EARTHQUAKE AT MELBOURNE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 7, 1 September 1855, Page 14

EARTHQUAKE AT MELBOURNE.

On the 27th of September, the shock of an earthquake was experienced in Melbourne and its neighbourhood The 'Argus' chronicles the phenomenon, which we subjoin:-

<c The shock of an earthquake was experienced in Melbourne and its vicinity shortly before 3 o'clock on Monday morning 27tli ult. The shock appears to have been of so violent a character as to have attracted general notice, notwithstanding its occurrence at an hour when but a very small fraction of the population can be supposed to have been sensible of any ordinary sound or motion. Of course, accounts as to the peculiar nature of the shock differ considerably : some describing it as being a rolling motion, while others say that they were sensible of a heaving and violent vibration. We have received information from numbers of persons, describing the effect of the phenomenon upon their houses. The dwellers in wooden cottages appear to have been most sensible of its occurrence, and in some of the large hotels of the city a considerable amount of alarm prevailed, caused by the ringing of the bells, the rustling of the window frames, and clashing of crockery, kitchen utensils, &c. At the Imperial Hotel, the terror and cenfusion were so great that most of the inmates left their appartments, and promenaded the streets, where they imagined they were safer than under anything in the shape of a roof. We hear that the walls of the Benevolent Asylum experienced some damage from the vibration, and reports of trifling injuries having been done to other buildings have reached us. In the neighbourhood of Brighton and St. Kilda, the shock (some say there was more than one) was severely felt, and the general opinion appears to be that the line of action was from east to west.