Chapter 11 Melbourne Again

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Chapter 11

Melbourne Again. 1856-1864

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argery was still in quite a state of shock at the happenings of the previous week or so, when she arrived back at James’ house.

Her brother was naturally most distressed as he heard of Edmund’s behaviour, but secretly thought it could all be for the best. He had worried greatly for his sister and the life she had gone to. Terrible stories were coming out from the goldfields. It was not a wise thing for a woman with a young child to be without the support of a husband but fortunately he knew that Margery still had quite a bit of Sarah’s money left and she and Alfred would be alright. His sister was clever with her hands and not afraid of hard work. He and Jeanie would support her and the baby in any way they could. James had been told of George Davis’ interest in his sister by William Carter, who had been in regular contact with his shipboard friend, since settling in Melbourne. George had told William of his love, but insisted that it was in the strictest confidence so as to allay

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any curiosity that might arise from his constant enquiries as to her welfare. Permission was also given for James to be told, because, on most occasions, the state of Margery’s wellbeing had to come from him. Knowing how women could not keep a secret, their wives were left in the dark. George did not want Margery to be upset by his continued interest in her, if all was going well with her marriage.. When Margery had been with James for about 6 weeks and she was beginning to feel better, a letter arrived for her from George, which begged her to let him come to see her. Upon reading his letter, all of the hurt and upset over the breakup with Edmund, vanished and she felt herself blushing, just at the thought of George. Fortunately she was in her bedroom alone, while she was reading and she allowed herself to think of George again and to re-live those stolen moments on the ship. She had not dared to think of him, over the past months, as surely he must have found another woman and married, in the time since he had been in the Colony…even though he had said he would wait for her for 2 years. This might have just been shipboard talk! She knew from Edith that William was still in contact with him, but she had refrained from asking too many questions regarding his personal status, because, as she realised now, she did not want to find out that he may have married. Of course, George Davis was invited to come and visit and the rest, as they say, is history! ‘Take every opportunity as it presents itself’, was the motto for the mid 19th century, on the goldfields and Margery had no hesitation in doing the same in Melbourne. George and she had no doubts about their love for one another. After all they had practically ‘lived’

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together on the ship for over 3 months. Everything that needed to be known about the other would surely have been learnt by now! Her main concern was for his acceptance of Alfred, but she was assured that he would love the boy and care for him as if he was his own child. She told him of Edmund’s wishes and her agreement of same. This presented no problems either. Alfred would always be known as a ‘Blakey’ and would be told of his origins when he turned 21. The fact that she was still legally married to Edmund would not worry George either. Divorces were so messy and very, very expensive. No one would need to know. Of course he would have loved to be her legal husband, he was quick to tell her, but it was not possible, so it made no difference to the way they felt about each other. It was quite acceptable, these days and no-one talked about it. Especially in Melbourne as husbands left their wives to seek the gold and never returned. Each partner in most cases, starting life anew with another, who was more suited to the new lifestyle. A rental house was obtained in Park St. South Yarra and 3 months after separating form Edmund Blakey, Margery White/Blakey and her son Alfred Edmund Spencer Blakey, moved in with George Rumford Davis. It was late winter in 1856 and the Melbourne which she had seen just over 18 months ago, after landing, was expanding at an incredible pace. Between 1851 and 1856 the population had increased fourfold and the city was beginning to look like a city, with most of its new buildings along the two main streets, standing 4 stories high! The wealth created from the gold strikes had made the difference and Melbourne never looked back. Old ‘humpies’ from the early days of settlement were gradually being replaced by well

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constructed buildings on the prime real estate. Business was booming. Banks, Government offices, A Court House, Police Station, many first class hotels and music halls, were changing the look of Melbourne. The Railway line to Sandridge (Port Melbourne), which crossed the river Yarra, was completed at the end of 1854 and the first locally made loco was the first to operate on it. There had been a delay in the sending of the 4 locos from the Stephenson factory, so to get the line opened on time, the Melbournians had decided to make an engine of their own, in the meantime. The locos, which George had an interest in, had finally arrived just a few weeks before his arrival, in 1855 and the consequent settling in to his new job. By the time he was setting up house with Margery, the Company was working on the construction of the railway to St. Kilda. His house in Park St, South Yarra, was very convenient to his work and this new railway line was opened with great celebrations in 1857.

