by Just south of the city, St Kilda is one of Melbourne's most popular suburbs. But the origin of its name is something of a mystery. Exactly who was 'Saint' Kilda?
The cab driver was fairly chatty, which is not unusual. We talked about this and that as he drove me home; him doing most of the talking, running rapid fire through a bunch of topics.
At one point, he mentioned that he lived in St Kilda, and that he thought it was a pretty cool place.
And then:
'But I've always wondered... who was Saint Kilda? I mean, what were they patron saint of?'
His question twinged my interest. I had lived in Melbourne for years by this stage, and the question had occurred to me before. Everyone knows Saint Francis, or Saint Christopher. But what about Saint Kilda?
A quick google search revealed the answer. There is no Saint Kilda, and there never was one. The suburb isn't named after a religious figure at all.
So... what then?
The indigenous Yalukit-William tribe from the Kulin Nation are the traditional owners of the land that became St Kilda. Their name for the area was Euroe Yroke.
European settlers began to arrive in the latter part of the 1830's, shortly after the founding of Melbourne. The first leaseholds were taken in the St Kilda area in 1839, when it was referred to simply as 'Green Knoll.'
In 1842, as the city expanded, 22 allotments of land were officially surveyed and offered for sale by the local authorities, this new formalised settlement to be called 'The Village of Fareham' (after a village in Hampshire where some of the new residents hailed from).
But the previous year, a large trading ship had arrived in Melbourne and had anchored south of the city, directly adjacent to the proposed new village. The name of this vessel; 'The Lady of St Kilda.'
The ship anchored in Melbourne for some months and dominated the largely undeveloped shoreline. It was there for so long, in fact, that locals began referring to the area as 'The St Kilda foreshore.'
The story goes that Governor La Trobe, attending a picnic in the area in 1842, and having consumed some champagne, decided spur-of-the-moment that the new village would be called St Kilda, after the ship. This was soon officially proclaimed, and the land sale went ahead towards the end of 1842.
The first purchaser was James Ross Lawrence, who had been the master mate on the Lady of St Kilda. Allowed to name the street that fronted his block of land, Lawrence chose Acland Street, after Sir Thomas Acland, the ship's original owner.
So if the suburb is named after a boat, where then did this craft take it's name from?
The Lady of St Kilda was a schooner, built in Devon in 1834 for Acland, and used as part of his trading business (initially bringing fruit from the Mediterranean to England).
The ship was named after the St Kilda archipelago, part of the Outer Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland. Acland's wife, Lydia, had visited St Kilda islands on holiday in 1810, and had spoken rapturously about its beauty afterwards.
Although, it is worth noting, that the 'Lady' of the ship's name is not Lydia herself but Lady Grange, a famous political prisoner from English history.
Lady Grange was the wife of James Erskine, a wealthy 18th century Scottish Lord and barrister.
In 1732, the good lady discovered papers that showed her husband was involved in a plot to overthrow the British monarchy. The plot was part of an ultimately failed coup to install Scottish heir Bonnie Prince Charlie on the British throne. Outraged by this treasonous behaviour, Lady Grange immediately determined to reveal her husband's activities.
But Erskine was alerted to his wife's manoeuvre and struck first.
Lady Grange was abducted at her husband's order and taken initially to an isolated castle that he owned in northern Scotland. She was then interred in a private mental hospital before being moved to the St Kilda islands around 1735.
Now imprisoned in one of the most isolated spots on Earth, the noblewoman endured years of degrading treatment. Living alone in a stone dwelling with an earthen floor, among a small local population who spoke no English, and suffering poor health due to the island's harsh climate and lifestyle.
She would remain on Hirta until about 1740, when she was finally able to smuggle a message to her supporters on the mainland begging for rescue. An armed rescue party was raised, but by the time it reached Hirta, Lady Grange had been removed and taken elsewhere.
She died, still in her husbands captivity, in 1745.
Acland had his attention brought to this story by his wife's visit to the islands, and named his ship as tribute to this long suffering British patriot.
