Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 13 April 1872, page 13


ROMAN CATHOLIC CONVENT, ALBURY,

ALBURY MODEL PUBLIC SCHOOL

A Tour to the South;

(BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

ALBURY.

ALBURY is a very thriving township, and it is pleasing to hear tho oldest inhabitant talk of its rise from the time when there were gum trees in the principal streets, and an old shanty near the bridge. The pre-sent population of the municipality is over 3000.

On a pleasant morning last month, Mr. T. H. Mate kindly commenced tho task of devoting several days to show me Albury, the town he is justly proud of, being the centre of a district that he resides in and represented in Parliament many years. We first went down to the Hume River, and I was there shown two monuments. The first was a monument in marble on granite pedestal, and surrounded by an iron railing. The monument bore the following inscription :— 'This monument was erected by the inhabitants of the Hume River, in honour of Hamilton Hume, Esq., to commemorate his discover of this river on the 17th November, 1824.' The other memorial is a large white gum tree bearing the following inscription, out in the wood, 'Hovell, Nov. 17, '24.' When we were about leaving the latter an old but hale looking gentleman, walked briskly down to the tree to pay it a visit, after an absonce of nearly half a century. It was Captain Hovell himself, Mr. Hume's follow explorer, who cut the inscription, and wished before he died to see it again and the rising township. It wanted but the other old explorer, Mr. Hamilton Hume, who is still alive and hearty in Yass, to be present to complete the

scene.

Just above these memorials there is a wharf, and above that again a noble bridge spans the Murray, crossing which you are in tho colony of Victoria, that wonderful result of British enterprise—a territory which a few years ago was uninhabited and unknown. The bridge is a most substantial one in two divisions, so that collisions are avoided. The receipts from the excessive toll charges here collected, is divided equally between the two colonies, as the bridge was erected at their joint expense. Turning towards the town past a few hotels and private houses, we came to a large wool store, which held 3000 bales of wool last season. It is built on stone foundations, with walls and roof of galvanized iron, and is about 150 feet by 50 feet dimensions. On the same block a little further up the street on the same side and hav-ing a frontage to another street, are a number of build-ings, where the mercantile business of T. H Mate and Co. is carried on. On the opposite side of the street is a well conducted hotel, by a jolly host, Mr. J. H. Kirkpatrick. We are now in a good wide street, called Townsend-street, The storekeeping establish-ment of Solomon Brothers, who are seemingly doing a

good trade, is passed; and that huge building above, but on the opposite side is Lewis Jones's Exchange Hotel, with its forty rooms, its concert hall and theatre, the only one in Albury. These large stone buildings beyond are the stables of the Exchange. In the same street and on the opposite corner, is the Commercial Bank, under the management of Mr. J. Skinner. It is a large building of stone with a por-chavy entrance. Above the Commercial on the oppo-site side is the opposition bank, a very creditable building also of stone, two storys high. It is a branch of the bank of New South Wales, and is under the the management of Mr. J. W. Jones.

Turning up a street past the Commeroial Bank we found ourselves at a plain brick building and manse, the former being the Presbyterian Churoh. Adjoining this are the Catholic buildings, and a glance gave strong evidence of the wealth and numbers of the members of this denomination in the district. We were courteously received by the Very Rev. Dr. McAlroy (Vicar-General). He informed us that dur-ing tho past three years the Catholic community had subscribed over £10,000 in the district.

The Roman Catholic Church now in course of rapid completion will be an ornament to tho town. Situated in a commanding position, it has also a frontage to two main streets. Tho design is cruciform in a Gothic style of architecture. The building will bo of granito with slated roof. The present dimensions (for arrange-ments are being made to enlarge it if necessary) are as follow :—Total length 150 feet, length of transepts 80 feet, length of aisle 50 feet. Eight fine pillars arranged on a new design, being supported by inverted arches, rise in majestic order in the interior. While the walls are of tho best granite, the window lintels, niches, &c, are of a beautiful rare stone having a purple colour, and only to be obtained from one quarry in the colony, viz., on the Table-top station, the property of Mr. James Mitchell, about fifteen miles from the town. We were shown a most artistic miniature of the church when finished, and judging from that, it will combine grandeur with ornament to a remarkable degree. The cost will be about £8000, and it will accommodate about 1500 persons.

