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MLBOURNE IN 1862.

ST. KILDA AND ITS AFFLUENCE.

By H.S.

In 1862 Sands, Kenny and Company pub- lished a scries of steel engravings uuder the title of "Victoria Illustrated." As works of art these bave merit, but they

owe their chief interest today to the fact that they form a iccord of much that has long passed axvay. Naturally the greater number of the illustrations refer to the capital city, and it is some of these that have been selected for reproduction.

Hardly less interesting than the illustra- tions is the i letterpress that describes them. The following, for example,' which refers lo St. Kilda and to the St', Kilda railway-station as it was in 1802,1. makes strange reading to-day:-"The construction of a branch of the Melbourne and iTJob? son's Bay railway to St. Kilda has vii tually converted that xvatcring place into a suburb of Melbourne. Ten years ago St," Kilda was a diminutive village, scarcely reclaimed from the 1>UB1I, and accessible only by a devious and dangerous «Alad; at the present time St, liilrM avis u popula- tion equal to -that of t>rave_cn<l. ,'l'hc esplanade is .fringed with elegant villas, and during the sunimrr. months the beach is enlivened ' on ¡Sundays and holidays by shoals,of vi.rVrs front Mel- bourne. Erected into a municipality not long ago, the »rork of local .improvement has been vigorously prosecuted in St. Kilda, and as a larj» proportion of its population is composed of persons in afflu- ent circumstances, the, funds ax nuable foi these improvements l.ax-c been easily raised, xvhile they hnx'e been supplemented by grants from the Legislatnie, in accord- ance with a practice that has prexoiilcd ever since the introduction of municipal government j« Victoria. The railway . , . runs a j__c distance along the edge of a publi.\ ,park which sti etches halfway between Melbourne and the former place. An extension of the line in an. easterly diieclion con- nects St. Kilda xvilh Brighton, another watering place a few miles further down the bay. With Avbom.ocx'cr the name of this place (St. Kilda) originated, it is hingularly inappropriate, for nothing could be more unlike the bleak and stonn-beaten St. Kilda of the Hebrides thiin its southern namesake, lying on the edge of n calm ex pnnse of deep blue water, and enveloped m a bland, transparent atmosphere that boars a much greater icsemblancc to that of Naples than to anything to be met Avith in the north of Europe," ,

Those .xvho. gave St. Kilda its name, it may be explained, had no thought'of the

fnr-away island in the stormy Hebrides. St, Kilda was named after ti yacht which visited Hobson's Bay.m the early days, aud afterwards went on lo Fiji.

The connecting line-between St. Kilda and the Brighton line -was taken up immy ycnis ugo. The bridge .vv hieh curried'tliib

spur" over the St. Kilda road is the sub- ject of anothci illustration.

TUE "í> l.N'DIUDUK" I'lKHS.

Much water has (lowed under the bridget., ' and many things have", chauged ."greatly since the eugiavcr (A, Willniore) cut on his steel plate the liirds-oyc1 .view of the "Town Pier und Huilvvay, .Pier, Sond

ridge." Even the name would buffle the ptcbeut generation! Perhaps it wits be- cause we have sand and to spare in Aus- tralia that the word grates somewhat. However this may be, Sandridge" many yeal s ago became Port Melbourne, just as "Sandhurst bootine Bendigo. Before these two piers were built overseas vessels hud to lie out in the Bay and discharge their cargoes into lighters. The lighters were towed-slowly up a Yarra that we should not recognise as such ' to-day, so shallow and narrow was it, 'and so sinuous was its course. It was a most malodorous stream also, for those engaged in noxious

trades were allowed to pollute it as they wi^ed The Yarra, indeed, xxus an in- spirer of perennial jokes and gibes for writers and illustrators of comic papera not, it should be said, of comic papers published in Melbourne, for it was not considered "good form" here to jol e about the Yarra The llailwaj Pier xvas con- structed bv the -lobaon's Bay Ca , which, it is said, "his projected its pier .nto I he Bay sufficiently far to enable xessels of the largest ciaba to come alongside and dis

THE OLD EXCHANGE BUILDING.

The Customs House is soen In the rear.

charge their cargoes into the railway trucks. As many as six London and Liverpool linera may be seen simultane- ously unloading at this pier, while the X'arioua steamcis engaged "in the intercolo- nial trade resort to one or other of the two piers for the purpose of embarking and disembarking goods and passengers. Steam- ers.ply regularly betxveeu Melbourne and Sydney. Adelaide, Launceston, Port Albert, Portland, Belfast, Warrnambool, Geelong, and Xexv Zealand; and it is not improb- able that direct communication will

RAILWAY BRIME OVER ST» KHJDA ROAD.

This carried a spur lina from St. Kilda station, and cuWMted with the Brighton line.

shortly be opened np with Queensland, the youngest und most northerly of the Austra- lian group of colonies."

A'-GRKAT NAVAL nEVIBW.

Willinoie was a conscientious draughts- man, and it ÍN probable that all details in the view of Sandridge and the buy were sketched from life, li would be interest- ing lo know the names of the three steamers shown-the two paddle and the heavily rigged screw on the fnither side of the Railway Pier. The screw steamer moored ut the further "side of the ' pier may bo the Hero, 1,000 tons, commanded by Captain Logan. The Hero used to trade between Melbourne and Now "Zealand

ST. KILDA STATION.

