In last week's story I was talking about the coaches that ran from Port Albert to Sale and beyond, to Bairnsdale and to much smaller but then-growing places like Bald Hill. I was talking about the year 1863, and I was using the front page of the Gippsland Times issue for Friday 13 March.

I admit to being a little side-tracked by the mystery (to me) of the SS Keera.
Port Albert was then the capital of Gippsland in all but name, and it was a very busy port, eventually having its own Customs House and being formally made a Port of Entry. The diggers and the miners and the prospectors usually came by ship to Port Albert, and the travelled by whatever means they could afford to The Jordan, Blue Jacket Creek, the Toombon and all the other places gold was found.
In 1863 it was possible to come up the Gippsland Track, with coaches running at least to the Bunyip, a track that was readily followed but still rough.
This week I'd like to mention the other businesses that lived by that passing traffic.
Beside the coaching lines there were many advertised businesses relying on the traffic to and from the goldfields between Walhalla and Woods Point and a few other places. Those businesses were vitally important in growing townships.
There were the hotels, of course, and not all of them were dedicated to serving the goldfields. There was a growing traffic along the Gippsland Track, or the Melbourne Road, depending upon from which end you were looking.
From the Eagle Hotel, Moe River "Isaac Lear begs to intimate that the above hotel is no undergoing repairs and will be re-furnished immediately… particular attention will be paid to the stable, where the most moderate charges will be exacted for good feed."
"The paddocks are well grassed… and good stockyards are provided for drafting cattle, Settlers and stockmen will find this house…will vie for good fare against any house on the Melbourne Road. Moe, 20th January 1863."
The Half-Way House on the Jordan Road was advertised by Mr W Cook as having Horse Feed and Stabling of the best Description." There was even the Jordan Hotel, owned by Michael O'Keefe of Red Jacket and offering "superior accommodation for Miners and Others visiting the JORDAN GOLDFIELDS." The rules on using capital letters were obviously rather different 161 years ago.
The Thomson Bridge Hotel, adjoining the new free Heyfield bridge was advertised to "Draymen and Travellers from Sale or Rosedale to the Bald Hill, Donnelly's Creek and Jordan Goldfields" with the point that the New Bridge… is now open without any toll for the accommodation of all parties travelling."
Donald McKenzie was announcing that he'd taken over the Ship Inn at Port Albert and offered 'good English Fare'. There were Billiards and Bagatelle rooms and good stabling with 'Hay and Oats of the finest Quality". There were 'private apartments for families". Almost beside his advertisement was one put in by Robert Adams "Late Proprietor of the Ship Inn" advertising his new hotel, the Adams Family Hotel, with the usual claims of superior accommodation and so forth.
George French had the Club Hotel where 'THE BLLIARD ROOM is fitted up with every appliance and a Marker always n attendance". It offered good quality stabling and was "well supplied with the Best Quality Provender" and it was, of course, the arrival and departure point for some of the Port Albert coaches.
An obvious recurring theme is provision for horses and Duncan Clark advertised the Royal Exchange Hotel as having "the most extensive and best watered paddocks adjacent to Sale, with a good stable and men's hut."
"Good accommodation is offered to PACKERS and others from the gold fields, also to SETTLERS with Cattle on their way to Melbourne or Port Phillip. The paddocks are now in full grass and within a mile of the township of Sale."
William Greenwood had the Turf Hotel at 'Plains', situated a mile out on the road to Stratford.
There were the stores, too..
Up on the Jordan Diggings James Davey and Co begged to call the attention of PACKMEN, DIGGERS and OTHERS proceeding to the above Diggings to their large stock of Grocery, Boots, Shoes, Etc, especially selected for the Digging Trade and now offering at the Lowest Remunerative Prices for CASH only." The address of his Gippsland Mart was given as 'near the Police Station, Foster Street". In an advert for an auction the address of the Gippsland Mart is given as "opposite the National Bank". Street numbers were a long way into the future.
William Doherty of Bairnsdale was offering serious drinkers the ideal supplies with "Brandy in bulk and case. Whisky and Rum, Geneva, Old Tom, and Bitters (Boker's), Port and Sherry in bulk and case". He was also selling various wines and beers, and tobacco (Barrett's, Anchor and Flat Fig) and Cigars, and attached a long list of stores that were available, including lobsters and salmon. I'm not sure how he'd manage to get fresh lobsters.
The Gippsland Hardware Company proudly announced that it had bought the whole cargo of the ship 'Fame' landed at Port Albert and that this included five tons of galvanised iron and also 12 tons of Warrnambool fine Flour."
William Doherty ran a large store in Bairnsdale and offered almost everything from brandy to Blucher Boots. Tea could be bought by the case. There were four types of sugar available - Loaf, Cossipore, Counter and Ration. If you know the meanings of those four labels I'd love your letting me know.
There was a surprising number of advertisements for liquor stores, the bottle shops of the past. E.W. Stead had one such in Raymond Street, Sale, and he also offered "Goods Stored". The Duncan Brothers – perhaps linked to the Telegraph Coaches – offered a long list of spirits, beers imported from England and a selection of wines more thorough than most,.
The famous Patrick Coady Buckley had the sole FOR SALE advert, offering "About Thirty Working Bullocks, Several Draft Colts and a Few stanch draft Horses. Apply to P.C. Buckley, Prospect".
I'll leave it there but it is obvious that the traffic to and from the goldfields was vitally important to the growth of Sale and that Port Albert was vitally important for people and goods coming and going out. If Port Albert was then the capital of Gippsland, soon to be overtaken by Sale, then the track between the two was still Gippsland's Main Road in 1863.