Antonio was born in Southampton, England in 1840. The UK 1841 census shows him aged 9 months, living with his parents – Joseph (aged 30) and Emma (aged 20) – and Uncle Charles Ball (aged 25). His mother died when he was six and by age 11 he was boarding with a schoolmaster. No immigration records have been found but he probably arrived in Australia around 1855 - together with his father, sister, Uncle Charles Ball and cousin William Welch – all headed for the goldfields in Victoria.
The family had been merchants and drapers in England. In Victoria, Charles Ball and William Welch married society sisters – Tabitha and Eliza Reardon respectively - and went on to establish the Ball and Welch department store empire. Joseph Ball became a bank manager and a Justice of the peace.
Elizabeth was born in Melbourne in 1844, the 2nd of five girls of Irish Catholic pioneers. That year, Melbourne’s first crossing of the Yarra River was built as a wooden trestle bridge near the site of what is now Princes Bridge. Her father accumulated significant wealth, possibly through real estate, as Melbourne grew.
When Antonio and Elizabeth Brophy married at Holy Trinity Church in Pentridge (later Coburg) in 1863, he was 23 and she was 19. His job was Government Officer at Sandhurst (Bendigo). Her occupation was “Lady”. Both of her parents had died, her father less than a year previously. Their first child, Lillian (named Emma on her birth certificate), was born at end of that year at the Taradale Railway station where Antonio was the Stationmaster. They had three other children, Alice (1867, birth not registered), Mary (1869, unnamed at birth) and Florence (1871, named Annie at birth) both latter births were registered in Williamstown, Melbourne.
In 1878, Antonio Ball absconded after being charged with embezzlement of 6 pounds from the Railway Department. He was arrested in Sydney and returned to Melbourne where he was tried.
The offenses allegedly occurred in October and November 1877 but were
not discovered until March 1878. The trial took place on the 22nd June
1878. Acquitting him, the Jury commented that the bookkeeping and
auditing systems in the Department were “defective”
Despite his acquittal, he was unemployed and at least a little bit disgraced. It is likely that the family left Melbourne around this time.
By 1886, Antonio was running the Benalla General Store. He is mentioned in a biography of Michael Savage – a future Prime Minister of New Zealand – who grew up in the Benalla area. The following is from the book “From the cradle to the grave“ by Barry Gustafson:
In 1886 Michael Savage began working in a Benalla General Store for Antonio Ball. The shop was in a large building at the corner of Bridge and Carrier Streets. In front of the shops were open drains, hitching posts and water troughs. There was no street lighting. The population of the town was about 1,700. One of the wine and spirits merchant licences was held by Antonio Ball, who had sold clothing, shoes, millinery, drapery, hardware, furniture, crockery and groceries. Early in 1886 Ball advertised a complete clearance sale as his landlord had advertised the premises for sale. In June Ball received a reprieve and bought in new stock, limiting himself to drapery, wines and spirits, and just a few grocery items necessary to meet the requirements of his liquor licence. He also hired a new assistant, Michael Savage.
Tony Ball was accomplished actor and singer, and widely read. He was involved in community affairs as founder of the Benalla fire brigade, organiser of children’s picnics and member of the rifle club.
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In December 1887 Ball selected 820 acres of land at Tatong and the following January sold his drapery business to A. C. Watsford, of Melbourne. He kept his wine and spirits licence, and a fortnight later opened a liquor shop in half of the old St George’s adjoining the corner drapery shop. He was at his selection for lengthy periods and Michael, nearly 16, began to take more responsibility in the shop. |
In 1890 Tony Ball contested the Benalla Shire elections. He accused the incumbent councillors, mostly wealthy land-owners, of having formed a ring ‘to plunder the Central Riding’ using shire funds to build bridges and improve roads near their farms. He and the Ensign wanted those funds used in the town itself to improve the unsanitary drainage, provide a good water supply, erect street lamps and build a decent crossing of the river. The whole town had open drains into which people deposited sewage. In a poll restricted to rate payers, Ball was sixth out of six candidates for three positions, obtaining only 79 votes.
The period 1891-93 was a watershed in Australian history. The 1880s had been marked by frenzied speculation, fuelled by overseas loans, government expenditure on railways and other public works and easy finance. Inevitably the crash came. By 1892, 41 land and finance companies in Melbourne and Sydney, with liabilities of £25,000,000, had failed. In January 1893 the Federal Bank defaulted and in April, as the panic spread, 12 other banks closed.
Antonio Ball appears to have lost his
farm. He moved to a poorer part of town, did not close [his shop] for the
annual picnic or weekly half-holiday, and started taking court cases on very
flimsy grounds for small amounts of money allegedly owing to him. He dispensed
with the services of Mick Savage [in 1893], and a few years later, sold up and
left district. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tathg/Savage/Savage.htm
Antonio and Elizabeth were listed as living in St Kilda in 1901 when their youngest daughter Florence married Charles Tucker on 25th February https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10541089 but the 1903 Electoral roll shows only Elizabeth and her daughter Mary living in Grey Street St. Kilda.
On the 1912, 1914, 1916 and 1919 Victorian Electoral Roll, Antonio lived at 56 Twyford St Williamstown. He died in Parkville Melbourne on 31st October in 1921 at the age of 81. Elizabeth Brophy Ball lived in Grey street St, then Dalgety St. in St. Kilda with her daughter Mary until her death on 11th November 1924. Her estate, which she left to her 3 living daughters, was valued at over 5,000 pounds (around $400,000 in today’s money), mostly made up of “all that piece of land being part of crown Allotment 4 Section 22 City of Melbourne, Parish of North Melbourne, County of Bourke on which is erected two 3 storied brick buildings attached to each other about 70 years old.” – a property she inherited from her parents in Little Bourke St, Melbourne and which no doubt provided her with a comfortable income.
