Published on Tuesday, 27 February 2024 at 11:13:00 AM
Welcome to #TimeWarpTuesday and a bit of a #HistoryMystery as we try to uncover the location of the house that features in two photographs in our collection.
Then and Now - 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park
Did We Find The Right House?
Bingham Family on the front verandah of their home, believed to be 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park, circa 1920-1924.
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
Bingham Family on the front verandah of their home, believed to be 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park, circa 1920-1924.
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
The photos were kindly donated to us from Heather White of Narrogin where they were originally donated to a history collection by Mrs Imelda MOUNTAIN (nee BLIGHT). An inscription on the reverse of one of the photographs reads “To Mrs Shearer & Family. From Mr and Mrs Bingham & Family. Victoria Park.” The inscription on the back of the other photographs says very similar but instead of being from Mrs and Mrs Bingham “and Family” it is inscribed “From Mrs and Mr Bingham, Flo. Fred & Ernest. With Best Wishes. Victoria Park”.
The question is then…where in Victoria Park was this photograph taken? And who were Mr & Mrs Bingham, Flo, Fred and Ernest?
A search of the Wise’s Post Office Directories, on the website of the State Library of Western Australia (https://slwa.wa.gov.au/collections/collections/post-office-directories), uncovers that there was a BINGHAM family living at a few places in the Town between 1900 and 1949, namely in Hawkstone, Raleigh, Teague, Prince, Planet, Bishopsgate, McMaster and Mackie Streets over the years. The only one of these families that connects to Narrogin (as listed on the reverse of the photo) is the former farmer William Henry BINGHAM and his family who is listed as living at 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park.
A search of Trove, for the house number “57 Mackie Street Victoria Park”, located a funeral notice in The Daily News for “William Henry BINGHAM, retired farmer, late of 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park” on Wednesday 31 December 1924. This mention of William as being a ‘former farmer’ allows for why the photo was originally sent to Narrogin by the BINGHAM family as a memento to the SHEARER Family. The SHEARER family are no doubt friends of the BINGHAM family from their time in the Narrogin area. It is also evidence of the assumption that the older man, seated in a cane chair in both photos, could be the “Mr” part of the “Mr & Mrs Bingham” in the dedication on the reverse of the photos.
William Henry BINGHAM moved with his family to 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park around 1920. William was married to Hannah M BINGHAM, whom we see listed in Wise’s from 1926 until and including the 1933-1934 edition of the directory. In the 1934-1935 edition and up to and including the 1935-1936 edition, an E. L. BINGHAM lived at the house.
We know from the back of one of the photos as mentioned, that the BINGHAM Family living at this house in Victoria Park had five members (in the photograph at least), being Mr and Mrs BINGHAM as well as their children ‘Flo, Fred and Ernest’. A search of the West Australian Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages online index uncovered more of the mystery.
William Henry BINGHAM married Hannah Maria Mary Ann BATT in 1880 at Williams’ Bridge. In Williams in 1903 they had a daughter Phoeby[sic] Amelia Florence BINGHAM. William and Hannah were blessed with a son in 1906 at Williams River whom they named Ernest Leslie BINGHAM. The “Fred” mentioned on the back of one of the photos has proven a bit harder to locate at present, but he is still presumed to be a son, or perhaps an adopted son of William and Hannah BINGHAM.
Following William Henry BINGHAM’s death in 1924 aged 76, his wife Hannah Maria BINGHAM struggles on, and there is a notice in The West Australian seeking paid boarders (The West Australian, 22 August 1930, p. 20) to share accommodations at 57 Mackie Street.
Records show that Hannah Maria Mary Ann BINGHAM married James WOOD in 1933, and presumably moved to another residence as it is in the next issue of Wise’s Post Office Directory 1934-1935, that William and Hannah’s son, E L [Ernest Leslie] BINGHAM is listed at 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park. A few notices appear in the West Australian in the first half of 1936 seeking paid borders to stay at the house with the family. By the 1937-1938 edition of Wise’s, ‘Ern L BINGHAM’ is now living at 54 Planet Street, Victoria Park, and the house at 57 Mackie Street seems to move out of the Bingham family’s hands.
A trip this past week to photograph the façade of the house at number 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park proved warranted to help confirm the location of the house in the two older photographs. Upon comparing them with number 57 Mackie Street as it stands today in 2024, this researcher is confident that the mystery has been solved. The roof of 57 Mackie Street is the same shape, but it is now a tiled roof as opposed to the iron roof in the 1920-1924 photographs. Only one chimney still stands, and the verandah fretwork has long since been removed and replaced with plain support beams to the verandah.
57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park, February 2024
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library Service.
Front façade of 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park, February 2024
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library Service.
Detail of windows on front facade of 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park.
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library Service.
Detail of a chimney, 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park. Left image is of the remaining chimney on the house, February 2024 and the chimney on the right of the image is in the photo from circa 1924.
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library Service
But what do you the reader think? Is the house in the two black and white images, the home of the BINGHAM family, number 57 Mackie Street, Victoria Park?
If you are a relative or descendent of the BINGHAM family please get in touch, we’d love to be able to document more of the story. Don’t forget too, that if you have stories and photographs about the history of Victoria Park that you can share with us at the Library we’d love to hear from you. We can scan and return original photographs and documents. Please get in touch with us via Ph: 08 9373 5500, E: vicparklibrary@vicpark.wa.gov.au, or drop in.
#LoveVicPark #ThenAndNowVictoriaPark
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