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

A Sacrifice, By Any Name

Prologue Before launching into today's story, I thought I might give an update on how my research is going. I started this blog back in 2019 as a way of communicating some of the more interesting stories about past family members, as I embarked on a 'redo' of all my original research. Having completed my Family History Diploma the year before, I'd learnt the importance of verifying information, and my family tree had plenty of information with no proven sources. Across the last four years I have completed the 'redo' of seven lines of the family: Phelan, Gasperino, Cowan and Davenport on Dad's side, and Atkin, Collins and Kenny on Mum's. I have also done a lot of work on the remaining maternal line, Lawless. But this line's Australian history goes back an extra generation, and has not just one but five brothers who emigrated here, so it represents by far the largest chunk of work to get through. As of now, I estimate that I've completed about 85%...

A 'Painful Accident'? You're Not Kidding!

Perhaps it stands out when compared with the tendency of today's media to sensationalise, but the understatement of much of the reporting of yesteryear is remarkable. Take the following 'painful injury' to Martin Clohesy, a farming contractor of Leongatha, as reported in the Great Southern Star on Friday 5 February 1915. Martin Clohesy was a cousin of my great-grandfather Nicholas Lawless (as shown in the chart below), who some readers might remember was a hopeless alcoholic and ultimately divorced by my great-grandmother Margaret. You can read about that elsewhere in this blog. Martin was married and had two children at the time of the horrific incident, and had other relatives in the Leongatha district - including the Cantys mentioned in the article - so presumably his family were able to lend plenty of support in his farming work (he was later listed in the electoral roll as an 'onion grower').

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