Carlton Community History Group
News
Another Business Closes in Rathdowne Street
Image: CCHG
The Feathered Arbour
430 Rathdowne Street, North Carlton
The Feathered Arbour has closed in February 2019, with the expiry of the lease at its business premises. The building at 430 Rathdowne Street, North Carlton, home to the Feathered Arbour for the past six years, was once owned by motor mechanic Martin Shelley, who also operated his business at 420 and 520-522 Rathdowne Street.
The End of an Era for Community Health in Carlton
Image: CCHG
622 and 624 Lygon Street, North Carlton
Former Home of Carlton Community Health Centre
The Carlton Community Health Centre closed in November 2018, bringing to an end 39 years of community service. The centre first opened its doors on 1 October 1979 in a pair of terrace houses at 622 and 624 Lygon Street, North Carlton, near Princes Street. During the intervening years, the health centre has seen changes in the demography of its client base and the delivery of services, within the broader context of administrative, political and social changes. North Carlton was originally part of the City of Melbourne, but the reorganisation of municipal boundaries in the 1990s saw the service transferred to City of Yarra. The Carlton, Collingwood and Fitzroy Community Centres amalgamated as North Yarra Community Health (NYCH) in 1994.
As with many enforced amalgamations, the three centres did not always work together in harmony, and Carlton had its own problems with administration and internal politics. Missionaries, Radicals, Feminists, written by Hamish Townsend and published in 2012, gives a lively account of North Yarra Community Health's sometimes turbulent history. The book is available at Carlton, Collingwood and Fitzroy libraries. You can also view an e-copy at:
https://croakey.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/MissionariesRadicalsFeminists-2.pdf
Vale Frank Del Monaco
20 June 1943 – 2 September 2018
Image: Courtesy of Del Monaco Family
The Del Monaco name is one long associated with the family clothing business begun in 1938, on the corner of Faraday and Lygon Streets, Carlton. The family name features, for instance, in the book Carlton: A History (ed. P. Yule), where the family also played a role in the establishment of the iconic La Mama Theatre, set up in the building behind the Del Monaco shop.
Frank worked for many years in the family business, and was heavily involved in local business and Italian community activities, remaining passionate about the history of Lygon Street, even after the end of the family business. He was a regular at CCHG meetings from its beginnings in 2006-07, until distance and poor health restricted him to occasional telephone contact with various members on topics that still engaged him.
He was devoted to his family, with his four brothers, and five chidren surviving him, having lost one son earlier.
La Mama up in Flames
Image: CCHG
The Aftermath of the Fire
Carlton residents woke to the shocking news that La Mama Theatre in Faraday Street was gutted by fire in the early hours of Saturday 19 May 2018.
The innovative theatre was founded by Betty Burstall in 1967, in the style of La Mama in New York. The small two-storey building, once owned by the Del Monaco family, was a printing workshop, and an underwear and shirt factory before its transformation into an intimate theatre space. Betty Burstall, the "Mama" of La Mama, died in 2013.
In the theatre tradition of "the show must go on", Saturday night's performance of Bully Virus went ahead at the alternative venue of the Kathleen Syme Library & Community Centre, on the corner of Faraday and Cardigan Streets.
Related item: Betty Burstall 1926-2013
Goodbye Bridget
Bridget Kinsman (née Ballot), beauty therapist of Newry Street, North Carlton, lost her fight with cancer and died on 16 May 2018. She will be remembered as a gentle and caring soul, and will be sadly missed by her family, friends and clients. Bridget opened her salon Carlton Beauty Care in 1995, in a quaint two storey building on the corner of Newry and Henry Streets. Newry Street was not a prime location for a business, compared to the main shopping area of Rathdowne Street nearby, but it worked for Bridget. Word got around and her client base grew. She never had to advertise her services because the recommendation of a satisfied client was worth more than a thousand dollars of advertising. While other businesses came and went, Bridget's was one of the longest running to continuously occupy the building.
Bridget Kinsman (13 August 1968 - 16 May 2018) was farewelled at St Peter's Eastern Hill on 24 May 2018. CCHG extends its condolences to her husband Jeff and their two sons.
Note:
The shop at 119 Newry Street was built in 1881 by W. Hearndon. It has had a variety of uses over the years, including a fancy repository, tinsmith and bootmaker and repairer.
A Host of Golden Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o'er vales and hillsWhen all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils
William Wordsworth, 1770-1850
Image: CCHG
Daffodils in Murchison Square Carlton
The flowers that once inspired Wordsworth's poetry have finished blooming in Macarthur and Murchison Squares in Carlton, but they will be back in 2019. The bulbs were planted by Melbourne City Council in autumn 2018, following a successful trial planting in the Fitzroy Gardens, East Melbourne, in 2016. The daffodils are expected to provide a colourful winter display for the next five years.
The squares of Carlton - Argyle, Curtain, Lincoln, Macarthur, Murchison and University - are the topic of our August 2018 newsletter.
And So To Bed
The boutique Milly Sleeping closed in February 2018, after more than 12 years in Carlton. The business at 157 Elgin Street, a small two storey shop with a narrow staircase, began in 2005. Mother and daughter team of Janette and Leah Muddle have supported local designers and stocked an eclectic range of clothing and accessories. "Milly Sleeping" was not, as might be expected, named after the two resident cats, which were sometimes seen sleeping in the front window. It was named after a painting by Ernst Kirchner.
Nearly 100 years ago, in September 1919, a very different style of business was transacted at 157 Elgin Street. Joseph Nolan, a hairdresser, appeared in Carlton Court on a charge of having used his premises for gaming purposes between 10 July and 1 September 1919. His was one of several local businesses raided by police and a search yielded the incriminating evidence of betting tickets and marked money. Nolan pleaded guilty and was fined £40, with £3 costs.
References:
http://www.millysleeping.com
The Argus, 6 September 1919, p. 17