"A Red Lightie Abroad" continued.

We arrived off Adelaide on the 7th Nov. 1877 having made the trip from England to Australia, a distance of 12,000 miles in forty days seven hours, the second fastest passage that had then been made. Not having been ashore on Adelaide, I cannot say what like a place it is, but from what I saw of the coast it looked very fertile. We could see the sheep & cattle grazing on the farms.

After getting the passengers for South Australia ashore, we again weighed anchor & steered round the coast for the City of Melbourne which we reached in two days. Sailing up Hobsons Bay, we got a fine view of the shipping. We saw two war vessels, one a turret, the other a gunboat. Williamstown & Sandridge are the two ports for the large vessels, while the smaller craft sail up the river Yarra Yarra into the city. We arrived at Sandridge pier about noon when I was glad to set foot on terra firma once more. After getting on board the train, in less than half an hour I was landed in the heart of the metropolis of the Australian continent. The first thing that took my eye on getting to the street was to see the men attired in white silk coats & sun helmets under a scorching sun & a cloudless sky in the month of November which I thought rather strange. Although Melbourne is only what we might term a city of a day, having but a little over thirty years ago been composed of only a few scattered huts. Today with its suburbs it has a population numbering nearly a quarter of a million. Most of the streets are very wide & have a fine airy appearance on account of the houses being all painted light colors. Another great advantage is that most of the streets are all running at right angles to each other which makes it very easy for a stranger to find his way around. A number of them have trees planted on each side which throws a nice cool shade on the sidewalk. Among the principal buildings in the city are the new Exhibition buildings, Houses of Parliament, Treasury, Government Offices, Law Offices, New Market &&. Melbourne can also boast of having one of the finest & largest public library to be found anywhere. In the same building there is an industrial museum & picture gallery where anyone can spend an hour or two free of charge.

The city is also well supplied with benevolent institutions, prominent among which are the Melbourne Hospital Benevolent Asylum & Immigrants Home. In a speech made by the Marquis of Normandy, Governor of Victoria, he said that Venice had been called the City of Palaces, but he thought Melbourne might well be called the City of Town Halls there being no less than five or six. The reason why there is this number is that most of the suburbs have a municipal government of their own with heir mayor and councilors. They are all large & beautiful buildings. The one belonging to Melbourne proper has a large spacious audience hall in which is a very powerful organ. This hall is let for special meeting or concerts.

Another thing that took my fancy in Melbourne is the eight hour system which is almost universal among the trades people there. There is also ample provision made in the many parks & gardens. I don't know of any city, either at home or abroad, in proportion to its size which is so well supplied. In the heart of the city, there is no less than five large gardens which are laid out in beautiful walks & flower beds. In them can be seen flowers in bloom all year round. In the Royal Park there is a zoological garden, to which anyone is admitted free of charge. The climate of Melbourne is to my idea first rate, although in the midday of the summer they get a few days with hot winds & lots of dust which makes it very disagreeable. But on the whole, I think there are few climates like it. For a well designed & clean kept city (to use an expression common here) Melbourne "takes the cake." The only place that I have seen that could compare with it is the new town of Edinburgh.

During my stay in Australia, I had a short experience of bush life which I will relate here in brief. Being in want of a situation & seeing an advertisement in one of the newspapers for a machinist to go to Hay, a small township in New South Wales about 300 miles in the interior from Melbourne. I applied and was successful. As the railway only runs about 200 miles north, I had to do the rest of the journey by stage. There were eleven of us in the coach, besides seven or eight mail bags, so that we had to pack ourselves like so many sardines. I have heard of a song entitled "It's a Rocky Road to Dublin" but as a Yankee would say, "I  would bet my bottom dollar" that it can't compare for roughness with the road between Deniliquin & Hay. There are no made roads there. Each driver just takes the track which he finds easiest. Add to this extreme heat & lots of dust & you will have a slight idea of staging in Australian bush in the month of December. Some parts of the journey just reminded me of being at sea as we could not see anything as far as the eye could reach. Not even a tree. It is all plains in that part of the country. It is mostly for pasturage during the spring before the hot weather comes on. As there had been a great drought that year, there was not a blade of grass to be seen, everything burned up. Every few miles, we could see the white bones of dead sheep, which had died for want of water, lying bleaching in the sun. I also saw a few emus and kangaroos running about. After 15 hours rough usage, I arrived at Hay, which I should think, is about the size of Inverkeilor. 

The first thing I did was to find out my future boss and inquire about my duties and when I was to start work. I had engaged with his agent in Melbourne as engineer in a brewery. While getting my duties explained, amongst the first thing I was told was that I would be expected to work on the Sabbath. I told him however that I had taken the situation on the understanding that there would be no Sabbath work. I had learned while in Melbourne that a great many people back in the bush worked the Sabbath, same as another day. He then told me that I would be of no use to him unless I could work on Sunday. I told him I was prepared to go right back to Melbourne. But as it would be almost a week before Sunday came around, I thought it better to work up to that time to find out if no arrangement could be made to avoid Sunday work.

During my leisure hours, I strolled amongst the few shops and stores in the place. While perusing some of them, I was surprised to see two or three bales of canvas stamped "Larson Brothers Arbroath." I stood gazing at them, I daresay, nearly half an hour. The sight of them did me nearly as much good as though I had met an old friend. I was quite proud to see the staple product of auld "St. Lam" exposed for sale in that out of the way corner of the globe. The use for canvas in that place was quite obvious, as on looking around, I could see dozens of tents throughout the village. I also noticed that it was used for a peculiar purpose, viz for making water pitchers which are hung up under the verandahs. I found on drinking the water from them was much cooler than water kept in tanks or cisterns. I can assure you, a cup of cold water was very acceptable in that place which you will readily understand when I tell you that during the whole time I was there the thermometer averaged 114° in the shade. It was so hot that I could not sleep in the house some nights, but was glad to get out to the verandah.

While up there I spent my first new year away from home. I then thought it rather strange, that while I was being almost cooked with heat, my friends at home would be glad to get around the fire.

As I could come to no arrangement with my employer regarding the Sabbath work, I packed my traps and cleared out. I may mention that I was not at all sorry to get away from such a place. On my way with the stagecoach, stopping at one of the stations where they changed horses, I went to get a flask filled with water. Seeing an iron tank, I asked one of the men if I could fill my flask. He told me to be very careful with it as he had to cart it 11-1/2 miles. On drinking the water, I found it unfit for use.

After getting back to Melbourne, I worked there for some time again but I soon found out that if I were to stay there very long I would have a lot of idle time. I may mention that while in Melbourne I found this to be a great disadvantage that the working man in Melbourne had to contend with namely a scarcity of work. I think it is a great pity for the home government to continue sending out free immigrants to that country as they could get all the men they want to pay their own passage money if there was work for them when they landed. The class of immigrant they need out there is men with some capital and not poor laboring men as the supply of them is far more than the demand. I know from my own experience while I was there, that for one situation that was advertised, there were ten to twenty men after it.

While in Melbourne my friend received a letter from the Sandwich Islands offering him a situation in the iron works there. The inducement being good, he accepted it and in less than six months, I had a letter from him telling me that there was a similar job awaiting me if I cared to go. I accordingly made up my mind to try my fortune on these islands, although, I had heard before going, that the natives were at one time very fond of a little cold missionary for breakfast.

Next: On to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)



 

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