The News of the Day.

What would we learn if we took a random edition of a daily newspaper, and looked at daily life in Moreton Bay? For no particular reason, I chose the Telegraph of 23 May 1884.

It seems that it was a very slow news day, but the highlights were there on page one. Advertising, of course – that invaluable insight into the wants and needs of ordinary people.

Page 1.

Shipping.

If you wanted to get to Gympie, the first advertisement had an appealing option – the steamer Culgoa (A. Goodall, Master) would travel to Noosa, where passengers could catch up with Cobb & Co’s Mail Coaches for the ride overland to Gympie.

If you wanted to steam to Southport, the President was leaving Hart’s Wharf in Eagle Street at 9 am on Saturday 24 May. It would return on the following Monday. This advertisement shows the length of time it took to travel from Brisbane to Southport in those days. What is now a quick trip down the M1, was then a leisurely steam down the coast on a warm May morning. Sounds far more civilised.

The Queensland Steam Shipping Company offered voyages to ports as far away as Sydney and Thursday Island. And what’s more, Saloon and Steerage fares were being reduced from May next.

Wm. Howard Smith & Sons had a “line of fast intercolonial steamships” with fares at reduced rates, and went everywhere QSN did, with Melbourne as an added attraction.

Not to be outdone, the Australian Steam Navigation Company was offering reduced Saloon and Steerage fares, and steamed one to the usual places, plus Adelaide, New Caledonia, and Fiji.

Imagine the transport providers offering permanent price reductions today. Translink? No?

Lost and Found

In the Lost and Found Columns, a £1 reward was offered for a dark brown mare that had been lost from Cooinda at North Quay. The ad stated that the horse would probably be found in the Logan district, suggesting that the owners had a pretty good idea of who took it, where and why. The only horses that appear in the vicinity of North Quay today belong to the Mounted Police.

William Smith was offering a pound in reward for information leading to the conviction of some boys who broke his windows in Vulture Street, South Brisbane. Johnson’s Livery Stable in Adelaide Street was missing a white fox terrier slut[i]. Reward on delivery. W.J. Trouton was offering a pound – presumably each – for the return of three mares lost from Victoria Park.

Tenders were invited by architect Richard Gailey for the Erection of a Lodge at the German Station Cemetery (Nundah). Plan and Specs at his office.

Entertainments

People attended a lot of evening entertainments in those pre-streaming days. The Theatre Royal was advertising the great and increasing success of “The Lights O’ London.” If you didn’t fancy that, you could go and see the world-renowned young English actress Miss Jennie Lee in “Jo!” (a “marvellous realisation of Charles Dickens’ great Creation,” apparently).

At the Town Hall Tommy Hudson of the “Surprise Party” offered Webb’s Royal Marionettes, as well as three distinct entertainments. These were, respectively, the “Female Blondin,” Hudson’s Miniature Minstrel Party (oh dear), and The Beauty and the Beast with “appropriate vocal and instrumental music”. If fairytales and pantomime weren’t your thing, there was something called “The Palace of Dew Drops in the Grotto of Stalacta, with Limelight Effects” afterwards.  The Albert Hall could barely compete with all the hyperbole above, and contented itself with offering a recital by the Choral Society.

Sandwiched between breathless advertisements for light entertainment, one Herbert Gardner advertised his suitability as a potential licensee of the Longreach Hotel, which, confusingly wasn’t in Longreach at all, but on the Corner of North Quay and Queen Street.

At Woodyear’s Electric Circus and Great London Equesquiriculum[ii], you could see, well, horses. Rather a lot. One wonders if the inhabitants of Cooinda and Mr Trouton might have checked there for their missing livestock. A grand ball would be held at the Protestant Hall, involving Quadrilles. Apply for tickets to the grand ball at Sinclair’s Boot Shop.

G.D. Russell was holding a special general meeting of Shareholders in the North Queen Block Gold Mining Co Limited of Charters Towers, to “consider the position and prospects of the company.” Mmm. Sounds ominous.

The Shire of Toowong gave notice of their intention to confirm a by-law to the preservation of the health of the shire[iii].  A copy could be inspected at the office.

Supreme Court Sheriff Arthur E Halloran advertised instructions to Jurors for the following week. Elliott Bros & Co were selling Kitchen Crystal Soap (removes all stains, rust, dirt and tarnish),  Jas. T and Co were selling Vint’s Old Irish Whiskey, a “pure, old, and mellow spirit.” Ideal for calming one’s turbulent spirits after witnessing the Great London Equesquiriculum, one imagines.

