Little Scotland: its borders, people and stories.
On April 5 1967 LJ Keavy was the speaker at the Geelong Historical Society’s monthly meeting. He had been a resident of Little Scotland, a small pocket of Geelong West, for the great part of his life. His talk that evening was recorded and transcribed for publication in the society’s Investigator magazine.
His spoken word commentary conveys an intimacy and power that captures the spirit and atmosphere of time now passed and some 58 years later we can be thankful that the Society took the trouble and care to render these memories of a Geelong that is almost lost to us.
From the counter of his little store on the corner of Ruffin’s Lane and Spring Street and then in a new premises near the junction of Coronation and Spring Streets, LJ Keavy plots the geography of this little pocket of our city and introduces us to the people who inhabited its small streets and laneways; from its first occupation by Scotch settlers in the mid-nineteenth century through to the 20th century and its attendant calamities.
His talk possesses a rambling cadence as he reminisces, drawing on oral traditions and his memories. In a very authentic way, he introduces us to the individuals who walked those streets; the battlers and survivors who held on when life seemed determined to overwhelm and sweep them away. He peppers his talk with anecdotes that both illuminate and entertain; he connects the present with its hidden past, no more so than in his poignant recollection of the tragic death of Rev Way of the Chinese Mission Church and his wry observations on the creation of Gordon Street from the stinking morass that was a deeply rutted gully known as Geelong West’s ‘Silent Reproach’.
The speaker had a special interest in the many hotels that peppered this precinct and his affinity for the role played by the residents Spring Street is clearly evident. It is an informative and lively contribution to the social history of a distinct community, now passed, that deserves greater study.
Michael O’Donnell
It was with extreme gratification that I acceded to the President’s request to give this talk on Little Scotland, because I have resided and traded in the area for 41 years and, as you know, in that time particularly in the Depression and pre-depression era, a lot of very old people lived in that area. But they have now gone from our midst and possibly we can pass on some of the anecdotes about them and the things that happened during that period.
I would say that Little Scotland superimposed on the map of Geelong West would possibly only be a fifteenth of the area of that city. In earlier days, long before the City Council or even the Town Council was formed, the present Geelong West area or that part beyond La Trobe Terrace and also embracing a little of Mercer Street, was divided into three areas: the smallest of the three by far was Little Scotland; the adjacent area was called Ashby, a name still in use today and one which will probably continue to be used when Little Scotland is forgotten. We have the Ashby Methodist activities in Manifold Heights, while Saint Peter and Paul‘s Church in Mercer Street must continue with the name Ashby because, although it actually serves, in the main, the city of Geelong West, the church itself is sited in the City of Geelong area and it would be very difficult to call it Geelong West; so it will continue with the name Ashby which will live on. But the name of Little Scotland today is almost forgotten.
When I first came to live in the area, about depression time, people would say, “Oh you live in Spring Street“, and the older people would say “Oh, that’s over a Little Scotland isn’t it?” However, since the Second World War I have never heard anybody use the name; it seems to be forgotten now.
Further to the north of Ashby was an area which was called Kildare, or sometimes Irishtown. Now, of course, all these things are understandable; there was mass migration in the early days and people from the various countries naturally had a tendency to congregate in racial groups, mostly in the interest of their language and safety.
Now Little Scotland is a very, very old area actually. I first settled there in the 20s, I opened a business (I was only 18 at the time), on the corner of Ruffin’s Lane and Spring Street, in a building which was the delicensed Rainbow Hotel. Sometime afterwards I bought a property in which I still conduct business, just one door from the corner of Coronation Street and Spring Street; on the title deeds of that property it is mentioned that it had changed hands eight times since 1840. A gentleman from Hobart town, Van Diemen’s Land, had bought the block of land in June 1840 (that was six months before the Advertiser was founded and possibly within the first three years of the founding of Geelong), and he had the right to bring his bullock wagon, oxen and general appurtenances along a private street called Spring Street.
It appears in those days, in the 1840s, before there were any town council, the streets were laid out in great streets (Aberdeen Street was a great street) while Spring Street and the smaller streets were called private streets. The land had evidently been sold by some subdivider. Of course, at the back of the land in those days a stream ran along through what is now Gordon Avenue; it was known as the wild western gully stream and ran down through to what is now Johnstone Park, (then known as a “Stinking Morass”), before flowing down to the sea past where Dalgety’s now stands.