We next visited the convent, which is a short dis-tance from the church, and is another instance of the energy and zeal of Dr. McAlroy. The convent is acknowledged to be the prettiest in the colony, and was erected at a cost of £5000; possibly borrowing the idea from the bees in an economy of room, yet preser-vation of elegance the design is capital. It has a tower and from three of its sides wings branch off. Two of these wings are completed. The tower is hexagonal, and seventy feet high, containing three stories. We passed in succession and examined a most Interesting and beautiful but by no means extravagant interior. The floors and ceilings are of the richly variegated Murray pine. The division is occupied by halls, chapels, cells, and school rooms. I had no idea that there could have been so many rooms, but as before remarked there is much economy of room. The sisters have 30 boarders and 170 day scholars under tuition. The education in the convent seems to be of a high standard, and quite equal to any ladies' school in the colony.

In the brick building used at present for divine service the Roman Catholic Denominational School is held under the management of Messrs S. and P. Cul-len. 100 scholars are on the roll, and the attendance on the day of our visit was 90. Some of the pupils were remarkably clever boys, and their proficiency in the higher branches, viz., geometry and algebra, reflects considerable credit on their teachers.

We next directed our steps to the Albury Model Public School, and on our way received an addition to our party in the person of the present member for the Hume, Mr. James McLaurin.

The model school was erected many years ago, though it has received considerable addition of late years. The building is of brick, and has a very pleasing exterior. The head master is Mr. C. Hookins, and he has three assistants, viz. : Messrs. Richardson, Miss Pine, and Miss Bousfield. Two hundred and sixty pupils are on the roll, and two hundred and twenty were present when we visited the school. The pupils underwent a severe examination in grammar (includ-ing reading and analysis), arithmetic and geography. In these subjects they displayed evidences of a thorough tuition, which was very satisfactory to visi-tors. The painstaking method of imparting instruc-tion adopted by Mr. Hookins, and the excellent discip-line, and I must, in justice say, gentlemanly deportment of the boys, are deserving the warmest commendation.

Where such a large number of the rising generation are receiving instruction under such favourable cir-

cumstances, it is desirable to give great credit to all assisting in the work ; therefore, requested to mention that much of the good is due to the energetic local board, at whose head as chairman, is a spirited towns-man, Mr. George Day, J.P, Messrs. Thorold, Moffitt, North, and Lockhart, aro the other members of the

local board.

Proceeding along tho same street we came to a nice brick building, with porch, a credit to tho builder, Mr. A. Frew. It is the Church of England Sunday School but a private school is held in it on week days, by the Rev. D. E. Jones, sen. A little further on is the Wesleyan Chapel; but before coming to it we turn a

corner and find ourselves in one of the principal streets of the town, called Dean-street. The Market-square is opposite to us; a little below we pass a fine drapery establishment, called Manchester House, and owned by Mr. James Higgins. At one side there is an exten-sive and showy furniture warehouse equal to any in

Pitt-street, Sydney.

Crossing the street we found ourselves at the Mechanic's Institute and School of Arts. The build-ing is of brick, and contains a good library and : reading-room, well supplied with newspapers. The Telegraph-offices, low brick structures, covering a good deal of ground, and evidently put up at a large ex-pense, are next to the School of Arts. Albury is a repeating station for Victorian messages, and beside messengers and assistants two managers are employed. Mr. M. H. Kelly is the Albury and New South Wales manager, and Mr. William McNab represents Victoria.

The Albury Court-house, Doric style of architecture, is the best building of the kind that I have seen in the Goulburn districts. There are a fine spacious court-room and good offices—wanting only in furniture to be everything desirable in a Court-house. The police magistrate is Captain Marcus Brownrigg, R.N., and the clerk of petty session and Crown land's agent is E. Brown, Esq. As if in mockery there is a miserable building in the Court-house yard, it is the Survey office of the district, or rather of the greater part of Riverina, comprising five electoral districts. I am given to understand that an enormous quantity of work is transacted here under the superintendence of Mr. J. H. Wood. The building is of brick, but there is scarcely any furniture except that provided at Mr. Wood's expense. The wretched building is tumbling down; a great downfall of bricks from the doorway just escaped the head of an unfortunate assistant when opening the front door of this office during my visit. J. L. Crommelin, Esq., is the Crown lands' commissioner. The next large building to the Oourt-house is the Post-office, which is also better looking than the average of such establishments in New South Wales. It is under the management of Mr. T. H. Stone, of whose lack of civility I have heard many complaints, and my personal experience

tended to confirm them.

Leaving tho Post-office we turned to the right into another principal street, called Kiewa-Street. The Churoh of England first attracted attention. It is built of granite, and is by no means an elegant struc-ture, though many thousands of pounds were expended on it. At the side there is however a fine brick par-nonage, which looks very well, and shows that the members af the Church ot England are not quite so apathetic as one would at first be inclined to suppose.

