Edith Elaine Bishop, Guy's daughter.

Above: Edith Elaine Bishop, only child of Guy Arnold Bishop and Edith Alice Whyman Bolton. She was born on April 17, 1902. Typical of so many of the Hughan-descended women, Edith never married. After the death of her father in 1924, she emigrated to England where she lived for the rest of her life. Edith travelled extensively and was an avid correspondent, for many years keeping touch with her Australian cousins Gordon and Norman Oakley.
Edith Bishop died in Surrey, England, in December 1991, aged 89 years.

Guy Bishop's marriage

Guy Bishop was living at the family home 'Fairmount' in Oakleigh at the time of his marriage in 1901. His bride was New Zealand born Edith Alice Whyman Bolton, who had come from New Zealand in the early 1870s aged about 4 years and settled in Spotswood, a suburb of Melbourne with her family.(More on the history of the Bolton and Whyman families later.)
Edith was the 31 year old daughter of Thomas Edward Bolton and Emily Whyman, and had been born in Hokitika, New Zealand, in c. 1870.Her parents had married in England in 1863, and after a few years in New Zealand relocated to Victoria. Edith's father was a metallurgist and assayer, and thus was involved in the mining industry.
Edith had one sister, Hethyl Zoe, known as Zoe, and three brothers- Albert Edgar Whyman b c. 1874 South Melbourne; Ernest and Tom.They all lived in the family home 'Fairview' at 67 Hope Street, Spotswood, and it was here that Edith Bolton married Guy Bishop on March 27, 1901.
They were married by a Church of Christ minister, W.C Morro, B.A, and witnesses to the event who signed the marriage certificate were Edith's siblings Albert and Zoe.
Information given on the certificate was as follows:
Guy Arnold Bishop, bachelor, born North Melbourne, Victoria, aged 30, salesman. present and usual address 'Fairmount' Oakleigh. Parents Henry Bishop, iron monger, and Bertha Hughan.
Edith Alice Whyman Bolton, spinster, born Hokitika, New Zealand, aged 31, present and usual address 67 Hope Street, Spotswood, parents Thomas Edward Bolton, assayer, and Emily Whyman.
The following year their one and only child was born. Edith Elaine Bishop was born on April 17, 1902,and remained an only child as at the age of four, in 1906, her mother Edith died.
On December 2, 1906, at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, 36 year old Edith died having undergone a laparotomy for the condition known as 'myoma uteri', which is a tumour or tumours growing from the wall of the uterus.In a laparotomy, an incision is made in the abdominal wall to reach the uterus, and in Edith's case peritonitis developed and she lost her life two days after the operation.
Two days later Guy buried his wife in the St.Kilda Cemetery, and returned to their Prahran home with his little four year old daughter.Guy's sisters Olive and Daphne were unmarried and still living at home in nearby Oakleigh and certainly would have helped with Edith, and as mentioned in Roland's blog, some years after he and his wife Marie Celia Bishop separated Guy and Edith moved to her home at 97 Leopold Street, South Yarra.
I think that Guy moved in with Marie and not the other way around because in the 1909 electoral roll Marie was noted as being at this address, with no sign of Guy anywhere. In 1914 Marie and Guy were both living there, then in 1919 and 1924 Guy was still there and Marie had moved out but was still living very close-by.
Another scenario would be Marie living in Guy's house at Leopold Street in 1909 and looking after it for him if this was the period that he was working elsewhere-I can't find any trace of him anywhere for this period.
Stop Press: I just located online (Worldvitalrecords)the Sands & McDougall Victorian Directory of 1904(parts one and two), and it gives two addresses for Guy. Part One has:
Guy Bishop, 15 Greville Street, Prahran
Part Two: Guy Bishop, 15 Porter Street, Prahran ( the latter also has his siblings Miss Olive J. Bishop, 38 Hawksburn Rd, Hawksburn; and Roland Bishop, 93 Lewisham Road North, Prahran.

Guy Arnold Bishop

Guy Arnold Bishop (above) was the third child and second son born to Bertha Hughan and Henry Bishop. He was born in 1870, the same year that his family moved from the Ballarat district to Hotham (present day North Melbourne).Guy was born on December 15, 1870, at Chatman (or Chapman) Street, Hotham,just four days before the second birthday of his elder sister Olive.
Guy grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Hotham, Fitzroy, Jolimont and St.Kilda. He attended several schools, including the prestigious Melbourne Grammar School.A good natural athlete, Guy excelled at penny farthing bicycle racing like his elder brother Roland. It has been suggested that Guy was actually a more naturally gifted cyclist than Roland, and that Roland won more races only because he trained far more.Despite his lack of training, Guy still won many races and prizes.
After completing his education, Guy was indentured as an architect.The completion of his course coincided with the collapse of the land boom, so with no positions available he found himself without a career.
Guy accepted a job as travelling salesman for a wholesale bicycle merchant named Smith, which took him far and wide. His death certificate stated that he spent two years in Tasmania, but it is not certain when this was.

Above: Harry Gordon Oakley ("Gordon") with his wife Evelyn Margaret Robley on their wedding day, October 28, 1950.

The Oakley Home at Mulwala

The above images are of the Old Bank building in Melbourne Street, Mulwala, which was the home of the Oakley family for many years.As a child, I hated the front of the building...it just didn't seem "right". I later learnt that it was modified to take in a lodger. It's a shame that with two builders in the family, the 'modification' could not have been made to look a little more sympathetic with the rest of the building!

