G.K. Tucker Brotherhood of St Laurence Settlement

1195 Frankston Dandenong Road, Carrum Downs

Bungalow form cottage from the 1930s-40s.

Citation:

History
Father Gerard Kennedy Tucker, founder of the Brotherhood of St Laurence (a brotherhood of Anglican priests dedicated to community work among the poor), purchased the site of this settlement in 1935. It comprised 45 acres of farm land with a farmhouse at Carrum Downs on Crown Allotment 51, Parish of Lyndhurst. The Brotherhood was assisted in the purchase by a gift of £500 from the businessman, G.J. Coles. Coles Grove in the Settlement is named in his honour. Tucker's intention was to build cottages as low-cost housing for the inner-city unemployed in a healthier rural environment.

It is thought that his scheme for a community farm was derived from the Tucker Village Settlements established by his father, Canon Tucker, with Dr. Strong of the Australian Church.1

Plan of settlement.

Cranbourne rate records of 1935-36 confirm that in that year the Brotherhood of St Laurence, through their superior, the Rev. Tucker, was the owner/occupier of a building on Crown Allotment 51 and about 40 acres of land.2 The title for this land was secured on 24 October 1935.3

Work on the settlement began in March 1935 when six unemployed men worked with a lay brother to clear the land. The first bungalows for student priests were made of packing cases and faced a rectangular lawn with a small chapel at one end. Photos of the original bungalows and the 1935 chapel have survived.4 A first Carrum Downs store was later built on the other side of Dandenong Road.5

By 1939-40 Cranbourne rate records confirm that the St. Laurence Trust owned 14 leased tenements and other buildings housing 40 persons on a closed private street. A note in the rate book explains that the "nominal valuation" was on account of the "low rentals received." by this "charitable and religious organisation."6

The design of the settlement was the work of Saxil Tuxen, engineer, surveyor and town planner, who had a long involvement with the Brotherhood. This dated from the time when he was a member of the Brotherhood Advisory Council of outside businessmen in Fitzroy to assist the Brotherhood with its financial problems. Before this, Tuxen who could not find work in his profession, had worked up a scheme to establish farms for the unemployed on abandoned holdings in the Gippsland area. When this scheme failed, Tuxen offered his services to Tucker and began a life-long association with the Brotherhood.7 Tuxen's original plan survives showing The Avenue (now Tuxen Avenue) extending east from Dandenong Road, as well as house blocks, the plan made provision for park areas.8

The story of the settlement is told in some detail in a recent history edited by Ben Bennetts. In the mid-1940s, in the post-Second World War years, a number of Single Men's Units were built, each with a bed sitting room, kitchen and bathroom.9 A chapel was built in 1946, a meeting hall, shop and welfare centre. Altogether 18 houses and five bungalows were built. At this time, there was no electricity, gas, or a sewerage system at the settlement.10

By 1951, 50 people were living there with a caretaker at No 1 Tuxen Avenue. The caretaker's house looks much the same today, as can be seen by viewing earlier photographs and sketches.11

Homes for the Aged
As well as providing low-cost housing for the poor, the settlement was innovative in its provision of low-cost homes for the aged poor, a forerunner of today's retirement villages. The first homes for the aged in Collins Court were planned in 1951. Each had a bed sifting room, kitchenette and toilet. With the help of a government grant eight cottages were built and a Peace Memorial Garden was established. A new chapel was built at the same time, which was later re-sited.12 Alterations to this chapel were made in 1972 by the architect Ivan Anderson. These were completed in 1973 when a re-dedication service was held.13

During the 1950s a number of other new buildings were constructed. In 1953-54 a Community Centre was built to cope with a congregation that was often too big for the chapel. This centre included a kitchen and dining room. A maintenance workshop was built in 1955. And, in 1958 the prototype for a Single Unit Besser Brick Cottage with its flat or gabled roof was developed.

'Packing case' cottage of c1930, the only one surviving of the original cottages.

