On November 29, 1887 at 2.00pm a sale of township allotments in Garfield took place at the Auction rooms of Munro and Baillieu, 40 Collins Street, Melbourne. Some of the blocks were 'improved' and some 'unimproved.'
Advertisement for the sale of Garfield Township lots
The ‘upset’ price was £10 per foot and the purchaser also had to pay survey costs. These allotments were south of the Railway line, running from just west of Thirteen Mile Road to the Fourteen Mile Road.
Garfield Township plan
Public Records Office of Victoria
The Garfield Township Plan shows us that the purchasers at this first land sale were -
Lot 1 - G. Sweet
Lot 2 - F. Steed
Lots 3 & 18 - M. Ryan
Lot 4 - W. Harnwell
Lots 5, 8 & 15 - M. Hood
Lots 6 & 11 - A. Ritchie
Lot 7 - A.E Biggs
Lot 9 - J.W Borland
Lots 10 & 16 - M. Pasquan
Lot 12 - M.I Jones
Lot 13 - W.M.K Vale
Lot 14 – J. Pearson
Lot 15a – Reserved for Police purposes
Lot 17 - F.G Hartley
Lot 19 - A.E Dangerfield.
In the 1889/1890 Shire of Berwick Rate books, the first year the properties were listed there, we find the ownership of some blocks had already changed hands. I have also listed the Net Annual Value (NAV).
Lot 1 & 2 - Martin Ryan. Occupation - publican. NAV £10.
Lots 3, 8, 13 & 15 - Martin Hood. NAV £20.
Lot 4, 5, 9, 16 & 17 - Owner - no names listed. NAV £25.
Lots 6 - Adam Ritchie. Occupation - carrier. NAV £12.
Lot 7 - William Biggs. NAV £8.
Lot 10 - Mrs M. Pasquan. NAV £8.
Lot 11 - William Travers; Rated paid by Robert Amason. NAV £8.
Lot 12 - Thomas Shipton, tenant. Owner not listed. NAV £8.
Lot 14 – John Pearson. NAV £8.
Lot 15a – Reserved for Police purposes
Lot 18 - Joseph Walker. Occupation: Biscuit maker. NAV £5.
Lot 19 - A.E. Dangerfield, leased by Michael Lawlor. NAV £8.
Some of the lots, as you can see by the Rate Book entries, above, it appears the Council were not aware of who the owners were. It is possible that they were purchased as a speculative venture and then the owners considered the blocks were not worth paying the rates on.
I have tried to find out some more information about these original land owners from the Rate Books and other sources, some of whom may have been speculators as they didn’t live locally. Adam Ritchie was a carrier. I assume he was the same Adam Ritchie who was the brother of George and Alexander Ritchie, who owned various parcels of land from Nar Nar Goon to Garfield. His sister, Jane, married Richard Fortune and they lived on Bald Hill Road, Nar Nar Goon. W.M.K Vale is listed as owning not only Lot 13 in Garfield but five different lots in Bunyip. A. E. Dangerfield was an accountant, address Melbourne. W. Harnwell’s address was in Little Collins Street; Martin Hood is listed as a ‘Gentleman’ and his address is also Melbourne.
Martin Pasquan, an original land-owner, sadly, died on November 19, 1888 at the age of 45
(1). His wife, Fanny, then took over the ownership of the block, and as she is the first female land owner in Garfield and held the land until 1902, we will have a closer look at her life. Her occupation in the Rate Books was listed as ‘Lady’ which belied her real role in life as a publican running various hotels.
Martin Pasquan had married Fanny Pascoe on February 13, 1874; she was a 21 year old housemaid and he was the 29 year old publican of the Station Hotel in Footscray. Martin had been born in Fiume, Hungary to Cosmo and Matilda (nee Matteo) Pasquan and Fanny had been born in Cornwall, England to William and Eliza (nee Thomas) Pascoe.
(2). Fiume is now part of Croatia.
They had already had a child before the marriage, Paulina, who was born in 1872 and died the next year aged only 7 months old. Their other children were Martin, 1875-1878; Cosmo, 1877-1879; Maximillian, born 1879; Roberto 1881-1885; Florinda 1886 - died the same year aged 11 months. (3). It really was a tragic time for the family - losing five children as infants and then Martin dying so young.
Martin Pasquan's Albion Hotel, Therry Street Melbourne
State Library of Victoria Image H32088/121
After Martin left the Station Hotel, he held the licence of the Hotel de Roma on the corner of Brunswick Street and Victoria Parade. The family then moved to the Albion Hotel in Therry Street, Melbourne. The next venture was a restaurant at 148 Little Collins Street, where he
supplied between 500 and 600 meals daily. At the time of his death, he was at Pasquan’s Hotel, 60 Bourke Street
(4). After his death Fanny took over the licence of their Hotel.
(5)
Fanny remarried on July 27, 1889 to Joseph Pasquan. Their marriage certificate lists his age as 30, occupation as a Tobacconist, birth place as Fiume and parents as Martin and Maria Pasquan. (6). Was he Martin's younger brother (there were 16 years age difference) or a cousin or even a nephew?
Warragul, as it would have looked when Joseph and Fanny Pasquan arrived in 1909, to take over the license of the Railway Hotel.
The building on the right is the Orient Hotel; the Railway Hotel is the building in the centre with the two storied verandah and the white horse out the front.
State Library of Victoria Image H33674/13
Joseph and Fanny had one daughter Lorinda (also called Linda), born in 1891. They operated various hotels including the Terminus Hotel in King Street, the Morning Star Hotel in South Yarra, the Commercial Hotel at Wangaratta and in 1909 they took over the Railway Hotel at Warragul (7). When Fanny Pasquan died on August 21, 1918, at the age of 64, they were at the Parade Hotel in Wellington Street, East Melbourne. Joseph died on August 11, 1935 (8).
