4 68 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



f 



its eastern suburbs, for in and near it are the ample spaces reserved for the exclusive 

 use of the clubs, schools or societies connected with the Melbourne, the East Melbourne, 

 the Richmond and the Scotch College Cricket Grounds, the Friendly Societies' Gardens 

 and the Richmond Bowling Green. These are vested in trustees representing the 

 different bodies more immediately concerned ; and that portion of the Park which still 

 remains unappropriated in this way has been largely entrenched upon by the six lines 

 of railway which cross it from west to east, as also by the extension through it of 

 Swan Street, Richmond. 



On Saturday afternoons during the greater part of the year, Yarra Park presents a 

 scene of great animation. Cricket-matches, foot-ball contests and bicycle and tricycle 

 races often attract from twenty to thirty thousand spectators in the circular enclosure of 

 the Melbourne Cricket Club. A large and commodious grand-stand affords accommodation 

 for some thousands of the general public, and a substantial members' pavilion is set 

 apart for the use of subscribers. The ground is encircled by a zone of exotic trees 

 which in a few years will constitute a shady cloister, whence in coolness and shadow the 

 great bulk of the visitors may view the sports. 



The other cricket grounds are also numerously frequented during the season ; and 

 the Richmond Bowling Green with its trim and well-kept lawns, that look like squares 

 of velvet set in a dark frame formed by a girdle of pines is at all times of the year 

 a pleasant object to look at from the passing trains, and never more so than in the 

 middle of summer, when its fresh verdure conveys a feeling of restfulness and refresh- 

 ment to eyes pained and wearied by the universal glare. 



South of Swan Street a block of land, around which the Yarra draws a bow-like 

 curve, is held in trust under a Government grant for the exclusive use of the various 

 Friendly Societies in and around Melbourne. There are upwards of thirty of these, with 

 a membership of between sixty and seventy thousand, and a total income of a quarter of a 

 million sterling. Most of them hold a general holiday once in the course of the year, 

 involving a procession, with bands of music, badges and banners, followed by an afternoon 

 and evening of festivity in these gardens, where an encampment suddenly springs up, and 



All the sloping pasture murmurs 



Sown with happy faces and with holiday. 



Oddfellows and Druids, Caledonian and Hibernian Associations hold their revels here, and 

 the great mass of those who participate in them show by the sobriety of their demeanour 

 and their self-respecting conduct that in all their merry-makings they know how to 



Teach themselves that honourable step 

 Not to outsport discretion. 



But the great festivity of the year is that which is celebrated in the month of 

 April, when the whole of the United Trades commemorate the anniversary of the establish- 

 ment of the principle formulated in the words " Eight hours' labour, eight hours' 

 recreation, eight hours' rest." All labour is suspended ; factories and workshops are 

 closed. The deserted scaffoldings are dressed with flags, and a hundred thousand people 

 pour into the streets of Melbourne from far and near to witness the mile-long proces- 

 sion of the representatives of all the handicrafts pursued by the wage-earning classes of 

 the capital. Each branch of industry is preceded by its symbolical banner, and its 



