THOMAS MITCHELL HALE
Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne
The first record I could find of Thomas and family at this address was from the time of daughter Caroline Mary's birth in September 1872. The first directory listing appears in 1873 and is simply "Hale T". The following year's listing expanded the entry to "T M Hale" and provided the street number as 24. The later entry may already have been out of date by the time the 1874 directory was distributed. Thomas and Annie's second daughter, Annie Bertha, was born in Rosslyn Street in November 1873 but by the time Thomas registered the birth at the end of December he gave his residence as New St, Brighton, probably the home of Thomas' father-in-law Robert Hayball.
When I first looked at the directory entries it seemed likely that this house was still standing and was one of the two cottages at 87 and 89 (pictured above). Looking further I've found that these two were built a few years later in about 1879 and that Thomas' house was at what is in 2007 number 101 where there now stands a 1940s(?) office building. According to the rate books it was one of an 1867 pair each of brick and containing four rooms. Both were still standing in 1895 and appear on the MMBW plan of that year as 101 and 105 (the cottages in the photo above can be seen on the right of the MMBW plan). I have even managed to find a 1957 photo (top of this page) showing the other house in the pair in what looks like more or less original condition (the house with the verandah to the right of and adjoining the office building). Although this house too has now gone, the west wall of the office building at 101 displays a ghost image of the cottage in the render used to repair the wall when it was demolished.
Two or three doors down Rosslyn Street was the Dixon's Aerated Waters factory. The scene in this photo (below left) from the late 1860s was almost certainly familiar to Thomas. On the other side of the factory were two dwellings described in the rates book of 1874 as "iron houses". Were these similar to those preserved by the National Trust in South Melbourne? (see here)
The other photo was taken in 1867 from just across King Street on Flagstaff Hill. It looks across the gardens and down King Street towards the Yarra. Thomas may have already been living at Rosslyn Street by then and would probably have walked down King Street or across the gardens to his job at tobacco manufacturer Dudgeon and Arnell in Lonsdale Street. It is even possible that this factory appears in this photograph at the far left where a chimney can be seen in front of a row of large buildings. Beyond that and slightly to right is possibly the tower of St James Cathedral where his father and mother were married in 1841.
Lonsdale Street West
By November of 1874 at the time of Elizabeth's birth the family was back in the western end of the city at 125 Lonsdale Street. They were still there in Jan 1877.
This address was part of the Owen, Dudgeon and Arnell tobacco business and from what I can work out it was immediately beyond the building in the above photo marked as Stirling's Boarding House. That photo was taken in 1869 looking across William Street west along Lonsdale. By the time of the 1895 MMBW plan shows the "Dudgeon and Arnell Tobacco Factory" (as it was then called) occupying a number of buildings between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale with an "Engine Room", "Sweating Room" and "Freestore". An 1875 description of the factory can be found here. The city streets have been renumbered and the factory's site is at what is now 524 to 540 Lonsdale.
A few doors further along Lonsdale Street at 560 was Harvey, Shaw and Co., tinsmiths. This company had been formed in 1889 from Hughes and Harvey and Alfred Shaw & Co. Alfred Shaw was the father of Herbert Shaw, later to marry Caroline Mary Hale. Herbert was probably working for this company in the late 1880s and it is possible the proximity of the two businesses was a factor in the pair meeting.
From the directory entries the Hughes and Harvey premises at 560 Lonsdale (previously 145 to 153) was built about 1877. Prior to that the site had been occupied by the Congregational Church which can be seen midway between William and King in the photo above.
Not much remains from the 19C in this block bounded by King, William, Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale but there is a building at 556 (now Mic's Spaghetti Bar) which would have stood next door to Harvey, Shaw and Co and served from the 1860s until at least the start of the 1900s as a boarding house or temperance hotel.
SLV has this photo of Dudgeon and Arnell at the Tobacco Exhibition. A photo of C.C. Arnell can be found at here.