Which still leaves us with our original question; what is the original root of the name 'St Kilda'?
While opinions differ, the most widely accepted theory has this as a simple translation error.
The first settlers of the islands were Norse, and some histories show the name of the islands recorded as Skildir, an old Norse word meaning 'shield.' This has been mis-recorded on a Dutch map from 1583, which has the name as Skildar. These same charts were revised and updated by the Dutch Government in 1592, Skildar now being misrecorded as S.Kilda.
As the Dutch were among the foremost seafarers of this time period, many other countries would base their own official charts on those of the Dutch. British chart makers who used this 1592 map as the basis for their own work, simply assumed that S.Kilda was an abbreviation of St Kilda, and recorded it as such themselves.
And so a previously unrecorded Saint was summoned into existence.
250 years later, 'Saint Kilda' would find it's way from remote area sea charts, into the name of a suburb in one of the world's most comfortable cities. The St Kilda islands are today uninhabited, the last of the permanent residents having left in 1930.
Excellent work. I used to live in St Kilda and wondered about it. Cannot wait to regale my St Kilda dwelling friends about it.
The residents of St Kilda Island were forcibly removed – I did a British history course at uni.
Your comment is an anacoluthon.
Why does that matter? It makes no difference to the comment.
Yes I think a lot of us did British History courses at Uni – but my course in history did not teach about forceable removal. In fact I earned that the lead up to the decision made by the remaining residents started when there was a succession of crop failures in the 1920s. The University of Aberdeen found that the soil where crops had been grown had been contaminated by lead and other pollutants,not caused by purely humans, but caused by seabird carcasses and peat ash in the manure which was used on the fields.
Then in January 1930 Mary Gillies fell ill with appendicitis – she was taken to the mainland for treatment but died in hospital, her newly born daughter also died. In 1991 it was discovered that she had died of pneumonia.It was on 29 August 1930, the ship HMS Harebell took the remaining 36 inhabitants to Morvern on the Scottish mainland, a decision they took collectively themselves. Only one resident, Neil Ferguson, ws against the evacuation. I’d be interested to know which University you attended Craig, when you learned about forced evacuation? People on the island were starving, there was a lack of men to man the boats TB was killing children. With 36 people on the island, inbreeding was an issue.
The original owners of the island came from Harris – the McLeods.
Craig could you tell me which university you studied British history at and learned that St Kilda was forcibly evacuated? This is simply not true. There were many issued culminating with a succession of crop failures in the 1920s. Investigations by the University of Aberdeen into the soil where crops had been grown have shown that there had been contamination by lead and other pollutants, caused by the use of seabird carcasses and peat ash in the manure used on the fields.The Unniversity research states that “This occurred over a lengthy period of time, as manuring practices became more intensive, and may have been a factor in the evacuation.”
The last straw came with the death of a young woman, Mary Gillies, who fell ill with appendicitis in January 1930 and was taken to the mainland for treatment. She died in hospital, having given birth to a daughter who also died. It was assumed that she had died of appendicitis, but her son Norman John Gillies discovered in 1991 that she had died of pneumonia. All the cattle and sheep were taken off the island two days before the evacuation. On 29 August 1930, the ship HMS Harebell took the remaining 36 inhabitants to Morvern on the Scottish mainland, a decision they took collectively themselves. There was only one objector – Neil Ferguson from No 5.
Thank you! I was about to head to breakfast in my favorite café to visit when I’m in town, St.Kilda’s, and for once, I was not running late, so I stopped to look up this mystery saint. You are where I landed after pages and pages about Scotland.
This café by the way, happens to be in Des Moines, Iowa.
Amazing! I hadn’t even thought about that, the global reach of ‘Saint’ Kilda. Thanks for sharing!
I just read the St Kilda article, how very, very, interesting 🤔 I will be checking in regularly for interesting information.
“it’s way from” should be “its way from”
This is the Internet giving me back exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for going further than Wikipedia. Great article.
I’ll check other posts for sure!