Thomas Joshua Jackson
140 Jolimont Road   East Melbourne
(of 'Young and Jackson's Hotel' fame)

Author: Peter Fielding

Thomas Joshua Jackson was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1834, and emigrated to Victoria  around 1852, but little is known of these early years of his life. Research in Ireland has revealed little, other than he was probably an only son. His life from 1852 was inextricably mixed together with those of his aunt's families. Jackson's aunt Sarah Heaton married in Ireland for the second time at the age of 40, to Henry Young, a law clerk. The Youngs had one child, H. F. Young, in 1845, and emigrated to Victoria in 1849, with three children. These were five year old H. F. Young and the two youngest children from Sarah Young's first marriage - 13 year old John Connell and nine year old and only daughter Sarah Isabella Connell. Cooper, J.B., The History of St Kilda: From Its First Settlement to a City and After, 1840, ­1930, v.1., Printers Proprietary Limited, Melbourne, 1931, p.162. Sarah Young's eldest son also appears to have arrived separately in Victoria about 1851. By 1859, Henry Young senior had become the landlord of the Elsternwick Hotel, one of the earliest 'suburban' hotels in Melbourne. The Australian Brewers' Journal, 20 November 1919, p.81.

Between 1852 and 1861 nothing concrete is recorded about Jackson. H. F. Young later said that in 1861 he had 'chummed together' with Jackson, and 'set forth for New Zealand, where for some considerable time they successfully engaged in mining. This might imply that Jackson had some previous experience of mining, perhaps on the Victorian gold fields; it is Thomas Jackson's name which appears as a preferred claim holder at Gabriel's Gully in Otago province in early 1862. Cole, R.K., Harmston, G., and Telow, E. (contributors.), R. K. Cole collection of hotel records/ surname records, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 2000, vA, p.339. The third Maori War of 1863 and declining gold returns by 1864 probably acted as catalysts for a return to Melbourne. The next clear public reference to Jackson occurs in December 1867, when he appears in a high profile and somewhat amusing court case involving Young senior.

The town clerk of Melbourne, Edmund Gerald FitzGibbon Barrett, B., 'FitzGibbon, Edmund Gerald (1825 - 1905)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, vA, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp.181-182., had stopped at the Elsternwick Hotel on his way to Melbourne from Mt. Eliza, and remaining on his horse outside, called for a beer.  Finding himself ignored, he then rode his horse into the bar to claim a drink first hand. Young senior, the landlord, 'assisted by a man named Thomas Jackson', promptly evicted him from the bar. Cross-summons ensued. Young initially claimed FitzGibbon was drunk, while FitzGibbon claimed the horse, due to a fondness for Colonial ale, rode him into the bar. The judge decided for the horse and Young had to pay £50 and costs. Other charges, including against Jackson, and FitzGibbon by Young, were dismissed. The Argus, 16th January 1867, p.5 and 5th April, 1867, p.5.

Soon after this court case, Jackson entered business together with H.F. Young when they took up a licence for Sparrow's Hotel at St. Kilda junction, first recorded in 1868. Cole, R.K., Harmston, G., and Telow, E. (contributors.), R. K. Cole collection of hotel records/ surname records, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 2000, vA, p.339. By then Melbourne was on the cusp of a decade long financial, industrial and property boom. Jackson and Young positioned themselves perfectly for it when in 1875 they made their move across the Yarra River to the Prince's Bridge Hotel. The Princes' Bridge Hotel was established there in July 1861. Schumer, L.A., Princes Bridge Hotel ­Young and Jackson's, East Malvern, 1981, pA. With license and lease in hand, they promptly made their mark with extensive renovations. The Young and Jackson names and management of the hotel became so well known that it began to be referred to as 'Young and Jackson's'. The words 'Young and Jackson' did not appear on the hotel facade until many years after they first won the licence; it would have been more convenient to retain the licence in the old name. The partnership seems to have been based on a 'gentleman's agreement'. Young, who continued to be associated with the hotel until 1914, ensured the fame of the hotel through astute marketing, including with the purchase of the then controversial Chloe painting in 1909.

