CHAPTER XLVIII.
ANCIENT SAINT-WORSHIP, NATIONAL SOCIETIES, AND CELEBRATIONS.
SYNOPSIS:— Prefatory Remarks. —Saint Andrew. —The First National Festival. —Saint Andrew's Society. —Scottish Festivals. —Saint Patrick's Society. —The First Irish Procession. —Presidential Errors of Administration. —Anniversary Celebrations. —Expulsion of Rowdy Ringleaders. —The Election of O'Shanassy, Stephen, Finn, and Lane. —The First Hibernian Festival. —Prohibition of Party Processions. —Suspension of Annual Marching Demonstrations. —St. Patrick's Hall. —Laying the Foundation Stone. —Inscription. —Opening of the Hall. —Locus of the First Legislative Council. —Presentations to Messrs. O'Shanassy and Finn. —Saint George. —Society of St. George. —St. George's Club. —Festivals and Rejoicings. —The Burns' Festivals. —The Germans. —The German Union.—The Christmas Festival.
IN many respects the early residents of Melbourne were much less matter-of-fact than the generation following, and though they were shrewd and business-like enough in their way considering the conditions existent, they were occasionally swayed by certain impulses which have, in modern times, almost died out of society. With the exception of an anniversary ball, or other commemoration by some whose desire is to curry favour with the political star temporarily in the ascendant, appears to be the ruling passion, no one now hears of the anniversary of a titular Saint being otherwise than formally kept. Yet the reverse was a special feature in the infancy of Port Phillip, and was maintained until after the period when the Province acquired its colonial independence.
In the olden time emigration from the Mother-country was also viewed in a much more serious light than it is now. Adventuring to the Antipodes was then regarded as a trying ordeal, a perpetual severance from a home, which, even in the blackest adversity, is hallowed by associations which will cling round the heart of the exile, and cannot be shaken off. Australia was such an out-of-the-way place, and so little known, that people who were plucky enough to seek their fortunes in such an ultima thule, were accounted by those who remained behind as undergoing a sort of premature interment. The immigrants after their arrival viewed the matter in much the same light, and with no small reason; for the inter-communication then existing between this colony and Britain was such as to be now almost incredible. Not to speak of telegraphy, such a thing as steam transit was perhaps dreamed of in the distant future, but nothing more; and the now luxurious six weeks' pleasure trip in a floating palace was then an arduous, uncomfortable, dangerous passage, cooped up in comparatively "old tubs" for three or fourth months, or longer. A ship that "did" from London, Liverpool, or Cork to Melbourne in three months was considered a fast sailer, and four months was the average. Then as to letters—the cherished link that solaced the absent hearts yearning for intelligence at both extremes of the earth—such was the imperfectness and dilatoriness of the ocean mail arrangements, that the course of post was frequently a year between Melbourne and England and vice versâ. There would, of course, be at times, especially during the wool season, direct ship mails from Port Phillip, and by merchant vessels from home; but through the regulations insisted upon, it frequently happened that correspondence would be sent backward and forward, viâ Sydney, in a line of packets organized by the Post Office authorities. In the decade from 1840 to 1850 the number of persons who returned from Port Phillip to England was comparatively very few — a merchant or settler now and then; and indeed it was an expedition which was not readily undertaken. Furthermore, there was not much cosmopolitanism amongst us, for the population was mainly made up of English, Irish, and Scotch, with, may-be, a dozen of French and Germans thrown in; and such an item as a "Young Victoria" was one of those social blessings of which there were incipient symptoms, but nothing more. The three principal sections of the people were, therefore, in a certain state of
