PICTURES OF THE PAST. This is a blank page PICTURES OF THE PAST: Memories of Men I have Met and Places I have Seen. BY FRANCIS H, GRUNDY, C.E. GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. 1879. "he rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserued. I DEDICATE MY BOOK TO THOMAS WARING, ESQ., CIVIL ENGINEER, CARDIFF, IN MEMORY OF MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OF UNBROKEN FRIENDSHIP. HE PARTICIPATED IN MANY OF THE EARLIER SCENES I DESCRIBE. This is a blank page PREFACE. -.. ...,-............-.. SEATED upon a fallen monarch of the wilds of Northern Australia, discussing a mid-day meal of bush tea and damper, I thought that a few pictures of my past might amuse, and haply instruct, some of my immediate descendants. Taking my ' field book,' I began at once. It was not until many a day thereafter that I first had an idea of seeing my name in print. But cue sara sara, and my book has grown into a sort of Autobiography, extending over some twenty - six years in England, and a score more elsewhere. The English recollections may be sometimes a little indefinite as to dates, but, I think, not so as to facts. Those of Australia hardly profess to be more than relations of sometime circumstances. All are my own, save that one sent to me by my old friend J. H-. For the arrangement of this, my first attempt, I am 8 Preface. indebted to the experience of Mr. T. Wemyss Reid, a gentleman whose interest was already engaged upon one of the subjects spoken of by me in this book. I have much to thank him for. I ought to mention, in order to make clear certain passages which might otherwise appear unintelligible, that a few months ago an entirely unlooked-for oppor- tunity presented itself for a visit to England, of which I most gladly availed myself. FRANCIS H. GRUNDY. BAYSWATER, LONDON, March 1879. CONTENTS. PART I.—ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF THE AUTHOR AND OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM. PAGE I am born and brought up—Early Memories—School and Play— Opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway—Death and Funeral of Huskisson—Rhyl in its Youth—A Stormy. Passage —The Rothesay Castle—My Grandfather—A Runaway Trip to Manchester—Sir Thomas Potter, . 15 CHAPTER II. SCHOOL DAYS. Rammohun Roy—Miss Martineau—The Rev. James Martineau- `Bruno'—Snowdonia—Classic Clwyd—Sport at Rhyl—Salmon Fishing—Primitive Bathing—A Little Adventure—A Boys' School—The Boys of Liverpool—A Battle Royal—A Stern Father and a Good Magistrate, . 44 CHAPTER III. INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING—PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTE. I am ' grown up,' and articled to an Engineer—A Gay Life—Leeds and the White,Horse Inn—The Leeds and Bradford Railway— George Robert Stephenson—Patrick Branwell Bronte—My Acquaintance with him—His Genius—His Faults and his Virtues—Letters, 67 I 0 Contents. CHAPTER IV. LIFE AS A CIVIL ENGINEER. PAGE The Electric Telegraph—Experiences at Elland—Yorkshire Hospi- tality—The Plug Riots—Attack upon the Military—Exciting Scene—' Bill the Banker,' a Navvy and a Hero—A Model Manager—' Directions to Engine-drivers '—George Stephenson —I play an Impudent Trick on the Father of Railways, . 94 CHAPTER V. GEORGE STEPHENSON. Memories of Tapton House, by one who lived there, 1 13 CHAPTER VI. THE RAILWAY MANIA. A Dangerous Practice—Railway Cowards—An Awkward Meeting— New Experiences—Maidstone—First Symptoms of the Railway Mania—An ' Opening Day' and its Incidents—The Mania at its Height—Demand for Civil Engineers—The Pressure of Work— The Rush for the 3oth of November—The Railway Trespassers —A Scene in an Engineer's Office during the Mania—Leigh Hunt and his Family, . - . 140 CHAPTER VII. LAST DAYS IN ENGLAND. Yorkshire Again—Tom Etty — Leeds and Bradford—A Terrible Experience — The Cholera — Another Narrow Escape — The Great Exhibition—Experiences of the Irish Famine—Good-bye to Yorkshire—Indecision—An Unexpected Offer—I say Fare- well to England and sail for New South Wales—The Good Ship Watergus — The Voyage and the Voyagers— Sydney Harbour, . 173 Contents. 1 I PART 11.—AUSTRALIA. CHAPTER VIII. FIRST DAYS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. PAGE First Experiences at Sydney—The Suburbs—Botany Bay and a ' Wild Beast' Story—The Gold Fever—Lucky Diggers—Rents and Revelry—An Australian Cremorne — Servants —Some Personal Experiences—A Journey into the Bush—Roads in New South Wales—A Ridiculous Blunder—Public-houses in the Bush, . 