Marvelous Melbourne

12 December 2016

Melbourne today. Edward would have anchored somewhere near here.

Edward's first port after leaving Sydney was Melbourne which of course in 1854 was a centre of world attention due to the gold rushes. Edward describes a neck and neck race between the Madras and another ship, the City of Sydney across Hobson's Bay, the northern most part of Port Phillip Bay. As we were arriving in Melbourne at about 7am I got up early to watch the sun rise over Arthur's Seat as we travelled across Port Phillip. We were similarly racing another ship but in our case it was a small rusty old container ferry which we easily out paced.

Coles wharf in the 1850s

The Madras anchored off Port Melbourne and Edward then took a smaller steam ferry up the Yarra to Coles Wharf to disembark. This is pretty well in the centre of Melbourne and in 1854 it was a hive of maritime activity crammed with merchandise. Great stacks of the same, piled in the open air, encumbered the wharf, whilst more was being unloaded from lighter and barge. It's still a busy place, being right in front of the Crown Casino, but no longer has any maritime significance. In our case, we pulled up to the ferry terminal at Port Melbourne and just walked ashore.

Coles Wharf today with the Casino & heliport.

Edward was rightly impressed by the progress Melbourne had made in it's less than 20 years of existence although he felt that in architectural effect - in the size and appearance of the shops and general aspect of the town - Melbourne is very inferior to Sydney. The debate continues today but personally, I prefer Melbourne.

An engraving of the Criterion Hotel from the mid 1850s

He made the most of his time in Melbourne. First he went for lunch at the famed Criterion Hotel where beef-steak and potatoes...with the addition of a bottle of claret among three set them back 8/6 each. In modern money a fairly reasonable $35 apiece. The Criterion Hotel no longer exists and its site on the south side of Collins St between Queen and Elizabeth Streets is now the centre of Melbourne's banking district. There are no hotels there now but in the basement of the Commonwealth Bank head office is a food court. Trish and I contemplated lunch at Huxtaburgers, a themed burger joint based on characters from the Cosby Show! However, in consideration of Mr Cosby's recent fall from grace and in honour of my nation of birth, we opted for the Japanese opposite where we paid an even more reasonable $19 for lunch for two, sans claret.

Collins St about where the Criterion Hotel was located.

Edward wandered round the shops and purchased a few trifles forgotten in the hurry of leaving Sydney. For a Leghorn hat, gloves and a cap he paid a total of 15/6 which would be around $65 today. I had a look in Myers menswear as I felt that's the kind of place Edward would shop were he alive today and they had a baseball type cap for $48 so Edward probably did well despite my thought that what kind of a dickwit would pay that for a baseball cap? I inquired about gloves but the reaction from the shop assistant as to why I needed gloves in early December (it was 34 degrees that day - yes I'm off to rob a bank) made me decide against asking about Leghorn Hats (but I googled them and they are hats made of leghorn straw - probably what we'd call a Panama Hat).

Edward felt food prices were high and with eggs at the modern equivalent of $28 a dozen (and a pound of butter not far behind that) I'm inclined to agree with him, although it's possible that in Melbourne, if I found a hip enough whole food store I might be able to pay a similar amount for grain fed, hand reared, free range aracuna eggs or similar. However, see my reference to $48 baseball caps.

Later he took an omnibus out to the very pretty suburb of St Kilda...fare only half a crown each way. This being around $10, a modern tram is cheaper. $14 will get you an all day Myki. We followed suit by tramming out there ourselves and then coming home via Chapel St where Trish did her obligatory holiday op shop and found a very becoming red dress that displays her fine cleavage to full advantage.

To demonstrate the smallness of the world, on the tram out I spotted friend's Julia and Bryce from Perth walking down St Kilda Rd. Surprising them with a phone call it turned out that they were in fact heading for the Port to meet Julia's parents who are also on the Sun Princess!

Astley's Ampitheatre which had just been completed in this form when Edward arrived. In 1857 it was remodeled and renamed the Princess Theatre. In 1886 it was replaced by the existing Princess Theatre.

That evening Edward went to the theatre to enjoy an instrumental concert, and some of the music very good - a Monsieur Fleury being the leader and principal performer. It appears that this must have been Astleys Ampitheatre which was later demolished and replaced by the Princess Theatre that remains today.  Edward also noted that the theatre had been renovated to accommodate an appearance by Catherine Hayes, a soprano who has been described as the Madonna of her day. An advertisment in The Argus for the date Edward was in town shows a concert by Monsieur Fleury for that night and heralds a likely future concert by Ms Hayes. The evenings entertainment also included a "blackface" comic turn, something that the Princess Theatre would not consider today. Edward was probably reassured by Astley's advertising that specified "persons of improper character will be strictly excluded from the Dress Circle and Side Boxes".  As there was nothing currently showing we had to satisfy ourselves with an extremely nice iced coffee at the coffee shop adjoining the foyer.

Princess Theatre 

Edward spent one night ashore in Melbourne but failed to note the name of the hotel where he stayed. Next day he wandered round town some more and noted the opening of a railroad from the city to the port at Liardet's beach with hundred's of people indulging their curiosity in experimental trips. What he didn't mention but perhaps should have, was that this was the first railway in Australia. The 109 tram still runs along the same route and it was fittingly this that we used to return to our ship.

The terminus of the 109 tram and Australia's first railway.