Bourke Street is a more crowded thoroughfare than Collins Street,
especially at night. The theatres that it contains are in themselves
sufficient for the gathering of a considerable crowd. It is a grimy
crowd for the most part. Round the doors of the hotels a number of
ragged and shabby-looking individuals collect, waiting till some kind
friend shall invite them to step inside. Further on a knot of
horsey-looking men are to be seen standing under the Opera House
verandah giving and taking odds about the Melbourne Cup, or some other
meeting. Here and there are ragged street Arabs, selling matches and
newspapers; and against the verandah post, in the full blaze of the
electric light, leans a weary, draggled-looking woman, one arm clasping
a baby to her breast, and the other holding a pile of newspapers, while
she drones out in a hoarse voice, "'ERALD, third 'dition, one penny!"
until the ear wearies of the constant repetition. Cabs rattle
incessantly along the street; here, a fast-looking hansom, with a
rakish horse, bearing some gilded youth to his Club--there, a
dingy-looking vehicle, drawn by a lank quadruped, which staggers
blindly down the street. Alternating with these, carriages dash along
with their well-groomed horses, and within, the vision of bright eyes,
white dresses, and the sparkle of diamonds. Then, further up, just on
the verge of the pavement, three violins and a harp are playing a
German waltz to an admiring crowd of attentive spectators. If there is
one thing which the Melbourne folk love more than another, it is music.
Their fondness for it is only equalled by their admiration for
horse-racing. Any street band which plays at all decently, may be sure
of a good audience, and a substantial remuneration for their
performance. Some writer has described Melbourne, as Glasgow with the
sky of Alexandria; and certainly the beautiful climate of Australia, so
Italian in its brightness, must have a great effect on the nature of
such an adaptable race as the Anglo-Saxon. In spite of the dismal
prognostications of Marcus Clarke regarding the future Australian, whom
he describes as being "a tall, coarse, strong-jawed, greedy, pushing,
talented man, excelling in swimming and horsemanship," it is more
likely that he will be a cultured, indolent individual, with an intense
appreciation of the arts and sciences, and a dislike to hard work and
utilitarian principles. Climatic influence should be taken into account
with regard to the future Australian, and our posterity will no more
resemble us than the luxurious Venetians resembled their hardy
forefathers, who first started to build on those lonely sandy islands
of the Adriatic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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