ripponlea the village...

RIPPONLEA

The Village

Meyer Eidelson

Ripponlea The Village

Compiled by Meyer Eidelson 2010 Email: [email protected] Web: www.melbournewalks.com Tel: 90907964; 0408 894724 Prepared for the Ripponlea Fiesta, March 2010 This book can be downloaded (pdf) under wwww.portphillip.vic.gov.au/walks Dedication: For Sam and Lucy Eidelson, tomorrow’s leaders Acknowledgements We acknowledge the people and the elders of the Kulin Nation who have traditional connections and responsibilities for the land which Ripponlea now occupies. Eve Eidelson The Ripponlea Traders The Maglis family Kay Rowan, Local History Librarian, Port Phillip Library Service Quat Quatta; www.quatquatta.com.au Jim Melemenis Firebrand Sourdough Bakery St Kilda Historical Society: A particular acknowledgement to the Society who generously provided access to published articles and images. Support your local history and get access to great resources by joining this Society [email protected]; Secretary 95371967; www.skhs.org.au Ripponlea Primary School whose talented students of Grades Three and Four photographed Ripponlea in 2009 for the SKHS annual Don Taggart Award. Many of their photos are enclosed courtesy St Kilda Historical Society. Images City of Port Phillip Yumi Rosenbaum Meyer Eidelson Jim Melemenis Con and Bill Maglis John Maccora Ripponlea Primary School Students Firebrand Sourdough Bakery


CONTENTS Foreword 5 Introduction 7 The Traditional Owners 7 Settlers 8 Quat Quatta 10 Ripponlea’s Early Shops 12 Shops Today

The Grocer 15 The Baker 17 The Hairdresser 19 The Fishmonger 20 The Flower Seller-Brinsmead’s Pharmacy 22 The Clothing Shop 26

Ripponlea Primary School 27 Burnett Gray Gardens 27 Ripponlea Railway Station 29 The Jewish Community 33 Adass Israel Congregation 35 Thomas Monahan 38 Rippon Lea Estate 40 Frederick Sargood 42 Snapshot: The Village 2010 45


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www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/shopping_ripponlea

Photo (below) by George Vasko, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Foreword In 2008 I received a phone call from Bill Maglis, owner of the Victorian Fruit Palace at 53 Glen Eira Road. Bill is not a shrinking violet. His voice boomed down the line: ‘I LOVE THIS PLACE AND WE HAVE GOT TO WRITE ITS HISTORY!’ I visited him in the rear of a shop full of the crates, smells and frenetic staff of a busy fruit shop. I discovered his shop has been selling fruit and vegetables for 95 years - surely some kind of record! Bill’s passion made me take a closer look at the shopping village on Glen Eira Road through which I had driven hundreds of times. As a walking guide I often hear fears that local shopping centres are being overwhelmed by a monocultural tide of coffee shops, supermarkets, chain and discount stores. Nothing could be less true of the delightful Ripponlea village precinct. It is one of the finest and most intact heritage shopping precincts in Melbourne. It does not have chain stores, large supermarkets or fast-food outlets. It does have a hundred small businesses run by passionate owners delivering an extraordinary variety of creative, unusual or unique retail offerings. It has a strong multicultural presence including the Jewish community specialising in European delicacies, delicatessen, seafood and gourmet food to take home. People drive across Melbourne to visit famous premises such as the Firebrand bakery, Attica and Bhala Da Dhaba restaurants and Ripponlea Fish Supply. Imagine a Greek shop run by two generations providing Kosher fish in cyberspace and you have Ripponlea! In 2009 on behalf of the City of Port Phillip, I led two heritage walks through the village. The walkers also fell in love with Ripponlea possibly because Jason and Lela Panda of Aveda surprised us with a wonderful lunch in their shop. So in March 2010 I returned to run more walks for the Ripponlea Fiesta. Eve Eidelson, the Fiesta Coordinator, asked me to compile a history for the occasion. It was unwise to resist. My daughter, like Bill Maglis, has a very forceful personality. Thus a start on the recording of Ripponlea’s history. From little things big things may grow. Meyer Eidelson March 2010


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Photo by Oliver Fleming-Jolly, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009. He described: ‘The person in the fish shop is a big character’. From the Deputy Mayor Ripponlea Village is a real convergence of cultures, religions and types of business. It presents particular challenges for me as the local ward councillor. Protecting the heritage nature of the precinct, while also encouraging growth and relevance to the more recent community in the area seems straightforward, but it is tricky. Ask the question of how should Ripponlea Village look in ten, twenty or fifty years time and you could get dozens of answers. What's important is that Council, the traders and the local community agree on how precious Ripponlea Village is, and preserving its special character is a priority as we plan for its future. We all want to see Ripponlea Village thrive, but by keeping its special character as a varied mix of specialty small businesses. Rachel Powning Councillor for Carlisle Ward City of Port Phillip 2010


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Introduction - Postcode 3185 Ripponlea suburb is located eight kilometres south-east of Melbourne between the suburbs of St Kilda and Elsternwick. It is centred on the intersection of Glen Eira Road and Hotham Street and forms part of the Elwood/Ripponlea neighbourhood precinct in the City of Port Phillip. At the time of the 2006 Census, the population was a mere 1,379 people.

Ripponlea, takes its name from the railway station which in turn was named for the Rippon Lea mansion and gardens built by Frederick and Marion Sargood in 1868. The estate occupied 42 acres of the local area until other residential development started in the 1880s and 1890s. Sargood named his home for his mother Ms Rippon.

The Traditional Owners According to George Robinson, the Aboriginal Chief Protector in the 1840’s, the Yalukit willam clan of the Boonerwrung occupied the coastal tract at the head of Port Phillip Bay which would have included today’s Ripponlea. The Boonerwrung or Bunurong were part of the larger Kulin Nation. Derrimut, a leader or ‘arweet’ of the clan, was credited with saving the first settlers on the Yarra from attack in 1836. He died in 1864 and his memorial stone is located in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Frederick Revans, a Supreme Court judge in New Zealand, lived as a boy in Melbourne in 1854 and later published his reminiscences in the Victorian Historical Journal of the Royal Historical Society including an event at Ripponlea:

I remember our excitement when one day, probably in 1857, two hundred blacks (sic) from Gippsland arrived suddenly in Hotham Street, trooping towards Elsternwick. An hour or two later, a solitary female appeared, and we gave her something to eat. She followed the tracks of the tribe in the dusty road, and when we asked her if she could see her husband’s tracks, she pointed them out to us amid hundreds of others, and started to follow them at a run, pursuing an irregular course such as he had taken when carelessly strolling with the mob. In the evening we followed the blacks, hearing that they were going to hold a corroboree, and found the whole tribe camped at a place where the trees were fairly thick. There were no residences near, save for a house or two along Brighton-road, some distance away. I think the spot must have


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been somewhere not far from where, in later years, Sir Frederick Sargood built his fine house (Rippon Lea). Here we stayed until midnight, mixing with the blacks, listening to their chants, and watching the strange and grave dances of the corroboree circle. Historical records indicate other camping sites in the vicinity of Ripponlea including sites now known as Point Ormond, St Kilda Town Hall and St Kilda Junction. A large midden (cooking site) remains at Dendy Street Beach.