A number of examples of these cottages may be seen today along Tuxen Avenue. The first was occupied on 3 May 1958.14

In 1960 four new brick veneer cottages were built while in 1963 the Betterway Cottages scheme was launched. Designed by Ivan Anderson, these cottages were financed from donations from bereaved friends or relatives, rather than providing floral tributes. Twelve such cottages were completed in that year.15

Another innovative scheme was the building of Cox and Collins Court. The latter was a 30-flat personal care unit to replace the old Collins Court. Work commenced in 1970 and both schemes were completed by 1984. Where vacancies occurred at either, they were first filled from settlement residents.16

More recently, between 1986 and 1988, a Cottage Appeal was opened to erect 22 additional houses. The appeal was launched by a benefactor, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, with a donation of £50,000.17

Fr. G. Tucker (1885-1974)
Gerard Kennedy Tucker was the fifth child and third son of Canon Horace Finn Tucker, Vicar of Christ Church, South Yarra. He was educated at Hamilton College in the Western District and at Melbourne Grammar. He trained as a priest at St.John's College in East St.Kilda. The idea of forming a religious brotherhood of men who lived a celibate life for a number of years in which they would work together for the disadvantaged, was one that Tucker shared with Maurice Kelly, a fellow student, as early as 1909. During the First World War Tucker joined the Ambulance Corps and went overseas.

After the war, Tucker became a curate at Adamstown, five miles from Newcastle. It was here that he formed the Brotherhood of St Laurence on 7 December 1930s. During the early 1930s, Tucker was associated with the opening of the Brotherhood house in Fitzroy. On 14 June 1934, a three-storied former restaurant and boarding house in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy was opened by Dr. Shields, Minister for Sustenance. Problems with the Brotherhood's finances resulted in the formation of the Advisory Council.

In 1935 Tucker secured the land and funding for the establishment of the Carrum Downs Settlement. Although he continued his work in Fitzroy, Tucker lived at Carrum Downs from 1948 until his death in 1974.18

Description
Many fibrous cement sheet clad gabled cottages from the 1940s-50s are grouped among brick cottages of the 1980s, with some mature native and exotic landscape.

One of the c1930 'packing case' cottages survives in the south-west corner of the site, next to 1 Stephen St where there is the 'Foundation Tree'. Other examples of distinct if simple unassuming building types in the complex include the Op Shop in Wilson Dr., house at 3 Coaldrake St, and the chapel off Church Cr.

Landscape
Plantings of maturity include two 'Agathis robusta', two 'Trachycarpus fortuneii', loquat, 'Eucalyptus ficifolia', 'Phoenix canariensis', 'Araucaria heterophylla', 'Stenocarpus sinuatus', 'Photinia serrulata', 'Pinus radiata' - all near the office. There are also 'Trachycarpus fortuneii', an 'Araucaria' sp., 'Populus nigra' "Italica", 'lillypilly', 'Magnolia grandiflora' and many native trees, such as gums, probably planted rather than indigenous. Most of these trees appear to have been planted in the 1930s in terms of the development of the site but are species more commonly associated with older gardens of the late 1920s. They may have been part of an older garden (?). Some of the oldest planting is near the timber chapel and 'packing case' cottage.

Some trees are individually of social importance and have plaques such as the "Tree of industry and commerce", a 'Quercus robur' which is the 'Tree of the church'.

Condition
The complex has grown through distinct phases and these are still recognisable in the built form and some of the landscape.

Context
The complex is only slightly removed from the Carrum Downs Community centre (hall, school) and still has some links with semi-rural vegetation on the east.

Significance
The Carrum Downs Settlement has Regional historical significance as an important and successful charitable complex providing low-cost housing for the unemployed in the 1930s and from the 1950s for the aged poor. It compares well with other charitable complexes on the peninsula which were more likely to be by the sea for health reasons (see former Caldwell house at Mornington).

The complex has significance, too, for its associations with the Rev. Tucker, founder of the Brotherhood of St Laurence and of the Carrum Downs Settlement. These associations are expressed through some of the surviving buildings (chapel, 'packing case' cottage), the layout, small detached cottage character and the mature ornamental plantings.

Boundaries
Extent of current allotment, the original layout, typical detached cottage character, the 'packing case house' and 'Foundation Tree' at 1 Stephen Street., the chapel, and mature exotic planting which includes the palms, silky oaks, etc.