Thomas Dunsdon arrived in Sydney with his wife Sarah and friend, and soon to be business associate, William Blyth, in October 1833.[1] A pastry cook by trade Thomas quickly set about establishing his credentials and developing his enterprise. He notified potential customers that he was ‘late cook and confectioner to their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria’ and advertised ‘Dinners, Supper, and every Department of the Art provided for, and attended to, at the shortest notice, and on the most economical scale’.[2] ‘Out Cooking’ would also be punctually attended to.
From his original address at 12 Hunter Street, Thomas moved to a location on George Street opposite the lumber yard early in 1834 where he and William Blyth offered potential customers confectionery, bread (at full weight), fancy biscuits (equal to the best in London), luncheon, tea, coffee, soup, and oyster rooms.’[3]
It seems Dunsdon quickly earned a reputation because in March 1835 he was chosen to cater for a fancy dress ball at Sir John Jamison’s Regent Ville near Penrith. Jamison was prominent in local settler society, with extensive landholdings and known to entertain lavishly – he was referred to as ‘The Hospitable Knight of Regent Ville’. Regent Ville, situated some 58 kilometres from Sydney and named in honour of the Prince Regent, was a model property built in 1823-4, where Jamison had a vineyard, grew crops, and trained horses.[4] This latest occasion would have been a difficult logistical challenge for Dunsdon under any circumstances but from the description of the event in the newspapers it was a huge undertaking.
For the fortnight leading up to Thursday 12 March work on accommodating the visitors had been on-going. A temporary ballroom, lavishly decorated and capable of holding all the 500 invited guests, was set up on the lawn in front of the house along with a number of tents to act as changing rooms for the gentlemen (the ladies were accommodated in the house). The festivities began with 100 guests sitting down to ‘a most sumptuous and elegant dinner at 5 o’clock’. By 10 pm all the guests, all 300 or more of them, were dancing ‘with great spirit’ which they kept up until past 2 am when a supper ‘of the most costly and elegant description’ which ‘reflected infinite credit upon Dunsdon’ was served – ‘all sort of eatables, and oceans of wines from Champagne to humble Port, fruit, confectionery of all sort, to be eaten and to be looked at covered the tables.’ Unfortunately, there is no mention of the menu. Finally, ‘at twelve in the morning breakfast was provided’. The description concluded:
Altogether the whole affair went off in the most satisfactory manner; the excellence of the arrangements–the care and attention of the managers,–the liberal and unsparing hand with which everything was provided,–and the nature of the party, caused it to be as sumptuous and splendid an entertainment as was ever given.
The correspondent for the Australian noted ‘how the thing could have been done so well at such a distance from Sydney, is a puzzle’ forgetting to mention that the event was conducted in the pouring rain.[5] While reports vary as to the number of guests who were in attendance, there was general agreement that the event was exceptional, ‘a scene never before witnessed in the Australian bush’ and ‘a far more splendid thing than had hitherto been seen in the colony.’[6]
Dunsdon’s experience and his royal patronage may have recommended him to Jamison, but his skill and credentials may not have endeared him to his competitors. With only newspaper reports to draw on it is difficult to form a picture of Thomas Dunsdon. Was he hard working and self-effacing or was he brash and confident? He was young, only in his early twenties, how did he fit into colonial society? What did more established caterers, like ex-convicts Stephen Bax and Martin Gill, with their experience of colonial mores, think of this interloper with his claims to royal patronage?[7] His success at Regent Ville ought to have been the making of Dunsdon’s career in Sydney but instead it may have precipitated a series of episodes aimed to damage his reputation.
The first of these came early. The prevailing liquor licensing regulations in New South Wales required that anyone wishing to sell ‘any ale, beer, or other malt liquor, or wine, cyder, ginger beer, spruce beer, brandy, rum, or any other fermented or spirituous liquors,’ in smaller amounts than 2 gallons at a time, had to apply for a license.[8] On the evidence of an informer Dunsdon was brought before the magistrates and fined £30 for selling ginger beer. Dunsdon was furious:
Dunsdon begs to remind his friends that he has been summoned this day by the informer named PRICE, a convicted felon, for selling one half pint of Refreshing Draught which the above PRICE has thought proper to call Ginger Beer, for the sale for which the Magistrates have fined me the Penalty of Thirty Pounds.
N.B. DUNSDON begs to inform his Friends that they may have the refreshing draught free of charge if they are known friends.
