- Occupation
- Goldsmith and Silversmith
Ernest Leviny is best known as a goldsmith and silversmith whose work was featured in the Victorian pavilion at the London International Exhibition. He purchased the Castlemaine property, known then as Delhi Villa, from Baptist missionary Reverend James Smith. Smith and his wife had chosen the Mount Alexander Goldfields for retirement from the hardships of missionary service in India. As president of the Mount Alexander (Castlemaine) Horticultural and Agricultural Society in 1863, Leviny was acquainted with the vendor who exhibited his exotic plants at exhibitions arranged by that organisation.
In December 1864, immediately after their wedding in Launceston, Tasmania, Leviny and his wife Bertha moved into Delhi Villa. They 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).
Leviny’s work can be seen at Buda Historic Home (formerly Delhi Villa), Castlemaine and also at the Castlemaine Gallery and Museum.
