also all that piece or parcel of land situate at Pakenham containing half acre or thereabouts. The value of the land was £890 and the total estate including personal property was valued at £915 (14). There was a debt of £330 pounds to a wine and spirt merchant, which left an estate of  £585.   Even though her probate papers are digitised at the Public Records Office of Victoria, her will is not, but I presume her estate was left to her three sons - John James Ward, Arthur Ward and Alexander Fraser. Her executors were John Dwyer; her son, John James Ward and Patrick Kennedy (15). 

John Dwyer took over as licensee of the hotel after Eliza’s death, according to a Berwick Licensing Court hearing, held on December 5, 1890 (16).  The 1889/1890 Shire of Berwick Rate books list Eliza as the owner of the hotel, for some reasons in the previous three years she is not listed and in 1885/1886 she listed as renting the building from Michael Kelly, which means it was sometime in that date range that she purchased the building from Mr Kelly.  I am unsure what happened after that - a property was listed in Eliza Fraser's name (either as Estate of or Executors of) up to the 1894/1895 Rate books, the address being Lot 1 Staughtons sub-division.  I did not find John Dwyer listed in the Rate Books, so I have no information about other owners of the hotel property or the fate of the building.

The headstone for Eliza and her son, John, at the Pakenham Cemetery

Photographer: Elaine J. 

http://www.ozgenonline.com/~vic_cem/cardinia/pakenham_hs_images/0648.jpg

Before we finish up we will have a look at  Eliza's children - her first son, John James Ward, was born 1872 in Ballarat. He married Ellen Gertrude Rice in 1891 and, sadly, died  April 12 1893 in his 21st year. John is buried in the same grave as his mother at the Pakenham Cemetery.  Ellen applied for Probate on July 21, 1893 and  the following information was listed - he was a grocer from Pakenham and they had two children - Bernard - 18 months old and John James - 2 months old. Ellen was living in Cowwar at the time. In 1897 she married Edgar Hawes. (17). 

John's death notice

The Age April 13, 1893 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193441926

Eliza's middle son, Arthur Ward, was born in 1874 in Ballarat. Arthur enlisted in the First World War, on November 19, 1915 at the age of 42 (Service number 20154).  His address was a miner and he lived at Donnybrook in Western Australia. Arthur Died of Wounds on April 17, 1918. His Next of Kin was his sister-in-law, Ellen Hawes of Cowwarr (18). 

 Arthur is listed on the Honour Board at St Patrick's Catholic School in Pakenham, so he obviously went to school there.  There is more information on the St Patrick's Honour Board and other Great War Memorials in the Pakenham District on Patrick Ferry's website - A Century After the Guns Fell Silent Remembering the Pakenham District's WWI Diggers 1914-1918 http://www.pakenhamww1.com

Reference to Arthur Ward's death - 'native of Pakenham' - buried at Vignacourt in France Commonwealth War Graves Commission; London, United Kingdom; The War Graves Of The British Empire, Hem Farm, Hem-Monacu Suzanne Communal, Suzanne Military, Herbecourt British, Frise Communal, France. 

Eliza's last son, Alexander Fraser,  was born in  Pakenham in 1879. This means that the Frasers were in Pakenham at least two years before they took over the licence of the Hotel in 1881, so I did some more research and found an article in The Herald about an Insolvency case brought against Alexander Fraser, farmer, of Pakenham. The article tell us that Alexander and Eliza had purchased 165 acres each in June 1878 and that my wife was possessed of and carried on business in the Royal George Hotel, Elizabeth street (19) - so this confirms that this couple are the same ones that held the hotel licence.  It is likely that Alexander being declared bankrupt was the catalyst for Eliza Fraser going back into the hotel business.

 I am unsure what happened to Alexander, there is an Alexander Fraser, an orchardist, listed in the Shire of Berwick Rate Books from 1910 to 1920 - he owned 85 acres at Gembrook South, later called Pakenham Upper. In 1915 he was the President of the Pakenham Fruitgrower's Association (17). His wife was listed in the Electoral Rolls at the time as Annie South Fraser, but I can't trace them after 1919 in the Electoral Roll. If this is him why didn't Arthur list him as his next of kin in his World War One Attestation papers? Also Alexander was not listed in the In Memoriam notice inserted by John and Arthur in 1891 for their mother. Did Alexander live with his father and they lost touch or became estranged? I don't know and also don't know what happened to Alexander Senior, either. 