However, the settlement, as I say, was there in 1840. There is not much to show that the settlers were Scots until we examine the hotels. Possibly the greatest activities in those days were in number and type of hotels that existed in the area. The Railway Hotel stood on the corner of Hope Street and La Trobe Terrace, but it has been rebuilt since then; The St George Hotel stood in Pakington Street; in Autumn Street on the corner of Ruffin’s Lane was the Sir William Wallace, certainly a very Scotch name; later on there was The Rainbow in Spring Street; the Culloden Castle, another tribute to the Scotch, which has only recently been delicensed after standing for well over 100 years, was built on the corner of Spring Street and La Trobe Terrace; The Argyle Hotel in Aberdeen Street is still going.
In the year 1848 in the hotel world, there were only two hotels registered in this particular area, the Sir William Wallace on the corner of Ruffin’s Lane and Autumn Street and the Bunyip Hotel which I believe stood on the corner of Spring and Coronation Street. The licensee of the William Wallace Hotel was a man called Richard Ruffin and the licensee of the Bunyip was a man called James Sterling. Richard Ruffin’s descendants have lived on in the area over great number of years and only in the last year or two is descendants passed away: Frank Ruffin lived at the bottom end of Spring Street until he died in his ninetieth year at Grace McKellar House, a few years ago; Mrs Caroline Meloury, who was Carolyn Ruffin, died I think only last year at Grace McKellar house in her ninetieth year, and for many years, Mr. Fred Ruffin had a boot shop in Autumn Street before he died some years ago.
In 1856 we find from the register of hotels that the number had grown from those two hotels to many more. There was the Railway, the St George, the Argyle and the Culloden Castle. They were registered in 1856, but there was also a hotel here which very few knew anything about; it was called the Prince Arthur Hotel, and I am led to believe by very old people, that it stood in Coronation Street at the south end. present time I think it is a terrace of four houses, but originally, instead of being a double story place, it was a single story bluestone building, and the licensee in 1856 was a Mr William Cary. Now Mr Cary sometime later in the 60s, gave up the license and moved down to Halstead Place where he bought Sir Matthew Davies’ property in which for many years he ran an exclusive boarding house; but with the passing of time it was hard to get exclusive borders so we took on any class of border. in recent years the property has been sold to the St Vincent de Paul society. One of Cary’s daughters is still alive, I believe, although quite old and feeble, and is living in a home in Melbourne.
In the early days of Geelong many important public meetings were held in the hotels. Such a meeting was held at the Sir William Wallace in the late eighteen fifties to discuss early secession from the town of Geelong. Newtown and Chilwell and South Barwon had already left and councils of their own but the powers that be in the town council would not allow the people of Geelong West to leave, so meetings were held again in the 1860s. they claimed, that as the Villamanta Ward represented both the area of Geelong West and part of the city this was not fair to the rate payers of Geelong West and they then petitioned the council to form another ward. This was done and a new ward call Thomson Ward to perpetuate the memory of Dr Thompson came into being. The consequential election resulted in the election of Peter Sterling of Spring Street and a man from Aberdeen Street. So Geelong West gained some say in its own government.
However, as time went on during the 1860s, the agitation grew greater and more meetings were held and it is rather significant that all the meetings held at that time were in Little Scotland, evidently they were very vocal people. They knew what they wanted and they got what they wanted. They held meetings in the St George hotel, the Sir William Wallace, the Argyle and the Culloden Castle. At the last named, it was decided to appoint fifty-four men to get the signatures of the various rate payers. As there only about 1000 rate payers in the area, fifty-four men covered it quite well. They returned with 1000 signatures which were presented to the powers that be and asked for separation so they could form their own council. However, while all this was going on, the town council, fearing they might get their own way and leave the town of Geelong, started cattle yards in Kildare. Of course, the Geelong West people were horrified with the idea of the cattle yards, as it meant they were not get that area within their boundary as the town council claimed the area as its property. Nevertheless, with cries of treachery, Geelong West hoisted the flag over the Borough of Geelong West which was formed in 1875; it became a town in 1922 and a city in 1929.
Just prior to the separation, it was proved that of £2000 that Geelong West paid in rates, only £100 was spent Geelong West, and it streets had deteriorated to such an extent that property had declined 50% over the passing years.
As well as hotels, Little Scotland had its schools. There were two side-by-side in Villamanta Street; one was run by Mr. G F. Hutton who had a private school at the back, while in the double story property next door the Geelong Grammar School started and remain there for about 15 months.
As well as the many hotels already mentioned, Little Scotland also had the West End Brewery which started in La Trobe Terrace, by Mr Treacey in 1865; he sold out to Hodges Brothers for the sum of £950 in the late 1880s.
