SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7720, 18 April 1887, Page 3

SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

In a description of a dinner given by • the Governor to South Australian colonists who landed fifty years ago, the Register savs -—"Fifty years of hard toil have altered the sliape and have enfeebled the grip of those hands, but not by one jot or tittle has time, dulled the loyalty and patriotism of the hearts that nerved those hands to add a new possession to the Crown of England. To the onlooker, Miss Thompson's picture of the 'Roll Call' was brought vividly to mind, as, at the hour named, the veterans began to advance up the carriage drive. The men exceeded the women in number, but there were also a fow of the 'better half of man who had elected to accompany their husbands and fathers from the old world to the new. But what gaps in the ranks were there— gaps filled once by men and women who had set out full of hope to found a new home, and who, after toiling for years, had' found a, grave in onr bright southern land With hardly an exception they were hale and hearty, and were possessed of a goodly residue of the pith and vigor thai sustained them in the early days of colonial life. Time had not let them pass without leaving iqs indelible mark upon their li«ures ; but there were many present who in personal combat could have given a good account to many of the later ijeneration." Many old friendships were renewed on this occasion, and many a pleasant chat took place over " old recollections," as the following extract will illustrate :— " On all sides could he heard expressions such as, ' Don't you remember how in '37, we met nearthegum tree,' or, ' What good old times those were ! It would be grand to live them over again.' One rcalls how, at tiie first levee held at Government House, the building was a •palatial wattle-and-daub hut, and the greater part of those present were aboriginals clothed in little else but sunshine ; how etiquette was not of paramount importance ; and when lines of social demarcation were not laid down, and gum-trees flourished in Hindley -street. At that very levee, for instance, as a matter of fact, one dress coat served half a dozen wearers. The first man would put it on, be presented, slip out of the Governor's house, and, pulling the coat oft", hand it to the second claimant of the five eagerly waiting their turn behind the bole of some big sheltering tree. One old colonist said that in these brave old times so long as a man wore n good pair of trousers, a good pair of boots, and a good pair of spurs, he might consider himself well dressed. It was evident that hats and shirts were extras, not to mention coats. Another showed some pride in the recollection of the rough times he had seen, and confessed with a smile that he had not tried to make them smooth, but had enjoyed them as they were. In those days there was no hour named at which publichouscs must be closed, 'and,' added the man, 'we shouldn't have taken any notice of them any way .' "