John Joseph (Johnny) Staples, the man destined to become the Mylor Boot Maker, was born in about 1852 in Chatham, Kent, UK. It is interesting that in the 1871 census both he and his father are listed as mariners. We know that he must have either emmigrated or "jumped ship" to end up in Australia sometime between the 1871 and 1881 UK census. Where he (and perhaps his brother George) landed is not known, but we are working on it.
In 1887 he married Annie Wilson at Trinity Church, Adelaide, and on the 4th August 1888 a daughter, Annie Amelia Staples was born. At the time, Johnny worked as a boot maker in Mann Street Brompton. His wife died in1894, and from then on, he plied his trade in Third Street Bowden, then briefly, in Crowther Street in Adelaide.
He purchased the land adjacent to the Mylor oval, after the land grant to the "Australian Acclimatisation and Zoological Society" was revoked in 1903. It is believed that he built his shop/dwelling in about 1904-05.
Johnny Staples was an active member of the Mylor community. It is recorded that he was on the committee of the Mylor and District Co-operative Society in 1909 and was the secretary of the Mylor Institute in 1913. He took part in activities such as the Universal Carnival and Garden Fair in 1914 and in a farewell for those in Mylor going to war in 1916.
He died on 26th June 1919, at the Adelaide Hospital, aged 66 years.
Cottage Construction
River rubble, either from gravel pits near the Onkaparinga River, or, more likely, from the Aldgate Creek nearby, was probably carted by the wheelbarrow load to the site, mixed with lime and rammed into the formwork that defined the wall thickness. One can see the layering of each load of rubble in the walls that remain. A corrugated iron roof and a fireplace in the eastern wall completed the structure. Inside, you can still see the lime washed hessian bags, sewn together to form an insulating and draught arresting layer. Many know how cold Mylor valley can be, so it must have been quite cosy with the fire on. Summer may have been a different matter with its western exposure.
Recent excavation at each corner of the cottage floor revealed foundations about 600mm below the current floor level. Even more interesting, was that the wall surfaces down at that level were as smooth as those above ground. That is, formwork had been used to start the walls about 600mm below ground level. In the end, it was probably an approaching winter that gave rise to the hardwood framed "tin" clad southern wall, or maybe John had plans to add another room.
It is curious that the timber posts that have become exposed at various points around the cottage appear to have been incorporated into the structure above ground level. In certain areas the lime mortar used was probably not "up to scratch", leading to the deterioration and collapse of the eastern wall in particular; however, large areas of wall remain as hard today as they probably were at the time the cottage was built. In the end, John Staples' workmanship turned out to be fairly sound, and has been the main reason the building has stood for so long.
At present, we are trying to find out more details on Johnny's origins. If any budding genealogists out there would like to add to our store of information the Mylor bootmaker, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
