The pool of St Branok

Everywhere we went we were welcomed. The people here seemed to enjoy having visitors from Home which was how they regarded England. All the time they wanted to hear news of what was happening there and they told us how they lapped up everything they could hear and how irked they were because they could not get enough news. They were proud of their town but there was a certain detectable nostalgia in their voices when they talked of Home.

It is exciting to be in a city which is almost growing under one's eyes. At home everything was so old. London had been the Londinium of the Romans; antiquity lurked in every corner; and Cornwall, with its legends and stories, memories of before the coming of Christianity to our islands, seemed ageless. But a few years ago there had been no buildings here. I tried to imagine what it would have looked like then, and failed. But after I had listened to some of the people, who were very ready to talk, and had read accounts of the first settlers, a picture began to form in my mind. I could see those settlers coming over from Van Diemen's Land and how they must have been struck by the beauty of the scenery—the wild bush-land and the oaks and eucalypti and the river, its bank covered with bright yellow flowers, flowing into the sea. That was in the year 1835, before I was born, but to these people it did not seem so long. There had been some aborigines here—dark men who regarded them with wonder and from whom they learned that the name of the river was the Yarra Yarra.

I could see myself arriving with those people, marveling at the colorful birds—red-crested black cockatoos, yellow-crested white ones, the gallahs and the laughing kookaburras—all of which I was looking forward to discovering.

I was excited, wondering what my life here would be like. Ben was never far from my thoughts. I wanted to talk to him, to hear of his adventures. I wanted to hear everything about this new country from him.

There were some fine houses. Gold had made the town rich. We were amused to find that the name of one of the nicest parts of the town was Richmond, so reminiscent of our own Richmond on the Thames. When I had been to London to visit the Exhibition and had first met Benedict we had been to Richmond together. We had gone down the river from Westminster Stairs. Grace had been with us but what I remembered most was laughing with Ben, talking with Ben and the pleasure of being with him.

Although I was on the other side of the world I felt at home. I could love this place; it excited me because it was different and yet not alien. People talked to us in shops over the baby linen and the stores which we thought we should take with us. Morwenna and I had agreed, though, that we should have to see what we needed first, which we could only do when we settled in; then we should have to pay other visits to Melbourne. These people were very anxious to tell us what a fine town they had; we heard of the theater which had been built; the fine shops which were springing up everywhere; the grand houses, and how the settlers had brought with them English manners and customs. They played cricket just as in England and recently, the All-England Eleven match had been played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Two thousand people had come to welcome the players from Home, and the match had gone on for four days.

It was just like home.

The men were impatient to be on the move and although I felt there was much more I wanted to see in Melbourne, I was eager to take the coach and set out for Golden Creek.

We took the Cobb's Coach on the appointed day. It was a smart-looking vehicle, made in America, drawn by six sturdy horses and it carried seventy passengers.

Our purchases and baggage had been sent on to Golden Creek, so we had nothing to worry about.

It was a very interesting journey. We had a chance to see some of the fine houses which had been built in the environs of the town. Most of the builders had endeavored to produce an English country mansion.

At length we were out in the country. There were miles and miles of bush broken only by the occasional tall eucalyptus trees.

The days seemed long. I was rather anxious about Morwenna who was beginning to show signs of fatigue. There could be no possible doubt that she was fairly well advanced in her state. I prayed that all would go well with her. Whatever she said, as soon as we arrived, I was going to make inquiries as to what arrangements could be made for bringing children into the world.

There were two nights when we stayed at inns which were prepared for the periodic visits of the travelers and were referred to by some people as Cobb's Houses. Conditions were primitive; the comforts of the city did not extend to these places.

"Never mind," said Gervaise. "It is only for two nights. We didn't expect luxury, did we?"

We were all eager now to reach Golden Creek.

Several people got off the coach. The rest were going on to other fields further on.

Ben was waiting for us.