PART 4

.Jim Cairns, was a prominent member of the Australian Labour Party and an outspoken ex police force member. He joined the police force in 1933 and left the force in 1944. On 8th May of 1970, he was chairman of the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign. He organised a demonstration in the streets of Melbourne with a crowd of about 100,000 people turning up.

I remember the day quite well. We decided that it might be too risky to keep the shop open so closed up early. I had to get to Flinders Street Station but the streets were packed. I got as far as Collins Street but couldn’t get through to Flinders Street so then had to walk two blocks up to Queen Street to get to the station.  Jim Cairns passed away in 2003 aged 89 years.

Normie Rowe was one notable person who was called up for National Service.and who served his two years and managed to escape any injuries. Normie was a singer song/writer and has had great success for many years. In 2005, Normie Rowe was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. In that year, he was also recognised by the Australian War Memorial as a National Hero.

Normie Rowe has become a leading advocate and spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans and in 1987 and 1992,  he was instrumental as a member of the National Committees for the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Parade and the Vietnam National Memorial. An infamous on-air stoush between radio broadcaster Ron Casey and singer Normie Rowe made headlines around the world in 1991, when a war of words took a turn for the worse and Casey, a proud republican supporter, threw a punch at Rowe, a Vietnam veteran and Monarchist, on live television.
Normie Rowe was aged 76 years as at June 2021.

Jim Roche decided to retire and sell his business. His business, Jas. F .Roche that was started up by his father, supplied all necessary parts and tools of the trade for watchmakers and jewellers. It had been handed down from his father and as Jim had, only one daughter who wasn’t interested in taking it on, the decision was made to sell. Once sold he came to work in the repair department, less worry for him, and a regular income. A lady who had worked for him, Sybil Crawford, was from Werribee and went to school with my father at St. Andrew’s in Werribee. Sybil passed away on 15th November 1998 aged 90 years and is interred in the Werribee cemetery.

Ian Crofts was interested in gemmology having done the course and would assist in some of the lectures. While I was doing the course, he was very helpful to me and would help with any queries that I had. The second year I used to drive to work. In those days you were able to park in the streets around the Victoria Market, so after work Charlie Feltham, Ian Crofts and myself walked to the car and I drove Charlie home to McKinnon and then we would go to Ian’s home.

Evelyn his wife was a good cook and always had a hot meal ready for us, and then it was down to study. When I did my final exams Ian was an invigilator, a job I later did for twelve years for Monash University. Ian and his first wife, Evelyn, were on holidays in Dromana at the same time as Alec and Wilma Milne. Ian asked us if we would like to go floundering late one afternoon as he was going anyway. He had inflated car tubes and a car battery which he rested in the tube, from this he had small lights which attracted garfish but you were able to spot flounder lying on the bottom in the sand. We were out for about two hours and got about fifteen flounder but didn’t keep any of the garfish.

About one year after I started with Catanach’s, Ian lost his father while Rob Black was on holidays. Ian took one week of his annual leave, which meant I was the only person in the Repair Department. The staff were all much older than me and thought I could manage so didn’t offer much assistance. Kay Cheffins was the next youngest to me, she was nine years older than me so she would have been twenty seven and I was eighteen I would have to ask someone to watch the department while I had my morning tea break, nobody offered. I went to lunch at 2.00 pm and just told any member of the staff that I would be at lunch for an hour.

I remember one lunch hour I was by myself, I think it was while Ian was on compassionate leave I had three or four customers waiting to be attended to when a voice from the back said “Excuse me, I’m Lady Bolte will you see me next”. I looked up and saw who it was and answered her, ”When I have seen those in front of you, you will be next. I eventually got to her and dealt with whatever she wanted and she was on her way. She never came near me again.

There was a lot of work that had to be done behind the scenes, like booking all of the various jewellery repairs to the different workshops. We used to take in about fifty or sixty jewellery repairs each day which would all be entered manually (no computers in those days) into a large register and showing which workshop they were being sent to and a date when they were due to be ready. Around twenty to twenty five watch repairs came in each day so the same procedure was done with watches and clocks. We had three watchmakers employed full time and a few others we used when we had an overflow of work. The finished work from all of the different workshops would be collected each day and then marked off in the register or directed to a different workroom.

The next time Rob was on holidays Ian’s mother passed away which meant I had to go through the same routine for another week. Ian’s parents died about six months apart and are interred in the Williamstown Cemetery. Ian and Evelyn were very good to Betty and myself when we had children. They loaned us a cot and lots of clothes and when I told them our children had grown out of the cot Ian said that they were really gifts so we could pass them on or give them to a charity.

