I wrote about the old Glenelg jetty in three of our old newsletters:
June 2002 http://seadragon.podzone.org/nletters/june2002.htm
July 2002 http://seadragon.podzone.org/nletters/july2002.htm
September 2007 http://seadragon.podzone.org/nletters/september2007.htm
Those three articles were all linked together. A couple of small errors were made by me. I don’t wish to repeat everything once more. but I do want to represent some of it again.
I mainly wish to represent some details about the landing of the ‘first mail’ at Glenelg jetty and The Masonic Ceremonials For The Commencement Of The Construction Of The First Glenelg Jetty In 1857.
Glenelg’s first jetty was built using cast-iron screw piles”. Construction of the original jetty commenced in August 1857. His Excellency the Governor, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, screwed in the first pile on Saturday 29th August 1857 in a ceremony with full Masonic honours. Brother John Lazar, the Deputy Provincial Grand Master (and Mayor of Adelaide), assisted His Excellency the Governor, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, to screw in the first pile. They were both assisted by Mr. Blyth, the Commissioner of Public Works, and Mr. Mildred, the Past Provincial Grand Master.
“Masonic ceremonials for commencement of construction of the Glenelg Jetty, 29th August 1857
A meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of South Australia, English Constitution, was held Saturday 29th August 1857, at the Pier Hotel, Glenelg. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Bro. John Lazar, was in the Chair with a large number of Worshipful Masters, Officers and Brethren in attendance.
After the Lodge had been opened in due form the Brethren proceeded to assist His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief (Bro. Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell) in screwing the first pile of the jetty at Glenelg, and the minutes go on to state, “which, with the aid of the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, was effected in due Masonic form.”
According to the “Register” newspaper of 31st August 1857: –
“The hour fixed for His Excellency’s arrival was half-past two, some time previous to which Mr. Lazar, Mayor of Adelaide (the Deputy Provincial Grand Master) reached the Pier Hotel, accompanied by a large number of officers and members of Provincial Grand Lodge and several Private Lodges. The secret rites, ceremonies, or orgies (be they what they may), of the mysterious Craft were performed in a room closely tiled and guarded (like the gate of Eden) by attendants with long swords. Subsequently the Brethren issued forth clothed in scarfs and aprons, adorned with jewels and medals, and bearing various kinds of cabalistic devices. Some of them carried wands, others had silver vessels containing corn, wine, and oil, and the Chaplain marched with measured pace, preceded by an officer who bore an open Bible on a crimson velvet cushion, while the whole were protected still by their grim satellites holding erect the naked sword and dagger. The magnates of the Order approached the pile-screwing apparatus, and the remainder of the Brethren ranged themselves on either side awaiting the approach of the vice-regal cortege.
After a loyal address had been presented to His Excellency, and he had replied, His Excellency then walked forward to the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, and proceeded, assisted by the Brothers of the Craft, to screw the pile into the sand. This was performed by means of a windlass having two handles, one of which was manned by His Excellency and the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, and the other by the Commissioner of Public Works (Mr. Blyth) and the Past Provincial Grand Master (Mr. Mildred).
The screwing, to use an expression which is now becoming highly Parliamentary, was no “sham,” as it occupied the illustrious, right worshipful, and honourable labourers for at least 10 minutes, giving them rather harder work than they are accustomed to performing with their hands. At length, in some Judaish jargon handed down from the days of King Solomon of Israel, and Hiram, King of Tyre, the Prov. Grand Master pronounced the pile firmly screwed in, and the entire corps – gubernatorial, military, civic, and mystical – adjourned to lunch at the Pier Hotel, the band all the while playing loudly the “Freemasons’ March”.”
(Then followed a column recording the speeches.)
Landing of the first mail
“Landing of the first mail” (1874)
(This picture was from my own collection. The original picture was an engraving which was first published in the “Australasian Sketcher” on 21st March 1874, page 212. That copy of the picture is held by the National Library of Australia in Canberra. A copy of the picture features in the book “The Place of Waters” by Dulcie M. Perry, page 61.)
On 6th February 1874 (six months after the opening of the Adelaide-Glenelg rail service) the first of the P&O Mail Ships to call at South Australia anchored off Glenelg. The ship was the Bangalore. She carried passengers, mail and cargo. The passengers were transferred from the ship to the jetty by launches. The mail and cargo were transferred to the jetty by a lighter. Awaiting trains conveyed everything to Adelaide. The picture shows one of the trains at the entrance to the jetty. The L-head built in 1873 can be seen at the extreme outer end of the jetty. The large building on the shore is the original Pier Hotel which had been built by Henry Moseley in 1856. (Moseley built his own home on the allotment to the south of his hotel.) Work on the construction of the jetty began in 1857.
Glenelg jetty in 1880
(Source: “Your Guide to Glenelg” by the (then) Glenelg Council)
Arrival of Mail
From 1874-88, the mail steamer (P&O) from England would anchor offshore and transfer the mail to smaller craft which would then be unloaded by crane at the jetty.
Up to 1881, the Harriet Hope was always anchored about one mile west of the jetty (1½ mile from shore) to serve as a store for coals for the mail steamers, and also to indicate the anchorage. This vessel, known as “the hulk”, would show two vertical lights at night and fire a gun whenever the mail arrived or departed.
Rockets were thrown up whenever the lights of the mail steamer came into sight at night and blue lights were shone from the end of the jetty. If the steamer arrived during the day, the company’s flag (P&O) was hoisted on board the hulk and the rendezvous flag was hoisted on the lighthouse flagstaff.
Glenelg jetty
(Source: “Glenelg A Walk Through History” by the City of Holdfast Bay)
(The transcript from the Register was scanned from Charles RJ Glover’s book “A History of First Fifty Years of Freemasonry in South Australia 1834-1884” published 1915, pages 52-53.)