I Knew One In
Particular, Whose Brother Is At This Moment Serving As Colonel In The
Army In India, A Man More Fitted For A Gay London Life Than A Residence
In The Colonies.
The diggings were too dirty and uncivilized for his
taste, his capital was quickly dwindling away beneath the
expenses
Of the comfortable life he led at one of the best hotels in
town, so he turned to what as a boy he had learnt for amusement, and
obtained an addition to his income of more than four hundred pounds a
year as house carpenter. In the morning you might see him trudging off
to his work, and before night might meet him at some ball or soiree
among the elite of Melbourne.
I shall not attempt an elaborate description of the town of Melbourne,
or its neighbouring villages. A subject so often and well discussed
might almost be omitted altogether. The town is very well laid out; the
streets (which are all straight, running parallel with and across one
another) are very wide, but are incomplete, not lighted, and many are
unpaved. Owing to the want of lamps, few, except when full moon, dare
stir out after dark. Some of the shops are very fair; but the goods all
partake too largely of the flash order, for the purpose of suiting the
tastes of successful diggers, their wives and families; it is ludicrous
to see them in the shops - men who, before the gold-mines were
discovered, toiled hard for their daily bread, taking off half-a-dozen
thick gold rings from their fingers, and trying to pull on to
their rough, well-hardened hands the best white kids, to be worn at
some wedding party; whilst the wife, proud of the novel ornament,
descants on the folly of hiding them beneath such useless articles as
gloves.
The two principal streets are Collins Street and Elizabeth Street. The
former runs east and west, the latter crossing it in the centre.
Melbourne is built on two hills, and the view from the top of Collins
Street East, is very striking on a fine day when well filled with
passengers and vehicles. Down the eye passes till it reaches Elizabeth
Street at the foot; then up again, and the moving mass seems like so
many tiny black specks in the distance, and the country beyond looks
but a little piece of green. A great deal of confusion arises from the
want of their names being painted on the corners of the streets: to a
stranger, this is particularly inconvenient, the more so, as being
straight, they appear all alike on first acquaintance. The confusion is
also increased by the same title, with slight variation, being applied
to so many, as, for instance, Collins Street East; Collins Street West;
Little Collins Street East; Little Collins Street West, &c. &c.
Churches and chapels for all sects and denominations meet the eye; but
the Established Church has, of all, the worst provision for its
members, only two small churches being as yet completed; and Sunday
after Sunday do numbers return from St. Peter's, unable to obtain even
standing room beneath the porch. For the gay, there are two circuses
and one theatre, where the "ladies" who frequent it smoke short
tobacco-pipes in the boxes and dress-circle.
The country round is very pretty, particularly Richmond and
Collingwood; the latter will, I expect, soon become part of Melbourne
itself. It is situated at the fashionable - that is, EAST - end of
Melbourne, and the buildings of the city and this suburban village are
making rapid strides towards each other. Of Richmond, I may remark that
it does possess a "Star and Garter," though a very different affair to
its namesake at the antipodes, being only a small public-house. On the
shores of the bay, at nice driving distances, are Brighton and St.
Kilda. Two or three fall-to-pieces bathing-machines are at present the
only stock in trade of these watering-places; still, should some
would-be fashionables among my readers desire to emigrate, it may
gratify them to learn that they need not forego the pleasure of
visiting Brighton in the season.
When I first arrived, as the weather was still very cold and wet, my
greatest source of discomfort arose from the want of coal-fires, and
the draughts, which are innumerable, owing to the slight manner in
which the houses are run up; in some the front entrance opens direct
into the sitting-rooms, very unpleasant, and entirely precluding the
"not at home" to an unwelcome visitor. Wood fires have at best but a
cheerless look, and I often longed for the bright blaze and merry
fireside of an English home. Firewood is sold at the rate of fifty
shillings for a good-sized barrow-full.
The colonists (I here speak of the old-established ones) are naturally
very hospitable, and disposed to receive strangers with great kindness;
but the present ferment has made them forget everything in the glitter
of their own mines, and all comfort is laid aside; money is the idol,
and making it is the one mania which absorbs every other thought.
The walking inhabitants are of themselves a study: glance into
the streets - all nations, classes, and costumes are represented there.
Chinamen, with pigtails and loose trowsers; Aborigines, with a solitary
blanket flung over them; Vandemonian pickpockets, with cunning eyes and
light fingers - all, in truth, from the successful digger in his blue
serge shirt, and with green veil still hanging round his wide-awake, to
the fashionably-attired, newly-arrived "gent" from London, who stares
around him in amazement and disgust. You may see, and hear too, some
thoroughly colonial scenes in the streets. Once, in the middle of the
day, when passing up Elizabeth Street, I heard the unmistakeable sound
of a mob behind, and as it was gaining upon me, I turned into the
enclosed ground in front of the Roman Catholic cathedral, to keep out
of the way of the crowd.
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