No Constable need apply.[9]
On appeal the decision was quashed due to an irregularity in the way the charge had been worded. The regulations were unpopular, and the press was sympathetic to Dunsdon’s cause. The Australian, for example argued:
this is a law which is impolite and hurtful enough in England–but in a climate like our own, where some light beverage is absolutely necessary, to restrict its sale or to increase its price by a large sum for a license, is really unbearable; what the effect must be everywhere, we can’t imagine; unless it is the driving people to get drunk on spirits instead of refreshing themselves with what does them no harm. The informants however have a fine harvest before them–there being at least 200 places in town where they may lay the same information … It is to be earnestly hoped that this law be not suffered to remain in force another summer.[10]
The Sydney Monitor saw Dunsdon as the victim of the ‘tricks and malice of informers’ and insisted the constable responsible ‘should have been dismissed for having brought a vexatious and frivolous charge.’[11]The newspaper reports do not speculate on why the complaint should have been made against Dunsdon, but it remained a cause celebre and evidence of the unfairness of the law itself and of the lax approach of the police. Singling out Dunsdon may have been a straightforward desire to test the legislation but, as the article above makes clear, there were many other, less respectable, people who could have been charged ahead of him. It is possible that the main intention was to cause inconvenience and embarrassment to Dunsdon and to tarnish his reputation.
Business continued much as usual for the next couple of years, although Dunsdon appears to have spent less time catering. Rather he began importing a vast range of goods from medicinal lozenges and bottled fruits and jams to cheese, York hams, ‘elegant and piquant sauces’, and cake ornaments, along with advertising turtle soup occasionally and producing hot cross buns at Easter and twelfth cakes every January. This change in focus may have been due to ill health. In July 1837 he informed the public that he had ‘perfectly recovered from his late indisposition’ and had returned to his management of dinners, suppers and private parties.[12]
In December 1838 Dunsdon’s association with Sir John Jamison raised its head again. Rumours began circulating that he had charged Sir John £800 for the affair at Regent Ville more than three years earlier. Dunsdon was quick to defend himself:
One Hundred Pounds Reward
The above Reward will be paid to any party who will give such information as will lead to the discovery of the person or persons on conviction who gave information to his excellency Sir Maurice O’Connell to the effect that I charged Sir John Jamison £800 for supplying his Ball in 1835 (whereas my charge was £119 13s.11d) which is a most wilful and corrupt falsehood and must arise from some fiendish spirit of enmity, and it certainly will (if I cannot put a stop to such a calumny) be a most serious injury to my future welfare.[13]
The newspapers do not appear to have been motivated to comment. That it was a competitor who started this rumour, with the intention of doing ‘serious injury’ to Dunsdon’s reputation by suggesting that his charges were outrageous, seems obvious but who it was remains a mystery.
On 16 January 1839 the Sydney Herald, announced the arrival of the Tartar carrying a shipment of ice from Boston.[14] The ship had taken 4 months to reach its destination and the 400 tons of ice loaded on board had dwindled to only 250 by the time the Tartar moored in Sydney. The shipment also included refrigerators (presumably insulated wooden boxes), ice hooks and the wherewithal to construct an icehouse which was eventually erected at Moore’s wharf at Miller’s Point.[15] Various newspapers reported that Dunsdon had bought the entire shipment of ice and the icehouse, surely a significant investment.[16] Ice was sold from the wharf and from Dunsdon’s shop where he also prepared ice confections of one sort or another. But he was not the only one offering Sydneysiders ice cream and water ices. Dunsdon cannot have been best pleased to see Martin Gill, who had only recently moved into new premises adjacent to the Victoria Theatre, also advertising his ices ‘in variety not to be equaled in the Colony’.[17]
It is not easy to gauge how successful Dunsdon’s venture was but there are some clues. In March he was advising he had to increase the price of ice – his investment was disappearing before his eyes – and presumably the hot weather, and any enthusiasm for iced drinks had passed.[18]
Before the end of the year the Dunsdons found themselves mired in another controversy. In November the following advertisement was printed in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser:
WANTED. An experienced NURSE. – No Irish need apply. References to Mrs Dunsdon, confectioner.[19]
