CHRISTMAS IN THE CONVICT ERA.
Christmas 1828 occurred on a Thursday, and the indefatigable Peter Spicer did not record it in his diary (Return of Works Performed), however the entry for Friday 26 December 1828 records:
Perhaps not feeling what little Christmas spirit was to be had in the settlement were the 131 patients in the convict hospital, and the one wether slaughtered. There is also no mention of any increase of rations – stores were scarce. I’m sure the families of the soldiers had a passable table, but nothing fancy.
The Chronological Register informs us that Joseph Holland (#511), facing 14 years at Moreton Bay, and only in the second of them, decided to run away on Christmas 1828. He came back on 28 December and remained at the settlement until he was discharged to Sydney in 1836.
A search of the records shows that John Murphy, (#820), a fisherman from Cork who was looking at the end of his 3 year stay for “being a notorious character,” absconded on Christmas 1829, never to be heard from again. The Register doesn’t show a date, but he appears in the Monthly Return as having nicked off on the day St Nick came.
Until the British Royal Family made Christmas Trees fashionable, and gift-giving among families became more popular, a family could expect a hot dinner after a trip to church and modest gifts.
At this point, I should point out that in Moreton Bay, Christmas occurs in summer -a humid sub-tropical yuletide was hard for the English to come to terms with – especially when it came to hot dinners and puddings.
Free settlement at Moreton Bay commenced in earnest in 1842, and a local press was established in June 1846, and from this we can begin to see Christmas as it was celebrated in the Colony.
CHRISTMAS 1846
Boxing Day (or in those days, St Stephen’s Day) saw a lot of sporting activity. The feast of Stephen in Brisbane for 1846 was a chance for a merry regatta on the Brisbane river, an event that actually passed without any riotous behaviour. Sadly, this restraint would not last.
A case before the Police Magistrate illustrated the kind of table kept at Brisbane. A cook named Doyle left his post after three days, because his new master would only consume salt beef and potatoes. This indignation cost Doyle three months in Sydney gaol.
The defendant, who is one of those bloated pocket editions of human nature, rarely seen in a hot climate, and whose countenance indicated that he has been in the daily habit of sacrificing freely at the shrine of the jolly god, had only been in the service of Mr. Thorne three days, when he left the house, taking his traps with him. The reason he assigned for leaving Mr. Thorne’s service was, that he would not cook for anyone who did not provide what he considered proper requisites for the culinary department. Among the articles enumerated by him were, essence of cinnamon, pickles, mushroom ketchup, and sauces of various kinds; all these, in the opinion of Mr. Doyle, were absolutely necessary to make a feed at all palatable.
An informal survey of the outpatients treated at Brisbane Hospital (conducted for other research) revealed that the most common complaint of local residents in the years up to 1850 was dyspepsia. All that salt beef, presumably.
CHRISTMAS 1847
News had reached Brisbane that the Governor, Charles Fitzroy, had been in an accident riding his carriage in the grounds of Government House, Sydney. He was badly injured, and his wife and aide de camp were killed. The Courier used the occasion to reflect on the fragility of human life at a time of family celebration.
The warning should not be lost upon us. It should teach us, as one means of preparation, to vie with each other in good wishes and charitable feeling. But while this melancholy event may educe a thoughtfulness which will not be unprofitable, we do not say that it should destroy such rational pleasure as is peculiar to this happy season. We sincerely trust that happiness may reign this day in each dwelling of our small and scattered population; and, in the old familiar words of our childhood, we wish to each and all ” A merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.”
Governor Fitz Roy survived, and although his wife had been his great mainstay and he missed her terribly, by the end of the year, His Excellency’s taste for feminine companionship was troubling his tenure in the job.
In Brisbane, Mr Savary raffled off a Christmas cake guaranteed to weigh sixty pounds, and offered other seasonal baked delicacies to his loyal customers. Mr Dowse had his hands full auctioning land and chattels that year.
CHRISTMAS 1848
In 1848, sport and frolic remained the theme at Moreton Bay, and although McCabe’s Hotel had laid on a free Christmas feed and refreshments for all comers, they were well-behaved, if rather dusty for St. Stephen’s day, when the games began in earnest.