After the war

Top Photo: Olive and Harry Oakley, c. 1939.
Middle: Olive and Harry with their soldier son, Gordon.
Bottom: Olive Oakley.
All photos were taken at 115 Melbourne Street, Mulwala, the Oakley home.

After Gordon returned safely home from the War, during which time he served with the engineers and was mentioned in despatches (a military award for gallantry or otherwise commendable service), he announced his intention to marry his second cousin, Evelyn Robley. Evelyn was the youngest daughter of Ivy McCallum Robley, and her grandmother, Jessie Hughan, was the sister of Gordon's grandmother, Bertha Hughan.
Evelyn was an optometrist in Melbourne, and prior to the War she and Gordon had become very good friends. They corresponded during the time Gordon was away fighting, and realised upon his return that their feelings had deepened and became engaged.
Unfortunately, Olive was not to see her beloved son married.She died in 1948, and Gordon and Evelyn were married at St. Martin's Church, Hawksburn, on October 28, 1950.
Olive did live to see the birth of the first of her two granddaughters, however. Norman's first child was a daughter named Lesley Margaret, but known always as Margaret, and she was born on May 2, 1942, in Yarrawonga. Margaret was my mother, and as her grandmother Olive died when Marg was only five,her memories of "Grandmother Oakley" were rather sketchy.
Olive Jessie Bishop Oakley was buried in the lovely shady Mulwala Cemetery, as was her father Henry Bishop almost 30 years before.
Harry continued to live at his Melbourne Street home with Gordon, and then with both Gordon and Evelyn after their marriage. After returning from the war, Gordon and Norman became business partners as "H.G & N.M Oakley, Builders", and for the period 1945 to 1979 they built many houses and public buildings in the Yarrawonga district.
Harry Oakley had retired from work and travelling in 1941, at the age of 76 years.He occupied himself with racing dogs in both open and closed coursing, and there are several photos of Oakley racing dogs in our collection.
In his later years Harry suffered from arthritis in his legs, but he lived to be 90 years old. In a local newspaper article, Harry attributed his long life to the years he spent out of doors, combined with his being a moderate drinker and smoker and living and keeping to a regular life.
harry Oakley died on June 26, 1953, at Mulwala, NSW, and joined his wife Olive in the Mulwala cemetery.

Between the wars

Olive's family was very fortunate in that they did not suffer direct loss during the horrific Great War of 1914-1918. Gordon and Norman were too young to serve, and their father too old.The only family members the Oakleys had to worry about were Olive's youngest sister Daphne, who went to England to nurse during the war years, and two of Olive's cousins, the St. John Clarke boys, who served in the A.I.F.
Harry's father and step-mother and his half-siblings Albert, Mabel and Percy,were living in Surrey,England, and his elder brother John was in Wales, but none of them were injured by bombing or other perils of war.
Although Harry's travelling drapery business proved to be prosperous, a number of factors- extended droughts, floods and the depression- led to it being sold to pay his creditors.
He was then employed by 'Sammons and Edwards' of Corowa, and he travelled the countryside on their behalf, selling farm supplies, Massy Harris machinery and insurance.
After WW1, harry Oakley joined the staff of the Farmers & Graziers Co-operative as a wool buyer. His district extended from Savernake to the upper Murray. His means of transport was initially a Model T Ford car, but he soon switched to a sulky and a pair of horses.
When visiting the Upper Murray district Harry would be absent from home for periods of six weeks or more. This lifestyle lasted until he retired in 1941 at the age of 76 years.
It is no wonder then that Olive was so close to her sons- they were her companions during the long periods her husband was travelling away. Her sisters also visited frequently, as did her cousin Ivy McCallum Robley who had grown up with the Bishops and was like a sister to Olive.The Oakley boys knew her as 'Aunt Ivy'.
Gordon after leaving school became apprenticed to Mr W.F Nelson in 1924. Mr Nelson was a respected builder and cabinet maker in the Yarrawonga district. Gordon used to ride to work on a bicycle across the old wooden bridge that then spanned the Murray between Yarrawonga and Mulwala.
Norman studied for three years at Albury High School, and then he also became apprenticed to Mr. Nelson.At the beginning of the Depression in 1929, the Oakley brothers finished their work for Mr Nelson, and went their own seperate ways for a time. Norman continued to work in Yarrawonga when he could find it, but Gordon was forced to seek work elsewhere in towns like Wangaratta.
In 1933, Gordon and Norman were both employed by well-established Yarrawonga builder Norman Hallett, and they remained with him until 1939 when WW2 broke out.Gordon was very quick to join the A.I.F and served the duration of the War, and Norm back home was involved in the construction of the Mulwala Explosives Factory.
Norman Meabry Oakley, aged 26, married 19 year old Ivy Ellen Brown at St. Cuthbert’s Church of England, Yarrawonga, on Saturday, April 24, 1937, just three days before the bride’s twentieth birthday. They were married by Anglican priest William Joseph Chesterfield, and Ivy’s brother Edward Semer Brown and Norman’s brother Harry Gordon Oakley signed the marriage certificate as witnesses.
I don't know what Olive would have thought of her first daughter-in-law. Ivy was a free spirit, and her upbringing was certainly different than Normans'...her family were timber cutters, hard working and hard playing...there certainly would not have been any discussions about Greek Mythology or the English monarchs in the Brown household!