While there were many big churches just across the borders on the other side of the streets, in Little Scotland itself there were only two churches, but these were rather remarkable because they were churches which you do not see much of in any particular area. The first was situated in Spring Street just behind Culloden Castle Hotel; it was the Christian Israelite Sanctuary which was built in December 1850. it was vulgarly known by the people roundabout as the Beardies and Bonnets Church because the women were bonnets and shawls while the men had beards and mutton chop whiskers. The church was a freestone building and had the lettering Christian Israelite Sanctuary across the front as well as the date 1850 (it was opened on December 8, 1850). It disappeared some 50 years ago.
In Villamanta Street in 1914, a much later date, the other church was built by St George’s Presbyterian Church as an offshoot from there for the Chinese people of Geelong, and it was known as the Chinese Mission Church. It had a congregation of possibly 20 or 25 Chinese. I have often heard them in the late 20s singing, sometimes out of tune, “Jesus loves Me” etc. They had a most remarkable man as minister, the Reverend Way. He lived in Spring Street in a little stone building. I think he was the greatest Christian gentleman I have ever known.
In the depression times Mr Way used to come up to me at about 9 o’clock on Saturday night and say, “What have you got the most of tonight, cabbages or caulies or something like that? I want to buy six at your price”. He would buy six of everything, a packet of candles, which he split into six, a dozen matches which is split into twos, and in the early hours of the morning, this dear old gentleman would leave these commodities done up in six little packages where he thought they were most needed.
His house caught fire in 1934, I think it was, and he suffered badly from smoke and nearly suffocated. We knocked the door down, and got him out but he died next morning. It was not until he passed on that people roundabout realised he was the one leaving these little gifts in the doorway in the early hours of Sunday morning. Many people thought they were coming from me, but it was not until he died that they understood exactly what was happening.
The area of Gordon Avenue was where the wild waters of the Western Gully flowed through an impossible ravine about 20 feet deep. It was often mentioned by the Geelong West councillors, for it was known as the “silent reproach” to Geelong West. Nothing seem to be able to be done about it, although various schemes were suggested at various times. At one stage they were going to bring the trams halfway up Spring Street, then across at an angle into Walton Street, but that proved impractical. Then there was another scheme whereby Spring Street was to be widened halfway, but this came to nothing.
In the late 1950s when the brewery was being pulled down, the council approached Trans Otway, which owned the land, and got an entrance from the company: out of this Gordon Avenue was formed. The council spent £19,000 on the sewage line and paid interest as the street was made. Today it is possibly one of the best streets in the city of Geelong West, and it is now known as the entrance to Geelong West. Not only has the council done away with the silent reproach but it is also brought in $100,000 already and there is more to come from the sale of land. So what was known as the “silent reproach” to Geelong West which went on to join the stinking morass which is now Geelong’s Johnston Park, it is possibly one of the best pieces of real estate in the city of Geelong West.
In the sporting world, the first bowling club that was formed in Geelong (was also a sporting club), the Corio Club, was situated on the corner of Aberdeen Street and La Trobe Terrace, where the double story flats known as Currabeg house, occupied by the panel of doctors, is today. It was rented from Mr Austin who occupied the site for a number of years. Mr Austin sort to subdivide and sell, they had to vacate. They first moved out of Little Scotland to the other side of Latrobe Terrace where the commerce department of the Gordon Institute of Technology stood until recently, but later they came back again into Little Scotland, and their premises is now run from Villamanta Street through to Spring Street. They bought the property which was occupied by another very old set of people in Little Scotland, the the Hickinbothams. David Hickinbotham was the captain of the premiership Geelong Football Team in 1886 when they beat South Melbourne before the league was formed. His words, of course, remembered: the South Melbourne captain said “Well I made every move in the game to beat you and just weren’t able to“; Hickinbotham said, “Yes, you moved every man but you didn’t move yourself; that was why you lost the game”. The whole property of the Hickinbothams is now occupied by the Corio Club.
Some years ago I bought two properties in Spring Street, 59 and 59A; and when I went down for the conveyance of the titles to the solicitor, he said “Look there is an encumbrance on that title but don’t worry about it“. I said “What is the encumbrance?“ “Well“, he said “Cullen and Edols have an encumbrance on that title, that in the event of the Geelong railway terminating in that area, they have the right to resume the land“. Well I thought we could forget about that because Cullen was dead 70 odd years and Mrs Cullen had died just a few years ago at Kent Cottage at the age of 105.
