Publication Sales
Carlton Chronicles
CCHG Newsletter
Free Downloads
Zoom Presentations
Book Reviews
Books
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The Inner Circle Line : The Melbourne suburban rail line that disappeared
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Carlton Voices
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The Stockade : Carlton's forgotten prison and the people who inhabited it
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Walking along Rathdowne Street : 100 years of shopping, services and stories in North Carlton
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Carlton Girls born and bred : The story of Ruth Bailey … and her mother … and her grandmother … and her daughters
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Booklets
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Through the eyes of a child : A street in Carlton 1939-45
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John King : The story of the only member of the Burke and Wills expedition to cross Australia from south to north and return to Melboure alive
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The Troublesome American : The story of Charles Ferguson, foreman on the Burke and Wills Expedition
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Some Women of Davis Street : 1891 and 2008
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| Publication | Cost (Australian dollars) | Postage (within Australia) | Postage (overseas) |
| The Inner Circle Line | $15 per book | $6 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| Carlton Voices | $15 per book | $6 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| The Stockade | $15 per book | $6 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| Walking Along Rathdowne Street | $15 per book | $6 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| Carlton Girls Born and Bred | $15 per book | $4 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| Through the Eyes of a Child : A Street in Carlton 1939-45 | $20 per book | $6 for 1-2 books (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| John King | $5 per booklet | $4 for 1-3 booklets (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| The Troublesome American | $5 per booklet | $4 for 1-3 booklets (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
| Some Women of Davis Street | $5 per booklet | $4 for 1-3 booklets (same or different titles) | Contact us for quote |
Note: Parcel postage rates apply for larger orders. Contact us for a quote.
Publication Sales
Retail Sales
Selected book titles are available from the following outlets:
- Carlton Library, 667 Rathdowne Street, North Carlton
- Royal Historical Society of Victoria Bookshop, 239 a'Beckett Street, Melbourne
Mail Orders (Within Australia)
Publications can be ordered direct from the Carlton Community History Group. Payment can be made by cheque, money order or direct bank deposit in Australian dollars. Please send your payment, including the additional postage cost to:Publication Sales
Carlton Community History Group
PO Box 148
North Carlton Vic 3054
Australia
Direct Deposit to:
Commonwealth Bank Account No: 10198637 (BSB 063-014)
If paying by direct deposit, please email order details and date of deposit to CCHG.
Download Order Form
Mail Orders (Overseas)
Please contact us.
Carlton Chronicles
Carlton Chronicles, June 2022Carlton Chronicles, September 2022
Carlton Chronicles, December 2022
Carlton Chronicles, March 2023
Carlton Chronicles, September 2023
Carlton Chronicles, December 2023
Carlton Chronicles, March 2024
Carlton Chronicles, September 2024
Carlton Chronicles, December 2024
CCHG Newsletter
| No. 1, April 2016 | |
| No. 2, July 2016 | Sport and Recreation in Carlton |
| No. 3, October 2016 | Trams in Carlton |
| No. 4, January 2017 | Jewish Carlton |
| No. 5, April 2017 | Crime in Carlton |
| No. 6, August 2017 | Hotels in Carlton |
| No. 7, November 2017 | The Anti-Conscription Campaign of 1917 |
| No. 8, February 2018 | Carlton's Forgotten Railway Line |
| No. 9, May 2018 | State Education in Carlton |
| No. 10, August 2018 | Carlton's Squares |
| No. 11, November 2018 | Bakeries in Carlton |
| No. 12, February 2019 | Melbourne General Cemetery |
| No. 13, May 2019 | Larrikin Gangs in Carlton |
| No. 14, August 2019 | Trades Hall |
| No. 15, November 2019 | Cabs and Omnibuses |
| No. 16, February 2020 | Dairies and milk distribution in Carlton |
| No. 17, May 2020 | Carlton's Courthouse |
| No. 18, August 2020 | The Carlton Rifle Company |
| No. 19, November 2020 | Cinemas in Carlton |
| No. 20, February 2021 | Drummond Street's historic treasures |
| No. 21, May 2021 | Garages in Carlton |
| No. 22, August 2021 | The fight for a park |
| No. 23, November 2021 | Banks and Banking in Carlton |
| No. 24, March 2022 | Bougainville Barracks |
Free Downloads
Carlton Footballers Who Fought and Died in the Wars
Judith Biddington
A book called Fallen : The Ultimate Heroes details the lives and military careers of footballers who fought and died in the Boer War and World Wars 1 and 2. We have selected eight of the 115 in the book who played for Carlton to look at. Their names are Wilf Atkinson, David Gillespie, Tom McCluskey, Fenley McDonald, Mathew Stanley McKenzie, James Pender, Alfred Williamson, and James Park.
