CHAPTER III.
CORPORATIONS A N D MUNICIPALITIES.
SYNOPSIS: —Beating the Boundaries. —Aldermanic Procession. —Charon on the Styx. —Sandridge Nomenclature. —Emerald Hill —First Government Land Sale there —Mr. James Service its First Mayor. —St. Kilda known as "Euro-Yroke." —Its Street Nomenclature. —Champagne Corks. —Windsor and Prahran. —Murphy's Paddock. —Sir Charles Hotham and Colonial Beer. —Gardiner's Creek Road. —Political Cabals. —Big and Little Scandals. —"Cotmandene" -Mr. G. W. Rusden's Residence. —Hon. James Graham. —Docker's Hill. —Parson Docker —"Struck Oil." —Value of Land in Richmond. —Rus in Urbe. —Judge Pohlman. —"Billy Barrett." —Richmond Street Nomenclature.—Fitzroy Gardens and East Melbourne. —Bishop's Court. —The Quadrangle. —East Melbourne Street Nomenclature. —Laying Foundation Stone of First Johnston Street Bridge. —St. Helier's. —Fitzroy-cum-Collingwood Convents. —Collingwood Street Nomenclature. —Reilly Street Drain. —The Quarries. —Fitzroy Street Nomenclature. —The Prisoners' Stockade. —The Necropolis. —Tricks of Mayors and Councillors. —Residence of Sir Redmond Barry. —Carlton and Hotham Street Nomenclature. —Mirring-gnay-bir-nong.
IN olden times there was a Triennial Ceremony of the Corporation, which was the cause of much jollification for those who joined in it. It was what was known in Municipal phraseology as "the beating of the metes and boundaries of the city." The boundary line—a very crooked one—was traversed, and the sign-posts inspected to ascertain that no trespassers were poaching on the domain dedicated to the public. The procession usually consisted of the Mayor, Town Clerk, Surveyor, the Chief Constable, and as many Aldermen, Councillors, and newspaper-men as chose to accompany them. What with the stops and stays, the knocking in and the knocking out, and the divers " liquorings up" (for the early Mayors were loud "shouters"), it took two whole days to go through this not very interesting, but legally necessary, work. Following, then, such a time-honoured precedent, I invite as many readers as choose to accompany me, to a circumambulation of the old city suburbs, promising that our trip shall neither be as tedious nor tortuous as those I have indicated; but the only refreshment I can provide is unadulterated, and I would fain hope, pleasant, gossip by the way. I further propose to make the now bustling borough of Sandridge our starting point. Standing at the Bay Street pier, and looking around and over the water to the other side, it is amusing to contemplate the now and the then. Let any person, even the most seriously disposed, try, if he can, to read without a smile the following notice which appears in the Melbourne Advertiser of 1838, over the sign-manual of one H. M'Lean:—
"The undersigned begs to inform the public that he has a boat and two men in readiness for the purpose of crossing and re-crossing passengers between Williamstown and the opposite beach. Parties from Melbourne are requested to raise a smoke, and the boat will be at their service as soon as practicable. The least charge is five shillings, and two shillings each when the number exceeds two."
This sturdy Charon—evidently from his name and style a son of the "Land of the Mist,"—must have made Williamstown his terminus, as the wayfarers were to signal from the north or Sandridge side. He is rather unspecific in his language, for though he enjoins the "raising of a smoke," he does not define the sort of smoke it is to be, leaving that, as a matter of course, to the imagination of those requiring his services. It is plain, however, that he meant them to kindle afire, a process much facilitated by the immense quantity of ti-tree scrub then luxuriating everywhere all around. This was the fuel, which, when freshly pulled, if it did not produce a flame, was sure to end in more than a "bottle of smoke" with a vengeance. But M'Lean's career in crown-making was of short duration, as a regular line of Watermen was soon in full pull, and whether M'Lean is still in the land of the living or has transferred his services to the banks of the Styx, is more than I can say. Sandridge remained a poor, miserable place, until the gold discoveries, and consequent rush of people from all parts of the world, shoved it half a century ahead. Until 1851, its progress was inconsiderable, the chief business places being some three or four hotels
