There is an increasing interest in the early days of the town of Wagga Wagga , and there is still a great deal to be done to piece together a detailed chronology of the life of the first streets as set out by Surveyor Townsend in his original plan.
The evolution of the town , as chronicled through the newspapers of the time, is fascinating to follow: businesses, court reports, advertisements, snippets of local news, are some of the pieces that make up the puzzle that was early town life. In the next few posts, I'll be looking at three years from the 1880s - 1880, 1884, and 1888, to give you just a little window into the bustling hive of activity that was Wagga Wagga in the late 19th century.
1880
In 1880, there were coaches carrying mail, people and goods across the countryside. The Australian Hotel in Fitzmaurice Street was the booking office for the Royal Mail at this point in time.
Steamers also plied their trade along the river, and hotels were popular as offices for bookings, in this case the Pastoral Hotel in Fitzmaurice Street, or, as the advertisement below says, just ask the Captain on board the steamer (Wagga Wagga Advertiser, Saturday 6 March 1880).
There was concern about flooding eroding the riverbank and the impact of this in the town, and under the heading "Items of news" the writer expresses this worry of the weathering of the bank by "every freshet that comes down the river" (Wagga Wagga Advertiser, Thursday February 19 1880). A freshet was a flood from ice or snow melting and rushing down a river, thus causing damage from flooding, and the term was in popular use in America during the 1800s.
An editorial in the Wagga Wagga Advertiser on the same day in February calls on the Municipal representatives to impose sanitary measures on the residents and businesses in Fitzmaurice Street. Wagga Wagga as a town was reluctant to take on modern measures that would improve the health of the town and it was the job of the council at the time to implement the measures despite the unwillingness of the populace.
Another major event was the fire in the Fitzmaurice Street that destroyed the Criterion Hotel, the Mason's Arms, the Masonic Hall and other buildings on Friday the 15th of October 1880.
The fire was reported in the Wagga Wagga Advertiser on Saturday 16 October 1880 :
As you can see from the excerpt above, the damage done by the fire was extensive. A further detailed report was written in the Wagga Wagga Advertiser on Tuesday 19 October 1880, describing the injuries of firefighters and volunteers and details of insurance for all the people and businesses involved. Here is an excerpt from that article :
The fire was big news, and in subsequent days the response of the fire brigade was called into question: why hadn't they taken the fire truck to the river to get a steady supply of water, instead of the yard of the Criterion Hotel ? The Municipal Council of the time examined the matter thoroughly and it was decided that the "newly formed" fire brigade had done an excellent job in the circumstances.
From the Wagga Wagga Advertiser, Saturday 30 October 1880 :
The new fire station was built in Newtown, which is probably more commonly known as South Wagga Wagga ( or as historian Keith Swan described it, "the area south of Wollundry Lagoon").
Businesses in Fitzmaurice street were many and varied, as were hotels. Although I can't cover everything here, a few businesses of interest were the IXL Furniture Arcade, Ye Chong Drapery and Grocery Store, W MacArthur Tailor and Clothier, and H J Williams , Family and Dispensing Chemist.The Masonic buildings, housed businesses as well as the Masonic Hall.
Although we may think of the 1880s as a time of difficulty and isolation in country areas like Wagga Wagga and it's surrounding districts, quite a busy social and cultural life existed in the town and recitals, concerts, and entertainments were held at the School of Arts and the Masonic Hall. People also held these events at different venues including people's homes and other shops. The Wagga Wagga Brass Band gave outdoor concerts, this one held by the light of the full moon on Thursday 9th of December, as seen by this entry from the Wagga Wagga Advertiser below:
As you can see by the advertisement (left) from the Wagga Wagga Advertiser Thursday 1 July 1880, entertainments could be a mixture of all sorts- singing, a form of play known as a farce that was mostly buffoonery with very little story to back it up, and in this case, ventriloquism , (it's easy to imagine the doll would have looked pretty scary) but these troupes were quite popular in the country towns.
Shakespeare recitals, literary recitals, musical concerts , or combinations of any of these sorts of entertainments livened up the evenings and the seasons were mostly ignored. If rain or bad weather stopped an event, it was merely postponed, until the weather was more amenable.
The development of the life of Wagga Wagga as a town as it unfolds through the years is absorbing to watch. Meanwhile, if you are interested in doing your own research Trove is a great place to start -and here is a link to Trove's online newspapers :
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q=
If you have any queries the friendly staff at the information desk at the library can help.
Shakespeare recitals, literary recitals, musical concerts , or combinations of any of these sorts of entertainments livened up the evenings and the seasons were mostly ignored. If rain or bad weather stopped an event, it was merely postponed, until the weather was more amenable.
The development of the life of Wagga Wagga as a town as it unfolds through the years is absorbing to watch. Meanwhile, if you are interested in doing your own research Trove is a great place to start -and here is a link to Trove's online newspapers :
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q=
If you have any queries the friendly staff at the information desk at the library can help.