In August 1878, Jackson finally married, at 44. His bride was a widow, well known to Jackson; in fact she was his first cousin. Sarah Isabella Cavanagh was the only daughter of Sarah Young's first marriage in Ireland. Her late husband, Michael Cavanagh, protege of Henry Young senior and former landlord of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Prahran, had died in 1877. He apparently left no will or property. Sarah Young died in February 1883. Sarah Cavanagh brought into the marriage with Jackson her 16 year old son, James. Until the time of his marriage, Jackson most likely had lived at the Elsternwick, Sparrow's and the Princes Bridge Hotels in turn. Once married, there was an imperative to find a place of his own and by 1879 Jackson had taken up land in Jolimont Road, East Melbourne, 'a most attractive proposition for the investor.' Burchett, W., East Melbourne Walkabout, Cypress Books, Melbourne, 1975, p.9.

In 1880, the year that Irish-Australian bushranger Ned Kelly went to the gallows, the Young and Jackson partnership was extended once again with a renewed lease on the Prince's Bridge Hotel, this time for 14 years at an annual rent of £1,000, which included the adjoining building in Flinders Street. New connections to Flinders Street station in 1879 had quickly boosted confidence in rail travel and the popularity of Flinders Street Station for train riders from country and city alike. The hotel was in the right place at the right time and well positioned for the coming boom. It seemed that the incredible decade of growth in Melbourne from 1880-1890 would never end; the crash and recession which followed was of equally monumental proportions. The crash had its effect even on popular and profitable hotels and may have precipitated the end of the partnership of Young and Jackson. After all, by 1894, Jackson had turned 60, with plenty of business to engage him and property development as well.

Jackson's name first appears in connection with Jolimont Road in the Sands and McDougall Directory and in the Melbourne City Council Rate Books in 1879. Jackson also appears in Albert Ward in the 1878/1879 List of Citizens, a Melbourne City Council record. In August 1879, he applied to bring some vacant land on Jolimont Road under the Transfer of Land Statute, and acquired other property on the street. By 1881, he was living in one of three six bedroom brick houses that he then owned. Over the years to his death in 1900, Jackson appears to have owned between two and five blocks, with a double block making up his eventual home on Jolimont Road, at Number 42. Much of the research on Jackson's land and house interests on Jolimont Road was completed by Peter Fielding 1998-2001. For the List of Citizens, see PROV, VPRS 4029/P3. For the 1879 notice, see The Argus, 26th August 1879, p.8.

Jackson was there in August 1881 when the railway level crossing for the line from Brighton to Flinders Street not far from his home became the scene of one of Melbourne's great rail disasters. Loaded with some of the business elite of Brighton and Elsternwick, as well as ordinary passengers including a coach especially for schoolgirls, the 9 a.m. Brighton Express, three minutes from Flinders Street, went over an embankment and smashed up, killing three passengers outright (a fourth died later) and injuring dozens. The Argus tells the story:

At this stage - it was but a few minutes after the accident - the people around began to realise how matters stood, and the cry was for pickaxes, axes and levers. Speedily the already roused inhabitants of Jolimont were requisitioned for the necessary implements, and a dozen or so of axes appeared upon the scene. They were mostly obtained through the personal exertions of Mr. T.J. Jackson, who also thoughtfully sent a supply of brandy with jugs of water to revive the fainting.' The Argus, 31 st August 1881, pp.5-6.

In December 1882, Jackson's architect, James Gall, placed an advertisement in the newspapers calling for tenders to erect a 'villa residence' for Jackson. A Notice to Build was lodged in January 1883. The Argus, 1st December 1882, p.3 and PROV, VPRS 9463/P3, Notice of Intention to Build, No.134.  Jackson called the house' Eblana',  the Latin spelling for Dublin his city of birth. It became a comfortable two storey home, complete with tiled balcony and hall, vaulted timber ceilings, lead light windows and horse stables in the rear giving access to Jolimont Lane. Jackson with a year added a single storey extension on the ajoining block in which he installed a billiard table.* Years after, it was described by unknowing but ever optimistic real estate agents as a 'ballroom'. Across the street between Jolimont Road and the City lay the East Melbourne Cricket Ground (later an early home of the Essendon Football Club) which 

... saw many famous sporting events including in March 1887, a match between Australia and England when the two elevens were shuffled and divided into teams of smokers and non-smokers. Five years later, Dr. Grace led an English team against the East Melbourne Cricket Club on this ground. Burchett, W., East Melbourne Walkabout, Cypress Books, Melbourne, 1975, p.14.