Eliza Fraser was a  hard working woman, who had to cope with the death of her little girl and the tragic and unexpected death of her first husband which left her a widow with two young boys to look after. She had the misfortune that her second husband was a violent man. Eliza is a woman who should be admired for overcoming adversity and  doing all she could to make a secure life for her three sons. 

Trove list - I have created a list of newspaper articles on Trove on Eliza Fraser and her hotel and family, you can access it here.

Footnotes
(1) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, January 10, 1883, see here. In the Licensing Board hearing, Michael Kelly, the owner of the Hotel said that the house had been continually licensed for the last fourteen years. 

(2) Ibid - Michael Kelly stated that the present applicant had been in it since 15th September 1881. 

(3) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, December 13, 1882, see here.

(4) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, January 10, 1883, see here.

(5) Ibid

(6) Ibid

(7) Ibid

(8) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 9, 1886, see here.

(9) Marriage certificate and Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.

(10) Bacchus Marsh Express, May 30 1874, see here.

(11) Bacchus March Express, June 13, 1874, see here.

(12) Marriage certificate and Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.

(13) Her date of death on her Probate Papers is listed as July 31, 1890. 

(14) Probate Papers at the Public Records Office of Victoria can be found here and here.

(15) Ibid

(16) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, December 18, 1890, see here.

(17) Death notice; Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages;  Grant of Administration papers at the Public Records Office of Victoria, see here and here.

(18) View his record at the National Archives of Australia, here.

(19  The Herald, June 9, 1880, see here.

(20) Various articles in my Trove list,  see here.


This is an expanded and updated version of  a post, which I wrote and researched, which appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past

Patrick O'Halloran's General Store at Pakenham

I bought this postcard of Patrick O'Halloran's store in 'Old Town', Pakenham. The 'old town' was the town on the Gippsland Road (Princes Highway) near the Toomuc Creek. New Pakenham or Pakenham East was the town that developed around the railway station from 1877. I don't know when the store opened; Patrick is listed in the Electoral Rolls of 1903 as a grocer and that is the first reference I can find. His father, John, is listed in the Shire of Berwick Rate books at Pakenham from 1885/1886 as owning 'house and land, Henty's subdivision'. According to the 1884 Rate books, Thomas Henty owned 4,421 acres of land, being Lots 1, 2, 8, 11 to 20, 46 to 46, so John must have purchased some of this land after it was subdivided.

Thomas Henty's land sale

South Bourke & Mornington Journal, November 25, 1885  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/6745862

Patrick is not listed in the Rate Books until 1914/1915 and he then has '23 acres William's subdivision'. I am unsure where that was. Part of the problem with tracking the family through both the Rate books and the Electoral Rolls is that their surname is sometimes listed as Halloran and sometimes as O'Halloran. What we do know is that Patrick's store was on Gippsland Road or the Princes Highway and this is where the photograph on the postcard was taken.

  

Patrick was one of the advertisers in the first edition of the Berwick Shire News of September 8, 1909. The newspaper was the forerunner of the Pakenham Gazette.

Patrick's last advertisement when his store was located in 'old Pakenham.'

Pakenham Gazette November 19, 1920

In November 1920, Patrick left old Pakenham for new Pakenham and removed to new premises in Main Street, next to the Post Office.

Patrick advertising his move to Main Street, Pakenham East.

Pakenham Gazette November 26, 1920.

In August 1927, Patrick sold his business to Mr Jackson of Korumburra. 

Report of the sale of the business

South Bourke & Mornington Journal August 18, 1927 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/214589156

Mr Jackson's first advertisement in the Pakenham Gazette

 Pakenham Gazette September 2, 1927.

Patrick was the son of John Halloran and Johanna Scanlon, who had married in 1873. They had nine children, the first two were registered at Berwick and the last seven at Pakenham, which gives us some idea when the family moved to Pakenham.  The children were -  Mary Ann (1875 - 1966, married Charles Maltby in 1915), John (1877 - 1955), Johanna (1878 - 1954, married Sydney John Donahoo in 1920), Michael Patrick (1880 - 1943), Timothy (1881, Killed in Action in France July 1916), Stephen (1883 - 1957), Dominick (1884 - 1958), William (1886 - 1891), Thomas (1887 - 1964). John died April 19, 1922 aged 78 and Johanna April 18, 1934 (1). 

