Stevens Michael

Michael Stevens is the nephew of the late Alfred Stevens who was a co-owner of Stamford Park from 1954 until his death in 1987.  Michael lived with his uncle at Stamford Park during 1955 and 1956 and was a regular visitor at the homestead over the following years. This is Michael’s story of his very long association with Stamford Park.

THE MOVE TO ROWVILLE FROM TALLAROOK

Alfred Stevens and his good friend and business partner, Cyril (“Mac”) McClelland, lived on a property that they owned at Tallarook. When Mac suffered a minor stroke they decided to look for a property closer to Melbourne so that Mac could be closer to good medical facilities.

After lengthy negotiations with the then owner of Stamford Park, “Wish” Drummond, a deal was finalised and Alfred and Mac moved to Rowville in 1954.

Michael had been a frequent visitor to the Tallarook property and continued to spend time with his uncle and Mac at their new farm at Rowville. When Michael’s parents were forced to give up their dairy farm at Myrniong because of ill health, they moved to Melbourne with Michael and his brother and sister. The house they bought was rather a small one so Michael suggested that he go to live with his Uncle “Bro” (Alfred’s nickname within the family). This arrangement was apparently satisfactory to all concerned and Michael was delighted to be back in the open spaces of the country rather than being cooped up in a city house. Many people thought that Alfred was a grumpy old fellow but when he relaxed after a couple of whiskies he showed that he had a good sense of humour. Bro treated Michael like a son and they got on very well together.

AT DANDENONG HIGH SCHOOL

Michael was to spend two years at Rowville, 1955 and the Olympic year, 1956. During that time he was in Years 8 and 9 at Dandenong High where he fondly remembers being taught history by a very knowledgeable and passionate teacher named Barry Jones who, of course, went on to great celebrity as a very successful quiz contestant and, later, federal politician..Michael got on very well with Mr Jones but his mischievous nature often saw him excluded from class. He had the same sort of problem with the Grenda’s bus drivers. He and a neighbour, Jimmy Hill, caught the school bus each morning in Stud Road opposite Stamford Park and Michael remembers Bernard Seebeck getting on at the Wellington Road corner. It wasn’t long before Michael and his mates had their rubber bands out firing wads of paper at the bus driver’s neck and so he was sometimes made to complete the trip to school by foot.

LIFE AT STAMFORD PARK

The homestead was a big old house. It was very cold in the winter but there were fireplaces in every room and the fire in Bro’s study was always kept burning. However, the house was beautifully furnished and the silver and paintings were the best that money could buy.

The two old bachelors were glad to have Michael living with them as he could do lots of the jobs that they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do such as getting up on the roof to clean the leaves out of the guttering, milking the cows and mending the fences. The property extended over 118 acres but Mac and Bro, although wealthy men, weren’t very interested in improving or even maintaining it. Michael was sure that no fertilizer was ever put on the pastures and if a fence had to be mended he was told to do the repair with some old bale twine from the shed.

However, they employed a housekeper and gardener so the house and its immediate surrounds looked well cared for.

Brian Carroll, a Dandenong stock and station agent, looked after the stocking of the property without much input from Bro. Michael tried to get his uncle to drench the cattle before they were turned out into the paddocks but he couldn’t be bothered.

Once Michael was sitting between Bro and Mac at the old Dandenong stock yards in Clow Street on a day that they had decided to buy some cattle. Brian Carroll was working hard – but unsuccessfully -as the auctioneer to attract bids. Brian’s father, old Tom Carroll, became so annoyed by Bro and Mac’s lack of interest that he jumped forward and started hitting them with a rolled up newspaper while crying out, “Come on you silly old buggers; if you want to buy, put some bids in.”

Another funny incident occurred some years later. Bro discovered that some of his steers were missing. He had enquired of the neighbours and got Brian Carroll to scour the district without success. No sooner had Bro and Brian come to the conclusion that the cattle had been stolen than a noise was heard coming from the old feed shed next to the dairy. On investigation Bro found that the steers had got into the shed looking for hay and one of them apparently had kicked the door shut. Fortunately this happened in the winter but when released the animals could barely see and were incredibly thirsty.

Each day before he went to school Michael milked the two house cows, a jersey and a guernsey named Molly who, despite Michael’s best efforts, always managed to put her hoof into the milk bucket. The milk was hand separated and some of the cream was put into an old wooden Cherry churn and made into butter.

Bro, Mac and Michael ate breakfast and lunch at a small table beside the window in the dining room. However, for the evening meal and for Sunday lunch they sat at the big oval dining table and were waited on by the housekeeper, Miss Gunn. They were not fancy eaters; they liked “good old Australian fare”.

At the weekends family members came to call and there was always a roast served at the long dining table. An old friend, Syd Dart, who bought the auction rooms after Mac’s death, came out to do some fly fishing in the lake that had been constructed by Wish Drummond. Michael remembers him catching a couple of large trout one day.

Michael trained for the school swimming sports by swimming across the lake and around the central island several times. One of Bro’s brothers, Norm, enjoyed going down to the creek after lunch and setting fire to the tussocks growing there.

GARDENERS AND HOUSEKEEPERS

There were a succession of gardeners. A Dutchman off a boat named Harry was the first followed by a man who suffered from deep depression followed by Bill Munn who was a very good worker and a good bloke. Bill laid out about a quarter of an acre of vegetable plots and had the floral gardens around the house looking a picture. Ned Mulquinney took over when Bill left and he kept the gardens in fair order until his death. There were several housekeepers too: Mrs Pederson, Mrs Stevens (no relation) and, finally, Miss Mary Gunn who was a terrific person and who stayed on until after Bro’s death.

