Summary

The life of Miss Olive Oliver seems to have been born and lived in the society columns of Melbourne's newspapers. Born in 1879 in Armadale, Victoria to wealthy pastoralist William Oliver and Margaret Robina Affleck, Olive and her family were often featured in the columns of Melbourne's social "rags" including Table Talk, Melbourne Punch and The Australasian.

Always the bridesmaid and never the Bride

At the age of six years old, Olive's name appeared as one of five bridesmaids attending the nuptials of her uncle Mr. David Affleck to Miss Irene Hutton. She was said to be ".dressed in Indian White muslin, with buttercup colored sashes, wreathes of buttercups and veils" (Table Talk¸28 August 1885, p.9).

The following year Olive along with several of her cousins, participated in the juvenile plain and fancy dress ball hosted by the Mayor and Mayoress of Melbourne. At a precious age of seven years old, Miss Olive Oliver arrived as ".a tiny little Enchantress that cast a spell over all; costume of black tulle, with silver stars and crescents" (Melbourne Punch, 14 October 1886, p.11).

Olive once again donned her bridesmaid attire to feature as one of six attendants in the marriage of her aunt, Miss Mary Grey (Cissie) Gutherie to Mr. Phillip Russell. She and her fellow junior bridesmaid, Ms. Ibbotson, wore "frocks of white arnooked libery silk" with baskets of pink and white flower petals, which were delicately dropped at the feet of the bride (Table Talk, 26 October 1888, p.18).

Exchanging her flower petals for fancy dresses, Olive participated in a children's fancy dress ball to close the season of the Misses Heywards' Juvenile Dancing Class at the Mechanics' Hall in Frankston. At the lovely age of 16 years old, Miss Olive Oliver was dressed as Good Luck (Mornington Standard, 12 December 1895, p.3).

At this time, Olive started attending more adult social events with her parents including the first ball of the season held by "His Excellency the Governor and Viscountess Hampden" in April 1897, which proved to be ".one of the most brilliant and successful ever held at Government-house" (The Australasian, 24 April 1897, p.43).

'Always the bridesmaid and never the bride' appeared to be Olive's adage as at the age of 19 years old, she featured as one of five bridesmaids in the wedding of Mr. Roland Graham to her aunt, Miss. Elizabeth Affleck. "Picturesquely gowned" in white satin and chiffon with a white felt hat trimmed with turquoise blue velvet and ostrich tips (Leader, 23 April 1898, p.29), Olive would have made quite the sophisticated sight.

Girl about Town

As Australia celebrated becoming a Federation in 1901, Olive seemed to transition from perpetual wedding attendant to social butterfly. She appeared at the last "but most noteworthy entertainment of the Cup week" - a ball held by members of the Australian Club on November 8, at the club-house on William Street (The Australasian, 16 November 1901, p.45).

The following year however, brought heart-ache to the Oliver family, with the death of Olive's mother Margaret on 9 February 1902 at the age of 45 years old at the "Bungalow" in Queenscliff. Margaret, along with her husband William, son Don, and brother in law Robert, were interred in together. Upon her death, Margaret "late of Walsh-street, South Yarra" left her estate valued at £11,936 to her husband and children.

Following her mother's death, Olive continued to flutter from one social event to another, including being one of 300 guests to attend a ball held by 21 country ladies, which was deemed as being "one of the best-done entertainments ever held in the Prahran Town Hall, on Friday evening, March 10" (The Australasian, 18 March 1905, p.43). That same year Olive along with Miss Murial Cumming and Miss Stevenson sang at Mrs. Norman Bayles second afternoon party at Umma, on Lansell-Road in Toorak.

Travels Abroad

In 1911, aged in her early 30s, Olive set her eyes toward a broader horizon and, along with her father, her brother William Donald ('Don') and her cousin Greta, travelled to the United States, Canada, Britain and Europe. She kept a detailed journal and collected various pieces of ephemera during the course of her travels, which are now housed in the Museums Victoria collection.

Ms. Oliver continued with her busy social calendar upon return to Melbourne following her sojourn to the Continent. In 1912, Olive attend the Fitzroy Mayoral Ball where she was one of 12 debutantes to dance in a special set. She is photographed in society magazine Table Talk (20 June 1912, p.8) with the Mayoress and other debutantes ".dressed uniformly in white satin and ninon, white short detachable satin trains from the waist" and carrying posies of white flowers. To the ball itself, "Miss Olive Oliver wore white satin duchesse, trimmed with crystal and pearl embroidery, the bodice of silver tissue was outlined with pearls and crystals" (Punch, 20 June 1912, p.33).

The dawning of the First World War saw Olive thrust from the elegance and sophistication of Melbourne's social elite to the streets of an Egyptian Bazaar. Olive, along with her cousin Miss Greta Affleck and Mr. Morton Affleck participated in a fundraiser held at the Quamby Club in aid of the Wounded Soldier's Club. Dressed in a-typical Arab attire with face caked in paint, they posed as male Eastern bazaar sellers in the Tobacco booth. Their photograph was featured in social magazine Punch on 25 May 1916.

In 1922, several years after the conclusion of World War One, Miss Oliver, her father and brother, once again set sail for England and Scotland. They arrived back in Melbourne on 7 January 1923 aboard the Ascanius.

The Quite Life

Very little is written about Olive and her illustrious family following their return to Australia. Olive attended a party held by Mrs. Oswald Gibson in a "spacious drawing room at the Alexandra Club" on May 4, 1933. It seemed an auspicious evening where "...fires glowed and cracked on the open hearths, and pottery bowls in jacinth green and lapis blue were set against the primrose walls, and filled with branches of rosy leaves." (The Australasian, 6 May 1933, p.11).

Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, Olive and her family practically vanish from the newspapers. In 1950, Olive inherited the whole of her father's estate following his passing in November at the age of 97 years old, outliving his son Don, who died in July of the same year. The estate included three properties in South Yarra on the hill behind the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Oliver family home, 'Grosvenor' on Walsh Street, South Yarra. Olive passed away at this residence in October 1961, at the age of 82 years old. She was buried with her family at the Melbourne General Cemetery, in the Presbyterian section.

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