This is part of John's obituary which was published in the Pakenham Gazette of  April 21, 1922 - The deceased gentleman, who was a native of County Clare, Ireland, was an old and much respected resident of this district, where he had lived for about 40 years, and he will be sadly missed by many friends. He was for many years connected with the Railway Department and on his retirement form service he settled in Pakenham. He always took a keen interest in public matters and was a great lover of sport, especially football.

Patrick, our store keeper was Michael Patrick. He married Jane Elizabeth Dillon and 1907 and they had two children, James and Marie. He died on May 18, 1943 at the age of 62 and Jane died on July 1, 1949, also aged 62 (2). 

The Pakenham Gazette of May 21, 1943 published the following obituary of Patrick -

Prominent Pakenham Man Accidentally Killed

District saddened by death of Mr. M. P. Halloran

A gloom was cast over the whole district last Tuesday afternoon, when it was learnt that Mr Michael Patrick Halloran had been killed by the falling of a limb of a tree at his property, Gembrook road, Pakenham.

Mr Halloran had gone to cut down a tree which had been partly burnt through, and apparently it came down unexpectedly and one of the limbs struck him on the head. Death must have been instantaneous.

Discovery of the sad event was made by Mr Halloran’s daughter (Miss Marie Halloran) who on noticing that sound of chopping had ceased and that one of her father’s dogs which followed him everywhere had returned to the house without him, went to discover if anything unforeseen had happened.

Mr Halloran was born at Pakenham 62 years ago and had spent practically the whole of his life in the district. For a number of years he conducted a general store at Old Pakenham and later established at Pakenham East the business which is now conducted by Messrs J. J. Jackson and Sons, who purchased it from him some 17 years ago.

On his retirement from business Mr Halloran erected a residence at his orchard property on Gembrook road and continued to reside there up to the time of his death.

As a young man he was prominently associated with most of the sporting activities of the town as well as generously supporting all movements for the progress of the district.

In business affairs and in public and private life Mr Halloran was known far and wide as a man of high principle – upright in all his dealings and ever ready to assist any in need of a helping hand. These sterling qualities and his bright and cheerful nature won for him many deep and lasting friendships; and with his death the district has lost one who will be greatly missed.

The heartfelt sympathy of the whole community goes out to the sorrowing widow, son and daughter, also to Mr Halloran’s brothers and sisters at this sad time.

The funeral, which was very largely attended, took place at Pakenham Cemetery yesterday morning, following Requiem Mass at St Patrick’s Church. Mr Halloran’s nephew (Rev. Father L. Halloran), assisted by Rev Father Sullivan, officiated at the Church and at the graveside. The coffin bearers were Messrs P. Brown, W. Stone, B. Bourke and R. Miers, and the pall-bearers Messrs W. and B. Doherty, J. and T. Carney, Milo Bourke, P. Clarke, T. Fuller and M. Mullane.

Footnotes
(1) Family information comes from the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history You can read Timothy's story on the website A Century After the Guns Fell Silent: Remembering the Pakenham District's WWI Diggers 1914-1918, here https://www.pakenhamww1.com/halloran-timothy
John's death notice was in The Argus, April 21, 1922, see here. Johanna's death notice was in The Argus, April 19, 1934, see here.
(2) Jane's death notice was in The Argus, July 2 1949, see here.

A version of this blog post, which I wrote and researched, also appears on my work blog - Casey Cardinia Links to Our Past. 

Pakenham - who is it named after?

Pakenham is a town on the outskirts of Melbourne, it used to be a country town, but is now really an outer suburb. I went to Pakenham Consolidated School (1) in the 1960s, so I have an interest in the town. I  have seen four possible suggestions for the source of the name Pakenham.

In the Wake of the Pack Tracks: a history of the Shire of Berwick (2) suggests Pakenham is named after Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham (1778 - 1815) who served with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War and was killed in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans (3). 

Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham (1778-1815)

Image: National Parks Service https://www.nps.gov/people/edward-pakenham.htm

Les Blake, in his book, Place Names of Victoria (4) suggests that Pakenham was named for “General Pakenham who served in the Crimean War”. This is Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819 -1854) who was killed at Inkerman during the Crimean War (5). The Lieutenant Colonel was the son of Sir Hercules Pakenham who was the brother of Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham.

