Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

Businesses - Moonee Ponds

Edenhope Receptions

Dorothy May Crowther, nee Sparks, taken at Edenhope Receptions on her wedding day. 

Courtesy of Lynette Lainson, nee Crowther.

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Edenhope was built in by Augustus Jones in 1878-79 on a wonderful location at the crest of the hill on Maribyrnong Road, overlooking the Saltwater, now Maribyrnong River.  It was Jones who named Edenhope, Eden being a family name  for many generations.  Jones later built the Waterloo Cup Hotel  in 1889.  

The home was occupied by the Macaw family for a lengthy period and it was in their time that the house was extensively remodelled.  Charles Macaw was a General Superintendent of the Victorian Railways, but died in 1915.  His son Theodore Macaw, embarked as a Driver with the 25th Army Service Corps in 1916, but was later sent for officer training and was commissioned with the 33rd Battalion, AIF.  Theodore returned from the war in 1919, but his mother Emily Macaw had died the previous year.  

The house was put on the market in 1919, described in lavish terms:  see The Argus 17 September 1919.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4688088

For fifty years Edenhope was a private home,  but in 1927 Mrs Anne Edwards of the Cafe Royal in Puckle Street took the opportunity to establish Edenhope Receptions as a premier venue for the local area for weddings, dances, meetings and private family gatherings.

Edenhope then operated as a reception house for 80 years, until it became a private home in about 2007.

The Argus 19 February 1956

Dorothy May Sparks and Douglas Crowther married at the nearby Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church.  Their wedding portraits were taken at Edenhope by Centenary Movie Snaps of Block Court, Melbourne.  The outdoor shots were taken in front of the Edenhope hedge.  

Sources

"Edenhope" by Bob Mackay, in The Fine Homes of Essendon and Flemington, 1946-1890.  Lenore Frost,  (ed.) Essendon Historical Society 2010.