JoseFina Andinach

(1880-1972)

Spanish Catalan immigrants Josefina ‘Josefa’ and husband Francisco ‘Francis’ Andinach, ran the Madrid Cafe, at 68 High St, Fremantle, (began Dec 1899). In 1918 Francis died in suspicious circumstances at the Claremont Hospital for the Insane (resulting in a Royal Commission) and Josefa was left widowed with seven children. She continued to manage the Madrid Cafe for another 20 years, until 1939, when it became the Buffalo Club. (now number 54 High St).

Josefina ‘Josefa’ Duran y Mateu was born in Barcelona on 18 August 1880. She married her cousin Francisco ‘Francis’ C. Andinach y Mateu (1871-1918), who had travelled from Fremantle to Spain to search for a wife, as was the Catalan tradition, on 24 November 1900, in Barcelona, and they both arrived in Albany, Western Australia on 30 December 1900, on the Messangeries Maritime Line the S.S. Polynesien, from Marseilles. His personality and tales of life in Australia captured the attention of Josefa and she agreed to join him in West Australia, to start a new life.

Josefa went to live and work at the Madrid Restaurant/Hotel, where she also bore 11 children, including 4 stillborn babies; the first (stillborn) in 1901, son John Joseph James was born 23 April 1902. In 1903 she bore Francis (stillborn) and 20 July 1904, another son Joseph John Francis. Her fourth son James was born in 1906 but died at 4 yrs old, in 1910. Josefa suffered the death of another stillborn son, Antonio in 1908. Her first daughter Dolores Montserrat Teresa was born 12 Jan 1909 and Domingo ‘Dominic’ Vincent born 10 Nov 1912. Another son Francis Ezekiel Ramon was born 2 July 1913 and another daughter Rosa Josefina Elvira was born 29 June 1915. Another son Pedro Alfonso Martin was born in 1917 (but died in 1919), and her last child Martin, Sebastian Gerald was born in 1919 and died in 1921.

The children attended Primary School at St Josephs Convent, Fremantle and the boys were sent to Christian Boys College (CBC) for High School.

Francisco Andinach y Mateu was born in Teya, Catalonia, Spain in 1871. He arrived in Melbourne from Marseilles in 1891 and like many others in the small Spanish immigrant community there, was supported by the Parer Brothers. As an economic crisis developed in Victoria some Catalans moved to WA to cater for the miners in the burgening gold rush. The only other Spanish community in WA was the the one that formed around New Norcia. (see reference Guerrero ** below) Francisco seems to have first come to WA sometime between 1893 and 1896, and worked as a chef at the ‘Spanish Restaurant’ in Perth before moving to Fremantle to open the Victoria Hotel and Restaurant:

23 June 1896. VICTORIA Hotel Restaurant, Corner of High and Mouat sts., Fremantle: Three Courses, with glass of ale, One Shilling. The Cuisine is under the immediate supervision of the proprietors, Messrs. Villa & Andinach, late chefs Spanish Restaurant, Perth. (reference)

Only three months later (August 1896) James Villa and Francis Andinach mutually dissolved their partnership and Francis continued working alone at the Victoria Restaurant. (reference)

In Dec 1896 Francis Andinach joined his cousin John Codina in an enterprise to open a new Spanish Restaurant in South Terrace opposite the Fremantle Institute. (reference) It was also to be run as a Boarding House with 100 bedrooms for accommodation and a private sitting room for ladies. (reference)

On 15 Feb 1897 they applied for a Colonial Wine Licence (reference), which they were granted in March. (reference) However their next application- for a Hotel Licence for the ‘Madrid Restaurant’ was refused, possibly because ‘trade was falling off in the district and the present hotel accommodation was quite sufficient to meet all requirements’.(reference) Despite this Francis was clearly running a Hotel. (reference)

In Clare's Weekly (29 Jan 1898) both the Spanish Restaurant and Madrid Café have Ads on the same page. (reference)

In May 1896 proprietors of the Perth restaurant of the same name (John Homs and Spaniard, Gervasio Vidal) had opened a branch of the Madrid Restaurant in Marmion’s Building, High St. (reference) Events like auctions, land sales, stock exchange meetings and meetings of the ANA and others were soon popular at the Madrid. (reference)

1897 Last night a largely attended meeting of fishermen and others interested in the fishing industry was held in the Madrid Restaurant, Fremantle... (reference)

At some point in 1898, perhaps because his brother Antonio had joined him, Francis left the Spanish Restaurant and took over the Madrid Restaurant in High St. On 4 Dec 1899, both a Colonial Wine and Eating and a Boarding House Licence were issued to Antonio and Francis Andinach, of the Madrid Restaurant, High-street. (reference) The dining room could seat 100 people and the 55 rooms above were run as boarding rooms for bachelors. (reference)

With this security, In 1900, Francis travelleled back to Spain to marry his cousin Josefa Duran.

