Explore "Thirty Years in Australia" by Ada Cambridge on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
We left B -- -- in 1877. The diocese of Ballarat had been carved out of that of Melbourne, hitherto bounded by the boundaries of the colony; and the knife had lopped off a portion of our parish, leaving only enough to support a "reader," who is supposed not to want anything to live on.
We passed then into the new diocese. And, to begin with, we did a stupid thing -- possibly two stupid things. G., after consultation with his bishop, accepted a living without seeing it. A charming photograph of the parsonage, and the knowledge that it was situated in a pleasant district, within a short drive of our then metropolis, Ballarat, seemed to make a preliminary inspection unnecessary, especially as the financial soundness of the parish was guaranteed. We had dismantled our house at B -- -- and packed our furniture for L -- -- before personally making acquaintance with the latter place. Then -- for I was fretting to see and rummage over my new home with a measuring tape in my hands -- we arranged to drive over. It was on a Saturday that we started, in very wintry weather; and all our subsequent lives might have been different if only it had been summer or a fine day.