A further walk of three minutes down the street

brought us to a huge building, Fallon's leviathan wine cellars. Though Mr. J. T. Fallon has three or four wine cellars these are the principal. The cellars are on a granite foundation, with upper story of brick, and are coverod by a galvanized iron roof. The dimension are 170 feet long and 66 feet wide, but they arr being still further enlarged. The upper floor is used as a store-room for casks, &c., and at one end is a suite of offices. Descending a flight of steps and we found ourselves in the cellars, where we were introduced to Mr. P. E. Fallon, Mr. W. Evans Dignam, and Mr. J.D Lankester, all connected with the establishment.

To give an idea of the cellars one would have to imagine a building the roofs of which were supported by huge pillars and cross pieces of red gum, with all around tiers of casks. Two sides in particular at once strike the eye. There are rows of casks, each capable of holding a man with a wife and six children, These oval casks hold about 1500 gallons of wine each and the man Mr, Fallon employs build about one a week. It is pleasing to know that a great many of the casks are built of colonial timber obtained about eighty or ninety miles away. Being in Fallon's cellars our next duty was to taste the wines. We performed this duty, I think, pretty faithfully, Richness, full flavour, and good body were only a few of the enconiums passed on the Reisling, Verdoilho, Shiraz, Brown Mus-catel, and others that came under review.

An undertaking of such magnitude, which stores 200,000 gallons of wine this season, and receives the

product of forty vineyards, reflects the highest credit on a good townsman who cannot be too highly spoken of. Leaving the wine cellars we returned along the street and presently came to Fallon's buildings, a fine pile of business premises. The first is a large drapery establishment, then a jeweller's and watchmaker's shop, Mr. Husing's, and at the corner the Globe Hotel, with about forty rooms, and well kept under the man-agement of Mr. T. H. Webb. In Dean-street we again find ourselves passing Day's-buildings and Commercial chambers, Hunter's ironmongery warehouse, the 'Ban-ner' office, Madine and Roe's drapery establishment, the 'Border Post' office, the Albury municipal council chambers, lawyer's offices, and other less pretentious places of business are here. Mr, George Day's fine private residence is next passed, and Moore and Wal-ler's auction rooms come under review.

A huge busy puffing flour mill built of granite, three storeys high, filled with wheat in every available part; bullock drays, horse teams, and carts, were before the entrances. Making our way into this build-ing, we were introduced to Messrs. Hayes Brothers, whose flour mills in Goulburn, Yass, and other towns in New South Wales, are well-known. In Albury they, for a considerable time, have had the mill at work night and day, and do an immense business prin-cipally though with Victoria. The Border Customs have done such a fatal injury to the farmers that the evil will demand a separate notice. Below Hayes's Mills there is a smaller mill at work, carried out by

Mr. Burrows.

Making a circuit into Townsend-street, and past Kilfoil's, a large hotel, we soon found ourselves back in Kiewa-stroet again, but lower down. Here there is another fine drapery establishment—Mr. H. Moffitt's— and the extensive general store of Downie Brothers adjoins. Opposite I regain King's Rose Inn, one of the principal hotels in tho town, where I remained during my stay in Albury. This hotel is a spacious brick building well furnished throughout, and carried on in first-class style by a jolly hostess.

The following day we visited the Albury Hospital, which is situated on the borders of the town. It is a large brick building hnving an eastern aspect command-ing a good view of the Murray Valley, &c. The grounds are neatly planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers, many being the gift of Dr. Mueller of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Mr. A. Wallworth is the superintendent and dispenser of the hospital. The gaol is a common-looking building is adjacent to the hospital.

Albury, supports three breweries—G. Leish and Co's, O'Keefe's and Thomson's. They all do a good trade.

The Municipal Council has done muoh good In im-

proving the appearance of the town, The present

Mayor is W. M. H. Edmondson, Esq , and the Coun-cil Clerk—Mr. S. Mudge. Aldermen McLellan, Day, Kirkpatrick, Jones, Solomon, James Day, Liddle, and

Gulson, are the other members of the Council.

There are many nice private residences about Albury which add to the beauty of the town.

Among other institutions not before mentioned, Albury has a Pastoral and Agricultural Society (G. Day, Esq., President), a Building Society, Masonic, Oddfellows. and Foresters Lodges, a Catholic Benefit Society, a. Temperance and Rechabite Society, and a racing club capitally conducted under the president-ship of Mr. Thorold. The Customs Office is under the charge of Mr, John Swyny; Mr. P. Joyce is tide-

waiter.

Such is Albury in 1872. I have given a sunny picture of the town, but it must not be supposed that it is a perfect paradise, or without its troubles of the Little Paddington kind. There are of course several 'parties,' Wigs and Tories, aristocrats and democrats if you like, each having a representative newspaper, and each firmly believing that the opposition print is a 'rag,' and 'no that there is truth in it.'