On the face of it this was an innocuous, if discriminatory, request for applicants to provide their particulars to Mrs Dunsdon. While the ambiguous wording could be interpreted to suggest that it was Mrs Dunsdon who required the services of a nurse, it was by no means unusual for advertisers to remain anonymous and direct expressions of interest to a convenient and well-known location. Nor was it entirely unknown to stipulate that Irish applicants were not welcome.[20]
But in Mrs Dunsdon’s case this notice began a war of words between the Sydney Gazette, Sydney’s oldest newspaper, and the Australasian Chronicle, the first Catholic newspaper published in Australia, which began life in August 1839. Mr and Mrs Dunsdon, however unwittingly, found themselves involved in an argument about religious freedom and class distinctions.[21]
The first salvo came in the form of an advertisement in the Australasian Chronicle inserted by ‘Patlander’ which included a jibe at the editor of the Sydney Gazette as well as a defence of ‘the Females of Ireland’:
The Irish and if I am not mistaken the liberal and enlightened portion of the English in the nineteenth century must feel this outrage on your character and reputation a most wonton and unprovoked national insult, - and one which I trust the better classes of society will duly appreciate.[22]
In response ‘Civis’, claiming to be the real author of the advertisement, sprang to Mrs Dunsdon’s defence:
Mr Patlander you have made a great mistake entirely in attacking poor Mrs Dunsdon I am the guilty author of the advertisement as to a nurse, and Mrs Dunsdon was but the person to refer to and knew nothing whatever regarding it.[23]
‘Civis’ nonetheless felt justified in discriminating against the Irish ‘brogue’ claiming:
I have every right to indulge such a whim, and, having it, it was better to save worthy persons an application that could not benefit them.
The Gazette also identified ‘Patlander’ as Patrick Reardon, Clerk of the Customs House, describing him as ‘a drunken vagabond’ who had been dismissed from various positions ‘on account of his disreputable character’ which qualified him as ‘a very fit correspondent to the Australian Chronicle’.[24]
‘Patlander’ took one last swipe at the editor of the Gazette and offered a final justification of his stance:
Now let Mr. Dunsdon or any other English gentleman in the Colony, put his hand on his heart and say, would it not rouse his indignation, if such an exception was announced to the females of his country, and in a public advertisement by any Irish female, however high her circumstances may be, who would act so incautious a part?[25]
but the stoush was not over.
The Australasian Chronicle, under the heading ‘Disgusting bigotry’, next drew public attention to ‘one of those revolting displays of sectarian feeling, which we fear, are all too common among a class of persons, fortunately limited, in this colony.’ The article recounted the story of Mrs Willis, wife of Justice Willis of the Supreme Court, and her refusal to employ a Catholic servant, and concluded:
We publish it, as we shall always do every instance of ‘not keeping faith’ on account of religious differences that comes to our knowledge; and we shall not cease to hold to scorn and contempt such instances of bigotry and intolerance, more particularly when displayed by those whose station in society gives a presumption that they have sufficient education to ‘know better’.[26]
The Sydney Gazette reprinted this article from the ‘Popish Journal’ in full and vindicated Mrs Willis’s stance with the argument that Protestants needed to remember that ‘a papistical servant must visit the confessional’, it was therefore a matter of personal safety to reject the service of Catholic staff lest all their family secrets be divulged.[27] The argument went back and forth for the rest of December with Mrs Dunsdon lumped in with Mrs Willis and other ‘lady bigots’.[28]
Finally Thomas Dunsdon restored his wife’s reputation by a series of advertisements claiming that the author of the original request for a nurse had been ‘Major Christie of Carters Barracks’.[29]The Sydney Herald declared the whole affair very foolish, ‘no person of any education could have been affronted by the advertisement as it stood’ and Major Christie could have had no intention of insulting the Irish.[30] Likewise the Australasian Chronicle conceded that Major Christie was ‘not the man who would intentionally offer insult to Irishmen and we have no doubt our readers will readily acquit him of any such intentions.’[31] Major Christie himself was not moved to make a comment and why it took Dunsdon so long to expose the originator of the advertisement is not explained. While plausible this resolution still leaves a lingering doubt that the original advertisement was a calculated mischief to bring discredit on the Dunsdons. At the time they also had other concerns.