St Kilda Railway Station 1857

St Kilda Railway Bridge

1857

Margery carried on her interest in millinery and sewing, from which her friends benefited. Numerous trips were made to the centre of Melbourne to purchase ribbons and fabric from which her magic

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would be created. On one excursion, she came across a two story shop which pronounced, on an outside sign that they were ‘Robertsons, General Dyers’. On an impulse, she went inside and asked if they were any relation to her former ‘boss’, lace importer and dressmaker, David Robertson. She had known of dyers within the family and it would be so lovely to have the connection here in Melbourne. It almost felt like home. She spoke at length to Mr Robertson and the consequence of this was that, yes, he was the cousin of David and he would be pleased to assist Margery in any way he could. As well as this promise of assistance, he pronounced that if she was to provide any business to him on behalf of another person, she would be paid a commission on the fee he charged. Dyers were in constant demand by the people of Melbourne and new colours were regularly being developed to make the fashion conscious women one step ahead of their ‘friends’. It was not so long ago that most of the ‘women’s world’ was of beige and brown and neutral colours. Suddenly after the advent of the numerous clothing factories and new technologies, ‘the world’ was changing and becoming very colourful. After this meeting with Mr Robertson, every now and then, Margery would receive a little extra income. It also helped her to maintain her interest in the trade. It was wonderful for Margery to celebrate Christmas 1857. She rather suspected that she might be pregnant and she could not contain her happiness at having a child, firstly, to her much loved ‘husband’ but also, at providing a sibling for Alfred. Life was wonderful.

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The expected child arrived on the first day of September, 1858 and the baby was named George, after his father with a second name of Harry (Henry) after his grandfather’s second name, which his uncle William also carried (William was the elder brother of George).. .. the full titles of both men being William Henry Davis. It kept a connection to ‘home’ in Berkshire. After the successful opening of the St Kilda Line, the Melbourne and Hobson’s Bay Railway Company were called upon to establish a line out to Williamstown from Melbourne. A line had been built from Geelong to nearby at Williamstown, just recently and this new line would connect up with it and make one line through to Melbourne. At the moment, intending passengers for Geelong, had to take a ferry across Port Philip Bay and then pick up the train to go on to Geelong. The new straight through service was eagerly anticipated. The ‘Spencer Street to Williamstown’ Railway line was opened in 1859. George Davis had to move his young family to Williamstown for this occurrence and had to remain there for a period afterwards, while the fledgling railway service and maintenance workshops were established..

The Williamstown Railway Workshops

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Margery and George and the 2 small boys loved this time in Williamstown. Their house was close to the bay and while George was at work, she would take young 2 year old Alfred and baby, George, for long walks, to gaze at the many ships which came into the bay regularly. Looking at these many ships would let her feel a lot closer to home. She would think of her mother and Alex and the children and wonder how they were going. It always took forever to get news through the mail! It was a very busy time in that area of Victoria. By the year, 1861, Williamstown had 13 slips for boat repairs and accommodation for 40 vessels.

Shipping off Williamstown

The Hobson’s Bay Defence (Williamstown) c.

1859

In early 1861, while in Williamstown, Margery gave birth to a little girl whom they named, Sarah Emily Brunsden Davis. Sarah was after Margery’s mother and the Emily and Brunsden were from much loved cousins of George’s. This baby, being a

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little girl, was ‘special’. However, little Sarah did not enjoy the best of health. She was always a great worry with her weak chest and towards the end of 1862, at the age of 21 months, she lost her battle to live. The family of course was devastated. The Railway Company, which George was with, had financial problems and the Government had to take it over.. When everything was in place in Williamstown and the new lines were running smoothly, George was sent back to Melbourne in mid 1863 to reside in Richmond and continue working on the development of the suburban railway network. Lines were planned for all directions! In January, that year, however, Margery had discovered she was pregnant again. After quite a lot of fear and trepidation on the parent’s part for the next 6 months, another little girl was born, almost the exact image of Sarah and they felt that she had been sent to replace the one that had been lost. They named her ‘Emily’. Just plain and simple, the one name was ‘Emily’. That was sufficient under the circumstances. The family was glad to have moved from Williamstown with its sad memories of Sarah’s death and to start life again, closer to Melbourne. Emily progressed in leaps and bounds and was a replica of Margery and had her colouring. . This baby’s health was wonderful and never caused her parents a minute of anxiety. Since the Government had taken over the Railway, George was not very happy. Rules and regulations and heaps of red tape always made him very frustrated. Exciting things were happening in the Colony and he was beginning to feel he

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wanted more of a part in it. He was really quite sick of Railways. When socialising at James’ White’s house one night, in late 1863, he met 2 very interesting men with great enthusiasm. They had just come back from a place in the mountains called Woods Point and they wanted to construct a stamper battery to take back there, so as to extract the gold from the reefs, which were ‘brimming over with the precious metal’. Gold had been discovered there by one of the two men in 1861 The find was on the banks of the headwaters of the Goulburn River, High up in the Great Dividing Range of Victoria .Most of the alluvial gold had been exhausted and they now needed the ‘battery’ to work the reefs. George agreed to lend his engineering skills to the project and in 1864, the machine was ready to be transported (with great difficulty) up to Woods Point. The stamper battery was used, with the aid of water, to separate the gold form the quartz. It was badly needed at Woods Point and after the design and construction of the various parts were completed , it had to be taken in ‘bits’ and assembled once they had it all up there. A carrier was unable to be found who would undertake the journey. As well as the stamper, a steam boiler was needed to provide the power and the abundance of wood in the area would keep the boiler working. The tracks up through the mountain range were circuitous, narrow and very hazardous. It could only be done by packhorses, at a very slow pace. The transportation took 3 long months before it was all there and set up, ready for work.

