By Alva “Bobbie” Davies and David Lauder

Early Years

George Frankston Laudehr (known as “Jack”) was born on Christmas Day 1860 in Frankston on the Mornington Peninsula to George Laudehr, who was born in Hambourg, Germany and later came to Australia, and Mary Louisa (“Polly”) Wells.

He was the eldest of three children with a brother, Henry Gergon (“Bob”) Laudehr, and a sister, Hannah Martha Matilda Laudehr.

After the death of their father, George Laudehr—when George Frankston was only six years old—George F. and his siblings were raised by their mother and her second husband, David Beattie Kelly.

Employment

From an early age he had to work, and he said he never worked for a boss in all his life. His various occupations were: saw miller, contractor, estate agent, grocer and many others.

He is believed to have run a small tramway from his mill to the Darlimurla Station in about 1906 (now, the only reminder of this is a long-disused railway siding on the of the Grand Ridge Rail Trail). In an astonishing coincidence, this is where Ann Maria Davies, daughter of John Davies came to live when arriving in Australia in 1886. She was the first appearance of the Davies clan in Australia. In 1888, her son John Thomas was born at Darlimurla. Thus, the lives of the Lauders and Davies intersected at a remote place in the Strezleki Ranges.

His sawmill was burnt out in the 1898 bushfires with heavy losses. A letter to The Age on 27th January 1898 notes: ‘Laudehr and Cos. mill … are one of the heaviest losses [in the fire] … they have been burnt completely out, machinery, buildings. tramways and also dwelling house and furniture; in fact, a total ruin, including four bullocks roasted by the fire. 300 pounds will not cover the loss.’

George Frankston and his brother Bob were business partners before the 1893 Victorian land bust. They started out delivering firewood that they carried in their arms and worked up to running a timber yard. They also sold water on/to the gold fields (Where one would assume, since family tradition is that George Frankston met Mary Styles at Ballarat, that George Frankston met his wife.) Together they built a tram track from Ackland Street along the Esplanade into St. Kilda, and a concrete water dam in Canterbury Road, Box Hill in 1890 for £2000. [4]

In 1890, George and his brother appeared in two court cases. In the first case, they were charged with cruelty to a horse. This was in the Prahran Police Court in June. [5] A Mr. Johnson, their employee, was found to be driving a horse covered in sores and fined £2. He said that he was told by the Laudehr Bros. to drive the horse or be sacked. The Laudehr Bros. claimed that Johnson owned the horse. Since Johnson could not be found, the Bench found that Bob should pay 40 shillings, with costs of £6.6s. Charges against George were withdrawn.

In the second case, they were charged with manufacturing and storing explosives. [6] The explosive was “rackarock”, a mixture of potassium chlorate and nitrobenzene. The brothers were charged and found guilty in the Court of Petty Sessions in Ferntree Gully in September. They were fined a total of £12.31s. The Magistrate noted that they were ignorant of the law and that had they not been so, then the fine would have been much higher.

After the 1893 land bust, Bob moved away to Western Australia. It is believed that the brothers never spoke again. [7] George Frankston subsequently became a real estate agent. [8] A property on railway land 50 Anderson’s Street, Yarraville was leased to George at from which he ran an estate agency. He eventually sub-leased this to a tenant.

He also owned a sawmill, The Pioneer Mill, in Warburton, for sixteen years, selling out in 1911. [9] It is understood that there was a grass fire threatening their house, so the furniture was rolled down a hill including a large table which is still in the possession of William Martin Davies at Chelsea today.

George was responsible for the anglicising of the Laudehr name to Lauder in 1917. [10] The change was formalised by deed poll, dated 17th October 1917. Family tradition asserts that the change was made whilst running a shop in St. Kilda, where customers used the Germanic name as a reason not to pay their bills. [11]

Married Life

George married Mary Styles on 7th December 1885 when George was 25 and Mary was 21. George and his wife took a trip to Germany just before the outbreak of World War I and just got out just before the fighting started. [12] They were actually in Hamburg on the 28th July 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In order to leave Germany as war broke out, they had to destroy any evidence that George Frankston had German connections. George wrote a letter in November 1914 to Mary’s sister, Mrs. Pedersen, detailing their experiences.

George and Mary had five boys and 2 girls. Their children (with their ages at George’s death) were listed on George’s death certificate as follows (Birth year and/or Birthdate are from other sources, as are the second names):

George William Lauder (aged 42)
Horace Henry Lauder (aged 38) [13]
Harold Frankston Lauder (aged 36) [14]
John Robert Lauder (aged 33)
Frank Wilton Lauder (aged 29) [15]
Mary Illife Lauder (aged 23) [16]
Irene (died in infancy)

Later Years

George Frankston died on the 25th October 1928 at his house at 40 Jolimont Street, Jolimont. His Death Certificate lists him as George Frankston Laudehr (known as Lauder), Estate Agent, giving his age as 67 years. [17] He had had chronic nephritis and heart disease for three years and died of heart failure. He was buried in Fawkner Cemetery on the 27th October 1928.

After George Frankston’s death, his wife Mary acquired a block of land from a Mr. Fisher, named Rehsif (Fisher spelt backwards) on the 12th December 1930, at 3 Chadwell Lane, Chelsea. [18] The property passed to her daughter, Mary Illife, and then via her son and daughter through the Davies family. It is now in the possession of her grandson, William Martin Davies.

Mary Louise survived George by almost twenty years, dying on the 6th August 1948 in Bonbeach, Melbourne, whilst walking to the train station, nearly 84 years old.