A little further up Bourke Street, they came to an enormous building that stretched for nearly a whole block.
‘Roll up, roll up,’ shrieked a woman. ‘Special today, get yer hand read for sixpence! Your one chance to know your future!’
Rose took a step forward, but Aunt Alice swept both her and Edward back down the street in a hurry.
‘But …’ Edward started.
‘No, Edward,’ Aunt Alice said. ‘Trust me, if your mother knew you’d been anywhere near the Eastern Market, she’d be very upset indeed. It’s not a place for youngsters.’
John was waiting with the carriage and they set off for home, surrounded by piles of lovely parcels and boxes.
Just after breakfast on Christmas Eve morning, Father received a phone call that sent him into a spluttering temper.
‘Damned Hopetoun!’ he shouted. ‘What on earth is he playing at? I’ll have to go and see a few people, and help organise a campaign.’
As Father left in the carriage, Aunt Alice explained what was wrong. ‘Lord Hopetoun chose Sir William Lyne as our first Prime Minister.’
‘But isn’t he the Premier of New South Wales?’ Edward asked. ‘Doesn’t that make sense?’
‘Yes, but he was against Federation, and he wants to keep those taxes on things that are sold between states, even after we’re all one country.’ She frowned. ‘It would be a blow for Victoria. And for the Emporium, too. Poor Daniel.’
‘How could they make the Governor-General change his mind?’ Rose said. ‘Father said he represents the Queen. Surely you can’t argue with the Queen?’
‘I don’t know,’ Aunt Alice said, ‘but there are lots of powerful people in politics and in trade and business – they will make their anger known, and campaign vigorously, I’m sure.’
Rose spent the day wrapping gifts – one of her favourite things to do at Christmas. She loved using coloured ribbons, and gave Mother’s mirror a large silver bow. It felt strange to be getting ready without her. Mother had special family recipes for all the food, and usually made the pudding herself. Aunt Alice had done a marvellous job, but Rose felt that it wasn’t quite the same.
At first it had been a relief not to have Mother’s scoldings, but as time went on and it seemed that she’d never get better, Rose began to worry about losing her. Despite the note, there was no sign Mother was really recovering. Underneath her briskness and preoccupation with manners, Mother did love them all, Rose knew. It was just her way to be stern, and Rose would have swapped a month of scolding to have Mother sweep down the stairs and into the drawing room right then.
Later that afternoon, Father came home again, looking tired but pleased. ‘I think we might have succeeded. Deakin, from our Victorian parliament, has led a very strong fight against Lyne, and the word is that Hopetoun is reconsidering. We’ll know tomorrow,’ He poured himself a glass of wine and toasted, ‘To the Federation and all who sail in her.’
Which puzzled Rose, as the Federation wasn’t a ship, but as long as Father was happy, that was all that mattered.
Christmas Day dawned clear and warm. After breakfast, most of the family went to church. Rose had been hoping that Mother would magically appear for church, but no one even mentioned she was missing. Had everyone forgotten Mother so easily? Didn’t anyone care?
Rose felt too worried to join in the carols properly, and mumbled the words. Aunt Alice had stayed home to help supervise the massive lunch that was planned. Grandmother, Aunt Philippa and Uncle Charles were all coming.
Usually, the gifts weren’t opened until after lunch, and for the first time ever, Rose thought she couldn’t care less what she was given. But when Grandmother and the others arrived, Father announced, ‘I’ve decided to change the order of events. We’ll open the presents now.’
Everyone gathered in the drawing room, waiting. Rose stood by the window, staring at the wind blowing rose petals across the driveway.
Then the door swung open and everyone gasped. Rose spun around.
And there was Mother!
Rose dashed up to help Father settle her gently in the most comfortable armchair. Rose was astounded at how thin she had become. But her eyes sparkled as she gave her children a hug and a kiss.
Rose clutched her tightly, and her eyes filled with tears of relief. ‘Merry, merry Christmas, Mother.’
‘This is the best Christmas present I could possibly have,’ Mother said. ‘The rest of you will have to make do with what is in the wrappings.’