Settlers The land between Hotham Streets and Glen Eira Avenue on the north side was first sold to Brabazon Purcell and Hugh Glass in the early 1850s. Purcell was a Melbourne auctioneer, land and stock agent. Glass was a well known even notorious speculator, squatter and merchant. By 1856 they had sold the land to Thomas Monahan who acquired most of today’s Ripponlea including the Ripponlea shopping centre area. His land extended from Brighton Road to Hotham Street and north and south of Glen Eira Road. Like the Sargoods, Thomas and his wife Mary Timms could be regarded as the historic ‘parents’ of the Ripponlea village. Their story is inspiring. Thomas was an Irish immigrant who arrived aboard a fever ship four years after Melbourne was founded. His occupations included hospital assistant, coachman, and publican. Yet with hard work and the able financial skills of his wife Mary (a bounty immigrant) they rose to become one of Melbourne’s wealthiest property owners. Their home was ‘Erindale Villa’ located on the large tract of land he owned on the southern side of Glen Eira Road down to Hotham Grove. The current Erindale Avenue is a reminder of this early estate which is now dispersed. In 1860 Glen Eira Road was formed, cutting through Monahan’s land. In 1869 more of Monahan’s land was used for the Ripponlea railway. Monahan died in 1889. His estate was divided in 1911 and 1935. The Quat Quatta estate (see below) and Erindale estate were subdivided and the land progressively sold off after 1915 for the railway station, shops and residences.


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In John Cooper’s History of St Kilda, 1840 -1930, volume one, he writes: The land absorbed, in the district of Rippon Lea, was, at one time, known by the long since forgotten name of the Village of Owensville. The late William Augustus Pay, of Rippon Lea, who came from London, and settled there, in the year 1857, and dwelt in Glen Eira Road for 72 years, first knew the lands, and houses, in the vicinity of his home, as the Village of "Owens- vine." That name was probably a legacy from a land sale division of an estate. Auctioneers of the years of the fifties, had a strong partiality towards calling any large divisional land sale by the name of some projected village. At least half a dozen of those paper villages, along the St. Kilda-Brighton shore line, have waxed and waned. We do not know of "Owensville" ever having had official recognition, but, in an old diary of the Rev. David Seddon, he states, that he held a service at "Owensville," at the house of one of his communicants, Mr. Lane. That was in November, 1858.

Photo by Lucy Robin, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Quat Quatta Mansion

Quat Quatta was built in 1890 on the grounds of ‘Erindale”, the property of wealthy early settler Thomas Monahan. Soon after his death in 1889, Monahan’s daughter Betsy Keogh engaged prominent architect W.H Cooper to erect the mansion. Artisans from Italy were contracted to prepare the hand-painted and stained glass windows, intricate parquetry dance floor and the marble verandas. Quat Quatta was completed for the then grand price of twelve thousand pounds. In 1893, the Hon. J. A. Wallace M.L.C., Betsy Keogh’s brother-in-law, required a ‘town house’ due to his political commitments in Melbourne. Consequently,

he bought the Quat Quatta estate in Ripponlea, consisting of eleven acres of rose gardens, tennis court and stables. At that time Quat Quatta and Ripponlea were the only two houses in the area. During subsequent ownerships, Quat Quatta was used as a stop for Cobb and Co. carriages going to and from the holiday resort of Brighton, a private hospital and finally a boarding hostel. When acquired in 1968, the building had fallen into disrepair. After six months of extensive renovations, Quat Quatta was restored to its original splendour. Photos by Bailey Troth (top) and Max Weir

of Ripponlea Primary School 2009. Max wrote: ‘This photo shows that Ripponlea is loyal and royal.’


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In 1974, Quat Quatta received an official classification from the National trust of Australia (Vic). Today, the single storey Victorian mansion stands with its original features preserved and continues to provide its guests with a glimpse of the lavish architecture and entertaining of the last century. Quat Quatta has recently undertaken an extensive refurbishment. The works were overseen by internationally renowned interior designers, Hecker, Phelan and Guthrie who have been behind some of Melbourne’s most spectacular projects. The building is currently an award-winning wedding reception venue. Courtesy Quat Quatta

MMBW Plan 1901


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Ripponlea’s Early Shops In 1914 John Robert Daley, a builder of the Esplanade, Elwood purchased much of the Monahan land’s land in today’s shopping precinct. By 1915 six brick shops of 5 rooms each were in the process of being erected on Glen Eira Road at an estimated cost of 3,000 pounds. The original numbering system changed in 1917 to today’s street numbers. In 2008 historian Kay Rowan researched these early shops in Ripponlea and their occupants or owners from 1915 to 1974. The first and oldest shops in Ripponlea were today’s numbers 47-55 although in 1915 they had no numbers. The first proposed tenants were listed as: Ernest Griffin, motor dealer & Arthur Hutchens accountant. Hutchens and Griffin were co-tenants William Harrison, boot dealer Casimir Tolra, ironmonger William Henley, dairy produce dealer Louis Virgona, fruiterer Lillian Wicks, confectioner. 1917 - The proud tenants and owners were (numbers 47 to 55): 47 George Maydom, boot dealer, owner John Daley 49 Casimir Tolra, ironmonger, owner John Daley 51 George Elliott, tailor, owner Louis Virgona 53 Louis Virgona, fruiterer, owner occupier 55 Lillian Wicks, confectioner, owner occupier In 1917 John Daley sold some of his shops but still owned much of the land on the north side of Glen Eira Road and continued to build other shops. Numbers 57 and 59 were built in 1922. 1927 the occupants and owners were: 47 Abraham Saunders, watchmaker & jeweller, owner J.R. Daley 49 Casimero Tolra, crockery & ironmonger, owner occupier 51 Ernest Wolstencraft, dairy produce dealer, owner Louis Virgona 53 Guiseppe Paino, fruiterer, owner Louis Virgona 55 Ann Duff & Louisa Seward, confectioners, owner Louis Virgona 57 Thomas Willoughby, boot retailer, owner J.R. Daley 59 Alice Mitchell, draper, owner J.R. Daley 61 Edith Murray, milliner, owner J.R. Daley


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Photo: Yumi Rosenbaum 1934 the occupants and owners of the shops were: 47 Thomas Collins, hairdresser, owner occupier 49 Casimero Tolra, ironmonger, owner occupier 51 Ernest Wolstencraft, dairy produce dealer, owner Louis Virgona 53 Guiseppe Paino, fruiterer, owner occupier 55 Alice McLean, confectioner, owner Louis Virgona 57 Helen Rose, dairy produce dealer, owner J.R. Daley 59 Albert Williamson, boot maker, owner J.R. Daley 61 Mrs. L. Canning, milliner, owner J.R. Daley 1944 the occupants and owners of the shops were: 47 Ernest Dunn, hairdresser, owner Athol Corney 49 Arthur Longstaff, ironmonger, owner Estate C. Tolra 51 Ernest Wolstencraft, dairy produce dealer, owner occupier 53 Guiseppe Paino, fruiterer, owner occupier 55 Sylvia Cooke & Beryl Littleham, confectioners, owners P. & D. Mudford 57 Elizabeth Callanan, baker, owner Walter Ross 59 Arthur Bond, boot maker, owner Walter Ross 61 Frank Woosman, painter, owner Walter Ross 1954 the occupants and owners of the shops were: 61 Smarter Frock Salon, owner William Watt 59 Arthur Bond, bootmaker, owner William Watt 57 Elizabeth Callanan, pastrycook, owner William Watt 55 John Trimble, confectioner, owner Guiseppe & Alessi Paino 53 Guiseppe Paino & Antonio Biviano, fruiterers, owner occupier 51 Ernest Wolstencraft, dairy produce dealer, owner occupier


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49 Arthur Longstaff, ironmonger, owner Joanna Tolra 47 Eric Dunn, hairdresser owner Thomas Bain 1961 the occupants and owners of the shops were: 61 Dawraine Frocks, owner William Watt 59 Elisabeth & Antonio Demarte, boot repairers, owner occupier 57 Elizabeth Callanan, Eljo cakes, owners Josephine & Antonio Bazzani, 55 Phyllis Marshall, confectioner, owner Guiseppe & Arento Paino 53 Alessi Santo, fruiterer, owner A & G. Alessi 51 Agnes & Henry Parsons, dairy produce dealers, owner occupiers 49 Thomas Mills, hardware, owner Goldie & Hyman Morris 47 Eric Dunn, hairdresser owner occupier

Photo: Yumi Rosenbaum 1974 the occupants from the Sands and MacDougall Melbourne Directory were: 61 Mrs M. Spinoulas, dressmaker 59 A. Demarte, shoe repairer 57 Janina Cakes 55 T. Karabelas, confectioner 53 Parisi & Alessi, fruiterers 51 G & M. Osborne, delicatessen 49 H. Morris, hardware 47 E. Dunn, hairdresser


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The Grocer Victoria Fruit Palace, 53 Glen Eira Road Today this shop is managed by brothers Con and Bill Maglis whose family have owned the shop for 35 years. Their parents originally worked in the fruit industry in Shepparton after their arrival from Greece and then bought their own shop in Ripponlea in 1975. The brothers are a little busy – working six days a week usually from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm. By 3.00am each working day they are at Footscray wholesale market loading that day’s fruit and vegetable.

