Memoirs of Early Ivanhoe

The following article was published by the Heidelberg Historical Society in one of their early newsletters in the late 1960’s.

Samuel Grey King who came to Australia early in the 1850’s and founded the business of King, King & Co. – importers of Errol St., Nth Melbourne – was my grandfather.

                On the 31^st May, 1872 (title still held at the Titles office) he purchased “Ivanhoe House” and converted it from a hotel to a private residence. One of the boundaries of the property was “The Lane” which has now become Waterdale Rd. “Ivanhoe House”, the old two-storey home was, of course, removed when they built the Heidelberg City Hall on the site.

                His son, my father, James Athelstan King, who was born in 1865 spent most of his boyhood in this home and he and his elder brother rode their ponies from there to Wesley College every day. As Wesley recently celebrated its centenary, 1865-1965, they must have been amongst it’s earliest pupils. It is very interesting to me that Mrs. Brock of this Heidelberg Historical Society recalls how her mother’s uncle, Mr Brooks, a dentist of Hoddle St., frequently drove in his buggy to visit the Kings at “Ivanhoe House”.

                After an absence of some years, my father returned to Ivanhoe in 1910 and bought 17 ½ acres on the Lower Heidelberg Rd., running from what is now the East Ivanhoe shopping centre to Maltravers Rd. which, of course, then was just an unmade roadway. He bought with him his wife and three daughters, of whom I was the eldest, and while our new home was being built we lived in the old historic home, “Woodrow”, 21 Maltravers Rd. which has been wonderfully cared for by its present owners, Mr and Mrs. T.E. Routley, whose daughter, Margaret, is a member of this society. In the early days, it was the property of a noted herbalist, Pritchard John Burton, who died in 1905 and many of his herbs were still growing wild in the paddock when my father bought it.

                Mr. Burton’s grandson, Roland Ramsay Duncan, was later to become my husband.

                My sisters and I were educated at “Cooerwull”, a private school whose principal, Miss Frances Lowe, this years celebrates her 99^th birthday. This school later became the Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School and Miss Lowe’s old home is now incorporated in the Grammar School buildings.

                Among the small boys who attended “Cooerwull”, when we were there, was William McKie, son of the Vicar of St. John’s Heidelberg – now Sir William McKie, organist of Westminster Abbey.

                Pritchard John Burton, whom I have already mentioned, was born in Edmonton, England, and on coming to Australia was for some time interested in Botanical and Horticultural pursuits at the Cremorne Gardens – Abbotsford. He then moved to “Woodrow”, Maltravers Rd., Ivanhoe, where he gained great fame as a herbal physician. He grew and despatched herbs to many parts of the Commonwealth and his great gift as a diagnostic brought him patients from far and wide. Three cabs plied backwards and forwards from the Ivanhoe Railway Station to “Woodrow” with these patients and after receiving tickets to see Mr. Burton, many would have to wait over-night in a large waiting shed which had been built to accommodate them. Each patient was only charged the nominal fee of 1/- which included the herbs supplied. So it is no wonder that in a copy of the “Heidelberg News”, printed in 1905, “Woodrow” is referred to as a “modern Lourdes”.

                It is in memory of these two families which were such early residents of this district that King St. and Burton Crescent, East Ivanhoe were named.

Edith Guinevere Duncan.

Eaglemont

Image: State Library Victoria