203 CHAPTER IX. CAMPING OUT IN THE BUSH. Tent Life—A Dangerous Crossing—A Wonderful Instinct—Our Camp on the Talbragar—Some of the Disadvantages of Camp Life — A Storm — Threatened Inundation — Journey across Country—A Station and a ' Tramp's Hovel '—A Spell at the Diggings—The Temptation of Bush Life—Return to Sydney —An Explosion—The Loss of the Dunbar, . 233 CHAPTER X. A SOJOURN IN QUEENSLAND. Brisbane, the Capital of Queensland—Life in the Mud—Labourers —The Blacks—A Rascal—Some Scenes of River Life, 259 CHAPTER XI. COLONIAL STORIES. Sydney again—' A Southerly Burster '—Life in the Suburbs of Sydney—' Waterloo : a Story '—The Shell Cove—Haunts of Old Convicts and Bushrangers—Sydney Bay—A Splendid View—' Ashfield : a Story,' . 276 CHAPTER XII. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. The Season of Floods—A Cure for a Sore Throat—The Visit of the Duke of Edinburgh—The Attack upon his Life : a Personal Narrative—I interfere to save O'Farrel from being Lynched— The Mining Mania—Roughing it in the Bush—Finding Com- panions—Delights of the Trip—Doubtful Pleasures—A Railway Journey, . 298 I 2 Contents. CHAPTER XIII. A TRIP TO THE GOLD FIELDS. PAGE Wallerawang—A Futile Attempt to Camp out—More about the New South Wales Roads—Bullocks versus Horses—An Accom- modation House—A Pessimist—Hill End—A Stiff Day's Work — Golden Ground — Upper Pyramul—Diggers — The Gold Mines—Wet Weather—Tambaroora—Lumps of Gold, - 359 CHAPTER XIV. BUSH WANDERINGS. More of the Gold Fields — A Dangerous Ferry — Chambers Creek—A ' Plant' in the Mining Districts—A Thunderstorm —Wretched Accommodation — Bathurst — Macquarrie Plains Station—Sydney again—Holidays—The Temperature of New South Wales—Fishing Excursions, . - 337 CHAPTER XV. A TRIP TO LAKE MACQUARRIE. A Bad Start—Wiseman's Ferry—The River Hawkesbury—A Scene on the Mountain—A Tramp—French Leave at the Ferry—A Dismal Journey—Benighted—A Night Alone in the Bush—An Honest Tramp—A Dishonest Servant—Conclusion, . 354 part 1. ENGLAND. This is a blank page PICTURES OF THE PAST. CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF THE AUTHOR AND OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM. I am born and brought up—Early Memories—School and Play—Opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway—Death and Funeral of Huskisson—Rhyl in its Youth—A Stormy Passage—The Rothesay Castle —My Grandfather—A Runaway Trip to Manchester—Sir Thomas Potter. S it worth while for one who has done ' not wisely I nor too well' with his life, to tell his tale of `talents wasted, time misspent ?' I have no moral to deduce,— a lifetime should show its own,—nor do I believe in the A spice finem. Never was inference from foregone premises more false than that so constantly insisted upon by old age prosing to 'hot youth.' ' Ah ! so Dick Daredevil's dead at last. I knew he would come to grief. What a fellow he was ! a rollicking, jolly dog, the best company in the world ; how he knocked about, went everywhere, and saw everything ! But he did no good for himself, never 16 Pictures of the Past. had a penny ; and now he's dead—drowned in that collision ! What did he want exploring New Guinea, or helping Garibaldi, or what not ? Ah ! a rolling stone, a rolling stone ! My boys, take example from Hardcash Humdrum. There's a man for you ! Never two days out of London in his life, and worth a quarter of a million of money.' Pooh ! they look at the end only, and the wrong end besides. Look life through, 0 ye self-wise drivellers ! begin at the right end. See Dick—the bold, careless, good- natured Dick—the life of his schoolmates, the leader of his college, the joy of his love, who died young, and first set him roving, although he soon followed it for its own sake. Follow the bearded pioneer in Africa or Australia ; see him overcome difficulties, defy dangers, and add at last one name more to the long list of envied victims to his country's greatness. False, oh, most false is your conclusion ! Dick has lived : Hardcash has but existed. Artemus Ward hits the whole story : ' Did he have a good time when he was here ? ' Verily, I fear I should act no better were my time to come over again, unless, indeed, I were to put money in my purse. A good deal might have been done during the railway mania of '45 and '46, and in cotton in '58 to '6o, in that way. I was born, doubtless, but I do not know where, for at the period of my advent, we—that is, my parents— were living in two places at once—a house in Man- chester and a cottage in Cheshire, and I do not know in which of them my birth took place. Birth of the Author. My mother, when I was about fourteen, took me to her room, and, opening a wardrobe, told me that I was now old enough to keep my certificate of—scmething or other. Little she knew about it. I never was able to keep anything—unless a lady's secret, perhaps.