Chapter 5. Isidro's early years in Perth (1857 to 1865)

Catholic Church and Convent and school of the Sisters. of Mercy in Victoria Square c. 1860 (RWAHS P1999.5232 copied)

Outline:

Early years as a settler in Perth working as a carpenter and cabinet maker

Isidro employs a Spanish ticket of leave man J Guillian to help prepare his furniture 

In November 1860 he opens a shop in Hay Street with a wide range of furniture 

1861  He meets Mary Leahy, who arrived from Tipperary on the Western Australian. 

Background on Mary and brief outline of the voyage and arrival of the 'bride ship.

Isidro is robbed -  burglary outline

6 June, 1861 - marriage details including age. 

Isidro buys land Town  Lot 16 between Howick Street and Goderich St. through GF Stone

Daniel is born 1864.

Mary and Isidro's community life in Perth

The recession: Isidro and family leave for Adelaide on Sea Ripple 1865 to 1867. 

(c) H. Natt 2024

Isidro's makes his way in Perth 1857 - 1860:

When Isidro left the Benedictine community, he joined a growing number of Spanish ex-Brothers  in Perth and WA.  During the past two years living and working in Fremantle, he had improved his English, become familiar with local conditions and made new friends.  He had no money and only a few tools and there was a lot at stake, but his contacts among the ex-Brothers and local tradesmen helped him  find  work and somewhere to live.  

  

Timothy Harris notes that Isidro is not listed among cabinetmakers or carpenters advertising in local papers or tendering for government work. (1) So he must have been able to find work locally, including on the Bishop’s Palace in Goderich Street near Victoria Square.

The Bishop's Palace (rear right) was for years the largest building in Perth. It dwarfs the small white Catholic Church (centre rear behind fence) c. 1860.  (Source  State Library of WA.)

The Palace was built between 1854 and 1859 for Bp Serra by Benedictine artisans from the monastery in Subiaco. They were a familiar sight in Perth, walking to and from work each day, leaving Subiaco monastery as the Angelus bell rang at 6 am. and returning at 6 pm in the evening.  When it was completed the Bishop's Palace was, for many years, the largest building in Perth. (2).It dwarfed the little church of St John the Evangelist (later the first St Mary's Cathedral  of the Immaculate Conception).  

But there were major changes ahead. When Bp Serra left for Spain in 1859, never to return, one of the first actions of the new Vicar General and Administrator of the Diocese, Fr. Martin Griver, was to build a larger church on land acquired by Serra in Victoria Square. It would be  an appropriate place of worship  for the growing city of Perth and accommodate the increased number of parishioners (3).  It was designed and built by skilled mason and builder Fra Guiseppe Ascione , who had worked with Isidro on the Presbytery in Fremantle (4). 

1860 - a momentous year 

In 1860 construction began on St Mary’s Cathedral on the hill in Victoria Square.  from where it would dominate the city of Perth.   Isidro was among the many parishioners who made a donation to the cost the new Cathedral and according to family tradition he also made some of the pews.(5) 

The first record of Isidro in Perth is in April 1860 when he employed a ticket-of-leave man Juan Guillan, a blacksmith and fellow Spaniard (6). 

According to Timothy Harris: 

Blacksmiths have been known to make simple furniture but, a more likely role would have been as an assistant in helping to do some of the more unskilled aspects of cabinetry like planing, dressing and scraping boards, also assisting in the assembly of furniture and whatever else was required. This appears to be the only time that Isidro employed a convict on the ticket system (7).

Isidro had been working hard for some time towards his goal of producing a wide range of quality furniture and starting his own business.  On 24 November 1860, an advertisement appeared in the Inquirer and Commercial News announcing that Isidro Oriol was opening his shop in a prestigious part of Hay Street, 

ISIDRO ORIOL

Begs to inform the public that he will open his shop, 

in Hay-street (near G.F. Stone, Esq’s office) on the 

1st of December, 1860, when will be shown an excellent 

assortment of Furniture, consisting of: - 

Wardrobes, chests of drawers, sofas, chairs, 

wash-hand stands, loo tables, book cases, 

dressing tables, dining tables, cheffoniers, 

what nots, bedsteads &c., &c. 

