JUST TWO GENERATIONS of the Leviny family occupied Buda for a period of 118 years, from 1863 to 1981. Ernest Leviny purchased the property in Hunter street Castlemaine with one acre of land, then known as Delhi Villa, from Baptist missionary Rev. James Smith who, with his wife, had chosen the Mt Alexander Goldfields for retirement from the hardships of mission service in India.
The Levinys
Ernest Leviny (1818-1905)
Ernest Leviny was born at Georgenberg, Hungary, in 1818 and trained as a silversmith and jeweller in Budapest. He lived and worked in Paris from 1843 to 1846, then moved to London, where he operated a manufacturing jewellers and goldsmith business between 1846 and 1852.
The goldrush in Australia during the 1850s attracted Leviny to travel to the Victorian goldfields to try his luck. Arriving at Port Phillip, Melbourne, early in 1853, he went directly to the rich alluvial goldfields of Forest Creek, and the bustling new township of Castlemaine. There, he established a successful watchmaking and jewellery business in the Market Square. By 1863 he was able to retire from business and purchase Delhi Villa. In 1864 he married Bertha Hudson, bringing her to Castlemaine to settle at Delhi Villa.
View this fascinating documentary on Ernest Leviny, researched by Lauretta Zilles curator of Buda Historic Home & Garden and produced by Ben Harding of Media Magnet. Spoken by John Flaus
Bertha Leviny (1844-1923)
Bertha was born in Greenwich, England, and travelled to Australia with her family in early 1850, settling first in Melbourne and then moving to Launceston, Tasmania. Ernest and Bertha were married in December 1864 in Launceston, and moved directly to Delhi Villa after their wedding.
The Leviny Children
Ernest and Bertha had ten children between 1865 and 1883: four sons: Louis, Alfred, Ernest and Francis, and six daughters: Mary, Ilma, Beatrice (Kate), Gertrude, Bertha (Dorothy) and Hilda. Of their four sons, two died under the age of five years. The eldest son, Louis, served in the Boer War and lived in South Africa. Their other surviving son, Ernest Junior, worked as a surveyor in Western Australia on such projects as the Kalgoorlie pipeline and early railway works. He married and lived in Melbourne, returning to Buda to live after the death of his wife in the 1930s. Only one of the six daughters married. Ilma married Dr Jim Thompson, and they lived in Castlemaine, not far from Buda. Ilma had five daughters, who spent much of their time at Buda with their aunts.
