11 Ednie Street
The house at 11 Ednie Street was constructed around 1900 and is an example of the Federation Bungalow architectural style. The front verandah is small and is under a separate roof which is supported by timber posts. The house is part of a rare intact historical streetscape along with nine other homes in the street. In 1931 the street numbering changed temporarily, with this house becoming number 8 (reference).
In 1941, the house was examined by Fred Senior, the Health Inspector, and he made the following report to the council (reference):
"Ventilators not provided in walls of two rooms; bathroom not ceiled; walls requiring renovating; fascia board front of house hanging loose; laundry of soft timbers in dangerous condition caused by ants and rot; wash troughs in bad state of repair; brickwork of copper badly cracked. Sanitary convenience without flap to seat and service door. Recommended that a notice be served on the owner to carry out repairs within 28 days. Provide ventilators where required; ceil the bathroom; make sanitary convenience comply with the health bylaws. Demolish laundry and provide laundry constructed of hard timbers."
The following information gives an insight into the lives of the residents of 11 Ednie Street, Bunbury.
The Platt Family
William and Elizabeth Platt came over from Victoria with their four children; Jessie, Ivy, Benjamin and James. Their two youngest, Frederick and Henrietta, were born in Bunbury. The family arrived in Bunbury around 1897 as James was born in 1896 in Victoria (reference), and Ben and Ivy were enrolled in Bunbury Infant's school in 1898 (reference). For at least some of their time in Bunbury, they lived in Number 11 Ednie Street. The family moved from Ednie Street to Arthur Street, where Elizabeth ran a boarding house. In 1920, she moved her boarding business to Stirling House (reference). The family continued to live in Stirling House until 1922 (reference), when they moved to Bondi, NSW (reference).
William was a foreman at Millars Bros. mill (reference). He went into partnership with Mr C.D. Elliot in Elliot & Co Park Stores, which opened in 1913 and dissolved in 1922 (reference; reference). Elizabeth was the daughter of Norwegian sea captain Johann Foss from Daylesford, Victoria and sister to Amelia Nicholls, who lived in number 9 Ednie Street. Two of their brothers, James and Jack, also lived in Western Australia (reference; reference). James was a timber worker and died doing his job, as he was tragically killed by a falling tree in 1912 (reference).
The father of William Platt - William Kendrell Platt Senior - came from the USA to Australia with his father in 1853 to mine for gold. They were mining at Creswick near Ballarat in 1954. William watched James Bentley escape on horseback as his hotel was burned down in the lead up to the Eureka Stockade rebellion. He was also in Ballarat for supplies the day before the historic riot but was not involved. (reference). William eventually became a mill worker and settled in Blakeville, Victoria. He and his wife both died in 1918. (reference; reference).
William and Elizabeth lost sons in both World Wars. James Platt fought in WW1 and died at Gallipoli in May 1915 (reference). He was an avid skater (reference; reference) and worked as a butcher before enlisting for service in 1914. He was 20 years old when he was killed in action and is commemorated at the Lone Pine Memorial (reference).
Their youngest son, Frederick Platt, born in Bunbury, lost his life in WW2. He was a gunner in the 18 Anti Tank Battery, one of the ancillary forces making up the Gull Force that was sent to defend the Ambon and Hainan Islands against the Japanese. Frederick was taken as a prisoner of war on Ambon Island in 1942 and died there in July 1945 at 43 years old. (reference)
Benjamin Platt worked for the railway department and married Alice Walker from Collie in 1915 (reference). Alice died in 1918 from complications due to surgery (reference). Benjamin returned to Bunbury and started a carrier business (reference).
Ivy married William Taylor in 1911 (reference) and they moved to Sydney (reference). Jessie married Gordon Scott in 1914 (reference) and their daughter was born at the Ednie Street house in 1915 (reference). Henrietta Married Ernest Holdsworth in 1928 (reference) and Ernest was the executor of Elizabeth's will (reference).
Mr C. Elliott
Mr C.D. Elliot owned and occupied the house in 1920 (reference). He opened a grocery store - Elliot and Co - in Charles Street in 1913 (reference). The business was in partnership with Mr Platt, but that was dissolved in 1922 when the Platts left Bunbury (reference). When the shop opened, it was called Park Cash Store, but they were advertising it as Park Store (reference). This appears to be the Charles Street Deli. It had PARK STORE written on the side (reference) as late as 2015. The current business owners said then that the business had operated since 1912 (reference). However, Elliot & Co. also owned property at 22 Charles Street as fowls and geese were trespassing on it in 1927 (reference). Mr Elliott moved from Ednie Street in 1921 and leased it out.
