Australia Street, Goulburn started life as two short dead end streets known
locally as Ball St and Stewart St. Although these names appeared on survey
plans from 1833 to as recently as 1935, on the Council Rates Records the two
streets were merely referred to as 'Off Auburn Street'. In 1880 or 1881 the
two amalgamated streets formally became 'Australia Street'.
The houses in Australia Street are old homes, mainly single storey workmen's cottages/terraces. There are only about 18 houses in the street, mostly semi-detached. Terraces are rare in country towns, but where they are found they tend to denote workmen's cottages.
Few alterations have been made to the homes, with only 28 Building and Development applications (and these only for minor alterations or extensions) recorded by the Goulburn City Council since 1921.
In 1995 a heritage study for the conservation and management of Australia Street Goulburn was carried out for the Goulburn City Council.
Historical Sources
Goulburn was proclaimed a municipality 4 June 1859, and a city in 1864. The Goulburn and District Directory for 1882-83 was first published by William Bishop, Goulburn, in1882. As well as the details shown in the facsimile, it also discussed the weather for Goulburn and district, has a 'Trade and Professional Directory' that includes all businesses and names of proprietors (from which you can identify 27 women proprietors out of 352 for Goulburn). It also includes an institutional directory that lists all Post Offices, telegraph offices, police stations etc for the area.
While this provides a sense of Goulburn very broadly, for Australia Street
specifically, the alphabetical directory by (male) surname includes street name
and (sometimes) designation (eg teacher, labourer). From 1400 names under the
'Goulburn city' heading, the following were listed for Australia Street:
Name - - - - - - Profession
Bruce, James
Dann, Thomas - - - - - - tanner
Donovan, T - - - - - - engine driver
Ellis, Alfred - - - - - - editor, Herald
Evans, David, - - - - - - sen miner
Lever, Henry - - - - - - painter
Lumsden, J - - - - - - schoolteacher
McAndrew, J - - - - - - plasterer
McAndrew, W - - - - - - plasterer
Mason, Richard V - - - - - - clerk
Ross, William
Watson, David T - - - - - - tanner
Wheatley, Alexander S
Young, W J - - - - - - currier
Another profile of Australia Street Goulburn can be found in the rate books of the Goulburn City Council of 1883.
John Hahm, in occupation. Mrs Cox, owner. 4 rooms
W Galbraith, in occupation. Mr Whitehead, owner. 4 rooms
James Donnelly, in occupation and owner. 2 rooms
W Stewart owner, vacant.
W Phillips, in occupation. W Stewart, owner. 4 rooms
Mr Walkom, in occupation. W Stewart, owner. 4 rooms
A Ellis, in occupation. W Stewart, owner. 4 rooms
J Stewart, in occupation. J Stewart, owner. 3 rooms and shed
Mrs Andrews, in occupation and owner. 4 rooms
R Mason, in occupation and owner. 4 rooms
Mrs Serer, in occupation and owner. bark hut
J T Dann, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
W Young, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
J Hines, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
P Mackay, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
W Smithers, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
D T Watson, in occupation. T Fuller, owner. 4 rooms
The following comments and information were contained in theThe Southern
District weather almanac, business guide and local electoral directory for
1892,, Circulating in Goulburn, Moss Vale, Mittagong, Bowral, Berrima,
Yass, Gunning, Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Cooma, Crookwell, Camden etc. Price --
One shilling. Published by W S Foxall, Bookseller and Stationer, Islington
House, Goulburn
'Goulburn is the metropolis of the southern portion of the colony . . .' (p
54)
In 1892, in Goulburn, there were 2,250 houses in the municipality
In 1892, in Goulburn, there were 2,176 ratepayers on the roll
In 1892, in Goulburn, the capital value of rateable property: [[sterling]]979
221
In 1892, in Goulburn, the municipal revenue was extracted as follows: rates
[[sterling]]5,152; lighting [[sterling]]1,292; water [[sterling]]2,383;
Government endowment [[sterling]]800; misc. [[sterling]]3500; Total
[[sterling]]12,328
In 1892, in Goulburn, there was a population as per 1891 census of 10,925.
In 1892 there were three local newspapers: Goulburn Herald Mon, Wed,
Fri; Evening Penny Post ; Star Tues, Thurs, Sat
The Local Electoral Directory with 'names of non-resident electors
omitted', lists electors by name and street, with the following from Australia
Street:
Archer, Henry
Broughton, W
Byrne, William
Carroll, M
Carter, Joseph
Dann, Thomas
Dredge, W
Horan, Martin
McAndrew, W
Mason, R
Oates, John
Roberts, P
Spillane, M., sn
Spillane, John
Spillane, Denis
Thompson, C
Walsh, P F
All of this information comes from an official directory, and so needs to be
read critically. Censuses exclude certain groups, and classify labour in very
particular and circumscribed ways. The idea of what a 'house' might be is also
socially and culturally constructed. Rateable property and ways of living are
not necessarily the same thing. How do we confront the spaces between official
acccounts of places for times when we don't have access to oral histories?
Sources:
Heritage Study of Australia Street: Conservation and Management
Guidelines for Australia Street, Goulburn, NSW, June 1995, Goulburn City
Council
Docker, John The Nervous Nineties: Australian Cultural Life in the 1890s, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1991
Robert Irving The History and Design of the Australian House, Melbourne Uni Press, 1985, p261
Susan Magarey, Sue Rowley and Susan Sheridan (eds) Debutante Nation: Feminism contests the 1890s, Allen & Unwin, 1993
The Southern District weather almanac, business guide and local electoral directory for 1892
Circulating in Goulburn, Moss Vale, Mittagong, Bowral, Berrima, Yass, Guning, Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Cooma, Crookwell, Camden etc
Price -- One shilling
Published by W S Foxall, Bookseller and Stationer, Islington House, Goulburn
Goulburn and District Directory for 1882-3 Goulburn, Published by William Bishop
Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
Goulburn Council Rate Books