All of the above are of the best designs 

and workmanship. 

Any orders from the country will be 

punctually attended to. 

Perth, Nov. 24, 1860

(8)  (The Inquirer and Commercial News, Wednesday 28 November, 1860 p.2)

A chaise longue made by Isidro c. 1860 (Oriol Family collection)

The location of Isidro's shop and lawyer G.F.Stone's office  are unknown as no addresses were given in the early Trade Almanacs. However it may have been one of the shops, with dwellings attached, part of Town Lot Q16 between Hay (Howick) Street and Murray (Goderich) Street, which Isidro bought two years later with assistance from G.F. Stone (9).

Four months later, on 29 March 1861,  Mr Oriol was selling furniture again, this time at auction in his ‘Furniture Warehouse’ in Howick Street, Perth.  As well as his 'extensive Stock in Trade consisting of 'Secretaires and book cases, easy and other chairs, dining, loo, side and dressing tables and wash stands, bed steads  &c. &c.'  he also adds 4 and 6 panel-doors and seasoned timber (jarrah) which would become one of his specialties.  He was becoming an established furniture retailer in Perth (10). 

A 'loo' table, the top folds up against the wall. Loo was a popular card game at the time. (Oriol Family collection c. 1860)

Isidro meets Mary

But something was missing from his life. The little Church in Victoria Square was a thriving social centre for the Catholics of Perth, many of them Irish. Among them were young Irish women who had recently arrived in WA. and it was there that Isidro met Mary Leahy from Tipperary.  

Mary was one of 99 young Irish women, and 20 families, who arrived in October 1859 on the new clipper West Australian, one of the so-called 'bride ships' (11). Her father Daniel was a farmer and she was among the ‘female servants of respectable character’ selected by the Land and Emigration Commission of the Imperial Government for a free passage to Western Australia.  It was part of an agreement with the Government to send 2,000 single women to counter balance the hundreds of male convicts arriving in WA between 1851 and 1862  (12).  

Young women of good character were in demand as domestic servants and wives for the predominantly male population. After an interview and medical examination in London,  Mary was informed she was selected, given a list of clothing, linen and items she would need on the voyage, and instructed to travel to Plymouth where a new clipper, the West Australian, would sail for Perth on 12 July, 1859 (13) 

West Australian, a new clipper ship in 1860.  (Painting from catalogue by GK Auctions. c. 1998)  

More about Mary:

All we know of Mary’s background comes from the register for the West Australian: Mary Lahy, Domestic servant, 29, from Co. Tipperary; and her marriage certificate: Mary Lahey, Servant, Spinster, aged over 21, father Daniel Lahey Farmer, mother not  recorded (14). However further research suggests she may have come from Ballysorrell in the Parish of Templemore, Co. Tipperary (15).  Note the different spelling of Lahy/Lahey and later Leahy typical of early oral records.

Mary  grew up on a farm and was illiterate, signing her marriage certificate and her will with a cross (16). As well as working on the farm she may have been a domestic servant or children's carer. When she left Tipperary in early 1859 to emigrate to Australia, seeking a better life, she was aged 29 or 30 and following the example of many friends and relatives. Like them she had  a difficult journey by ferry and coach  to reach Plymouth in time to join the West Australian.

During the long voyage of nearly four months, a matron was appointed and a range of activities were offered the young women.  The Ladies Committee provided materials for sewing, lessons in reading and writing for those who were illiterate and other diversions such as concerts and dances.  The Irish girls, including Mary, were often accomplished needlewomen and were kept busy making clothes and linen for themselves and others – a piece of Mary's embroidery, a cotton hand towel with the letter O, survives. According to family tradition, Mary  ‘looked after an Anglican clergyman’s young children’– possibly the Rev. Donovan’s family as Anne Donovan is listed among the passengers (18). 

