(1847-1920) Robert Roland Stevenson

79 Unley Road (1894)

As Alec's children near the city were receiving an education of a much higher standard than the little country school at Bordertown afforded, RRS determined to do as his friend and purchase a suburban residence for his family though he must remain at Bordertown alone and so see them only occasionally. He had money from both parents, and in spite of the Great Strike, and his statement to James that he could not afford a trip overseas, he was in a position to buy a house and pay cash for it. It is quite understandable that though he might dream of once more seeing Paisley, and even New York and Margaret's grave, he really had no intention of doing so for it would mean leaving the Bairns to their own devices and that was not to be thought of.

In this year (1894) people from all Australian States were leaving to join an organisation being set up in Paraguay, South America, to begin (so they believed) a Utopian life. The famous Australian poet Dame Mary Gilmore and her husband were amongst them and suffered great hardship before escaping back to Australia. The project was a dismal failure. A Mr. and Mrs. James Sutler of Unley, about a mile from the city, were desperately anxious to be part of this soon to be disillusioned band and had their agents, George Heckwith & Co. place an advertisement in an Adelaide paper:-

FOR SALE - MUST BE SOLD - great sacrifice in price - Owners going to New Australia, South America.
Unley Road opposite Dr. Wigg's residence - Superior Double Fronted Villa containing six rooms, bathroom, pantry, etc. Drawing room 16 x 12 feet 6 inches, corniced and centre flowered; Dining room 12 x 14 feet; Bedrooms 12 x 12, 12 x 13, 11 x 12 feet; Kitchen opening from large Lobby 10 x 11 feet fitted with cooking stove, fireplaces in every room with pretty mantelpieces and grates; hall 5 feet 6 inches wide, corniced and flower centred and large dividing glass door; the doors are all grained and varnished; front verandah tiled; asphalted footpaths, neat garden in front; enclosed back verandah, yard planted with fruit trees and vines; connected with deep drainage; land 50 foot frontage to Unley Road and 120 feet deep with Ella Street at the side. This villa was built expressly for the owner under his own supervision, and every item of material used is of the very best. A CHANCE like this is seldom met with, it being the Owner's determination to SACRIFICE.
PRICE - £550 [$1,100] - reduced from £600 [$1,200] - TERMS EASY.
Call early for cards to Inspect.

RRS did inspect and was pleased with the bluestone construction, the large high ceilinged rooms and not mentioned in the advertisement a big galvanized iron shed divided into two sections, one a workshop and the other a laundry with a wood copper. Forty years later when the writer stayed at this house the laundry still had only a dirt floor and wooden stands for the vast tubs of galvanized iron that had to be filled by hand (and emptied the same way) from a rain water tank alongside, a heavy task for such a small woman as Maria, and the only way to get a hot bath was by heating water in tin buckets on top of the wood burning stove. Later gas was installed for cooking in summer and for lighting so that the cleaning and filling of lamps became a thing of the past. With three daughters growing up now Maria was not without household help. Earlier she had been a tireless worker and most particular about the appearance of her children. Quite often she would not finish ironing the starched white petticoats and pinafores, the frilled drawers and print dresses of the girls until 1 a.m., using flat irons heated on top of the stove. Not for her girls was the red turkey twill underwear so widely worn at that time.

So RRS established his family at 79 Unley Road, and on the day they all reached Adelaide en route, three year old Blaine, never having previously seen horse trams with people riding on the upper deck, demanded of his father, "Why are all those mong-kis [monkeys] sitting up there?" He was to recall this with amusement when he had passed 80. The children went off to the Unley Primary School and RRS returned to Bordertown to look after himself and to the company of Alec Durie.

The nineth (and last) child, Jean Lilian, was born on July 15 1896 "at the corner of Ella Street and Unley Road, Parkside" according to the entry in the family Bible in Maria's writing. Parkside was and still is the formal address but letters had to be addressed to Unley Road, Unley. Brief Ella Street with only two cottages to face it led to the entrance of the grounds of an elegant two storey house (now demolished) belonging to the Hall family who possessed a horse drawn carriage. This property barred the way, and beyond it Ella Street started again and continued further. The part of it which touched the Stevenson boundary is now called Belgrave Crescent but the other section retains the original name.

