My great-grandmother, Olive Jessie Bishop,(pictured above) was born on 5 a.m on Saturday morning, December 19, 1868, at Mount Rowan near Ballarat, the second child and first daughter born to 27 year old Henry Bishop and his 29 year old wife Bertha Hughan.
The first two years of her life were spent in the Ballarat district, then in the early 1870s her family-consisting of elder brother Roland and her parents- moved to Melbourne for her father's work.The Bishops initially resided in Hotham, where Guy Arnold Bishop was born just before Olive's second birthday in 1870.
Three more children were born during the 1870s, all of them little sisters for Olive- Violet Bertha Malvina in 1874 in Fitzroy; Myrtle Gwendoline Elaine in 1877 at The Hermitage, Jolimont (part of Governor LaTrobe's earlier residence) and finally Daphne Lorna Josephine in 1878 at St.Kilda.
After living in St. Kilda, Olive and her family moved to South Yarra, where they lived in a house in Mona Place for most of the 1880s.Henry finally bought his wife her own home, a lovely sprawling weatherboard house they named 'Fairmount'. It was in the suburb of Oakleigh, and the Road on which they lived was named Stamford Road. Olive's father was the Town Clerk of Oakleigh at one stage, and since Stamford, Lincolnshire, was his birthplace and childhood home, I think he may have played a large part in the naming of their residential road!
Olive would have attended school in whatever suburb they lived in while she was a small child, but her later schooling was completed at "Mrs Mitchell's School For Young ladies" ( or Ladies College, Fitzroy) at Victoria Parade,Fitzroy, where she boarded.Her first cousin Ivy McCallum, who was raised with Olive and her siblings from the age of seven, attended Presbyterian Ladies College in Albert Street, East Melbourne from its first year of establishment in 1875.
In her final year of schooling, Olive Bishop won the History Prize. Her award was dated December 19, 1887, which was her 19th birthday.The principal of the school was noted as being Mrs. Mitchell. Olive adored the study of history, particularly Roman and Greek ancient history, and I have several of her books which have been passed down from her youngest son Norman to me, his granddaughter.
After finishing school, Olive didn't wait around waiting to be swept off her feet and into marriage as many well-bred ladies of that period were wont to do. She tried her hand at several occupations, and during her twenties and early thirties she was employed as a teacher, worked in a shop in High Street, Prahran, and held a position in a South Yarra boarding house.
After her mother Bertha died in 1898, Olive's youngest sister Daphne took it upon herself to be the one who lived at home and cared for their father Henry.Sister Violet was married at 'Fairmount" in 1900, and third sister Myrtle was thoroughly out of favour with her father for daring to have a baby out of marriage in 1898. The baby died, but the disgrace remained...in a will that Henry wrote in October of 1899, he did not even mention Myrtle in the document, despite itemising in great detail what his other five children were to receive upon his death.
Olive came to meet her future husband, Harry Oakley, as the result of her strong friendship with Harry's sister, Amy Jane Oakley, known always as 'Jean'. Olive's mother, Bertha, had seen an advertisement in the paper for a teacher of the pianoforte, which had been placed by Jean Oakley.Bertha's mother had been Hannah Oakley, so Bertha contacted Jean to see if any blood ties existed between the two families. Even though they proved not to be related, a very close friendship developed between Jean Oakley and the Bishop family.
Jean was only five years older than Olive, and when she introduced Harry, her brother, into the Bishop family circle, she actively encouraged the friendship which grew between her brother and good friend.
Harry and Jean Oakley had emigrated from England in 1887, and according to his elder son, Gordon Oakley, Harry had been engaged to a girl back in England. The young lady in question followed her fiance out to Victoria and was so underwhelmed by what she witnessed of her new country she very quickly returned to her homeland, leaving Harry a free man.
So, footloose and fancy free, Harry was not at all adverse to the matchmaking efforts of his spinster sister, and he and Olive became very good friends.
Around the turn of the century (1900 or thereabouts) Jean Oakley and Olive Bishop visited a fortuneteller for a character analysis and peer into their futures. Olive's son Gordon gave me the fascinating handwritten report jotted down by his mother after the experience, and he wrote the following about the occasion:
" After a visit to a fortune teller and character analyst, Mother wrote the accompanying report, which I feel is a very good report of her life and living. I have heard the story of her and Jean visiting two consultants. The first they did not appreciate, the second was better. It was probably written about 1900."
The actual report is in the next blog, but what it says is as follows:
" Matter-of-fact, independent, methodical, impulsive, rather original and unconventional, caring very little for form and ceremony and people's opinions.Have good reasoning powers and like to investigate things for myself. Am very tidy and do everything very thoroughly. Like everything to be nice and refined around me.Am irritable over trifles but very seldom lose my temper.
Am very nervous and sensitive and inclined to be touchy. Am not too imaginative or religious. Would always reason things out and would never become fanatic.Have a great presence of mind in time of danger and would always know what to do.
Am very determined and generally get my own way but would readily give way to one I liked.Would completely ignore anyone who really offended or annoyed me. Am inclined to be nervous when undertaking anything new but am very self confident when once I start.
Am very fond of painting and reading and should paint and play well.Am clever with my hands and would make a good cook. Would understand thoroughly all kinds of machinery.Am fond of animals, especially horses and dogs.
Have not much physical strength and always overestimate it and do not take sufficient care of myself.
Will be married- sometime. Will have a long life and be fairly lucky.Never overburdened with riches tho. after the great event will be happy, fortunate and well-cared for. Will have great influence over most people and especially over the poor unfortunate who marries me.
Am going the usual(fortune-tellers) journey and will be in great danger, probably shipwrecked, but all will end well.
Am going to have worry through relations or friends."
In her report Olive made reference to "the poor unfortunate who marries me"...this 'poor unfortunate' was Harry Meabry Oakley, and the couple married at St. Johns Church of England, Toorak, on February 24, 1904.Harry was 41 years old, and Olive 35.
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