This fruit shop has an extraordinary historic tradition. In 2010 it was the longest running continuous business in a single trade in Ripponlea (and possibly in the entire City of Port Phillip) having been a fruitier since the shop was built, ninety-five years earlier in 1915. Guiseppe Paino (left) owned the Victoria Fruit Palace business and then the building for three or so decades from the 1920s onward. The rare photo above was provided in 2010. to Con Maglis by John Maccora, Paino’s grandson,. John stated that his grandparents were from Calabria yet his grandmother was of the Jewish faith. David Maccora, an owner of

Attica restaurant, is related to the family. The history of occupation of the business till 1974 was: 1915 Louis Virgona, fruiterer; 1917 Louis Virgona, fruiterer, owner occupier;


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1927 Guiseppe Paino, fruiterer, owner Louis Virgona; 1934 and 1944, Guiseppe Paino, fruiterer, owner occupier; 1954 Guiseppe Paino & Antonio Biviano, fruiterers, owner occupier; 1961 Parisi & Alessi, fruiterers; 1974 Alessi Santo, fruiterer, owner A & G. Alessi;

Maglis family circa 1980, Bill and Con on right. Photo: Maglis family


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The Baker Firebrand Sourdough Bakery 69 Glen Eira Road Started in 1987 Firebrand Sourdough Bakery is a shrine for Melbourne’s bread lovers and uses traditional bread making methods. Owner David Brown is still in occupancy after 24 years and baking to this day.

All breads are hand-shaped and baked either in tins or directly on the brick floor of the oven and retrieved with long handled tools. All are made from bio-dynamic, organic or unbleached flour, natural whole-wheat leaven, water and sea salt. High quality muffins, flourless cakes, pizzas biscuits, and hand-made pies and pastries are also produced.

According to Campbell Johnson, (former owner of Brinsmead Pharmacy), the bakery builders were Scottish and its original name was Bannockburn Bakery.

David writes:

‘Our wood-fired oven is used to bake all of our bread. In 1988, we resurrected the wood-fired oven that hadn't been used since the early 1930's.

The main character of this type of oven is to bake using retained stored heat from the long firing, unlike the little pizza ovens of today that bake with the fire burning.


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The oven is fired for 4 to 5 hours, during which the firebricks on the roof, floor, walls & the surrounding one metre of sand get saturated with heat. The oven is around 450 Fahrenheit when lit and is fired up to 750 Fahrenheit before burning out and closing down.

Prior to my occupancy the building was used by a book publisher and was apparently at one point a brothel. In the 1980s I was working in a wood-fired bakery in Carlton. The owner drove around the suburbs searching for disused bakeries with surviving wood-fired ovens. They are usually located in buildings near railway stations, close to lanes and have a telltale chimney.

Through this detective work, the building at 69 Glen Eira Road was discovered being used as a store room for a book publisher. We had to wait until the book business decided to leave and we then took over. We needed to replace some metal doors to the oven which we retrieved from a former bakery site in Balaclava.

It is a marvellously well constructed oven sealing in the heat effectively.

Photo by Frank Bruzzese of Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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The Hairdresser J & S Bonnici Mens Hairdressing, 71 Glen Eira Rd

This shop is one of a pair of striking Edwardian shops, the other being Brinsmead’s Pharmacy next door’s both built by Sydney Smith & Ogg in 1918 in a single building. This firm is important as architects for the Victoria Brewery and for many hotels around Melbourne and also for State Savings Banks of Victoria, often in association with brilliant designer Robert Haddon. It has been a hairdresser for over half a century since at least the 1950s. Hairdresser Joe Bonnici is the longest trader in occupancy in the village, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his shop in 2010. Many of his clients have been with him for the full 40 years and include many Jewish families who fortunately have large families generating many haircuts.


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The Fishmonger Ripponlea Fish Supply, 49 Glen Eira Road In 2010 John and Sophia Melemenis were the second longest traders in occupancy in the village (behind Joe Bonnici). They started their first fish shops in 1972 as one of three shops which were replaced by the current IGA. The other two were a delicatessen and butcher. There has been a fish shop continuously in Ripponlea for over a century. His predecessors were Greek and Spanish. He says a characteristic of Ripponlea is that there are many businesses in the village where parents and their children work together. He has survived as a small business where many have failed through determination, high quality food and attracting loyal customers. He greets his Jewish customers in Hebrew. Their son Jim writes:

Hello! Welcome to our fresh fish & seafood family business. Our family business of third generation fishmongers has over forty years experience here in Australia, originating from a tiny island in the Cyclades, Aegean

Sea, Greece.

In 1938 my grandfather Dimitrios Melemenis, started this traditional way of making a living and keeping some of the catch for his wife and seven children on the beautiful island of Syros.

In 1968 the tradition was continued here in Australia by his talented and comical son, John Melemenis. John worked in Fish & Chip shops across Melbourne, the first being in Frankston and eventually East Brighton. On the 3rd of July 1972, John and his wife Sophia decided to start their own business, called Ripponlea Fish Supply. This business was not only the first in Australia to mince fish for their loyal Jewish customers but also first to skin and completely remove all bones from


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their fish upon request from their customers.

This family run business is still going strong today having served three generations of customers. Our business has food safety accreditation through SGS and is always looking to improve food safety handling through our quality control measures.

Today’s fast paced world brings new and exciting challenges for us. We expanded the business in 2008 to create an online delivery fish shop for the convenience of our customers while maintaining excellence in delivering exceptionally fresh seafood.

John, Jim and Sophia proudly serving today!


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The Flower Sellers Brinsmead’s Pharmacy, 73 Glen Eira Road (Unreal Flowers)

Brinsmead’s is arguably the most intact Edwardian shop in Victoria, possibly Australia. It was a chemist for almost ninety years from 1918 onwards. Several years ago it became a new business owned by ‘Unreal Flowers’ with horticulturalist Brian McKelvey and Leda Graham who have retained the original fittings.

The chemist shop at 164 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy was actually built earlier in 1888 for C.R.Blackett, Victorian Government Analytical Chemist and founder of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. But there, all fittings have been removed from the building. Dow’s Pharmacy at Chiltern (1863) still contains contents and fittings, but these are nineteenth century and quite plain and undecorated. The Family Butcher at 745 Nicholson Street, North Carlton is a comparably intact Victorian shop to Brinsmead’s.

