47 , AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



around the metropolis, finds its way to the retail distributors on Wednesdays and Satur- 

 days. At other times it is comparatively deserted. In the early hours of the morning 

 on both those days, heavily laden carts converge upon the Markets from all points of the 

 compass, bringing with them wafts of fragrance from far-off flower-beds and pleasant 

 evidences of the fertility of the soil on the mountain slopes, where walnuts, gooseberries 

 and raspberries flourish, and" in valleys where serried rows of apple and pear, cherry, 

 peach and plum trees make the spring beautiful with their pink and snowy blossoms, 

 and the summer and autumn gay with the gold and crimson of their abundant fruitage. 

 Mingling with the spoils of Victorian orchards are cases of oranges from Parramatta, 

 dray-loads of bananas from Fiji, heaps of pineapples from Queensland, and tons of 

 grapes from South Australia and the valley of the Murray. The suburban nurseries 

 send in a wealth of flowers and pot-plants, the former arranged for the most part with 

 a nice perception of harmonies of colour and of agreeable contrasts of form. As the 

 concourse of buyers is considerable, and includes numbers of frugal housekeepers, a 

 miscellaneous mart has been established by way of supplement to the main traffic of the 

 place ; and new and cast-off wearing apparel, second-hand books, confectionery, cheap 

 jewellery, glass and china ware for household use and ornament are offered for sale 

 with such glowing eulogiums of their utility and value, and such importunities to 

 purchase them, as a long experience in the practice of itinerant hawking is capable of 

 suggesting to the persistent vendors. 



To pass from this scene of bustle and animation, of noise and confusion, of bargain 

 and sale, to the silent grass-grown Cemetery, which is partly walled in by the Market 

 Buildings, forms quite a solemn antithesis. On one side of the brick partition is the 

 din of many voices and the tumultuous movement of a jostling crowd, with a sprinkling 

 of pickpockets and a contingent of disorderly boys ; and on the other the stillness and 

 the dreamless repose of death. All the entrance gates are locked with one exception ; 

 and passing through this the stranger probably finds that he is the only living inmate 

 of an enclosure which has been watered by the tears of a generation. Among the 

 hundreds of tombstones there are very few which do not bear date in the forties or 

 fifties. Half a century has elapsed since some of those who lie beneath were committed 

 to the earth ; but that their memories are still tenderly cherished is evidenced by the 

 fact that upon graves which have been closed for forty, or even five-and-forty years, 

 pious hands have placed offerings of freshly-gathered flowers. A few conspicuous 

 monuments mark the last resting-places of early colonists of note. Among these is a 

 simple obelisk of dressed bluestone, erected several years ago, above the grave of one of 

 the founders of Melbourne. It bears the inscription : " John Batman, born at Parra- 

 matta, New South Wales, 1800; died in Melbourne 6th May, 1839. He entered Port 

 Phillip Heads 2gth May, 1835, as leader of an expedition which he had organised in 

 Launceston, Y.D.L., to form a settlement, and founded one on the site of Melbourne, 

 then unoccupied. This monument was erected by public subscription in Victoria, iSSi. 

 Circumspice ! The necessary funds were raised by a shilling subscription from two 

 thousand five hundred persons ; and the memorial was unveiled by the Mayor of 

 Melbourne in the presence of a number of old colonists, including an early friend of 

 Batman's, Mr. G. A. Thomson, at that time eighty-three years of age. 



