Sep 24, 20224 min read

THE EMBERSON MEMORIAL

Updated: Jan 15, 2023

WILLIAM CHARLES EMBERSON (1882-1917)

Above image: Emberson memorial 1924. Source: Monbulk Historical Society.

The Emberson memorial was built by Charles Emberson (1856-1945), for his son William Charles Emberson (1882-1917) in 1923. It was to acknowledge those who had fallen in France during WWI.

William Charles Emberson was born to Charles and Annie D'Altera (1859-1909) in Richmond, Victoria. His parents bought their first block of land in Surrey Hills within the Windsor Park estate in 1889. After building their home, Corio Bay Villa, they lived their with William and his younger sister Lily Robiteen (1885-1962) before buying another piece of land in Kallista, which they named Charlesville. Charles and his wife Annie were some of the first settlers to live in the Kallista area in the 1890s. The family moved to Charlesville in 1894, although Charles continued to move between the two properties.

When William was 26 years old he travelled to New Zealand and married Rosina Belitta Neilsen (1892-1933) in 1908. The following year she gave birth to their first son William Charles junior (1909-1981), whilst still in New Zealand. She was only sixteen or seventeen when they married and was nearly ten years younger than William.

Rosina was born to Mickael and Anna Maria Neilsen although there is some confusion over the spelling of her name. On her birth certificate it is Buletta Rosina and on her children’s birth certificates it is Rosina Boletta or Rosina Bollettea. She may have also been known as Belle.

Sometime after the birth of their son, William and Rosina moved to Australia, to be closer to William’s family in Kallista. It is not clear whether Rosina got to meet William’s mother Annie before she died in 1909.

In Australia, Rosina gave birth to their second son Charles James (1911-?) in Sherbrooke. Their third son Edward George was born at Corio Bay Villa in Surrey Hills on 16 July 1913, only a few months after his cousin Leo. Charles senior is listed as a witness to Edward’s birth on his birth certificate.[1] William and Rosina had one more child in 1915 in Australia, a girl named Annie Rose after her deceased grandmother.

Above image: William Emberson and Rosina Boletta Neilson on their wedding in 1908. Source: Monbulk Historical Society.

In 1916, the year following his daughter's birth, William enlisted in the army and soon left to fight in the first World War. In 1917 William died in France, aged 33. He left behind his young wife, three sons and a daughter, the oldest of which was only nine or ten years old. His wife, Rosina, took the children back to New Zealand from whence she came. Charles may have lost contact with them because he did not end up providing for them in his will as he had earlier indicated.[2]

Perhaps due to William's death, Charles decided to leave Surrey Hills and move back to Charlesville, to be closer to his daughter Lily and her family. In 1923, Charles built a memorial to William at the entry to his 10 acre property in Kallista, which read:

"In memory of my son and the other diggers who died at Paschendale in 1917."

The memorial was originally a gateway with a ramp and piers with metal handrails.[3] It was unveiled in 1924 with an opening ceremony at which Lily was in attendance. There were flags and speeches and an article in the Ferntree Gully News on 24 June 1924.[5]

Charles lived out the rest of his life in Kallista, near his son's memorial. He died on 28 July, 1945. Lily, who had divorced her husband, also lived out the remainder of her years in Kallista, eventually dying at 75 years old.

Charles’s memorial to his son fell into disrepair and was largely forgotten until 1993 when William's son Edward Emberson came in search of it from New Zealand.[3] All that remained is the concrete base inlaid with a boomerang and map of Australia. The inscription is almost indecipherable.[4] Having found the memorial, Edward returned with his sister Annie, and his nephew Kevin William Emberson (1935-2022) and his wife Clare. They are shown below sitting on the memorial in 1993, seventy years after its was built.

Above image: Edward Emberson (top right), Annie Emberson (bottom right), Claire and Kevin Emberson at the memorial in 1993. Source: Monbulk Historical Society.