MAC’S DEATH IN 1956

Bro would dress himself beautifully (he always bought his clothes at Henry Bucks) when he was going out but at home he looked like an old tramp. He usually wore a grubby old suit, the coat of which was “buttoned up” with a piece of twine. He claimed he dressed that way so as not to be pestered by estate agents who were constantly trying to get him to sell the property. When they arrived they’d mistake him for the gardener and ask him if the boss was at home to which he would answer, no. He’d then discourage further enquiries by telling them that the boss loved living here and that it would require a huge offer to make him think of selling.

Mac suffered another stroke and died while Michael was there in 1956. Michael remembers Bro coming to wake him to tell him of his old friend’s death and recalls how upset his uncle was at that time. Mac and Bro had met in the army during the war and their friendship had lasted since that time. In 1946 they bought the property at Tallarook and later added another farm at Puckapunyal to their assets. They ran sheep on the farms and when wool boomed in 1951 their fortune was made. They bought Kozminsky’s Jewellers and an auction house in Little Collins Street and did well out of both businesses.

BRO’S GREAT RACEHORSE, SCAMANDA

Uncle Bro smartened himself up and put on his expensive clothes to make three weekly outings in his Rolls Royce.

On Thursdays he drove to the city to visit his businesses, on Fridays he drove Miss Gunn to Dandenong to shop (they always bought fresh fish at Steve De George’s café in Lonsdale Street) and on Saturdays he went to the races.

Each year before the Spring Racing Carnival he gave Miss Gunn money to buy a new outfit and they packed a picnic lunch and went off to Flemington to attend Derby Day.

Bro owned two Rolls Royces while at Stamford Park: the first he bought in 1952 and the second in 1960 and Michael enjoyed being driven around in them with Bro at the wheel. One night they were coming home to Rowville in thick fog and as they crawled through Caulfield Bro made Michael get out of the car “to see where we are”. Some years later in the city they were driving along when Michael spotted a girl he had started to take out. He asked Bro to pull over and give Robyn a lift. Bro professed to be aghast, protesting that he couldn’t be seen picking up young women. However, he grumblingly agreed and so Robyn enjoyed her first of many rides in the Roller.

Bro and Mac had started breeding thoroughbreds on their Puckapunyal property but left the management of the place in the hands of an old farmer. Michael was appalled by the fact that they took no more interest in the maintenance of that property than they showed at Stamford Park and it wasn’t uncommon for their valuable horses to injure themselves on a rough fence or in a patched up stable. Nevertheless, despite their lack of care, the property produced several winners, the most notable of which was Scamanda.

Scamanda had a very successful career, winning many races and being placed several times between 1973 and 1980. On the day of his first race, the Maribyrnong Trial which is the opening two year old race of the season, Bro’s trainer Bob Hoystead said to him, “This is the best horse I’ve ever trained and I suspect that it’s the best horse you’ve ever owned. It will win today so I recommend that you have a substantial wager on it. Although Bro loved the races he was not a gambler but to a certain extent he followed Hoystead’s advice: he doubled his normal bet and so had $2 each way on Scamanda which delighted him by winning well.

When Scamanda ran in the Golden Slipper at Randwick in 1974 Bro took Michael with him to enjoy the excitement of a great weekend in Sydney.

Bro had a painting done of Scamanda and after his death it was willed to Bob Hoystead.

MICHAEL MOVES ON

Michael went back to live with his parents in Camberwell in 1957 and completed his education at Camberwell High School. He then obtained a job with Gippsland and Northern in the city and each Thursday enjoyed lunch with his Uncle Bro at the Buttery at Scott’s Hotel. He continued to visit Stamford Park at weekends to do maintenance tasks and to provide company for Bro who was becoming more and more reclusive, especially after he had sold all of his business interests. When Bro sold Kozminsky’s Michael tried to talk him into retaining a share in the business but he wasn’t interested. He always believed that one should “just get on with life.” Whether it was a business matter, or a bereavement or a decision about putting down a sick animal, Bro’s attitude was: make a decision, act on it and move on.

Michael later went to Dandenong to work for Brian Carroll. Bro was pleased that Michael had become an auctioneer as he himself had auctioned wool for Dalgety’s in the city for some years. He was not so pleased when Michael accepted the position of stock agent with Dennys Lascelles in Fish Creek, down near Wilson’s Promontory. Michael had married Robyn and Bro grumbled that Fish Creek was too remote a place to be taking a young wife. One suspects that he was more concerned that he would be losing Michael’s company. However, Michael’s work brought him to Dandenong regularly and he never missed the opportunity to visit his uncle.

In 1987 Bro suffered a stroke and spent some weeks in Dandenong Hospital. Sadly, his condition did not improve and he was moved to a nursing home where he died.

Miss Gunn lived on at Stamford Park for some time before moving to a retirement village in Wantirna. Thieves broke into the house and stole the silver but fortunately most of it was recovered. The property was sold to a developer and the house was on the verge of being demolished when Knox Council stepped in and bought the homestead and five acres surrounding it. Shortly afterwards thieves again invaded the empty building and made off with all of the marble fireplaces.

Since then the Council has installed a security system and has spent hundreds of thousand of dollars on the long process of restoring Stamford House to its original glory. It behoves all of us in Rowville and Lysterfield to support Council’s efforts to retain this wonderful community asset.
Interviewed by Bryan Power