BOXING DAY AT SOUTH BRISBANE. -Christmas was merrily kept up in the south part of the town on St. Stephen’s Day. Several prizes were subscribed for hack races, and we are informed that ten pounds were collected in the course of two hours for this purpose. After the regular races were over a match was got up for £10 a-side, which was won by Richard Lovell of Kangaroo Point.
The sports passed off without any accident, or unpleasant occurrence of any kind; and all present appeared to have enjoyed themselves ” ryghte heartylye.” A gratuitous dinner at McCabe’s hotel had been given to all corners on the previous day, and to judge from appearances on “Boxing Day,” the host did not lose by his liberality.
CHRISTMAS 1849
By 1849, things were getting a bit embarrassing. Grown men, presumably very drunk ones, were chasing a pig about. Rather than a regatta with music, there was a horse race and pig chase with pipes and drums. On a positive note, Ipswich did not break out in the anticipated riots, which meant that the detachment of troops sent there could toddle off home for their Regimental dinner.
the comforts of the season.
But no-one would have had more mixed feelings about Christmas 1849 than the very unfortunate Mr Robert Crabb. A livery stable keeper from South Brisbane, and not in the first flush of youth, Mr Crabb had been badly inured in the foot by a kicking horse. He had spent a long time in hospital as a result, and just before Christmas, as he hobbled across a street, a horse and cart knocked him down, breaking several ribs.
CHRISTMAS 1850
According to a custom most congenial to us we have to wish our readers a Merry Christmas. Whatever differences of opinion may exist regarding the time-honoured practice of holding high festival at this season, there can be no doubt of the good likely to be effected by means of stated periodical times of rejoicing, when, to use the eloquent language of a lyrist of the present day –
Hearts that have been long estranged,
And friends who had grown cold,
Might meet again like parted streams,
And mingle, as of old.
The editor of the Moreton Bay Courier, having struck a glancing blow at the early promoters of “Christmas in July,” waxed lyrical about the unity of feeling brought by the season.
The good people of Drayton, a township in the Darling Downs, had such a roaring success with their annual Christmas races, that they expanded the activities to include a pigeon match and a hurling match. By pigeon match, I mean shooting at dozens of unfortunate birds brought from Sydney to be blasted out of the sky, and by hurling match I do not mean the inevitable outcome of too much seasonal cheer. Crowds of “Tipperary boys, Corkonians and Dubos” were to take part in this ancient Gaelic sport, from which, Wikipedia assures me, an average of 70 players die annually from game-related injuries. At least no greased pigs were troubled at Drayton.
CHRISTMAS 1851
By 1851, consumerism had reached Moreton Bay in the form of an advertisement from the Sydney Store David Jones & Co (still trading today). The list of wares offered is as exhaustive as it is exhausting:
Harmonic Glasses, Flutinas, Accordéons, Fifes, Rosewood and Mahogany Writing Desks, Work Boxes, Tea Caddies and Dressing Cases, Book and other Money Boxes; Papier Mâché Desks, Work Boxes, Dressing Cases, Jewel Boxes, Knitting and Glove Cases, Fire-screens, Bellows, Portfolios, Thermometers, and Watch Stands ; Russia Leather Writing Desks, Dressing Cases, Multum and Roll-up ditto ; China and foreign Glass and, Porcelain Toilet Sets, Bohemian, Alabaster, and Parian Vases and Jugs; Statuettes, in Marble and Alabaster, Jewellery, in great variety, Fancy Comb and Brush Wares; Ivory, bone and wood Chess men; Backgammon Boards, and Men, Chinese-Billiards, Churches and Castles to Build, Tool Boxes, Garden Tools and Implements, Camp Stools, Air Cushions, Musical Bijous for 1851; Books (various), Book and School Slates, Ivory Tablets, Card Cases (various), Silver and Ivory Sets for Work Boxes; Engravings (with or without frames); Swiss Cottages, Baskets, &c., beautifully carved; Cricket Bats and Balls, Battledores, &c., Netted Balls, Gutta Percha Balls, Trap Bats and Balls, Whips and Walking Sticks, Looking Glasses, Electro-plated Tea and Coffee Services, Cruet Stands, Urns, Salvers, Toast-racks, Sugar Basins, Butter Coolers, Decanter Stands &c., Table bells, Electro-plated Candlesticks, Snuffers and Trays; China Dessert services, Tea and Coffee ditto, Cut Decanters, Wines and Tumblers, Wood and Wax Dolls, Children’s Painted Carriages, Steam Engines & c., assorted Games and Puzzles, Silver Thimbles, Silver and Gilt-Mounted Smelling Bottles, Ladies’ Companions, Bows and Arrows, Children’s Trunks, Jumping and Box Tops, Skipping Ropes, Boys’ Hoops, Boxes of polished furniture, Butcher’s Shop, Leather Reticules and Carpet Bags (in great variety); Paste Pots and Toilet Jars, Equestrian Bronze Figures, Bronze Candelabra, Men in Armour, Bronze Candlesticks and Tapers; Drawing-room, Cottage, Office, and Kitchen Clocks, Fancy Stationery, Pens and Pencil Cases, Fancy Steel Goods, Netting and Knitting Books, Netting and Knitting Needles and Pins, Wools, Canvas and Patterns, Crochet Articles (various), Purses, Guards, and hair net Fans (all kinds), &c., &c.
