Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.1.pdf/186

of it n o w before m e , one wonders h o w it could have ever held 150 church-goers, for so m a n y persons must have had very close quarters, and packing them "like herrings in a cask" would seem little or no figure of speech. T h e chapel, by some freak of fortune, passed into the possession of Mr. T h o m a s Monahan, w h o converted it into a couple of cottage residences. A n esteemed friend, to w h o m I a m specially indebted for suggestions as to the early Methodism of Port Phillip, has favoured m e with a m e m o r a n d u m so interesting that I append it without abbreviation :— " Methodism in the early days of the colony owed m u c h to William Witton and James Dredge. J. J. Peers was liberal in money, and took m u c h interest in forming a choir. Mr. P. Hurleston was the first organist. O n Mr. C. Stone's arrival in 1838, about a dozen persons of the Methodism persuasion met on one or two evenings in the week in a wattle-and-daub skillion in Bourke Street West, a few doors from Elizabeth Street. O n the Sundays they attended the services of the Scotch Church, conducted by the Rev. James Forbes, and in the evening the ministrations of the Rev. W . Waterfield, the Independent minister, w h o held service in Fawkner s Hotel. T h e Rev. Francis Tuckfield, Wesleyan minister to the aborigines, arrived in July, and often preached. Mr. Witton collected those w h o had been members of the Society in Sydney and V a n Diemen's Land, and formed them into a class. They were seven persons, and he became their leader. C. Stone had brought from Hobartown authority from the Rev. Mr. Orton to conduct services, and he and Witton, who had been a local preacher at Launceston, commenced to preach. Peers, Witton, and others at length set about the erection of a chapel, and one was built upon some ground belonging to Peers, at the Swanston Street and Flinders Lane corner. Before the chapel was completed, Messrs. Dredge and Parker arrived as Assistant-Protectors to the aborigines, and being m e n of education and ability, services were n o w regularly organised. T h e staff of local preachers wras strengthened by the arrival of Messrs. James Smith, from Hobartown, and T h o m a s Wilkinson, from Launceston, and this enabled the formation of stations at Newtown (Fitzroy), Williamstown, Brunswick, Pentridge, and other places. T h e Rev. Benjamin Hurst joined the Buntingdale Mission Station, and things went on until the Rev. Mr. Orton, in October 1840, took temporary charge of the circuit, which he held until the appointment of the Rev. S. Wilkinson in 1841. Mr. Wilkinson was assisted by several lay-preachers, of w h o m some are dead, and some are deacons preaching in various places. T h efirstchapel at N e w t o w n was a wooden structure at the corner of Brunswick and M o o r Streets, and this was afterwards removed to Richmond Flat. Mr. Hurleston, thefirstorganist, built aflour-millat Brighton, and is n o w dead." At one of thefirstGovernment land sales, a Melbourne speculator purchased the valuable corner allotment in Collins Street, upon portion of which the Bank of Australasia is built. It was knocked down to him for ,£40, and a deposit of ,£4 or ten per cent, paid ; but he was one of those cute fellows who often overdo things, and feeling some doubt as to the reproductions of his investment, m a d e himself safe by forfeiting the deposit. T h e Government then had some notion of reserving the land for a post-office, but it wasfinallygranted to the Wesleyans as a site for a chapel and school. This was their first regular temple of worship erected; though, in after years, when the value of land enormously increased in Collins Street, the Congregational authorities considered it desirable to sell the allotment and appropriate the proceeds to providing for the extension of the religious accommodation so urgently required. T h e necessary legal authorisation for the transfer was obtained, and the free gift of the Executive passed away for the sum of ,£40,000, portion of which was expended on the land and building of the n o w Wesley Church in East Lonsdale Street—an architectural ornament, beside which the original uncouth chapel would blush: that is, if its unplastered brick walls rendered such a process possible. T h e residue of the purchase-money was expended to advantage by those w h o were doubtless the best judges as to what ought to be done with it. Great and persistent efforts were made, by the small but enthusiastic band of religionists, to raise funds necessary to procure State aid as given in days of yore to such of the Christian denominations as chose to apply for it under the prescribed conditions; and the Melbourne Wesleyans succeeded so far that they were enabled, in the early part of 1840, to m a k e a good beginning. There was a large concourse of people present at the foundation ceremonial, and surrounded with all the prayerful auxiliaries befitting such an eventful occasion, the stone was laid by the Rev. Mr. Hurst, who had previously deposited in a cavity of the understone a brass plate, on which was engraved the following comprehensive