Volltext Seite (XML)
116 Melbourne ; “ He wot hires to any settler under forty pounds a year will get summot for his pains.” In October 1839 there were in Mel bourne no watchmakers and tinmen, though there were 4 tailors, 4 blacksmiths, 4 butchers, 3 bakers, 3 saddlers, and 12 shoemakers. Mr. McNall, the only apology for a lawyer in those primitive days, kept his butcher’s shop where the Americaii Hotel, Collins Street, now is, nearly opposite Clarke’s the publisher. It had a balcony, which was intended to be the bottom floor when the street should be raised ; but the inhabitants objected to alterations of level. A Scotch man was the first tobacconist, Sept. 28th, 1839. The first baker in Australia, the inventor of the damper, Bend, of Sydney, died in 1839, the last of the first fleet, aged 110 years. Though the first Colonial Surgeon was Dr. Thomson in 1836, and Dr. Patrick Cussen was appointed to succeed him, Sep. 12th, 1837, yet the first medical man for the people was Mr. Barry Cotter, formerly of Boss, Yan Diemen’s Land, and now of Adelaide. Bricks were made over the Yarra on the southern bank. A tax was levied on the brickmakers in September, 1838, by which they were required to pay £10 a year for being on Government land, £5 for erecting a hut, and £2 10s. for using the clay. This cruel enactment drove many of them to Adelaide. The lime burners were also obliged to give the paternal Sydney Government one bushel for every ten bushels they burned. At first there was little employment for any but shepherds, and mechanics were strongly effected with Adelaide and Valparaiso fevers. The whole amount ex pended on public works in 1838 was £390. Even clerks were not much required for the Government, when we read that there were sent down from Sydney, for all our Melbourne Departments, in November, 1838, 6 bottles of red and 6 black ink, 1 bundle of quills, 1 box of wafers, 20 fathoms of red tape, and one quire of foolscap paper ! The prices in November, 1838, were as follows ; Flour, £35 ; hay, £18 ; potatoes, £10 ; tea, £6 a chest; sugar, 6d.; cheese, Is.; butter, 2s. 6d. ; ducks or fowls 16s. a couple; eggs, 3d.; maize, 7s.; shingles, 25s. per 1000. In March, 1839, flour was £30; hay, £12 ; V. D. L. Potatoes, £15 and P. P. Potatoes £12 ; mutton, 4d. ; Colonial cheese, Is. 4d; oats, 5s. ; boards, 4s. 100 feet; Kangaroo skins, 20s. a dozen. Little was grown in the country. Mr. Lilly of the “ Adam and Eve” first grew cabbages on the Eastern Hill. Lady Franklin on her visit in April, 1838, adds her testimony to our national