The History of the Colony of Victoria, from its settlement to the death of Sir C. Hotham

Preface

. The greater part of the books which have issued from the press professing to treat on Victoria have been intended for European readers, and have but comparatively little interest for colonists. The author hopes that this record of the past will possess some value in the eyes of a Victorian public, and be useful, hereafter, as a work of reference. Lord Bolingbroke, in his " Letters on the Study and Use of History," has commented upon the proneness of men to exaggerate the importance of the scenes which have been enacted within the range of their own observation ; and some per sons will, no doubt, imagine that the author has been too minute in detailing the facts connected with the early history of the colony. He must only give the apology of Horace Walpole, under the same circumstances, who said, " Perhaps I have described these squabbles too minutely ; passages in which one has been conversant often appear too interesting.

I can only say, that I have preferred offend ing in this respect to the contrary ; but, as many men love these details, their curiosity would be unsatisfied with abridgments." But, if this be objected to by some, there are, no doubt, many think ing men who will view the matter in a different aspect. There is, perhaps, no period in the history of colonization which can be compared, in interest, with the last twenty years. The bureaucratic system of government so long in operation has, during that period, been thrown aside in the most important colonial dependencies of Great Britain, and has been replaced by self-government. The old system has been rapidly and silently passing away, and an entirely new order of things has been developing itself. From a perfect despotism these countries are passing, at a single leap, to the very opposite point of extreme democracy.

There are several subjects touched on in this history which the statesman and political economist ought not to pass by without due consideration. The Government of Dependencies has scarcely, hitherto, been studied with the attention which the importance of the subject demands.

PREFACE.

. The period over which this history extends is hardly twenty years; but such has been its wonderful progress, that the annals of all nations would be ransacked in vain for a parallel to it. The author has added a considerable amount of statistical information in the first portion of the work. He did not, however, deem it necessary to continue this after separation, as " facts and figures " since that era may easily be found in the "votes and proceedings" of our Victorian Legislative Council. The first few pages of the work were printed off without the author having had an opportunity of revising the proof sheets, and slight inaccuracies have, in consequence, crept in, which he embraces this opportunity of correcting ; the name of Captain Hovel, one of the early explorers of this colony, is incorrectly spelled.

This fact was perceived too late to be rectified in this edition of the work. An extract from the Port Phillip Gazette appears in page 43, in the form of a foot-note, stating, that " Mr. Darke, the surveyor, late of Port Phillip, had been murdered by the natives at Port Lincoln." This, the author has discovered, was not the gentleman who laid out the spacious streets of Melbourne, but his brother, who was also a government surveyor. The Mr. Darke alluded to in this work is, therefore, the author believes, still alive. The author has not deemed it delicate to continue the history farther than the close of Sir Charles Hotham's government. Some readers will recollect the anecdote of the "black fellow" who could imitate every governor who had held sway in New South Wales, but who made it a point of honor to refuse to give the "bow" of the ruler actually in office.

In the eyes of the acute savage there appeared something improper in taking liberties with the actual representative of majesty. The author doubted the propriety of chronicling the events which have occurred during Sir Henry Bark ly's government. He may, however, at some future period, add a few more chapters to the History of Victoria. 30th August, 1858. 28 0C HISTORY OF VICTORIA.

Chapter I

Victoria. — Discovery of its Coasts — Settlement of Port Phillip, by Governor Collins, in 1803 — Abandoned in 1804 — Voyagers and Explorers — The Expedition of Hovenden and Hume — Attempt to form a Settlement at Western Port — Major Mitchell Explores the Interior of Port Phillip. (^rjTpfcHE Colony of Victoria is said to contain within its area 100,000 I^MIl square miles. Its boundaries are Bass's Straits to the south and east ; the Colony of New South Wales to the north and north-east, by a straight line drawn from Cape Howe to the nearest source of the River Murray, and thence by the course of that river to the eastern boundary of the Colony of South Australia ;* the Colony of South Australia, near the line of 141 of E. long., to the west. This popular dependency of the British Crown was, until 1850, known as Port Phillip, and was, in fact, merely the southern district of New South Wales.

