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From left:, Kitty Latch, Lil McVicar, Mif(?) Powers, and Tot Kaye, of Miss McVicar's dressmaking shop. Lil described herself on the back of the photo as "mineself." The sign under the verandah reads "Wholesale and Retail Tinsmith" See below for how the building was shared.
On the 24/2/1894, the Avoca Police Station reported the following.
Report of Constable C. Bennett relative to a fire
I have to report for Supt. Ellis’ information that at 6am this morning a four stalled stable and coach house attached was totally destroyed by fire. The property, which is situated in High Street Avoca, consists of a shop occupied by Miss McVicar, a dressmaker. A tinsmith named Dougherty has a detached room at the back rented of Miss McVicar, which is used by him as a workshop and is only a few feet from the stable. Dougherty was working in the shop until 11pm last night and when leaving to go home he passed the stable and states that there was no sign of fire then.
The stable was used by Miss McVicar as a lumber room, and she cannot account for the cause of the fire.
The property is owned by John Coghlan Avoca and is insured in the Royal Insurance Company. The shop and dwelling for 100 pounds and the stable for 20 pounds. Local Agent John Ross.
This eighth child and sixth daughter of James and Janet was born 22 November 1865, registered 94 at Mountain Hut. She was known as Lil, and never married. She had one title of land in Glenlogie parish, was a milliner and dressmaker, and made clothes for her nieces and nephews. Archibald’s fourth daughter was given Frances as a third Christian name.
Two other photos Lil exist, one of a young Lil, with a striking face, and another, in Gwen S’s photo album, of an older Lil.
There is evidence that Eliza was a superb dressmaker. When her sister Adelaide's great grand-daughter, Pat, was visiting from the USA in 2013, we went to visit Gwen S. Gwen produced a wonderful black evening cape which Eliza had made for her mother, Caroline Janet.
In 1895, the Avoca Press advertised
Notice of Removal
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Miss L. McVICAR has much pleasure in announcing to her Patrons and the Public that she has removed her business as a
Milliner and Dressmaker
to the Premises recently occupied by MRS FRAYNE, High Street, where she will execute Orders on the Shortest Notice
and at Charges to suit the times.
Sun Bonnets made to order.
A Choice and Varied Assortment of Toys, Tobacco of the Best Brands and Stationery.
NOTE THE ADDRESS ---Miss L. McVicar, Milliner and Dressmaker, late Mrs Frayne, High Street, Avoca."
Lil's younger sister, Janet started a school on these premises during 1895.
A fire started in the ceiling of this shop at the end of 1895 and destroyed it and the adjoining shops. The fire is described in Beavis, Margery and Betty: Avoca, the Early Years, p.85 ‘…a disastrous fire broke out at about three o’clock on Sunday morning in premises in High Street owned by Mrs Frayne. Mrs McVicar, who conducted a fancy goods shop there, was wakened by flames bursting along the ceiling into her room, and hurriedly called her daughter before rushing to give the alarm to Mrs Mockett of the Victoria Hotel who quickly roused everyone on the premises. The Fire Brigade, arriving smartly on the scene to find Mrs Frayne’s shop “more than half destroyed”, concentrated on saving the premises of George Downton and the Victoria Hotel aided by stone walls on either side of the burning building. The fire spread rapidly into unoccupied shops owned by Mr Coghlan where the firemen experienced great difficulty in facing the intense heat. After battling for over an hour, during which all the stock was removed from Downton’s shop, the fire was beaten back “thanks to the splendid supply of water obtained from the tanks of the Victoria Hotel and M. Wyse and Company’s and the energy of the pumpers”. The intense heat broke a large window in the hotel and cracked the stone wall of the billiards room in four places and the verandahs back and front were more or less burned. While its origin remained a mystery, Mrs McVicar affirmed that the fire commenced in the roof’.
Lil is listed as Miss Lillian McVicar, dressmaker, in the 1900 Postal Directory for Avoca.
in 1905, when she was 39, Lil applied for the position of Work Mistress & Sewing Mistress at the Glenpatrick School, a position her mother Janet McVicar had held at nearby Mountain Hut in the 1870s. The position, paid far less than that of the main teacher, at least in Janet's time, where records still exist, was for teaching the juniors and sewing to girls of all ages. Lil was a magnificent sewer, but whether she had the personality and habits of a teacher is unknown. Other applicants were Mrs McLinden, Matilda Wiltshire, Agnes Harris, Eliza Brereton, and Alice Gallagher, who was the successful applicant. Dammit!
Eliza died 17 December1914 in the Maryborough Hospital (14762), of carcinoma of the bowel, "a dressmaker, aged 48". The informant was Alfred Oswald Hill, a gardener whose residence was stated to be the Hospital, which possibly explains why parts of the death registration were not completed.
She was buried as a Presbyterian in new Grave No.275 in the Avoca Cemetery on 19th December, Undertaker H.F.Classen.
We know from a surviving Avoca Cemetery receipt book that 19 months later, on 17 July 1916, a "Mr McVicar" paid one pound for the grave to be re-opened for the burial of her mother, Caroline Janet. It was opened again in 1920 for Eliza's unmarried brother, James, when the Sexton noted in the Cemetery Register that the grave was "full".
The location of the grave of James, the husband of Caroline Janet and the father of Eliza, James,(and nine more) which James shared with Caroline Janet's brother, William McNab, is in Section A, the oldest section of the Cemetery on the other side of the creek, somewhere, the locations now lost. (see William McNab section above).
Next page: George William McVicar
Grave of Eliza, Caroline Janet, and James McVicar, Avoca.
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