Very few interstate shops of the period are in the same league as Brinsmead’s. Shott’s Umbrella Shop in Launceston (1890s) and the Paragon Café, Katoomba (1925 & 1934-36) are the only known contenders. Two collections of the contents and fittings of nineteenth century pharmacies survive also: Oggs Pharmacy was at 76 Collins Street, demolished when Nauru House was built in 1977. Its vaulted cast-iron canopy, which extended to the kerb was saved and relocated to University


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House at the University of Melbourne by architect Robin Boyd. Its collection is now said to be in storage at The Museum of Victoria. (The Ogg business is now at 189 Toorak Road, South Yarra). The Department of Pharmacology at the University of Melbourne also contains the interior and contents of an historic pharmacy, accessible to the public.

There has never been a Brinsmead actually directly connected with Brinsmead’s Pharmacy. The Brinsmead family had operated pharmacies in St Kilda and Caulfield at least from the 1880s. James Brinsmead opened a

pharmacy, two doors from the Glen Eira railway gates in 1913. He closed it when the present building was completed. However, it reopened as Appel’s Pharmacy, also extant, on the corner of Glen Eira Road and Hotham Streets. Frederick Damyon purchased the Brinsmead business (and presumably, its name) and built Brinsmead’s, and its smaller neighbouring shop in 1918. Perhaps he decided to trade under the Brinsmead name because it was so well known and regarded. It is embossed on a bronze panel, part of the original design.

Next door was leased to Eileen Finch, pastry cook, but the year after, by Alice Giddy, confectioner. By 1928, Damyon owned other chemist shops in St Kilda and leased Brinsmead’s to other pharmacists, firstly, to Joseph Lakeland and in the early 1930s to Samuel Park. By then, Damyon was comfortably ensconced, riding out the great Depression years at Mt Macedon. In 1938, he leased Brinsmead’s to the newly graduated young pharmacist who had helped fund his university degree by working evenings at the shop as a delivery boy. His name was Campbell Fraser Johnson. With £50 saved from his 21st birthday and a loan from pharmaceutical wholesalers, Johnson began his business. He remembered those days when pills were made by hand and a chemist was on call over 24 hours. In the first night of his new business, he was called out five times between 9.00pm and 5.30 am. During World II he supplemented income from the shop, by operating a


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mobile dispensary around the Port of Melbourne’s wharves. He lived in the residence upstairs.

A hand lotion first formulated in the 1920s was still manufactured at Brinsmead’s 60 years later. Mr Johnson had still retained customers from 1938, 50 years later. Staff had been equally loyal. Helen Felder stayed for 25 years. One day she worked until 4.30pm and went off to have a baby at 8pm, Mr Johnson recalled. He was a national yachting judge for the Victorian Yachting Council and member of Brighton Road Primary School Council for 23 years.

In 1955-56, Mr Johnson purchased the property. By then next door was Alexander Reid, hairdresser. In April 1997, Sally Johnson, his daughter decided to sell the property, for only the second time in its 80 years.

The architect of this striking pair of Edwardian shops was Sydney Smith & Ogg. This firm is important as architect for the Victoria Brewery and for many hotels around Melbourne and also for State Savings Banks of Victoria, often in association with brilliant designer Robert Haddon. Sydney Smith (Senior) is known to have designed 48 houses, commercial and municipal buildings between 1859-74. He died in 1886. His son of the same name (1868-1933) is known to have designed 35 buildings (1888-1934). Sydney Smith and Ogg designed 89 houses, banks and commercial buildings (1889-1908) and as Sydney Smith, Ogg and Serpell (1910-36), 12 more buildings are known. Their twentieth century work has most eclectic influences including the English Arts-and-Crafts movement, Art Nouveau and creative Classicism, with a particular interest in craftsmanship and new materials. Brinsmead’s is a very fine and spectacular example.

Note the old Kodak painted hoarding sign on the external wall and others over the front first floor windows. Old signs are relatively rare survivals. The shop-fitters who created Brinsmead’s shopfront and interior were Thomas Duff & Bros. Their nameplate survives on the window frame. There are bronze display cases, two brass lamps, and integral to the shopfront with magical leadlight domes over the symmetrical doors. The doors and interior joinery in oak are very fine and the concave fronted bank of druggist drawers is a tour-de-force of the joiner’s art, with a further elliptical leadlight dome overhead. As virtuosic Edwardian shopfitting, Brinsmead’s compares well with English examples of the period. The builders were Queever.

Messrs Thomas Duff & Bros Shop Fitters, Show Case Makers, Shop Front Builders and Contractors operated from 225-227 Russell Street, Melbourne,


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with a factory behind in Heffernan Lane. Thomas Duff left C. Beecham & Co after 20 years with brothers John and Charles. Within a year they had purchased their former employer’s business to become the largest in the industry in Victoria with twenty employees. They were known for the ‘elegance of design and finish’ with orders from all states and New Zealand. Thomas managed, John manufactured and Charles maintained the machines. Their virtuosity continues to grace Glen Eira Road.

John Banky writes that Brinsmead Pharmacy for a time had a dental surgery in the back. Entry was via the pharmacy, then walking through the dispensary. Campbell Johnson the pharmacist once showed John the original door behind the shop-counter facing the street which bore the sign ‘dental surgery’ that he had covered with a poster.

Adapted from ‘A Place of Sensuous Resort. Buildings of St Kilda and Their People, by Richard Peterson, Second Edition 2009. Published by St Kilda Historical Society www.skhs.org.au. Photo of Attica Restaurant (below) by Alexander Scott of Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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The Clothing Shop Muku Organical Baby 68 Glen Eira Road

Two years ago Aya Okunoya and her husband opened this unique shop in Ripponlea. They represent a younger generation of traders opening up innovative new shops in the village.

Aya had formerly worked in the fashion industry in Japan and Canada before arriving in Melbourne. Hers is one of three boutique shops in a row including ‘Miriam Bereson and Friends’ and ‘Design Emporium’ which all appear to be thriving.

Two years ago Aya’s young baby was severely affected by a rash from a cotton vest. She was shocked to learn that today's cotton is often exposed to chemicals such as fertilizer, herbicide, defoliant and dyes which can also harm the farmers of cotton. She was inspired to create a range of baby wear comprised of pure organic and mainly undyed cotton particularly to protect new born babies.

Her shop is in tune with her and her husband’s desire to demonstrate the changes need to protect the future of the earth and its children.


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Ripponlea Primary School In 1922 the Ripponlea primary school was opened in Carrington Grove, East St Kilda, a short distance from the Caulfield Grammar School (1881). A major Department of Education upgrade was completed in 1996, which has further enhanced the physical environment of the school. Parents continue to maintain and develop the school playgrounds. Ripponlea draws its population from a variety of cultures. With a population of over 230 children, the school is committed to fostering a strong sense of community and an attitude of curiosity and inquiry among its students. In 2010 students undertook a student photographic exhibition of Ripponlea village as part of the Don Taggart Award organised by the St Kilda Historical Society.

Burnett Gray Gardens

Located on either side of Ripponlea railway station this park is a rare example of a railway reserve that doubles as a public garden. It demonstrates the romantic idyll that many attached to the new technology of rail transport. It includes exotic plantings such as Canary Island Palms. The park is named for Burnett Gray who had an amazing range of interests and a huge commitment to business and community organisations. He was the first returned soldier to become Mayor of any Australian city.

Photo by Indra Allen, Grade 3, Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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His civic roles included the Children's Hospital, chairman Maison de Luxe Ltd (Elwood Dancing Palais); vice president St Kilda RSL; member Victorian Town Planning Association; founder Elwood and South St Kilda Progress Association, JP; St Kilda Army and Navy Club; Victorian Artists Club; Melbourne Press Club; Australian Journalists' Association; Melbourne Literature Society; several sporting bodies; Freemason; Member Legislative Assembly, St Kilda city councillor for 30 years and twice Mayor.

