I first came across Muriel Eastwood when I investigated a shop and residence opposite the Box Hill Primary School. It was on Station Street, Box Hill and along the street from St Elmo where renowned Educationalist Frank Tate lived.
The shop and residence were built and run by Muriel Eastwood (nee Gilbert) c1920 and named the Kagutoki Tea Rooms - Kagutoki means ‘Thank you’ in the Dobu language of Papua New Guinea.
This shop and residence at 744 Station St also operated for many years as a Milk Bar and then as a variety of other businesses. As a Milk Bar, local residents would drop in for a loaf of bread or some milk and students from Box Hill Primary School (no 2838) would drop in on their way to and from school for their favourite lollies, iced cold drinks or icy poles.
Muriel had strong entrepreneurial, networking, bookkeeping and writing skills that she used to develop a number of businesses including the new Post Office in Nunawading, a café and a dressmaking business in Box Hill.
Muriel Gilbert was born in Ballarat in 1882; the daughter of Charles and Cecilia Gilbert (nee Huggins).
She may have inherited her strong sense of independence from her grandmother Cicely Huggins (nee Savage) who had travelled from Canada to Melbourne to start a new life in the early 1850’s and from her father who was one of the founding partners of the well-known Melbourne architectural firm of Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy which had started in Ballarat in 1881.
Muriel spent her early years in Ballarat before the family moved to Lansdowne Rd in St Kilda in c1893.
As an adolescent Muriel obviously enjoyed receiving awards, entering competitions and organising events.
‘in spite of the stormy weather, in a sum of £60 being taken, which will be handed to the secretary of the Children’s Hospital for the purpose of endowing a cot for five years in their Convalescent Home, Holyrood-street, Brighton, in the joint names of Miss Muriel F. Gilbert and Miss Adelaide Biencourt, and to be known as the ‘’Butterfly’’ Cot.’
After retiring from architecture in 1901, Muriel’s father Charles Gilbert bought the Gracedale Hotel (also known as Gracedale House) in Healesville and the family moved there. In the Electoral Rolls, Muriel’s occupation is listed as a ‘bookkeeper’ in Healesville and her brother Alfred worked as a ‘clerk’ - possibly at the hotel since their parents are listed as living there.
In 1907 Muriel Gilbert and Robert Eastwood were married at the Gracedale Hotel.
Robert Eastwood was born in 1867 in Lillicur, Victoria and was the son of Archibald and Sarah Eastwood (nee Hudson). Muriel and Robert had three children - Valarie, Basil and Dutton.
Later in 1907 Muriel and Robert Eastwood were living in Gosnell’s, West Australia where Robert worked as a ‘law clerk’ and then became involved in a number of business ventures. In December Robert Eastwood was voted President of the Gosnells Progress Association.
One unsuccessful, but notable business venture was the S.S. Mildura Company which was made up of local businessman including Robert Eastwood. It was formed after the steamship S.S. Mildura which was travelling from Cambridge Gulf to Fremantle in March 1908 ran aground after hitting a shallow reef at the top of North West Cape. The crew were evacuated safely but many of the cargo of 500 prime Kimberely Bullocks were lost. The master of S.S. Mildura was found guilty of neglect and had his certificate suspended for three months. At the time the S.S. Mildura went aground it was valued at between £50/60,000. Later in the year, after a number of attempts to refloat the ship and failing, it was abandoned as a total loss by the owners and underwriters. The ship was then sold to the Fremantle based S.S. Mildura Company for £25. Another attempt to refloat the ship was made in 1909 by the S.S. Mildura Company but it also failed and with little money left, it was decided by the shareholders to ‘voluntarily liquidate’ the company.
By 1914 the Eastwood family were living in Cobden in Victoria where Roberts family were living. They bought a farm on Port Campbell Rd near the Jancourt State School, but after three years, the Heytesbury Reformer and Cobden and Camperdown Advertisermentions:
‘Silvester and McGonachy have been favoured with instructions from Mr. Robert H. Eastwood, to sell by public auction as above. NOTE. - Owing to ill health Mr. Eastwood has leased the farm, and will be leaving the district’.
In early 1918 the family were living at ‘Tunstall’ now known as Nunawading.
Since 1889 when it opened, the post office at Tunstall had been located at the railway station but in March 1918 it was moved to a newly built residence, store and post office on the corner of Springvale and Walkers Rd’s, Nunawading opposite the railway station. It was named Tunstall General Store and Post Office and was run by Muriel Eastwood in the position of ‘postmistress’.
