Rainbow man 52/16/3

Rainbow man 52/16/3, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

This photo is submitted as part of the City of Boroondara Library Service's contribution to the Flickr Friday Photos 2012 challenge.

Cole's Book Arcade in Melbourne was characterized by its rainbow symbol and the the Coles Funny Picture Books all had rainbows on them. Cole also had a rainbow garden at his Essendon house and is photographed beside it in this this book. This biography, Cole of the Book Arcade, was lovingly written by E. Cole Turnley, grandson of the book arcade owner.

And the Boroondara link? Well, the author Cole Turnley (known to us as Ted) was a long time Hawthorn resident and Hawthorn Library user. The Rainbow Man, Cole himself (and his wife and infant daughter), are buried in Boroondara cemetery.

#fp2012 Pink oleander frames Grainger house

Pink oleander frames Grainger house fp52.2.1, a photo by Boroondara Libraries on Flickr.

This house at 36 Oxley Road Hawthorn was built in 1881/82 for market gardener and dairyman, John Cam, a member of a family with long associations with Hawthorn and has been submitted by the City of Boroondara Library Services as part of the Friday Photos 2012 on Flickr. However, today the real significance of this house depends on the fact that composer and musician, Percy Grainger, lived in the house between the ages of five and nine.

The house is typical of weatherboard garden villas of the period for this area and has historical significance for John Cam and Percy Grainger, but also for his father, John Grainger. John Grainger, architect, designed the new Princes Bridge in 1879 and from 1897-1905 was Chief Architect in the West Australian Department of Public Works.

Percy Grainger as a child stands before the house, then named Kilallah, in the photograph below:


The house is commemorated in the City of Hawthorn plaque in the pavement in front of the house for John Cam, John Grainger and Percy Grainger.

Next time you are going down Oxley Road, take a moment to stop and look at this house and the plaque in front of it and remember the people who lived there.

#blog12daysxmas Day 11 Hawthorn Town Hall Beginnings #fp2012

Another topic that came to mind for the #fp2012 theme of Beginnings was the first town hall in Hawthorn. Most people, familiar with the 1888 Beswicke designed building, don't ponder where the Council offices were before. The municipality of Hawthorn came into existence in 1860 when a petition of residents successfully called for separation from the Boroondara Roads Board.


The Boroondara Roads Board met in a room attached to a shop on the north side of Burwood Road just east of Power Street, Hawthorn. And it was there on 26 July 1860 that the first public library opened in the area. The Boroondara Roads Board continued to meet there until 1861 but the new municipality wanted a permanent building which reflected its status. After much debate about the most desirable location for this edifice, eventually a block of land in the current Burwood Road next to Fletcher's Hotel was sold to the fledgling Council for offices which would incorporate municipal and police buildings as well as the courthouse.

The photograph at the head of the post shows the 1862 Hawthorn Town Hall built on the current location in Burwood Road and officially opened in February of that year. The extension to the east including the library and the tower were completed later in the year. The library then moved east to this location. The 1862 Town Hall was demolished in 1888 to make way for a new town hall more worthy of the municipality of Hawthorn which was declared a Town in 1887. The photo below shows the predominantly male gathering at the laying of the foundation stone for the new Town Hall on 7 August 1888. In this photo the partially demolished 1862 town hall can be seen.