There would be little custom in Moreton Bay that year. The economy was poor, and settlers were leaving town. Publicans put together races at New Farm and furnished prize pots. The poor but energetic people of the town enjoyed the festivities, many entering their own nags for the fun of it.
CHRISTMAS 1852
The Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier took note of the passage of five years since the first Christmas edition to note:
IT is now five years since this journal was before presented to its readers on Christmas Day; and it was upon that occasion that we commenced the custom, since continued, of annually greeting our friends, and eke our enemies, with a few words of good fellowship and good will. Time, with his inexorable hand, has taken freedom with us all since then. Children have grown up into lads, and beardless lads to stalwart men; and many a light-hearted girl who was then but the associate of children, is now a staid and matronly wife.
Clearly the term “yummy mummy” had yet to reach the settlement.
Mr Thomas Dowse decided that Christmas 1852 would be a good time to change careers. The location of Queen’s Wharf is strongly associated with Old Tom, and the Inn-keeping business was his way of making the best of things when the authorities in Sydney refused to allow his lot to be used as a sufferance wharf. Tom Dowse became a leader in the movement to Separation as a result, beginning his career in political life.
Christmas 1853
The editor of the Moreton Bay Courier was in a more reflective mood than ever in his 1853 musings, looking beyond the aging effects of the passage of time into something rather more depressingly permanent.
Vigorous old time has strided rapidly over another year, and again the festive season of Christmas has arrived. Looking back to six years ago, when the hand that traces these words recorded the first Christmas greeting to the readers of this journal, that important lapse of time appears but short, although the events that have passed and the well-known faces that have since disappeared, form a lesson that we all should profit by. Perhaps no better mode could be devised for impressing this lesson upon the mind than to take up a file of newspapers six years old, and to mark the havoc that Death and other changes less solemn have made in what was then our local community. Each space in the period is marked by grave and lasting tokens.
The economy was very slowly picking up, and an advertisement in the Courier showed just how elaborately women (with money, mind) dressed in the 1850s:
CHRISTMAS ! ! CHRISTMAS ! ! !
MESSRS. REEVE, PLATT.& Co.;
WHOLESALE DRAPERS AND TAILORS.
IMPORTERS.
SOLICIT attention to a varied, extensive, and tasteful selection of fancy goods, appropriate to the present gay season of the year, which are now open for inspection, comprising French and English Muslin dresses, French and English Barege dresses Bayadere and Iris Robes, in Soiree, Muslin, and Barege. Elegant Brocaded, Striped, and Checked Glaci Silks. Elegant Brocaded Robes, &c., &c.
SHAWLS in Square and Long Barege, Damask Zephyr Brocaded Grenadine Silk and Satin. A very great variety of Mantles in Muslin, Lace, Plain Glaci, Watered Gros and Moire Antique, all new and fashionable styles. ONNETS in Satin, Pearls, Rice, Chip, Pamelia, Plain and Fancy; Tuscan, Fancy Rice, Lace, Aerophane, and Silk. A rich and varied assortment of Bonnet Ribbons, of the newest and most recherché styles. An unrivalled assortment of LACE GOODS, consisting of Muslin and Lace sleeves, Chemisettes, Collars, Thread, Egyptian, American, and other Edgings and Lace. Ladies’ and Children’s worked Caps, Frock Bodies, Frocks and Robes. A great variety of Fancy Silk Neck Ties; Kid, Silk and Thread Gloves, Gauntlets, Stays, Hosiery, &c.
