THE AVERAGE RESIDENT

As well as being an artist, I'm also a qualified accountant, which means I like to crunch numbers. An analysis of the known Corio Bay Villa residents from 1890 to 2021 reveals a number of interesting statistics about the past. It's probably not surprising that most common type of resident has been families, which have varied in size from one to ten children. Based on past averages, a typical family moving into Corio Bay Villa would consist of three children aged between 6 and 10 years old with two parents, a man and a woman, aged in their late thirties who married a decade earlier.

Only six people have lived in Corio Bay Villa without children and another five tenants are unknown. Some other statistic relating to the occupants of Corio Bay Villa are:

• More than half the residents have been families with children.

• While the average number of children is three, if you only include families prior to the 1980s, that average goes up to four.

• On average, occupants first married at the age of 27, which is older than I thought it would be.

• More males than females have lived in the house, because most families have had more sons than daughters.

• Eight years old is the average age of children that moved into Corio Bay Villa. This average includes adult children who move in with their parents. If children aged 18 and over are excluded, the average age goes down to six.

• The average age of parents moving into Corio Bay Villa with their children is 37 years old.

• The average age of all occupants, including all adults and children for which the age is known, is around eighteen years old.

• Corio Bay Villa has seen many new babies arrive into the world. It has been the first home to at least seven children.

• The earliest year in which a resident was born was in 1952. This was Frances Maria Svensson, who lived in Corio Bay Villa in 1900 when she was 48 years old.

• Prior to 1920, four different couples lost one child in infancy prior to moving into Corio Bay Villa. This reflects the high infant mortality rate of earlier times.

• The average lifespan of past residents who have lived at the house is 71 years. This excludes more recent residents who are still alive, like me. In fact, it includes all residents born between 1852 and 1937, and the resulting average is above the national average. During 1880-1890, the average life expectancy of a male was 47 years and 51 years for a female.* All the known residents who have lived there since 1971 are still alive and well at the time of writing this blog post.

• At least two children who lived at Corio Bay Villa grew up and later died in WWI. They were William Emberson (1882-1917) and Priel Svensson (1882-1918).

• John has been the most common first name of inhabitants at Corio Bay Villa. These were John Henry, John Ellis, John Crocker and John McMillian. Bertram John Kitchener may have also gone by by John.

• Around eight women have lived there without a partner, whether they were married or not. It is difficult to know how many men lived there on their own, as sometimes the wife's name was not listed, even if she was living there.

• The longest anyone has lived in Corio Bay Villa is around 20 years. The record is held by Margaret Farney/Lagowski.

• The average years for residency is 4 to 5 years. I suspect this is because the house has historically been too small for families, with only four main rooms. I expect this average to increase after the 2022 extension which sees the addition of three more bedrooms.

• At least one tenant had a live-in domestic servant. The one we know of was Florence Hewson, and we only know if her because she became ill.

• At least two families had cows whilst living at Corio Bay Villa including the Embersons and the Crockers.

• Three artists have resided and painted at Corio Bay Villa, including John Crocker, Michel Canetti and myself, Leah Mariani.

• One resident died of natural causes whilst living at the house. Mrs Maria Barham Brown passed away at Alfred Hospital in 1944.

To date, all the residents of Corio Bay Villa have been of English and European descent, including some who were born in England, Poland and Hungary. Now that Corio Bay Villa has been protected via a heritage overlay, it will hopefully be around long enough to welcome many new tenants from Australia and other parts of the world.

REFERENCE:

* Life Expectancy Trends Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, published March 2011, accessed May 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Mar+2011