1902 If you are hungry after fasting for a few months, the Madrid Restaurant, High street, Fremantle, is the place to get a square feed. Messrs. Andinach Bros., the proprietors, guarantee that if you will give them a trial you will immediately put on flesh, and in a short time, become as strong as the mighty Sandow. Messrs. Andinach have also on hand a good supply of fresh fruit. To beer bottlers and wine manufacturers the firm have a. special interest, in that they are large importers of corks from Cataluña, Spain. (reference)

1906 it was said of the Madrid Restaurant: “the interior of the premises have been rebuilt, and a large number of single and double bedrooms have been added. Now, with the completion of the new frontage balcony, it can be claimed that this is the principal restaurant of Fremantle. Messrs Andinach Bros, are awaiting the completion of the electric light scheme to provide the dining-room with electric fans, which are so much needed in the summer heat.” (reference)

An account of their fees is given in 1906 ( reference) and In 1907 the Madrid Restaurant became the Madrid Coffee Palace. There were many dramas at the hotel over the years and according to her grandson Josefa had a six chambered revolver from her days at the Madrid – to quell disturbances:

1906 A Spaniard John Soberit; a kitchenman, at the Madrid Restaurant, Fremantle, was found dead in his bed. (reference)

1913 Richard Hall, bedroom steward at the Madrid Restaurant, Fremantle, identified a man accused of robbing a jewllery shop nearby, as having occupied a room at the restaurant on September 22 and 23… (reference)

In 1918 Josefa claimed that Francis first showed signs of ‘mental weakness’ early on the morning of May 16.

“He became peculiar in the kitchen of the cafe and was singing and dancing, and crying for his children - he was very violent and attempted to dash himself against the balcony railing.” She called for the police claiming her husband had ‘gone mad’. (reference)

Dr Martell was called first but his car wouldnt start and before he could see Francis, he had been taken by the police to the station. (See reference Ellis * below) On 18 May he was transferred to the observation ward of the Perth Public Hospital suffering from mental delusions. After about a week in hospital he was taken to the Claremont Hospital for the Insane, where he died. His funeral was dramatically delayed as the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death were questioned, and an Inquest called.

A certificate issued by the Claremont authorities to the undertaker gave the cause of death as ‘acute mania and pulmonary congestion consequent on trauma’ - a wound caused by external force. At the inquest it was shown that Francis had suffered four broken ribs, a black eye, and various abrasions and bruises, including some injuries to the lungs. (reference)

What caused his death and how he came by the injuries? Josefa employed Fremantle lawyer Frank G. Unmack to represent her interests. John Bous, a chef at the National Hotel, Fremantle, said, he visited Andinach in hospital, and asked him how he had sustained certain injuries, to which Andinach said he ‘had had a fight with the devil’. Mrs. Andinach deposed that after she had visited her husband she was so shocked at his condition that she informed the Fremantle police, who told her there were no marks on Andinach when he was taken to Perth Hospital. (reference)

Some of the evidence presented at the Inquest painted a less than flattering picture of staff at both Medical Institutions.

Robert Eacott, mental attendant at the Claremont Asylum, said that the strait-jacket was in good order when he put it on Andinach and admitted “It was possible that he might have sat, or knelt, on the patient, but he did not remember doing so”. (reference)

The Sunday Times (16 June 1918) was scathing in its judgement of the jury, who despite strong evidence ‘blamed nobody’:

“The astounding revelations brought out at the coronial inquiry into the death of the unfortunate Spaniard Francis Andinach form a terrible indictment against the administration of our so-called "charitable" institutions... In the first place the case is very strong against the administration of the Perth Public Hospital. It is a most extraordinary thing that a man should be placed in that institution for observation and only seen by a medical officer on the day of his admission and the day following. For the rest of the time that Andinach was in that institution he was left in sole charge of the asylum orderly who happened to be on duty, and when subsequently one of the asylum attendants (Eacott) reported that the patient had "cut up rough" and sustained cuts over the eyes, the R.M.O. (Dr. Barker), instead of going at once and seeing for himself what injuries the patient had sustained, simply took steps to have him taken to Claremont.

Which brings us to the question of the attendant Eacott. Without entering into the question of whether Andinach sustained the injuries in the course of throwing himself about- though there must be something radically wrong if it is possible for a man to inflict such injuries on himself in a padded cell -or whether they were inflicted on him by the attendant Eacott, the later was certainly to blame in either case. If Andinach was as violent as it is said he was (though it is remarkable that none of the other attendants saw evidence of this violence), then Eacott had no right to attempt to put him into a strait-jacket without first procuring assistance, as he was empowered to do under the regulations… There is one point that should be advanced in Dr. Barker's case, and that is that for some time past, owing to the shortage of medical men, the Perth Hospital staff has been woefully undermanned, and that in consequence Dr. Barker has been badly over-worked; but that is no excuse for any portion of the institution being neglected.