The voyage on the West Australian was long and ‘wearisome’ as the ship experienced light and variable winds all the way to Cape town. There passengers were able to go ashore while the ship took on fresh provisions and the area between decks was thoroughly scrubbed. The passengers relished the fresh fruit and being on dry land after weeks of salt meat and biscuit rations (19).

Fremantle and Perth in 1859: 

A month later, on 20 October 1859,  the West Australia finally reached Fremantle Bay after a voyage of three and a half months. Mary and her friends, wearing their Sunday dresses, crowded on deck for the first sight of land.  But there was no sign of a port, only a long, low coast line of sandy beaches, with a few scattered buildings making up the small town of Fremantle. There was a distant jetty and in the background a long low building, part of the new convict establishment. The Swan River was blocked by a rocky bar so ships had to remain anchored offshore.

The Immigration Officer, F.D. Wittenoom, came on board and after discussions with Captain Downie and the Surgeon Superintendent  Rev. T. Donovan, informed the women they had been declared free of disease. The immigrants, 'who are reported as a well-conducted, respectable lot' proceeded up river by steamer to the town jetty at Barrack Street.  'As they arrived an hour before the usual time , there was not the usual mob to welcome the emigrants evidently much to the satisfaction of. the Immigration Agent, who had in consequence, a much easier task of marching the girls to the depot'  (20).  There they would remained until they could be placed in employment. (21)  

Erickson's. map shows the location of the Servants Home and Immigration Depot on Lot 10 and Lot 11 between Wellington and Goderich Streets, where Mary lived when she first arrived. Isidro’s shop was nearby, just across Pier Street between Murray and Hay Streets

According to family tradition Mary worked at Government House as a domestic servant and for an Anglican clergyman and his wife minding their young children.   She quickly became accustomed to her new life in Perth, keeping touch with her Irish friends from the ship and attending  social events at the Catholic Church in Victoria Square. 

The Catholic Church (left) the little priest's house and behind the  Convent and School of the Sisters. of Mercy Victoria Square c.1860 (RWAHS P1999.5232 copied)

It was at a Church dance that  Mary and her friend Catherine Walsh met the Spanish ex Brothers Isidro Oriol. and Juan Bancells.  The polite and educated young Spaniards were very different from the Irish labourers at home and the convicts now arriving in Perth,  and they enjoyed the each other's company. 

Isidro lived near Mary and they met again at Church on Sundays. A few months later Isidro proposed to Mary and they began to make wedding plans.  

But there was trouble ahead. Three weeks before the wedding, on the night of Tuesday 14th May, 1861, Isidro’s house in Howick Street was burgled. He had ‘locked the house and secured all the windows’ before he left to visit his lawyer, George F. Stone who lived nearby.  On returning he found his house had been broken into and a box containing ‘wearing apparel, rings etc. to the value of £20’, was stolen. Oriol called the police and fortunately P.C.  Johnston Crowe had been on duty and observed an expiree Henry Barnsdale ‘loitering near Oriol’s house’.  The clothes but no rings were found at Barnsdale’s lodgings and he was arrested. Isidro had to go to the Perth Police Court to give evidence and the Magistrate found Barnsdale guilty of burglary. (22) 

Barnstable was sent to trial and sentenced to 10 years gaol, for burglary and larceny. But he did not serve the full time, obtaining his ticket-of-leave in July 1867. (23) 

Mary had been in the colony long enough to be accustomed to seeing the convicts at work on roads and public buildings and clanking along the streets in their chains but this incident would have shaken her confidence. Isidro repaired the window (perhaps with bars) and found another ring but they were particularly careful and especially after curfew in the evening and like many colonists avoided social contact with ex-convicts (24). 