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819-1854)

Image: Hampshire Country Council

https://artuk.org/visit/collection/hampshire-county-councils-fine-art-collection-638

The third suggestion is from Place Names of Australia by A.W. Reed (5).  Mr Reed suggests that the town was named for Catherine Pakenham, who was the wife of the Duke of Wellington. Catherine (1773 - 1831) married the Duke of Wellington in 1806. They had two sons, Arthur born in 1807 and Charles in 1808 (6).

Catherine Pakenham, the Duchess of Wellington (1773-1831)

Catherine ('Kitty') Pakenham, Duchess of Wellington by Sir Thomas Lawrence 1814

Wellington Collection, Stratfield Saye House

http://www.wellingtonestates.co.uk/stratfield-saye-house

From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick (7)  has this to say about the origin of the name – when Captain Clark was surveying the area, his cousin, a Naval officer named Pakenham, visited him. The two men agreed that the place should be named Pakenham, after their grandfather, Rev. Pakenham a Dublin minister. This is the Very Reverend Henry Pakenham (1787 - 1863)  who was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin from 1843-1863.

Very Reverend Henry Pakenham (1878-1863)

Henry Pakenham's image on St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

http://discovery.dho.ie/home.php

Henry Pakenham's obituary 

The Empire March 16, 1864 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60577702

The Duchess of Wellington  and the Very Reverend Henry Pakenham were siblings of Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and Sir Hercules Pakenham. Their father was the second Baron Longford and their nephew was Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham.  Blake also suggests that the area was once called Longford. Pakenham was originally based around the Princes Highway and Toomuc Creek and the town that developed around the Railway Station from 1877 was known as Pakenham East. It was still referred to as Pakenham East until the early 1970s.

Here's a partial family tree to help explain the relationships:
Edward Michael Pakenham - 2nd Baron Longford, succeeded to the Title in 1776, a Peerage of Ireland. He had the following children, that are of interest to us - 
-Catherine, Duchess of Wellington (1773-1831)
-Major General Sir Edward Michael (1778-1815)
-Sir Hercules (1781-1850) - the father of Lieutenant Colonel Edward William (1819-1854)
-Very Reverend Henry (1787-1863).

A 1964 edition of the Victorian Historical journal had an article by J.S. Ryan, Memorials of Ireland: Place names in Victoria (8).  Under names connected to the county of  West Meath, he noted - 

The Pakenham name

Victorian Historical journal  Volume: 35 Issue: 136, May 1964, p. 82.

 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/115941

This seems to confirm my theory on the origin of the Pakenham name, which is that I believe (and some people disagree with me) the most likely candidate is Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham who was killed during the Crimean War as Victoria and Melbourne have other place names with a Crimean connection including the towns of St Arnaud and Sebastapol and the suburb of Balaclava. St Kilda has streets with a Crimean War connection - Inkerman Road, Crimea Street, Redan Street, Alma Road and Odessa Street. Clarendon Street, Codrington Street and Lyons Street in Cranbourne are also connected to Crimean War personalities. See here for more on Crimean War connect place names. 

Footnotes

(1) Pakenham Consolidated School - In the 1940s and 1950s there was a movement to consolidate small rural schools into one larger school. This was partly a response to a shortage of teachers, due to many male teachers enlisting during the Second World War. The War also caused a shortage of materials and labour and many Schools fell into disrepair. The Education Department decided that Pakenham would be one of the first six Consolidated Schools to be established and that all schools within 8 kms or 5 miles would be closed and beyond that, the Schools would have an option.

The Pakenham Consolidated School was officially opened on May 29, 1951, on the site of the Pakenham State School, No.1359, in Main Street. The original Pakenham School had opened on a site near the Toomuc Creek in January 1875 and it moved to the Main Street site in 1891. The Pakenham Gazette of June 8, 1951 reported that on May 29th, four buses conveyed 130 children from surrounding districts to Pakenham Consolidated School. At present there are 258 pupils attending the School, and it is hoped that in September several other schools will be consolidated, raising the attendance to over 400 children.