As early as April 1839 it had been announced that Dunsdon was taking over the lease of the inn owned by Mr Harper at Stonequarry (Picton).[32] He continued working in the city but in December was selling up ready for the move. Meanwhile William Blyth, who had been Dunsdon’s superintendent since they had been in business, had married Dunsdon’s sister Hephzibah in October. Blyth remained in Sydney and set himself up in his own confectionery shop in George Street.[33]
This move to Stonequarry was prompted less by the fact the Dunsdons longed for a life outside the city, away from competition with the likes of Martin Gill and wrangling over Irish servants, and more by their need to pay their creditors.[34] How successful the Stonequarry venture was is not clear. The premises were advertised to let in July 1841 and by June 1842 the Dunsdons were back in the city, superintending the Victoria Refreshment Rooms on George Street for the anonymous owner. Despite also having engaged an unrivalled French cook and offering the ‘greatest variety of French, English and Italian dishes’ along with confectionery, biscuits, pastry, preserves, jams, jellies, pickles, sauces and creams ‘not to be equalled in the colony’, by the end of the year the furniture, crockery, cooking utensils and stock of the Victoria Refreshment Rooms were being auctioned.[35]
Thomas Dundson was then able to advise his friends, given that he was presently unoccupied, he was happy to cook dinners in private homes and was available to give lessons in cooking and confectionery.[36] But before long he was running the City Refreshment Rooms in King Street, which were promoted in glowing terms:
In Sydney no house can with Dunsdon’s compare, for moderate prices, most exquisite fare, and the landlord’s polite, kind, attentive care. Apicius himself would deem it a treat to taste Dunsdon’s soups, fish, poultry and meat. His prime roast and biol’d, rich pies, and rare stews are equall’d alone by his soups and ragouts. Fowls, ducks, turkeys, geese, are deliciously dress’d, and his curries possess the true Indian zest; whilst choice Yorkshire hams are temptingly nice, that e’en after dinner you relish a slice. The Turtle! By heavens, Ude never was able to place such tureens on her Majesty’s table. When you enter, the landlord obsequiously stands bowing, hands you the carte, and requests your commands; then o’er the long list your glance rapidly flies, of soups, hashes, curries, ragouts, puddings and pies, geese, fowls, turkeys, ducks, beef, pork, mutton, veal, salmon, whiting, stew’d oysters, bream, collar’d eel – whatever you choose- only just hint your wish, smoking hot in an instant is serv’d up the dish. And when on his dainties you’ve feasted, at will, a mere trifle discharges the landlord’s small bill. Success, then, to Dunsdon! And long may he live. Such sumptuous repasts at such cheap rates to give.[37]
If this venture was Dunsdon at his best, it was also his last hurrah. In May 1843 Martin Gill announced that he had been ‘induced’ to open a new branch of his establishment in Pitt Street, next to the City Theatre in Market Street, which he also called the City Refreshment Rooms.[38] In late July the premises lately occupied by Mr Dunsdon were to let.[39] This may not have been entirely due to the competition from Gill but choosing the same name for his new venture as that already in use by Dunsdon does suggest a deliberate attempt on Gill’s part to confuse and subvert Dundson’s position.[40]
There are few clues to what happened next and how the Dunsdons made ends meet. It is probable that they moved away from Sydney and that Thomas was already unwell. One advertisement, from early 1845, advises that Dunsdon has ‘returned to Sydney’ and is available for catering while Mrs Dunsdon is offering ‘respectable and comfortable board and lodging’ at their address on Elizabeth Street.[41] By February of the following year, they have moved to the corner of Hunter and Castlereagh Streets and Mrs Dunsdon is providing comfortable accommodation in a spacious and dry house with upper and lower balconies.[42] Thomas Dunsdon died on 13 June 1846, ‘after a prolonged and painful illness.’ He was 37.[43]
What had Thomas and Sarah Dunsdon hoped for from their life in Australia? Certainly, their twelve and a half years together in the colony had not brought them success and financial security. How much of this was due to Thomas, to mismanagement and ill-advised business decisions, and how much to the machinations of his rivals and the curious nature of colonial society in the penal era remains open to speculation.
[1] Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), 24 October 1833, p. 2. ‘Arrivals.’
[2] The Australian, 27 December 1833, p. 1, ‘Advertising.’
[3] The Australian, 4 April 1834, p. 1. The Government Lumber Yard had been located on the southern corner of Bridge and George Streets but moved to a location next to Hyde Park Barracks in 1832.
[4] For Jamison see Brian Fletcher, ‘Sir John Jamison in New South Wales 1814–1844,’ Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 65 (1) (1979, pp. 1–29. For Regentville see SMH 6 December 1847, p. 4. ‘Advertising’ and Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, 22 September 2849, p. 1, ‘A visit to Regentville.’
[5] The Australian, 17 March 1835, p. 2, ‘The Fancy Ball at Regent Ville.’