1895 Maria Viola Stevenson Maria had her hands full with nine lively children to keep in order on her own as each had a forthright personality and entirely lacked any meekness of spirit. She developed the bossy manner and reputation for being a severe disciplinarian which remained with her to the end of her life. Without these two props chaos would have been inevitable. Far away from the thumping of nine pairs of feet (excluding Maria's) RRS had his own little problems. The station master at Hynan: reported him for not obtaining Proceed Orders before leaving that station, the periods between November 1 and December 18 of 1897 and also from January 17 to February 4, 1898 being the precise times. For this misdemeanour RRS was fined one day's pay of fourteen shillings [$1.40]. But in March for "not keeping a proper lookout, thus causing the engine to collide with, and damage the breakvan" he was fined only one quarter of a day's pay, 3/6d. [35 cents]. Two days later came the loss of another whole day's pay for not promptly obeying the Porter's signals whilst shunting at Mt. Gambier. The punishments seem oddly unequal. In 1901 his correspondence with half-brother James Burns was resumed. The note paper has a reproduction of a street in Mt. Gambier on the first page.

Loco. Department,
Bordertown,
1st. January 1901
My Dear Brother,
Just a line or two to let you know that I received your long looked for letter and was glad to hear that you were all well and very glad to be able to say that we are all, except Viola. She has not been well for the last two years but I am still in hopes that she will pull through and get strong again.
You will recollect James when you wrote me about 6 years ago that you told me not to write to you again until I heard from you again as you were on the move and not settled down. So that is the reason I say that I was glad to receive your long looked for letter. I hope that when you reply to this letter that you will tell me all the news and how you are getting on yourself. I would like very well to hear from John and Davy. I suppose they are both married and got familys.
Maggie, Flora and Hattie [Hettie] say if they have any cousins in New York that they would like to know their address so that they could write to them. So I hope that you will send it when you reply to this and tell us all their names and if any of them are grown up. I hope dear Jamie that you are looking after Mother's grave some times and that although she is gone she is not forgotten.
Well there is nothing much of any importance happening here that is worth writing about. I am sending two papers by the same mail as this which I hope that you will get alright so I must close with love from all the Bairns to all and accept the same kind love from Viola and myself to all,
From your affectionate Sister & Brother
Bob & Viola.

It will be noted that RRS was no more forthcoming with details of his family than James was about his nieces and nephews, so that except for "Maggie and Flora and Clara alias Hattie or Hettie" the American relations were not informed of the number or names of the others, so that the customary seen but not heard attitude toward the small fry went ever further and totally ignored them.

March brought the fine of a half days pay of seven shillings [70 cents] for not detecting faulty brake gear on tender No. 13 before leaving Bordertown but this did not jeopardize his10 pound bonus [$20] for 1899/1900 and in the latter year the first marriage of a Bairn occurred. Florence married much against her parents' wishes a widower, much older, before she was 20 and for a long time the brothers and sisters had to visit her unbeknown to the very disapproving Maria. Ronald ran away from home and Walter left to board with friends when he could no longer endure Maria's dictating of his life style and Stuart later followed suit. There had been much amiable squabbling amongst the Bairns (and occasionally not so amiable) that was scarcely known to RRS who continued to be far distant in the south east with only the occasional visit home. Maria's long and grim determination to train her children in the ways of righteousness had been effective but her reign was almost over.

James' letter of 1904 was not kept, but the reply from RRS was and is given here. It is his last in the collection as after just one more from James the correspondence lapsed, and although RRS lived on until 1920 and James to 1929 there seems to have been no further contact. RRS was transferred from Bordertown to Mt. Gambier in August 1902 and wrote from there.

Loco. Department,
Mt. Gambier,
August 28th. 1904
Dear Brother,
Just a line or two to let you know that I received your letter on the 25th. inst. I was very glad to hear that you were well. We were beginning to think that you had forgotten us altogether. I have sent three letters to you within the last three years but did not get any answer to them. And about ten months ago Maggie wrote to you and sent you a photo of herself and Hattie but she got her letter returned as unclaimed but they did not return the photos.
Well, however, we are all right, pleased to hear from you and hope this will find you in good health as it leaves us all well except, Viola. She has been in very poor health for the last two years.
She is a bit stronger now but still she is far from what she ought to be.
Dear Jamie, we were greatly surprised when we got your letter for to see that you were in Texas. Viola thinks that it is time that you got married and settled down and give over roving about from place to place. And I think, myself, that you would be better to settle down to something steady and enjoy the comfort of a home life which I suppose you have not had since Mother died. So I think it is almost time that you got some girl and made a home for yourselves. I am sure if Mother was alive that would be her dearest wish to see you married and settled down to a quiet steady life. And I am sure that it must be the wish of John and David and their wives, and we hope to hear you say when you answer this letter that you are married and settled down.
You did not say in your letter if John, David and their wives and bairns were all well. You must give me the address of John and David when you write to me next time. I asked you twice before for it but I suppose you forgot but I hope that you will not forget this time when you write.
Things has been very bad in Australia for the last four years but there are signs of the times getting a lot better and I think Trade will soon be in a flourishing condition again.
It is very distressing to see in the papers that you sent me the sad fatality that happened to the excursion steamer and to think that there was so many perished and them so close to land. You did not say in your letter what you were doing in Texas so when you write you must tell me all about what you are doing.
All your nephews and nieces join Viola and myself in sending kind love to your dear self and to John, David and their families and hope to hear from you very soon.
We remain your loving Brother and Sister
R.R. & M.V. Stevenson.
P.S. Be sure to send us John and David's address. RRS.