Jackson's records in 1901 give a fascinating insight into life at Eblana and the labour intensive consumerism at the turn of the 20th century. The list of personal liabilities includes bills from doctor, chemist, bell repairer, pork butcher (the area had a large Jewish community at the time and so pork was sold separately), butcher, baker, butterman, wood, dairy milkman, Chinese greengrocer, servant, gardener, washerwoman, fruiterer, fishmonger, nurse, wine and brandy supplies (from H.F. Young), house repairs, eggs and boot makers. PROV, VPRS 28/P3, Probate Jurisdiction Sarah Isabella Jackson 1924. Most of these services provided personalised service to Jackson's home at Jolimont Street. He also paid separately for street lighting and sewage services, in addition to his rates. Most home owners in Melbourne today would be envious of the fact that in 1900, Jackson only paid £29/3/4 in income tax. That he and Sarah Jackson lived such a comfortable life was evidence of the financial security he had achieved from his hotel businesses and business investments. PROV, VPRS 28/P2, Probate Thomas Joshua Jackson 1901 (Probate Jurisdiction).

Exactly when Jackson began making business investments is not known with certainty. The opening of the Melbourne Stock Exchange in 1884 may have provided an early incentive. Both Jackson and H. F. Young invested in a diverse range of business, banks, a brewery, brickworks, gold mines and government stocks, as well as property and in speculative new technology opportunities. Young was an astute businessman who went on to develop a highly valued business portfolio and art collection which was valued at over £120,000 by the time of his death in 1925. PROV, VPRS28/P3/1604 and VPRS7591/P2/725, Will and Probate Henry Figsby Young 1923.

Jackson, although not as successful as Young in business and died some 25 years before Young, still retired from the hotel with a comfortable income from his portfolio of interests. Most of Jackson's investments did well, even during the major recession of 1891-1895. But in common with today's investors, not all the tips he received worked out for him. In the attendant bank crashes to the recession, Jackson also lost like many others. The Metropolitan Bank failed in 1892; Jackson and two of his wife's relatives were listed as depositors in The Argus in March 1892 when a meeting at the Athenaeum Upper-hall was called 'to arrange for their representation in the liquidation of the bank.' The Argus, 2nd March 1892, p.8.  The fact that only a handful of depositors were named in the public notice suggested that they had considerable sums on deposit. The Montgomeries Brewing Company was another investment which turned sour.

Both Jackson and H.F. Young invested their reputations and perhaps  capital when Montgomeries Brewing Company was formed in 1888. The Argus, 24th February 1888, p.9. The new limited liability company floated on 1st March 1888 with 240,000 shares at £1/10- each. The directors included Jackson, and H.F. Young at a later date, while stockholders meetings were often held at the Young and Jackson Hotel. By 1897, Montgomeries finally failed, and went under owing the Bank of Australasia £73,302. Disgruntled investors sued the directors including Jackson ­but not Young who by this time had astutely managed to divest.

The case came to the Victorian Supreme Court in 1899 and began'sitting in late 1900. The judgement of the court was in favour of Montgomeries shareholders. Jackson had to pay £975 for the 1,500 shares at 13s each that he was issued in the initial float but never paid up, the payment was to be paid within one month of 15th February 1901. PROV, VPRS 267/PO/1361, Victorian Supreme Court, Montgomeries Brewery vs. Jackson and others, Case 1040/1898 Montgomeries was Jackson's Waterloo. It didn't destroy him financially, but he must have felt that his reputation at least was damaged, perhaps permanently. The pressure on him may have contributed to his death less than three months later, at Eblana, on 9th May 1901.

