We will start with David and Sarah Cole -
David Cole married Sarah Ann Shorthouse in February 1877 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. They were both 27 years of age and his occupation was a Nurseryman. They arrived in Melbourne on the Garonne in September 1883 with their four daughters - Bertha Kathleen aged 5; Edith Cameron, aged 3; Margaret Shorthouse, aged 2 and baby Catherine. After their arrival they had another daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, who was born in Brighton and died at the age of 3 months and a son David Cameron Cole in 1890, also born in Brighton. (1) At some time they moved to Adelaide and their children got married - Edith had married William Drury in 1906 in Melbourne and lived in Footscray; Margaret married Professor Arthur Davis of Mackenzie College, Sao Paulo, Brazil in Sao Paulo in 1909. Margaret was a Missionary in Brazil and the couple later lived in the state of New York. It would be interesting to know how they met. Margaret's marriage announcement in the Adelaide Evening Journal noted she was the daughter of David Cole of North Adelaide. Catherine married John Schiller in Adelaide in 1907 and David, the only son married Myrtle Jackson in Adelaide in 1913. (2) David and Myrtle were the grandparents of our Museum visitor from Adelaide.
David Cole married Sarah Ann Shorthouse in February 1877 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. They were both 27 years of age and his occupation was a Nurseryman. They arrived in Melbourne on the Garonne in September 1883 with their four daughters - Bertha Kathleen aged 5; Edith Cameron, aged 3; Margaret Shorthouse, aged 2 and baby Catherine. After their arrival they had another daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, who was born in Brighton and died at the age of 3 months and a son David Cameron Cole in 1890, also born in Brighton. (1) At some time they moved to Adelaide and their children got married - Edith had married William Drury in 1906 in Melbourne and lived in Footscray; Margaret married Professor Arthur Davis of Mackenzie College, Sao Paulo, Brazil in Sao Paulo in 1909. Margaret was a Missionary in Brazil and the couple later lived in the state of New York. It would be interesting to know how they met. Margaret's marriage announcement in the Adelaide Evening Journal noted she was the daughter of David Cole of North Adelaide. Catherine married John Schiller in Adelaide in 1907 and David, the only son married Myrtle Jackson in Adelaide in 1913. (2) David and Myrtle were the grandparents of our Museum visitor from Adelaide.
From 1910, David and Sarah lived on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, on land owned by Frank Shillabeer, more of whom later. The Cranbourne Shire Rate books of 1904/1905 show that Frank purchased 110 acres, Allotment 14, Section T, Parish of Koo Wee Rup and the next year, the adjoining Allotment 13, of 81 acres. I don't believe Frank ever lived on the property which was on the road between Cora Lynn and Bayles (apparently this road is called the Tynong-Bayles Road) and the property adjoins Ropers Lane on the Bayles side.
The location of the Shillabeer property, marked with red stars.
Koo-Wee-Rup, County of Mornington drawn and reproduced at the Dept. of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, 1939.
State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/104366
The Rate books list Walter Fisher as the tenant from 1906, until 1910/1911 when David Cole took over. I don't know what type of farming David undertook on the property it may have been grazing or possibly market gardening. In 1920 he wrote a letter to the Weekly Times which outlined his horticultural experience -
David Cole (Cora Lynn) writes:- The experiments mentioned in the issue of June are interesting, and will help people to better understand plant life. In my 50 years' experience of horticulture and agriculture, I have been surprised how few understand plant life and how to work the different types of soil to get the best results, with healthy crops.
Electrification of seeds to sprout three days earlier is of no value. You can get the same results if you soak seeds in manure water made from fresh stable droppings. Nature's way of electrifying soils to provide plant food is simply good tillage. We know the benefit of simple fallow; but how much more can we do by ploughing that fallow three or four times in the season. The soil picks up nitrogen, which, sweetened by sun and atmosphere, is electrified. Farmers usually plough only a few inches deep. If you tell them to plough deep, they refuse, saying "If I turn up all that sour subsoil it will grow nothing."
That is true if they sow on the sour soil, but the object is to make the sour subsoil as good as the surface soil. The next deep ploughing brings the old soil to the surface again. Such a system will double the crop.