It received this name from Governor King, who desired to honor the memory of his predecessor, Captain Phillip, who had charge of the original settlers for New South Wales. Sir Thomas Mitchell, the late Surveyor-General of that colony, when on his ex ploring expedition into its beautiful plains and park-like forests, gave it the appropriate designation of Australia Felix, but it was never generally adopted. Holland has the honor of having discovered the continent of Australia about 1605. That great country was then nearly at the height of its power, and encouraged naval adventure and discovery ; and the officers sent in command of these voyages were in no way inferior in courage * Act for the better Government of her Majesty's Australasian Colonies, 13 and 14 Vic., chap. 59. A and bravery to those who remained to command the fleets of war.

They surveyed the coast from Carpentaria to Nuyts' Archipelago, now a portion of South Australia, and at no great distance from Spencer's Gulf. When, unfortunately, the Dutch Republic sank in the scale of nations, these voyages were abandoned, and it was a full century before Spain, France, and Great Britain began to interest themselves about these far-distant shores. But while the great maritime nations of Europe have had something to do with the exploring of the unknown coasts of Australia, our country alone has the credit of having colonized them. The particular portion of the continent which I have more especially to notice was discovered by natives of our own country. Captain Cook is supposed to have been the first to discover the coast of Port Phillip, about 1770. The celebrated discoverer, Bass, appears to have been the first who landed on our shores, during his celebrated exploring expedition in 1798.

The vessel sent to examine the coast of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, sailed from Sydney in October, 1798, and contained the distinguished discoverers, Flinders and Bass, on board. They sound that a strait separated the main land from the island. The following is the account given by Collins of their landing at what is now known as Twofold Bay : — " The Norfolk, as has been already stated, sailed upon this voyage of discovery about the 7th October, 1798, with Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass, and, on the 11th, anchored in Twofold Bay. Mr. Bass, on examination, found Twofold Bay situated at the southern end of a short chain of hummocky hills, one part of which is more conspicuous than the rest, and lies immediately behind the Bay. The land on the west side, being a part of this chain of hills, is high and rocky.

The shore is divided into steep cliff-heads, with small intermediate beaches, the one formed by the most prominent of the ridges, the other by the sand thrown up at the foot of their vallies. Behind the beaches are pools of brackish water." The northern shore was first seen by Lieutenant Grant, who seems to have discovered the whole coast. He gave so favorable an account of the same that Governor King sent the Lady Nelson on a voyage of discovery, to ascertain the truth of Grant's report. To Murray belongs the credit of having been the first to enter the Bay ; but, strange to say, it was visited almost simultaneously by Captain Matthew Flinders in the Investigator, and Captain Baudin, in the Geographe. A vigorous effort to form a settlement was made by the British Government in 1803 ; and the Calcutta (Captain Woodriff), with the Ocean transport, were sent out, and arrived safely in the Bay of Port Phillip.

The expedition was under the charge of Colonel Collins, who held the rank of Lieutenant-Governor. The first lieutenant of the Calcutta, Mr. Tuckey, has left upon record a most interesting history of the expedition. The Lieutenant-Governor was promised £500 per annum. There were three lieutenants — Sladen, Johnston, and Lord ; six noncommissioned officers, and thirty-nine rank and file. The expedition was accompanied by the following officials of the proposed colony: the Rev. Robert Knopwood, chaplain ; Lieut. Frosbrook, deputy commissary-general ; E. Ford Bromley, surgeon-superintendent ; William Anson, colonial surgeon ; C. Prideaux Harris, surveyor ; John Clark and William Patterson, superintendents of convicts ; and A. W. H. Humphries, mineralogist. There were 307 prisoners on board the Ocean (for the object of the expedition was to found a penal settlement).

Happily for Victoria, they were unable to form a permanent settlement, and had to betake themselves to Van Diemen's Land. In reading the history of this first effort to colonise Victoria, we may almost be inclined to believe that an especial decree of All-wise Providence had gone forth, that a colony so fair and fertile should not be degraded by a convict origin. Nothing prospered with the settlement; and, as with the Pilgrim Fathers on their landing at New Plymouth, everything was found desolate and gloomy : sterile soil, and distressing scarcity of fresh water, appear to have given all connected with the expedition a perfect dread of the country ; the whole of the convicts, with the exception of a few (amongst whom was the celebrated Buckley, who had escaped and taken to the woods), were re-embarked, and the establishment removed to the Derwent River.

