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DAYS OF OLD GOULBURN
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70 YEARS AGO
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CIVIC ADMINISTRATION
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1865 to 1866
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By "Pioneer"
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Mr. William Lees, of Bois
Chere, Braidwood Road, has been
resident in the Goulburn district
for many years.
He has watched the growth and
development of the city with the
keenest interest. Incidentally, he has
been a subscriber of the Goulburn
Penny Post since its inception, and
still, after the passing of the years,
follows with the closest interest the
reports of the meetings of the City
Council.
In '65 there were the manager and
aldermen of the council, and the
meetings were held in the Mechanics'
Hall. There was no town clerk, Mr.
G. Martyr combining the duties of
surveyor, engineer and town clerk.
Auburn Street at that time was a
macadamised road. There was little
in the nature of a footpath, and less
semblance of alignment. It was no un-
usual sight to see bullock teams which
had been loaded at the Australian
Stores bogged at the side of the
macadam strip of roadway.
There was no sanitation. For in-
stance, on the left hand side of Auburn
Street at the intersection of Gold-
smith Street, a butcher named O'Don-
nell had a paddock in which he ran
pigs, and where he did his slaughter-
ing. Some years later Mr. W. Boyd
was appointed inspector of nuisances.
An act was passed for the abatement
of nuisances and Boyd had to ad-
minister the act locally, doing his
rounds on foot.
CITY WATER
The city water supply, with the ex-
ception of hotels, was supplied by
water carts. Keen rivalry existed
among those engaged in the delivery
of the supply. The carts were made
barrel-shaped, of 200-gallon capacity.
These were gaudily painted in several
colours. Horses and harness were
turned out to synchronise with the
carts. The water was obtained from
"Blackshaw's Pumps," Eastgrove. In
the '70 flood, these pumps were inun-
dated and the city supply had to be
obtained from the Royal and Mandel-
son's hotels. As regards the well at
the rear of the Royal Hotel, it is sig-
nificant that, while it provided water
of the highest quality, a well on the
site where the present A.M.P. build-
ing stands supplied water so brac-
ish as to render it almost useless.
SHOWS AND RACE DAYS
During shows and race days it was
a common sight to see 50 to 60 head
of horses at the Royal Hotel well.
There was another well at the Com-
mercial Hotel, the site of the present
Hotel Goulburn. The mail coach
stopped here, and horses were chang-
ed. At the corner of Bourke and Clin-
ton Streets, a Mr. Walker, black-
smith, put down a well from which
he supplied water of the purest
quality. When the first section of the
city water supply was installed, the
council compelled all wells to be fill-
ed, and prohibited the use of private
tanks.
There were several shops in Auburn
Street constructed of bark, notably
butchers. One of these was occupied
by R[.] Russell, and another by a man
named Carroll, was in Clinton Street
while another in Auburn Street was
occupied by a Mr. Ticehurst. There
was no inspection. Pigs, sheep and
bullocks were killed in the town.
KERBING FOOTPATHS
The first attempt to kerb the foot[-]
paths was done with wooden pegs
into which were fitted tarred planks[.]
The first paving was done with free-
stone obtained from Wingello. Later,
paving was put down in bricks made
for the purpose. The brick bridge in
Auburn Street, near Kimpton's Mill,
was called Wardle's Bridge. It was
first intended to be a wooden
structure, but Alderman Wardle
agitated successfully to have it con-
structed in brick. In the foundations
of this bridge there is deposited a
bottle, sealed, containing records
made by the council in relation to the
construction of the bridge. There was
no underground drainage of street
intersections. Drainage was effected
by means of flagged causeways. It
was many years before the present
system displaced these.
NO GALVANISED IRON
The better class houses were roof-
ed with slates and shingles. Galvanis-
ed iron was unknown. Tanks, buckets,
[t]ubs, were all made of wood. The
first storied building was erected on
the corner of Clifford and Auburn
Street. It was known as Cohen's
Auction Mart. The ground floor was
used for the sale of furniture, etc[.],
and the upper storey was let for of-
tices. The next of these buildings
was W. S. Foxall's book-store, op-
posite Market Sqare. The old gaol
stood on the present Town Hall site.
The western wall ran parallel with the
Auburn Street footpath. There were
several executions in the gaol. The
gallows and the condemned persons
were exposed to the full view of the
public, who witnessed the execution
from the street.
After the railway was extended to
Goulburn, it was the practice when
an execution took place to borrow a
tarpaulin to place around the gallows
to exclude the view of the public.
Gaoler Scott, who was a very humane
man, was responsible. He, also, was
the first gaoler to bring about any-
thing in the nature of reformative
treatment.
The first public halls were the
Mechanics' and the Oddfellow's Hall
(now the Empire Theatre). The
council meetings, Mr. Lees thinks,
were held in the Mechanics' until the
Town Hall was erected. The post of-
fice was in rented premises near the
Royal Hotel until the post office was
built, and the telegraph office was a
little brick building in Montague
Street. The services were under
separate direction. The postman,
Rushforth by name, adorned in a
bright red coat, delivered the mail in
a vehicle called a "gig," a sort of
cross between a sulky and a spring
cart.
SCOTS AND JEWS
The leading business people were
Scots and Jews. Incidentally, Goul-
burn was pioneered by the Scots and
Jews. They figured largely in its
early public life. There was par-
ticularly Tom Wilkie and H. G. Clegg,
both of whom were aldermen and
held office as mayor for several
terms. They were engaged in the
building trade. The largest store was
Davis, Alexander and Coy. The prin-
cipals held office as alderman and
mayor. Alexander, a Jew, owned Nor-
wood estate. Solomon Emmanuel
built a mill in Clinton Street. He
lived at Lansdowne, Eastgrove, and
was a noted breeder of beef Durhams.
Moss Marks kept a general store, and
Mandelson built Mandelson's Hotel.
G. Jacobs had a small cordial factory.
Mandelson built a fine saddlers shop
on the corner of Auburn and Clifford
Streets. He had a life-sized horse
made of wood, painted white, fixed
to the coping of the upper storey of
the building. The premises were after
wards well known as the White Horse
Hotel.
A BOOMING TRADE
About this time, with the booming
trade for carriers, saddlery was a
profitable business. Mr. R. T. Mc
Alister carried on a business in
premises opposite the Royal Hotel[.]
The licensee of the Royal at that
time was a Jew, with the "un-Jewish"
name of Jones.
What to-day constitutes our beauti-
ful Belmore Park, was then Market
Square. It was used as such and en-
closed with a rough fence. It was
proclaimed a park after Lady Belmore
planted the oak which grows in the
centre of the park, and which Mr.
Lees saw planted. Incidentally, it
was on the same day that the railway
to Goulburn was opened.
Captain Hovell, the explorer, lived
on the corner of Verner and Sloane
Streets, and the sun-dial which be-
longed to him was afterwards hand-
ed over to the city and placed in Bel-
more Park.
There are other incidents in the
history of the city which Mr. Lees
can recall very clearly.
Although under physical disability
at the present, he possesses a most won-
derful retentive memory and is a
most interesting conversationalist. He
[i]s [a] geologist and naturalist, and
when it comes to a hobby and not-
withstanding physical disability, is
sufficiently a student of theology to
be anxious to secure a copy of Dr.
Angus's book on that subject.
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