The Confectioner of Nicholson Street : S.T. Nunquam
Susan Crowe
For many decades, residents of North Carlton woke to the fragrance of peppermint emanating from a confectionery factory in Nicholson Street. The two-storey, red brick building on the corner of Newry Street was built for Stanislav Techitch Nunquam, manufacturing confectioner, in 1916. This is the story of a man whose adopted surname means "never" in Latin.
The Cuisinier From Brittany : François Moriniere
Susan Crowe
The death of Eleanor Isabelle Jessie Moriniere in 1918 marked the end of an era for land ownership in Carlton. Her father, François Moriniere, was the original owner of a crown allotment running from Station Street through to Nicholson Street, south of Princes Street. The land, together with five houses, a shop and a factory building, stayed in the Moriniere family for more than 50 years.
For Honour or Money : Australia's First Intercolonial Handball Match
Susan Crowe
In November 1873, Victoria issued a sporting challenge to New South Wales to play Australia's first intercolonial handball match. New South Wales accepted the challenge "for either money or honour" but, in the spirit of sportsmanship, they agreed to play for honour only. The three-day competition was held at a handball court at the rear of the Loughrea Hotel in Elgin Street, Carlton, in January 1874.
For King and Country : Benjamin Moy Ling
Susan Crowe
With the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, young men from all over Australia answered the call to fight for king and country. But for Benjamin (Ben) Moy Ling, Australian born and the son of a Methodist minister, the path to war service was not an easy one. Ben made several attempts to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). However, he was rejected as unfit on the grounds that he was "not substantially of European origin & descent". Ben was finally successful in enlisting on 4 May 1917, when the embargo on his non-European origin was lifted. He was quoted as saying: "If Australia is good enough to live in, it is good enough to fight for. I hope to live in it again after the war".
Fun and Games at Lincoln Square
Margaret Rich
Lincoln Square, in Swanston Street Carlton, has seen it all. This leafy green space close to the CBD, site of a Bali Memorial and reserved for public use since 1853, has survived attempted road incursions, locked gates, gang warfare, a gruesome murder and a recent take-over by skateboarders.
Lucie Moy Ling : A Woman of Her Times
Susan Crowe
In Melbourne on 13 April 1874, in the Year of the Dog, a baby girl was born to James and Kim Moy Ling. Little did her parents know that their daughter, Lucie Sophia Kim Oie, would live for more than a hundred years and bear witness to times of great political, economic and social change. Lucie grew up in a loving family and was well respected by the Methodist Church community, yet she was declared an alien in the country of her birth. As a teacher in the Victorian Education Department, she was denied the same employment and retirement entitlements as her male counterparts. On a personal level, she knew the joy of being a wife and mother and also the pain of losing loved ones. This is her story.
The Mystery Man of Dorrit Street
Susan Crowe
The artist Des Norman, who died on 13 September 2015, grew up in a small street in Carlton, where everyone knew each other by name. But there was one man who remained a mystery to most of the residents of Dorrit Street. As painted by Des Norman, the mystery man appeared well dressed in an overcoat and bowler hat, he was slightly stooped and he walked with a stick. Des recalled that the man lived on the east side of Dorrit Street, towards Grattan Street, and he thought that he was an exile from his homeland.
Des Norman's painting has inspired a line of research to discover the identity of the mystery man.
The story begins with his birth in France, followed by migration to New Caledonia, then across the sea to Sydney, overland to the goldfields of Kalgoorlie, by ship again to Launceston in Tasmania and finally to Dorrit Street in Carlton.
Along the way, the mystery man works as a cook and café proprietor, he is involved in crime (both as victim and alleged perpetrator), he gets married (at least twice) and divorced, and he ends up buried in an unmarked grave in Melbourne General Cemetery.
Free download (PDF 644 Kb)
Nurse Basser's Hospital
Susan Crowe
Ellen Forehan sat, pen poised, and contemplated the document placed before her. Her husband Jeremiah had died a few weeks ago, on 29 November 1890, and in his will he appointed her executrix of his estate. She was now to sign an affidavit that would grant her probate of her husband's estate, valued at 1,231, 16 shillings and one penny. An official of the Supreme Court of Victoria had read and explained the document to her, and he believed that she had fully understood the content. In his presence, Ellen made her "X" mark on the affidavit. Ellen Forehan, the woman who could not sign her own name, later went on to become matron of Rosedale House private hospital in Carlton.