The first Head Master was Charles Hicks. The School offered classes up to Year 10 (Form 4). The schools that formed the Consolidated School were Pakenham Upper No. 2155 (closed January 1952),  Pakenham South No. 3755 (closed September 1951), Toomuc Valley No. 3034 (closed September 1951), Army Road No. 3847 (closed April 1947), Mount Burnett No. 4506 (closed October 1949), Tynong No. 2854 (closed April 1951),  Tynong North No.4464 (closed December 1951),  Nar Nar Goon North No. 2914 (closed October 1951),  Nar Nar Goon South No. 4554 (closed May 1951), Rythdale No. 4231 (closed September 1951), Officedale No. 4242 (closed May 1951), Cora Lynn No. 3502 (closed May 1951) and Koo-Wee-Rup North (Five Mile) No. 3198 (closed November 1959). 

This information is from -  Vision and Realisation : a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake. Published by the Education Department of Victoria, 1973.

(2) In the Wake of the Pack Tracks: a history of the Shire of Berwick (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society, 1982).

(3) More information about Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham - Dictionary of Irish Biography - https://www.dib.ie/biography/pakenham-sir-edward-michael-a7165
(4) Blake, Les Place Names of Victoria (Rigby 1977). 
(5) Reed, A.W Place Names of Australia (Reed 1973).
(6) More information on Catherine - https://castletown.ie/focus-on-miniatures-catherine-sarah-dorothea-wellesley-duchess-of-wellington/

(7) From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick (Historical Society of Berwick, 1962)

(8) Ryan, J.S. Memorials of Ireland: Place names in Victoria in the  Victorian Historical journal  Volume: 35 Issue: 136,  May 1964, p. 82. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/115941

Another version of this post, which I wrote and researched,  has appeared on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past and other places.

Identical Post Offices - Pakenham East and Elwood

In this post we will look at two identical Post Offices, both of which opened in 1925 - Pakenham East and Elwood.

Pakenham East Post Office, 1920s

State Library of Victoria Image H89.105/186

This was the fourth Post Office in Pakenham, or Pakenham East as it was then called. The Back to Pakenham souvenir booklet from 1951 tell us that the post office for Pakenham was originally at the railway station. It moved to the site of what is now Mr J. Lia's butcher's shop , then to the site occupied by the cafe next to the picture theatre, and thence to the present site (1). The building was in Main Street, where the existing (the fifth) Post Office is today. The original Pakenham township was on the Princes Highway near Bourke's Hotel on the Toomuc Creek and the Pakenham East township developed around the railway station which opened in October 1877. There was much confusion between the towns, as this article  from 1912, below, tells us.

Confusion between the Pakenham and Pakenham East Post Offices

The Argus July 17, 1912 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10508789

Great confusion occurs in regard to the post offices here. The Pakenham Post-office is situated 1½ miles from the Pakenham railway station while the post-office at the railway end is called East Pakenham. Nearly the whole of the business people reside at East Pakenham. The shire buildings and public hall are also there. During one week over 600 letters addressed to Pakenham belonged to Pakenham East. The postmistress at the latter office has just been notified that £10 per annum is to be taken from her salary and given to the other office for the purpose of carrying the mail to and from the station (The Argus July 17, 1912)

It wasn't just the Post Offices which were rivals as in the early days there was keen rivalry between the 'old' and 'new' towns. Happily that feeling gradually faded away with the passing of the years, With the steady expansion of building along the Highway, Pakenham and Pakenham East are today to all intents and purposes the one town - geographically and in outlook (2). This was written in 1962 and the use of name of Pakenham East faded from the 1970s (3). The Post Office building was demolished in the 1990s (4). 

This photo from the 1980s shows the Post Office when it was called Pakenham, 

with the postcode 3810.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries.

The identical Post Office that was built at Pakenham East was, as we said, the fourth building there, but in Elwood, it was their first Post Office. The locals had been agitating for  a few years for a Post Office (5) and in 1923 land was purchased on the corner of Glenhuntly road and The Broadway, Elwood for the building (6). It is interesting that Elwood and Pakenham East both had the same Post Office because at the time Elwood had a much larger and growing population. In October 1923,  the Mayor of St Kilda, Cr Allen,  had spoken of the need for a Post Office in the area because  in nine years the population of Elwood had increased from 5,509 to 9,469, and the number of houses from 1,339 to 2,608....At present the nearest post-office to Elwood was more than a mile away, many residents had to pay porterage on their telegrams. It was estimated that at least 2,100 houses would be served by the proposed post-office (7).  Compare this to Pakenham East which had a population in 1921 of  324 people and Pakenham of 608. Even twelve years later in 1933, Pakenham East's population was 850 and the old town of Pakenham was 406, still many times less than Elwood's population (8).