[6] SMH, 16 March 1835, p. 3 ‘The Fete at Regent Ville’; Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 17 March 1835, p. 3, ‘The Fete at Regent Ville.’
[7] Both Bax and Gill were listed as confectioners in the 1828 Census. For Stephen Bax see Ian Dodd, ‘Stephen Bax: Master chef to the Sydney social world’, Royal Australian Historical Society, History, June 2023, pp. 14–17. Martin Gill was the father of Mary Ann Gill whose life has been fictionalised by Kiera Linsey in The Convict’s Daughter (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2017).
[8] See The Australian, 28 May 1830, p. 2 ‘The new license act’. For the full act see http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/legis/nsw/num_act/placa1830n12395/placa1830n12395.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=new%20south%20wales%20liquor
[9] Sydney Monitor, 1 April 1835, p. 3, ‘Advertising.’
[10] The Australian, 3 April 1835, p. 2; see also The Sydney Herald, 6 April 1835, p. 2; Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 30 April 1835, p. 2.
[11] Sydney Monitor, 28 November 1835, p. 2. See Dunsdon also mentioned Sydney Monitor, 9 March 1838, p. 2 and Sydney Times, 12 March 1838, p. 2.
[12] Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertise, 27 July 1837, p. 4.
[13] Sydney Gazette, 25 December 1838, p. 3.
[14] Sydney Herald, 16 January 1839, p. 2. See also Nigel Isaacs, ‘Sydney’s first ice,’ Sydney Journal, 3 (2), 2011, pp. 26–35.
[15] The Australian, 17 January 1839, p. 2; Sydney General Trade List, 19 January 1839, p. 1.
[16] Sydney Gazette, 9 February 1839, p. 2. Mr Dunsdon purchases the whole cargo of ice via the Tartar and the ice house recently erected at Moore’s wharf. Did Thomas Dunsdon buy the entire cargo? Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser 25 January 1839, p. 2 says he has only purchased 200 tons. Ice was being supplied from the ship to anyone who wanted it at Moore’s wharf in late January – Sydney Gazette, 29 January 1839, p. 3. The ice was finally removed from the Tartar and transferred to the icehouse Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 7 February 1839, p. 3.
[17] Gill moves to the Victoria Refreshment Rooms, adjacent to the Royal Victoria Theatre which had opened in March 1838, The Commercial Journal and Advertiser, 26 January 1839, p. 2; Sydney Herald, 8 February 1839, p. 1.
[18] The Sydney Herald, 25 March 1839, p. 3. Dunsdon informs friends that in consequence of the great waste which has taken place in the ice amounting to a full three hundred percent proof of which can be given on inspection that he is under the necessity to raise the price to 6d per pound.
[19] Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 14 November 1839, p. 3; 16 November, p. 1. A slightly different wording ‘A NURSE WANTED. – No Irish need apply at DUNSDON’S Confectionery Warehouse, George Street’ was published in Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, 22 November 1839, p. 3.
[20] See Commercial Journal and Advertiser, 5 May 1838, p. 1; Commercial Journal and Advertiser, 5 October 1839, p. 3 also The Australian, 5 October 1839, p. 3.
[21] For more detail about the various controversies and debates in colonial society at the time see Sandra Blair, ‘The felonry and the free? Divisions in colonial society in the penal era’, Labour History, 45, 1983, pp. 1–16; Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, ‘Catholic emancipation and the idea of religious liberty in 1830s New South Wales,’ Australian Journal of Politics and History, 67 (2), 2021, pp. 193–207.
[22] Australasian Chronicle, 19 November 1839, p. 4, ‘Advertising.’
[23] Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser, 21 November 1839, p. 2.
[24] ‘Pat Lander’ was also identified as the alias of Patrick Reardon in the Australian, 21 December 1839, p. 1 ‘Advertising.’
[25] Australasian Chronicle, 22 November 1839, p. 4.
[26] Australasian Chronicle, 10 December 1839, p. 1.
[27] Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 12 December 1839, p. 2, ‘The lady of Mr Justice Willis. Exclusive dealing.’
[28] See Australasian Chronicle, 17 December 1839, p. 1, ’Letter to the editor’; Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 December 1839, p. 2 “creed’ and 26 December 1839, p. 3 ‘Original correspondence’; Australasian Chronicle, 31 December 1839, p. 1 ‘To the editor.’