It is a true saying that one extra ploughing is as good as a big dressing of manure; but if farmers would put a foundation into a portion of their land every year by ploughing it about four times in a season, well working with harrows, and ploughing deeper each time (to one foot) there will be a permanent improvement, and after that time land will need only ordinary ploughing for some years. Soil treated in this way will increase the yield from 10 bushels to 40 bushels an acre. A deep sweet soil, with more plant food, will stand drought, as well as an extra wet season, because there is better drainage for water to get away. The tender rootlets will not rot, and there will be no rust. My opinion is that such diseases occur because the tender rootlets rot and check circulation. The rust develops in this unconverted sap. How did the old time English farmers average from 40 to 70 bushels of wheat an acre on land no better than ours? Simply by good cultivation. Their compost or manure heaps (hundreds of loads) were turned over in winter three or four times, so doubling its value. Plant food when so sweetened is electrified by the atmosphere. In 1868 I saw crops of 70 bushels an acre in Essex, and a few years after the same land was unlettable at 7/ an acre and unsalable at £7 an acre. There was a different class of farmer. (3)
Not only was David Cole an experienced farmer but he was a regular race goer and in 1919 the Koo Wee Rup Sun could report that he had attended 36 Melbourne Cup meetings
Mr Cole and the Melbourne Cup.
Koo Wee Rup Sun, November 19, 1919, p. 1
It was while he was at Cora Lynn that his wife Sarah died on February 9, 1919. (4) She is buried at the Bunyip Cemetery.
Sarah Cole's obituary
Bunyip and Garfield Express, February 14, 1919, p.2.
Ropers Lane, which adjoined the farm, was the boundary of the Shire of Cranbourne and the Shire of Berwick, and this seemed to cause some confusion with the address. The property address was initially Koo Wee Rup and then Cora Lynn. In the 1921/1922 Rate books David Cole's address changed from Cora Lynn to became Bayles. Bayles was a station on the Strzelecki Railway line, the first stop out of Koo Wee Rup, and the line officially opened in June 1922. Bayles did not exist before the railway line the area had previously been known as Yallock; however it soon became known as Bayles, due to the name of the station. (5)
David Cole died July 17, 1934 (6) and the Koo Wee Rup Sun had the following short reference to his death. He is buried with Sarah at the Bunyip Cemetery.
David Cole's death
Koo Wee Rup Sun, July 26, 1934 p. 1
David's death ended the Cole family connection to the land on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, however Frank Shillabeer still owned the land and John Fechner, leased the land for several years. Frank sold the land in September 1949 to Richard Pirrie, of 136 Exhibition Street, Melbourne for £6,500. (7)
We will now look at Frank Shillabeer, Frank was born in Totnes in Devonshire, and was baptised on February 24, 1867. He was the eleventh and last child of Samuel and Eliza (nee Drew) Shillabeer who had married in 1843. He was apprenticed to a carpenter from the age of 13 and emigrated to Melbourne in 1886, arriving on the Orizaba on November 1, 1886. (8) His brother Frederick (1862-1927) also migrated to Australia and lived in Footscray.
In 1888 he married Jane Winifred Ford. The couple lived in Footscray and their first child Frederick Ernest arrived in 1889 and their second son, Roy Francis, in 1895. On August 2, 1898 Jane gave birth to a still-born daughter. (9) Sadly, this led to her death two months later on October 1. The Footscray Independent had the following obituary -
The flying of the flag half-mast at the Town Hall on Saturday morning, indicated the demise of one of our citizens, and it was soon learned that Mrs Shillabeer, wife of Cr F.E. Shillabeer, of Buckley street, had passed to that "bourn from whence no traveller returns." The deceased lady, who was only 31 years of age at the time of her decease, died in Dr. Sullivan's private hospital, Melbourne, shortly before 10 o'clock in the morning, never having recovered the consequences of her confinement in the beginning of August. The funeral took place on Monday, and in addition to many of our citizens, most of the Footscray councillors and officials joined the cortege, which wended its way to the Melbourne Cemetery. The burial service was conducted by the Rev. Toomath, C.E. The Footscray City Council on Wednesday directed that a letter of condolence be sent to Cr Shillabeer, who is very generally sympathised with in his sad and serious loss. The funeral obsequies were conducted by Messrs E. R. Warne and Son. (10)
He was elected to the Footscray Council in 1898 and defeated in 1919, having been the Mayor on three occasions - 1902, 1916 and 1917. (12) He was President of the Master Builders' and Contractors' Association, President of the Footscray Football Club in 1912, a Commissioner of the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works for sixteen years and a Melbourne City Councillor from 1915 until 1922. (13). It seems unusual to serve as a Councillor at two municipalities at once, and in fact so unusual, that in 1918 The Herald had a short report on the issue.
