History of a Street Precinct
Biography - Slaven Family
Slaven, Jane
157 Farrell Street 1886-1888 
145 Farrell Street 1886-1898
Jane was born Jane McKenna about 1828 at Ennistysnon, County Clare, Ireland and died in Coburg Victoria in 1916.
Robyn Clinch, a member of the PMH&PS has written a paper on Jane Slaven and her property ownership. Robyn wrote:
She must have come to Australia by ship as a young girl. When she married Thomas Slaven at St Francis’s in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne she was a servant girl aged 22 and he was a contractor aged 24. In 1859 they lived at 7 Leveson Street, North Melbourne. By 1868 Thomas and his family had moved to the country and were farming in Bacchus Marsh where they stayed until their last and twelfth child was born in 1873.
In 1895 she owned six houses in Bridge Street, fifteen houses in Farrell Street and fifteen houses in Cambridge Street, which at that time ran into Farrell Street about where 157 or 159 Farrell Street are today. In that year she owned about 15 other houses in the neighbouring streets. In spite of owning all thee properties she was struggling to pay the rates and it appears that many of them were very small and run down.
In 1895-6, 11 of her houses in Cambridge Street were demolished by order of the City of Port Melbourne valuer. In 1898 another 9 of her houses in Farrell Street were demolished. After that she moved several times to different locations in Port Melbourne and for a time lived with a son in Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne.
For further information refer to Jane McKenna (Jane Slaven) in Robyn Clinch's paper History of Some Women of Port Melbourne, 1860-2002 in the PMH&PS Collection.
145 Farrell Street 1886-1898
Jane was born Jane McKenna about 1828 at Ennistysnon, County Clare, Ireland and died in Coburg Victoria in 1916.
Robyn Clinch, a member of the PMH&PS has written a paper on Jane Slaven and her property ownership. Robyn wrote:
She must have come to Australia by ship as a young girl. When she married Thomas Slaven at St Francis’s in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne she was a servant girl aged 22 and he was a contractor aged 24. In 1859 they lived at 7 Leveson Street, North Melbourne. By 1868 Thomas and his family had moved to the country and were farming in Bacchus Marsh where they stayed until their last and twelfth child was born in 1873.
In 1895 she owned six houses in Bridge Street, fifteen houses in Farrell Street and fifteen houses in Cambridge Street, which at that time ran into Farrell Street about where 157 or 159 Farrell Street
are today. In that year she owned about 15 other houses in the neighbouring streets. In spite of owning all thee properties she was struggling to pay the rates and it appears that many of them were very small and run down.
In 1895-6, 11 of her houses in Cambridge Street were demolished by order of the City of Port Melbourne valuer. In 1898 another 9 of her houses in Farrell Street were demolished. After that she moved several times to different locations in Port Melbourne and for a time lived with a son in Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne.
For further information refer to Jane McKenna (Jane Slaven) in Robyn Clinch's paper History of Some Women of Port Melbourne, 1860-2002 in the PMH&PS Collection.