Joseph and Emily's Son

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Joseph Edward Coudrey

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born 17th September 1867
died 17th August 1952

Article from ... ... Thursday 5th April 2012

Do you, dear readers, have the foggiest idea how many entries were received for the Federal Capital City Design Competition ... won of course by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin?

If you do have a foggy idea then the answer that comes to you through the fog is probably 137

One hundred and thirty seven has been the accepted wisdom because that's how many the Minister for Home Affairs and overseer of the competition, King O'Malley, said at the time (early 1912) had been received
But in his lecture "Tall Tales And True: Canberra's Lost American Narratives" to a select audience at the US Embassy last week, historian David Headon, historian-at-large in the official Canberra Centenary preparations, said that there were many things about the competition that are not well known

''There were, for example, many more entries than 137"

The month of March, 1912, was clearly the culling month
Constant, credible newspaper reports, and O'Malley's own comments, suggest at least 200 entries, perhaps as many as 400

''Tough trimming of the mass took place for sure, and, ultimately, within the 137, it must have been decided to have a small, representative selection of the 'non-professional' entries
So we have, within this ratified field, a journalist, miner, butcher, clerk, house furnisher, French polisher, chemist, accountant, teacher, stockbroker, wool sorter, gardener, draper, grazier and, no doubt reaching for the stars, an astronomer"

''Many of the culled, I'm sure, would have been just as interesting ... and a few have fortunately survived
Let's give them their centenary day in the sun"

Other entrants, the culled, included:-

Lyon Sab Fares Cavalier, born in Kafra, Lebanon, the Maitland optician who would alas be denied

Joseph Edward Coudrey, the Walsall, Staffordshire native, cum Adelaide chemist and author of 'A Perfume Prelude' and 'Fragna Voicelets' and 'Eau de France'
Coudrey, too, would be denied

This columnist promises to solicit Dr Headon's cerebral help in reporting more about these colourful entrants who competed in vain for the glory of designing a nation's capital city and for the potentially life-changing winning, second and third prizes of £1750, £750 and £500 respectively

Email to ... ... Monday 9th April 2012

Good Morning

My name is Geoff Roneberg, and I live in Cairns North Queensland

One of my "hobbies" is researching both mine and my wife's Family Histories
My wife's maiden name is 'COUDREY' and details can be seen by clicking HERE

Using Google Search, I discovered this article which was published on Thursday 5th April 2012

... and here is an extract from the article ...

Now, this Mr Joseph Edward Coudrey is my wife's great-great Uncle ... and details and photos of Joseph can be seen by going to Section #08 on the above Family History Link

You will notice that the information includes the family's arrival in Australia from Walsall, Joseph's Chemist Shop in Adelaide, etc, etc ... but we had no idea that he had submitted an entry into the "Canberra Design Competition" !!

The last paragraph in this Canberra Times article is ...

Is it possible to have contact with this Columnist ??

Naturally, I will now continue to search for more information ... but we would like to be advised should he or Dr Headon discover more details on Joseph and his entry into this Competition
A copy of Joseph's submission would be terrific !!

I'm sure you can appreciate that this is very exciting for us and the rest of the Coudrey Family !!

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you and / or your Columnist
Regards ...... Geoff

1909 ... Federal Capital site survey camp

1910 ... Portrait of Federal Capital site surveyors

Version One

CLICK HERE

Version Two

CLICK HERE

If you do not wish to listen to the audio
click HERE for a transcript of the interview