An Eminent Ancestor: Part 2

Joseph C. M. Cowan: Councillor and Mayor of Essendon

***Before launching into Part 2 I want to mention that I have updated Part 1 to include a description and photo of another building designed by Joseph Cowan, still standing today in Moonee Ponds.***

On 10 September 1884, Joseph Charles Martin Cowan married Florence Davenport at the Presbyterian Church in Ascot Vale. Joseph was 36 and Florence just 19. The couple's first child, a daughter - named Magdalene after Joseph's mother - was born on 29 October 1885. Four more daughters followed (including my grandmother Bertha in 1890) and then four sons after that (though one, Alfred, would die as a toddler in 1899), but I plan to write more about them in the future.

In 1888 there was a large two-volume history of Victoria produced called 'Victoria & its Metropolis'. It included a biographical list of many prominent men and Joseph Cowan scored a mention as a noted architect. Yet an even more public life for Joseph was about to begin: in June 1889 he put his name up for election in the Ascot Vale ward of the Borough of Essendon. Addressing the ratepayers in his own Masonic Hall he spoke in favour of removing cattle yards and abattoirs, and of building the proposed Ascot Vale West railway line. On 2 July he was elected by a handsome margin and within six weeks had been appointed chairman of the council's Public Works committee, an indication that he was already impressing his peers.

The population of Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds and Essendon had grown substantially since 1882 (from just over 3000 to well over 10000) to be one of the fastest growing municipalities in all of Australia. People were drawn to the area as it was relatively free of the industry that dominated many of Melbourne's inner suburbs at that time. With the land boom that 'Marvellous Melbourne' was experiencing, the value of these suburbs had grown sixfold in that time. Thus it was that in Cowan's first term as councillor the Borough of Essendon was proclaimed a Town, and 22 January 1890 was set aside as a day to celebrate the achievement. At the end of the festivities there was a sporting competition, at which Joseph won a foot race called the 'Town Hall Handicap' - though he was starting off 25 yards (from his photos it appears that he might have been a sizeable man, this handicap would suggest so)! Despite Essendon's rapid growth, an early reference to Councillor Cowan in the newspaper reflects that the area was still semi-rural, when he 'called attention to the danger of driving mobs of cattle through the borough at prohibited hours'. At another time he would also present a petition from landowners about the 'travelling sheep nuisance'.

Joseph Charles Martin Cowan from his days on the Essendon Council
(photo held in the Essendon Historic Society)

Just two years after joining the council, on 17 August 1891 Joseph Cowan received the ultimate accolade of being elected mayor. During his year in the robes he fought hard for the aforementioned proposed railway, ie. from Ascot Vale West (the Showgrounds) to Keilor via Maribyrnong. Despite his best efforts this line was never built. Following the land boom of the 1880s there had been an economic downturn which was beginning to bite so in February 1892 he set up the 'Mayor of Essendon Relief Fund' for unemployed residents. He hosted an address by Alfred Deakin (member for the electorate of Essendon & Flemington at the time), who would go on to serve three times as Prime Minister of Australia after federation, and also rubbed shoulders at events with prominent local landowner Sir William John Clarke and his wife Lady Janet Clarke. Cricket's 'Ashes' had been born at Rupertswood, the philanthropists and social identities' estate in Sunbury, in 1883 and while not quite in the same regard, Cowan did lend his name to a cricket prize: in June 1892 the Cowan Trophy (a marble clock) was presented to the South Essendon United Cricket club who had gone through the previous season undefeated.

The newspapers were unfailingly positive about Mayor Cowan. The North Melbourne Advertiser described him as being "energetic, impartial and hard-working". On 11 December 1891 it also paid him these compliments:

"Councillor Cowan is proving himself not only one of the most genial, but also one of the most useful and painstaking mayors the Town of Essendon has ever been fortunate enough to have - a practical man, and one whom the exalted position in no way spoils, possessing a fund of knowledge which he never hesitates to place at the service of those requiring information. No wonder he is thoroughly popular with all sections of the community, and last, and though not perhaps least - the press."

Soon after becoming mayor, Joseph welcomed his fourth daughter into the world (on 27 September 1891), and fittingly she was named Jean Essendon Cowan. His fellow councillors also thought it worth marking this event, and presented him with a solid silver cradle to commemorate 'another promising scion of the Cowan race being born during his year of office.' It was said that he was the first mayor of the town to receive such a 'remarkable presentation'.

After his year as mayor, the economy continued to worsen and the collapse of many banks in early 1893 plunged the country into depression. Cowan himself was hit hard - this will be covered in the next post (yes, there will be a Part 3) - but while on council he continued to fight for the jobs of council workers, rather than retrenchments if at all possible, showing his humanitarian side. Other council issues he was involved in included fierce debates on the location of Moonee Ponds Post Office, the merits of a reserve on the Saltwater (Maribyrnong River), new bridges across the Moonee Ponds Creek to Brunswick and the removal of gunpowder from the magazine at Maribyrnong. Cowan was on the committee for the Moonee Ponds Reserve and oversaw various improvements to the park, and it was he who moved that the reserve be named Queens Park in time for Queen Victoria's Silver Jubilee in 1897. He often engaged in verbal sparring with Councillor Taylor, on one occasion suggesting that Taylor thought himself the 'Solomon' of the council! In September 1896 Cowan was elected Essendon's representative on the Board of Works, whose meetings usually involved conversations about the Werribee Farm and Spotswood Pumping Station (key components of Melbourne's relatively new sewerage system) and the cleanliness of the Saltwater River.

As if his job as an architect and his role on council wasn't enough, Joseph somehow found time to also be involved in various sporting and leisure associations. He was vice-president of the Ascot Vale Football Club in 1890 and of the Ascot Vale Chess, Draughts and Whist Club in 1892. He was on the committee of the Essendon Rife Club at its inception in March 1900. In the same month he was also appointed a vice-president of the Essendon Town Football Club. This was a team formed to compete in the VFA, as its more famous VFL namesake was playing home games at East Melbourne Cricket Ground, leaving the locals feeling like they were represented in name only. Sadly Joseph Cowan's roles with these latter two clubs would be all too brief.

While Joseph had suffered heart disease in 1898, he had received treatment and his health was on the improve. But on the morning of 30 May 1900 while reading the paper after breakfast, he suddenly vomited up a quantity of blood and half an hour later he was dead. His death was a shock for his family, the council and the wider Essendon community. Cowan's funeral was 'about the largest known in the Essendon district' with so many wreaths and floral emblems that a separate car was needed to carry them. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of Melbourne Cemetery after a Masonic service carried out at the grave by his Gordon Lodge brethren. His wife Florence was just 35, and she was left with eight children aged from 14 to less than 1 year old.