A snapshot of the celebrations across Queensland.
Brisbane – a Regatta and the Races in a delicious breeze.
THE advent of the New Year was celebrated by the citizens of Brisbane in a manner worthy of the occasion. The weather was delightful; the sun was very warm, as must be expected at this season of the year, but there was a delicious breeze from the south-east during the whole of the day, which prevented any great feeling of oppressiveness.
The best proof of the holiday intentions of the townsfolk consisted in the fact that every business establishment in the city was closed, and that from about 9 o’clock until dusk the streets were nearly deserted. The many opportunities that were offered by caterers for public amusements, in the shape of aquatic excursions, were all of them taken advantage of to the fullest extent.
The Cleveland Regatta was the principal feature of the day’s festivity. No less than four large steamers were laid on for Cleveland, including the Platypus, which conveyed the vice-regal party to the scene of attraction, all of which were comfortably filled, conveying nearly one thousand passengers. The regatta went off very well indeed, every race being fairly contested, the sport, as a whole, being a great improvement upon that enjoyed the previous year.
The Caledonian Society chartered the steamer Emu for a trip to Ipswich, carrying the passengers thence by rail to Walloon. There were about five hundred persons of both sexes who availed themselves of the accommodation afforded by the steamer, all of whom appeared to enjoy themselves. There was another trip, under the auspices of the Wesleyan denomination, to the bay, which was also very well attended.
There were some races at Oxley Creek, which attracted a number of the sporting community, and were well contested. Sandgate received a fair amount of public patronage, although the pleasure of driving down to that pleasant nook in the bay was not enhanced by the quantity of dust that lies on that portion of the road nearest to the town.
Breakfast Creek was not entirely neglected, there being numbers of picnic parties snugly ensconced under the shelter of the trees which fringe the riverbank in the neighbourhood of the Hamilton Hotel. Other suburban retreats were also rendered subservient to the demands of the pleasure seekers; and altogether there is no doubt but that the determination of the inhabitants of the metropolis of the colony to enjoy as a holiday the first day of 1866 was well carried out.
New Year’s on the Downs.
Toowoomba
Elsewhere in Queensland, Victorian colonial worthies were tormented in the night by raucous celebrations. In Toowoomba, for example, earnest citizens were deprived of almost two hours’ sleep.
NEW YEAR’S EVE IN TOOWOOMBA. About midnight on Sunday, at the close of the old year and commencement of the now two or three guns were fired at or near the residence of James Taylor, Esq., and immediately after, a concourse of men and boys, to the number of a hundred or more commenced to perambulate the streets, and testify their hilarity and commemorate the event by noises of different kinds, such as beating tin dishes and other unmusical implements, which was kept up for a couple of hours, it being after 2 o’clock before Ruthven street resumed its usual quietude.
The night was also celebrated with fisticuffs. One Alexander Coutts was assaulted by one Alexander Caskie, who was taken into custody. As the new year dawned, Mr Coutts, although rather laid up, regretted the incarceration of his friend.
A written application signed by Alexander Coutts was made to liberate Alexander Caskie, confined for assaulting him, on the ground that the applicant was as much to blame as the defendant. Coutts had invited Caskie for the New Year, and both had a drop too much. The Police Magistrate could not entertain the application at present, as it was within his knowledge that Coutts had been severely injured and had not yet recovered.
Mr Coutts recovered well enough to take just about everyone on the Darling Downs, with the exception of Mr Caskie, to Small Debts Court in the ensuing weeks.
Warwick
Warwick suffered a brief outbreak of sweary youngsters, but it was quiet business as usual the following day.
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S WAKES. The Warwick wakes are somewhat different to what we have been accustomed to at home. On Sunday night, a mob of youngsters, delighting in rowdyism, perambulated one or two of the streets, using filthy and disgusting language, and calling upon several persons to administer to their propensity for potations. About midnight, the police were called upon to disperse these nocturnal revelers. We are in favor of fun on such occasions, but we think the fun should be decent and kept within bounds.
The town during New Year’s Day was as quiet as any other, the various places of business being open for the usual routine of trade. Warwick may feel proud of the utter absence of police cases during the late holiday times, there not having been even a drunken case to report.
Condamine.
The silence echoed across Condamine on New Year’s Eve, but Christmas was made entertaining by the hijinks of some “fast young men.” (Had this occurred a few years later, the fast young men would no doubt have been branded as larrikins.)
NEW Year’s Day in our quiet little town is not associated with balls, picnics, or merry makings, but is passed in quietness and barrenness of pleasure that would have delighted the celebrated “Mark Tapley,” could he have paid us a visit. Christmas passed off very quietly; a few fast young men enjoyed themselves with removing sign boards from their usual places, and depositing them in others; their presence was never intended to grace. For instance, a certain small house was for the time being, as the sign denoted, a temporary Government Savings Bank; the butcher’s shop for the nonce turned into a shoemaker’s, and vice versa.
Dalby.
It seems that fast young men and their impish signboard-swapping ways were not confined to Condamine.
New Year’s Day was observed as a general holiday, and picnic parties were got up to various places in the neighbourhood. The advent of the New Year was celebrated by the usual amount of noise and mischief, and at daybreak several of our citizens found that their signboards had disappeared, and been attached to the dwellings of their neighbours.
Goondiwindi.
The first sentence suggests a hearty New Year’s night. The second sentence sounds rather ominous.
The birthday of the New Year was ushered in the usual manner with loud shouts of welcome, hearty greetings and cheers. The mob paraded the streets in great force, encircling every house with a noise fit to waken the dead.
New Year’s in Clermont.
Things were notoriously loose in mining towns in old Queensland, as evidenced by this report from Peak Downs. at least the correspondent had a sense of humour about the night’s revels.
On Sunday night the Old Year was drummed out and the New Year ushered in with every manifestation of excitement by the Clermont Bullock-bell and Tinpot Band, whose unearthly rattle and clatter gave people a foretaste of the “crack of doom.” The band, which was composed of fifty or sixty big and little boys, ranging from 50 to 15 years of age, paraded the town in martial style, stopping in front of each residence and honouring the inmates with the most furious, if not the most polite and flattering, demonstrations of regard.
The publicans had, of course, to “shout,” and we regret to say that the “bloated aristocrat” (Lord R—–n) who led the bullock-bell gang, became non compos mentis at an early stage of the proceedings, and had to be deposed from his dignified office before the parade terminated.
On getting up next morning, we found the town illuminated with placards, consisting of libels, lampoons, and skits, a few of which were just witty enough to be intelligible, but the drift of the remainder was perfectly enigmatical to all save the brilliant intellects which gave them birth.
Moreton Bay and More 