This next and final letter from James was written in a very large hand indicating that he could no longer see well.

Beaumont, Texas,
October 21st.1904
Dear Brother,
I received your kind letter and was glad to hear you were all well except Viola whom I am sorry to hear has been sick, but I hope will soon be better. The letters you speak of I do not remember receiving. Do not answer this letter until next Spring when the days are long, then it is daylight at night. When I get off work I can see to write better then. I will now close hoping this will find you all in good health which it leaves me at present,
From your loving brother,
James Burns,
General Delivery,
Beaumont, Texas, America.

RRS was to be at Mt. Gambier for another two years. The Railways felt no concern that he had been away from his family,except for an occasional visit, for ten years. There was another 7 shilling fine [70 cents], in February 1905 for not seeing the points set right at Mt. Gambier so that they were trailed through and damaged. The next year, in September he was merely cautioned for trailing wheels of engine No. 100 which was derailed at Woodville. He had been transferred at long last, to Port Adelaide and was paid a Bonus for each of the next three years.

Family together at last (1909)

At last, at the end of 1909 he could live at home when Adelaide became his central depot. Old friend Alec was still with RRS as his fireman. With the rail link between Adelaide and Melbourne completed in 1887 it was much easier for RRS and Maria to make some visits to see her people, also there would have been an annual free pass, at least as far as the now actual border town of Serviceton. Maria's father had died at Linton in 1888, and thereafter, until her death in 1903, her mother lived at Ballarat, no doubt with daughter Clara Inglis. Keith recalled one such visit by his parents when he was left to the not so tender mercies of his sisters Ada and Hettie, Florence having married by then.

The Nicholls' relatives occasionally arrived from Victoria to stay at Unley. Brother-in-law Edgar Nicholls of Melbourne, once made a special trip to Bordertown (about 1892) to beg RRS to buy heavily of B.H.P. shares at the peak profit time of the Broken Hill mines, but RRS had already lost several amounts on shares which proved to be worthless so declined to risk anymore. Edgar did very well indeed from his speculation and RRS was to always regret his refusal.

From 1909 to 1915 RRS was a driver of trains out from Adelaide to suburban termini. The year 1910 was yet another one of censure for minor peccadilloes. In February for "losing time and with-holding actual facts when reporting same on the daily ticket", and a few days later he was most severely censured for a similar offence. This was to affect his bonus but it did not for he received £10 [$20] in the following April. The record stated - "for failing to report all the facts why his engine failed at Woodville in accordance with Rule 434 and that he did not note delays were caused by bad coal" and again on May 12 - "whilst working No. 43 Up Port (Adelaide) Line he overshot Port Adelaide platform to such an extent that he passed the starting signal whilst at danger." Shocking!
In September while running through Croydon he overshot Kilkenny when working No.31 down train, Adelaide to Henley Beach, and he finished 1910 by colliding with dead end No. l platform, Adelaide Station, with No 33 Up Port train. For this only a mild verbal caution was administered.

In 1912 he ran past only one station (not named) and the next year pulled up short at Adelaide no doubt remembering the former collision.

In 1915, aged 68, he was ordered to the Mile End goods yards to end his career with the Railway Department by shunting engines about in that area. However as he damaged the dead end at Bowden in 1917 (the final entry of his papers,) it must be presumed that he was not entirely confined to shunting. During the time at Mile End he daily walked the three miles there and back in all weathers, and as his way lay past the Wayville home of Alec, if the hour was suitable, a call was made to "hae wee crack wi' Alec" and the days he missed Alec usually turned up on the Stevenson doorstep.