 Ian had a brother Les who was a Metallurgist who lived in Altona and worked at Tafe in the city. There was a train strike that went on for about six weeks so I would walk up to Geelong Road to wait for him and travel to the city with him then I would walk down to the shop. He was elected Mayor of Altona in 1983.

Ian divorced Evelyn and married Monica from Sydney, who since Ian passed away, has run the wholesale gemstone business. Ian passed away on 25th June 2002 aged 75 years. Evelyn passed away 6th August 2020 aged 96.

Harry Thoma (Henricus Christaan Thoma) was a watchmaker by trade who had a business in Bentleigh which he sold and came to work in the Repair Department with Andrew Greenhut. He was Dutch by birth and had very little accent although you could tell he wasn’t Aussie.  When Harry passed away, he was cremated and his ashes placed under a plaque in his garden. Harry passed away 14th September 2015 aged 94 years. His wife, Barendina Cornella, known as Diny passed away on 31st May 2020 aged 96 years.

Cyril Hall was the manager of Catanach’s when I was apprenticed with Davis’s and often came to the workshop with his special jobs.It was him that eventually got me to Catanach’s to work in the repair department with Rob Black and Ian Crofts.  I remember he was going on holidays to Benalla after we knocked off one Saturday morning and asked me if I would make him a thermos of tea to take with him.

Another time when Mr. Catanach was overseas he thought it would be nice if we had a big clean up of the shop to be a surprise for him when he got home. This I think was also a Saturday morning, when the shop closed at 12.00 we got to work. Mr. Hall supplied food and drink and asked me what I would like to drink and he was surprised when I said I would have a beer. His wife died and he moved to Dalkeith, West Australia and remarried. Cyril passed away in Dalkeith on 20th March 1979 aged 89 years.

Noel Larkins, a watchmaker, was, before I started there, apprenticed to his older brother Jack. Jack left and opened a shop in Mentone and later another one in Bentleigh, which his younger brother, Don, managed. Don had done his time as a jeweller with O J Hillman in York House which was in Little Collins Street and then was taught watchmaking by Noel. Later on Noel’s daughters, Bernadette and Patricia came to work in the shop.   Noel’s father, Bill was also a watchmaker and had his own business in Beville’s Building in Bourke Street. We used to subcontract work to him in my early days at Catanach’s.
Noel passed away on 3rd December 2010 aged 85 years. His wife, Alice passed away 19th December 2015 aged 89 years.

Bernadette       nee Larkins writes: 

I started at Catanach’s in February 1976 just after my 20th birthday. I left to go overseas on March 20th the same year. On my return to Australia on 2nd October 1976, I started back at Cats on 4th October.  I worked in the repair Department with Harry Thoma and Andrew Greenhut, I enjoyed the work, the people were nice and I travelled to and from work with my father on the train. Dad and I usually slept all the way home to Chelsea.I had the added comfort of being able to sleep on his shoulder. Somehow he always woke up one stop before our stop and in the forty odd years he did the trip he only missed his stop once.

I announced I was to be married on 22nd October 1977 sometime around February 1977 and I will always remember clearer than any other comment made to me at that time was the Misses Hall replying that they would miss me. At first I didn’t understand what they meant, it became clearer after a few minutes that they expected me to leave work when I got married. To a girl who had just returned from travelling the world independently for six months their attitude was a great shock. Luckily for me Blair didn’t hold those views.   After a week long honeymoon I returned to work.

Things I was told about:
Blair doing handstands on the parapet of Yule House,A bit of fun ending with the breaking of the glass in the door to the workshop, with the Boss being told that someone had tripped on a worn patch of linoleum. The linoleum was quickly replaced.

Noel, my father was having trouble with one of the other watchmakers and reported the problem to the Boss. The Boss replied,  “you’re on a pretty good wicket in comparison to everyone else.

I remember one of the older women, (Phoebe Lineham) from the silverware department picking up a feather duster at about 5.25 pm and dusting things on the back wall and across the clock and moving the time forward to 5.30 pm.Andrew Greenhut took the Jewish holidays off from work to attend the Synagogue but was paid by the firm. Andrew insisted he shouldn’t be paid and so donated money to the Crippled Children Society. I’m not proud of the fact that I carried Andrew around the shop one Christmas eve.

One day Blair told me that on my wage I could never save enough money to buy a house and even picked out a sure bet on the races to put all my savings that afternoon.

