Coogee Media

Pioneer & Entrepreneur
Catley was born in Drury Lane, Melbourne, Cambridgeshire, England on October 21, 1825. He arrived in Sydney on July 16, 1848, in a sailing ship, after a three month voyage. He was 23 years old. A family historian says he carried three sovereigns. The first he threw out into Farm Cove (on Sydney Harbour) and said, "Whoever can swim and retrieve it can have it as I am going to become a very rich man". The second he saved for food and the third he kept as reserve. Within two days, Charles had visited Coogee and by June, the following year owned a large block of land at Coogee Beach, which was located on what is now Coogee Oval. He added a second block in 1853. He quickly realised the potential of the flat land, available transport and a fresh flowing stream at the northern end of Coogee Beach. The growing township of Sydney needed fresh vegetables as did those travelling to goldfields in the Bathurst area.

Cauliflower Hall
Living first in a bark hut, he developed his market garden business and quarried stone on his Brook Street site to build a two storied, six bedroom, Georgian style house and named Cauliflower Hall, after one of the most profitable vegetables he grew. A family history also said that he also brought seeds of the first cauliflower planted in Australia from England.

Charles Catley

Cauliflower Hall no longer stands, but the sandstone retaining wall built along the boundary of 108 Brook Street and 6-8 Ormond Gardens still stands. The NSW Heritage Office describes the wall as being significant evidence of the early development of Coogee and its historic associations with Charles Catley. The sandstone wall formed part of the site works associated with Catley's house, and the early development of Coogee.

Sandstone Wall associated with Cauliflower Hall
that can be seen from Brook Street

Catley married Charlotte McClennahan in 1850. They had seven children: Elizabeth (1851-1945), George (1864-1942), Charles Good (c1857 -1948), Charlotte P (1860- ), Sarah (1863 - ), William (1866-1878), and Emma (1870 - ). (We could not locate Charles Good's birthday on the New South Wales Births, Deaths & Marriages database). Charlotte Catley died in 1906.

Catley lived in Coogee for the rest of his life. When he first started his business there, Coogee was an isolated and sparsely populated place. As it became known as a surfing and swimming resort, and there was no shop where any refreshments could be obtained, his wife, Mrs. Charlotte Catley opened the first business to cater for visitors, a little shop near the beach, and she operated long after there was any necessity for her to work, as everyone looked for her familiar and kindly face when visiting Coogee Beach.

Community Leader
Charles Catley was a community leader. He was one of the signatories to the petition to establish Randwick Municipal Council. He supported the local Anglican churches and served on the committee set up to establish St Nicholas Anglican Church at Coogee. He was instrumental in developing Coogee Bay Road as the commercial centre of the suburb. When he died in 1914, aged 88 at his home in Brook Street, the Sydney Evening News described him as being the "Father of Coogee"

Catley's market garden proved to be very profitable and as Coogee became a popular place to visit and its population increased, his land holdings also substantially increased in value. In 1907, for instance, he sold off 16 allotments in the block bounded by Coogee Bay Road, Mount, Dolphin and Brook Streets. Catley was an extremely wealthy man at the time of his death. The Daily Telegraph reported that his estate was valued at £20,721, 13s. This would be $2.5 million in today's money according the the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation calculator:

The testator [Charles Catley] , who died in May last, appointed the Perpetual Trustee Company his executors and trustees. He bequeathed to his daughter, Emma Martha Catley, the house in Brook Street, Coogee, together with two allotments of land connected with it, for life, and his house at Arden Street, Coogee, to his daughter, Elizabeth Burdette Catley, also for life. To his daughter Sarah Ann Catley he left the house in Arden Street, adjoining the other in that thoroughfare, and the land belonging thereto, and he devised about 10 acres of land in Botany Street to his two sons, George Catley and Charles G. Catley, in equal shares as tenants in common. A direction was given for the investment ot £600, the income therefrom to be paid to his daughter, Charlotte Phoebe Ross, wife of Thomas Ross, during her life, and after her death the corpus to be divided among her children. A direction was also given that the residue of his estate was to be sold and converted into money, which was to be paid to testator's children in equal shares.

Cauliflower Hall, Brook Street, Coogee

Catley was buried in Randwick General Cemetery (Anglican Section "a" , plot No. 33) next to his wife who predeceased him in 1906.

1. Roughly chop up the vegetables (including the cauliflower stalk: it can go in as well)
2. In a saucepan, melt a lump of butter and then add the chopped onions and spices and stir and simmer until the onion softens. (You could use olive oil instead of the butter to make it vegan).
3. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and the stock and then bring it to the boil. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until all the vegetables are soft
4. Blend everything into the consistancey you prefer for a soup. (I use a handheld kitchen wizz).

Depending on how much salt is in the butter and stock, you might want to add some salt to taste. If you are not fussy about it being vegetarian or vegan, you could use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. Serves 4.

References