… And the story of the ‘man who cleaned up Perth in the early 1900s’
The Adam family were the first residents of No 6 Clotilde Street in Mount Lawley. Referring to the Wise Directory of the period, there is no entry for No 6 in 1916 but in 1917 there is an entry for Adam, Robert – Inspector of Food. We also note that there was no No 2 or No 4 Clotilde Street at that time. So, who was Robert Adam?
Robert Adam
Robert (he had no middle name) was born at 2 Maxwell Street, Paisley, Glasgow, Scotland on 9 March 1874. His parents were William Adam (1842-1915) and Jane Risk (1844-1896).
In the 1901 Scottish Census he was listed as living at 20 Stuart Street, Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae which lies at the mouth of the River Clyde. His occupation was listed as Burgh Surveyor and aged 27. His family consisted of his wife Janet age 28 and their two children Maggie aged 11 months and William aged 2. Besides the other two families that lived at this address, there was also Mary Buchanan (Janet’s maiden name) aged 15, who was a visitor.
According to the 1911 Census the family was still living on the Isle of Cumbrae, although now at 32 George Street where Robert was still the Burgh Surveyor. By all accounts, Robert was a particularly good Burgh Surveyor for, in the Black Range Courier and Sandstone Observer, where he was secretary and engineer-elect of the Black Range Road Board, of Thursday 20 February 1913 it states:
…He comes highly commended from the Burgh Council of Port Glasgow which he served three years, and the Town Council of Millport (on Great Cumbrae Island, Firth of Clyde), in the employ of which he spent 14 years. His testimonials from the provosts, engineers, and health officers of those bodies speak well of his ability as a road surveyor, master of works, sanitary inspector, water engineer and accountant and the health officer of Millport adds that Mr Adam raised the sanitation service and the milk and food supplies of the town to a high standard. Among big works standing to his credit are an infectious diseases hospital, the erection of which he superintended, and piers, harbours, and water works of which he was engineer and supervisor. He claims perfect acquaintance with and ability to draw up plans, specification and schedules, knowledge and command of men and horses, and easy facility in secretarial and accountancy duties.
It is not known why the family decided to come to Australia but there is a Robert Adam arriving on SS Orsova in Fremantle on 24 December 1912 who is stated as British, from London and an occupation of Farmer (!).
It appears that he then went to Sandstone – 660+ kms north of Perth – by rail in those days, where he was successful in being selected for the abovementioned position.
However, the Black Range Courier and Sandstone Observer of Saturday 8 March 1913 states the following:
The reason for the silence of Mr Robert Adam, now of Perth, ex of Scotland, who was appointed secretary and engineer of the Black Range Road Board, is now apparent. He failed to answer the Road Board’s telegrams and letters because he was at the same time after a job as Assistant-Inspector of the Perth Local Board of Health. He has been gazetted to the latter appointment and we wish him joy. Perth wants cleaning up.
So that is how Robert Adam started his career with the City of Perth where he was later appointed the Inspector of Food. By the number of court cases appearing in the press, as early as August 1913, it appears that he took his job very seriously and efficiently.
He was very active in the Health Inspectors’ Association (WA). For example, in June 1915 The Daily News reported passages from a paper he read to the Association under the heading Public Cleanliness, An Outspoken Health Inspector:
The Common House Fly
It has become recognised that the common house fly is one of the most dangerous insect pests now we are cursed with. It will carry the germs of disease on its feet and in its body from a closet pail direct to any food that may be exposed. Conceive the idea of a person in a household suffering with diarrhoea of mild or other typhoid fever, and using the conveniences in the ordinary way, and of the house flies getting to them to see how the same disease might be spread through a whole household or community. Therefore, try and influence people in your district to construct flyproof sanitary appliances. It is also the duty of inspectors in unsewered districts to insist as far as possible upon the observance of the by-law that lays down that on every house or premises where there is a closet, either ashes, dry earth, lime, or sawdust or other disinfectant approved by the board, shall be kept, and used.
He was elected Hon Secretary and Treasurer of the Health Inspectors’ Association in January 1918 and was a Freemason. He was Food Inspector for Perth City Council until his sudden passing on 19 November 1928. He had suffered a severe stroke three weeks earlier and had never rallied.
The Adam Family
Robert Adam married Janet Barr Buchannan in Paisley, Glasgow on 27 November 1897. She was born on 18 January 1874 in Hunterhill Farm, Paisley. Her parents were James Buchanan (1833-1901) and Margaret Barr Bowie (1850-1892). Initially, they lived in Port Glasgow.
By the 1901 Census they were living on the Isle of Cambrae and had two children; William Robertson born 18 August 1898 in Port Glasgow and Margaret Bowie born 24 April 1900 on the island.
They must have been excited and apprehensive when they followed their father out to Australia where they arrived in Fremantle on SS Zealandic from Liverpool on 8 November 1913. The entry states Janet Adam (40) together with William R (15) and Margaret (13) Adam – with race stated as Scotch!
From the Wise Directories it would appear they started life here in West Perth at 46 Kingston Avenue. By 1917 they had moved into No 6 Clotilde Street which was named ‘Ardgowan’ (an area at the mouth of the River Clyde, Scotland). Houses No 4 and No 6 were not built and No 2 was built in 1917 and No 8 in 1914.
