Let Them Keep It Dark

A little postscript after my series of posts on my great-grandfather Joseph Charles Martin Cowan that I just had to share.

On 12 December 1890 the North Melbourne Advertiser was reporting on Essendon council business, and noted that "Cr. Cowan moved that the Railway Commissioners be requested to keep alight the lamp on the west side of the Ascot Vale Railway Station in Bloomfield's Paddock. A good deal of free love went on here at nights to the disgust of the residents.'

This prompted the following from the Melbourne Punch on 15 January 1891, who felt so strongly that they were moved to poetry!

How hideously unsympathetic men may become as they grow old! We don't suppose that rhyme will touch their flinty hearts, but the situation demands a stanza, and it shall have it – though we should be slain by public subscription afterwards.

O, Councillors of Essendon,
Famed for your gifts of tongue,
Do you forget completely
The days when you were young?
Ah, you could make confession
To many a bygone lark
We fancy, if you chose – but
Not you - you keep it dark.

O, Councillors of Essendon,
Round, fat and pompous grown –
We take these facts for granted –
Are your hearts turned to stone?
Have you not often wandered
With Her in lane or park,
And thanked the local council
Because it kept 'em dark?

O, Councillors of Essendon,
Just think it o'er again –
If Love can laugh at Jocksmiths
He can at Aldermen!
So if your local lovers
Prefer to shun remark
Just put your beastly lamp out
And let them keep it dark.

Comments

General Hewitt and the Man from Elba

I have always enjoyed saying I'm 1/16th Italian. I've often been asked if I have a European background, so it's fun to be able to provide that answer. Though so far, my DNA test is showing no evidence of this background! Nevertheless, it is true, my family does have one Italian ancestor. He was my 2x great-grandfather and his name was Antony Gasperino. His arrival in this country dates back to the 1850s, in quite unusual circumstances, on a ship named the General Hewitt . But before we even make our way on board that ship, what little we know of Antony's early life deserves a mention. Antony (presumably Antonio in his native land) Gasperino was born on the island of Elba in 1836. From his marriage certificate we know that his father was Lawrence (Lorenzo) Gasperino but his mother's name is not recorded. On his death certificate her name is listed as 'not known'. It's strange that even the informant at the time of his death (his son Joseph) would not kno...

How Austin Phelan Met his Wife

Dad's father Phillip Stanley Phelan was one of twelve children (eight boys and four girls) born to Joseph Phelan and Mary Gasperino. By the time Dad was eight years old, he had five uncles and three aunts surviving. As I have mentioned previously, I don't recall hearing much about them from him when I was growing up, and certainly not Austin George Phelan, who was the youngest of the boys in the family. Austin was born in Benalla in 1904, lived in the Essendon area all his life, like many of the Phelan clan, and worked as a brewery employee. But it is how he came to meet his wife Sara that proved to be of most interest once I started digging. As you can see above, Austin was listed as the 'co-respondent' in the 1931 divorce case between John Carnegie Lovick and his wife Sara Annie Lovick. In other words, he was the 'other man' who had become involved with a married woman (who would later ultimately become his wife). Officially John Lovick was petitioning...

Tommy Roundhead: The Most Lawless Lawless of All

With the number of Lawlesses in my family tree, it was only a matter of time until I found one that truly lived up to the name. At first, I was incredulous at the discovery of this man's litany of 'drunk and disorderly' and obscene language charges, incurred far and wide. But upon closer reading of a handful of his convictions, I realised there was a darker and more disturbing side, and that this was perhaps a very troubled individual. Mugshot of Thomas Lawless from the records of the Bathurst Gaol Thomas Lawless was the second child of Patrick and Catherine (Kitty) Lawless. He was born about 1844 in Macedon, Victoria, but currently we know little about his early life. However, the Ancestry website revealed several 'hints' to NSW Gaol Description and Entrance Book records for a Thomas Lawless born about 1846 in Victoria, so thought I might be onto something. I had to be careful though, as there was more than one Thomas Lawless in the colonies around this time. A sea...

Phelan and Atkin Family History

Search This Blog