G'day all, this seems an appropriate way to finish off the story of a great weekend. The commencement of standard gauge through passenger service recieved huge coverage in the papers of the day. I think all of Melbourne's daily press is represented in this selection, in those days we had two morning papers "The Age" and "The Sun" and an evening paper "The Herald". Our family didn't have a TV at the time so I have no recollection of the television coverage, I wonder if any has survived.
I felt sure that I once had an actual print of the Tallarook picture but having read a little about other peoples unreliable memory recently I am willing to concede that I may have "misremembered".........and I don't remember where I got that word from either......maybe Mark Twain!!
There isn't much that I need to say about these little gems. The occasion was celebrated officially with a fair bit of the old Imperial pomp but the Premier of the time, Henry Bolte, let the side down at the Parliamentary Garden Party. He is wearing the required top hat and morning suit but note the hands in the pockets.....that gives him away for the cow cocky* that he really was. I'm just surprised that the top hat wasn't on the back of his head!
"The Spirit of Progress" and "The Southern Aurora" are long gone now and so are the State Railway Departments and most of the railway people that ran them.
And in many ways more's the pity.
Regards,
Peter Bruce.
*cocky=small time farmer.
No comments:
Post a Comment