Carlton Community History Group

The Carlton Community History Group (CCHG) was established by a committed group of people interested in the history of Carlton, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. CCHG was incorporated in 2007 and launched at the Carlton library in 2008.

We invite you to explore this website, find out more about us, share your recollections and participate in our meetings and activities.

Check out our new publications page and order form.

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A Daring Feat in Carlton

Hot air balloons are a familiar early-morning sight in Carlton, harking back to a more romantic era in air transport. In February 1908, thousands of spectators paid sixpence apiece to watch aeronaut Alphonse Stewart execute a daring triple parachute descent from a hot air balloon. This was not first parachute descent seen in Melbourne - several years previously another aeronaut had descended in a single drop - but it was the first involving a series of three parachutes, each of which was cut away as the next one opened.¹

The 28 year old French Canadian, dashingly dressed in "a bright blue suit of tights", took off from the Exhibition Oval in the Carlton Gardens and waved to the cheering crowd as the balloon rapidly ascended to several thousand feet. The crowd watched with excitement and tredipation as the aeronaut appeared to drop from the sky, before each of the three parachutes opened and carried him back down to earth. In his first descent on 15 February 1908, Stewart narrowly missed telegraph wires and landed safely in Station Street Carlton. His second descent on 19 February took him further, landing in Lygon Street North Carlton. Stewart was cheered on by the crowd, but not everyone was happy with the outcome. Collingwood butcher Hughie Hart had his cart commandeered to carry the aeronaut and his parachute, causing considerable damage to the vehicle. The abandoned hot air balloon landed on Mr Dainty's house at 179 Pigdon Street and, as reported by the North Suburban Chronicle, "luckily no one happened to be very near at the time".^2,3,4,5

Stewart's third and final descent on 22 February almost saw his demise. The daring aeronaut landed in the Melbourne General Cemetery, breaking his right leg and putting him out of action for some time. While Alphonse Stewart had suffered many cuts and bruises in his 10 year aeronautic career, this was the first time he actually sustained a broken bone - ironically in the last ten feet of a 3,000 feet descent.^6,7,8

¹ The Argus, 17 February 1908, p. 4
² ibid
³ The Argus, 20 February 1908, p. 5
⁴ The Argus, 21 February 1908, p. 3
⁵ North Suburban Chronicle, 22 February 1908
⁶ The Argus, 24 February 1908, p. 4
⁷ Sydney Morning Herald, 17 January 1908, p. 5

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The Pink Pills and the Grocer's Wife

A grocery store in Carlton was the focus of a major advertising campaign for Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People in the late 19th century. Described as "a neat and natty grocery store at the corner of Rathdown and Palmerston Streets", the business at 425 Rathdowne Street was operated by Thomas Scott Ross and his wife Margaret from 1899 to 1900. In an investigation by the Carlton Gazette, Margaret spoke of how she suffered from neuralgia for years and experienced great relief after taking the patent medicine. The Pink Pills, with active ingredients of iron oxide and magnesium sulphate, were claimed to "cure all diseases arising from a poor and watery condition of the blood".^1,2

The grocery store was already well established when Mrs Ross and her husband took over the business, having operated at the site since 1875. John Dyall was the first grocer (1875-1888), followed by Richards & Sons (1889-1894), C.A. Mayberry (1895) and C.J. Scott (1896-1898). After Thomas Ross, Frank Morley ran the business from 1901 to 1904, then Mrs E.S. Bustard for one year and E.J. Chynoweth from 1906 to 1916.³

Then 425 Rathdowne Street had a change of function, with the arrival of Henry Lehrer, machinist (1917-1922), Mrs Sima Leykin, white work manufacturer and costumier (1923-1933) and Isaac Chanen, clothing manufacturer (1934-1937).⁴ The longest-serving occupant was Morie Oliver, bootmaker and repairer, from 1938 to 1969. Mr Oliver was born Juda Mosiek Ilower in Poland in 1886 and he arrived in Australia in 1936. He changed his name by deed poll in 1941 and was naturalised in 1942.^5,6

The building and surrounding properties were demolished by 1970 to make way for the new Neill Street School, opened by the Minister for Education, Lindsay Thompson, in February 1973.⁷ School children now play on the corner site where, over 100 years ago, Margaret Ross experienced her miraculous cure.

¹ The West Australian, 11 January 1899, p.3
² Directions for using Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People [Information brochure]
³ Sands & McDougall 1875-1916
⁴ Sands & McDougall 1917-1970
⁵ The Argus, 16 February 1942, p. 2
⁶ NAA:B6531 Naturalised/1939-1945/Oliver Morie (National Archives of Australia)
⁷ Carlton : a history, Melbourne University Press, 1904, p. 286

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Photo: CCHG Ego Sum Pastor Bonus - I am the Good Shepherd 88 Rathdowne Street Carlton 1 Building occupancy information sourced from Sands & McDougall, 1890-1974 2 Australian Architectural Index 3 Australian Dictionary of Biography online 4 Death Index Victoria, 1921-1985 5 Davine, Annamaria. Building community : fifty years of the Pastorelle Sisters in Australia. Italian Australian Institute, La Trobe University, 2008

From Wood Yard to Medical Clinic The closure of the Carlton Clinic at 88 Rathdowne Street Carlton could bring to an end a long history of medical practice and service to the community. The ten room building, which occupies the entire Rathdowne Street frontage between Macarthur Place North and Elgin Street, was designed by Wight & Lucas and built in 1889-90 on the site of Carson's former wood yard.1, 2 The original owner, Dr Frank Hobill Cole, was born in Carlton in 1863 and educated at Scotch College, East Melbourne. He was qualified in both pharmacy and medicine, graduating from the School of Pharmacy in 1884, and the University of Melbourne with M.B., Ch.B. in 1887. He began his medical career at the Melbourne Hospital for Sick Children, located in Pelham Street Carlton, and continued a life-long interest in paediatrics. Dr Cole commenced private practice at 76 Rathdowne Street (re-numbered 88) in 1890, and later at Lister House in Collins Street Melbourne. In 1921, Dr Alan Bothwell McCutcheon, one of Cole's former students, joined the practice at 88 Rathdowne Street. Dr Cole retired in the early 1920s and died in Mornington in 1934, aged 71.3 Dr McCutcheon continued to practice at 88 Rathdowne Street until 1959, thus ending 69 years of continuous medical service at the site. He died in 1962, aged 75.4 From 1959-60 to 1963, the building was occupied by the Pastorelle Sisters, an order of Italian nuns who arrived in Australia in 1955 to assist migrants and newly-arrived proxy brides. The Sisters operated a girls' hostel at 197 Drummond Street Carlton for a few years, then moved to larger premises at 88 Rathdowne Street. The Order is remembered in the wording Ego Sum Pastor Bonus - I am the Good Shepherd - that appears in the glass above the front door.5 In the 1960s and 1970s, the building was converted to flats and housed multiple occupants. But 88 Rathdowne Street has since returned to its medical roots, as a vasectomy clinic and, more recently, a general medical practice.

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