R.P. & Co., deem it almost needless to advert to the question of prices, as they flatter themselves they have sufficiently established the fact that no house, out of Sydney, can undersell them, where really sterling Goods are required. Considerable additions to the stock are expected per early arrivals.
The Tailoring Department is now in efficient working, and any gentleman wishing for superior fit and workmanship, will do well to leave their orders.he Millinery, Mantle and Dressmaking department is under the superintendence of a competent Lady, and Ladies may depend upon their orders being executed in a superior style.
Moreton Bay Emporium, Dec. 13, 1853.
If Madam has to ask the price of one’s glaci silk, Madam cannot afford one’s glaci silk.
CHRISTMAS 1854
The Editor of the Courier was inclined to be solemn at the best of times. By 1854, he was quite sepulchral:
FOR the eighth time it is our task to address our readers upon the approach of Christmas season. Those eight revolutions of the globe have brought with them many changes -happiness, perchance, to some, but much sorrow to many. In our last address we had to refer, with feelings of poignant grief, to some who had passed and on the present occasion we are forcibly reminded of the transitory nature of this life, for the dying year has witnessed other mournful events, and many who read these words have again with us followed the mortal remains of beloved friends to their last earthly destination. Dear and well-known faces, warm hearts, that were joyous and full of life at the last Christmas time, are mouldering now in the cold earth near us; and hands that we last year clasped in friendly congratulation upon the return of this joyous season, are the food of loathsome worms.
Really, Sir, no-one needs to be reminded of the decomposition process when remembering absent friends at Christmas.
There was another cause of melancholy in 1854. The Crimean War had commenced late in the previous year, and Britain was one of the combatants. British subjects, so far away in Australia, felt their country’s involvement deeply, and many had cause to fear for the safety of family members.
Christmas 1855
ANOTHER year is rolling past us, and the hand that traces these words gives a Christmas greeting to the readers of the Courier, for the NINTH time, and the LAST. When the next Christmas season shall arrive, the accustomed Address may be found in these pages, but another hand will have penned it; and for the present intercourse of writer and reader here, which has subsisted for nine Christmas times, there looms in the distance the word FAREWELL. Not yet is that to be said; but the last Christmas, after so many years, brings up many recollections. We pause not upon such a matter of merely personal concernment, although the fact increases the warmth of that ever-warm feeling with which we have congratulated our readers on the approach of this festive season.
An announcement that probably incited relieved eye-rolls across the breakfast tables of the better class of Moreton Bay resident.
Memories were becoming more permanent, with the visiting daguerreotype artist, P. Wheeler, extending his stay over Christmas to record their images for posterity. Sitting still for extended periods made the subject look horribly stiff, and smiling was not in vogue (neither, perhaps coincidentally, was cosmetic dentistry). Results could vary considerably.
Poor Frederic Chopin looked as ill and wary as he probably felt, posing in front of the newfangled machine. By contrast, John C Chamberlain, who served in the Christian Commission at Gettysburg, was what a later generation would call photogenic.
I have no confirmed images from Wheeler’s visit, although two images from Brisbane dated 1855, which, if not from his studio, at least indicate what the outcome might have been.
Christmas 1856
The new Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier gave his Christmas address:
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR !
IN pursuance of the custom followed by us ever since the establishment of this journal, we address a few words of congratulation to our readers on the recurrence of the festive season of Christmas. Our greeting comes too late for the festivities of the day; but the latter part of the toast, “a happy New Year,” is no less seasonable, and to many in this district it will be as suggestive of agreeable reminiscences of the “days o’ lang-syne.”
Oh good, no mention of death or decay. The editor reflected at some length on the lack of graciousness displayed by those seeking to get rich quickly, and on the excitement and challenges of the impending Separation.
Christmas 1857
By 1857, picnics and races seemed to have less allure than drinking in town, and the reports of the Police Court reflect this. Perhaps population growth and increasing urbanisation meant that the rough and ready, but very energetic bushies didn’t make as merry as before.
In this Christmas tale, Scrooge is played by the Moreton Bay Courier Court Reporter, who would deny a poor old man a few refreshments and a lenient sentence at Christmas.
POLICE COURT.
WEDNESDAY.
Before W. A. Brown, Esq., P.M.
