Frances (Fanny) Cato (1860-1948)

Frances Cato, nee Bethune, was born 6 February 1860 at Invercargill, New Zealand. Her father Reverend Alexander Bethune and his wife Frances (McLean) immigrated from Fife, Northeast Scotland, to work with the First Presbyterian Church, in a response to the many Scots settling on the South Island. While Alexander had previously trained as a teacher, he felt the call to church ministry and it is believed he arrived in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand around 1855 as a probationary minister, establishing a church at Myross Bush. It was at Myross Bush that Alexander and Frances’ first two children, Jane (1856) and Alexander (1857), were born.

Frances, or Fanny as she was known, together with her older siblings, Jane and Alexander and younger sister, Margaret (1863) were educated at the day school where their father taught, attended church services, Sunday school and eventually bible class, each Sunday. Her father continued to teach, alongside of his ministry duties, in the growing Invercargill Parish, until his retirement in 1877. With his wife Frances, he ran an ‘open house’ caring for children and young people, feeding, teaching, sheltering and entertaining them. They were considered a boisterous, happy, devout, and hospitable family.

Fanny, on becoming a pupil teacher, eventually took up a teaching position at the Invercargill Central School. She taught the standard 6 (year 8) girls while at the other end of the classroom a young Australian man taught the boys. Fanny is reported to have found him humorous, playful, alert, and impressive as a teacher and as a person, but apparently failed to comprehend his growing affection for her.

Frederick (Fred) John Cato was born in 1858 at Pleasant Creek, later known as Stawell, in regional Victoria. He completed his teacher training in 1876 and began teaching at his old school, Stawell State School. By 1877 Fred sought teaching opportunities that New Zealand was offering to Victorian teachers. He applied and was first posted to Kumara, a declining gold mining town on the west coast of the South Island. In 1879 he took up a position at Frankton, on the river Kawarau, near Queenstown. In 1881 he applied for and was accepted to teach at the Central School in Invercargill where he would share a classroom with Fanny Bethune.

Not long after taking up this teaching position, Frederick realised that he really didn’t enjoy teaching. His cousin, by marriage, Edward Moran, invited Fred to join him in his grocery business in Melbourne. Fred accepted. On the evening of 14 December 1881 as he was preparing to leave Invercargill for Melbourne, Australia, Fred proposed to Fanny. She replied with a ‘maybe’, committing to write to him until she was certain. Fred accepted. For the next three years Frederick and Frances would court via their correspondence.

During those three years Fred was busy getting to know the grocery business. Together with Edward they were running a very profitable business, developing a chain of grocery stores. In 1882 Fred accepted the offer of partnership with Edward and so the grocery line of Moran & Cato was born. By this stage they were already running 5 branches of Moran & Cato. In 1884 Fred married Fanny at her home church in Invercargill and together they returned to live above the new Smith Street, Collingwood Store where they began married life.

Frances and Frederick welcomed their first daughter Frances Gertrude (Gertrude) Cato in 1886. Over the next fourteen years Fred and Fanny welcomed seven more children. Frederick Edwin (1888), Edward Alexander (Alec) (1889) Edwin Thomas (1890), Dora Bethune (1893) Jack Nimmo Stuart (1896), Edith Lois (1898) and Una Beatrice (1900).

During this period, as the grocery business continued to prosper, personal tragedy struck. In 1898 their eldest son Frederick Edwin died aged 10 years, possibly from diphtheria. With a large family, a large home was needed and in 1904 Frederick and Fanny acquired an Italianate mansion in Hawthorn which would become known as ‘Kawarau’, believed to be named for the Kawarau River, in New Zealand.

Further personal tragedy followed after acquiring ‘Kawarau’ when in 1904 both their fourth son Jack died, aged 8 years (cause unknown) and their third daughter, Edith, aged 6 years, drowned in a dam on the property. The grief of losing two children in such a short period of time must have been distressing for both parents, especially so for Frances having to endure the inquest into Edith’s death.

For the most part, the Cato children were educated at home, the girls eventually attending Methodist Ladies College, while their sons attended Wesley College.

Coming from a family where hospitality, generosity and community service thrived, Fanny with Fred by her side, involved herself in opening their home to the various organisations to which they belonged, namely the Methodist Church and for Fanny, principally the Young Women’s Christian Association. The Catos hosted many a reception for visiting overseas speakers and dignitaries within both of these organisations. The YWCA, while ‘fundamentally of religious character’, aimed to improve the lives of young women, particularly those working women living away from home. Fanny served as President for many years working to ensure the aims of the association to ‘invest in the health and welfare of the girls’ was achieved, namely addressing the poor working conditions of many who came into the associations care. Fanny encouraged her daughters to volunteer in the YWCA, with both Gertrude and Una taking up their mother’s baton to serve the association. Gertrude was YWCA National President (1945-51), World YWCA Vice President (1951-55) and her sister Una became World YWCA President in1963. The YWCA Cato Conference Centre, Elizabeth Street Melbourne, commemorates the work of all three women.

In 1932 Frederick and Frances financially supported the Methodist Homes for Children in Cheltenham to establish a training farm for boys on an adjoining property owned by the Methodist Church. The Frances Cato Home and Training Farm was opened in 1933 with Frederick and Frances in attendance. The Homes were another of the organisations to which Fanny gave her time. She was president of the homes for many years and by 1938 was a life member. Her daughter Gertrude and son Edward (Alec) also became involved in the homes, Gertrude serving as president in the mid-1930s. Following Frederick’s death on 4 June 1935, Frances continued to attend YWCA meetings with her daughters and no doubt continued to take a keen interest in the work of the Children’s Home and Training Farm in Cheltenham.

Frances became a member of the Historical Society of Victoria in October 1934, the month in which Melbourne celebrated its centenary. She was a member until her resignation 22 February 1947. Of her involvement in the society not much at this stage is known but her continued membership for 13 years probably suggests her interest in the history and happenings of her adopted home town.

Frances Cato died at her home ‘Kawarau’, 20 August 1948, aged 88 years.

She was survived by her daughters Gertrude Kumm OBE (1948), widow of the famous Methodist missionary Dr Karl Kumm, the founder of the Sudan United Mission, Dr Una Porter OBE (1961) CBE (1968) renowned psychiatrist and Dora (Mrs. LV Stephens) and her sons Edward Alexander (Alec) Cato businessman, and Dr Edwin Thomas Cato, surgeon.

Karen A Smith, February 2023