Captain Jessie Riggs
In 1920, the Bunbury Salvation Army advertised for a small house to lease for use as an Officer's quarters (reference). This was probably 11 Ednie Street as Captain Jessie Riggs was the commander of The Salvation Army, Bunbury, from May 1921 until December 1921 when he moved to Guildford (reference; reference). The quarters were advertised as being in Ednie Street until 1926, when they were on the corner of Ednie Street and Norwood Road (reference; reference).
Alfred and Alice Holloway
Alice Emily (Emily) Bryant was a widow with two children from Greenbushes. She married Alfred Edwin Holloway in 1925 and they purchased the house at 11 Ednie Street. Details from a court case show it was not a happy union. Mrs Holloway had been to the police several times to complain about violence. After a particular incident on 5 December 1929, which involved her 16-year-old daughter, Isabella (Bella), Emily applied for separation based on cruelty to herself and her daughter.
A neighbour, Mrs Annie White, was a witnessed in court:
"Holloway, on the date in question, hold his step-daughter Bella by the throat and hit her five times in the face. This was by some rose bushes in the garden and he left the girl there and went after Mrs. Holloway and seemed to be struggling with her behind some trellis work. Bella screamed out, 'Don't hit mother: he's hitting my mother.'" (reference).
Perhaps the most striking thing about this case was that it likely reveals the ongoing trauma that the soldiers from World War 1 suffered. Emily described Alfred as sad and said he sat in front of a mirror for long periods looking at himself. While Alfred denied this, he did admit to playing the concertina for two hours every evening. (He added that his wife was not musical, to which the judge replied: "She needn't be unmusical to not like the concertina"). (reference). Alfred did not drink, but he had served in the navy for nine years and in the 51st Battalion of the AIF in World War 1. This battalion lost one-third of its men in its first two battles at Mouquet Farm and many more inconsequent battles (reference; reference). After such horrifying ordeals, soldiers like Alfred were expected to move on with no professional support. Some like Alfred could not move on and took his trauma out on his family.
Alfred put the house on the market in 1930. The asking price was £420 (reference)
In 1933, Mr A. E. Holloway, Bunbury invented two Level Crossing safety devices, one of which was a "pendulum warning device which is suspended between two poles at a suitable height at the crossing. When a train passes over a control a quarter of a mile from the crossing, the pendulums unfold to the perpendicular, acting as a warning to motorists. The device can also be operated from a box near the crossing." (reference) This appears to be the same Mr Holloway. The devices were rejected because "in view of the cost of installation and the risk of failure of the mechanism, the devices were not considered practicable." (reference).
Alfred stayed in Bunbury and lived in Smith's Buildings, Victoria Street when he died in 1969 (reference).
Mrs Mary Tetlow
Mary Tetlow owned 11 Ednie Street in 1941 when the health inspector made the report mentioned above (reference). Mary (nee Towler) was a widow and the mother of two children - Nydia and Michael Allen - when she married John Tetlow in 1934 (reference; reference). They were both from Sandstone (reference). Mary's first husband, Robert Allen, also from Sandstone, shot himself on 4 April 1929 after being put on a list prohibiting him from obtaining alcohol that morning at Mary's request. After the hearing, he came home for lunch and told Mary he intended to appeal the decision after lunch. He told her he would "be an angel before sundown". Mary thought it was a joke, but later, Robert repeated it just before he shot himself in the head. At the time, Nydia was four years old, and Michael was a baby. Elsie, Robert's daughter from a previous marriage, was also present (reference; reference). Mary and John lived on Beach Road, Bunbury, when the house was leased (reference).
Mrs Olive Haddow
Mrs Olive Lucy Haddow was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Frederick Tyrrell of Waterloo. She married John Logan Haddow, a farmer from Yarding near Bruce Rock, in 1921, where they lived until John died in 1937 (reference; reference). They had one son, Frederick, born in 1922 (reference). After John died, Olive and Frederick returned to her parent's home in Waterloo (reference). By 1950, she was living in Ednie Street (reference). Fred married Betty Crompton, and their girls were born in Bunbury in 1948 and 1950 (reference; reference). Olive died in 1957 (reference).
Residents of 11 Ednie Street
1910s Platt family
1920 C D Elliot
1920 Captain Jesse Riggs
1925 Alice and Alfred Hollow
1941 Mary Tetlow
1950 Olive Haddow
Researched by Gaye Englund for the Museum of Perth