St Patrick's Day, 1860

St Patrick's Day in Melbourne, circa 1881.  Courtesy of the Station Library of Victoria Collection.  IAN06/04/81/73

ST. PATRICK'S DAY.-Chiltern, can not, on this occasion at least, boast of having perpetuated the memory of the celebrated Saint in anything approaching the style so characteristic of St. Patrick's Hall, in Melbourne. There were none of those exciting scenes so common among the boys of the Emerald Isle on such joyful occasion. The event of the evening was the gathering at Keay's Suffolk Hotel. There the celebrated violinist Mr. Griffith, accompanied by Mr. Langemezar on the harp, enlivened the proceedings by their animating performances - there was also a fair sprinkling of ladies, who lent their charms to the evening's amusement. The inclemency of the weather and the darkness of the night, prevented many from attending, never the less a tolerable muster of the brave sons of ould Ireland complied with the invitation of Mr Keay's to roll up on Saint Patrick's night. Dancing was kept up with great spirit to a late hour, and whilst those who liked it were  "shaking the dust from the floor," many ardent spirits were pledging  the  memory of the patron Saint in bumpers full to overflowing, altogether the evening passed off very cheerfully. 

SYDNEY. (1860, March 20). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1857 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved October 9, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112914345