Representing two Councils
The Herald, August 23, 1918 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242738233
The reason, of course, that Frank Shillabeer could devote himself to his business and public life was that he had a wife to look after his children and domestic life. After the sad death of his first wife, on October 29, 1900 33 year-old Frank married 22 year-old Bertha Kathleen Cole, the eldest daughter of David and Sarah Cole, at Holy Trinity Church, Oakleigh. His address was Footscray and her occupation was 'home with parents' and her address was Murrumbeena. (14)
Frank and Bertha Shillabeer, the Mayor and Mayoress of Footscray.
Footscray Independent, September 6, 1902 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73264530
The couple, who had no children together, lived in Footscray, initially at 74 Buckley Street and around 1915 moved to Amaryllis, 46 Geelong Road. This mansion had been built for John Currie Johnson in the 1880s. Johnson was an Engineer and owned the Tyne Foundary in South Melbourne. (15) Amaryllis still stands, the verandahs have been removed and it is now the home of the Footscray RSL; it had been purchased in 1921 for use as a Memorial Hall, as the Footscray Independent reported -
Mr F. E. Shillabeer's residence, in Geelong-road has been, purchased by the Memorial Hall trustees, and will be converted into a memorial hall as soon as circumstances allow. The price paid was £3900, and the vendor has agreed, to take half this amount as a deposit, and allow twelve months for the balance to be paid. No interest will be charged, and Mr. Shillabeer has promised, to give £50 per annum for five years towards the maintenance cost. (16)
Amaryllis, 46 Geelong Road, the home of Frank and Bertha Shillabeer, c. 1913.
Image: Footscray: a pictorial record of the Municipality from 1859 to 1988 (City of Footscray, 1989), p. 27
After leaving Footscray, Frank and Bertha lived at 458 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, which is where they were when Frank died on November 23, 1949. (17)
The Age of November 24, 1949 had the following obituary of Frank, which also outlines his connection to horse racing -
Mr. Frank E. Shillabeer, for many years a member of the City Council, Footscray council and Metropolitan Board, and a leading builder, who was associated with the construction of many of Melbourne's prominent buildings, died yesterday. He was 82. Mr. Shillabeer, who was born in Devonshire, England, was active in municipal life. He was mayor of Footscray three times. He had been prominent in the racing sphere since he first became an owner more than 30 years ago. His most famous horse was Shadow King, who was placed in four Melbourne Cups, and was well-known as a police trooper's mount. Under the name of "Monckton Franklin," Mr. Shillabeer won the Grand National Hurdle with Sandule in 1920. He joined the Williamstown Racing Club in 1917 and was elected a committee member in December, 1931. When the merger with the V.T. and R.A. as the Melbourne Racing Club was effected he became a member of the committee of the new club, a position he held until the time of his death. He leaves a wife and two sons. (18)
Mr. Frank E. Shillabeer, for many years a member of the City Council, Footscray council and Metropolitan Board, and a leading builder, who was associated with the construction of many of Melbourne's prominent buildings, died yesterday. He was 82. Mr. Shillabeer, who was born in Devonshire, England, was active in municipal life. He was mayor of Footscray three times. He had been prominent in the racing sphere since he first became an owner more than 30 years ago. His most famous horse was Shadow King, who was placed in four Melbourne Cups, and was well-known as a police trooper's mount. Under the name of "Monckton Franklin," Mr. Shillabeer won the Grand National Hurdle with Sandule in 1920. He joined the Williamstown Racing Club in 1917 and was elected a committee member in December, 1931. When the merger with the V.T. and R.A. as the Melbourne Racing Club was effected he became a member of the committee of the new club, a position he held until the time of his death. He leaves a wife and two sons. (18)
Death notice for Bertha Shillabeer
The Age, March 6, 1971, p.23. from newspapers.com
