Ada Bayles (1861-1939)

Ada Bayles (1861-1939) Philanthropist and RHSV member

The Quiet Achiever 

Ada Bayles was born on 4 December 1861 at Campbell Town, Tasmania, to William and Isabel Bayles. She was part of a large family, with three surviving brothers and one sister. Ada and her older sister Elizabeth (Bessie) attended Presbyterian Ladies College and were in the first group of students enrolled in 1875.

Ada and her sister Bessie did not marry. They lived most of their lives in the family’s grand mansion ‘Yar Orrong’ and seem to have led a quiet social life, spending time on charitable pursuits. According to newspapers articles on TROVE, Ada’s main interest was her church and the Hornbrook Ragged School and Kindergarten in Prahran. In 1939, after Ada’s death, ‘Yar Orrong’ was sold to developer Harold Bastings and then demolished.

The Bayles men were prominent within the Melbourne community with her father being a well-known businessman and politician. In 1861 Bayles was elected to the Melbourne City Council and in 1862 became chairman of the finance committee, retaining the post until his death. He was Mayor in 1865-66 and the magnificent fête he gave the citizens of Melbourne was long remembered. He also served as a member of parliament and Chief Commissioner of Customs in the 1860s and owned land in the Western District.

A generous supporter of the Toorak Presbyterian Church, William Bayles was on its board of management for many years. He suffered a stroke in 1901 and in his last years lived quietly. He died on 8 October 1903 at his home, Yar Orrong, Albany Road, Toorak, survived by his wife Isabel, née Buist, whom he had married on 11 July 1854 in Tasmania, and by three sons and two daughters.

Whilst being part of a prominent Melbourne family, there are few documents in the public record about the women of the Bayles family. We do know that Ada became a member of RHSV in September 1929 and resigned in 1935.

We also know that Ada, her mother and sister were very involved in welfare work in Prahran. Her mother, who died in 1917, was the first president of the Hornbrook Free Kindergarten, previously the Hornbrook Ragged School.

Ada Bayles died on 30 September 1939 aged 77 and is buried at St Kilda Cemetery. The true picture of how she felt about life is evident in her will, which was made public in the Age, 4 July 1940. It was noted that The Union Trustee Company and Mr Walter M Bayles (her brother), as executors of the estate of Ada Bayles, late of Yar Orrong, Toorak, had paid the following legacies – Austin Hospital, £100; Children’s Hospital, £150; Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victorian Benevolent Home, Alfred Hospital, Women’s Hospital, Melbourne Ladles’ Benevolent Society, each £50; Melbourne City Mission, £100; Hornbrook Free Kindergarten £100; Presbyterian church, Toorak, £380; Presbyterian church, Tasmania, £100; Presbyterian Church Trusts Corporation, £1200 for various missions and babies’ homes, and £5000 for establishing the Bayles memorial floor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Hospital.

Ada Bayles was a quiet achiever, a very committed and community-minded woman, whose priorities were caring for others in need of care or charity and supporting her church community.

Helen Laffin, May 2024