[29] The Colonist 4 January 1840, p. 3, 8 January 1840, p. 3, 15 January 1840, p. 1. Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, 3 January 1840, p. 3, 6 January 1840, p. 4, 8 January 1840, p. 4, 10 January 1840, p. 4; The Sydney Herald, 3 January 1840, p. 3, 6 January 1840, p. 3, 8 January 1840, p. 3; Australian, 9 January 1840, p. 3, 11 January 1840, p. 1. For Major Christie see SMH, 24 March 1873, p. 2, ‘Major W. H. Christie’; birth of a daughter Sydney Monitor, 12 July 1839, p. 3; appointed to Hyde Park Barracks, The Australian, 23 November 1839, p. 3.
[30] Sydney Herald, 6 January 1840, p. 2, ‘Domestic intelligence.’
[31] Australasian Chronicle, 7 January 1840, p. 2, ‘Letter to the editor.’
[32] The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 11 April 1839, p. 3.
[33] The Colonist, 5 October 1839, p. 2 ‘Family notices’, Miss H. Dunsdon marries Mr William Blyth on 1 October, The Colonist, 25 December 1839, p. 3 ‘Advertising’, Mr Blyth, superintendent of Mr Dunsdon’s Establishment for the last seven years, begs respectfully to announce that he is about to commence business for himself, in the shop opposite the treasury, George Street.
[34] SMH, 8 January 1840, p. 1. Notice is herby given that by an indenture of assignment of this date Thomas Dunstan Dunsdon of Sydney, confectioner, consigns all his estate and effects to Thomas Goodall Gore of Sydney, merchant, Samuel Furneau Mann, grocer and Henry Peekham grocer upon trust for his creditors. 3 January 1840. See also SMH 1 April 1840, p. 2. With Mr Dunsdon’s assent and to prevent losses to future creditors of Mr Dunsdon through ignorance of the fact I hereby give notice that I hold a mortgage and other sureties on all the effects now in the George Inn a considerable portion of which was purchased by me from the Sheriff at sale, under execution, and I further give notice that since that sale I have sent him various articles of furniture, sundry other effects, horses, etc. and sent them to his residence Stonequarry. James Templeton. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 11 June 1840, p. 3: In the Estate of T. D. Dunsdon, a dividend of ten shillings in the pound will be paid, on or after the 18th instant to all creditors in the above estate who have previously signed the trust deed and proved their debts to the satisfaction of the trustees. Commercial Journal and Advertiser, 25 July 1840, p. 3, Instructions from trustees of Mr T. D. Dunsdon to sell five allotments of the Five Dock Farm. SMH, 26 September 1842, p. 2 Insolvent. Certificate of discharge granted The Australian, 8 March 1844, p. 3.
[35] Sydney Herald, 16 July 1841, p. 3. George’s Inn, Stonequarry to let. Advertised by Templeton.
The Sydney Herald, 11 June 1842, p. 3, Advertising the Victoria Refreshment Rooms. ‘The Epicure will be accommodated at the Victoria Refreshment Rooms opposite the Bank of Australasia, with one of the greatest luxuries of life. A good lunch or dinner. The proprietor begs most respectfully to inform his numerous patrons that he has procured the superintendence of Mr and Mrs Dunsdon late of that establishment which, adjoining the present, for many years had been so liberally patronised by the Haut Ton of Australia.’ For auction see The Australian, 12 December 1842, p. 3.
[36] SMH, 13 February 1843, p. 3.
[37] SMH, 6 June 1843, p. 3. Impromptu written by a gentleman immediately after dining at Dunston’s Restaurant, King St. East.
[38] SMH, 22 May 1843, p. 1. In Australasian Chronicle, 30 May 1843, p. 3 their advertisements appear one after the other.
[39] SMH, 27 July 1843, p. 3. Advertised to let those premises lately occupied by Mr Dunsdon as the City Refreshment Rooms. This may also have been a retaliation against the naming of the Victoria Refreshment Rooms which could have been confused with Gill’s establishment next to the Victoria Theatre in Pitt Street, which was usually referred to as Martin Gill’s Victoria Confectionery Establishment.
[40] Gill’s tenure at his City Refreshment Rooms appears to have been short lived. By August he was advertising that he had moved from Pitt Street and taken over the Donnybrook Hotel, SMH, 21 August 1843, p. 3.
[41] SMH, 13 March 1845, p. 3; SMH, 28 April 1845, p. 1.
[42] SMH, 17 February 1846, p. 4; 24 April 1846, p. 4.
[43] SMH, 17 June 1846, p. 4.