Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.2.pdf/295

kind, whether manufactured out of flour or type :—" Underneath lies the Bay of Corio, in comparison with which the Bays of Dublin and Naples fall into insignificance, for here there is not a charm wanting that the imagination of the poet in his brightest pictures of Elysium ever dreamt of, or attempted to depict." Having an estate known as " Gartur" to knock d o w n at the M e m Creek, he thus premonitorily flourishes over the intended sacrifice:—"Casting our eyes around w e see a city springing up with a rapidity unparalleled in the history of nations, equalling the enterprise and perseverance of the greatest republic of this century. A country, whose numerous inhabitants with their flocks and herds, can only be compared to the Patriarchs of the East, and by their wealth even outvie the nobility of England. A seaport where at all times m a y be seen forests of masts, and from its excellent situation and safe anchorage, will, without doubt, be the ' Venice of the Southern Clime.' " Towards the end of 1840, some land near the Richmond boundary of Jolimont, was for sale, and the omniscient auctioneer, in gauging the public taste, finds it necessary to modify his former opinions on the Yarra in general thus :—" Melbourne will shortly go out of town owing to the waters of the Yarra being salt below the ' Falls,' and to the superior beauty of this locality. Fashion now seems tofixher abode in that quarter (Richmond), and the talent of a conjuror is not required to foretell that ere six months the locality around Melbourne will be studded with the dwellings of the wealthy and respectable." Brodie, however, clings with unshaken loyalty to the river, for in disposing of a property in the vicinity of the Vice-regal mansion he r e m a r k s : — " T h e Yarra Yarra almost sweeps past it; it overhangs the wide and extensive reserved domain of Government, which, though n o w clad in Nature's simplest garb, must speedily assume a very different appearance, and c o m e forth adorned and decorated with architectural splendour, exhibiting what the art and taste of genius can display." Foster and Davis, for several years a leading auctioneer firm in a general way, in September, 1841, had for sale under a writ of scire facias a cottage site in Brunswick Street, at the corner of William (now Moor) Street, Fitzroy. T h e neighbourhood was then known as Newtown, and the only track through it, that could at all approach even an approximation to a main thoroughfare, was Brunswick Street. This highway the auctioneers designate as " the Darlinghurst of Melbourne," and "as a place of residence the superiority of Newtown over any other spot in the vicinity of Melbourne, is evidenced by the fact that the majority of the leading m e n in Melbourne have established their residences in this delightful and salubrious village. T o walk through Brunswick Street and view the chaste and costly edifices on either side, surrounded respectively by beautiful and tastefully-laid-out gardens, together with every other luxury usually adorning the abodes of the wealthy, & c , &c." I walked through this " Darlinghurst" at the time referred to, and failed to be impressed by the visual and salubrious delights so specifically dilated upon. T h e " street" was a rough un-made bush way, without a sign of channelling, metalling, gravelling, or even levelling. F r o m the Parade to Palmer Street there were halfa-dozen tidyish cottages at each side, but none of them containing more than four or five rooms. F r o m Palmer Street, northward, a m u d or wattle-and-daub hovel was thrown up here and there, and about the inter-section of M o o r Street, then blocked up by a queer two-storey, brick-nogged rookery planted at the end of the track, was a group of seven or eight cabins, in which pigs, had they the right of free selection, would hardly condescend to wallow. A s for the tastefully laid-out gardens and other luxuries, they only existed in imagination. O f the Old Melbourne auctioneers some of them acquired rapid fortunes, and rapidly burst up. Others attained assured positions in society; but few of them m a d e any n a m e in public life. Mr. Peter Davis filled the office of Mayor of Melbourne, M r . Dal. Campbell sat for a short time in the City Council, but Messrs. T. H . Power and J. P. Bear stepped higher, for they were members of the Legislative Council for several years. T h e sole survivor in 1884 was M r . Bear, then in England. H e was a partner of the firm of Bear and Son, and with Power and Campbell constituted three of the principal station and stock-selling houses of a by-gone generation.