There had been some lighter monents while travelling the suburban lines, such as the competition between Alec and RRS as their train passed the backyards of the little cottages at Bowden, to see who was the more accurate in lobbing pieces of coal into the 0. S. pair of cotton drawers left by one shrewd old lady on her clothes line near her fence, thus ensuring a constant supply of fuel for her stove. At Unley Road there was Max the fox terrier who was fond of nipping ankles sharply and biting babies of which he was inordinately jealous, and a mad cockatoo that helped to keep the household lively. The latter would remove pegs from the washing on the line and release the hens, no matter how secure the gate fastening, then shriek that they were loose in the yard. He mimicked everyone's voice and caused much confusion and more than one family argument with snide remarks wrongly attributed to one of the members.

Retirement (1917)

1917 Robert Rowland Stevenson With the years the accent of RRS grew broader and he more silent, leaving all the talking to his women folk and in this they were by no means backward. The most he said to my mother, newly engaged to his youngest son Keith in 1916, when she was at the Stevenson house for Sunday tea was, "stretch oot your hand lass, and help yoursel', or you may go short." He retired from the Railway Department in 1917 when he was aged 70. Maria was presented with a silver teapot which could not be used due to a defective lining, and RRS received a gigantic, and then fashionable "Morris" chair with massive polished wooden arms, and complete with silver plate, suitably engraved. This chair ended up at Keith's house and caused so many bruised shins and sore elbows, and occupied so much space, that the writer disposed of it as soon as it came into her possession, but preserved the engraved plate. The oak chair used exclusively by RRS at the head of the dining table is still in excellent condition.

He was an Elder of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Unley, where he took up the collection on Sundays and helped with church affairs. He was also a Free Mason in the Duke of Leinster Lodge of which he was a Past Master. In old age he was no longer bearded and was rather bald with the remaining hair and moustache white, and his Scotch "agate" eyes, grey flecked with brown, were unfaded. All ties with Scotland and New York seem to have ceased and he never spoke of his relatives until he was dying when he tried to tell his son Blaine, who seeing his father's distress of body, said not to attempt this so the opportunity was lost.

Death (1920)

Keith and Blaine sat with their father on alternate nights during the week he was dying and unconscious with only his powerful heart and lungs keeping death at bay. Keith was with him when he died October 24, 1920 and he was surprised to note how quickly the white hair and moustache turned to a youthful brown. He was buried at West Terrace Cemetery (the State's earliest) on the outskirts of Adelaide in the park lands. With typical forethought he had purchased a plot. At the foot of this large old burial ground, about a half mile distant from the Stevenson grave where Florence was the first occupant, the trains pass to the south and west and the Mile End yards and running sheds were at that time close by.

RRS left £1,626/6/6 in cash [$3,252.65]. By his Will Maria received £482/2/0 [$964.20] and each of the 8 surviving children had the sum of £125/16/6 [$251.65]. A Trust (to mature) was set up for the grandchildren and Keith's younger daughter Betty missed out as she arrived later. Eventually the 5 grandchildren each received £16/16/6 [$33.65].

Maria

1910 Maria Viola Stevenson Maria remained at the family home at Unley Road. It was left to her for her life time. Daughters Ada and Jean were with her, and for a time bachelor son Ronald. She had a small Superannuation pension and the sons put their shares of the father's estate into a special fund that was invested, so that there was always sufficient money for any large expenses. Maria's reputation amongst her children was that of a stern Victorian moralist, a strict disciplinarian with almost no sense of humour and easily shocked, but to her grandchildren she was kind and generous and liked nothing better than to prepare elaborate meals. Her wine trifles were guaranteed to intoxicate the most hardened infant in spite of keeping to her narrow Methodist outlook which should have eschewed Strong Drink in any form. When this trifle was a bit much for a child its parent or an uncle was by no means averse to cleaning up the plate.

Maria and her daughters kept the house spotless and the children well dressed. She had a certain elegance of attire though always in black after RRS died. Her black seal skin fur stole lined with heavy satin still survives. The house as the writer recalls its appearance in the 1920s retained its late Victorian furnishings. These had been purchased by RRS mainly at auctions and according to Ada, some pieces and ornaments had belonged to a State governor who held a clearing sale before returning to England.

Mother' s Day, Maria' s birthday (January 28), and the family get-together held annually on Boxing Day, were about the only occasions when the front parlour was used. There were floor to ceiling tapestry curtains in dark green and gold tied back with thick silk cord at the bay window which faced Unley Road and lace curtains veiled the glass. The carpet was of so dark a green, that to a child moving into the room there was fear that there was no substance under foot and one just might step into nothingness.
There was an upright piano (Jean was the musician) and six chairs of Italian walnut with carved round open backs, a lady chair and a scroll back sofa, all in matching upholstery, the original floral tapestry but much faded. A papier-mache firescreen in shiny black had a sea scene complete with light house, outlined in mother of pearl - the walls were decorated with large photographs of the family, each in a broad carved frame. The front bedroom had cedar furniture, some of which is at this house and in excellent condition. Maria took a daily siesta after the midday dinner upon a cedar couch upholstered in delicate pink.