Someone called Mandy worked there for a while and we called her Maude behind her back. One day I slipped up and called her Maude to her face. I was mortified and it taught me a lesson. Much later, I discovered that the staff’s nickname for me was “Lady” and it wasn’t a compliment. Smart arse that I was, I replied “I’d rather be called Dame because then the honour was mine not my husbands.

One time I had sent a couple’s wedding rings to be engraved. I’m not pretending that I was totally meticulous in my work but I never lost anything in my time at Cats, except those wedding rings.  They came in to collect them and they could not be found.  I ordered new ones, had them engraved anf tried to forget that I had lost them.  Several years later the rings and their packet were found when a design book from above Charlie’s desk was taken down from the shelf  and they were inside it. The book was from the 1920’s, it didn’t get used much.

During my time in repairs, Elaine Bourne was working in the main part of the shop. At one time for some reason she moved herself to repairs. I’m sure she just moved herself there. After a little while, Blair moved me into her place in the shop. There was a girl we were told was fired but she kept turning up and Miss Hall kept paying her. I don’t recall that unless it was Lorna Wafer 

I did two diploma courses while working at Cats, Gemmology and Diamond Technology. Sometime after doing the second one, I started doing valuations. On the important pieces, I practiced with Blair and we would compare our results. I was so close to his values right from the start that I was very impressed with myself until one day when he compared our figures. We had different figures in most areas, except the cost of the mount, but our totals were always very close. I think in the depths of my mind I estimated the total value and that influenced the outcome.

My personal favourite was receiving an “Award” from Blair for chasing down the guy who grabbed two pads of rings from me. I got all the rings back. I loved buying jewellery from Blair. One year I spent nearly my entire wages on jewellery either for myself or gifts for my family.

I learnt early on to only approach Blair for a price on something I wanted to buy on a Wednesday if he had had a good day with the gallops, otherwise I would wait until next week.

One day the police arrived and told Blair that they had a guy in court for stolen goods and the ring in question was one of ours. The case was being lost on a technicality because they couldn’t establish that the ring was ours. Someone had to go to the court that minute to identify the stock number scratched inside. I have no idea how I was chosen to go. Armed with my loupe I was taken to the police car, driven to the court and identified and sworn in then identified the ring as one of Catanach’s, then taken by police car back to work. I left Cats Christmas eve 1982 to have my son, Max on 2nd February 1983. I returned part time in December 1983 for a short time.

Jacinta Larkins, one of Noel’s daughters (didn’t work for Catanach’s) writes about what she remembers as a nine year old:

The rickety lift that you had to go up in to get to the watchmaker’s workshop. The fact that we were allowed to visit our Dad at work when so many kids I went to school with didn’t even know what their Dad did for a living let alone go to visit them as  I did on every school holidays, even on my own when I reached the mature age of 12. The antique window always got my attention, I loved the jewellery with seed pearls, they seemed from another era.

Alan Raymond Thomas another of the watchmakers had a muscular condition in his feet and hands and had to wear calipers on both legs. 

He arrived from Perth in 1952 aged 22 years and worked with the other watchmakers until 1969. He was a very clever individual and when television first became available, he decided to build his own which he did. He built a seventeen-inch television and then built a cabinet to suit.

Alan Thomas and Gordon Froomes were fooling about one day and Alan had his back against the glass door with Gordon, a much more heavily built man holding him there. Alan wouldn’t give in so Gordon put more pressure on Alan into the glass section and of course it shattered. Alan slowly sunk to the floor with a pained look on his face and as he was sliding down the sharp edge of the glass cut into his back. He had to go to the Melbourne Hospital to have about ten stitches put in and he then came back. In the mean time Noel found a piece of three ply and removed the rest of the glass and fitted the plywood. The Boss was told that Alan had slipped on a hole in the linoleum and arrangements were made immediately to redo all of the floor.

 Alan became involved in a religious sect and believed his feet would be healed on a certain date. The night before this was to happen he took off his calipers and threw them into a vacant block of land behind where he lived. The next morning he realised he couldn’t walk without them but couldn’t find them in the long grass so had to make a temporary pair to get him to work.Parking the car in the city was easy then and as we only lived a couple of miles apart so for economy sake, we drove each other week about. He was notorious for being late so if he didn’t arrive to pick me up in time to get to work on time I would go by myself. Many times, he would forget where he had parked, we would get the tram up to the market, and when we couldn’t find his car, he would remember that we were nowhere near where the car was. Another time when we got to the car he found that he had a flat tyre but no jack to change the wheel.

