Ralph Robertson Lewin

(1862-1951)

Ralph Robertson Lewin was a nightwatchman at Fremantle Harbour for 35 years, and went on to own and run the Vasse Hotel in Busselton.

He started these careers late in his life - at age 43. He was born in Mudgee and then worked at Broken Hill in NSW, and ‘Day Dawn’, a short-lived mining town near Cue in the North West of WA.

In Broken Hill, in 1896, Ralph appears to have worked as a ‘trucker’ (Reference). He may have followed his father Frank Lewin, who was working as a brewer at Whitfield's Federal Brewery in Kalgoorlie in 1897. (Reference) 

Ralph moved to Fremantle and in 1900, aged 38, he married Mabel Beatrice Thomas and their first child, Mabel Violet, was born. At this time his parents lived in North Fremantle and Mabel’s parents in Cottesloe Beach. 

It seems that Ralph and Mabel moved to Day Dawn soon after, possibly to help Ralph’s father, Frank, start a brewery.  Sadly, Frank died there in 1901, possibly by suicide. (Reference) Ralph tried to continue with the brewery business but failed to get a license because his premises were not ready:

1902 bottled beer. E Cocking and Ralph Lewin applied for a gallon license for the bottling and selling ale in Day Dawn. It was opposed by the licensed victuallers. Beyond the erection of a 30 x 12 building nothing had been done, and as the bench considered the business was not yet established the application to be refused. (Reference)

The couple moved back to Perth in 1902 where their second child, Malina Beatrice, was born. Tragically, Malina died aged 6 months, while they were living with Mabel’s parents in Cottesloe Beach (Reference). A year later they had another daughter, Beryl, and in 1905 Ralph started work as a nightwatchman in Fremantle Harbour. 

This proved to be quite eventful. In 1910 Ralph was involved in the prosecution of a ‘lumper’ (wharf worker) for ‘stealing and possessing a bottle of whisky’ (Reference). In the same year he found a man whose hand had been cut off by a train on the railway bridge over the Swan River (Reference). In 1911 he reported a harbour water-policeman for stealing some jam, paint, and oil from a ship in the harbour. The policeman, who had been working for the harbour police for 14 years, claimed that the ship’s nightwatchman had given him the jam and swapped the paint and oil for some fresh eggs. The magistrate determined that this was illegal, and fined the policeman for receiving stolen goods. (Reference)

In late 1912 Ralph was involved in a case involving the smuggling of opium into Fremantle. Three Chinese sailors from the Charon (from Singapore) were found guilty of carrying opium into the port. The case became more interesting as evidence was presented. During questioning it was alleged that one of the Chinese sailors had bribed, or tried to bribe, a customs officer, Mr Bunton, so that the sailor could take the opium into Fremantle and sell it. Mr Bunton admitted accepting the money but said that he had immediately gave it to another customs officer for safekeeping. However, one of the accused Chinese sailors, Tan Ah Hin, claimed that he knew Mr Bunton well, had made tea for him, knew him from previous trips, had already given him £2 the previous night which allowed him to pass into Fremantle and sell the opium. He then arranged to give Bunton £6 the following night so that he and two sailor comrades could take more opium into the city to sell. (Reference)

Bunton denied accepting the £2, and accepting the £6 as a bribe. His story was that the Chinese sailors had come off the ship and had resisted arrest when he wanted to search them. He and assistant customs officer, Brooks, had chased the men and arrested them. It seems probable that Bunton was taking bribes...Brooks said he saw one of the sailors give money to Bunton and was ‘surprised’. On the second night as he was about to take another bribe he decided to search the Chinese sailors. He immediately felt large numbers of opium ‘sausages’ concealed on the sailors’ bodies, so detained them and called out to Brooks to help. It seems that  Bunton suspected the men were carrying a larger amount of opium (it turned out to be 21 pounds or 9.5kg) and wanted more bribe money, so he searched them for ‘ripping’ him off. Either that, or he was worried about other people in the vicinity seeing him taking a bribe- prompting him to carry out the search. (Reference)

Ralph Lewin’s evidence was that he had spoken to Lee Chow Tong, who admitted giving money to Bunton, and that he had now lost his money and his opium. Ralph did not earlier report the money offering to Customs, or include it in his official report, as he “thought it of no particular importance”. This suggests that Ralph was protecting his fellow port worker.

The magistrate chose to believe the version given by the customs officers and fined two of the Chinese sailors £2 each for resisting arrest. The other two sailors were given 6 months imprisonment with hard labour for importing opium into Australia.

Ralph’s wife, Mabel, was president of the Cottesloe Women’s Labour League from at least 1913 (Reference) and was certainly eloquent and direct in her correspondence (Reference) 

From 1922 to 1927 the couple lived at 187 Canning Highway, on the corner of Moss and Canning Highway.

In 1925 daughter, Mabel Violet, married Horace L Green who went on to become a funeral director in Fremantle; and in 1927 The Fremantle Advocate published that Beryl, Mabel’s sister, had recovered from a bout of ‘Tonsillitis’. (Reference)

In 1928 Ralph’s family moved to 30 Fortescue Street in East Fremantle. By this time Ralph was a local identity, and a caricature and poem about him appeared in the Sunday Times. (Reference) In the same year the Sunday Times covered him as a ‘Familiar Face’ and gave him the title ‘keeper of the gate’ for his work in Fremantle Port (Reference) (see Pictured)

In 1937 The Workers’ Homes Board, forerunner of the current WA Housing Authority, called for tenders for alterations and additions to 30 Fortescue Street. (Reference) 

In 1940 Ralph, aged 78, moved to Busselton to take over the Vasse Hotel which he bought for £8000.  (Reference) (Reference)

It appears that Ralph and Mabel ran the Vasse Hotel for 4 years before selling it to James Naylor, who then renovated it. (Reference) During his time Ralph was fined for serving drinks after 10:30pm. (Reference)

At age 82, Ralph moved back to Perth, where he and Mabel lived in Kalamunda. He died in 1951, aged 89, and Mabel died two years later in 1953, aged 72.

‘‘I would be most interested to learn how he came across my great grandfather. Up until a few days ago, I knew very little of his extraordinary life. My mother, his grand-daughter, is 78 years of age and was delighted to read the article on her grandfather. Many thanks for your assistance’’. Regards Elizabeth Rose-Burns Dec 2019

Researched and written by Mark Jardine for www.streetsofeastfreo