The aim of this challenge is to write about one ancestor every week in 2024, according to a given prompt. I will be writing about ancestors and other family members.
Joseph Lowe Jones
Joseph Lowe JONES was my 1st cousin two times removed. He was born on 26 July 1890, at Violet Town, Victoria, Australia. His parents were Joseph Henry JONES and Bridget LLOYD. Bridget was the first cousin of Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly.
The following newspaper article describes the living conditions of Joseph Lowe JONES and his son Allan. I have a copy of this article, but unfortunately there is no source noted.
“Years On Tip: The sordid story of a father and son, who had lived for 13 years on the West Melbourne rubbish tip, scrounging an existence from the refuse in the tip, was told in the Footscray Court, the other day. Both men pleaded guilty to charges of having insufficient lawful means of support.
The father, Joseph Lowe Jones (65) was gaoled for one month, and his son, Allan Joseph Jones (36) for two months.
Detective Kevin Plover told the court the men had dwelt on the tip for 13 years. During that time, they had lived on biscuits and adulterated tinned food. He said both were continually in a state of utter filth.
Joseph Jones told the court he had intended going to the bush to get a job, but he had been suffering from rheumatics and was waiting in the hope they would clear up.
Allan Jones said he wanted to work, but couldn’t because of an ‘atrocious liver’.
Mr. Vaughan J.P. said neither man had endeavoured to help himself, and he had no option but to gaol them. He advised them to get a job when released from prison, and never to return to the tip.
Plover said that when he arrested Joseph Jones on the tip, on January 19, he had 3 shillings in his pockets, which was payment for a piece of brass, he sold from the tip. Both father and son were typical tip scroungers, Plover added.
from: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic 1848-1957), Friday 15 July 1949, page 2
Drab Memories of Dudley Flats
By PETER S. GOLDING
I never thought it would be possible to put any colour into the drab; grimy, sordid page in Melbourne’s history dealing with Dudley Flats. I always thought: “These tattered hovels house the dregs of Australia’s humanity. Here is despair, degradation, and vice, and nothing else. Just that, nothing else.”
But I was wrong. There was something else. You should have a talk some time to 65 year old Edgar Thomas Wood, who retired this year after 39 years in Melbourne’s health service. He can tell you. Back in April, when Mr Wood handed over his files, pushed back his chair, and walked out of his office for the last time, he was senior health inspector for the City Council. He was also the man who for 19 years knew the citizens of the Flats, as well as he knew his own neighbours. Probably better.
I dropped in on Mr Wood the other morning, and for a couple of hours or three we talked – mostly about the Flats and its occupants. The Flats came into being in the early ’30’s, when Melbourne first began to feel the depression. It became the last home for the down and out homeless, the drunkards, and the hopeless.
They just drifted in. As they became caught in the economic landslide which was not of their making, and as they lost their jobs, they drifted into the Flats. At first there were a few. But by 1936 there were about 60 “regulars,” most of whom had their own humpies or were “renting” them. They were permanent residents. Then there were the bagmen, as they were called. They were men aged between 25 and 35 who stayed a day or two before “jumping the rattler,” to the country, where they would work for a pittance or just for tucker.
The little township was divided into two “suburbs” – Happy Valley, where the couples lived, and Bachelors’ Quarters, where a woman’s voice was never heard – in fact, where women were barred. In Happy Valley, between the Melbourne – Footscray Rd and Appleton Dock, there were 13 shacks in which 21 persons were living permanently, and the bagmen made do in a couple of dilapidated lean to’s. In Bachelors’ Quarters, off Dudley St, there were 16 shacks, used by 20 men.
Of the inhabitants of the Flats, “Joan” was the tidiest, and “Black” Elsie the most vicious and probably the worst. “Joan” owned two humpies, one of which she rented to neighbours. Her own “home” was a model of cleanliness and neatness. It was lined throughout with clean newspaper, the furniture was primitive, but adequate, and the hut even boasted a mantelpiece, on which there was a photograph of King George V. and Queen Mary, and odd pieces of china found in the near by rubbish-tip.
from: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic: 1848-1957) Thursday 30 June 1938, page 2
DUDLEY FLATS DWELLERS
Notice to Quit
More than 10 “residents” of low lying areas at Dudley Flats West Melbourne have received notices to quit their rude “homes” of hessian, old tins and pieces of timber on or before July 8. Other residents of the area, which has for long been regarded as a blot on the landscape, will be asked to vacate their shanties by September 1. Notices to this effect will be served on August 1.
The action has been taken officially by the Melbourne Harbour Trust and the Lands Department, but it is believed that the matter has been discussed secretly by the City Council, the Railways Department and the Police Department in addition to these two bodies.
The reason given for the serving of the notices is that reclamation work is to be carried out in the Dudley Flats area. Another important fact is that the Melbourne Harbour Trust’s suction dredge G F Holden which has been chartered by the Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd for port work at Whyalla (SA) is to undergo tests alongside Dudley Flats as soon as she has completed recommissioning at Williamstown.
The dredge will come up to the Appleton Dock alongside Dudley Flats where her pumps will be tested. Pipelines and outlets used during the dredging tests will distribute mud and silt from the Appleton Dock over the low lying areas at Dudley Flats.
Text of Notice
The actual text of the notices served by hand already is as follows –
We, William McIlroy Secretary for Lands Victoria and Alexander Carter Cook, secretary of the Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners do hereby give you notice that you are required to quit and remove the premises which you now occupy situated on land between the New Footscray road and the River Yarra on or before the 8th day of July 1938, to enable reclamation work to be carried out. We have further to inform you that you will not be permitted to re-erect these or any other premises on the land between the New Footscray road and the River Yarra.
After Dudley Flats
Joseph Lowe JONES spent the last years of his life as an alcoholic, living in a humpy in the bush at Kinglake with his son, Allan. In June 1964, he was found bashed and close to death, in the bush. He was taken to hospital with injuries, after attempted strangulation and severe bruising. He had been laying in the bush alone, for days after the attack. His son Allan was charged with his attempted murder, and causing grievious bodily harm. After being released from hospital, he was transferred to Kew Mental Hospital, where he died one week later.
An inquest into his death was held on 22 July 1966: Details of Inquest Joseph Lowe Jones
Coroner’s finding: “on the 13th day of September 1965, at Kew Mental Hospital, Kew, in the said State, the said Joseph Lowe Jones died from coronary sclerosis and bronchopneumonia.”
*Please note: Punctuation and paragraphs have been added to the above transcription for ease and speed of reading.
Sources:
1949 ‘Drab Memories of Dudley Flats’, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), 15 July, p. 2. , viewed 14 Jul 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22764781
1938 ‘DUDLEY FLATS DWELLERS’, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), 30 June, p. 2. , viewed 14 Jul 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11159844