 My father was working in Spencer Street at this time so we caught a taxi and got Dad’s jack. Alan had an old tourer car that he was restoring and had just finished the motor. I happened to be there when he tried to start it but the starter motor couldn’t turn the motor over. Alan decided to push start it and when we tried it just skidded to a stop. He had filled the dents with putty and when I pushed I left hand prints.

 He was originally from Perth, decided to move back there around Christmas 1972, and was for many years a minister of his church. My youngest son lived in Perth for twelve years and I discovered that where he lived was about a ten-minute walk from Alan so each time we went to Perth I always called in to see him and his wife Alwynne. The last time was only a couple of weeks before Alan passed away.
Alan passed away in Balga, Western Australia on 3^rd July 2000 aged 70 years.

 John Alexander Woodcock, known to us as Alex Woodcock was another watchmaker who had his own business in Methodist Book Building in Little Collins Street and did some work for us. He sold his business and came and worked for a few years in the repair department. He retired and went to live in Rye, Victoria. He had a son, a priest, who was stationed on the Mornington Peninsular and had built a large aviary with all different types of birds including Pheasants.
Alex passed away in Dromana on 24^th September 1980 aged 76 years.
His wife, Lucy predeceased him on 12^th September 1976.

Albert Mason was an English watchmaker who came to Catanach’s when Alan Thomas moved to Perth. He and I took a great deal of time setting up a bench for him when he started. He thought everybody was against him and only stayed a short time.

 Marg Blake wore what was fashionable at the time, witch’s britches. She told us of the time she was coming to work and the elastic gave way. She was waiting at the tram stop when they fell to her ankles so she just stepped aside and picked them up and put them in her handbag.

 She and her sister Joyce Davidson both worked for Catanach’s but Marg for much longer.  Marg was cashier and Joyce worked in the handbag department.  They were both very proud of their nephew Alistair Nicholson, OA, QC, and he e-mailed me the following information:

They were both good golfers and were members at Patterson River Golf Club.  Marg Blake suffered with arthritis and entered a nursing home but retained her bright and pleasant personality to the end. 

The two sisters, Marg Blake and Joyce Davidson originally worked for their father making handbags at The Continental Handbag Company, which was quite successful. Joyce’s first husband also worked there, she in effect eloped with him, and they then started an opposition handbag company called Mayfair Handbag Company where they successfully manufactured evening bags of good quality.

Joyce was a good pianist and singer and had lessons from a well-known opera singer. And although she never sang professionally, she was in demand to sing in churches and other venues.Joyce developed dementia and entered the same nursing home as where Marg was. 

 This information was given to me by Alistair Nicholson, OA, QC, their nephew who when working was Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia from 1988 – 2004.
Joyce Passed away 26^th February 2001 aged 88 years.  Her ashes were scattered. Margery Blake passed away 6^th June 1999 aged 88 years. Her ashes were scattered, Coincidentally both passed away age 88 years.

 Judith Grage came to work part time in the Silver ware and Crystal Department. We imported Silverware from England and crystal from Czechoslovakia, which came by ship in large wooden crates with the crystal, wrapped in tissue and packed in wood shavings. She worked from the storeroom we had in Yule House opposite the shop. She only worked from 10 am to 4 pm and no Saturdays, which didn’t go down too well with the rest of the staff. Her daughter, Amanda, and future daughter-in-law, Deirdre also worked in the shop c 1976
Judith Passed away in May 1986.aged 74 years.
Deirdre passed away on 8th May 2017 aged7 6 years.

From Amanda Molesworth (nee Grage) 

I think I started working for Catanach’s in 1960. I got the job because my friend, Petie Lempriere was working there. Her sister Jackie was married to Blair Catanach and she told me there was a job going in the Handbag Department.  At that time, I was at a loose end and was delighted at the prospect of working in a jewellery shop. I went up the stairs to Mr. Catanach’s office and after being interviewed by him was offered the position.

I started working in the Handbag Department under the guidance of Miss Hilda Hall, who was so kind and taught me a lot. We also got on quite well and became good friends. That was one of the good things about working at “Cats”, all of the staff  were so nice and we all seemed to get on really well.,

The Handbag Department was a great place to work, the handbags were beautiful and it was interesting learning about where  they were made and the different leathers they were made from. In those days, they were all made in Australia and the leathers  were locally sourced, although some of the ostrich, lizard and crocodile skins were tanned in Scotland because of the quality of the water in the Highlands.

