William F Salmon and the Evolution of a Park

 

City of Essendon memorial walks and children's playgrounds. H. Y Frew, compiler. 1919.  State Library of Victoria Collection. Accession no: H2013.297/1-24

On 1 September 1918, mere weeks before the Armistice, William Frederick Salmon's only son, Percy Salmon, fell at the Front.  Two months later, Salmon offered to the Essendon Council 8 acres of parkland, planted and nurtured by himself over a period of years, as a memorial to "Essendon's brave soldiers".  The reserve became known as Salmon Reserve.  The Council took over the maintenance of the reserve, though it was a further 14 years before the land was transferred to the Mayor and Councillors of Essendon.  And when the land was transferred, it was four acres, not eight.   

Marilyn Kenny in her usual inimitable style, has had a detailed look at why the transfer took so long, and why the size of the land had shrunk to four acres.  

William Salmon came very close to succumbing to the last major pandemic in Australia - the influenza epidemic - and caused a local sensation by remarrying from what was tantamount to his deathbed.  He married Annie Laing Reid Sutherland, the sister of his doctor, Bertram Sutherland, with Salmon's three daughters and husbands strongly disapproving of this deathbed marriage.  They refused to attend the wedding. If you want to know the outcome of this strange affair, you can find more details on the Time Travellers website.