When you get on the Newtown Hill in Pakington Street and look down you will find it runs practically directly to the North Geelong station, and an old man told me that his father remembered the pegs been driven along Pakington Street for the running of the rail tracks; the railway station was to be in Spring Street area. However, things turned out differently; with the sharp rise in the Newtown Hill, they decided that instead of terminating in Pakington Street, they would go down into the hollow. So therefore, Mr. Cullen and Mr. Edols had no need to exercise their right in taking over this particular land. It appears at this encumbrance was on quite a few titles in that particular area so it was quite possible that Cullen and Edols owned the land and subdivided it.
Another very fine old citizen that I knew many years ago was Mrs Andrews who lived in La Trobe Terrace just where the Angarrach Flats are. She died at the age of 104. I remember one day I was talking to her, (she was 103 at the time and had her faculties) when she showed me the ball dress that she wore at the opening of the Geelong to Melbourne Railway. I would say, by taking certain ages into account, she would have been about 27 years of age at the time and she remembered it very vividly. She was very proud of this ball dress, and said, “Of course, Mr Keavy, there was never a dinner or a dance like that one at the opening of the Geelong to Melbourne Railway“. I believe that is correct because no Mayor today could put on a dinner of that size because his allowance would be gone in the first 10 minutes.
His Excellency, the Governor, Sir Henry Barkley, was present, and Edwin Hooper of the Terminus Hotel had the contract for providing the feast on 25 June 1857. The provisions included 1,200 Ibs of tongue, 2000 lbs of ham, 4500 lbs of poultry, 1800 lbs of meat, 600 lbs of lobster salad besides bread, pastry and fruit, the whole weighing about eight tons. So it was a pretty man size meal was put on, and Mrs Andrew said: “We had never seen anything like it before and I don’t think we will see anything like it again“.
Although I traded in it for some six to seven years, I cannot find exactly the year the Rainbow Hotel opened. It was not on the 1856 register but it must have opened very soon after that and it was owned later by Richard Ruffin, who owned the Sir William Wallace (he had sold out several times but he evidently retained the freehold). I do not know whether he was ever the licensee of it; I do not think so because he evidently had it let while he lived in Tasmania. Owing to the wild waters of the western gully and the lack of bridges or anything of that nature, he had a private lane, Ruffins Lane, running through from Autumn Street to Spring Street, with a bridge across the creek. I suppose when they got tipsy in one pub they kicked them out and they went to the other and vice versa. Ruffin got orders from the Geelong Town Council at that time to clean the lane up every year, but he got rather tired of coming over from Tasmania to clean up a lane, so he gave this particular lane into the council.
I would say that today it is possibly the most traversed lane of its size in the city of Geelong West, because it links up Coronation Street with Western Street, and it is a shortcut down and along Gordon Avenue into Pakington Street; and cars going through all day long. About five or six years ago in the council, there were strenuous efforts to have the lane closed altogether, but I fought successfully to have it retained.
On the other hand I had another street renamed; it was called Bunyip Street and had only one house in it. Today it is known as McNicol Street right through. The reasons for that are many and varied. People would look for Bunyip Street, they would come along Spring Street they would see McNichol, or someone coming along Aberdeen Street would see Bunyip and they would be looking for McNicol Street and it seemed wrong that the one street should have two different names; so Bunyip Street became McNicoll Street right through.
I was at a ceremony today in Geelong West, to open extensions to the library, and a very fine library has been built around the old courthouse which was opened on June 27, 1889. According to Brownhill’s History of Geelong and Corio Bay the event was celebrated with a luncheon which was attended by leading residents of the Borough and representatives of neighbouring municipalities. The court was opened in the morning and ten Honorary Magistrates including the Mayor, John Ince, attended. The principal business brought before him was a charge against a chimney sweep for having wilfully broken three pains of glass in the window of the Rainbow Hotel in Spring Street. He was engaged to clean a chimney but the work was not done to the satisfaction of the licensee who refused to pay the sweep as much as he demanded. Thereupon the sweep took up his broom and broke the glass. The Magistrates find the sweep 10 shillings plus 10 shillings for damages to the hotel. So once again Spring Street made news by having the first customer at the courthouse.