Photo below by Romy Fawcett, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Ripponlea Railway Station, Glen Eira Road There are almost 50 railway stations in Victoria similar to Ripponlea. There is more of this type of design in Victoria than any other (excluding portables, recent standard plans and ‘Mallee sheds’). Ward and Donnelly’s excellent survey Victoria’s Railway Stations covers them all. They were built over 1909-29, often where existing facilities proved inadequate. They all share the same plan and construction and reach for a common grab-bag of decorative details in the Arts and Crafts and Federation manner. Quite a few are in Melbourne (Ivanhoe, Northcote, Merri and Royal Park) but many are in north-eastern Victoria.

So why is Ripponlea Station remarkable?

Well, it is quite intact (although windows and fireplaces were blocked, the lamp-room yard and store, signal box and advertising hoardings were removed). Its station yard was landscaped as the Burnett Gray Gardens, with their radiating paths, continuing on the western side of the up platform along Monkstadt Avenue, and its footbridge does survive. But most clearly, its construction generated the development of nearby housing and shops: the shopping strip in Glen Eira Road all follows construction of the station, becoming later the further away. The shops at 15-27 were completed in 1912 (architects Lane & Morgan); 45-55 in 1914; Brinsmead’s Pharmacy and in the Ripponlea triangle, the Quat Quatta and Erindale estates, were subdivided in 1911.

Photo below by Charlie Hastings, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Floor Plan & Elevation of the Western Building, c.1911

The architectural drawings for the station are dated 21 December 1911 and construction continued into 1913. They are initialled by J.W. Hardy, chief architect of the Way and Works Branch of the Victorian Railways, however the actual designer is not known. The Sandringham line opened (to North Brighton) on 19 December 1859, and Balaclava, Elsternwick and Windsor stations, opened then. The line extended to Brighton Beach in 1861 and Sandringham 1887. Ripponlea Station opened on 1 May 1912. It is said to have been called Glen Eira Road then, but this is not substantiated.


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Prior to the announcement of the opening of the railway station, Brunnings Nursery with the two nineteenth century mansions, Rippon Lea and Quat Quatta, had occupied its hinterland. The opening of the railway line and Ripponlea station, stimulated growth and development openly. Oak Grove was settled as early as early as 1900, until 1920. Glen Eira Avenue developed from 1912-24. Parades of shops in Glen Eira Road followed: nos: 15-27 (1912); 45-55 (1914); 57-67 (1921). Los Angeles Court (35)

was developed over 1927-1938, continuing as Monkstadt Avenue (1929-40). The downside (eastern) building consisted of booking office and general waiting room, both with fireplaces, with a lobby between. The upside (western) building had Men’s Toilets, Ladies Toilets, Ladies’ Waiting Room, Lobby, Station Master’s and Parcels Office and a Waiting Room. Their timber frame is clad with roughcast render and diamond asbestos shingles, like the Melbourne’s tramshelters. The gardens have eleven (!) Phoenix canariums (Date palms) and Pittosperum undulatum.

In March 1992, Ripponlea Station was assessed by the National Trust Buildings Committee as being in ‘poor’ condition, infested with white ants and subsidence. The rare asbestos roof shingles were loose and windows smashed. However, it was classified. The community feared the Ripponlea Station would deteriorate and succumb to fires and vandalism as St Kilda Railway Station almost had.

By 1993, a Friends of Ripponlea Station had formed and obtained support from the Alan Brown, the Opposition spokesman for Transport. A ‘Heritage Corridor’ was proposed linking the station with the Glen Eira shops, all carefully restored and leading to the National Trust’s Rippon Lea

Photo by Henry Lucas,, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Estate nearby. In December 1994, a Feasibility Study was prepared by Spiller Gibbins Swan Pty. Ltd and Lecki Ord, architect commissioned by the Ripponlea Transport Committee to prepare redevelopment options proposals. One of the three options allowed retention of the existing buildings, the others to demolish all and build new buildings further along the platforms. By November 1995, Alan Brown was Minister for Public Transport in the Kennett Liberal government and he and Minister for Education, Don Hayward, jointly announced a $305,000 ‘restoration grant’. Finally in February 1999, Ripponlea Station was on the state’s Victorian Heritage Register, and its future assured. Adapted from ‘A Place of Sensuous Resort. Buildings of St Kilda and Their People, by Richard Peterson, Second Edition 2009. Published by St Kilda Historical Society www.skhs.org.au.

Photo: Yumi Rosenbaum


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The Jewish Community Ripponlea village is a popular centre of the Jewish community, many of whose earliest members were ‘Dunera Boys’, later the subject of a successful ABC series. The TV series followed the lives of Jewish immigrants who arrived by ship on SS Dunera in 1941. These refugees were mistakenly interned as enemy aliens yet many achieved distinction in Australian society after release. The great majority of Australia’s Jewish population of approximately 120,000 persons lives in Sydney and particularly Melbourne. The community was transformed in the 1930s and 1940s by the arrival of 8,000 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia and later, by 35,000 East Europeans. The Melbourne’s community is believed to have the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors of any Jewish community.

A distinctive feature of Melbourne life is the amount of Yiddish, a traditional European language, still spoken. From the 1940s, substantial numbers of Sephardi Jews, especially from Egypt, have also settled in Australia as have thousands

of Jews from Southern Africa, the former Soviet Union and India, particularly Bombay.

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria represents almost sixty major religious, political, cultural, welfare, and educational, religious and social Jewish organisations. Many are geographically centred around Caulfield, Ripponlea and St Kilda with groceries, synagogues, schools, restaurants, cafes, butcher shops and many Chassidic residents. Religious affiliations are also diverse although the majority of synagogues are Orthodox including Mizrachi, Chabad and Adass Israel. There are also

Phot:o Yumi Rosenbaum


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Sephardi, Liberal (Temple Beth Israel, St Kilda) and Conservative (Masorti) congregations in Melbourne. Adapted from the Asia-Pacific Survival Guide for the Jewish Traveller by Michael Cohen, Asia-Pacific Jewish Association, Melbourne, 1988; Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Australia

Photo by Grace Reid, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009

Photo by Georgina Dimitroulis, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009


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Adass Israel Congregation

Cnr Oak Gve & Glen Eira Avenue, Ripponlea. Photo: Yumi Rosenbaum

The history of the Adass Israel Congregation dates to 1939-40 when some members of the Elwood Talmud Torah became dissatisfied with the level of observance and decided to establish their own congregation. Known as Kehilla Kedosha Beis Haknesses Ahawah Zion, it was established at 391 High Street, St Kilda, in a small shuttered shopfront. This building was later demolished when the road was widened. In 1943, Leo and Michael Newman and their father Peretz, who was originally from Vienna, left Elwood Talmud Torah over dissatisfaction with procedures they believed contravened Orthodox Jewish lore. Soon after joining the new group, they took over its management and the group moved to 15a Brighton Road. Ephraim Pollak, one of the founders, died in 1943 and the minyan was renamed Beth Ephraim in his honour.

The Newman brothers brought a Viennese influence to the congregation. This attracted Orthodox Jews arriving from Germany and Austria during and after the war. Some of these were the boys and men who were sent to Australia by the British aboard the Dunera ship in 1941. This group of about 3000 Austrian, German and Italian men and boys over the age of sixteen had been interned in Britain as enemy aliens after the outbreak of


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war. In fact, a majority of them supported the Allies. Many were Jewish, but not all were refugees. Some were interned at Tatura in country Victoria, where Leo Newman visited them and arranged for additional religious requisites to be provided and for some of the younger ones to be released. Erwin Lamm was also released from Tatura in order to become minister of Beth Ephraim after Joseph Weinern left. In 1944 Rabbi Ehrentreu, who had also arrived on the Dunera, presented the first Shabbos Hagodol Droshe at Beth Ephraim. Rabbinical assistance was also given by Rabbi Wyshkowsky, who had escaped with his son from the Nazis via Singapore and Japan.

