Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4587373

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EAST END.

EARLY MELBOURNE MEMORIES.

By EDWARD C. O. HOWARD.

Having mentioned a few of the old resi-     dents, buildings, and incidents connected with the west-end, perhaps some jottings   on the east-end of Melbourne may prove       interesting. I will therefore commence   my narrative with the waterworks at the   corner of Flinders and Elizabeth streets,       the spot being now occupied by Fink's   Buildings. On the north bank of the   river from the "Falls," where the Queen's   Bridge now is, ran at intervals a line of

roughly constructed pumps, from which   the water was discharged into barrels     mounted on carts for distribution to the   public, at so much per barrel, and such was the water supply in 1841. In 1849 Mr. James Blackburn, a ? and hydraulic en-   gineer, arrived from Van Diemen's Land,       and associated himself with Mr. Frederick Cooper, a well-known chemist.    

These gentlemen formed themselves into a partnership and having secured premises     at the corner already named, and obtained the sanction of the Town Council to bring the water from the Yarra through piping to the locality alluded to, they sank a well there, and from this water was pumped by a two-horse power engine into reservoirs   overhead for supplying the carts with water for the people.  

In Flinders-street, between Elizabeth and     Stephen streets, there are but few of the original buildings now in existence. The well-known Port Phillip Club Hotel was     erected in 1854. The buildings close by were occupied in 1856 by Thos. and Wm.   White, merchants, and Marshall and Snel-

grove, warehousemen, and, at a later period, the same structures were used by T. Whitelaw and Co., oil and colour mer-   chants, and Ferguson and Mitchell, en- gravers, &c. In 1854 the north-west corner     of Flinders street and Swanston street was occupied by Mr. Thomas Little, merchant, and in 1859 Mr. James Graham conducted a butchering business there. On this site now stands the Prince's Bridge Hotel. In     1838 that portion of this corner block, facing Flinders street, had four dwellings on it, occupied respectively by Mrs. Cook,   who kept a ladies' school; Mr. Hudson, whose house had a small dome; Captain Brown, and Mr. Balbirnie Vans. It may be interesting to recall to mind the names of a few of the business people in this sec- tion of Flinders street from 1854 to 1859,

viz., Caldwell, Train, and Co., W. Degraves  

and Co., merchants, Sargood, King and   Co., merchants, Mason and Smith, mer-    

chants; Edwards, Crooks, and Co., mer-

chants; Mallach, Clark, and Meikle, ware- housemen; and T. and W. White, wine- and spirit merchants. On the north-east   corner of Swanston and Flinders streets stood St. Pauls Church, parsonage, and school buildings.

In 1854 Dr. Richard Youl resided in Flin-   ders street, near St. Paul's Church. He succeeded Dr. Wilmot, who had filled the position of city coroner for a number of years. Dr. Youl had previously acted as district coroner and also as acting city coroner during Dr. Wilmot's absence in   England. The Duke of Wellington Hotel,     at the corner of Flinders street and Russell   street, has retained its name since the early fifties.

At the corner of Flinders street and Ste-   phen street (now Exhibition street) still   stands a substantially built two-storied   house enclosed on three sides with a high brick wall on a bluestone base. Built into

the wall, facing Flinders lane, is a stone   with the following inscription on it: - "No portion of this wall is built on any part of allotment No. 2. January 1857." This dwelling was erected and occupied by Mr.   Duerdin, of Duerdin and Bronkhurst, soli-  

citors, in the early days, and at a later period Mr. A. R. Cruikshank, of Messrs. Dalgety, Cruikshank, and Company, also resided there. Of late years this building has been used as a boarding establishment.   In 1854 there were only three dwellings in Flinders Street between Stephen and Spring streets.

Returning to Flinders lane; not far from   Swanston street stood the Prince of Wales' Hotel, so well known in the early days.   The Murrays, formerly of this hotel, com-         prising Mr. and Mrs. James Murray, Miss   Murray, and Master Murray, were all lost in the steamer Royal Charter, which left Melbourne on August 26, 1859. A brick cottage not far from the hotel, on the north   side of the lane, was occupied in the early   'fifties by Mr. George Cavenagh. He was   the founder of the "Port Phillip Herald"

in January 1840. It was published every

Tuesday and Friday, but when its name was         changed in 1849 to that of the "Melbourne   Morning Herald" it became a daily. I remember Mr. Cavenagh very well. Two   of his sons were brother officers of mine, holding responsible positions in the Bank of Australasia, one of them being secretary  

to the Associated Banks for a number of

years.