Mother making jokes? Rose laughed with everyone else, her heart lifting. Then Edward made quite a ceremony of giving out the gifts.
Rose unwrapped each of hers slowly, first trying to guess what they were. The books were easy, and even Father and Mother had given her one, although Rose suspected that Aunt Alice had done the buying, for it was a huge volume of Roman and Greek myths. Martha gave her a pretty summer bonnet, Edward had got her a pair of leather gloves, whispering that she could use them for cricket, and Aunt Alice gave her two books by Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Bliss!
From Grandmother, she had embroidered handkerchiefs, and Aunt Philippa and Uncle Charles gave her a nightdress trimmed with lace.
Uncle Charles whispered to her, ‘I would have given you a cricket bat myself.’ He winked. ‘I hear you’re a pretty fine spin bowler.’
Rose would’ve preferred a cricket bat, too. After all, if she was going to play for Australia one day, she’d need one.
Christmas lunch was six courses, beginning with oysters, which Rose avoided, followed by soup, broiled fish with tomatoes, and then a huge turkey along with roasted vegetables. Rose tried hard not to eat too much, for there was still pudding and cream to come, and then special chocolates all the way from France. But by the end of the turkey, her stomach was nearly bursting.
The adults, apart from Mother, had been drinking wine and sherry, and Father and Uncle Charles had red faces. It didn’t help that the dining room was stifling hot, and everyone was fanning themselves with their napkins.
‘I’m going to lie down and rest,’ Mother said. ‘The rest of you should take a few turns around the garden.’
‘Capital idea,’ Father said.
But as they were about to set off, the telephone in Father’s study rang and everyone waited in the entrance, shuffling their feet impatiently.
‘I refuse to have one of those infernal things in my house,’ Grandmother said.
‘If you run a business these days, you can’t afford to be without a telephone,’ said Uncle Charles. ‘I might have to have one soon.’
‘If I want to speak to someone,’ Grandmother grumbled, ‘I’ll visit them, thank you.’
After a few minutes, Father came out, his face glowing. ‘It’s done!’ he said. ‘Edmund Barton is to be our Prime Minister! What a relief!’
Everyone clapped and cheered, and the whole walk long they chatted about being part of the new Commonwealth.A new flag, a new city and a new name – it really did sound quite exciting!
The walk revived them all, and they returned to the table, but the final chocolate wasn’t eaten until well after five o’clock.
Rose escaped to her bedroom to undo her tight clothes and lie on her bed with her new books.What a lovely Christmas it had been.
ON the first day of the new Commonwealth, January 1st, Rose and her family went for a picnic in the Botanic Gardens. It was one of Rose’s favourite things to do. She made sure Edward took along his cricket bat and ball, and was overjoyed when even Father and Aunt Alice joined in their game. John, who had driven the carriage, was also persuaded to stand in the field. Martha sat under the trees, fanning herself, having offered to count the runs. Everyone was there except Mother, who had stayed home to rest.
‘Are you sure you know how to play, Rose?’ Father said.
Rose and Aunt Alice exchanged a grin.
‘I think so,’ Rose said. ‘But I may not be very good. Are you going to bat first?’
&n
bsp; Edward snorted. ‘You’ll be sorry if you do.’
‘Pardon?’ Father said, taking off his jacket and picking up the bat. ‘Rose, you’re not bowling, are you? You might’ve sprouted up in the past few months, but all that growth went to your brain.’
They found a flat area of lawn and set up their picnic basket as the wickets. Father stood in front of them, banging the bat on the ground and wiggling his hips, copying a test batsman. When Rose took off her straw hat and started warming up her arm, he pretended to be terrified.
But when she bowled a couple of balls to Edward as practice, Father stopped joking. ‘Hmm, I can see I need to concentrate.’
When he was ready, Rose bowled – a lovely spinner that floated through the air and plopped down just in front of Father. He sensibly blocked it before it hit the basket.
‘Goodness me, where did you learn to do that?’
‘I told you you’d be sorry! Well played, Rose,’ Edward cheered. In the outfield, John hid a smile behind his hand and pulled his hat lower on his head.
