| 1890s as a decade |
| The 1890s depression brought a temporary halt to the brash urban and suburban expansion, both upwards and outwards. When construction commenced again in the middle of the decade, it was strongly influenced by the British Arts & Crafts movement, which in turn was shaped by Ruskin’s thinking in its rejection of ‘falsity’ and industrialisation of design. The concealing of bricks with highly moulded and decorative cement render was rejected, as was the use of cast-iron verandah posts and friezes. Domestically, for the next three decades, ‘honest’ materials were considered to be face brick, terracotta roof tiles, and turned posts and timber verandah ornament. Render (usually roughcast) was used with restraint: in half-timbered gables, as flat bands, and at the tops of brick chimneys. This domestic style, known as Federation, was also characterised by diagonal axes, and deep, sheltering verandahs continuous with the main roof. Ideally these houses were freestanding on a large block, to take advantage of very modelled massing on two or three elevations. This was difficult on the narrow inner suburban allotments, and while there are a few such examples in North Carlton, the average house of c.1910 compromised in massing, but borrowed materials such as half-timbering in gables, red face brick with render bands, and timber fretwork. In the central city, the American Romanesque style was adopted, often combined with Art Nouveau-influenced ornament. Again, red face brick with limited render accents were the preferred materials, and facades were articulated with largescale round-arches, sometimes with window bays set into them. Examples of the Romanesque include the Tompkins Bros’ Commercial Travellers Building in Flinders Street (1898) and Nahum Barnet’s Auditorium Building in Collins Street (1913). The style was also used for more modest factories and warehouses along Flinders Lane. -SOURCE Context Pty Ltd 2012, Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment, prepared for the City of Melbourne. |
Baby farmers see p25 The Land boomers
| 1890 |
| 1891 |
suicides from land boom and economic crash: see p18-19 the land boomers
from TableTalk on 23.09.1892 “The shop keepers are at their wits’ end to secure sufficient trade to keep their establishments going, the theatres are half empty, and the only amusements that attract crowded houses are those where the nimble shilling affords cheap entertainment”
see p18-19 the land boomers
1891 floods eliz st
Dramatic flood stories were synonymous with Elizabeth Street throughout the Victorian period and
the early twentieth century. Events which no longer seem credible were common place –
“[Hume Nisbet in 1891] One dry morning, while I was waiting my turn for letters at the Post Office on a mail day, I was startled by seeing a great tidal wave rolling down Elizabeth Street … I got up the ornamental base of one of the pillars and clung there, with the water dashing over my waist, while
some of the less fortunate ones were swept away.” (Brown-May, 1998)
-SOURCE p6 Elizabeth Street
Historical Character Study, Green Heritage Compliance and Research pdf
| 1892 |
winter – typhoid and flu epidemics
‘The nightmare of unemployment was accentiated by epidemics of influenza, tyhhoid and measles….’ see p22 the land boomers.
| 1893 |
bashing in collins st story – – munro gets bashed in public by man who lost all his money. p 124 The Land Boomers.
| 1894 |
| 1895 |
| 1896 |
| 1897 |
CUMBERLAND PLACE SCHOOL established 18-28 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne The Cumberland Place School was established in 1897 by the Sister’s of St. Joseph to teach the poorest of the poor. It was commonly known as the Catholic Poor School. The school was supported financially by Archbishop Thomas Carr who shared Mary MacKillop’s passion for education for the poor. Children were accepted no matter their religion or their ability to pay fees. The children who attended the school were from diverse backgrounds including Chinese, Indian, Syrian, French Italian and Australian. The school was located on the edge of a precinct in Melbourne known as “Little Lon” -source Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre
| 1898 |
| 1899 |
burrows & co 