Tho St. Kilda line was operated by the Hobson's Bay Railway Company. In 1062, when the engraving was made, there was a spur line (shown in another Illustration) connecting with the Melbourne and Suburban Company's Brighton

line.

and afterwards to Fiji One of the paddle steamers may be .the Express, which used to run io Geelong, or it may be the William Miskin, which xvas also on the Gcelong-üelbourne sciricc. The agent for these steamers xvas T. J. Parker, of Geelong, and 11 Market street, .Melbourne. Or, if one be allowed to speculate furlhcr with but little dula to help, the paddle steamers may just as well be. the . Vesta and the Diamond. And supposing the in list made his sketchcB tor his plates on July 1, 1862, he would show'them-returning from a grand naval .rcviexv off Point dimond. This xvas

SANDRIDGE PIERS.

The Town Pier Is In the foro ground, and In tho distance Is the Raliway Pier, constructed by the

Hobson's Bay Company.

one of "I lie" events of 1SK!, and it was carried out with much pomp and circum- stance. An enemy squadron was sup- posed lo have enteieil the bay. It lind two objectives-one was to silence the Sandridge batteries, and the other to effect a landing at Point Ormond. The "squadron" was represented by the Victoria and the steam tug Lioness, which the Victoria was supposed to have captured, armed, and pressed into service. The in- vading army consisted of the St, Kilda rifles, the Prahran, South Yarra, and WUliamstown artillery, and the Naval Brigade. All were under the command of

Lieui -Colonel Marr The defending forc)i_a brigade ot rules-was under the comma-*- of Lieut Colonel Champ. Needless to say, the mportmcnt cnem} suffered a devastating defeat, with dread ful losses, in .pite of the fact that the retreat oi the panic stricken irmj in boats «as covered by the Victoria and the tug Lioness, which both shelled the pursuers, who, rushing down to the water B edge, brought nflea and eimion to bear Hie \ letona and Lioness, steaming to W ii

liamstown, landed their shattered forceB there. This was the end of hostilities.

The volunteers-for the defenderé, were volunteers-were "refreshed with food and -drink" in three large marquees erected by Mr. Dancker and Mr. Grim- wood, says the reporter of "The Argus." Not without difficult}", though; for the public, having already gained admission to the marquees, was in-no mood to leave them. Hove ever, wo are told that the public was in the end "slowly tnrncd out." After the public had been "slowly turned

out" the x-olunlrers came up in detach- ments, nnd received slices of ment, loaves of bl ead, also liccr, »vine, and bottles of spirit.. For thçse xvhose turn xvas to come last it was an anxious time, for they ox ere in-doubt xvhethcr the "good things would

hold out.

The report of CO years ago makes delightful reading. Discipline, it was said,- broke . doxvn under -the strain. "The three tents were rushed. The two outside ones stood »veil, but in the middle one, belonging to /Mr. Grimwood, the counter gaxc way, and then all was dis- graceful confusion. Bottles of wine, spirits, and beer were seized by ex-eqf

body who could get them, and when those were gone eight barrels of beer were at- tacked. . . Presently it became frightful to sec the eager volunteers, forgetful even of decency, rushing and struggling for liquor, and trampling upon the toft mud made by beer, in which lay numerous joints of cooked meats, heaps of broken crockery, and debris of every description. . . . Tuen several fights began. The day passed off without casualties of any kind, other than those due to the fights We have heard of no accident," says "The Argus" reporter, "save that which hap- pened to u Naval Brigade man named

Kose, xvhose hat xvas shot in two hy a,rear rank man without the discharge hurting

him."

IMPUIIEXT CABMEN.

Tiley seem to have been rather "early birds in Melbourne in the 'sixties, judging from a letter Eignet! "Meuora," and publi bhed in "The Argus/' "Meuora" com- plains that on Sunday night the labt train

leaves St. Kilda at 15 minutes after nine o'clock. This, he thinks, is an "uncx plainablc anomaly" seeing that on week dnys the lost train does not leave St. Kilda until 45 minutes . over , 10 o'cl-ck. Hebropea thatthifl t_attt-:-wiU.be.bnu_|_,t

prominently before the executive. He says that many people rather than conBent to being dragged away from their friends so early hire a conveyance to take them to Melbourne. The cabdrivers of St. Kilda, however, seem to have not been all they should have been, because Miss Eliza Hudson, writing to "The Argus" a day or two after Meuora, says that these cabdrivers at St. Kilda station in the grossest manner insult those on their way to and from the rail- way. "1 have often been subjected to this myself," continues Miss Uliza Hudson, "which is one of the greatest annoyances that a female can be exposed to." J take it that the "cabbies" aid nothing worse than jeer at those' who, to save a fare, would walk to and from the station.

"VERY FINE WILD HABUITS."

But one might continue indefinitely to cull the old files of "The Argus" common } daces which1 in-the course of the years

lave developed an almost romantic flavour. And in every column one may find indica- tions of how the times have changed since 1862, and how we have changed with

them.

The following paragraph published in the "Talbot Leader" and reprinted in "Tile Argus" will illustrate this;-"A very fine wild rabbit was caught here last week by Mr. Culvinor.. The doss espied him, and he took shelter in the dairy' adjoining the establishment, where he was captnred alive. I have ascertained that Mr. Mclaughlan, who held the station before the present occupier,' Mr. Campbell, turned out several English rabbits a few years ago, and so I suppose that captured last week is of the progeny." I

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