‘Right, let’s try another one,’ said Father.
This time, Rose bowled a spinner like the one that got Edna out and, just as it had then, the ball skipped past Father and hit the basket with a satisfying thwack.
‘Howzat?’ Rose called, and giggled.
Father straightened and shook his head. ‘Rose, you will be the death of me. What am I going to tell your mother?’
‘When Rose is playing for Australia, you can invite her to watch,’ Aunt Alice said.
‘Women don’t play test cricket,’ said Father.
‘They will one day,’ AuntAlice said. ‘You just wait and see.’
Father tapped the bat on the ground. ‘Come on, let’s see if you can do it again.’ Already he’d convinced himself that Rose’s ball had been a lucky one, but after she’d bowled him out three more times without him scoring a run, Father had to admit he was beaten. ‘You have a go, Edward.’
Instead of sulking when Rose got him out the first time, Edward began to try harder for a change.
‘Have you been playing at school?’ Rose said.
‘Yes. Our teacher’s a good coach. I’m actually learning how to bat properly.’ He waved the bat at Rose. ‘I’d like to see his face if he watched you bowl, though. You’re heaps better than most of the boys.’
Rose thought of the hours she’d spent alone in the garden, bowling against the wall behind the stables where Mother couldn’t see her. Sometimes John had given her a few tips, and Tommy gave as good as he got when she played with him. It seemed to her that boys just assumed they’d be good at sport, and often they were. Was it because they were stronger? But there was no reason why, with practice, girls couldn’t do well. We just have to be given a go, she thought, and not only at cricket.
Thinking about how hard she’d worked at her schoolwork and her bowling, for the first time Rose felt that she understood why Aunt Alice was so passionate about women getting the vote. Women like Miss Goldstein were certain to be good in parliament, if they were only given the chance to work hard and prove themselves.
When it was Aunt Alice’s turn to bat, Father decided he would bowl to her, and sent down what he called lolly-bobblers, which made everyone laugh. They were so high and loopy that Aunt Alice missed every one.
‘Bowl properly,’ she said.
So Father sent down a straighter, faster ball and Aunt Alice hit it high in the air, over the trees and out of sight. ‘I think that’s a six,’ she said. ‘Time for me to retire covered in glory.’
They all rested under the trees, sitting on the rugs and eating lunch. Having shown Father what a good bowler she was, Rose wondered if this might be the right time to tell him about the game against Merton. In the end, though, she didn’t want to risk upsetting him and spoiling the day, so she kept quiet.
When they had finished eating, Aunt Alice and Martha took turns reading poetry to them, and then Martha sang some songs and they all joined in. Soon it was time to go home. Father was keen to get on his magical telephone and find out how the Federation ceremony went.
‘What happens next?’ Rose asked, once they were seated in the carriage and on their way.
‘Now they’ve formed a parliament, there will be an official opening and then they’ll set about making laws and governing the whole country.’
Aunt Alice nudged Father. ‘And one of the new laws will be to give women the vote.’
‘Maybe, maybe,’ Father said.
‘I’m sure of it,’ Aunt Alice said. ‘We’re holding a meeting next week, and we won’t give up, you know. You’re not against us, are you, Daniel?’
‘Of course not,’ Father said hastily, seeing the glint in her eye. ‘But these things take time.’
‘You know very well that the Victorian parliament has already rejected our bill six times. Thomas Bent is behind much of it, we believe.’ Aunt Alice sniffed. ‘I hope you don’t align yourself with him.’
‘He’s a canny investor,’ Father said, ‘but there are plenty who are convinced he’s some kind of con man.’
‘Well, all I can say is he’d better not become Premier of Victoria or our fight will be ten times as difficult.’
‘You won’t give up, will you, Aunt Alice?’ asked Rose. ‘It’s too important.’
Aunt Alice looked surprised. ‘No, Rose, never! I’m glad to see you’re so keen about it. There’s going to be a big debate very soon, you know – the biggest yet.’
Father changed the subject, pointing out the number of houses on their way home that were flying flags and festive banners to celebrate Federation.
