Historical information

Location is now 3 Beatty Street, Mont Albert although electoral entries for the Lodewyckx family in the 1930s give the address as 1 Beatty Street. This address is a more contemporary house and part of the original garden was subdivided off at some stage.
The property's original address was 1 Victoria Street, renamed in 1917. The house was built c 1891 and from then until 1905 it was home to Leopold A Carter (dentist of Collins Street); followed by James J Hempill (broker) from 1905 -1907. he called it 'Manchling'. There were several other owners or tenants before the Lodewyckx family moved into it in 1920. They named the property 'Huize Eikenbosch' (Dutch meaning House of Oaks). It was set in 1/3 hectare with a formal garden, vegetable garden, orchard and chicken run. Augustin had a life-long interest in growing vegetables and planted many European trees, especially oaks.

Augustin Lodewyckx was born and educated in Belgium, was appointed Professor of Modern Languages at Stellenbosch, South Africa and later joined the Belgium Colonial Service. In 1915 he commenced as lecturer in German at Melbourne, becoming Associate Professor in 1923. He had married Anna Sophia Hansen* in South Africa in 1910.
They had 2 children Karel Axel, librarian of the University of Melbourne, and daughter Hilma Dymphna, translator, editor and wife of Manning Clark, historian. In 1942 Augustin introduced a university course in Dutch and also undertook research into German immigration to Australia. He retired in 1946 and died in 1964.
(*Thought to be nick-named Mina.)

Physical description

A black and white photograph of a corner of a house with a large palm tree in front. There is decorative wooden balustrading on the verandah.