The land department had a 99 year lease of the courthouse at one Peppercorn per year, but the courthouse fell into disuse and was sold back to the council for $300. Some of the names of the publicans might recall memories to some. The Prince Arthur was Mr. Cary‘s hotel in Coronation Street. James Shaw Cary was the father of Lucy Carey who, I believe, is still alive in an institution in Melbourne. In 1856 the licensee of the Culloden Castle was Angus Campbell. The Sir William Wallace in 1856 was held by George William Free; it had changed hands twice. Richard Ruffin, licensee in 1848, was still the owner, but a man from Ballarat call Sinclair had taken it over in 1854, to be followed by Free in 1856. The George was held by a man called George Frederick Lindau; The Argyle, Aberdeen Street, by William Ray; The Bunyip, Spring Street, by James Sterling, while The Railway was held by Hugh Walker.
The McPhillmiy’s Lolly Factory stood in Spring Street. I just do not know when the McPhillmiy went into it, but I do know they were there in 1885, and prior to taking it over as a lolly factory it was a spring and axle factory. Apparently there were quite a few of these along Spring Street because with the finding of gold in Ballarat in the early 1850s Spring Street was used quite a lot in those days for provisions and also repairs. Thomas Stoneman, the first mayor of Geelong West, had a coach factory on the corner of Spring Street and La Trobe Terrace, and there was a succession of spring and axle factories there. A clipping from 75 years ago for 1891 when apparently there had been a lot of flu in the Geelong areas states: “We have received from Mrs McPhillamy Brothers a sample of eucalyptus lozenges of a palatable character and in this unfortunate season to ought to have a good demand“.
The factory became disused just prior to the Depression. The McPhillimy’s had grown older and Mr JH McPhillamy decided to give up the business. I was in business on one side and he was there on the other with his factory, quite a large concern possibly 20 employees, and I think they had up to 5 travellers.
When are they gave it up, it was taken over soon afterwards by the Unemployed Boys Centre. The Depression had hit and hit very hard, and they brought in boys who were near starvation looking for jobs anywhere. There they tried to feed them and keep them off the streets. The boys from Geelong Grammar school came in several Saturday afternoons to help, brought by Dr Darling who had not long been in Australia. He realised there was a terrific depression and something should be done, so he organised his boys and brought them in many Saturdays. These boys had to get down and scrub out the burnt sugar, a very tiring task. I did very good business with them with a three Penny drinks because they were so often thirsty; it helped to keep me out of the red. One of the boys who came in to me in those days for his three Penny drinks, went on to be Lord Mayor of Melbourne – Morris Nathan.
These Unemployed Boys Centres were put up all over Victoria, but evidently the one in Spring Street was the best run because it is still going when the others have closed up. Not only is it still going (in 1966), but they now, with the aid of Apex and various others, finding work for people who are incapacitated.
While I was in the shop there, possibly I had two customers who finished up at different ends of the scale, one was Morris Nathan, later Sir Morris, the other used to buy chaff from me. For three years the price of chaff did not vary; it was a keen cut price, of course, with horses all along Spring Street in those days. I think in the first five premises along from me, there would have been anything up to 30 horses with bakers and butchers. There was a tremendous demand for chaff and this chap, who used to buy chaff from me, was selling wooden in the depression, and lived over in Candover Street. But he shifted to Gippsland where he was arrested for the murder of a little girl, and was hanged in 1938. So in that old Rainbow Hotel, I can claim certain notoriety.
The last licensee of the Rainbow Hotel, I discovered, was a Mrs Ford. Her sister was a Miss McShane. I do not know how many were in the McShane family, but I do know that in 1886 when Geelong won the premiership – I think it was a championship as well – under the captain of David Hickinbotham. There were five members of the McShane family in the football team. That would I think the record. At one time the Geelong football club played on the Argyle football ground. In the old days all the land was unbuilt on from Latrobe Terrace to St James Street. The football ground was on the west running from the Argyle Hotel to Pakington Street.
When you go through the area today, Spring Street now is possibly something of a back number and even a back lane, but over the years it was really something that mattered. Its citizens were people who mattered, for as I said, the first Mayor of Geelong West came from there, so too the first chap to be prosecuted; the first man to be elected to the Thomson Ward was a Spring Street man. All in all for the size of the street, it played the most important part.
When it was known that I would be speaking on Little Scotland. I was approached by, I suppose, ten different people who said: “Little Scotland, we didn’t think you had been to Scotland“. They just did not understand. One was an estate agent of possibly 50 years standing in Geelong, so it just shows with the passing of time how an area can lose its complete identity. Kildare possibly, is more remembered that Little Scotland, because there were more people stayed on. But looking back at Little Scotland, as far as the Scotch people who must’ve been there in the early days are concerned, I cannot trace any descendants of those particular Scotch people.