On top of what happened at the Perth Public Hospital come the astounding revelations as to the extraordinary methods in force at the Hospital for the Insane at Claremont… Three days in a hospital before a dying man can get attention! The barbarity of it! We are assured that Andinach wasn't violent at the Claremont institution. No, he wasn't violent; the poor devil was dying. He died nine days after he had received those terrible injuries in the observation ward of the Perth Hospital… How near the whole affair came to being hushed up. (reference)

The public were shocked over the treatment of Francis:

“Apparently it would be quite possible for a patient to be brutally and deliberately murdered in either of the institutions concerned without any inquiry being subsequently made”. (reference)

Francisco Andinach died 29 May 1918, aged 47. His funeral left the Madrid Hotel at 4 oclock on 31st June and proceeded to St Patrick’s Church before his body was buried in the Roman Catholic section of Fremantle Cemetery. (reference)

The death of this popular man resulted in a local Fremantle Labor member, Walter Jones demanding a Royal Commission in 1918 into conditions at the Claremont Asylum (the report of which is lost). It has been argued that conditions at Claremont were exceptionally poor in comparison to other Australian mental institutions at this time and “patients were exposed to a range of harms, including violence, unsuitable treatments, poor nutrition and a low standard of medical care”. (see reference Roth *** below)

Josefa was left a widow with seven children, the youngest a baby of 15 months. In his will Francis left Josefa £384 19s and two weeks later Josefa made it clear she was continuing at the Madrid Café:

Mrs Andinach wishes to notify her many friends and the public generally that she intends carrying on the Madrid Restaurant, High St Fremantle in the same first-class style for which it is so well-known... (reference)

Unbelievably Josefa must have just become pregnant before Francis died. Nine months later she gave birth to her last child, Martin:

1919- Birth, January 20, at Fremantle, to Mrs. Andinach wife of the late Francis Andinach, of the Madrid Restaurant, a son. Both well. (reference)

1919 must have been a very hard year because her son Pedro (2) died six months later, on 19 August 1919. However Josefa was determined to carry on the Restaurant and on 12 Nov 1919 she applied for the licence:

I, Josefa Andinach, widow, now residing at 68 High-street, Fremantle, do hereby give notice that it is my intention to apply at the next Quarterly Sittings of the Licensing Court, for an Eating House Licence, for the premises which I now occupy situated at "Madrid Cafe" 68 High-street. The premises are not at present licensed. (reference)

In Oct 1919 Josefa’s son, 15 year old Joseph John Francis, who had witnessed his fathers state of mental anxiety and given evidence at the Inquest, was assaulted by an intruder to the restaurant:

“at a late hour on the previous evening Joseph Andinach, who resides at the Madrid Cafe, Fremantle with his mother, heard someone enter the dining room. and upon making investigation found the accused, Harris, who said that he was the man who had broken a window at the cafe some weeks previously. He asked the boy for sixpence, and upon his request being acceded to asked for another. The lad gave him the desired amount, and then in an attempt to get rid of the man, whom he knew to be a seaman, offered to show him a short route to the wharf. Upon entering Packenham Street the man asked for more money, and when refused he forced the lad into an alleyway, ransacked his pockets, stole what money he had, and after punching him about the face made off in the direction of High-street. The lad followed, and on the way met Constables Bannear and Leonard who arrested the accused. (reference)

 On 1 May 1921 Josefa’s youngest son Martin, aged two years and three months, died at New Norcia. (reference) Perhaps Josefa took some time off after Martin’s death but she returned in 1925:

Mrs. Andinach announces that she has again taken over the Madrid Dining rooms. The lady is the oldest Proprietress of a restaurant in the Port, having conducted the Madrid for some 22 years. She will be pleased to welcome all old customers. (reference)

In 1928 Josefa dissolved any remaining partnership with her brother in law Antonio Andinach who had returned to Barcelona (reference) and in 1929 Josefa (48) and daughter Dolores (20) went travelling to London and then Barcelona together.

“I’ve heard a comment that the relatives thought that Josefa was trying to marry Dolores off and that there was a certain coldness.” (Frank Andinach correspondence 2021)

They returned to Fremantle on the S.S. Otranto.

