Diocesan Archivist, Dr Donna Bailey, was checking out the Bendigo Ghost Signs Facebook group when a post caught her eye, an original handwritten letter from Bishop Reville to a Mr R.S. Abbott.
Donna commented on the post, and former Bendigo Councillor and Eaglehawk resident, Elaine Harrington, responded, committing to donate the letter to the Diocesan Archive. As you’ll find out, Mr Abbott was just as formidable as Bishop Reville.
Elaine met Donna at the Chancery and, after Donna verified its authenticity, Elaine donated the handwritten letter from The Right Rev. Dr Stephen Reville to Mr R. S. Abbott to the Diocesan Archive.
The letter reads:
My Dear Mr Abbott,
I thank you not only for your thoughtful donation to our schools but also for the generous sentiments entrusted in your letters. The knowledge that we have your sympathy and that of all right-minded citizens is a great encouragement in the work in which we are engaged …”
It must have been penned between 1901 and 1916 when Bishop Reville was the second Bishop of Sandhurst. At the time, Catholic schools received no public funding, so the Catholic community completely funded their own school system. A donation from a parishioner was not unusual, you might think, but interestingly, R.S. Abbott was not a Catholic, nor was his stepfather, yet both men contributed generously to Catholic Schools, orphanages and even church works across Sandhurst.
In the late 19th century, Colonial Victorians lived in uncertain conditions, trying to build stable lives in what, for many, must have felt like the edge of the world. The Catholic Church met a need for educating children, caring for orphans, running hospitals and supporting those doing it tough, work that resonated beyond its own community; a mission that civic-minded men like the Abbots saw as worth backing.
The letter inspired a bit of digging into the intergenerational philanthropic legacy of R.S. (Richard Hartley Smith) Abbott (1859–1940), his stepfather Joseph Henry Abbott and his son Harold Athelstane Abbott.
Birmingham-born Joseph Henry Abbott (1830-1904) arrived on the goldfields in 1852 to become one of Bendigo’s great colonial entrepreneurs. He founded what would become Abbott Supply, operated tanneries and factories, helped establish the Bendigo Building Society and even converted a Pall Mall store into what later became the Lyceum Theatre. He served in local government (was Mayor for a while) and then the Victorian Parliament as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) for over fifteen years.
With other prominent local citizens, Joseph made significant donations to support the early construction of Sacred Heart Cathedral. His generosity also helped the first Bishop of Sandhurst, Martin Crane, to deal with the ramifications of the Education Act 1872, a volatile period of reform in Victorian education which made schooling free, secular and compulsory. He was the first Chair of the Sandhurst Board of Advice, and served in this role for seven years, guiding the development of the region’s earliest public state schools as they worked to meet rapidly rising enrolments.
Although the system was formally secular, Joseph used his civic influence to support children in denominational schools, ensuring they could access charitable support, welfare assistance and practical community backing during their formative years. More significantly, he made personal financial contributions to support Bishop Crane with the development of the parallel Catholic school network, despite being a prominent Freemason and devout Congregationalist. We can only assume Joseph Abbot must have strongly believed in a society built on Christian values and the right to religious freedom.
Fast forward to the early twentieth century and Joseph Abbott’s stepson, Richard Hartley Smith Abbott (1859–1940), is making donations to the Bishop of Sandhurst for Catholic schools. Born Richard Hartley Smith in 1859, he later formally adopted the Abbott surname to continue the family legacy. Like Joseph, Henry moved easily between public life and philanthropy. He expanded Abbott Supply into a major regional enterprise, served as Mayor of Bendigo during World War I, sat in the Victorian Parliament and later represented Victoria in the Australian Senate. Richard shared the same practical idealism and values as his stepfather.
While Joseph Henry Abbot shaped the logistics of the public system as chair of the Board of Advice, Richard Abbott focused on the economic viability of the region's youth. Through his councils and parliamentary terms, he was a vocal advocate for securing state funds to build technical trade schools and agricultural education spaces in Bendigo, ensuring local working-class children had access to skilled career pathways without needing to move to Melbourne.
That legacy still echoes through Bendigo today. Richard’s son, Harold Athelstane Abbott, with his wife Frances, went on to establish the Frances and Harold Abbott Foundation, now one of the region’s most significant charitable trusts, that continues to support schools, charities and community organisations across central Victoria. Meanwhile, Abbott Supply remains a recognisable Bendigo business name more than 170 years after its beginnings on the goldfields.
So, there you have it, a whole story of a family with deeply entrenched and timeless Christian values revealed in a letter of gratitude. It somehow feels like an unexpected message for our times; we are all in this together despite differences in doctrine, and it echoes something deeper still, one of our most fundamental Christian beliefs, Jesus’ commandment to “love one another.”
PS: If you’re wondering, the Abbotts of Bendigo are not related to former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.