1861 Isidro marries Mary Leahy

Mary (32) and Isidro (36) were married on 6 June, 1861 at the little ‘Catholic Church’, the first Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, (now Pro-cathedral of St. John of the Evangelist) in Victoria Square, by Isidro’s friend from New Norcia, Fr. Martin Griver. He became Vicar General in charge of the Diocese when Bishop Serra left in 1859. and later became Bishop of Perth (25).

This photo was taken at the time of their wedding to send home to their families. Isidro’s simple suit was made by a Spanish tailor (possibly an ex-Brother.).  Mary’s fashionable dress, with layers of horse hair petticoats was expensive and is similar to one in the RWAHS collection Note Mary’s left hand is positioned to display her wedding ring. (26). 

One of the witnesses was ex-Brother Juan (John)  Bancells who had arrived at the Swan River with Isidro on the John Panther in 1853 and had left New Norcia in 1856. The other witness, Catherine Walsh, was Mary's  friend from the West Australian. John and Catherine married several months later (in January, 1862) in the same church. 

The first Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Victoria Avenue, now the pro-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist c. 2000. It was the earliest 'Catholic Church', built in 1845 and gradually enlarged (Photo H. Natt) 

 John and Catherine had three children and John was a market gardener in Perth and Guildford for many years. He was well known in the community as a successful ‘vine dresser in the Spanish manner', an important trade at a time when many settlers made their own wine.  (27)] 

Six months after his wedding to Mary, on 23 December 1861,  Isidro signed a contract with prominent lawyer George F. Stone to buy part of Town lot Q 16 for £150. The previous owners were George Johnson, a merchant, of Guildford and The Reverend Samuel Hardey, Wesleyan Minister who was leaving the Swan River to become a missionary. The sale was completed on 14 January, 1862 and Isidro immediately took out a mortgage with lawyer G.F. Stone (28). It was the first of many contacts between Isidro and Stone. colony. 

 

George Frederick Stone (1812 - 18.8.1875)  leading lawyer and former Attorney General.  Like Dan Oriol he was an early member of the Perth Flying Squadron.  Photo taken by his brother pioneer  photographer A.H. Stone (RWAHS)

_

Isidro and Mary's new home, Casa Oriol,  20 Goderich Street, was a comfortable cottage, the front veranda facing the street, shaded by a tree, with a large workshop behind.  The land, Town Lot Q 16, extended from Goderich (later Murray Street) through to Howick (later Hay) Streets, and the family lived here, as the city grew around them, for 35 years until 1897.

We do not know what buildings already existed on Town Lot Q 16. As well as Casa Oriol and the workshop in Goderich Street, it later included five cottages on ‘Oriol Lane’ (off Goderich Street) and two shops with dwellings attached in Howick Street.  One of these shops may have been the site of the business Isidro opened in 1860, but no address is given in the advertisement or Trade Almanacs, for either the shop or G.F. Stone’s office (29). 

Isidro and Mary’s first surviving son Daniel was born on 21 August 1864 at Casa Oriol, as were all her children. Mary had already lost another baby in 1863 and there would be others - her death certificate records four males who died at birth (30).  She was busy with her young son, sewing, washing and cleaning but kept in touch with her Irish friends, some of whom had also married Spaniards. Others married Irishmen, including ticket of leave men. 

Isidro's first language was Catalan but he also spoke and wrote English and Spanish. While his main business was making furniture he kept an eye open for business opportunities.  However in the mid 1860s business was not booming in Perth.

The convicts, who had arrived in WA between 1850 and 1868, had provided plentiful cheap labour for many government and private building projects affecting the work available for Isidro and other local tradesmen (33). However Tom Stannard thinks it was the high cost of food and living rather than convictism that was driving them out.  “Artisans complained that pork, butter and eggs were ‘not to be had or only at fabulous prices’ (34) Certainly it was a low point in the colony’s development and many who could afford the fare from Albany left the state (35).