Otto Jung's Bible
Margaret Rich
In August 2015 CCHG received a request for help in tracing the provenance of an 1827 French edition
of the New Testament. An inscription on the inner cover suggests that it had been owned by Otto
Jung since 1852 and the label of a Paris bookshop is at the back. Inside the book, where presumably it
has been for a century, is a used and opened envelope posted from Lorne and addressed to Otto Jung
at 1 Rathdown Street, Carlton.
Free download (PDF 320 Kb)
Our Daily Bread
Susan Crowe
Have you ever wondered what went into a loaf of bread in the good old days before food labelling?
In the 19th century, bakers had a list of permitted ingredients to choose from, as defined by the Bakers and Millers Statute of 1865.
But not all bread was as wholesome as prescribed by the Statute.
This article looks at bread contaminants and prosecutions of Carlton and North Carlton bakers.
Free download (PDF 264 Kb)
For more information on bakers and bakeries, read our November 2018 newsletter.
A Russian Visitor : Aleksandr Leonidovich Yashchenko
Judith Biddington
The travel diary of 34 year old Aleksandr Leonidovich Yashchenko records the impressions of a Russian educationist and natural scientist who visited Australia for 3 months in 1903. He landed in Fremantle on the 2nd of July 1903 and sailed for Canada in October of that year. He visited places in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and travelled by coach, train and tram, and ferry on the Murray River, as well as on foot.
This short piece centres on part of Yashchenko's visit to Melbourne, time spent at what appears to be the Faraday Street School (SS 112) in Carlton, the
home of the first practising school in 1880 and associated with every branch of teacher training
until its closure in December 1972.
Free download (PDF 280 Kb)
The Scarlett Woman of Pitt Street
Susan Crowe
The story of Ada Scarlett, actress and publican of the Football Club Hotel in Pitt Street Carlton.
A Tale of Two Terraces : Rathdowne Terrace Carlton
Susan Crowe
The story of two terraces – one a narrow laneway of small cottages and the other an opulent terrace of two-storey houses – that shared the same name "Rathdowne Terrace". This article explores the origins and history of the two terraces, who built them, who owned them and who lived there.
The Trades Hall : Part of our History
Judith Biddington
This article centres on the role of the Trades Hall in Carlton and its
connection with the fight for regulated working conditions, particularly the Eight Hour Day. It was
built after a successful union campaign in 1856. Appropriately, the building on the corner of
Victoria and Lygon Streets is now diagonally opposite the Eight Hour Day monument and is
classified by the National Trust and included in the Register of Historic Buildings as Building No.
781.
Free download (PDF 500 Kb)
Westray Villa : From the Orkney Islands of Scotland
Susan Crowe
Westray Villa in Canning Street, North Carlton, was the home of the Cormack family from the 1880s through to 1960.
To explore the origin of this house's name,
we travel back to a remote island off the coast of Scotland and follow the journey of a young woman who made a life-changing –
and almost life-threatening – choice in the mid-19th century.
Free download (PDF 270 Kb)
Women and War : Two Case Studies
Judith Biddington
As we commemorate Australia's participation in wars, we need to see what role women played. Women are part of all societies, but when those societies are under stress the roles that women traditionally play can be either reinforced, questioned or even changed, temporarily or forever, and undoubtedly a state of war places a society under stress. So what happens in one town or suburb can be replicated in another. Both of the women cited as case studies in this article had some connection with Carlton and are therefore important to CCHG, but both also made significant contributions to many areas of Victoria.
Zoom Presentations
Growing Up in Carlton in the 1960s
Image: Courtesy of Rocca Family
Felice Rocca (kneeling), Les O'Rourke and Michael Rocca
Playing Cowboys and Indians outside the shop
Felice Rocca, the Australian-born son of an Italian migrant family, shared photographs from his family album and his recollections of growing up in Carlton in the 1960s. Customers at the family's grocery shop in Rathdowne Street, North Carlton, enjoyed Italian products, but some Italians developed a taste for non-Italian food. Products like Mayfair corned beef, packets of tea and even Aussie vegemite were stocked alongside salami, antipasto and "La Gina" canned tomatoes.
