Garryowen – who compiled the chronicles of early Melbourne

A major contributor to chronicling Melbourne’s 19th century history was Edmund Finn, commonly known as Garryowen. 

He was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in January 1819, and was the oldest of a large family of farm servants. 

The family emigrated to Melbourne in 1841 and he was “struck with disappointment and dismay” before taking employment as a journalist with the Port Phillip Herald. 

He adopted the pseudonym of Garryowen in 1844 and observed and wrote about almost everything that went on in the young colony, including industry (such as brickmaking), hunting, the orphan asylum, the powder magazine, the proposal for a separate municipality, public disputes and scandals. 

Much of the writing by the fiercely passionate Irishman centred on Emerald Hill, where he spent many years. It later became South Melbourne and ultimately Southbank.

The first government land sales (1849) in the district had led to the name of Emerald Hill being adopted, suggested by Finn, in homage to the green hills of his native Ireland. 

As the area grew, town status was reached in 1872 and in 1883 Emerald Hill became a city. But there was soon agitation for a new name as the new entity sought to raise loans, mainly for road works and drains. 

In London the money men were saying “Emerald Hill – never heard of it!” But being linked to Melbourne, the expanding Victorian capital, was a different story. 

There was less attachment to district names in those days and a number of other names (some with classical tones) were rejected and South Melbourne was selected. 

Its name was easily recognisable internationally and would guarantee a good return on investment. 

Similarly, Hotham became North Melbourne and Sandridge became Port Melbourne in 1884. 

Finn passed in 1898, a little blind man in a bluestone cottage in North Fitzroy, but he is still celebrated for his chronicles of early Melbourne. 

In recent years, one of many changes to legislation covering the inner suburbs was to create the area now known as Southbank. But that’s a tale for another time! •