‘We should make a banner of our own,’ said Rose. ‘One with flowers and birds on it.’
‘We might just do that,’ Aunt Aice said. ‘Let’s wait and see what they did at the celebrations in Sydney.’
The next day the newspapers were full of descriptions of the proclamation and swearing in of the government, and the official celebrations afterwards, but they also had pictures of the parade and some of the arches that had been built in the streets.
‘Look at the pavilion in Centennial Park,’ Rose said. ‘It looks like a wedding cake. And they had a children’s carnival, with dancing around poles with ribbons.’ She sighed. ‘Oh, I wish I could’ve seen all of that.’
‘Don’t worry, Rosie,’ Father said, ‘you haven’t missed out.When parliament is opened in Melbourne, it’ll be even more spectacular. The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York are coming. There’ll be more parties and celebrations than you can poke a stick at.’
‘I can’t wait,’ said Rose. ‘When will that be?’
‘It’s been set down for the ninth of May.’ Father was too engrossed in the newspaper to notice Rose’s reaction, her wide eyes and open mouth.
‘You’ll catch a fly in a minute,’ said Aunt Alice.
‘But – but – the ninth of May is my birthday!’ Rose said.
‘Well, no one will bother with your birthday when parliament is being opened,’ said Edward. ‘You’ll have to cancel your party.’ He tried very hard to keep a straight face but when Rose started spluttering and jumping up and down, he laughed so hard he ended up falling off his chair.
Over the next few days, the weather grew hotter and hotter, and Aunt Alice took Rose to join the people who had flocked to Port Melbourne to paddle and swim, and try to find a sea breeze. Rose was highly envious of those who wore long swimming costumes and dived right into the cool water. Abigail and her mother met Rose and Aunt Alice on the promenade, where they sat and drank cool lemonade under the trees.
‘I’m so glad to see you!’ Rose said. ‘Did you have a good Christmas? What did you do?’
‘We stayed with Grandma out at Healesville,’ Abigail said. ‘It took forever to get there in the cart.’
After catching up on each other’s news, they all took off their shoes and stockings, lifted their skirts and went in the water up to their knees. Rose loved the feel of the sand under her toes, squ
ishing and scrunching, and the smell of salt and seaweed in the air. Mother had insisted Rose wear a wide-brimmed hat while out in the sun and she was quite glad of its shade.
‘Are you coming to the debate?’ Abigail asked Rose.
Rose remembered Abigail’s strange comment about it. ‘Won’t it just be grown-ups talking?’
‘Yes, but Miss Goldstein is very passionate.’ Abigail bent and splashed the cool water up her arms and onto her face. ‘And the men who speak say the stupidest things, and actually believe them!’
Rose thought she’d like to see Miss Goldstein debating, her eyes flashing and her voice ringing out. She wasn’t so sure about listening to the men, but at least she’d get to share the evening with Abigail.
As the holidays wore on, Mother was gradually spending more and more time out of bed, usually to sit on the verandah or in the drawing room. She enjoyed having Rose read to her, and Rose was happy to hear Mother laughing more now than she ever had.
Aunt Alice took Rose on excursions to all kinds of places: the Public Library, the Museum, and even the University, with its grand buildings and lake. But when it came to the big meeting of the suffragist movement, where the debate was to happen, Aunt Alice said Rose would have to stay home.
‘It’s at night,’ she said, ‘and the crowd could get … argumentative. It’s not really a place for children.’
Rose pouted. ‘But I promised Abigail I would go. And you’ve told me so many times how important it is.’
‘Maybe, but your parents are unlikely to say yes.’
Rose went to Father immediately and, to her surprise, he not only said yes, but that he intended to go as well.
‘With Federation, the women’s vote is going to become a bigger issue,’ he said. ‘I want to hear both sides and be able to discuss it myself.’
‘Do you agree with Aunt Alice?’ Rose asked.
‘Alice is a very intelligent, sensible woman. I have no problem with giving her the vote, or you, for that matter, when you’re old enough. But there are a number of feather-brained women around who may not approach that responsibility as carefully.’
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