Immediately below, under the heading “Pansies, Pansies,” a nurseryman at Woolloongabba offered seeds by mail order, having imported more than he required for his business. The pansy varieties offered sounded rather aristocratic (lots of Queens, Dukes and Clivedens).

The Turf Club was celebrating the public holiday (plus half-day holiday!) with a dazzling set of amusements.

Just under the Turf Club advert was a Pigeon Match. It doesn’t specify what a pigeon match might involve – I thought it might involve racing pigeons – but the event seems to have been sponsored by the Brisbane Gun Club. If shooting birds for entertainment was your jam, be aware – Brisbane Gun Club rules applied.

Finney, Isles and Co were offering blankets, calicoes, flannels and sheets, as well as winter clothes. “We are getting all our Clothing SPECIALLY OUT,” they warned passively-aggressively.

Edwards & Chapman advertised a lot of things we simply don’t use anymore: Mantles, Dolmans, Four-in-Hands (clothing, I guess), not to mention satins, merveilleux and ottoman cords. In their carpet line, they stocked Kidderminster, Tapestry, Brussels, Dutch, Felt and Cord.

Page 2.

News.

Following the shipping news, the lead article set forth a legal decision by Sir Henry Wrenfordsley, Chief Justice of Fiji, on an application by a planter named Mr W Fillingham Parr in a dispute with the Agent-General of Immigration about labour hire practices on his sugar plantation. In other words, two ostentatiously named Englishmen and a Colonial functionary making decisions about how Pacific Islanders were allowed to work and live.

International news briefly mentioned General Gordon at Khartoum, and French forces deployed to Madagascar.

Nationally, there were accidents and fires. Locally, there were court appearances, reminders of entertainments and lodge meetings. It must have been a slow news day – nearly an entire column was devoted to a rowing match in Sydney.

Page 3

This page was headed by technical information on the depths of the shafts being sunk at the Gympie mines, and followed by a brief report of a board meeting of the Metropolitan Tramway Company. Presumably, the editor thought that the precise depth of a mine shaft would be of interest to his readers. Either that, or he was performing a public service by kindly helping his evening readership with their insomnia.

Underneath this is the startling heading “I WAS SEVERELY ATTACKED.” It looked like a letter to the editor, but turned out to be the not terribly harrowing story of some chap who had a bad bout of rheumatism. There was a testimonial about the product by which he obtained relief. Advertising, in other words.

Page 4

Entirely commercial advertising – of real estate and auction sales. Those new-fangled suburbs were at a premium.

Page 5

The World Case

Two overseas articles, and more advertising (Manchester and haberdashery). Of the two articles, one is startling in its similarity to a contemporary libel case in Australia. The plaintiff claimed that, although he was not named, he was sufficiently identified as the erring husband to have been defamed.

The case was Lord Lonsdale -v- Edmund Yates, or the “World” libel case. The alleged libel, published in the World, read:

“A strange story is in circulation in certain sporting circles concerning the elopement of a young lady of very high rank and noble birth with a young peer, whose marriage was one of affection, but whose wife has unfortunately fallen into a delicate state of health. The elopement is said to have taken place in the hunting field. The young lady, who is only one or two and twenty, is a very fair rider, and the gentleman is a master of hounds.”

“These latter words, it was urged, sufficiently designated the Earl of Lonsdale, and the prosecution was on his part and not on the part of the young lady, who was in no way designated or described.

“The affidavit of the Earl stated that on reading the paragraph he had no doubt that it referred to him and no other Peer, as it exactly corresponded with his position. There was not the least foundation that he had eloped with a lady, either from the hunting field or anywhere else.”

Mr Yates was given four months in gaol for upsetting Lord Lonsdale, whose wife had in fact been unwell, but was now ensconced in the ancestral pile, recovering nicely.

Page 6

The final page is still more advertising, but of the rather dull variety. The prospectus for the tramway company, the railway schedule for the Brisbane Race carnival, and so on.

Two advertisements do give the reader pause, though, and the first one starts with: “OVERCOATS – JUST OPENED.” Yikes! What Reid, McIntyre & Co meant to say was that a shipment of overcoats had just been opened.

The second one involved the offer of “two elegant MARQUEES for sale, all complete except for poles.” Wouldn’t poles be somewhat essential for a marquee? Otherwise, you’re just selling vast quantities of decorated canvas.

---

[i] Used in the 19^th century context, meaning a female dog.

[ii] The bigger the word, the more enticing it was to the punters, presumably.

[iii] It needed it. Toowong and surrounds had a miserable public hygiene system at the time. The typhoid outbreaks there in the 1880s killed off five members of my family.