Lieut. Tuckey has left a history of this expedition. He seems to have had quite a literary turn, as he gave to the world a narrative of an expedition to explore the River Zairee, or Congo, in South Africa. He appears to have been an adventurous, brave, and ready-witted man ; and so en thusiastically devoted to exploring, that, like many more of similar disposition, he sacrificed his life to his desire for the extension of geo graphical and scientific knowledge. It seems, however, that Colonel Collins had landed on the eastern shore of the harbor, where the country is poor and sterile, and water scarce in several spots. It is quite apparent that no proper survey of the surrounding country could have been made, as there are several tracts of rich ground and excellent forest land at no great distance from the shore.

Collins seems to have resolved to quit the shores of the bay without making a proper survey of the inlet ; for, had he examined its shores thoroughly with his boats, he could not have helped discovering the Bay of Corio, and many spots of great attraction. He might have sailed up the Yarra and Saltwater rivers, and seen the beautiful and picturesque scenery upon their banks. The literary Lieutenant made several exploring expeditions, and from an entry in the journal left by the Rev. Robert Knopwood to the following effect, that Lieutenant Tuckey had found a fresh water river more to the north-east of the Bay, it would almost appear that he had met with the Yarra; but if this was the case he could not have as cended it farther than its junction with the Salt Water River, where the banks used to be fringed with a dense tea tree scrub.

The Lieu tenant-Governor Collins, whatever were his views, appeared resolved to see nothing attractive, and he added his testimony to many others that it was unsuitable, and obtained permission from Governor King, of Sydney, to remove the establishment at once. Thus were the shores of Victoria left again to their own aboriginal inhabitants, and the country remained unnoticed for more than twenty years, when it was once more awakened by the surges of the vast sea of moving civilization, which, about the years 1840 and 1841, were spreading from the old and densely peopled countries of Europe to the virgin and unpeopled settlements of America and Australia. Victoria, and with it, indeed, the whole of the Australian Colonies, owes a debt to those early explorers, particularly to Flinders and Bass ; and it would not be grateful to pass this portion of its history without bestowing some attention upon two men whose names must be impe rishably connected with Australia.

Matthew Flinders was a native of Donington in Lincolnshire, and first sailed for New South Wales in 1795, in the vessel that brought out Governor Hunter; and Bass who was surgeon of the ship, was his fellow passenger. Their enterprise to Van Diemen's Land has already been noticed, but previous to this they had examined a considerable portion of the coast in a whale boat, named the Tom Thumb. On the return of Flinders to England he was well received by George III., and was sent out in the In vestigator, of 334 tons, with eighty men, to survey the southern coast of the continent. This he did with great care, and in the course of his progress he encountered the French ship, Geographe, Captain Nicholas Baudin, which had been surveying the coasts of Tasmania. Captain Flinders published in 1814 an account of his own voyages and also of those of his predecessors, Van Nuyts and Van Couver, as well as those of the French Admiral, D'Entrecasteaux, who had touched somewhere on the south coast of Australia during his voyage in search of the unfortunate La Perouse.

It is melancholy to have to notice the brutal insults which Flinders received from the French Governor of the Mauritius. Having been driven to take refuge there he was de tained six years, and subjected to the very worst treatment by the Go vernor. He was allowed to return after that period had elapsed, but his physical energies were shattered,, and he died almost immediately after his book had issued from the press. The fate of his distinguished companion was still more deplorable. He went from Sydney in a ship which he was soon called on to command in the place of the mas ter, who was indisposed. On approaching the South American coast Bass commenced to trade with the natives against the wishes of the Government, as it was supposed. He was kidnapped by the Spanish authorities, and sent to work in the silver mines, where he, no doubt, perished ; no farther tidings of his fate ever reached Britain.