In 1944 the congregation affiliated with the London Adass Yisroel movement. Congregations were required to include in their constitutions that the congregation would be conducted in the Orthodox way, according to the law of Moses and Israel, and that no-one who desecrates the Sabbath or partakes of forbidden food can be elected to the governing body. The name Adass Israel was adopted at a special meeting on 20 August 1950. Many congregations had adopted this name, modelled on the one in Berlin; it was also the name of the one in Vienna, which many saw as their model.

Post-war immigration laid the foundation for the Adass community. The congregation quickly outgrew the Brighton Road premises. A house at 24 Glen Eira Road was bought in 1950 and used as a shule and classrooms. In December 1950 the foundation stone for a mikvah (ritual bath) was laid at the rear of the property, which took two years to complete. In the meantime, many people used a private mikvah at the home of Yechiel Binet in Gardenvale.

The first Rov was Rav Yitzchok Ya’akov Neumann. He arrived from Antwerp on 23 April 1952. He was displeased that the children were attending state schools and a Hebrew school was opened in May 1952. It was a Government-recognised primary school and only the second such Jewish school in Melbourne. He also arranged that Neumann and Schwartz, at 251 Inkerman Street, St Kilda, would provide kosher meat under his supervision. The fees gained from this arrangement made the Adass establishment sounder and enabled expansion, especially in the education area. Rav Neumann stayed only briefly and it was two years before a new Rov, Rabbi Bezalel Stern, arrived in 1955. Rabbi Stern oversaw great developments and expansion of the Adass Israel congregation.

The new school campus opened soon after and Rabbi Stern’s daughter Miriam began teaching there, thus enabling the inclusion of girls at the day school. With a new influx of migrants after the Hungarian Revolution, the congregation needed larger premises. In 1959 the adjoining property was


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bought and an Adass Israel War Memorial Synagogue Building fund established. It was created as a war memorial for the purpose of tax deductibility for donations but was considered an appropriate designation given the background of so many congregants. Priority was given to the school building and it opened on 25 October 1964, the night before the foundation stone for the synagogue was laid. Building began in 1965 and opened on 19 September that year. It was designed to seat 300 men and 250 women. Subsequently adjoining sites were also bought as the membership continued to grow.

Rabbi Stern was succeeded by Rabbi Elimelech Ashkenazi whose leadership saw the congregation continue to expand and more building undertaken. A multipurpose hall built in 1984 was later named the Adass Gutnick Hall after an endowment by Rabbi Joseph and Stera Gutnick in memory of his mother, Reebetzin Raizel Gutnick. Rabbi Ashkenazi’s successor was Rabbi Avraham Zvi Beck, who was appointed in 1987. He placed great emphasis on the development of the Yeshiva, where young adults devoted their time to study and teaching. Another initiative was the building of the Caulfield Mikvah on the corner of Furneaux Road and McWhae Street. Named in memory of Mrs Malkah Sarah Jager, it opened in 1993. A new men’s mikvah was opened at the synagogue premises in 1997.

The shule (synagogue) was severely damaged in an arson attack on 1 January 1995. A rebuilding appeal was launched and there was wide support for it. The architect was Erwin Kaldor and the contractors were the Pomeroy Bros. Interior decoration was undertaken by Dario Zuroff. The new work was consecrated on 17 September 1995. The congregation continued to grow and extensions were carried out in 1997. Rabbi Gutnick also assisted the purchase of the building on the corner of Hotham Street and Glen Eira Road, which was redeveloped in 1999 to house the Yeshiva Ketana.

Adapted from the ‘The Spirit of St Kilda. Places of Worship in St Kilda’ 2003 by Janette Bomford. Published by St Kilda Historical Society www.skhs.org.au.


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Thomas Monahan Thomas Monahan (1812-1889), businessman, was born in Dublin, son of John Monahan, farmer, and his wife Elizabeth, née Dunn. After schooling he worked as an assistant at Kildare Hospital for seven years and left with written recommendations from local notables. As a coachman he was given a free passage in the North Britain which sailed from Kingstown in August 1839 with 285 migrants. Twenty died of typhus on the voyage and on arrival at Sydney the ship was quarantined on 14 December; when the last of the migrants were released on 1 February 1840, six more adults and four children had died. Monahan, who had worked hard during the epidemic, was given a testimonial by the ship's surgeon and appointed a hospital attendant in Sydney. On 22 February 1841 at St Mary's Church he married Mary Timms, a bounty immigrant who had arrived at Sydney in 1832, aged 25. Soon afterwards they sailed for Melbourne.

Monahan's first transaction was to buy the Flinders Street building where the Port Phillip Club held its inaugural dinner on 17 March 1841. The club soon ran short of funds and approached the Melbourne Club for amalgamation in February 1843. Many members joined their former rival and the Port Phillip Club was closed by mid-1843 but Monahan retained the stables for some years. In 1845 he built the Queen's Arms Hotel and from then favoured hotel properties, often acting as his own publican. He had large properties, both lands and buildings, in the city, St Kilda, Sandridge, Emerald Hill and later in New South Wales, and usually collected his own rents. He became one of Melbourne's largest property owners and very wealthy.

Monahan speculated in only one mining venture, the Evelyn Tunnel and Red Jacket at Buckland, where his son-in-law, John Alston Wallace, made a fortune; Monahan lost £7000 and never again trespassed outside building. He was proud that he always paid in cash and that his fortune had been won by hard work, forethought, his wife's deft handling of the books and the frugality of their household. He never took part in municipal or parliamentary affairs, though his wealth made him well known. When the foundation stone of the Melbourne Hospital was laid on 20 March 1846 in Little Lonsdale Street, he was one of the first subscribers, with £20; he also became one of its first life-governors. Otherwise he was not known for philanthropy, even to the church, and was sometimes criticized for his miserly gifts for which it was always necessary to canvass him.

Predeceased by his wife, Monahan died on 25 May 1889 at his home, Erindale, St Kilda. He was survived by one daughter, Mrs Keogh, a widow


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with four children, and by his son-in-law and executor, John Wallace, a widower with six children. The estate of more than £950,000 after tax was left to his family but led to litigation in September 1898 despite Monahan's deathbed admonition to Wallace, 'John, be strong but be merciful'.

From Suzanne G. Mellor, 'Monahan, Thomas (1812 - 1889)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 266-267.

Photo of Top Shop (cnr Hotham and Glen Eira) by Rheece Zacharis, Grade 3/4 Ripponlea Primary School 2009

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Ripponlea Estate, 192 Hotham Street Rippon Lea Estate is a historic property located in Elsternwick, Victoria. It is under the care of the National Trust of Australia. The estate was the home of only two families in its first 100 years. It was built in 1868 for Sir Frederick Sargood, a wealthy Melbourne businessman, politician and philanthropist. Frederick and his wife Marian bought 42 acres of land at Elsternwick, about 8 kilometres from the Melbourne central business district, in 1868 and built a two-storey, 15 room home. An extensive pleasure garden was laid out around the house, together with glasshouses, vegetable gardens and orchards. The gardens were designed to be self-sufficient as regards water, and the large man-made lake on the property

was designed to store stormwater run-off from the surrounding area.

The Sargood family lived at Rippon Lea until Frederick's death in 1903 and over the years extended the house on several occasions. The greatest structural changes occurred in 1897 when the house was extended to the north, and a tower was added. The style of the house has been described

as "polychromatic romanesque" and the architect, Joseph Reed, was said to have been inspired by the architecture of the Lombardy region of northern Italy.

