Memorials to Sir Thomas and Mrs Bent

In September 2026 a number of  plaques were stolen from the two memorials to Sir Thomas Bent and his wife, Elizabeth, which are on the Nepean Highway at Brighton. The statue of Sir Thomas was created by Margaret Baskerville (1861-1930) and unveiled on October 27, 1913. Sir Thomas (1838-1909) was an astute and controversial politician whose iniquity brought down two governments. He was nine times Mayor of Brighton; Councillor and President  of the Moorabbin Shire Council, and headed various ministries. He was the Premier of Victoria from February 1904 until January 1909. 

 

The Statue of Sir Thomas Bent

Image: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g954016-d23904717-Reviews-Tommy_Bent_Statue-Brighton_Bayside_Greater_Melbourne_Victoria.html

The plaques stolen from the statue were the two small plaques; the one on the front had been installed by the Bayside Council to recognise Margaret Baskerville.

Of more significance is the theft of the two brass plaques - a portrait of Mrs Bent, flanked by two cherubs and the convex plaque - which were  stolen from the memorial to Mrs Elizabeth Bent. Her memorial, also created by Margaret Baskerville,  is the drinking fountain to the right of the statue, as seen in the photograph above.  

The memorial to Mrs Elizabeth Bent

Image: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g954016-d23904717-Reviews-Tommy_Bent_Statue-Brighton_Bayside_Greater_Melbourne_Victoria.html

Detail of the Elizabeth Bent memorial

Image: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g954016-d23904717-Reviews-Tommy_Bent_Statue-Brighton_Bayside_Greater_Melbourne_Victoria.html

Detail of the Elizabeth Bent memorial

Image: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g954016-d23904717-Reviews-Tommy_Bent_Statue-Brighton_Bayside_Greater_Melbourne_Victoria.html

The drinking fountain plaque reads -

ERECTED

TO THE

MEMORY OF MRS. BENT

WIFE OF

SIR THOS BENT KCMG

AND

PRESENTED

TO THE

TOWN OF BRIGHTON

BY HER DAUGHTER

ELIZABETH BLEAZBY.

1913

The memorial to Mrs Bent was unveiled on the same day as the statue.  Elizabeth Bent (nee Huntly) was born in 1843 and married Thomas in 1864; they had the one daughter, Elizabeth. She died on January 8, 1903.

The vandalized Elizabeth Bent memorial.

Photo taken September 2026 © Vanished Victoria

This is another example of the senseless vandalism of public memorials, no doubt for their metal value.  The plaque from the statue can be easily replaced but the theft from the Mrs Bent memorial is the destruction of the work of a significant and trail blazing woman sculptor, Margaret Baskerville and destroys a tribute from a loving daughter to her mother.

Acknowledgment - Thank you to Brighton Cemetorians President, David Thomson OAM, FACE
for bringing this recent theft to our attention.

References
Margaret Francis Ellen Baskerville (1861–1930) by Ken Scarlett in the Australian Dictionary of Biography   https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baskerville-margaret-francis-ellen-5153

Her Own Path: Margaret Baskerville 

https://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/services/arts-and-culture/her-own-path-margaret-baskerville

Sir Thomas Bent (1838-1909) by Weston Bate in the Australian Dictionary of Biography 

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bent-sir-thomas-2978

Death of Mrs Bent - Brighton Southern Cross January 10, 1903 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165454131

Mrs T. Bent Memorial The Herald, July 6, 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241631034

The Bent Memorial: Unveiling Ceremony at Brighton The Leader, November 1, 1913 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198367573

The plaque from the Sali Cleve Drinking Fountain in St Kilda

The plaque from the Sali Cleve drinking fountain in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda  has recently been stolen. The plaque was inscribed with - This drinking fountain is a gift to the public from Sali Cleve, Esq., April 1911.

The Sali Cleve Drinking Fountain

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sali_Cleve_Drinking_Fountain_in_Catani_Gardens,_St_Kilda.jpg

The fountain, was donated by St Kilda resident, Mr Sali Cleve and  was officially unveiled on May 23, 1911.  The Malvern Standard reported -

Judging by the number of street monuments - drinking fountains in the majority - that are being erected within the boundaries of St. Kilda, that city is particularly fortunate in having many generous and noble minded citizens, who, in the practical way indicated, show their devotion and interest in the community's welfare. Mr Sali Cleve, a retired Melbourne merchant and local resident, is the latest to make a presentation of a drinking fountain to the city. It is of very handsome design; it is erected on the Lower Esplanade, opposite the pier, the cost being about £250. The fountain was designed by the late Mr C. A. Irwin, and was constructed by Mr J. P. O'Rourke, of the Adamant Monumental Works, Dandenong road, who has successfully undertaken many similar classes of work. The ceremony of unveiling the fountain was performed on Tuesday afternoon by Mr Watt, Acting Premier, who was accompanied by Mr Edgar, Minister for Public Works. (1) 

In 1916, Mr Cleve had a park in St Kilda named in his honour. Cleve Gardens, on the corner of  Beaconsfield Parade and Fitzroy Street, was so named as for many years he had  most generously paid for the improving and beautifying of that reserve. Sali Cleve died at the age of 88 on November 2, 1919. (2) 

 

The Plaque. 

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e95f9

The plaque was located above the pink granite block. 

Image: © Vanished Victoria

This is  a senseless theft from an historic and decorative drinking fountain, and an insult to the memory of the philanthropic and generous Mr Sali Cleve. The City of Port Phillip intends to replace the plaque. 

Footnotes

(1) Malvern Standard, May 27, 1911, see here. There is another report of the unveiling in the Prahran Telegraph of May 27, 1911, here. 

(2) Prahran Chronicle, February 19, 1916, see here; The Argus, November 4, 1919,see here;  Jewish Herald, November 14, 1919, see here.  

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.