The new residence, store and Post Office was built by local Mitcham builder Edward E Chalmers. Edward E Chalmers was born in Mitcham in 1890 to William and Ada Chalmers (nee Rhodes) who were local Mitcham shop/business owners. Around 1914 Edward and his brothers William and Frederick created a building company and named it Chalmers Brothers; they built a number of homes and other buildings in and around Mitcham.
In March 1918 an article in The Reporter -Box Hill mentions:
‘from Mrs. M F. Eastwood, post -mistress, Tunstall, stating that since she had taken over the post office duties the business has increased to such an extent and the district improving by many new residents coming there that it is very awkward for people to have to call for letters and telegrams, and council was asked to use its influence in getting a half mile radius delivery. Writer enclosed the signatures of nine ratepayers in support. – Cr. Husband said that urgent letters and telegrams were delayed through not having a delivery. If these were delivered within half a mile radius, it would then connect with Mitcham. He moved that application be made to the deputy postmaster – general to grant the request, and that the parliamentary members be asked to support same – seconded by Cr. Tainton, supported by Cr Redman, and approved of.’
In May 1918 an article in The Reporter – Box Hill newspaper titled Tunstall Post Office mentions:
‘On Monday afternoon, May 20, a few friends, well wisher, and schoolmates, gave Mrs, M.F. Eastwood, the new postmistress at Tunstall a pleasant surprise, and over a glass of lemonade her health was toasted. Cr. R. Halliday, in moving that a letter of thanks be sent to Sir Robert Best, M. H. R., and Mr. C.E. Bright. the deputy post master-general, for their prompt action in granting the wish of the residents by removing the post office from the railway station to a more suitable buildings said that the people of Tunstall should be proud of their new post office. It showed that the district was progressing in the right direction. He had known Mrs. Eastwood for many years, and was sure that she would give the public every satisfaction’.
‘Mr E.E. Chalmers, the builder had known Mrs. Eastwood ever since he was a boy, and expressed pleasure that she had been able to get the post office removed. He had always held the opinion that a post office and store in capable hands would be successful at Tunstall’.
The Tunstall (Nunawading) Post Office, residence and shop were demolished between 1963 and 1970.
A little about Muriel’s family
Gold had been discovered in Ballarat in 1851 leading to a ‘gold rush’. As the nearest port, this resulted in a huge influx of people into Melbourne which began its transformation from a small town to a city. At the time gold was discovered in 1851 the population of Victoria was 77,000 but by 1861 it was 500,000.
Cecily Huggins (nee Savage)– Muriel’s grandmother
Cecily Savage was the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Savage (nee Wick) and was born in Niagara Falls, Canada in 1834. Between 1850 and 1853 Cecily travelled from Canada to Melbourne.
Alfred Huggins – Muriel’s grandfather
Alfred Huggins was the son of John and Mary Huggins (nee Hankin) and was born in Tottenham, England in 1825. In the 1841 England Census his occupation is listed as ‘shoemaker’. Between 1851 and 1853 Alfred travelled from England to Melbourne and was later joined by his parents who were witnesses in Melbourne at his wedding to Cecily Savage in 1853. Alfred and Cecily had five children: Cecilia, Frederick, Ernest, Henry and Walter.
In Melbourne Alfred’s occupation was listed as ‘clerk’ and later as ‘manager’ at the Bank of Victoria.
Alfred and his family were living in Richmond, when around 1884 Alfred purchased two acres of land in Mitcham and moved there with his family.
In 1886 Alfred’s son in law and daughter Cecilia’s husband, Charles Gilbert designed the Huggins’s home on Mitcham Rd, Mitcham (now the corner Mitcham Rd and Chippewa Ave). An advertisement in The Argus in September 1886 mentions:
‘Tenders required for the erection of a Wooden Villa at Mitcham for Mr. Huggins. Tappin, Gilbert, and Dennehy, Architects, 45 Collins -street West’.
Alfred and Cecily named the house Chippewa after the town in Canada where Cecily’s family lived. The weatherboard house was built c1886, consisted of six rooms and may have been the only house in Whitehorse to have been designed by the renowned Melbourne firm of Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy. Chippewa was demolished between 1975 and 1981.
Charles N Gilbert - Muriel’s father
In 1880 Muriel’s parents Charles N Gilbert and Cecilia Huggins were married in Heidelberg. Charles and Cecilia had five children Muriel, Alfred, Reginald, Charles and Winter.
