The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Editor's Preface
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
As good wine proverbially needs no "bush," so do not "The Chronicles of Early Melbourne" require more justification for their re-appearance in the present form, than that to which an emphatic expression of approval by the public abundantly testifies.
It may be thought that the past periodical publication of "The Chronicles" in the Press has, in a measure, discounted the success of their re-publication as an entire Work. Not so. The spasmodic and intermittent nature of their appearance (unavoidable it may have been) served to whet the appetite of thousands, who, since "Garryowen" ceased his labors in that direction, have evinced an unsatisfied desire "for more." Newspaper readers, as a rule, retain in memory little more than the salient points of the subject treated of; and with regard to such lengthy contributions as those now under consideration, it is impossible to do even that in sequent form and in chronological order. Therefore, to present them more acceptably than was originally contemplated, the subject matter of the following pages has undergone a strict revision under the personal notice of the Author; during which process the more acute angles of previous observation and remark have been either rounded off or deleted; and discrepancies in chronology or fact that had passed unnoticed, have been corrected; so that the Work, in its present form, will be a welcome addition to the literature of the Colony, and be worthily placed in the drawing-room, in the study, and in libraries generally.
It is not to the general, airy reader alone that "The Chronicles of Early Melbourne" will be a source of amusement and instruction. Though such will find the kind of mental pabulum they seek, there are many other castes of Society—those who do not read with the eye only—who will also appreciate them. Historians, Statisticians, Social and Political Economists, Students of either Art or Nature, Statesmen, and those who delight in Personal Recollections and Reminiscences of earlier days, will find in them a fund of Facetiae, much Useful Information, Intellectual Enjoyment and Valuable Records of the Past, such as are not to be found in any Work extant. "Garryowen" is the recognized Ultima Thule of Archaic reference in the Colony; and, albeit he may not be distinguished as its "oldest inhabitant," to him many questions are being recurringly submitted by correspondents for solution. In the archives of his brain lie concealed mental registrations of anterior events such as, probably, have no other existence. With m a n y the remembrance of them has passed away with the years in which they occurred; and, but for " Garryowen's" "The Chronicles," a renewed interest in them would, in all likelihood, never have been created. Mr. Finn has happily blended the useful with the ornamental and amusing in his writings, so that we have, not only records of all conceivable occurrences worth remembering, between certain dates; but w e find them described, and the persons, places and circumstances connected with them pourtrayed and embellished with a graphic word-painting which is as pleasant to read or recite, as the subject is instructive to remember.
"The Chronicles" do not aim at being a Pictorial Work, though some portraits and illustrations are given; and, in like manner, statistics are employed by way of contrast (both anterior and posterior to the prescribed chronological limit) to assist the reader in gauging the amazing changes and remarkable progress that have been made in the wonderful Metropolis of Victoria.
The Author, moreover, claims less recognition for literary "style" than for historical accuracy; and it can be readily conceded that "The Chronicles" do not clash with any similar work, nor do they compete with contemporaneous writings on cognate subjects. There is no "false pretence" about them. They are what their name implies—nothing more, nothing less. Their object, and the promise of fulfilment have not been lost sight of on the one hand, nor faithlessly abandoned on the other. There has been no meretricious subordination of intrinsic attractiveness to extrinsic, mercenary profit. Though large numbers of persons are named, their doings and sayings duly treated of, and in many instances their biographies sketched, the dominant blemish of fee or reward being obtained as the only plea for their presence, has been studiously avoided. Therefore, " The Chronicles" come before the world in a new phase, relying solely on their own worthiness for the success which they undoubtedly merit; and, unique in their individuality, as a Historical Book of Reference suitable for all conditions of men, and for all time.
Although the ground covered by "The Chronicles of Early Melbourne" embraces a comparatively short period of seventeen years only, they are fraught with some of the most interesting and important events that occurred in the Colony, from a date anterior to the partition of Port Phillip from New South Wales, to the beginning of the Golden Era, an epoch which has proved to be a turning point in the fortunes of Victoria—a departure from old things to new — a line of demarcation sufficiently distinct to constitute it the border-line between Early and Later Melbourne.
There are many, doubtless, w h o wonder what can be written in an interesting, not to say instructive manner, of a period of time so contracted, and in a style so comprehensive. But the answer is at hand in the fact that " Garryowen" has treated, more or less interestingly, on upwards of a thousand different subjects, each with its subsidiary and attendant annotations.
During the early days of a young settlement, personal individuality is more recognizable, even if less conspicuous, and the actions of men come more immediately under the notice of their fellows, than in big cities in after years. Hence it is matter for surprise, not that "Garryowen" has found sufficient material, but that he has been able to compress selections from his abundant MSS. that will prove most edifying to the general reader. And it may be emphatically prophesied that, prodigious as is the material wealth of "Marvellous Melbourne" in 1888; important as is her influence among the Nations of the Earth; enviable as is her phenomenal prosperity; enterprising as are her public men; and philanthropic as are her private citizens: the events of to-day will not be read in the Chronicles of fifty years hence, with more interest than those which now commence half a century in the past, and which are here submitted from the pen of " Garryowen."
December 31st, 1888.