The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Author's Preface
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
I once thought that of all things in the world the least likely to happen would be my writing a history of Melbourne, and I should not have even dreamed of assuming such a responsibility were it not first suggested by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, under the following circumstances:—
One summer Sunday in February, 1873, I was his guest at Sorrento; and, in the course of the evening, our conversation, drifting back to the sayings and doings of the olden days of the colony, some reminiscences which I disinterred so amused him that he declared I ought to write an Anecdotal History of Melbourne. The notion appeared so preposterous, that I thought he was joking; but, on intimating as much, he assured me it was,nothing of the kind, and even pressed me to give the subject my consideration. It occurred to him, he said, that such a work would be extremely interesting; that from both an historical and a general point of view, it ought to be written; and that, if not done in the course of a few years, it would never be; and he even went so far as to pay me the very undeserved compliment of adding, that he knew no other person who possessed to the same extent the necessary local experience and ability requisite for the undertaking. I remained unconvinced, and the idea passed out of my mind, probably never to return, but for its revival on every subsequent occasion when w e met. We never spoke since that day without his recurring to the subject, though ineffectually, until just seven years after (on another Sunday in February, 1880), when we dined at the hospitable board of Mr. Andrew Tobin at Balaklava. Some "Garryowen Sketches" had recently appeared in a Melbourne newspaper, of which Sir Charles Gavan Duffy spoke indeed too flatteringly,and then the Anecdotal History once more appeared on the tapis, when the result was that, in a moment of weakness, I yielded a reluctant consent. I was early taught to regard a promise as binding as a bond, and nothing now remained but to keep my word, which I resolved to do under any circumstances—to become "The Chronicler of Early Melbourne"—successfully, if I could—and otherwise at the worst. I have lived to learn that I much underrated the burden I had taken on my shoulders; but I entered upon my novel enterprise with a will, thoroughly determined that no extent of trouble or toil should scare me from a duty in which I had voluntarily, though misgivingly embarked. It was in a certain sense a "labour of love" tinged with melancholy—a kind of pleasure-trip to the region of Long-ago—an excursion to Phantom-land, to wander amongst the shadows of the past, in which I had once been a mover, and often an actor—to obtain a ghostly glimpse of many an old familiar face, and a grasp of many a vanished hand long stilled by the icy touch of death. I was like a person for more than a generation away from a country where he had cemented friendships, contracted ties of sympathy, and left behind him kind remembrances; who returned to find the whole aspect of things changed—those he liked and respected gathered to their fathers—the friendships, sympathies, and remembrances evaporated like dew under the sunbeams, and nothing left but memories springing up, like apparitions, at every advance.
Such is the Melbourne of old to me, and my retrogressive pilgrimage has imparted a mixed sensation—a regretful, yet satisfactory excitement in recalling scenes, reunions, and recollections long consigned to oblivion, and, so to write, resuscitating, for a time, many stages of my past existence. In treating of the infancy of Melbourne from its settlement, in 1835 to 1840, much difficulty has had to be encountered through the want of reliable data and records. During a portion of 1838 and the whole of 1839, two publications (hardly even in courtesy to be styled newspapers) were issued, yet no complete files of them are obtainable; and, without disparaging the efforts of those who have written of the time, the conviction is forced upon me that, with the viva voce help available up to ten years ago, it is surprising that more reliable narratives have not appeared. In dealing with the brief period referred to, to get at anything like accurate details of events is a weary sliddering through bog and fog, the floundering in which is beyond conception. Occasionally a streak of light appears on the horizon, but it is as the ignis fatuus, a decoy likely to lead to greater bewilderment.
There are not now (in the year of Grace, 1888) existing throughout the entire colony, perhaps, a dozen individuals who lived and moved in 1836, where Melbourne now stands, and of these not more than half are accessible for reference. Out of the six not three can tell of such matters (not to be met with in print) as the first gaol, the first police court, the first watch-house, or the first pound; and of the trio scarcely any two agree upon any single topic connected with this remote era. There was "a lost earthquake," which it took me three months to find, and my hunt after the first gaol was more tantalising. I could meet only one person to point out the particular spot whereon was erected a wooden theatre, which once flourished in Bourke Street, and no two that I have spoken with can indicate the exact scene of the first execution, at the north of Latrobe Street, though it happened in 1842. The difficulty arises from the great changes which have been effected in the style and size of the buildings, erected on places which were, forty or fifty years ago, either unoccupied areas or sparsely disfigured with one-storey brick, weather-board, or wattle-and-daub tenements of the most ricketty description. In dealing with the extraordinary metamorphoses, wrought by progressive conditions and continuous enterprise, the most tenacious memory is at fault. However, in my researches, I am happy to say that, wherever I applied for information, the most courteous co-operation was readily accorded to me. To those who kindly aided me my acknowledgments are many; and first on my list is Mr. Richard Church, Assistant Parliament Librarian, to whom I was much of a bother, but who always evinced a pleasure in obliging me. The second is Mr. Robert Russell, one of the "Old Guard " of 1836, and the first Principal Officer of Government Surveys in Port Phillip. In him I found a Thesaurus of hitherto unprinted events, and, when I questioned any of his statements, an excerpt from an old field-book, a tracing, or a pencil sketch would convince me of his correctness.