Muriel’s father was the renowned Melbourne architect Charles Napoleon Gilbert who in 1881 founded the architectural firm of Tappin and Gilbert in Ballarat. The firm had offices in Ballarat, Melbourne and Sydney and designed a number of buildings in Ballarat, Melbourne, Sydney and around Victoria included:
In Sydney the firm designed buildings including St Ignatius’ College, St Mary’s Church in Manly and a school for St Benedict’s.
From c1919 Charles Gilbert and his family were living at 1 Tyne St, Box Hill North (now 9 Tyne St) when Muriel lodged plans with the Nunawading Shire Council in October to build a house with a shop at 744 Station St, Box Hill.
The land that the shop and residence was to be built on land that had beenowned by Eleonor Ellingworth (nee Serpell).Eleonor was a member of the locally prominent Serpell family and the wife of William H Ellingworth, a member of the prominent local Ellingworth family and sister-in-law of Box Hill Councillor J. R. Ellingworth.
On October 3, 1919 an article in The Reporter- Box Hill newspaper mentions:
‘From Mrs. M. F. Eastwood, Box Hill, submitting plans and specifications for a shop and residence she is desirous of erecting on the east side of Station street. After a perusal of the plan, Cr. Elllingworth moved that the council’s consent be granted to the proposal. – Cr. Hatfield seconded. – Carried’.
On October 9, 1919 Robert Eastwood died at the Austin Hospital for Incurables in Heidelberg, Victoria and was buried in the Boroondara Cemetery, Kew.
By February 1920 Muriel opened the shop on Station St and was operating as the Kagutoki Refreshment Rooms - opposite the Box Hill Gardens and Box Hill State School (no 2838). It was built in a similar style to the Tunstall Post Office where she had been ‘Postmistress’, with a business and residence attached. The residence and shop in 1920 had the address of 346 Station St and would eventually become 744 Stations St.
By 1925 Muriel was also running a dressmaking business from 346 Station St as an advertisement mentions:
‘DRESSMAKING and all kinds of White Work, Children’s Sewing: Boys’ Clothing as speciality. M.F. Eastwood. 346 Station Street North, Box Hill. Phone: Box Hill 662’.
Charles Gilbert (Muriel’s father who had been living in Tyne St) died in 1926 and was buried in the Box Hill Cemetery.
In 1927 Muriel was living in Brunswick and was joined by her mother Cecilia Gilbert (after her husband’s death the year earlier) who lived with Muriel until she died in 1931 and was also buried in the Box Hill Cemetery.
From 1929 until c1974 the shop at 346 Station St (744 Station St) was continuing to be run as a Milk Bar by various families including John and Margaret Walters, Daisy and Percy Hannah, Horace Faull, Harold and Edna Oldfield and J and J Steenis. From c1974 the shop operated as various other non-Milk Bar businesses, as well as only being a private residence until it was sold in 2014 and demolished in 2015.
In 1933 Muriel Eastwood and John Halliday were married and they moved to Turtons Creek, South Gippsland. John’s occupation is listed as ‘farmer’. Later that year Muriels son, Dutton Eastwood died aged 22 at Turtons Creek and was buried in the Box Hill Cemetery.
In 1934 Muriels daughter Valarie married Samuel Tetley and were living in East Melbourne until they moved to Berwick in 1942 before finally moving to London, England. Valarie died in England in 1983.
By 1939 Muriel and John had been divorced and Muriel was living in Inverloch in 1941.
Muriel and Robert’s other son Basil enlisted in the AIF on June 27, 1940 and by November had been appointed to the rank of Staff Sargeant. He was discharged from the Army on February 13, 1941 and immediately enlisted in the RAAF. At the rank of Sargeant he undertook various testing and training courses at different RAAF bases across southern Australia including at the No 1 Wireless Air Gunners School, Ballarat, No 2 Bombing and Gunnery School RAAF Port Pirie, SA and RAAF Station Parkes, NSW. In February 1943 he was transferred to Townsville and joined 22 Squadron as an Wireless Air Gunner and was posted to New Guinea.
On the 18th of March 1943 Basil was killed in action, aged 31 while flying on a mission with 22 Squadron near Salamaua in New Guinea. To read more about the action in which Basil died and what happened to the flight crew, please click on the following link:
LYON John 401706 | Aviation Heritage Museum
In 1945 Muriel was living in Caulfield and then 10 years later moved to 109 Blackburn Rd, Blackburn. Muriel died in Blackburn in 1968 and was buried in the Box Hill Cemetery.
Sources:
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