Death notice of Fanny Pasquan
Lorinda was a talented singer, who studied singing in Rome under Madame Falchi and was an exponent of all the graces and characteristics of the old world's artists. (9). There are frequent newspaper reports of her concert appearances throughout Victoria - Warragul, Donald, Bacchus Marsh, Mornington, Williamstown, Drysdale and at the Melbourne Town Hall where it was reported that -
Miss Linda Pasquan, who has often delighted Warragul audiences with her singing, was accorded quite a flattering reception at the Melbourne Town Hall recently, at a concert given by the Ragged Boys' Home. It is an honor to be included in a programme performed in the legislative hall of the city, and still more so to receive such a flattering reception and gain an unmistakable encore. (10)
Linda Pasquan's wedding to Thomas Tyrer
Standing: Mrs. Canny (matron of honor), Mr. W. Podmore (best man), Mrs. Tyrer (mother of bridegroom), Bridegroom, Bride, Mr. Pasquan (father of bride), Mr. B. Downing (groomsman), Mrs. L. Jeacle (matron of honor), Mrs. H. Verge. In front—Misses Nina Terdich and Raie Langley (bridesmaids).
On November 17, 1919 she married Thomas William Tyrer at St Francis' Catholic Church in Melbourne. Table Talk reported that -
The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a handsome gown of ivory duchesse satin and georgette, trimmed with Limerick lace. The court train was prettily ornamented with shell pink ninon and orange blossom. An exquisite veil of Limerick lace was worn, with a coronet of silver leaves, and she carried a sheaf of water lilies. (11)
Linda Pasquan on her wedding day
The same month as her marriage, Lorinda had applied for the licence of the Union Club Hotel in Geelong. After Geelong they had the Terminus Hotel in Tocumwal; then Lorinda held the licence of the the Club Hotel in Murtoa, Golf Club Hotel in Lower Plenty and the Pier Hotel in Port Melbourne (12). From around 1936 to 1945 the Electoral Rolls show that Lorinda and Thomas lived at 78 Victoria Street in Richmond, and his occupation was listed as a watchmaker. Thomas died November 1, 1945 and Lorinda then lived with their two daughters - Yvonne Lillian and Lorinda Patricia - at 148 Barkers Road, Hawthorn. (13) Lorinda died on January 26, 1964. (14) Interestingly, young Lorinda, known as Lorrie, was a watchmaker. She was interviewed in The Argus in October 1947, when she was 23 and she said that she had began her apprentice ship with her father and after his death took over his Bridge Road business (15).
Death notice of Lorinda Tyrer (nee Pasquan)
The Age January 28, 1964 newspapers.com
Back to Maximillian, born in 1879 and the only surviving child of the marriage of Fanny and Martin. In December 1904, he married Mary Maddern in Melbourne but it was a short lived marriage as in April 1908 Mary took him to Court suing for maintenance. In her evidence she said that on the day after the marriage he had left and gone to Western Australia where he was until February 1908 when he sent her a telegraph saying meet me at the Ascot Vale Railway Station, prepare for bad news. When they met he said I don’t like you anymore. I like somebody else better. The Court ordered him to pay her 10 shillings per week and they divorced in 1911. (16). In 1918 when his mother died he was living in Ponsonby, New Zealand, with his wife Ruby May Elizabeth (nee Raymond) whom he married in 1915. He remained in New Zealand where he died in 1953, aged 74. (17).
Even though Fanny Pasquan never lived in Garfield she deserves to be recognised as the first woman to own land in the town, as a business woman running family hotels and as a woman who overcame the tragic death of five of her children.
Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Trove connected to the Pasquan family, access it
here.
Footnotes
(1)
The Argus, November 20, 1888, see
here.
(2) Marriage Certificate
(3) Victorian Indexes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages; Family notices see my Trove list.
(4) Station Hotel, Footscray -
Williamstown Advertiser December 18, 1875, see
here; Hotel de Roma -
The Argus November 22, 1877, see
here; Albion Hotel -
The Age September 26, 1878, see
here;
148 Little Collins Street - December 19, 1883, see here; Pasquans Hotel - The Age June 22, 1888, see here(5)
The Argus, November 27, 1888, see
here.
(6) Marriage Certificate
(7) Terminus Hotel -
The Argus, November 6, 1890, see
here; Morning Star Hotel -
Prahran Telegraph, April 7, 1900 see
here; Commercial Hotel -
North Eastern Ensign, October 27, 1905, see
here; Railway Hotel,
West Gippsland Gazette, May 18 1909, see
here.
(8)
The Herald, October 21, 1918, see
here;
The Argus, August 12 1935, see
here.
(9)
Punch, July 1, 1909, see
here;
Geelong Advertiser, March 8, 1920, see
here - this article lists her teacher as Madame Palchime of Rome.
(10)
West Gippsland Gazette, July 18, 1911, see
here.
(11)
Table Talk, December 4, 1919, see
here.
(12) Union Club Hotel -
Geelong Advertiser, November 13 1919 see
here; Terminus Hotel -
Cobram Courier, January 29, 1925, see
here; Club Hotel -
Horsham Times April 24, 1925, see
here; Golf Club Hotel - listed there in the 1931 Electoral Rolls; Pier Hotel -
The Age, January 17, 1933, see
here(13) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com
(14) Death notice, The Age, January 28, 1964.
(15)
The Argus, November 15, 1947, see
here.
(16)
The Herald, April 14, 1908, see
here;
The Age, August 17, 1911, see
here.
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