On the south side of the lane, not far from Russell street, stood a cottage occu- pied by Mr. Frank Grey Smith in 1854.   He was then assistant manager of the Bank of Australasia, and I served under       him for many years.

Other residents in Flinders lane in the early days were: - The Rev. I. L. Milton; F. Daniel, surgeon; F. Wilkinson, barris- ter; R. A. Creelman, surgeon; Major   Charles Dukes, surgeon; and William     Bayles, merchant; and, turning to Russell   street, between Flinders street and Col-  

lins street, we find that, at the same period, the following people lived there, viz., I.  

Black, physcian; L. L. Martin, surgeon;   T. Berigny, physician; Marcus Sievewright, solicitor; J. Thomson, M.D.; Mr. Justice Barry, Miss Eccles (who kept a ladies'       school), and the officers' mess of the 12th Regiment. Some of the original buildings   in this street, mostly on the east side, are   still standing. Lot No. 9, at the corner of Flinders lane, where the Apollo Inn stands, was purchased, at the second land sale in     1837, by Mr. Henry Smyth for £121/12/. In Stephen street, between Flinders street and Bourke street, we find that the Rev.   George Pollard, the Rev. S. L. Chase, H. C.  

Curtis, surgeon, S. Iffla, surgeon; and Alex- ander Fisher, surgeon, resided there in the

early 'fifties.

Mr. E. Butterfield kept a school in a   two-story brick house on the west side of  

Stephen street, between Flinders street   and Collins street and at the end of 1849 I was placed under his tuition. I remained  

at the school until the end of 1850, when   my father moved to Jeffcott street, West   Melboume. The school building and some   other old structures in that street are still     in existence. Mr. Butterfield was a   brother of the well-known English archi-       tect. Mr. Isaac Hart resided in Spring   street, near Collins street, in 1854, and in

1856 Mr. J. J. Blundell, the well-known   stationer and bookseller of Collins street     west, lived close by. The half-acre lot at      

the corner of Spring and Collins streets originally belonged to my father. About     1841 the land, with an imported cottage  

on it, fronting Spring street, was sold, during the land boom collapse at that time,  

for £180. The cottage was afterwards re-     moved to the rear, in Flinders lane, where       it stands at the present time. At an early     period Dr. Godfrey Howitt, M.D., resided      

in a two-story house on this corner,       and he remained there for many years. At       a later period Dr. James T. Rudall, surgeon and oculist, occupied this building for    

some time. The Home and Territories   department is there now. About 1847 Dr. Howitt was on the first honorary medical staff of the Melbourne Hospital, which was     then nearing its completion on the Lonsdale  

street site.

Turning to Spring street, we find that in   1956 Misss Burney, who kept a ladies' school;   Mr. John Gill, architect; and Mr. Thomas Testar, accountant to the Board of Educa-   tion, resided next door to each other, quite close to Collins street. Mrs. Testar was   distinguished as a concert and oratorio singer. In Spring street a little farther on the Rev. W. B. Miller kept a school in 1854,     and at the same period Mr. Edwin Finn   ("Garryowen") occupied a dwelling not far        

from Latrobe street.  

I remember when it was open country be-   tween Spring street and Richmond, the only buildings on the Eastern Hill being S.     Peter's Church and the beginning of St.

Patrick's Church. the foundation-stone of     the latter being laid on April 9, 1850. The     site now occupied by the Fitzroy gardens   was in a much neglected condition in the early fifties, not being easy to cross in the daylight and anything but safe at night, for through it ran a gully of considerable width and depth, which became a running torrent   at times after heavy rain. There were only a few rough planks thrown across it   here and there, without a handrail of any kind. This part, and especially in the

direction of Richmond, had a bad name at that time for footpads. It was really not safe to travel after dark unless armed or with some companions.

The ceremony of laying the foundation- stone of St. Peter's-the second Church of England erected in Melbourne-was per-   formed by his Honour C. J. Latrobe, Supe- rintendent of Port Phillip, on June 18, 1846, and it was formally opened on Sun- day, August 6, 1848. In that year the erec-   tion of a Grammar School on the Eastern Hill was commenced, and it was afterwards   designated the Melbourne Diocesan School. It was opened on Apnl 11, 1849, Mr. R. Hale Budd, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, being the ?

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