Australian Town and Country Journal at KellyGang 1/1/1876
Melbourne Revisited
(BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER)
The General Post Office, Melbourne, is, as everybody is aware, a fine building, not so ornamental as that of Sydney, with its marble pillars and handsome frontages to George-street and the short cut, but far more useful. By this I mean that it ornaments the city by rising in relief at a corner, and its tower, with the illuminated clock, which is a boon, sands out in fine contrast. The clock is of use, which, without depreciating Mr Tornaghi's ingenious handicraft, is more than the Sydney one is. It strikes the hours and chimes the quarters very musically yet loudly, while its faces can be seen in all directions, for a long way, by day or night. The arrangements for the public convenience are excellent. The post boxes are lettered like ours, and the position of various receptacles for newspapers, letters, &c, is also indicated by a semaphore; but the Melbourne public have an advantage over that of Sydney in various ways. For instance, buyers of stamps are not required to stand out in the verandah and guard their purchases from being blown away, for the sale is conducted in a spacious room. Money orders, too, are granted and paid inside the building. I noticed, however, a defect which you protested against in one of your Town Talk articles - the wide mouths of the boxes enable the anxious to read plainly the addresses of letters as they lie on a mahogany shelf on which they fall. This defect was remedied In the Sydney office as soon as it was pointed out.
The Telegraph Office is distinct from the Post Office, and stands round the corner in Elizabeth-street, being an unpretending wooden building that seems to court a conflagration. The room open to the public is not so comfortable as that in the Sydney office, but a large table offers facilities for writing messages, though it does not afford secrecy. Apropos of this, it seems a wonder that a neat writing-room is not attached to all general post offices. It would be a great convenience, too, if a counter was erected in them for the sale of stationery in small quantities, and stamps. On the whole, the telegraphic arrangements are not so good as those in your colony. The public office is not worthy of a large community, and it closes at 8 o'clock. There is a bell concealed about the letter-box somewhere, by which a messenger can be summoned, but it is ridiculous to make what should be a great convenience to all, a puzzle. I wanted to send an important message the other night, but could not do so because I was not in the secret; the Sydney arrangement of keeping open till 10 is far superior to that ruling here. I shall have something to say about the internal arrangements in a future letter.
The arcades are great institutions in Melbourne. They run from Bourke-street to Little Collins-street, and are full of handsomely furnished shops. The one between Swanston and Elizabeth streets, running in the direction indicated, is very busy and pays well, but that higher up is not, I believe, a success. The Apollo Hall is at the Bourke-street entrance, and the latter over head. Many of the shops in it are unlet. In addition to these there is Cole's Book Arcade, a tremendously large place built like the rest, and filled with interminable rows of shelves, on which lie thousands upon thousands of books of all descriptions, which sell, in the main, at ridiculously low prices. Cole's is the sort of place to make an author miserable, for everything is to be bought at a percentage of the published price. The proprietor is a shrewd practical man, and has scribbled himself in his time.
The Public Library in Swanston-street is a noble institution, noble in many respects. The building itself, which though but a section of the great whole designed, is impressive and handsome. The public entrance is by means of a fine flight of stone steps on which repose two magnificent lions. The library is a comprehensive one, managed much as ours is in Sydney, but the reading room is far superior as might be expected. Attached in separate rooms are collections of ceramic ware, statues, bronzes, coins, and pictures. The latter ate beautiful, and the possession is a source of gratification to the people of Melbourne.
The main collection is in the hall built by the trustees of the National Gallery. The Gallery is well lit, and furnished with chairs on winch people may be seen all day gazing on their favourite pictures. The magnificent large painting by Leyroux, called ‘The Brigand," has a group of seated admirers facing it all day; and so have the "Dancing Girl" and " Pilgrims Leaving England." Besides these great works which have been made tolerably familiar by means of photography, there are some exquisite gems in the collection which is being largely added to. The attendance at the library and in the art galleries is large, and the aesthetic tastes of the people must inevitably be improved by the existence of such refining influences amongst them. In the picture galleries numbers of students, chiefly ladies, may he seen at work at their easels, copying some of the exhibits.
Close to the Library are the Industrial School and School of Design, but as I have not yet visited them, I cannot say any thing of their mission or conduct. The last librarian is Mr Marcus Clark, the well-known literateur and author, who formerly held the position of clerk to the trustees, an office at present filled by Mr Carter. But the Melbourne people have many advantages in this respect. Their public gardens are numerous and well kept, a constant supply of water being always available for the flower bed and green plot.
The parks, too, are ample and well cared for. Suburban Melbourne is very nice. Nature has not done so much for the country as it has for that around Sydney, but man has done more. Handsome villas meet the eye in all directions, and they are generally surrounded by umbrageous shrubberies and nicely laid out grounds
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