Vanished and Neglected in St Kilda

The St Kilda Botanical Gardens, also known as the Blessington Street Gardens, were once graced with a lily pond. This had been completed in August 1913. (1)  Adjacent to the pond is a drinking fountain, faced with bluestone. Historian, Patricia Convery, noted that the lily pond was dis-established in 1930, after a child drowned in it, and finally demolished in 1945. The death of the child is unverified. (2)  However, generations of oral transmission by local council gardeners posited the drowning death of a child in the pond as the precursor to its demise, which for the most part is supported by this divergent version of chronology is evidenced by The Herald of 11 December 1941 where the body of a baby, apparently murdered, was found in a fishpond in the Gardens (3).  The fountain remains in a neglected condition.

 Lily pond, St Kilda Botanical Gardens

St Kilda Historical collection 

https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e9644

St Kilda is also the home to another neglected bluestone drinking fountain, by Pier Road near to the Cowderoy Street Drain outlet. A photograph taken just over a year ago, shows it blocked and full of stagnant water and rubbish.

One of the issues with public infrastructure which is neglected by local councils or government departments, is that it encourages vandalism, and the attitude that these historic structures do not matter. We are unlikely to see the Blessington Street Gardens lily pond re-established, but couldn't the 110 year old drinking fountain and its Pier Road companion, be restored to working order? 

Pier Road neglected drinking fountain, July 2022

Image: © VanishedVictoria

Pier Road neglected drinking fountain, July 2022

Image: © VanishedVictoria

Acknowledgement

This posting was inspired by local gardener, Vu : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhKeYnvsycU&t=29s

Footnotes

(1) Prahran Telegraph, August 9, 1913, here.

(2) St Kilda Botanical Gardens: a social snapshot of its first hundred years by Patricia Convery 

(St Kilda Botanical Gardens, 2014)

(3) The Herald, December 11, 1941, here.

Edith Cavell bust, St Kilda

This delightful bust of Nurse Edith Cavell once graced the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in Blessington Street.

We have no information when and where it was originally installed, but in October 1986 it was restored and located in the Blessington Street Gardens. Less than seven years it was gone.

Nurse Edith Cavell bust, Blessington Street Gardens

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e9751

Plaque at the base of the plinth of the Nurse Cavell bust.

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e9751

An article by Jane Cafarella in The Age on August 18, 1993 on the subject of why there were so few public memorials to women, noted that the Edith Cavell bust in the Blessington Street gardens had been the  victim of vandals. 

The Edith Cavell bust vandalised.

The Age August 18, 1993

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Ornamental bird bath, St Kilda

Image: © VanishedVictoria

This plinth is all that remains of  an ornamental bird bath (also called a bird fountain) presented by Victor Miller to the City of St Kilda for the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in Blessington Street on April 14, 1928.

The bird bath donated by Victor Miller and the Aviary, at the Botanical Gardens.

Image: St Kilda Botanical Gardens: a social snapshot of its first hundred years (1)

The presentation ceremony was reported in the Prahran Telegraph of April 20, 1928 -
Last Saturday afternoon a pleasant little ceremony took place at the Blessington Street Gardens. Mr. Victor Miller, an enthusiastic member of the Field Naturalists' Club, presented to the council an ornamental bird fountain which has been erected in the gardens. Members of the club - numbering about 40 - assembled, and after the formal presentation, the Mayor (Cr. F. L. Dawkins, J.P.), thanked Mr. Miller for his generous donation. The Mayoress (Mrs. Dawkins) then filled the fountain. Mr. Miller, expressing admiration of the fine aviary in the gardens, then offered to subscribe £10 towards the extension of same. The Mayor promised to bring the matter under the notice of the council. 

Members of the club then proceeded to plant a number of Australian trees in a specially prepared
bed and in other parts of the gardens. These trees were also donated by Mr. Miller. The Mayoress planted the first tree, a Gippsland Lillipilli, and this was followed by the Mayor planting a Kanuka. Various councillors then followed suit, and altogether quite a pleasant afternoon was spent. The Mayor and Mayoress then invited the president, Mr. Pescott, and members to afternoon tea at the Town Hall, where other speeches were made, and thus terminated a very enjoyable afternoon. Mr. Dickens, of the Horticultural Society, promised to plant a plot in the gardens at a later date. (2)

Victor Henry Miller was born at 84 High Street, St Kilda on November 8, 1875 the ninth child of  Jacob and Catherine (nee Streeting) Miller. Jacob was a cabinet maker, furniture dealer and a St Kilda Councillor. Victor was a member of, and also served as President of, the Horticultural Society of Victoria, the Field Naturalists' Club and the Bird Observers' Club and was an executive of the Historical Society of Victoria. He died July 4, 1974 (3).  The aviary mentioned in the article had been presented by Mrs Dawkins in 1926. 

What has become of Victor Miller's ornamental bird bath?

The plinth remains in the Blessington Street Gardens.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

Image: © VanishedVictoria

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Footnotes

(1) St Kilda Botanical Gardens: a social snapshot of its first hundred years by Patricia Convery 

(St Kilda Botanical Gardens, 2014) The source of the image, as listed in the book, is City of Port Phillip Archive. 

(2) Prahran Telegraph of April 20, 1928, here. 

(3) Biographical information - Birth certificate; The Herald, June 27, 1935, here and Walks in Port Phillip:  a guide by Meyer Eidelson, here.

Levi summer house plaque, St Kilda Botanical Gardens

Commemoration and memorial plaques do vanish and in mid-April 2022 this plaque on the summer house in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens, in Blessington Street, was stolen. The summer house was donated in memory of Albert and Rachael (nee Benjamin) Levi by their children. Their son, Joseph, who was a City of St Kilda Councillor, wrote to the Council in December 1928 -
The family of the late Alfred and Rachael Levi, who were very old residents of our city, desires to perpetuate their memory by placing a memorial in the Botanic Gardens, Blessington street, in the form of a summer house for the use of our citizens. The erection of the summer house was completed in July 1929 (1). 

Some people might say, it's just a plaque, what does it matter? But  it does matter because we have lost the connection between the summer house and the generosity of the Levi family; we have lost a connection to part of the history of St Kilda and we have lost the connection to civic philanthropy, when people would donate land or a fountain or in  this case a summer house, to be freely used by all members of the  community. The plaque can be replaced, but it won't have the same ring of authenticity as the very solid and stylish original.

The missing plaque

Image: © VanishedVictoria

The Levi summer house, St Kilda Botanical Gardens.

Image: © VanishedVictoria

This was not the only plaque stolen in April 2022 from the Elwood St Kilda area, there were several others as well. The City of Port Phillip has issued a media release on these thefts https://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/about-the-council/news-and-media/brazen-bronze-thefts-in-port-phillip

In good news, in September 2023 the City of Port Phillip replaced the missing plaque.

The replacement plaque

Image: © VanishedVictoria, September 2023

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Footnote

(1) The quote is from the Prahran Telegraph, December 21, 1928, see here; there is also a report in the Prahran Telegraph of July5, 1929, here.