London-born John Gahan landed in Melbourne as a small boy with his parents on 1 January 1854 and the family made their home in Yarra Street, Collingwood. John junior would become a very active and well-known participant in the life  of the Collingwood district as a plasterer, a member of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, an adherent of St Philip’s Anglican Church, an estate agent, a councillor with several terms as Mayor, and the Collingwood representative on the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW). He is memorialised in a project dear to his heart, the lovely small park behind the Collingwood Town Hall: Gahan Reserve.

In 1873 he married Anna Hannah Marshall at St Philip’s in Hoddle Street and eight children would be born to them between 1875 and 1893. John followed his father, John Gahan senior, into the plastering trade, but misfortune came when Gahan senior, diagnosed with mania, was admitted to Kew Lunatic Asylum in 1876 aged around 50.  John continued in the plastering trade on his own.

John became a leading figure and very active vestryman at St Philip’s, serving for many years. First appointed a vestryman in 1879, in 1883 he was appointed a churchwarden by the trustees, and continued to be nominated through the 1880s. The St Philip’s congregation included a number of influential people who, like John, were part of a complex network of inter-connected activities which also included friendly society membership. John served in a number of positions in the Manchester Unity IOOF, whose hall was constructed in 1873 on the corner of Hoddle Street and Vere Street, Abbotsford. This was conveniently located near his residences, firstly in Langridge Street, then in Charles Street in a house which he named Anstey Villa in honour of his mother who had died in 1874.

In 1887 John was a successful candidate as a Collingwood councillor for the Victoria ward. His long stint, close to 30 years as councillor, would earn him the title of ‘father of the Council’. He served three terms as Mayor.

In 1888 Gahan senior, in an advanced state of dementia, died at Kew. A son born to John junior and Anna a few months later was named John Charles. By this time they had acquired a house in Anna’s name in Church Street, Abbotsford. Called White Cliffs, it was a double fronted house with a bay window and eight rooms.

Anna participated in charitable fund-raising, notably for creches in Collingwood, Richmond and Melbourne. In these endeavours she worked with other Collingwood women active in charitable work such as Margaretta Shelmerdine, also a stalwart of St Philip’s. Anna also raised funds for the Melbourne Hospital and was the Collingwood treasurer of the Ladies Benevolent Society. In the years of John’s mayoralty Anna, as Lady Mayoress, chaired the committee for providing relief to the impoverished of Collingwood. Her gowns at Mayoral balls were of course also described in newspaper reports.

In 1891 John was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Collingwood. In the same year the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works was set up to provide water supply and sewerage services. From March 1892 John was appointed a Commissioner to the MMBW and was a vice chairman of various committees in the 1890s, serving for 25 years altogether.

From 1900 he concentrated on his new role as estate agent and auctioneer from an office in Victoria Street Abbotsford, though it seems he had involved himself in a certain amount of buying and selling in conjunction with licensed auctioneers since the 1880s, no doubt a logical adjunct to his plastering business.

In 1901 the direct train line from Victoria Park station to Princes Bridge station was opened. Land belonging to council behind the town hall was cut through by the railway line and its embankment.  Gahan raised discussions about beautifying the area. The area closer to the town hall and behind St Philip’s had earlier been granted to the bowling club and quoits club, with a shared clubhouse between these two grassed areas. Finally in June 1903 , as Mayor, he moved the following motion, with a view to adding an attractive lung to the city: ‘that this council dedicates, for the use of the public, the reserve at the rear of the town hall as a park, and that the public works department be requested to have  the trees  planted as soon as the land is prepared.’ This land amounted to about four acres bordered by Park Street and Vere Street. Cr Gahan suggested about 150 trees should be planted, and diagonal pathways cut from the four corners. The motion was carried.

Despite maintaining his many activities in Collingwood, by 1909 Gahan had moved his family to Ivanhoe. In 1916, still a councillor, he was ill for some weeks before dying of heart failure. His funeral service was held at St Philip’s, followed by a Masonic service at the Boroondara Cemetery graveside. Anna remained in Ivanhoe after her husband’s death and lived until the age of 82.

John’s will (prepared, unsurprisingly, by Charles Tolhurst, a St Philip’s parishioner and fellow member of the Earl of Carnarvon Lodge) specified that his auctioneer’s business be carried on by his two sons Andrew and John, and that his son Studley be added as a co-owner when he reached the age of 24. The auctioneer’s business, still named John Gahan, remained at 285 Victoria Street into the 1950s.

The Argus, Mercury and Weekly Courier, Weekly Times, The Age, The Herald, The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat 

Trove list: https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/manage/155969

St Philip’s Jubilee, 1915

Hibbins, A short history of Collingwood

MMBW Detail Plan 1312 shows Charles Street south of Gipps Street:

 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117743

MMBW 1313 shows bowling green and railway line dated 1901:

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117687

MMBW Detail Plan 1307 shows Church Street house, at that time number 2:

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117728

MMBW commissioners:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223171293/23854049