Three gentlemen in high official positions, and eminently qualified to speak authoritatively on the subject, have declared that The Chronicles have done for Melbourne what has not been done for any other city (ancient or modern) in the world, by collating in readable form all its small beginnings—the germs, in fact, of its existent constitution.
Through the kindness of Captain Benjamin Baxter, I was placed in communication with the late Mr. Robert Hoddle, so long the Head of the Port Phillip Survey department, and was favoured with a perusal of portions of a private journal, in which were jotted down some interesting minutiae relating to the formation, and naming, of the township and the streets of Melbourne. Mr. Thomas Alston, about the "straightest" pillar of the "block" in Collins Street, one of our most historic places, I can never adequately thank for all he has done in procuring me information which I should not, otherwise, have so easily obtained; and from Mr. George Coppin I gleaned a quantum of unadulterated theatrical intelligence, which can only be estimated at its proper value when it comes to be read. The late Mr. D. C. M'Arthur, the founder of the Bank of Australasia, was one of the first I consulted, and whether Board-day or not, he was always "at home" to me when I called at the bank, and ready and willing to communicate many curious facts connected with the old banking times. The same courtesy was invariably forthcoming from the late Messrs. W. Highett, the first manager of the Union Bank; W. F. A. Rucker, one of the first parents of our now large commercial community; and from Mr. J. Waugh. To two ex-members of the Legislative Council I am largely indebted—the Hon . G. F. Belcher forwarded from Geelong a file of the Port Phillip Gazette for 1839 (unattainable elsewhere), and the Hon. T. F. Hamilton briefed me with some appetizing morsels of romantic reality, about which he is the only man living who knows anything. Coming to later days, the name of Mr. John L. Currie, of "Eildon," Grey Street, St. Kilda, must not be omitted from recognition. The Editor and Artist engaged in the present publication of The Chronicles assure me that they have not only been placed in possession of valuable information, sketches, &c., by Mr. Currie, which I had not been so fortunate in unearthing, but the personal courtesy and sympathetic interest displayed by him in rendering that information as correct and complete as possible, were a source of much gratification to those gentlemen. In the religious division, Mr. J. A. Marsden, of Fitzroy, Mr. G. A. Mouritz (Harbor Trust Secretary), Mrs. Thomas Napier, of Essendon, and the late Mr. M. Cashmore, of Hotham, supplied some valuable information in connection with the Wesleyan, Baptist, and Hebrew denominations. To particularize the services of all would swell the roll into a catalogue; I must, therefore, confine my acknowledgments to the names of some of those to whom I am under obligations for manifold attentions, viz.:—Mr. C. J. Ham (ex-Mayor of Melbourne), Mr. J. Williams (Secretary of the Melbourne Hospital), Mr. F. Howlett (late Superintendent of the Benevolent Asylum), Mr. A. J. Skene (late Surveyor General), Mr. R. A. Sutherland (Crown Solicitor), Mr. E. Carlile (Clerk Assistant of the Legislative Assembly), Mr. B. C. Harriman (Secretary to the Law Department), Mr. A. C. Le Souef (Usher of the Legislative Council), Mr. E. G. Fitzgibbon (Town Clerk of Melbourne), Mr. J. Farrell (Parliament Librarian), Mr. John Ferres (ex-Government Printer), Mr. Louis Ellis (ex-Deputy Sheriff), Mr. William Overton (Clifton Hill), Mr. Thomas Halfpenny (Richmond), Mr. R. Capper, Junior, Mr. E. Ashley, the Hon. Henry Miller, Dr. W. H. Campbell (both since dead), Dr. Thos. Black (St. Kilda), Mr. H. H. Hayter (Government Statist), Mr. J. B. Were (deceased), and Mr. John Bourke, late of the General Post Office.