At his death Jackson left assets of £17,483. His estate had to pay £3,515  to the shareholders of Montgomeries Brewing Company to settle the Supreme Court case. Due to Jackson being the only director with assets he had to carry the total settlement costs. The probate showed that at the time of his death Jackson held a range of stocks and shares, most notably in government bonds and debentures, in the Port Fairy Corporation (a land developer), in a number of gold mines including one in Queensland and another in Tasmania, with Dan White - the well-known coach building company - the Modern Permanent Building Society, the Herald & Weekly Times newspapers, the Hoffman Patent Steam Brickworks as well as the Buchanan Gordon Diving Dress company. PROV, VPRS 28/PO, Probate Thomas Joshua Jackson (Executors' Acc6unt), and PROV, VPRS 28/P2, Probate Thomas Joshua Jackson 1901 (Probate Jurisdiction),

Somewhat oddly, Jackson had few investments in beer. At the time of his death he only held shares in the leading malting company of Samuel Burston & Company; he had, of course, also invested in Montgomeries. He kept a phaeton and horses at the Hotel & Livery in Collins Street of James Garton, a long established hotelier (Garton was also a Director in Dan White's coach-making company). One of Jackson's last investments was in Buchanan Gordon Diving Dress Limited, floated on the Melbourne Stock Exchange in 1899. The product driving the float was an underwater diving suit which allowed the diver to safely reach 30 fathoms (about 50 metres), remain underwater for lengthy periods and even talk by telephone to the surface.

Overall, Jackson's share investments, despite the stressful debacle of Montgomeries Brewery (and even that paid well for many years), must have provided a reasonable income stream. However, by the time of his death many of his shares had little value, bringing in only around £1,500 at probate. Even Jackson's interest in 'new technology' stocks, as they would be called today, did not payoff for him - Montgomeries Brewery, Hoffmans Brickworks, some of the mine technology and even the Buchanan Gordon Diving Dress were highly innovative firms and products for their time. But at his death, Jackson's most valuable shares were the 661 he held in the Herald Standard [newspaper] Company - worth £1,090 at probate, followed by the 1,041 shares he held in the Great Extended Hustler Gold Company, worth £780.23. PRO V, VPRS 28/P2, Probate Thomas Joshua Jackson (Probate Jurisdiction)

Jackson was made secure financially, more than anything else, by his modest investment properties and of course his own home (altogether worth over £9,000), backed up by Government stocks, debentures, holding of two mortgages on Hawthorn properties and cash in the bank (worth over £7,500). It was this 'balanced portfolio' which allowed Jackson to overcome his debts and provide handsomely for his widow. Jackson also held a modest but wholly respectable investment property folio which included seven other houses which he rented out in Fitzroy, Carlton, Collingwood, South Yarra, East Melbourne and South Melbourne, plus some land in Moonee Ponds. PRO V, VPRS 28/P2, Probate Thomas Joshua Jackson (Probate Jurisdiction)

With the death of Thomas Jackson in 1901, Sarah Jackson remained at Eblana. In 1907, Sarah Jackson's son James Cavanagh also died, at the age of 45, leaving a widow, Ellen. James Cavanagh had apparently been a heavy drinker, contributing no doubt to the liver disease which killed him; he was also virtually 'broke'. At his death in 1907 his only assets consisted of 650 shares in the Northcote Brickworks worth £455, a £2 share in the Morwell Tennis Club (from his days in Gippsland), and £78 of assorted jewellery. Listed among his liabilities at probate was £16 advanced to him in 1907 by his mother a bleak testimony to Cavanagh's circumstances at the time. PROV, VPRS 28,106/363, Probate, James Henry Albert Cavanagh. Ellen Cavanagh married John Connell after the death of her first husband and continued to live at Eblana with Sarah Jackson, John Connell is Sarah's brother's son who later became famous as the owner of Connell's hotel in Elizabeth street and left a fourtune to both the Anglican church and the National Gallery on his death. Sarah's died on Christmas Day, 1924, aged 84. Sarah Jackson was buried with Thomas Jackson and her son James in Kew Cemetery.