We were always very busy during the Spring Racing Carnival. The majority of our customers were of long standing and many of  them would come down from the country for the carnival. Miss Hall would often let a customer take a bag home to see if it would go with their racing outfit only to have returned at the end of the carnival as being” not suitable” but with betting tickets or tobacco in the bottom of the bag. This was overlooked by Miss Hall as they were very good customers of “Cats” and would often buy something else in the Handbag Department or from the jewellery or silver departments.

While I was working there I became engaged but didn’t buy my engagement ring there as I wanted an emerald in my ring. Blair wouldn’t sell me one as he said they were a soft stone and not suitable for wearing in the country. We went to Drummonds and we were shown an emerald ring in their estate rings. We duly had my ring made there and it was beautiful. A few weeks later, I asked Rob Black if he would clean it for me as I was going out that night. That night I left work to catch the bus home and suddenly realised I had forgotten to pick up my engagement ring from Rob. I raced back to the Royal Arcade to see the shop all shut and deserted, and there was my beautiful emerald ring in the window all on its own with a FOR SALE sign under it.  I was so upset until I saw shadows behind the back of the window, and as I was banging on the window, I could hear laughter.  Rob and Ian Croft who were both involved in the joke let me in and I was reunited with the ring to my great relief.

During the seven years I was working at Catanach’s my mother, Judith Grage started working there in the Silver and Crystal Department,my sister-in-law, Deirdre Morell worked in the Repair Department. My mother worked for ten years and Deirdre was there for about six months. 

I left in 1967 to marry and then live in the country. I have such memories of my time at Catanach’s where I learnt a lot and cemented my love of jewellery. 
Amanda   

Walter Camm (aka Wally) was employed as a cleaner/messenger and worked with Catanach’s for many years. He lived opposite the Cross Keys Hotel in Essendon. His home was only a few metres from where Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro .  Wally’s job was to open up the shop of a morning, do any messages through the day, and lock the door each night. In those days, we had rubber flooring so towards the end of the day he had to sweep the floor and so as not to raise the dust he sprinkled on the floor a commercial product called “No Dust” 

He owned a property in Parkville and his tenant told him that the toilet seat needed to be replaced. There were toilets in an annexe of Royal Arcade so he removed one of those seats and fitted it at his property. He caught the train home and on his way to the station looked for a newspaper in one of the rubbish bins to save him spending money. I think he still had the first penny he earned. He was great at telling jokes rude and clean so if you were near him it was better to move away from him as he spluttered all over you if you were close. Wally passed away on 15th December 1960 aged 66 years.

We had a need for a female shop assistant to work in “B” Department which was costume jewellery, Opal, Marcasite etc so advertised and a girl was put on. She arrived on her first morning and was told when morning tea was taken and she could go to lunch at 1.00 pm. She went to lunch and we never saw her again. She obviously didn’t like what her morning had been. I can’t remember her name but I do recall she lived in Rennie Street Seddon. Mr Catanach panicked about whether she had taken any stock so we had to do a stock take.

Sue McIntyre a niece of Lou Crabtree was another girl who started in the repair department and was quite useful with what she was able to do. She was able to do a lot of small jobs such as fitting safety chains and watch glasses. At the time she worked with us, round watch glasses were made of acrylic and were fitted with a press, how times have changed. She was later moved into the Handbag Department. Her grandfather, John Crabtree had worked for us many years before and her uncle was Lou Crabtree, another watchmaker, who worked for Drummonds, Jewellers.  

Sybil Catanach was the second wife of William Mercer Catanach who died in 1948. His first wife Ruby (nee McAinsh) passed away some time before. This made her a stepmother of William (Bill) and James (Jimmy) Catanach She was a partner in the firm and used to call in every now and again. She was bought out of the business by William Catanach her stepson.
Sybil passed away on 10th October 1978.aged 72 years.

Daphne Purcell came to us and worked in the costume jewellery section where we had a large stock of opal jewellery, rings, brooches etc. She had pair of budgies that she wanted to get rid of so I drove her home to Elwood one Saturday morning after work and took them home with me. She came to work one day with her ankle strapped and said she had strained it and could she please sit. She limped around all day and at closing time I caught up with her on her way to the station with no sign of a limp. She was working with us around the time of decimal currency change over, 1966 and only stayed for three or four years. She left Melbourne and went to live in Perth. 

Three women who worked in the Handbag Department at different times were Myrtle Armstrong, Miss Palamountain and Mrs. Ball. I can’t remember how long they were there but it wasn’t very long.

Ray Stewart worked in office for a short time when currency changed from LSD to Decimal in 1966.  I don’t remember much about him except he was married while working with us and Mr Catanach gave him a set of crystal glasses for a wedding present.