In the 1860s Isidro’s younger brother Francisco had joined in the Spanish Army and moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He knew that in 1865 Isidro was unhappy with the situation in Perth and wrote to him suggesting he join him in Buenos Aires (36) However, Isidro decided against it and prepared to leave Perth and try his luck in Adelaide instead.

End of Part 1. Chapter 6  continues Part 2 of Isidro's story

FOOT NOTES  CHAPTER 5 -  ISIDRO ORIOL'S LIFE IN PERTH 1857 TO 1865

1.    Timothy Harris, ‘Isidro Oriol, furniture maker and entrepreneur’, New Norcia Studies  No   2009, pp  p,71

2.  Odhran O’Brien, Martin Griver Unearthed: the life of a Spanish missionary priest who became a bishop in colonial Western Australia, 1814 – 1886, (2014) St Paul’s Publications, Society of St. Paul, Strathfield N.S.W. (pp 87-88)

3. O'Brien ibid p.136

4. Correspondence Summaries, from Serra to Salvado include discussion of  presbytery construction and orders to Fra Ascione and Br. Oriol who were working together on the building. e.g. Serra to Salvado 22 January 1856 2/2234A/11011  

5. List of Donors to Cathedral building (NN archives) and Brian O’Hara, Oriol Oral History.

6  Dictionary of West Australians 1829-1914 Vol 2, Bond 1850 – 1868 p.25, Compiler Rica Erickson

7. Harris Ibid p.71

8. Local and Domestic Intelligence, The Inquirer and Commercial News, 26 October 1859, p.2

9.  Memorial Book 6 No 1159, SROWA

10. Classified Advertising (1861, March 29). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. 

11. Erickson, Rica, The Bride Ships: Experiences of Immigrants in Western Australia 1849-1889, (1992) Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, Western Australia p.67

12.  Erickson, Ibid p. 38-39 

13 Erickson,  Ibid p,59

14. Register of Marriage No 1630, Perth W.A. 6 June, 1861

15. Mary Leahy: A search of Roots Ireland suggests that a Mary Leahy (the spelling varies) baptised a Roman Catholic on 25 August 1828, may be our Mary. Her address is Ballysorrell in the Parish of Templemore, Co. Tipperary, her father Daniel Leahy and mother Bridget Maher.  Their occupations are not listed. The sponsors were John Maher and Bridget Brennan. (Source North Tipperary Genealogy Centre).

16. Register of Marriage (above) and Mary Oriol Will ( Oriol documents)

17. Erickson p.67.

18  Doreen Daly Smith memories. Oriol Oral History.. 

19. The Inquirer and Commercial News, 1859, October 26 p.2 

20. The Inquirer and Commercial News, 26 October 1859, p.2)

21. Erikson ibid.

22. (Perth Police Court. (1861, May 24). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 3)]

23. Dictionary of West Australians 1829-1914 Vol 2, Bond 1850 – 1868 p.25, Compiler Rica Erickson

24. Erickson p. 19) 

25. St. Mary's Cathedral, Archdiocese of Perth, 1/187,  1 June 1861 and Register of Marriage No 1630, Perth WA, 1961

26. Leahy Correspondence: 

 

27  John Viska notes and see John Bancells biography by H. Natt (unpublished).

28.  Memorial of Conveyance of Perth Building lot Q 16, Deed No1159, Battye Library and Land title search

29. P.O. Directories and Perth Rate books give dates )(W.A. Almanacs and Herald Almanacs

30.  Death Certificate, Perth Register No 728, 1/8/1918 

31. Perth rate books and P.O. directories,  Stannage passim

32. Doreen D.S. interviews 1992 etc.

33. Harris, T. Ibid p.71

34. The Perth Gazette. 24 January, 1868 , Stannage p. 132 

35. Stannage p.132

36  Ibid. p.13