In 1840 the mists are cleared away, to some extent, by the improvements produced in the Press — but unfortunately, up to 1843, volumes of the journals cannot be readily got. Except two files of the Herald for 1840-41, in the Parliament and Public Libraries, I apprehend there are none others of this period extant, and even these sets are not perfect, for a hiatus of a number or two, or a column, or a slice nipped out, occurs occasionally. But from July 1841, the date of my arrival, I was on terra firma, standing, as it were, upon my native heath, and henceforth a spectator of almost everything that went on, whether the burning of a house or the founding of a church, a Mayor-making or a prize-fight, a charity sermon or an execution, a public dinner or a "corroborree." Furthermore, I am justified in saying that an uninterrupted residence in Melbourne, and a lengthened connection with its early journalism, enable me to assert, that as to the several public proceedings described as having taken place from 1841 to 1851, I was either a participator in, or an observer of, nine-tenths of them. I can safely aver that my labours, whatever else they may resolve into, are not a composite of shreds and patches, a réchauffé of lucubrations of others—a patchwork culled from other books, for a professional book-writer I do not pretend to be. Singular confession of ignorance as it may seem, I have never yet read through any book written about Melbourne or Australia. M y sources of information ripple to a large extent from a voluminous notebook kept by myself, the only paper currency which I ever had much at command, largely subsidized by unpublished incidents, picked up by persistent enquiries prosecuted during the last few years. I have no hesitation in declaring that if the work now finished had been deferred until the present time, it is probable that many of the facts I have succeeded in saving, would have been consigned to that tomb where so many lost secrets of history are interred, in consequence of the disappearance of some of the few persons capable of imparting information respecting them.
It was a source of intense satisfaction to me, to be able to arrange with one of our leading publishing firms for the issue in collected form of the Sketches, to be brought out in a style befitting the memorable year in which the project was conceived, the epoch of the Centenary of Australia, and the Jubilee of the founding in Melbourne of Newspaper Journalism, or what is conventionally designated "The Fourth Estate."
Unfortunately, an unexpected defect of vision rendered it impossible for m e to supervise the present compilation of The Chronicles, but I have every reason for believing that this important function has been confided to competent and considerate hands.
There is a merit, or perhaps demerit, to which I can lay claim. I have not, so far as I know, followed in the wake or on the lines of other writers, for I have broken away from the beaten path, and struck out a new route for myself. I have prepared m y own plan and specification, and acted up to them. In a work such as I designed, innumerable personal references to individuals (some of them happily still amongst us), were unavoidable, but in going over such slippery ground, and handling such a delicate subject, I have endeavoured to avoid giving even a reasonable offence to anyone. In many of the early political, municipal, national, and religious feuds and agitations treated of, I have engaged with, may be, the zeal of a partisan, neither taking nor yielding quarter, and always trying to give more than I got—but now all the acerbities and personal animosities thus provoked, so far as I am concerned, have passed away, and I a m able to view them in the distance through that prism with which the experience of years supplies every reflecting mind, mellowed by the subdued light of a sunshine which has passed its meridian. With every topic of the kind I have striven to deal in a calm and dispassionate manner, and where disapproval is pronounced, it will be found more mitigated than otherwise. Though I have extenuated at times I have not set down "aught in malice." I have made no attempt at fine writing; nor did my ambition soar above the production of a humble essay, and the presentation in readable form of the story of that city to which I came a stripling, fresh from school, and where, having passed into "the sere and yellow leaf," I still abide; a city which, through all its ups and downs, and manifold vicissitudes, I liked better than it liked me, and in whose permanent prosperity I shall always take a true and loyal interest. The events of her past; the principal annals of her early history; the many curious waifs of anecdote, fluttering amongst her folk-lore, I have striven to string together, and weave into a votive offering to hang before her shrine. If the web has been spoiled in the warping or wefting, the fault lies in the artisan and not in the material; but, whatever the result, I have done my best, and no one could do more. My Chronicles are now turned out of the workshop. The little barque in which they woo the breeze of public opinion is launched. For them I bespeak the favour of a dispassionate judgment, as they will, in a large measure, speak for themselves. Let them be appraised with reference less to the shortcomings of their author, than a reliance on their own intrinsic merits and value as records of the past; while, for myself, I would express a hope that the readers of the following pages will
"Be to my virtues very kind,
Be to my faults a little blind."
Leicester Street, Fitzroy,
Christmastide, 1888.
EDMUND FINN.