No singing allowed!

Been to  a pub lately?

Often in pubs you can find people that may have drank a little too much and may be tipsy or drunk. Well, spare a thought for Gustav Beer, licensee of the Carters Arms Hotel on the corner of High St and Separation Street Northcote (where the Northcote Shopping Centre is today). In August 1889 Gustav was charged with “allowing drunken persons to assemble on his premises”.

How dare he?!

Senior Constable Marks, who gave evidence in the case reported that he had seen “twelve or thirteen men who were singing, chewing, swearing, and behaving in a most strange manner.”

Chewing? Perhaps it was required that they swallow their food whole? I am still baffled by this article.

Poor Gustav was fined £5  

Mercury and Weekly Courier, August 1, 1889. 
Article found via trove.nla.gov.au

Boating to Melbourne

Many people would argue that the founder of Melbourne was John Batman, others will say John Pascoe Fawkner. I'm not going to get into who founded what in this post but rather talk about the boat that brought the first permanent settlers to Melbourne (or Port Phillip as it was known then). It's interesting to note that neither Batman, nor Fawkner were on this boat for the voyage bringing the first settlers to Port Phillip, though it was Fawkner's boat and the journey was set in motion by him.

The Enterprize landed in Melbourne, on the north bank of the Yarra on the 30th of August 1835. John Batman and his party of settlers did not arrive to settle the area until a few days later. Fawkner caught up with his men at the settlement on the 16th of October.

Anyway, the point of today's post is to talk about the Enterprize. There is now a replica of the Enterprize taking passengers sailing around Port Phillip bay and beyond every weekend. I went along on one of the journeys to try to understand what it may have felt like to be one of those founders many years ago coming up from Tasmania.

We arrived at the port at Docklands at about 6pm on the Friday evening to depart. We would be spending the whole night on the water so we had sleeping bags and warm clothes with us. We were first shown to our cabin under the deck where there were bunk beds made up for us. Some folded up so there could be couches but all beds would be in use for this journey. There was also a small kitchen and bathroom area. All very cramped, as would be expected. It wouldn't matter anyway as most of our time would be spent on the deck until we were ready to sleep.

After we set sail and enjoyed the views of Melbourne as we sailed away we enjoyed a cup of coffee while relaxing and watching the crew run the ship. A few of us had a go at climbing the rigging which was quite fun (although not if you have a fear of heights).

As we got further out into the bay the time come to raise the sails. I helped pull on some ropes but I didn't really know what I was doing.

After that we sailed further from Melbourne and enjoyed the sunset as we ate a nice dinner cooked by one of the crew (nice risotto), then I opened up a bottle of wine I had brought aboard and enjoyed that at the last of the light left the sky.  It was a clear night so the stars come out in full view and the moon looked kind of nice as it rose.

After dark and away from the lights of the city it was nice, calm and quiet on the water. We stayed warm and took turns at steering the ship. To steer you had to basically keep an eye on the huge compass and make sure you were heading in the right direction. It wasn't too hard once I got the hang of it although there was one point where I turned us completely the wrong way thinking I was trying to get to the right direction on the compass... it was a little confusing at first.

I was shown how to do it and then left alone as I stupidly turned the boat the wrong way. The steering wheel on this boat is actually quite massive and you need to use your whole body to steer - to turn or keep straight, as you can see in the picture below of me turning us off course.

It got quite late and I hung out chatting with various members of the crew. It was quite fun really (even though it was very cold). After a while we went downstairs to sleep. I had no trouble sleeping. I thinking I woke up for a minute or two as we pulled into Geelong at around 2am. It was a fun experience. It was nice experiencing a similar experience to that of the founders of Melbourne. The Enterprize that was owned by Fawkner traveled numerous times to Tasmania and back. As I traveled on the replica of that boat I was amazed that somehow they would fit many many sheep (and other animals) on it for days at a time.

The next morning after getting off the boat I saw that it had a little cannon! I wish we'd got to have a go shooting it!

Bobby the horse

For my first post I'm just going to add a short piece from the Northcote Leader in 1918 which since being brought to my attention at work I have enjoyed passing on to others. A quick story about Bobby the horse that supposedly occurred in the 1860s.Worth reading.  :)

Transcription appears below.

A story of Ye Peacock Inne (by Mernda)

In the year 1867 it was my lot to meet with an accident that clouded to a certain extent my future life.

I had the misfortune to be blown up by a blast on a contract that I had on the Bridge Road, Mernda, and it was only after a series of operations by that clever oculist, the late Dr. Aubrey Bowen, that I regained my sight, and only then after a period of eight years, with 11 operations, the first of which took place at the Peacock Inn, Northcote.

I have a very grateful remembrance of the kindness to me by Mrs. Plant and her late husband. My stay there was not at all dull, as numerous things occurred.

Among others one strikes me as being worth telling.

The late Cr. Thomas Mitchell, who was then a butcher at Northcote, and a well-known Greensborough identity, came across the street to the Peacock Inn, and I was sitting in the little room next to the bar when I heard every word that passed. It appeared an argument had arisen over the skin of one animal being transplanted to another, and Mr Mitchell, said it was possible, whilst the sturdy farmer said it was all bosh. Mr Mitchell, to show the soundness of his argument, told the tale of a doctor in the old country who rode a noted horse called Bobby. It appears the doctor lived next door to a brewery, and some of the grains from the brewery found their way into the doctor’s yard. Result, Bobby, like many free imbibers of brewery products, was soon dead to the world; and when the doctor came home after being out attending a patient he found Bobby as he thought dead, and he had him skinned whilst warm, as he wished to preserve the skin of his old pet. Bobby was left on the manure heap until morning when he was to be sent to the Bone Mills.

The good doctor and his wife went to bed, but during the night the doctor was roused by a horse whinnying, and on going to the door there was Bobby walking about without any skin.

The doctor had four sheep, which he at once killed and wrapped the warm skins on Bobby, with the result that they grafted on, and the next year Bobby produced 48lbs of wool.

Mr Mitchell was particular to say it was a tale that he had heard and that he believed was feasible. The farmer, who is still alive, said it was a so-and-so lie. Mr Mitchell took £5 from his pocket and said – “To prove the truth of what I say I will bet £5 if the farmer will allow me to skin about 15 inches on the side of his horse (and animal, by the way, worth about £10) that I will kill a sheep and cover the place with warm sheep skin and it will grow thereon.”

The farmer replied – “I will knock the head off any man who attempts to skin my horse for any such purpose.”

In fancy I can hear the laughter of Crs Bastings and Plant and I think Cr Smith was also there. I know, although not too well after my experience of chloroform, I could not help laughing heartily, and it did me good, but so far I have never heard who was right in the argument.

Introduction

Good morning and welcome to my brand new blog which is about things that are not brand new. 


I am developing a strong interest in the history of Melbourne and the areas around it. For my work I do a lot of research about the Darebin area but have found my interests passing the borders of this area and into other places around Melbourne and Victoria. I have become quite interested in the founding of Melbourne and the characters around at the time. 


I have ideas to perhaps write a piece of fiction, or a screenplay, set at this time and I feel that before I start that I need to get to know what it was like at that time, so I know it as well as it can be known by anyone around today. I hope that by doing this I can create something realistic and interesting. 


This blog will contain random bits and pieces I discover. Some pieces will be researched historical fact, others will be stories about me discovering history (or attempting to) and hopefully later on I may publish on here some fictional scenes that I have written for the work I hope to produce at some point in the future. 


Feel free to leave comments, ask questions, post links. Hope you enjoy. 


Glenn.