Felice enjoyed "a boringly happy childhood" but had a foot in each of two cultures. The culture at home was that of peasant Italy, whilst the culture outside was British working class culture. There was even a little mild friction at the local Catholic Church between the Irish traditions about what children should wear for their First Communion (navy blue jackets with short pants) and the Italian tradition with boys in white suits and long pants. Felice's father was ambitious and learnt how to succeed in retail business in the new culture. The older generations of the family were semi-illiterate or illiterate. Felice, on the other hand, benefited from the opportunities available in 1960s Carlton and spent much of his spare time at the Carlton Library in Rathdowne Street.
http://www.cchg.asn.au/zoomcarlton1960s.mp4
Buses and Trams in Early Carlton
Photographer: A.K. Sewell
Collingwood-bound cable tram in Lygon Street, Carlton, in 1938
Jeff Atkinson's presentation took us from the nineteenth century northern suburbs of Melbourne, with no public transport other than horse drawn carts, to the establishment in 1920 of the Melbourne Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) and the introduction of the W class trams that still operate on the City Circle route. Public transport in Melbourne improved significantly in 1869 when a group of nineteenth century American businessmen saw an opportunity and introduced a horse drawn, fully enclosed omnibus service. The omnibuses were initially imported, then later constructed in Fitzroy. In a new development, and to achieve a smoother ride, the horses drew the vehicles along on metal rails. These were Melbourne's first trams. The Royal Park horse tramway ran until 1923, when public vandalism during the Great Police Strike with its rioting crowds destroyed the rolling stock and infrastructure.
It was Americans again who imported the new cable trams. Cable trams were introduced in the 1880s, with services along Lygon, Nicholson and Rathdowne streets. The new tram services were a boon to local businesses and encouraged shopkeepers to open along Rathdowne Street in North Carlton. One of the engine houses that produced the steam to drive the cable is still at the corner of Park Street and Rathdowne Street, North Carlton. Carlton had its first electric tram service in Lygon Street, north of Elgin Street, in 1916 and from the 1920s electric trams gradually replaced the less efficient cable trams. The last cable tram service ran from the city to Northcote in October 1940. Not all former cable tram routes were electrified and some, like Rathdowne Street, were replaced by buses. There was even a short-lived double deck bus service operating along Nicholson Street to Bourke Street in the city. Jeff was able to solve the mystery of why there were no electrified tramlines in the main Lygon Street shopping and restaurant precinct of Carlton and Carlton South!
A lively Q&A session followed, including interesting comments from a tour guide at the Melbourne Tram Museum in Hawthorn, and from a former Carlton resident on the pedestrian hazards of cable tram tracks left in Elgin Street long after the service had ceased.
http://www.cchg.asn.au/zoombusestrams.mp4
Book Reviews
Rosetta
By Alexandra Joel
Vintage Australia, 2017
Reviewed by Judith Biddington
This short review is just to encourage everyone to read an incredible book. It is a book about Rosetta Solomon, unknown to me before reading the book, and probably also unfamiliar to others. However, her experiences will ring bells for us all, as the chapters alternate between recreations of events in Rosetta's life and the author's research journey. That format itself is interesting, commanding and very clever.
It is very well written and includes details of settings in Australia and London which you will want to explore, some of which I have done. As a child I dropped pebbles from the roof of the Hotel Windsor, I also remember the incredible size of the baths in its bathrooms, on the few occasions my family stayed there, and today I know the streets of Carlton well. However the history of the First World War and of the period should probably be quite well known to most of us.
I don't want to reveal the story line but almost every situation rings true. An early admonition from Rosetta's mother that 'not everyone you meet is who they seem to be', is illustrated beautifully throughout the book. There are very well known people like Sir William Clarke, Nellie Melba and Helena Rubinstein, who feature in the book, and all are brilliantly captured in short phrases, as well are the central characters, many of whom are unlikely to be known to the reader.
But I do recommend it. The characters are fascinating and I'm making a collection of the intriguing descriptions from strands of spaghetti to 'wounded red roofs'.
People of the Risen King :
A History of St. Jude's Carlton, 1866-2016
By Elizabeth Willis
Reviewed by Judith Biddington
Every time I regularly drive past St. Jude's church in Lygon Street, Carlton, I am amazed and impressed by the beauty of the building, not solid bluestone, which one might expect, but multi-coloured bricks, glowing in the light.
