Saturday, June 27, 2009

Fear of invasion

HMAS Childers at Station Pier commemorating the anniversary of the 1884 arrival of the original HMVS Childers.
HMVS Childers was a torpedo boat bought to defend the colony of Victoria from the threat of Russian invasion.


2 comments:

Hels said...

I had been writing about fear of Russian invasion as a motivating factor in developing Queenscliff, but I really didn't believe that the threat was taken seriously. So I was pleased to find your post and created a link to it.

Many thanks
Hels
Art and Architecture, mainly
http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/queenscliff-1852-92-victorian-treasure.html

Anonymous said...

Thanks Hels
Kay Rowan, the City of Port Phillip's local history librarian, has conducted a guided walk on the subject of the preparation for the Russian invasion.
The Melbourne Harbor Trust 'volunteered' workers. One Philip Mahoney was told that 'if I did not put the red & blue I would be discharged, & and I was taken from a easy post & put to hard work again a thing I would not do.' (from Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia by David Fitzpatrick)