Today, there are almost no houses left on Marion Street, but it used to contain some very small little houses. And in one of these, 15 Marion Street, there was living Mr John Dilworth Devereux, a violin, cello and double bass maker.
He was first recorded here in 1858, (Rate Books). The house, along with 9 and 13 were owned by James McMahon. In 1963 (Rate Books), he is recorded as a Musical Instrument Maker and the house is recorded as a four room stone building.
John Dilworth Devereaux was born in England in 1810 and arrived in Australia 1854 from London where he had been working in the workshop of violin maker Bernhard Simon Fendt (1800-1852) (Powerhouse Collection). While in St Martin-In-The-Fields, Westminster, he married Mary Ann and they had a son, John Robert Devereaux on 18 January 1845. At this time he is recorded as a ‘musician’ on the baptism certificate.
When John moved to Australia, it looks like he took a simpler surname, dropping the ‘a’ which is faithfully used by his family, but every now and then, the other surname is used.
According to the Powerhouse Collection, Devereux ‘won several awards for his instruments at inter-colonial exhibitions held in Australia between 1860 and 1872. In particular he was awarded a gold medal in 1866 in which the jurors report states they “congratulate the colonies on possessing so talented a stringed instrument maker, his specimens being admirable in every respect”. The Argus newspaper, reported on 15th January 1868 that “Mr John Devereux of Fitzroy had an interview with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, before his departure from the colony, and presented him with a beautiful violin of his own manufacture. His Royal Highness was pleased to appoint Mr Devereux as his instrument maker in the colony and promised that the necessary appointment should be forwarded from home.” After this 1868 meeting Devereux used the inscription on his labels, “Violin and Bass Maker to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh”.’ Powerhouse Collection
Powerhouse Collection also says:
This violin contains characteristics of Devereux’s other instruments including an internal tension bar running the length of the body of the instrument from top to bottom. Most Devereux instruments remaining in original condition contain the tension bar which he devised in Australia to strengthen the instrument and prevent twisting of it in the Australian climate. This rigidity was also a way of keeping his instruments in tune in the local climate.
In addition to this violin the Powerhouse Museum also contains another violin by Devereux dating from 1869, a viola by Devereux dated 1869, a double bass by Devereux from about 1856, the 1866 gold medallion inter-colonial exhibition award, referred to above, and a separate tension bar and labels.
According to Philip Brown Violin & Bow Maker who were repairing a violin from Devereux which was built in 1854, after the first Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, there was a crave for exhibitions across the states of Australia and Devereaux, the first trained violin maker in the country, won medals in all of them.
Philip Brown Violin & Bow Maker also note about the 1868 appointment of Devereux as the Duke of Edinburgh’s instrument maker in the colony , that the royal appointment was nearly cut short when the Duke was shot in Sydney by O’Farrell but luckily the Duke and Devereux’s commission lived on.
Sadly Devereux lost his son aged 29 years on 26 February 1874 and then his wife Mary Ann, also passed on 26 December 1874, aged 59 years. He was still living on Marion Street, Fitzroy at the time.
Devereux is still at 15 Marion Street in 1875 but it appears sometime around the late 1870s John moves into care at the Benevolent Asylum, Hotham (North Melbourne). It looks like he may have moved by 1878 when his daughter Margaret May (Maggie) marries David Patrick Laing as he is described as late of Fitzroy.
On 9 August 1883 John Devereux, late of Marion Street Fitzroy, violin maker, aged 73 years died at the Benevolent Asylum, Hotham.
Below are some other things I have found on John Devereux:
From the Bendigo Advertiser (26 Oct 1872):
Violins – It is not everybody who knows or could even guess, the intrinsic value of a really first-class violin. La Fenillade, who ought to be as good an authority on this matter as anyone in the world, values his ‘old fiddle’ at 80 pounds. There are violins in Melbourne, one or two, over 100 years old, and they are thought to be worth at least a pound for every year of their existence, for the older a fiddle made by a good maker, the better it is. The best violin maker in this country La Fenillade says, is Devereaux of Fitzroy, and this gentleman can turn out a violin equal to any in the world. La Fenillade’s celebrated fiddle is made by John Devereaux, and would know what a splendid toned one it is.
And inspired by Tennessee Williams in 1944 from ‘The Glass Menagerie’ – this passage was written by Eadric Le Brocq. I am not sure when (Powerhouse Collection):
Time is scattered on John Devereux’s workshop floor, wood shavings that tell a pre-colonial history; alongside local cedar, spruce and maple from Europe which would have been saplings when Johann Sebastian Bach was walking through forests. Wood too young to be made into manuscript paper for him but those trees, in time, eventually turned into instruments to play his music.
But why does Devereux decide, in his time in Fitzroy, to make this a bass with three strings, not the more common four? Besides making instruments, he plays in bands around Melbourne, performing in front of governors, royalty, and possibly down the pub for Fitzroyalty. Three-string basses were used by soloists, so this is an aspirational instrument. Why bother having four strings, when all you really want to do is play high and sing above the crowd? And why have four strings when that extra low E-string adds another 88 pounds of pressure to the instrument? Time makes wood strong, but too much pressure hampers the vibration of the wood, a pressure cooker of music. Time, once again, is reduced. As Devereux stands in his workshop, feeling the wood under his fingertips, assessing each grain and flame of the maple and cedar, he knows, with all the time he has devoted to making instruments, he knows with the wisdom time has given him, he knows that inside this wood is a three-string bass, not a four-string. And he knows the wood will need an extra inside brace to stop time and humidity from warping the instrument.
Time lies under Devereux’s feet in the wood shavings, time is felt with his fingertips and the skill of his craft, time speaks in his mind as he works on the bass, deciding the bass’s future. And time is at its most acute, its slowest rate, as Devereux completes the instrument. Seconds become days as he performs musical brain surgery, fitting the soul of the instrument, the soundpost. This is a dowel of the finest spruce, supporting the belly of the bass and transporting the vibrations of the strings to the back. Time can disappear inside this work, balancing the tension of the soundpost and the bridge. If Devereux fails here, all his time will have been wasted. He takes his time, listening to the bass, listening to the rings of sound.
And probably most fitting is that cellist Josephine Vains, Melbourne Cellist, has what looks to be Devereux’s first cello made in Australia, and highly likely the oldest cello made in Australia, still in existence. Vains purchased the violoncello made in 1864 from Rosie Hunt who’s mother had owned the cello for more than 60 years. Vains still plays the cello and used it at her performance at the Brunswick Beethoven Festival in 2017. (Herald Sun, 3 February 2017). The cello was recently restored by Perth-based luthier Andrew Tait.
All of this area has been removed and this part of Marion Street no longer exists and on its location is now the Quest serviced apartments. The houses were probably removed in the 1960s at the same time as the removals for the towers occurred.