A reunion of more than 135 former residents, owners and their descendants in 2013 has led to an ongoing research project into Labassa’s remarkable social history during the mid 20th Century.
Labassa’s illustrious social history is familiar to many. From 1862-1920 it was the residence of a succession of enterprising and prosperous families. Following those boom years it was divided into apartments and became home to successive waves of residents of more modest means but not necessarily modest ambitions.
Among Labassa’s new wave of aspirants was Louise Lovely – Australia’s first silent film actress to find acclaim in Hollywood. In the 1930s and 1940s the mansion was the setting for innumerable extravagant parties and more demure meetings such as the Emilie Robins Auxiliary for the Queen Victoria Hospital. During the Second World War Labassa hosted fundraisers in aid of the Red Cross Comfort Fund. With the post-war immigration boom, Labassa became a significant residence for some of the European families who were displaced from their homelands.
Follow the different stories and the latest research through the Labassa Lives journals written and compiled by historian Vicki Shuttleworth.
The journals are an ongoing story for you to read, presented below to download and enjoy.
Author and historian Vicki Shuttleworth, takes readers on a journey through Labassa’s many metamorphoses and a cavalcade of intriguing residents including millionaires, fraudsters, movie stars, refugees, artists and bohemians. The mansion’s eleventh-hour rescue by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) is also told for the first time.
This is the story of a remarkable survival. Labassa has endured nine owners, a conversion into flats, sixty years of sporadic maintenance and more than 700 residents. That it survives with most of its 1890 decoration intact is largely due to those for whom Labassa was their ‘house of dreams’.
Purchase the lavishly designed book includes a foreword by Barry Owen Jones AC, endnotes, index and over 100 photos, many specially commissioned for the book.
Do you have a special connection to Labassa or stories about its social history?
Please email Vicki Shuttleworth on vickijshuttleworth@yahoo.com.au
This issue features a memoir from American Dave Hill, a visitor who stayed at Labassa with friend Parke Poindexter Lightbown 1969-70; a portrait of life at Labassa c.1969 by Victoria Hammond; photos of 1970s residents in situ by John Harland and an article on ‘Labassa and the sport of kings’ by historian Dr Andrew Lemon AM.
This issue features a previously unseen photo of folk-rock band Myriad at Labassa; the story of a family who migrated as part of the 10 Pound Pom scheme and two memoirs from residents of the 70s and early 80s. Sadly there are also Vales for three well-known residents.
In this issue, "The party girl and the activist" highlights the extraordinary diversity of people who once called Labassa home, evocative reflection – “My Labassa” – by film maker John Laurie encapsulates the attachment so many have for the property, and more.
Labassa became a household of many nations during the post-war migration boom and was more or less known as the "Little United Nations", with people of Irish, British, Yugoslavian, Australian, Dutch and Scandinavian (Swedish and Norwegian) backgrounds and cultures all calling the mansion home.
This issue features some of Labassa's many creative spirits, including a young designer fascinated by flight, and Margaret Gleeson's memoir offers an evocative portrait of resident life in the 30s and 40s.
Get to know the story of Vera and Fred Halford, gain new insights from family members and neighbours, and hear about the upcoming Labassa Women exhibition.
Learn about the friendships, alliances and frictions among the owners of Labassa, Como and Rippon Lea, alongside photos and memories spanning 40 years of lived history.
After leaving Labassa, John Laurie headed to England in pursuit of his dream of being a famous director. Read about more of the creative former residents of Labassa.
At Labassa, there's always something new to discover; always someone with a unique story to tell. Become acquainted with Louise Lovely, star of the silver screen, and more.
In 1969, Labassa was a house of music makers. The music room and halls reverberated with violin and flute concertos, and the servant quarters were all blues and rock and roll.
A story that feels quite pertinent to tell, Dr Ralph Parker McMeekin was one of Labassa Flats’ earliest residents and a Melbourne hero during the 1918-19 pandemic.
The Newton family. Almost everything we know about William (Bill) Newton has come to us in the form of a story about his heroism during the Second World War.
Jane Clifton’s memoir, The Address Book, includes a fulsome chapter on her love affair with Labassa and its ‘motley’ collection of residents during the time she lived there.
Labassa was a magnet for young art students and creative life-style people. We could romanticise our existence, living in such a beautiful historic and spacious mansion. I always thought it a great privilege to have lived there.
