| Title: | McMahon Glynn, Patrick to Glynn, Ellen, 1901 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4437 |
| Collection | Patrick McMahon Glynn: Letters to his family (1874-1927) [Gerald Glynn O'Collins] |
| File | glynn/89 |
| Year | 1901 |
| Sender | McMahon Glynn, Patrick |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | politician |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Destination | Gort, Co. Galway, Ireland |
| Recipient | Glynn, Ellen |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | son-mother |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 392 |
| Genre | inauguration of the Commonwealth, account of Sydney, politics |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 4 January 1901 My dear Mother I am, as you may suppose, here for the celebrations connected with the Inauguration of the Commonwealth. The New South Wales Government are the entertainers, and their hospitality is lavish. My residence is at the Grosser Kurfurst, a German vessel of 13,000 odd tons at which the distinguished visitors who are the guests of the Government- rather some of them—put up. We have Ministers, Knights, leading Politicians, Judges, Bishops, and other celebreties there The wonderful Sydney Harbor is alive with Steamers & crafts of all sizes, ablaze with festoons of Electric Light and other illuminations at night. As a Harbor, with its 11 or 12 hundred miles of bays & inlets, its depth at all places up to the greatest tonnages, and its bustle of boats, it is beyond one's dreams. The city is lit at night with marvellous devices of electricity & gas; the Electric trams bright with light & people; bands playing at intervals; the Streets Packed with the best mannered, best humored, and most sociable, People I ever met Their bearing is a lesson in the refining influence of the pervading sense of democratic institutions and corporate ownership & control. The City is given over to eight days Rejoicing. This morning I went round Part of the Harbor in a Government Steam Launch, and tonight, the night of Special Harbor illuminations, view the Pyrotechnic Display from one of their vessels. But the Papers I send you will give the details of Present Sydney Life. The First Federal Government is formed, but though of on the whole able men, of men mostly for a time ambitious of the Position and who Played their cards accordingly. I was to leave tonight—but G. H. Reid, who but for Political accidents would have been first Premier, asked me to spend Saturday and Sunday with him and on Monday leave with him for Melbourne. He is perhaps the Best Platform Speaker in the Empire, and will, I mink, be the Second Federal Premier. We crossed swords on the convention, but our lines—a free trade tariff—are now convergent, and when others, looking for Federal office, hesitated and trimmed, I took up his work of educating the People against Protection. With Best Wishes for the New Century to you all, Your Affectionate Son P. McM. Glynn |