What of Sarah Jackson's assets, including Eblana? In her Will, assets included an oil painting of Melbourne Cup winner Carbine (very possibly the Frederick Woodhouse Jr. oil on canvas painted in 1889 and now in the State Library of Victoria's collection); several thousand pounds in cash to relatives, friends and house-maid, donations to the Organ Fund of the Vestry of the Holy Trinity Church in Clarendon Street East Melbourne,  the Queen Victoria Hospital; and the City Newsboys Society. The balance of her estate was divided into shares to be divided among the wider circle of Young and Connell relatives. PROV, VPRS 7591/P2, Will, Sarah Isabella Jackson 1920.

Altogether, at probate Sarah Jackson's personal assets consisting of personal effects, cash, debentures and shares realized assets of £25,918. Sarah held Commonwealth Government Treasury Bonds, and Debentures of the State Savings Bank, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, the Metropolitan Gas Company and the Victorian Government. She had  shares in the Northcote Brick Company Limited and the Commercial Bank of Australia but the bulk in the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. (these last realised £7,126 alone). In addition she held a similar mix of property to her late husband, which were all sold and brought in £11,000. PROV, VPRS 28/P3, Probate Jurisdiction Sarah Isabella Jackson 1925.

Less than a year later, in October 1925, Eblana was sold (described as a 'magnificent brick residence' in the auctioneer's flyer) to the Commonwealth of Australia, when it was used as the head office of the Post Master General; various owners followed. Cawthorne, Z., 'The House that Beer Built', Herald-Sun Weekend, 24th July 2004, p.11. These included by 1983, a subsidiary of Telecom Australia. Later that year, a National Trust survey described Eblana as a ' ... boom period render Italianate style terrace dwelling with a two storey colonnade and parapet over. The grand entry is approached by a flight of substantial bluestone steps ...' 'National Trust Survey', dated 26th July 1983, in the Fielding Collection.

In 1983, just over 100 years since it had been built and occupied by Thomas Jackson and his family, Eblana came up for auction once again. A real estate reporter wrote: ' ... The agents suggest the building would be ideal for offices or professional use, but also suggest, rather wistfully, that someone might want to live there.' In 1997, the neglected house was bought by entrepreneurs Peter and Nancy Fielding. The couple got to work to extensively restore Jackson's house, inside and out. Eblana today is a 'beautifully restored Victorian gem, in which antiques, reproduction pieces and classic elegance blend effortlessly', thanks to their generous and sensitive restoration. 

Jackson lived through one of the most exciting periods of Melbourne's history. When he arrived just 14 years after the Colony was proclaimed, Melbourne was a very raw town. Bushrangers still held up travellers near the house signed as the Elsternwick Hotel after it had been built in 1854. Albert Lake as it is known now was a swamp and in 1856 the future Young and Jackson Hotel was a butcher's shop. From such beginnings, and with luck at the New Zealand gold fields, Jackson and Young slowly but surely built a highly successful hotel business together.

This brought Jackson opportunities to build his wealth, which he was able to do and it brought Jackson to Jolimont, where for 20 years his house reflected both his success and provided him and his family a magnificent home in  which to reflect on his journey in life. It was a long way from Jackson's arrival in Victoria in 1852 as a young man with perhaps uncertain prospects. His home Eblana became an expression of his success in 'Marvellous Melbourne' - and a haven during the recession and unhappy failure of Montgomeries. Despite the disinterest and neglect of its many occupants since 1925, it is the story of Eblana which fittingly ends the narrative of Thomas Joshua Jackson, for it stands beautifully restored today. 130 years since it was built, Eblana stands today as Jackson's main legacy.

*It has since been established that the billiard room was built in 1898 for Thomas Jackson by G W (George Wilson) Dodd. In the building register it was described simply as an 'addition' but the 1899 rate books [Albert Ward ref no 804]refer to it as a billiard room. 
[PROV. Building Register VPRS 9289/P0001/000006/[type] VH1.  Mar 27 1898/Reg. No. 7204]