In taking leave of these old-fashioned writers and brave discoverers, we cannot but express the strong admiration we feel for a class who, like Cæsar, seemed to combine the tastes of literature with those of war and discovery. On their return to Britain, they gave their jour nals to the world in the shape of vast ponderous volumes, printed in great antiquated type ; and the details are most minute of all that occur red, both at sea and on shore. The early governors of Australian settlements appear to have published the accounts of all their proceedings. Amongst the class of books described must be included the his tories of Governors Phillip, Hunter, Collins, &c, which, for size and shape, form goodly companions on the shelves, side by side with the voyages of Flinders and La Perouse. We have now to consider another order of interesting men, to whose exertions the Australian colonies owe much— the explorers of the interior.

They are considerable in number : Oxley, Grey, Eyre, Sturt, Hume, Hovenden, Mitchell, Leichardt, and others of great personal merit. Few persons can form any conception of the difficulties which those who travel into the untrodden wilderness have to encounter. The courage necessary for such an undertaking requires to be of the very highest order. It is much superior to mere physical energy, which is frequently without any moral qualities. Such, however, as have possessed true moral courage have never displayed any want of the other; indeed, it has often been the moral that forced the physical into its service very much against its will. There is a well-known story related of Turenne, that, on entering a battle, his heart trembled, and his legs quivered. The great marshal said to them, " You would tremble more if you knew where I will take you."

It is this high moral courage which the explorer requires to possess in order that he may go forward with unwavering prudence and conduct. He requires self-reliance, in order that, whatever may be his own apprehensions, he may not exhibit the slightest symptoms of perturbation to the members of his party, even under the most adverse circumstances ; which might lead to fatal results. He has no friend to advise with upon those sudden emergencies which often occur, and which demand self-reliance and decisive action. The records of the wonderful exertions in ex ploring that part of the Australian continent with which we are already acquainted form a most interesting library, and will always be read with interest. Those men were, in many cases, heroes and patriots, who have bestowed benefits upon every part of the Australian con tinent ; and, throughout its length and breadth, their names should be had in grateful remembrance.

Two respectable settlers of New Somh Wales, named Hume and Hovenden, have the honor of having been the first to explore the interior of Victoria, regarding which Mr. Oxley (surveyor-general of New South Wales) had promulgated the worst possible rumors.* Animated by a thirst for distinction, and a desire to * " We had demonstrated, beyond a doubt," said he, "that no river could fall into the sea between Cape Otway and Spencer's Gulf, at least, none deriving their waters from the eastern coast ; and that the country south of the parallel of 34, and west of the meridian of 147 -30 cast, was uninhabitable, uud useless for the purposes of civilized men." — Oxlcy's Journal. extend the boundaries of the civilized country, in order that more runs for stock might be discovered, the two adventurers set forth upon their arduous undertaking in the end of 1824.

On the 17th October they left Mr. Hume's station, the last which was then occupied on the Victoria side, and on the 19th they passed Yass, and reached the banks of the Murrumbidgee, which was so swollen by the rains as to have become utterly impassable. It was from thirty to forty yards in breadth, and the rate of the current at the place where they attempted to cross was between five and six miles an hour. The party waited until the 23nd, when, finding no appearance of the water abating, it was determined that the passage of the river should at once be attempted ; and, having formed an ingenious substitute for a punt, in the body of a cart, the whole party was enabled to cross to the left bank. They then had a long and tedious journey over ranges and ravines ; but found the country, in many parts, well grassed, and of a very superior character.

On the 14th November Messrs. Howell and Hume climbed to the summit of Mount Battery. The Snowy Alps were visible, with the view bounded on each side by mountain ranges. The whole of the intermediate country had one general character, — " Slight undulations, interspersed here and there, more or less numerously, with conical or mastoid hills of various, but never of con siderable, elevation."* On the 16th they arrived suddenly on the banks of a large river, which was named after Mr. Hume, who was the first to see it. This turned out to be the head of the Murray. It is mentioned as a beautiful stream, not less than eighty yards broad, the current about three miles an hour, the banks clothed with verdure to the water's edge ; on each side of the river was a perpetual succession of lagoons, furnished with an inlet from the river and an outlet into it.

