The 1890s newspaper reports of Christmas were very different to those of the other decades from the 1850s.  Recipes and articles about decorating the home, hint to a greater female readership than other times.  Finally, the arguments about English traditions disappeared as Australians formed their own Christmas traditions.

The editor of the  Portland Guardian, welcomed Christmas 1890 as if to say “Here we go again”.

The editor continues with a reference to the 1842 editor of the same newspaper and the Christmas day activity of quoits.

Shop windows were once again dressed up by their owners, but only one grocer maintained the tradition of displaying dried fruits and spices.

The following is the first article I have seen on Christmas decorations in the home.  It offers tips on Christmas trees and ideas on making decorations.

Christmas recipes became popular in the 1890s.  The following for Santa Claus Baskets is from the Portland Guardian of 25 December 1895.  Recipes for Whipped Snow and Plum Pudding were also included.

The 1890s saw the traditional beef finally lose favour on the Christmas menu.   This article  “What People Eat at Christmas”  from The Argus, gives a real insight into the Christmas fare of the time.  I have not included the entire article, which is worth reading in full.  Times were changing.

To conclude this 19th-century overview of Christmas in Victoria, I must include the following article for anyone wondering if the 1899 Christmas was the last of the century.  It comes a little further afield than Victoria as it appeared in the West Australian Sunday Times on 31 December  1899.

 

Christmas news in Victoria during the 1880s featured cards, decorations, carols, and for something different, the weather.  The shopkeepers of Portland in 1880, decorated their shops for the season.  Mr. Harris, proprietor of the pastry shop went to great trouble adorning his shop with Chinese lanterns and a wreath of roses.

Cricket was a popular activity on Christmas day, a tradition that continues today for many who enjoy a game of backyard cricket after lunch.

Christmas Day 1885 started quietly before churchgoers began to attend their chosen service.  Those not attending church stayed inside until the afternoon when many took advantage of Portland’s coastal position with some boating on the bay.

Christmas decorations on shops were still popular mid-1880s and there seems to have been some competition among the Portland shopkeepers.  From spices and currents to fruits and pastries, all had their wares displayed.  Mr. Osborne’s butcher shop window displayed 34 lambs, as many sheep and several bullocks and pigs.  Amid all this, the window was “prettily decorated with flowers, ferns, etc”

This is a great advertisement inviting the residents of Portland to visit the Christmas tree at the “Guardian” office. “Children, Don’t Forget to Persuade Father & Mother to Come” is followed by “Parents, Don’t Forget the Children”.

Christmas 1886 in Melbourne saw many businesses closing their doors from Friday to Wednesday to take full advantage of the Christmas holiday.  Even some hotels closed on Boxing Day!  Residents used this extended holiday period to get out of the city and enjoy the countryside.

The following extract comes from an article called “Christmas Cheer”.  Along with instructions on how to boil a turkey, there were recipes for accompaniments such as celery sauce, oyster sauce, and German salad.

Christmas cards seemed to become more popular during the 1880s, and this article from 25 October 1889 describes some of the trends in cards.  It appeared at the time of year cards were written to send to the “mother country”.

Just when I thought I was not going to see anything of yuletide logs, the following articles from the late 1880s continue the now old arguments of why have a hot lunch during the Australian summer and why are people still persisting with the English traditions?