In Sept 1932 Josefa gave evidence at court on the suicidal death of Charles Harris (60) a lumper, who had lived at the Madrid Coffee palace for 10 years. Before his death he was brought home by two young men who informed her that he had fallen in the street and injured his head. (reference)

 In 1935 Dolores, who worked as a typist, but who lived at the hotel with her mother, had her handbag stolen from the Madrid Restaurant. (reference)

 In 1938 Josefa closed the Café.  However in March 1939 she was involved in a prosecution brought by the Hotel, Club, Caterers, Tearoom and Restaurant Employees' Union over the duties of waitresses in coffee palaces and what award they should be paid. They charged her with having underpaid Edna Lewis, a waitress employed solely in the dining-room portion of the business, as distinct from another section conducted as a lodging house. (reference)

1939 Josefa sold the Madrid Café to the Buffalo Club, who renovated and moved into the premises in April 1939. (reference)

Josefa, aged 59, moved to 42 Cantonment Street, Fremantle where she lived until 1942, when she moved to live at 29 Moss St, East Fremantle, where she lived for the next 30 years.

In 1954 Josefa applied for a certificate of registration and a passport.

Josefa died on the 1st day of September 1972, aged 92. She had lived in Fremantle for 72 years. Josepha was buried in the Roman Catholic section of Fremantle Cemetery.

Children:

In 1936 Francis Ezekiel Ramon passed his final Pharmaceutical exam. He then worked as a pharmaceutical chemist with FH Faulding & Co in East Perth before he enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve in Sept 1939. He spent 5 years, working for the Reserve as a chemist, which was a reserved occupation and also spent some time at Fremantle Hospital. In 1947 Francis married Marie Immer at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. They lived in Toodyay but Marie stayed with Josefa at 29 Moss Street, East Fremantle for the birth of a son Francis ‘Frank’ Arthur John (20 Dec 1948) and for the birth of daughter Rose Marie Louise (23 April 1951) a few houses down the road, at St Helen’s Hospital, in East Fremantle. Francis died in Toodyay on 11 October 1973, aged 60.

His son and Josefa’s grandson, Frank Andinach was a pharmacist at Kalgoorlie Hospital and worked for over 50 years with the Health Department. He also served on the advisory committee of the WA Museum Kalgoorlie- Boulder Committee for a number of years, wherehe finished as the chair. Frank’s daughter Ursula is an artsworker in Kalgoorlie/Boulder after graduating from WAAPA. Aspart of her final studies she made a short film on her great grandfather Francisco and mental health today.

1940 Josefa’s daughter Dolores Monserratt Teresa married Kingsley George Green in Fremantle. She had two daughters Maureen (born 14 Dec 1942 at Woodside Hospital) and Patricia (born 1946).  Dolores died 7 Sept 1992, aged 83, and was buried Fremantle Cemetery.

In 1941 son John Joseph James worked as a tally clerk before he enlisted to serve in WWll.  He was 37 and single. Hes served in New Guinea as a cook having enlisted on 01/05/1942 into the 5th Employment Company. He was demobbed in Feb 1946. After the war John Joseph worked as a cook in Rockingham and lived with his mother (reference) He later worked on the Fremantle wharf until his death on 6 October 1965. Josefa arranged for his burial at Fremantle Cemetery.

In 1934 youngest daughter Rosa Josefina, a pupil of St. Joseph's Convent Fremantle gained the Associate Diploma of the London College of Music. On 5 July 1942 Rosa married US Army serviceman Private Alexander Paul Zerbinos at St Patrick’s Church, Fremantle. The bride was given away by her brother, Joseph. (reference) Two years later on Jan 31, 1944, in Lae, New Guinea, Alexander Zerbinos died as a result of ‘scrub typhus fever’. (reference) Rosa went to America to meet Mrs. Zerbinos immediately after the war and stayed. She later married Harold Edwards in 1951 and lived in New Hampshire.

Domingo ‘Dominic’ started training to became a Christian Brother in 1928. From 1933-1939 he served in Geraldton, where In 1939 he was director of the CBC Literary Society, Geraldton. (reference) Brother D.V. Andinach was Principal of CBC Leederville 1948-1953 before being transferred to Kalgoorlie in 1954. (reference) In 1968, working as a teacher, he lived at 51 Ellen St, Fremantle until 1978.

Written by Jo Darbyshire 2021 with grateful thanks to Frank Andinach 2021

• * Letter from Dr Ellis, Director Mental Health Services, 16 Jan 1980 to Francis Andinach, in possession of Frank Andinach 2021

• ** See Out of the Mainstream: Spanish Migration to Colonial Australia, Eva Maria Gil Guerrero, Master of Arts in Modern History, Victoria University, Feb 2020

• *** ‘Died Todat’ The brief lives of Patients at Claremont Hospital for the Insane 1909-1919, David T. Roth. Thesis submitted-Masters of Arts degree in History ast the Australian National University. January 2015

• “Francisco, it sounds like came from the side of the families that had some ‘stain’ in the background perhaps a ‘converso’”- (a ‘converso’ was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.) Frank Andinach correspondence 29.11.2021