Frederick's death in 1903, the property was sold to a consortium of real estate developers led by Thomas Bent who had plans to demolish the house and subdivide the land. Elsternwick at this time was a new suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne; 35 years earlier when the Sargoods bought the land, it had been well outside the built-up area of Melbourne.

The house was empty for six years, while the developers sold off various parcels of land, particularly the orchards and paddocks. Before, however, the final carve-up of the estate could be undertaken, the leader of the consortium, Sir Thomas Bent, died and the property was put on the market in 1910.


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It was bought by Ben and Agnes Nathan, who owned the Maples chain of furniture stores in Melbourne. The Nathans lived there until Ben's death in 1935 when the property was left to their eldest daughter, Louisa.

Lamia Gunduz, Grade 3/4, Ripponlea Primary School 2009

Louisa (married name, Mrs Timothy Jones) was a leading figure in the Melbourne social set in the 1930s and renovated the house to allow her to entertain on a lavish scale. The interior of the house was redecorated in a restrained classical 1930s style, drawing heavily on Hollywood film style of the 1930s and Syrie Maugham's "all white room" as influences. Outside, a "Hollywood style" swimming pool and ballroom were installed and the 14 acres of gardens maintained.

On her death in 1972, Mrs Jones left the house and garden to the National Trust, thereby saving the estate from the threat of sale and subdivision, and allowing the public to enjoy the estate.

Of particular note in the grounds are the lake, ferneries, swimming pool and associated ballroom (1939), stable complex (1868). The rooms of the basement kitchen complex are also of special interest, having been built in the 1880s and then abandoned in 1938 following the installation of a modern kitchen on the ground floor. Today they are a rare surviving Australian example of a 19th century kitchen suite; comprising kitchen, scullery, pantries, cool rooms, servants' hall and wine cellar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rippon_Lea_Estate


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Sir Frederick Thomas Sargood (1834-1903), Owner of Ripponlea Merchant and politician, was born on 30 May 1834 at Walworth, London, son of Frederick James Sargood (d.1873), merchant, and his wife Emma, née Rippon, daughter of a chief cashier of the Bank of England. Young Sargood, his education at 'private schools' in England presumably complete, arrived with his parents and five sisters in Melbourne in the Clifton on 12 February 1850. He worked briefly as a clerk in the Public Works Department before joining the wholesale softgoods business of Sargood, King & Co., which his father had already established. He spent some time on the Mount Alexander goldfields in 1852-54, and managed the firm's business in the Bendigo-Castlemaine district. In 1858 he married Marian Australia, daughter of George Rolfe, merchant and later a member of the Legislative Council; next year he became a junior partner in the firm. His father, a radical in politics and a voluntaryist in religion, was member of the Legislative Council for Melbourne in 1853-56 and of the Legislative Assembly for St Kilda in 1856-57 before returning to England. Meanwhile the firm had prospered, extending its operations to other colonies, including New Zealand in 1863. Partners came and went, but the Sargoods remained dominant.

Sargood entered the Legislative Council in 1874 at a by-election for the Central Province, and a merger in 1879 with the firm of Martin, Butler and Nichol gave him more time for public affairs. His wife had died in childbirth on 6 January and in March 1880 he resigned from the council to take his nine children to England. On 2 December at the Independent Chapel, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Sargood married Julia Tomlin, aged 34, and the family returned in October 1882.

Sargood held the Legislative Council seat of South Yarra in 1882-1901. On 13 November 1883 he joined the Service-Berry ministry as Victoria's first minister of defence. He had long had an interest in the subject, having joined the Victorian Volunteer Artillery in 1859 as a private, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Described as 'one of the best shots in Victoria' he was also closely involved in the rifle club movement; he had formed the St Kilda Rifle Corps in 1859. As minister Sargood backed an energetic programme to build up the Victorian navy, local fortifications and armament supplies, especially during the Russian war scare in March-May 1885. His task of organizing the change-over from volunteer to paid militia forces involved him in controversy with the new commandant, Colonel Disney, who believed that he should report direct to the governor. Sargood quickly disabused him and in 1885 appointed Major-General M. F. Downes


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as departmental secretary. This issue forced the Colonial Office to accept local control of defence. Many of Sargood's admirers considered the formation of the school cadet corps in 1884 his greatest monument. Commissioner of water-supply from April 1884 to 18 February 1886, he again held the defence portfolio, together with public instruction, in the Munro government in 1890-92 and for three months under Turner in 1894, when he was also vice-president of the Board of Land and Works. Created C.M.G. in 1885 he became K.C.M.G. in 1890.

In 1888 Sargood had succeeded W. E. Hearn as unofficial leader of the Legislative Council. Like many other free traders in Victoria he became reconciled to a lost cause, and 'did not trouble to state whether he was a Conservative or Liberal'; his opposition to 'One Man One Vote' and to land taxation reveal his conservatism. Nevertheless, when introducing the factory bill in the council in 1885, he deplored the long hours he had worked as a young man, and praised his father's part in the early closing movement. In 1895-96 he was a leader in the consensus supporting legislation to set up the first wages

boards; and in 1900 he persuaded the council temporarily to accept new boards, thereby ensuring that the system would become the basis of industrial relations in Victoria. A firm believer in the role of the Upper House, Sargood was tactful and reasonable in his dealings with the assembly; indeed, by avoiding constitutional crises he consolidated the council's authority. A supporter of Federation, he was omitted from the Age list, and missed out on the 1897 Convention but, appropriately, was elected to the first Senate in 1901.

Sargood was a commissioner of savings banks in 1874-80 and of the Melbourne Harbour Trust in 1877-80, also a director of the Commercial Bank until about 1895. By the 1880s he was very wealthy, with land-holdings in New South Wales including Ellerslie (Tumut) and Jerilderie (Urana). Although he has not been identified as a 'land boomer', as president of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce in 1886-88 he did not doubt the sound basis of 'this unprecedented wave of prosperity'. His firm actually expanded in the depression of the 1890s. He was closely involved


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with the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, but his appointment as executive vice-president of the organizing commission provoked the resignation of Chief Justice Higinbotham from the presidency. Under Sargood the exhibition was a success but expensive.

Sargood was dapper and of medium height, with conventional beard and moustache and more than a suggestion of military style. With common sense, cool judgment and grasp of detail, he combined kindness and a sense of duty.

Photo by Alexandra Beza, Ripponlea Primary School

Sidney and Beatrice Webb found him pleasant and sensible. Although a prominent supporter of the Congregational Church he refrained from joining, reputedly because he held opinions on rites and ceremonies similar to those of the Quakers. As a philanthropist he was 'not ostentatious in his charity, but large in his gifts'. He was also renowned as a generous host at his exuberant and famous mansion, Rippon Lea, designed by J. Reed, built in 1868-69 and set in superb gardens and grounds complete with miniature rifle range.

Sargood died suddenly on 2 January 1903, on a holiday in New Zealand. On a scorching day in Melbourne thousands watched his funeral procession, which included eight massed bands, 1200 cadets and a firing-party of 300. He was buried in St Kilda cemetery, where members of the Metropolitan Liedertafel, of which he had been president, sang Sullivan's 'The Long Day Closes'. He was survived by Lady Sargood and their daughter, and by five sons and four daughters of his first marriage. His estate was valued for probate at £680,000; he also had substantial property in New South Wales, Western Australia and New Zealand.

John Rickard, 'Sargood, Sir Frederick Thomas (1834 - 1903)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976.


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YOUR TOUR OF RIPPONLEA VILLAGE – A SNAPSHOT

Our tour starts at the park beside Ripponlea Railway Station. The first half of our walk takes us along the north side of Glen Eira Road towards Hotham Street. We return to the railway crossing and the second half takes us up the south side of Glen Eira Road, again towards Hotham Street.