Bertha died February 28, 1971, aged 92, and was buried with Frank at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery. (19). As well as the death notice from her family, there was one from the After Care Hospital, Committee of Management. The After-Care Home (later Hospital) opened at 45 Victoria Parade Collingwood in February 1926 and was established by the Melbourne District Nursing Society (which later became the Royal District Nursing Service. The Sun News-Pictorial reported on the project -
It will have between 60 and 70 beds for sick people, who are not suitable for public hospitals, who cannot afford private nursing, and who are not able to get sufficient attention, nourishment and quiet in their own homes. It will be a unique experiment in the charitable history of Victoria - an intermediary between home and hospital. Patients will be admitted after leaving hospital, or before entering hospital, when needing nursing and rest. The district nurse comes across many such persons in her daily round. Doctors in the poorer suburbs, and doctors in the public hospitals, have long felt the need of such an institution. (20)
We can assume that Bertha and Frank visited her parents at Bayles; Frank may even have kept some horses on the property. Is this why Frank purchased the land in the first place, did he eventually hope to retire there or was it just a speculative venture? I cannot tell you.
Acknowledgement - Thank you to Bob Cole, our Museum visitor from Adelaide, who told me that Frank Shillabeer was David Cole's son-in-law, and added some personal information. In a later follow- up email Bob wrote - In the Swamp History you noted David Cole's daughter Margaret married in Brazil, & you wondered why she was there. My grandfather, also David Cameron Cole said Margaret was a missionary in Brazil. He also told us that Bertha did charity work for Chinese in Melbourne. David Cole's father was Job Cole also a nurseryman who built Crystal Palace in Sutton Coldfield. His mother was Frances Cameron the daughter of David Cameron, the first curator of Edgbaston Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.
I also obtained information about Frank Shillabeer from A history of Footscray by John Lack (Hargreen Publishing, 1991)
Footnotes
(1) Warwickshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1910, on Ancestry; Shipping records at the Public Records Office of Victoria; Index to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(2) Index to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Adelaide Evening Journal September 10, 1909, see here; Also see Acknowledgement.
Genealogy South Australia https://www.genealogysa.org.au/
(3) Weekly Times, June 26, 1920, see here.
(4) The Argus, February 12, 1919, see here.
(6) The Age, July 19, 1934, see here.
(7) Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books
(8) Devon, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 on Ancestry.com; Family tree created on Ancestry using the English census records; Footscray Independent, September 6, 1902, see here; Shipping records at the Public Records Office of Victoria.
(9) Index to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Footscray Independent, August 6, 1898, see here.
(10) Footscray Independent, October 8, 1898, see here;
(11) I have created a list of his building projects from articles on Trove; access the list here.
(12) Footscray Independent, August 20, 1898, see here; Footscray Independent, August 30, 1919, see here.
(13) Lack, John A history of Footscray (Hargreen Publishing, 1991); The Argus, January 15, 1920, see here; Yarraville Weekly News, January 30, 1915, see here; The Argus, September 6, 1922, see here.
(14) Marriage certificate
(15)Electoral Rolls; Lack, John A history of Footscray (Hargreen Publishing, 1991); Footscray: a pictorial record of the Municipality from 1859 to 1988 (City of Footscray, 1989); Footscray & Yarraville: a pictorial record (Footscray Historical Society, 2005); John Currie Johnson and Tyne Foundary https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-lady-loch-yarra-river-steam-ferry.html
(16) Footscray & Yarraville: a pictorial record (Footscray Historical Society, 2005). p. 162; Footscray Independent, May 28, 1921, see here.
(17) Electoral Rolls; Death notice The Argus, November 25, 1949, see here.
(18) The Age, November 24, 1949, see here.
(19) Death notice The Age, March 10, 1971, p.28. on newspapers.com
(20) The Sun News-Pictorial, November 21, 1925, see here; More information - The Argus, February 3, 1926, see here; Also EMelbourne https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01273b.htm
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