The tenders for the  construction of the  Pakenham East and Elwood Post Offices were advertised in April 1925.

Tenders are invited for the erection of the Elwood and Pakenham East Post Offices. 

The Argus April 18, 1925 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2081894

The Elwood Post Office

Image: The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 2 (9).

The contract for the Pakenham East Post Office was awarded to the builders, Cant & Bennett of Footscray on May 6, 1925 and it was to be completed by  August 26, 1925. The cost was £2,330. The Elwood Post Office tender was awarded to W. Simmins of Auburn on April 27, 1925, the completion date was September 14, 1925 and cost was £1,835. 

Contracts accepted for a number of projects including the Pakenham East and Elwood Post Offices.

Click on this link https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232530228 to see the original document on Trove.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, June 4, 1925

There were issues with place names for Pakenham and Pakenham East, as even in 1912 people were addressing letters to Pakenham which should have been addressed to Pakenham East. Pakenham East people seemed to be content with their Pakenham address; though the erection of the Post Office in Elwood had the opposite effect, and was the source of some consternation.

The Age reported in November 1925 that  Residents of South St. Kilda are at present up in arms against the proposal of the Post Office to include portion of their district, from the Elwood Canal to Dickens-street, in the new postal district of Elwood. To consider the matter a meeting of nearly a hundred indignant South St. Kilda residents, lasting nearly two hours, hotly debated the proposal at the Congregational Hall, Mitford-street, St. Kilda. Cr. Dawkins, in moving a motion of protest, said Elwood was a name associated with a swamp, and no one wanted to live near a place where a swamp formerly existed.  The application of the name to portion of South St. Kilda would cause the value of property there to deteriorate in value (10). In the end the locals were allowed to continue using their South St Kilda address, but the mail came from the new Elwood Post Office (11).  The area is now called Elwood. The Elwood Post Office building is still standing and is used as a cafe.

Elwood Post Office, c. 1920s.

State Library of Victoria Image H89.105/84

I have also written about another set of identical Post Offices - Berwick, Donald and Murtoa, see here.

Trove list
I have created a short list on Trove of articles relating to the construction of the Pakenham East and Elwood Post Office. Access the list, here.

Footnotes
(1) Back to Pakenham March 3-10, 1951 Souvenir Booklet. The booklet was compiled by W.J. Stephenson on behalf of the 'Back to Pakenham' Committee.
(2) From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick, p. 76-77. This book was published in 1962 by the Historical Society of Berwick Shire.
(3) Use of the name Pakenham East, these two examples of advertising from N. N. Webster, Pakenham Real Estate Agents, who had an office on Main Street tell the story of the use of the name Pakenham East in the 1970s. Source: Newspapers by Ancestry.

The Age March 14, 1970.

The Age February 15, 1975

(4) The Post Office was still there in November 1985 as the aerial below was taken then.

Aerial of Pakenham, 1985. The Post Office is circled.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries.

However, by the nineties the corporatised Post Office was in the business of leasing back Post Offices rather than building a community facility. The advertisement from September 1997, below,  tells us that the Post Office was now in 'Pakenham Post Office Arcade' which is on the site of the 1925 building, so it had been demolished by then.

The Age September 20, 1997

Source: Newspapers by Ancestry.

(5) The Herald, October 2, 1923, see here.
(6) The Herald, October 11, 1923, see here.
(7) Prahran Telegraph, October 19, 1923, see here.
(8) Pakenham and Pakenham East population figures from the Victorian Places website https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/pakenham
(9) Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 2 (City of St Kilda, 1931), photo is opposite page 116. Thank you to my fellow historian, Isaac Hermann, for supplying me with the photograph. I was looking through this book and I saw this photo of the Elwood Post Office and immediately recognised it as the twin of Pakenham East.
(10) The Age November 18, 1925, see here.
(11) The Prahran Telegraph, December 11, 1925, see here.

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, also appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our past.