Ripponlea Railway Station, Glen Eira Avenue (west side) The station complex, opened on Ist May 1913, is a rare intact Edwardian railway station. It was essential in developing the new suburb and shops of Ripponlea around World War One. Its fine architecture with parkland on both sides shows the romantic view of rail travel in Victoria's early history. Its buildings, footbridge, and platforms and cantilever verandas are all timber. There are pressed metal interiors. (see story) Burnett Grey Gardens, on either side of the station includes exotic plantings such as Canary Island Palms. The park is a rare example of a Railway reserve that is also a public garden. (see story)

Cross the railway crossing to the corner of Glen Eira Avenue and Glen Eira Road. The rail line was cut through Thomas Monahan’s land in 1868. Dental Clinic, Dental Laboratory, Corner Glen Eira Avenue and Glen Eira Rd

Turn left at Glen Eira Avenue Bayside Partners Counselling Service, 4 Glen Eira Avenue

Buffalo Café, 6 Glen Eira Ave

Esdel Fine Cuisine, 8 Glen Eira Avenue.


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Ki Vita, Ripponlea Station, Glen Eira Avenue (west side) Former Stationmaster’s Residence

Return to Glen Eira Road, turn left and walk up the shopping strip east towards Hotham Street. Our walk visits over seventy buildings, most of them businesses. Sansha Dancewear, 17 Glen Eira Road

Klein’s Gourmet Foods, 19 Glen Eira Road

Laundry, 21 Glen Eira Road

Sansha Dancewear, 23 Glen Eira Rd

The Nook Café, 25 Glen Eira Rd

Pizza and Pasta, 27 Glen Eira Rd

Yumi’s Fresh Quality Seafood (Kosher), 29 Glen Eira Rd (see story)


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Shoes and Boots, 31 Glen Eira Rd

Milk Bar, 33 Glen Eira Rd In 2010 the current owners had been here for 28 years.

Bukuria Smallgoods (Deli), 35 Glen Eira Rd

Ripponlea Fruit Shop, 37 Glen Eira Rd

IGA X-press, 39-41 Glen Eira Rd

St Petersburg Restaurant, 43 Glen Eira Rd

Salon Lelu, 45 Glen Eira Rd

47 – 55 were early shops built in the Ripponlea shopping centre. They were built in 1915 on Thomas Monahan’s land. B J Vass accountants, 47 Glen Eira Rd 1917 George Maydom, boot dealer, owner John Daley; 1927 Abraham Saunders, watchmaker & jeweller, owner J.R. Daley; 1934 Thomas Collins, hairdresser, owner occupier; 1944 Ernest Dunn, hairdresser, owner Athol Corney; 1974 Eric Dunn, hairdresser owner occupier


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Ripponlea Fish Supply (Kosher), 49 Glen Eira Rd. There has been a continuous fish shop in Ripponlea for a century although not in the same location (see story)

Victoria Fruit Palace, 51 Glen Eira Rd. This may is apparently the longest running continuous business in a single location in Ripponlea having been a fruiterer since the shop was built in 1915, over ninety years ago (see story).

Victoria Fruit Palace, 53 Glen Eira Rd

Hula, 55 Glen Eira Rd

Eshel, 57 Glen Eira Rd

Eshel, 59 Glen Eira Rd

Lyrebird Lounge, 61 Glen Eira Rd

Bala La Dhaba, 63 Glen Eira Rd (formerly on opposite side of road but relocated after a fire).


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Not Just Bagels, 65 Glen Eira Rd

Michael Krass Solicitors, 67 Glen Eira Rd

Firebrand Bakery, 69 Glen Eira Rd (see story)

Mens Hairdressing, 71 Glen Eira Rd (see story)

Former Brinsmead Pharmacy, 73 Glen Eira Rd (see story)

Bluestone Lane, between shops number 73 and 75 Glen Eira Rd Bluestone is volcanic rock used extensively to construct Melbourne’s early buildings and roads. Much was transported from north side of the river by barge, cart and horse and laid by hand. Chisel marks found in the stone in the shape of ‘fingers’ indicate where the blocks were split.

The lane above takes you to the main bluestone lane servicing the rear of the shops north of Glen Eira Road.

Kosher Delight (Deli), 75 Glen Eira Rd


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Aveda Nylon Hair, 77 Glen Eira Rd

For Lease (formerly Unreal Plants), 79 Glen Eira Rd

Laundry services, 81 Glen Eira Rd

Bizpro Victoria, 83 Glen Eira Rd

Australia Post, 85 Glen Eira Rd

Ripponlea Drug Store

Hotham Street

Grocery, formerly Top Shop, cnr Hotham and Glen Eira Road


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Parking

Punctual Plumbers and builders

PART TWO RIPPONLEA GUIDE We have just finished exploring the shops on the north side of the Ripponlea strip. Now we will explore the south side numbers 32 - 84. Return to where we started at Ripponlea railway crossing. Cross to the opposite i.e. south side of Glen Ira Road and again start walking east towards Hotham Street.

Ripponlea Nail Shop, 32-4 Glen Eira Road

Australia On-line Printing, 36 Glen Eira Road

Fitness Fever, Personal Training 38 Glen Eira Road

Fitness Fever, 40 Glen Eira Road

Rosenbloom Automotive, 42–44 Glen Eira Road


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Clothing Alteration and Shoe Repair, 46 Glen Eira Road

Kink, 48 Glen Eira Road

Interior Illusion 50 Glen Eira Road

Interior Illusion 50 Glen Eira Road (Note painted art deco sign above verandah ‘Jacob’s For Hair’)

RESTART Computer Services 52 Glen Eira Road

Exodus Travel, 54 Glen Eira Road

Vacant (previously Bala Da Dhaba Indian Restaurant)

Vacant (previously Bala Da Dhaba Indian Restaurant) cnr Qta Qatta Avenue and Glen Eira Road (Note sign above Geo Symons Block 1922)


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Quat Quatta Avenue

Turn right at Quat Quatta Avenue and walk to Quat Quatta mansion on the right side of the Road. Note the bluestone lane servicing the rear of the shops on the west side

Quat Quatta 1889, 17 Quat Quatta Avenue (see story)

Return to Glen Eira Road and continue walking towards Hotham Street. Staypress Dryclean, 60 Glen Eira Road

Kraus Confectioner, 62 Glen Eira Road

Unreal Flowers (former), Glen Eira Road

Closed, 66 Glen Eira Road


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Muku Organical Baby 68 Glen Eira Road (see story)

Miriam Bereson and Friends, 70 Glen Eira Road

Design Emporium, 72 Glen Eira Road

Attica Restaurant, 74 Glen Eira Road In 2009 this restaurant was voted Restaurant of the Year by the Age Formerly ANZ Bank

Zeimers and Hor, 76 Glen Eira Road (Note sign: Angel Poo on sale here)

Former Ripponlea Newsagent, 78 Glen Eira Road. This beautiful classical building was apparently the previous State Bank and Commonwealth Bank.

Village Garage, 86 Glen Eira Road

Bosky Blooms, 82 Glen Eira Road


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Dental Surgery, Glen Eira Road

Hotham Street and Glen Eira Road Corner

Look east across the intersection. BBE Automatics is located east of Hotham Street on the far side of a large block of vacant land formerly a large wood yard for many years and more recently a service station. Beyond BBE is Solomon’s Kosher foods.

Turn right and walk south along Hotham Street to Ripponlea mansion on east side of road. Note the service lane servicing the rear of the Glen Eira Road shops (south side)

Ripponlea Estate, Hotham Street (see story)

Return to Glen Eira Road

Photo by Felicity Giannis, Ripponlea Primary School 2009

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