Decade 51
prosperous condition, the inexhaustible resources, and the glor- ious prospects, which the Colony presents to our astonished view ..."
According to its editor, the Colonist and not "Nichol's Rag" was first to suggest that something should be done to celebrate the Jubilee, although the Reverend John Dunmore Lang was in London so his name was not among "the influential and respectable Householders" who attended the preliminary meeting on 26 December, 1837» and unanimously resolved: "That a Public Meeting of the Colonists gen erally be convened on an early day to adopt measures for celebrat-
Itlr
ing the Jubilee." Nichols* name was first on the list of sponsors* In 1838, this handsome, Australian-born, 29-year-old son of an Emancipist, stood well to the left of Wentworth in the councils of the A.P. A. which continued to petition for the rights of English men, as elaborated, if not defined, by Edmund Burke, rather than for the Rights of Man.
The public meeting was convened for 3 January at the Royal Hotel, George Street, and the sponsors defined its purpose as fol lows: "In order to commemorate this important epoch in the history of Australia, and to celebrate in the most joyous way, the civil ised Birth of our much blessed and rising Colony, to join heart and hand in one common union at the Banquetting Table, which it is in tended shall be sumptuously prepared under the super-intendence of a select Committee of Management •••• Gentlemen Patriotically dispos ed to assist by their efforts in consuniating with splendour and good harmony the Feast of the Jubilee, will be pleased to assemble at the Royal Hotel, on Wednesday next, the 3rd inst., at Twelve o*clock precisely .... As a preliminary step, it is proposed to sol icit of His Excellency the Acting Governor, the use of one of the wings of the Market Place, and to reouest the aid of Government in fitting up such wing as a Banquetting Hall."
Including the sponsors, only twenty-four people attended the
4 3. Australian, 2 January, 1838. 44* Colonist, 3 January, 1 8 3 8.
Wednesday meeting. Obviously, the colonists were either doubt ful about "the civilized Birth" or the present blessedness of New South Wales or reluctant to "join heart and hand in one common un ion" at a banquetting table obviously meant for "influential and respectable" £20 franchise Householders at least. Hastily, the original sponsors corrected their initial mistake by adjourning the meeting until 8 January, "when those Persons who are desirous that measures should be adopted for the celebration of the 50th Anniver sary of the Foundation of the Colony as a Public Festival, are re spectfully requested to attend at the Mechanics* School of Arts at the hour of 12 o ' clockr,noon ...."
Meanwhile, to everyone's relief, the Sydney Gazette, old-
i+t
est and most staid of Sydney’s newspapers, had announced that "the Australian Jubilee will be taken in hand by the Government, and that the arrangements will be made throughout the Colony to render the day as one not likely to be forgotten ...." The Gazette added: "The natives, as might have been anticipated, are taking up the ma.tter with creditable spirit worthy of the occasion." In short, the Acting Governor, Scottish Peninsular War veteran Lieut—Colonel Kenneth Snodgrass, had no intention of leaving the Jubilee in the hands of the "Australians".
Not deigning to notice the Colonist's claim to have originated moves for the celebration of the Jubilee the Gazette observed sar castically that it would have been considered presumptuous in us to have interfered in any shape with the arrangements proposed for the celebration of the Jubilee ... while the Australian had taken the management of the affair under its protection" but, "as it may now be ... considered as a matter of history that our contemporary has failed in the accomplishment of his object, we may perhaps be for given in conceiving it expedient to bring a similar project forward
45* Colonist, 6 January, 1838.
46. Sydney Gazette,
4
January, 1838.Decade 53
for the consideration of our readers."
After dwelling on the rapid progress of the Colony over fifty years, a progress "unparalleled in the history of any age or coun try", and looking forward to the time, "which cannot be far dis tant", when New South Wales will "assume its position among the brightest gems in the British diadem," the Gazette asserted that the "only stumbling block in the way of the celebration of the Jub ilee passing off with eclat, is, in our opinion the insolent ef frontery of several of the more unregenerate members of the felonry, who must persist in intruding their presence on all occasions
The Gazette concluded that "the ill-judged attempts of brazen-faced men to intrude" should be resisted at the meeting called for 6 Jan uary at the Mechanic's Institute although the "criterion of charac ter" should be "equally applied to all classes, whether Emigrant, Australian, or Emancipist This could be done, it was sug gested, by the selection of stewards for the occasion "to prevent the intrusion of improper characters".
AlasJ for the Gazette's hopes. On 13 January it regretted to report that the "attempt on Monday last to get up a Public Meet ing to adopt measures for the celebration of the Jubilee .... fail ed like the former, about eleven or twelve individuals being all that were in attendance. Those who did assemble parted without taking any further steps in the matter ...." The Gazette sugges ted that "the original requisitionists" should apply to the Acting Governor to proclaim 26 January a public holiday and grant such other aid as may seem necessary.*“
In a note printed in the same issue the Gazette quoted a re port from "one of our contemporaries" that "the 'Native' Austral ians ... intend celebrating the 50th Anniversary by a grand ball and supper ... at the Pulteney Hotel ... patronised by Australia's fair 47« Sydney Gazette, 6 January, 1838.