Catherine Oliver - Butcher

305 High Street, Northcote

Catherine Oliver arrived in Northcote about 1850, establishing the townships first butchers shop. By the latter half of the 1800s she owned one of Northcote's premier butcheries. With her second husband, Robert, she operated a butcher's shop near the Commercial Hotel. As the operator of one of the largest butcheries in the area, Catherine Oliver often clashed with residents, objecting to pollution arising from her business. 

In 1889 the Olivers purchased a block of land on the corner of Westbourne Grove and Herbert Street. There they built a substantial two storey Victorian building which still stands today. Catherine Oliver died in 1930 at the grand old age of 94.

Death index Victoria 1921-1985 : index to deaths in Victoria [CD-ROM]. (1998). Melbourne, Australia: Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Sands and McDougall’s Melbourne and Suburban Directory 1864- 1974. [Microfiche]. (1974). Melbourne, Australia: Sands & McDougall.

Ward, Andrew (2001). Darebin Heritage Review 2000. Burwood, Vic: City Of Darebin.