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a landslide victory at the Federal general election, and Andrew Fisher, the new prime minister,
inaugurated a period of reform, heralded by the spectacular progress of Halley's Comet across
the sky, and the death in May of Edward VII. His son became George V. Banknotes became
Australian, and not British, and a national penny post for half-ounce letters was introduced,
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although the first Australian stamps did not appear for another three years. In New South
Wales, the first powered aircraft that was Australian-made took to the air, six years after the
Wright brothers' historic flight in the USA.
Other changes to local and national life over the next two years included the creation of the
Northern Territory (separated from South Australia) with Darwin as its capital; the creation of
the Royal Australian Navy; the first appearance of women in the Olympics (Fanny Durack was
the first Australian woman to win gold in the 100 metres freestyle in Stockholm in 1912); and
the creation of a maternity allowance of £5 for every newborn child. Most wondrously in
Footscray was the illuminating of the streets and some homes with electric light. With improved
sewerage and running water already in most homes the domestic scene was transformed,
becoming more as we know it now. A further transformation was that of the stinking Saltwater
River into the less polluted and sylvan Maribyrnong, its banks beautiful with flowering shrubs,
boulevards and trees.
As if as a prologue of the wars to come, and in keeping with the mercantile and military-based
ethos of the Empire - King George V and Queen Mary visited India at the end of 1911 and
were proclaimed Emperor and Empress of that land - a Drill Hall, believed to have been the first
in Australia, was built in Footscray to accommodate the weekend and evening activities of
young male cadets, aged from 12 to 18, who became liable that year for compulsory military
training. Up to the age of 25 all young men were also required to do 16 full days' training a year.
Although irksome to most and abused and derided by some - officers were assaulted and
cadets assailed by brawling larrikin gangs called 'pushes' which were active at this time (they
assaulted passers-by, as well as each other and the police) - the patriotic devotion to England,
the Empire and the Union Jack that had sent Australian troops to the Boer War and the Boxer
rebellion in China, was still strong and strongly preached in schools.
Young Richard, Dirty Dick's grandson, was 15 in September 1911. Was he among those
forced to do weekly drills? Two of the other grandsons (George in Fitzroy and William in South
Yarra) at 30 were too old. But Tom's younger son, Thomas Gordon, aged 22 and also in
Fitzroy, may have had to have paraded and shouldered arms.
This Thomas, who was apparently known by his second name, Gordon, married Albine May
Child on 24 April 1912 in All Saints Church in Northcote, a nice northeastern suburb of
Melbourne - ten days after the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank.
Despite the death of his father in 1901, Gordon's mother, Catherine, had clearly raised the
social standing of her family, probably through hard work, thrift and the exercise of a good
business sense and contacts. Her eldest son, George, (as we know) was a clerk and would
become Town Clerk of Fitzroy. But even in 1912 Gordon's marriage certificate shows that the
family had some affluent and influential friends.
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Gordon and his bride were both 23. He was living at the time in 31 Rowe Street, North Fitzroy,
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