Peter Mulveay was again brought up charged with drunkenness and vagrancy. Upon the first charge he was reprimanded, and upon the second he was sentenced to 14 days hard labour in Brisbane gaol. His Worship appeared to be somewhat puzzled on beholding Peter’s well-known visage in the dock, and diluted his sentence with the rosewater advice he has so frequently given to this old vagabond to seek employment in the bush. Hereupon incorrigible Peter whined as usual about his ” bundle” which was packed for his departure into the bush before the first of the round dozen of summary punishments which have been administered to this troublesome offender, who begs, starves, and drinks, when he has liberty, and goes to gaol to feed himself up. His worship began evidently to melt under the influence of Peter’s seductive whine, but at length resolved that he should “spend his Christmas” in gaol. We are not aware whether public charity provides a mess of roast beef and plum pudding for the prisoners at the Yule season; perhaps not. Possibly, however, his worship may send Peter a dish of advice with turkey and pudding to follow. Much as we rejoice to see that charity which “covereth a multitude of sins” and greatly as we desire that “mercy should temper justice,” we are not willing to see an old offender enacting a farce with it. This man is a public nuisance. His conduct is an evil example to the young who hear his profane language and see his drunkenness and idleness in the street. It is dangerous for them to see professional beggary practised by an old scoundrel who is able if he would to earn his livelihood. We hope his worship will deal a sterner measure of justice on the next occasion, which will be speedily afforded. A sojourn at Cockatoo would be beneficial. The public are much to blame for showing to this prisoner a charity which he so grossly abuses. The Police Magistrate intends to have a prohibit issued to the publicans, which will prevent Mulveay obtaining grog. This is judicious and notwithstanding the reluctance he feels to punish an old man, his worship would be justified in exercising greater severity. Such commiserate tenderness is due only to virtuous old age.
Virtuous old age indeed. The old soak shouldn’t have been swearing around the kiddies, but…
Christmas 1858
Though here, in our Australian home, Christmas comes shorn of his ivied sheen and frosty pate, and comes dressed in the garb of summer, smiling with rich foliage and fruits, we will not love him the less; as in the rich poesy of thanksgiving we proclaim his existence hallowed as the natal time of the great teacher of humanity, and as such the birth-tide of the Great-heart of universal love.
Mr Editor, it is the last Christmas as part of New South Wales, and all you can think of is the lack of ivy and frost? Still, at least you’re more cheerful than your predecessor.
The merry outing at the Ipswich Christmas Races sounds remarkably like the cheerful regatta that marked the first Moreton Bay Courier Christmas in 1846, and is an appropriate note to finish Christmas in Moreton Bay before Queensland became Queensland.
IPSWICH CHRISTMAS RACES.
This annual gathering of the townspeople, for their own especial amusement at this festive season, irrespective of all the technicalities that have made racing an art, and turned the pleasures of the turf into a mere arithmetical system of making money, by the calculation of chances, and a field for the exercise of the acumen of sharpers and blacklegs, came off on Monday. A clear unclouded sky, a brilliant sun and a gentle breeze, made the weather all that could be desired. The turf was in excellent condition, and a large concourse of people, and an excellent collection of horses made a tout ensemble that put me in mind of some of the country races at home. I am sorry to inform you there was an attempt, on the part of the Stewards of the Jockey Club, to interfere with the free unfettered interests of the people, by claiming a portion of the entrance received at the gate towards their funds, and which was carried so far, that the influence was brought to bear upon the Magisterial Bench, and at first a refusal to permit the publicans to retail spirits on the course met their efforts to provide proper refreshments for the public. This, I am happy to say, was met in the proper way by a demand of the authority of these self-constituted Stewards; and it turned out that they were a set of mere usurpers and had no power to curtail or impose conditions on the free enjoyment of a Government grant to the people. The attempt only recoiled on themselves and set them out in bold relief in all their naked littleness.
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Wednesday 29 December 1858, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 25 December 1858, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 19 December 1857, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 27 December 1856, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 22 December 1855, page 3
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 22 December 1855, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 13 January 1855, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 23 December 1854, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 31 December 1853, page 1
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 24 December 1853, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Tuesday 27 December 1853, page 1
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 25 December 1852, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 27 December 1851, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 13 December 1851, page 3
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 21 December 1850, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 7 December 1850, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 29 December 1849, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 30 December 1848, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 25 December 1847, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 2 January 1847, page 2
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