The dining/living room was the largest with a family size table and the many chairs needed and a tall backed sideboard laden with an array of glass and silverware. The silver tea service of ornate design has an 1843 hallmark. Under the window with its cedar venetian blind and Nottingham lace curtains was a sofa. This black leather covered horror was stuffed with horse hair that sharply pricked young bare legs and was so slippery that the same child continually slid off and so was scolded by Maria for supposed restlessness. There were some very large engravings of the Zulu Wars with gory details and black and white prints of Marcus Stone drawings such as "The Love Letter" and "Two Strings to her Bow". The children presented Maria with afternoon teacups on the occasion of her Silver Wedding and a half dozen of these are intact. The truly vast cheese dish and cover, redolent of past occupation, and patterned with cabbage roses, was to eventually bring a good price from an antique dealer.

On one side of the small tiled grate (where the fire radiated almost no heat) was the "Morris" chair and something a lot more comfortable for Maria on the other side. The high mantel piece had carefully spaced ornaments and in the centre the presentation clock from the Railway Department fellow workers. It was of imitation onyx and brass, very ornate, with double pillars at each end so that it looked like a miniature building. It was wound with a very large brass key. The remainder of the house was unremarkable except for the deal kitchen table which was scraped and scrubbed to keep its original pale surface. Yet another sofa was beneath the window for Ada to take her siesta, and both took up a lot of space.

The writer lived Maria for for a period in 1933 while Ada was away on an extended holiday and can testify to the excellence of her grandmother's cooking. A truly sumptuous high tea was prepared each Saturday to be eaten when I returned from the matinee at the local cinema. Maria of course supplied the necessary sixpence (5 cents) to go in. It was winter and almost dark when the picture ended and after the screening of "The Invisible Man" it was a case of run home as fast as possible. At night Maria wandered about the house with a candle. She said her nocturnal walks were due to getting up to children for so many years and she had never been able to sleep well since those days. However, Keith who suffered a similar inability to sleep, merely put it down to an ancestor having murdered a Chinaman. She presented me with my first wristlet watch for being her companion during those weeks.

By this time Unley had become densely built over and the open land round about when RRS purchased had all vanished. There is an envelope still extant addressed to "Mrs. R.R. Stevenson, Truly Road, Imly, Adelaido" which came from America when Maria sent for coloured prints of Ida Rentoul fairy pictures for me in the 1920s. The pictures (framed) remain also.

It was from "Truly Road, Imly" that Maria took her last outing to Clarence Park one Sunday, with Ada. She had a premonition this would be her last visit and brought a prized glass beer mug she filled with port wine jelly (made with port wine) to Keith. There was no indication of any illness and her very blue eyes were bright as ever, but in the early hours she had a stroke and remained unconscious for eight days. She had a dread of hospitals so was nursed at home. She awoke just once when Keith was keeping the night watch and accused him of putting her in hospital. He pointed out the familiar furniture, the pictures and ornaments of her own room, and comforted she slept again, never to awake.

At death she returned to lovely youth and to me, in her coffin looked no more than 17. Her hair was almost untouched with grey which added to the young look, and she had retained her slender figure.

There were violets and narcissus in her hands. She was buried beside RRS at West Terrace in the family plot. She left an estate of £377/10/1 [$755.99] and a statement dated October 2, 1935 shows her two bank balances and Elder Smith & Co. shares and sets out the expenses. These include £19/5/6 [$38.55] funeral costs. The seven surviving children each received £47/14/11 [$95.49].
The house which in 1893 RRS had purchased for £550 [$1,100] to be sold under the terms of his will and the money divided between the children, but the Contract note is dated some 5 years later, on August 29th, 1940 and says that "the house at the corner of Unley Road and Ella Street, Parkside, having a frontage of 50 feet to Unley Road by a depth of 120 feet or thereabouts, together with the villa house of 6 rooms and all conveniences and improvements now thereupon, at present occupied by Mrs. Bowden, and known as street no. 79 was purchased from the agents Allen and Barton of Unley for £800 [$1,600] by Rich. Sidney Fidock, master printer, of Cottonville, S.A." The Executors were Blaine and Stuart.