I will start by extensively quoting the foreword to this book written by the Reverend Dr. Chris Mulherin, recently the locum vicar. "The year 2016 was a transition year of humble achievements at St. Jude's: we lost a vicar, we have appointed another, we endured twelve months under a locum vicar, we all learned the meaning of 'sesquicentenary', and along the way we have given thanks to God for the 150 years that this church, in the heart of vibrant Carlton, has testified to the Christian faith. … It has been my privilege to occupy the vicar's (tattered, hydraulically dysfunctional) chair in this 150th year of the church's life. But despite the instability of the last year, like the Apostle Paul we do not lose heart because we know that we are people of the risen King. And it is auspicious that in its 150th year Elizabeth Willis has completed this fine history of St. Jude's."
If you read the book not only will you learn the history of St. Jude's but you will gain an insight into 'inner-northern Melbourne, our city and the world' (to quote the current St. Jude's vision statement). You will learn of the changing life and times of Carlton - its unsewered streets, the bulldozing of crowded slums, the waves of immigration, the housing estates and the Lygon Street traders - and also times of depressions and times of plenty, including the effect on the city of the world's richest gold rush. You will read of a changing Australia over generations; of the place of religion in Melbourne's life, of world wars and of denominational wars over conscription. And, of course, you will read of religion and Australian Anglicanism, of missions and evangelism, of different preaching styles, of different ministry philosophies, and of clerical attitudes and theological dispositions.
But you will also hear of the other work of an inner-city church named after the patron saint of lost causes and desperate cases. You will expect to read of a Sunday school and perhaps at the Children's Hospital and individuals who taught there, but you will be surprised at the range of other activities. The care for international students, the fluctuating attendances, shop owners shuttering their windows for the funeral procession of the first vicar, of open air services with Greek, French and Italian translation, and of people who were homeless and slept in the crypt, of soup and bread kitchens, a debt centre, mission work for the Chinese of Bourke Street, police breaking up a riot at a church meeting and the extraordinary gathering together of people who not only lived in the area, but from over one hundred different post codes.
Even as a committed atheist I have no hesitation in recommending this book, it offers so many insights into the life and times of the suburb I value so highly and it also taught me much about the church itself and the admirable work it did, and continues to do.
Dr. Judith Biddington, CCHG
People of the Risen King is available for purchase at Readings in Lygon Street, Carlton
An Unqualified Success : Alan Percy Fleming
By Peter Golding
Reviewed by Judith Biddington
What do a teacher, soldier, journalist, trade commissioner, senior bureaucrat, a parliamentary and national librarian, a spymaster, a counter terrorist and a prisoner of war have in common? It would appear that the range of skills and talents required by these activities were encompassed in a man called Allan Percy Fleming in the course of his 89 years – he lived from 1912 to 2001. According to Peter Golding's thoroughly researched book, Fleming taught for a while at his old school Scotch College, then embarked on a career in journalism, first on the Melbourne Argus and then Brisbane's Courier Mail, where he was a leader writer. At the outbreak of World War 2 he enlisted as a private in the AIF, rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was decorated, wounded twice, captured and escaped. He went back to journalism, then got a job to reorganise Australia's defence intelligence, became a trade commissioner in Paris to represent Australian international trade negotiations and then switched to become the Commonwealth Parliamentary Librarian, then the National Librarian. After he 'retired' he set about establishing Australia's first counter terrorism organisation.
How did the son of a gripman on Melbourne's cable trams, whose broken, troubled family saw him separated from his mother and sister, and living with his father and a step-mother, and going to school at Lee Street North Carlton Primary, manage to be prepared for all his subsequent occupations? It seems he owed a lot, not just to his natural talents, but to the support of two great teachers, William Arthur Empy at Lee Street, North Carlton, and William Still Littlejohn at Scotch College.
This small exchange between the German Field Marshall Rommel and prisoner Allan Fleming, should be enough to encourage everyone to read about him.
Rommel to Fleming:
"You know you Australians are very good fighters … But we will win the war. You will not win the war."
Fleming to Rommel:
"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think you will win the war … We will win the war. To help us we have a secret weapon."
Then he turned around and pointed at the XXXX bottle of beer.
I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating and informative about local conditions in North Carlton, as well as the experiences of a young boy at school and of soldiers during wartime. It is also utterly Australian.
Dr. Judith Biddington, CCHG
An Unqualified Success, by Peter Golding, was published by Rosenberg Publishing Ltd in 2013.