From an article in The Daily News of 11 November 1924 it appears that Mr and Mrs Adam and their daughter made a trip back to the ‘Old Country’:
By the RMS Orsova to-day Mr Robert Adam, C.S.I., returned from a lengthy trip to Great Britain. Being the senior food inspector for the Perth City Council, Mr Adam could not resist the temptation, although his chief mission was to secure pleasure and share it with Mrs Adam and their daughter, to keep his eyes wide open for every development in the purification of the food supply in every city that he passed through. From his observations he has prepared an exhaustive report covering first-hand knowledge gained in England, Ireland and Scotland on the pasteurisation of milk and the preservation of fish, and other susceptible foodstuffs, which will be submitted to the City Council in due course.
As mentioned, Robert died in 1928 age 54 and Janet on 9 November 1961 also in Mt Lawley. They are buried, with their daughter Peg, in the Presbyterian Section of Karrakatta Cemetery.
William Adam Family
We have seen where William came from and was living at No 6 Clotilde St. His occupation is stated as Clerk. Whilst at No 6 he went to live at Wyalkatchem, a town about 200 kms north-east of Perth, which is at the centre of WA’s wheatbelt. Here he worked with Rex Mizen – who was soon to be his brother-in-law.
As a result of falling off a dray in Scotland when he was 9 years old, William had a prosthetic leg. This never seemed to bother him and, over the years, the design of his leg improved thanks to a chance meeting with a Mr John Banfield who, after losing his own leg in 1907, designed and built an ankle joint for his own prosthesis. In 1916, in St Georges Terrace, John noticed that William was limping. By providing William with an articulated heal, William’s gait improved tremendously.
Edna was born on 23 December 1906 in Helions Bumpstead, Essex, England. Her parents were Albert (1866-1928) and Susannah Killingbach (1869-1944). The Mizen family came out to Australia presumably in 1907. She was well-known to the Adam family as she had boarded at No 6 whilst she attended Perth College.
William was in Wyalkatchem from at least 1921 where he was a clerk until about 1937 where he and Edna lived at ‘Wattle Trees’ and he was a farmer. The family came back to Perth and lived in Kalamunda and later in Walliston. Bill, as William Adam was known, had an orchard here and commuted each day to his occupation as a clerk in the Public Works Department in the Old Barracks building at the top end of St Georges Terrace. Like his father and sister, Bill was very clever with figures. According to his children he was a perfectionist; near enough was NOT good enough! Also, like his father, he belonged to the Freemasons Lodge.
Bill and Edna had five daughters and a short-lived son. They were all born in Wyalkatchem and a sixth daughter was born whilst the family was living in Kalamunda.
Edna was very good to her mother-in-law for she brought the grandchildren down from Kalamunda once a week. It was not such an enjoyable time for the children as grandma was very strict – she inspected their hands and fingernails and they sat there in complete silence – children were to be seen and not heard!
The Mizen family were very close to the Adam family; not only by marriage but Edna’s father Albert died at No 6 on 5 November 1928 age 63.
Bill died at Sunset Hospital, Nedlands on 24 August 1968 aged 70 and Edna in Carmel 28 February 1988 aged 81.
Margaret ‘Peg’ Bowie Adam
As we have seen, Peg was Margaret in the 1911 Census and Maggie in the 1901 Census but in Mt Lawley she was always known as Peg. The ‘Bowie’ was her mother’s mother’s maiden name. She lived at No 6 for 71 years; from 1917 to her passing on 28 March 1988 at age 87. Naturally she had many friends and acquaintances around the district and an encyclopaedic mind of the suburb when she was interviewed by the Mt Lawley Society in 1977.
Peg was employed for many years at Boans in the hosiery department. She always wore gloves, especially at work, as she had to handle the stockings.
Peg never married, but she was betrothed to Rex Mizen several times’ before he eventually wed Peg’s sister, Edna. When her mother died in 1961 Peg was left on her own. She took the opportunity of having a toilet constructed under the main roof – no more trips to the bottom of the garden! Otherwise, the house was unchanged from the date it was built. The Adam family continued to own No 6 until Peg Adam died on 29 March 1988, when the property was sold and the proceeds divided up between Bill and Edna’s children.
The Adam Family and Mt Lawley Bowling Club
Herewith are some extracts, as they pertain to the Adam family, from the book Centenary Celebrations of the Mt Lawley Bowling Club 1909-2009 by Wendy Cox.
The Mount Lawley Bowling and Recreation Club was founded in 1909 with a membership of 60, originally as a ‘men only’ club.
By 1919, Robert was a member of the Mt Lawley Bowling Club State Premiership team and in 1923 he is listed as Hon Secretary.
One of his Obituaries reads:
He was secretary of the Mt Lawley Club for several years and much of its administrative success and social prestige may be ascribed to his energy and organising ability. The concourse of bowlers that gathered at the graveside testified to his wide popularity and esteem of his club mates.
Mrs J Adam was one of the 13 foundation members when the Ladies Bowling Club was formed in 1921.
The Mt Lawley Ladies Bowling Club held their Ruby Celebration in October 1961 at which Miss Adam cut the ‘birthday’ cake.
There is an honour board entitled The Janet Adam Shield for Club Championship Pairs. The first pair is dated 1963/64 so it is presumably in remembrance of Janet’s passing in 1961. Janet Adam is also listed as Ladies President for the years 1922-23, 1925-26 and 1927-29. Following on in the family tradition, Peg was, for many years, Secretary and Treasurer of the Bowls Club for she inherited her father’s gift with numbers.