Occasional Tales from the Mountain No. 02

Occasional Tales from the Mountain No.2 Dr Harry Sloggett brought whiffs of sea air and scandal to the hills The Dandenongs have always attracted their share of sailors and naval types … perhaps it is the need to put themselves at a distance from the sea in retirement. One such, although strictly speaking a medical man with a nautical background, was naval surgeon Dr Harry Paynter Sloggett (1862-1937). Born into a seafaring and shipbuilding family, Sloggett was among the early wave of well-heeled Melburnians to take up land sold off by the early village settlers who abandoned the struggle to carve out a living from farming in such unforgiving country. In 1911, Sloggett purchased land originally selected in 1895 by John James McIntyre as part of the Scoresby Village Settlement on the road between Tremont and Sassafras. McIntyre lasted 10 years on his allotment before quitting the block in 1905. The land was then acquired by George Sweet (1844-1920), wealthy owner of the Brunswick Brick, Tile & Pottery Company and a noted amateur geologist. Sweet purchased several properties in the hills, the larger of which were profitably subdivided and sold after his death by his daughter, academic Dr Georgina Sweet (1875-1946). Sloggett took on ownership of the whole of Scoresby allotment 12, measuring just under 10 acres and situated on the high side of the main road, covering the land that would later be subdivided as the Kallamondah Estate. Harry Sloggett (sometimes also known as Henry) was born into a long-established family at Padstow on the northern coast of Cornwall on 20 April 1862. His father, Captain Thomas Henry Sloggett was a shipbuilder and member of the Institute of Naval Architects but also a seafarer himself. In the 1850s he had used Melbourne as a base while trading between Australia and China and other eastern ports. Having fought off pirates in the China Sea, he lived to the grand age of 89 years. The younger Sloggett was schooled at Plymouth and later at Kings College, London. He worked in the English public service for a few years before taking up medical studies. An honours student, he went on to study in both London and Dublin, graduating as an M.B. from Durham University, along with a diploma in state medicine at Dublin and being made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. Given the paternal connection, it is perhaps not surprising that in 1890, Sloggett chose to move to Melbourne, where a specialisation led him to become resident surgeon at the Eye and Ear Hospital before establishing a Bendigo Advertiser, May 1892 practice in Collins Street and taking up residence in Middle Park, where he also practiced medicine. His qualification in state medicine saw Sloggett become attached to the Victorian Naval Forces with a surgeon’s commission. “A great believer in hygiene and exercise and fresh air”, outside of a successful, busy practice he was keen on golf, cycling, photography and Freemasonry. He was invariably described as a popular and well-respected fellow. His attachment to the colonial Victorian navy began in 1898 and transcended Federation, when the colony’s naval assets came under the control of the Commonwealth. For a time he was attached to the famous Victorian battleship HMVS Cerberus. In 1912, Sloggett was the only one of Victoria’s five part-time naval surgeons to transfer across to the Royal Australian Navy. During World War 1, he was elevated from the role of staff surgeon and appointed fleet surgeon of the Royal Australian Naval College, placing him in medical charge of the Port Melbourne and Williamstown naval depots. He retired from his naval roles in the late 1930s with the rank of Surgeon-Commander. Sloggett was profiled favourably in the Melbourne society magazine Table Talk in 1904. There was just one potential blot on Sloggett’s copy book: an action for breach of promise brought against him in June 1907. Marie Elizabeth Hugg, dressmaker, formerly of Maryborough and lately of Prahran, issue a writ against him in the Supreme Court claiming he had broken a promise to marry her and seeking £3000 in damages. Evening Mail, Perth, 11 June 1907 Breach of promise to marry was a common law tort. The action dated back centuries and reflected a time when women were treated at law as chattels. It was not unknown for a jilted lover or a woman scorned to sue in the 19th and into the early 20th centuries. A man’s promise to marry a woman was regarded as akin to a legally binding contract, which when broken was a “breach”. By the time of Hugg v. Sloggett, such legal proceedings were rare enough to attract the salacious attention of the press, especially if – as in Sloggett’s case – one of the parties had a reputation to defend or was sufficiently well-known. The case against the doctor was mentioned in newspapers across the country. In an affidavit before the court on 27 June 1907, Sloggett swore that “I have a good defence to this action on its merits”. The following month, the court agreed to a request from Sloggett’s lawyers to have the matter dealt with in the lower jurisdiction of the County Court. The bench agreed but in view of the absence of any material being presented to date it gave the plaintiff just two days to prepare to make her case. The doctor’s solicitor, Charles Price, swore an affidavit on 19 July 1907 to the effect that the plaintiff had not responded to a letter seeking to have the case progress. In its absence, the matter appears to have lapsed. Whether or not emotionally affected by this threatened action, Sloggett never married. Breach of promise actions were finally abolished under Australian law in 1976. Meanwhile, Sloggett’s 1911 land purchase in the hills was news in the Box Hill Reporter, which noted that “the plans are out for a large up-to-date house on a fine site overlooking the bays. We understand it is to be a home of rest and recuperation, and will be a much more commodious establishment shortly”. His ministrations to victims of a nasty car accident on the road below Tremont in 1914 were noted in the Emerald Hill Record, which also reported that he accompanied the victims in his own vehicle to hospital in Melbourne. In late 1933, Sloggett arrived at his mountain retreat one Friday to find it had been burgled. Missing were a shotgun, a revolver, syringe, clock, leather kitbag, Spanish guitar, and 150 rounds of ammunition. The two 19-year-old miscreants responsible, a couple of small-time crooks, were arrested a few days later in Oakleigh where they were charged with several other thefts across country Victoria. The pair were later jailed for a range of offences. With Sloggett still on the shire rates book in 1935 as owner of the property at Ferny Creek, the Kallamondah Estate subdivision was advertised for sale in December 1936, with an auction held in early February. (The name is recalled today in Kallamondah Road.) Not all lots were sold immediately, and some were still being offered for sale in late 1938. Dr Harry Paynter Sloggett died at home in Middle Park on 23 September 1937. He left a substantial estate valued at £22,784 to be divided between family in England and with some small bequests to friends in Australia. In death, Sloggett renewed his attachment to the “Mother Country.” Cremated in Melbourne where he had lived for almost half a century, his ashes were eventually interred at the Padstow Cemetery in Cornwall. In his will, he made provision for a scholarship to aid a disadvantaged young member of the Church of England community in Padstow to take up studies at the county grammar school. John Schauble Sources: Public Records Office Victoria VPRS 267/P0007 1907/306; VPRS 5357/P0000 637/345, VPRS 28/P0003, 291/093; Alecia Simmons, Courting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law, La Trobe University Press, 2023; Table Talk 5.5.1904; Emerald Hill Recorder, Box Hill Reporter, Brunswick & Coburg Leader, Weekly Times, Herald, Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Sun News-Pictorial (various dates).