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On one of the trips, because George had been involved in the building of the stamper, he decided to go and see what Woods Point was all about. He had resigned his job with the Railways before he left . There were no worries about work, in this period of development, as there was an extreme shortage of experienced people in Melbourne if he decided to return and remain in the city. The visit to Woods Point proved to be a very exciting experience and George was offered a job at a very good salary with the largest of the newly formed mining companies. The housing construction, and erection of public buildings which were taking place in the town was staggering. By the middle of the 1860’s, not long after George had first visited, there were 50 large mines in operation with numerous smaller ones. The population had increased to around 2000 people, there were 30 hotels and Woods Point now consisted of 3 suburbs. There were also many grog shanties, a brewery, a courthouse a police station, a hospital and several doctors, a chemist, 6 banks, Post and telegraph office, business offices, stores, livery stables, churches, dancing saloons, a newspaper soap factory, a gingerbeer and cordial factory, abattoirs & slaughterhouse, a town band and a town crier! Half way up the ridge on the northern side, some Chinese had moved in and constructed a terraced vegetable garden, so they could provide all the inhabitants with fresh vegetables, at a premium price, of course.. These terraces were made from rocks found in the surrounding area and these gardens made a pretty picture in contrast to the grey/ white trunks of the tall gumtrees which covered the remainder of the hillside.

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Beside all of these facilities, Woods Point was in a very picturesque and seemingly very healthy situation. The new little town was high up in the mountains and situated in a narrow valley between 2 ridges, with the fresh water river running continuously through it. The air was crisp and clear and one could breathe freely. It was so vastly different to what George had seen of the goldfields around Bendigo and he could not wait to get back to Melbourne and persuade Margery that this was where he though their future lay. A new house had been promised with the job, at the junction of the Goulburn River and Brewery Creek, in Scott Street, right in the middle of Woods Point. . This was available for George to inspect, while he was there and all this helped to sway him in his decision. He was sure Margery would abide by his judgement. Melbourne, at times, was becoming quite unruly and the constant floods from the Yarra were a worry, so Margery had no hesitation in agreeing to take their 3 children and head off to the mountains. There was everything there which a young family would need and this town sounded completely different to Sailor’s Gully. Many families had already taken up residence and the whole area appeared to be much more civilised. So, in January, 1865, Margery, George and the 3 children set off, in a cart with all their possessions, for a new life in the Great Dividing Range of Victoria. Thankfully, the roads had become a little wider now, after all the traffic to and fro over the past three or four years and travelling in a cart or wagon was now possible, over the Yarra track to Woods Point. This route was unable to be used from winter to early summer because it was impassable then, due to snow or it had become a sticky

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mire of mud. The road in from Jamieson, further to the North, was open over a much longer period of the year, but was by a much longer route, if coming from Melbourne From the early days of the 1860’s up until just a few months ago, it would have to have been on horseback, from both directions, with panniers and gin cases, strapped to the sides of the horses and in which the wife and children sat. This was how it was when the men had taken the stamper battery to Woods Point, just 12 months before and this had made it very slow going all the way. Alfred and George Junior thought it was all good fun but dealing with the extreme heat of outback Australia in January, Margery was not so sure and with an 18 months old baby, the first doubts appeared as to whether she would be able cope. These fears were dispelled a little, as the group went further up into the mountains. There were three wagons in their party, for safety reasons. It was not wise to travel alone because of breakdowns, bushrangers, accidents etc. The countryside was spectacular and the wildlife was amazing. Great bursts of colour would suddenly pop out from amongst the forest of grey/green trees. The colours of the wildflowers were magnificent. Margery had never seen anything like it before. Kangaroos would hop across the roadway accompanied by screams of delight from the boys. Sometimes, the animals would just sit quietly by the roadside with a puzzled expression on their faces, while they eyed off these strange interlopers. Beautifully coloured birds were flying everywhere, within their natural, unspoilt habitat and continually making a raucous din. By the time Margery had arrived in Woods Point, she had changed her mind and now was quietly confident that everything was going to be OK. She had the utmost confidence

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in George and she knew he would not have suggested it if he had thought for one minute that it would not be alright for them. He remembered the traumas of her sojourn in Sailor’s Gully and would not want them to be repeated. She looked forward to seeing her new house and settling in to this new and apparently, thriving town.

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