 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
operating between Port Elliot and Goolwa in South Australia, and in September the first steam
trains took passengers from Flinders St in Melbourne to Port Melbourne. Meanwhile, Cobb &
Co had begun taking passengers by coach between Castlemaine, Bendigo and Melbourne.
These
aids to mobility would greatly influence the movement of individuals and families, who would not
hesitate to travel for thousands of miles, uncomfortably, although some back in England had
hardly dared to venture past their own front doors. But the great distances they had travelled to
reach Australia may have made the prospect of long journeys, on land, less offputting than one
assumes.
Progress of another but significant kind was made when an experimental telegraph line was set
up between Melbourne and Geelong.
Further events in 1854 included the launch in October of the Melbourne newspaper, The Age]
Sir Charles Hotham took over from Charles La Trobe as Governor; and in December,
government forces attacked the disaffected gold-miners inside the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat.
The 15-minute battle that ensued, with 28 deaths, became the symbol for any future Australian
struggle against political and social unjustice and the abuses of power and rank.
In 1854 Geelong's population passed 20,000. It would peak three years later at 23,314. It was
now a thriving township and sea-port - as many as 34 sailing ships anchored at Point Henry in
the five months before Jane's arrival. The Geelong Directory for 1854 lists 53 different
occupations among the townspeople: 26 new ones were added two years later, and by 1858
some occupations, like storekeepers, grocers, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers and tailors, had
more than trebled.
In Ryrie St, Jane's home for some months (she later lived with her father) notable new buildings
included the Victoria Theatre, the Geelong Hospital and Benevolent Asylum, the Mt Zion
Independent Chapel, and the Wesleyan Church. Bright and Hitchcocks (drapery, dresses,
millinery, carpets, furnishings and fancy goods) flourished in a new partnership around the
corner in Moorabool St. Thomas Hawkes was in business in Mercer St; Morris Jacobs,
'Champion of Cheapness' and 'General Outfitter"', was making a name for himself in Corio St;
and James Harrison, the founder (in 1840) and editor of the Geelong Advertiser, was making
ice, and experimenting with refrigeration, in a cave in Marnock Vale.
The Anglican church, St Paul's, was completed in 1854, and several other churches were being
built, while banking services were expanding, and hotels and inns reached their zenith of
popularity. Meanwhile, major civic buildings were being planned, like a Town Hall, a new
Customs House, a Post Office, and a Grammar School - which opened in October 1855.
A daiiy steamer took people to Melbourne; and Cobb & Co's horse-drawn coaches now took
them to Ballarat. This was then a nine-hour journey: the single fare began at £5, but was
reduced eventually to around 10 shillings a one-way trip.
Most people in Geelong worked for more than 12 hours a day, and most shops stayed open
until 11 pm.
This was the town that Jane soon came to know, and after the dismal crowded cities and
decrepit villages of old England it must have seemed very new, quite countrified, and
comparatively clean. Although the streets were dusty and unpaved, and although few trees,
shrubs or flowers had survived the upheaval of building activities, the river and the sea were
within a short walking distance of Ryrie St, and between the scaffolded and completed
 |