Note that in 1887 a Mrs Dudgeon was living 131 Lonsdale West. The 1877 directory showed John Dudgeon at this address so it is likely that he died in the intervening years. There is also a reference to a house being built in at 53 Acland Street, St Kilda for Annie Dudgeon of the tobacco firm. The same source mentions that Charles Arnell lived close by at "Ripplemere" still at 34 Grey Street.
From sometime between August 1877 and 1881 until about 1883 the family lived at 16 Anderson Street, Emerald Hill (now 14 Anderson St, South Melbourne). The house still stands but the facade has been altered greatly. Despite that the look of the street in the 1880s can be imagined with most of the other houses retaining look and feel of when they were built in the 1870s and 1880s although at that time the street was probably unmade. The outlines of the houses as they were in 1895 can be seen on the MMBW plan for the area.
The photo on the left shows Caroline Mary Hale and her younger sister Annie Bertha Hale. The photographer's address in Clarendon Street Emerald Hill and the ages of girls fit with the photo being taken during their time in this house. In 1904 Annie was to marry John Paterson McDonell. He was born at 13 Anderson Street, opposite the Hales. The house has been much altered but its mirror image next door gives an idea of how it would have looked. In 1892 there was an Andrew McDonell, most likely John's brother, lliving at number 10 (now 8). John's father died at number 13 in 1896 and John was probably still living there at the time of his marriage. Shortly after the wedding the couple moved to Camberwell. Sadly Annie died at the new house a few months after the wedding. John Paterson McDonell remained close to his wife's family, most especially to his brother-in-law Herbert, for close on fifty years.
We can probably assume that Thomas Mitchell lived with his father and mother until the early 1860s but his residence in the mid to late 1860s is unknown.
An obituary indicated that he started work with Dudgeon and Arnell or at least its predecessor in about 1864 and we know that his father moved to Daylesford about that time or shortly afterwards. We also know from his marriage certificate that he was living in West Melbourne in 1871 and that after Rosslyn Street he lived at the Dudgeon and Arnell factory close by John Dudgeon. There is a remote but tantalising possibility that Thomas' father might have arranged this job directly with John Dudgeon and that Thomas may have boarded with his employer as a young man. In 1866 John Dudgeon moved from 44 Lonsdale Street West to 2 Richhill Terrace, Dudley Street very close by what was to become Thomas' Rosslyn Street address. John Monash, later to become Australia's WW1 Corps commander, lived next door at 1 Richhill Terrace after being born there the year before. The full terrace row still stands with 1 & 2 now numbered 58 and 60 Dudley Street and housing The Main Course and Westside X brothels respectively (at least the buildings are open to the public).
Another interesting connection is with Charles Carty Salmon who worked at Dudgeon and Arnell briefly in 1877 and then later as managing director possibly taking over on Thomas' death. He was also president of the Australian Natives' Association around 1900 and a keen freemason. Carty Salmon's uncle was the "Arnell" of the company name and the Salmon's youth was spent in the Amherst area not far from Thomas' father's Daylesford home providing another potential leading to Thomas' employment with the company.
A number of other names appearing in the directories of the time for this Rosslyn / Dudley Street area offer hints of other possible connections.
Next door to the Monash home in Dudley St in 1866 was a James Mathieson. In the pair to Thomas' Rosslyn Street home before, during and after his time there was a John K Matheson. John Matheson was the name of the manager then general manager of the Bank of Victoria from 1853 until 1882. In the late 1850s and early 1860s Thomas Hale the elder received many commissions for work for this bank via John Matheson's close colleague and major bank shareholder Henry "Money" Miller. The banker, John Matheson, lived in St Kilda at the time in a house named St Leonards but there is possibly some family connection with this other John Matheson.
In 1874 between 24 Rosslyn Street and King Street appears the name "Hailes -". George Button Hailes was the name of Thomas the elder's first partner and was an extremely uncommon name in Melbourne at this time. In 1870 near 30 Rosslyn Street there is a James Robertson. This was the name of Thomas the elder's second business partner. As both George Hailes and James Robertson had long standing addresses in other parts of the city these may be unrelated but probably shouldn't be discarded without a little more investigation.