The spaces between the lagoons and the river consisted of swamps and unsound ground, thickly timbered with blue-gum, overgrown with vines, fern, peppermint, flax, and currajong. They found abundance of codfish in the river, and caught numbers of bream and carp in the adjoining lagoons. There were wild ducks in the greatest abundance, and plenty of large muscles in the muddy holes. The party found it very difficult to cross the Hume, and, after having • "Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, in 1824 and ls-K>," by W. H. Howell aud H. Hume. Tegg: Sydney, 1837. examined the river for some distance down the stream, they proceeded upwards for about twenty miles ; and on the 22nd they managed to cross by means of a temporary boat, hastily constructed of wicker work, and covered with tarpaulin : they experienced some difficulty in getting clear of the swamps and lagoons which skirted the river.

On the 24th they arrived at another river, which was crossed on the following day. They named it the " Ovens," after the deceased Major Ovens, who had been private secretary to Sir Thomas Brisbane. On the 3rd December they crossed the Goulburn without difficulty ; and on the 9th reached Mount Disappointment, which is better known as the " Big Hill." They were unable to cross this range, which was "bush and rock," over which they scrambled, with great difficulty, on their hands and knees. They had, moreover, the misfortune to encounter a great quantity of the long grass, known as cutting-grass, between four and five feet high, the blade an inch and a half broad, the edges exquisitely sharp. After every exertion had been made, and every effort had failed, the party had to make a long detour to avoid this inhospitable portion of the dividing range ; but at last, after considerable trouble, they managed to cross on the 13th Decem ber.

On the 14th they travelled twenty miles in a southerly direction, over a level country, interspersed here and there with hills of a conical form. On the 15th they met with traces of natives, and on the 16th they reached the " so long and earnestly desired bourne of their labors — the sea," somewhere near the present town of Geelong. The following account of their interview with the natives is recorded in the Journey of Discovery of Messrs. Howell and Hume : " This morning a man, James Fitzpatrick, having proceeded a short distance, was attacked by the natives, but escaped. About two hours after this, as two of the people were procuring firewood in a small clump of trees, not far from the tent, two natives sprang towards them from behind trees ; these, however, on the men presenting their muskets at them, made signs of peace.

Mr. Hume, who was at hand, now approached, when, laying down his arms and beckoning to his men to do the same, the natives followed the example, and proceeded to the tent with Mr. Hume. These people began to be a little better understood when they seemed to wish to describe that a vessel had been in that Bay, and that the people had landed, and to imply that both the master and the people were continually in a hurry, a notion, perhaps, formed from the mere routine employment of the settlers, and which, compared with their own habits of indolence and utter ignorance of labor, might wear that appearance. They also appeared to point out where the vessel lay, — endeavored to explain that they had seen the men felling trees (alluding, probably, to the original settlement of Port Phillip). These natives were cunning and treacherous — inquisitive, troublesome, and great thieves.

They did not seem astonished at the horses or bullocks, though evidently much afraid of the latter, and even dreadfully alarmed if the bullocks, although at a considerable distance, were looking towards them. The name they gave the bay was Geelong ; a mount near they designated Woolloomata ; water was goolamo ; a bird, bonering ; a dog, narranuke." The party was desirous of proceeding westward to examine the country ; but the threatening conduct of the aborigines, and the num ber of fires around them (evidently as signals) deterred them, and induced them to commence their homeward journey. They recrossed the Hume on the 3rd of January, without any difficulty, and the Mur rumbidgee on the 17th, and on the 18th arrived safely at Mr. Hume's station, on Lake George. The party had only been absent sixteen weeks.

The journey displayed remarkable judgment, energy, and intrepidity on the part of the leaders ; and the result was the refuta tion of the hasty opinion given by Oxley in reference to the district they had explored, and the opening up of the whole of Australia Felix to the enterprise and colonising efforts of their fellow-countrymen. It was, however, a considerable time before the results which might have been anticipated from such an important discovery began to ex hibit themselves. A second effort to found a penal settlement was, how ever, made by Governor Darling, and Captain Howell the explorer was placed in charge of it. From some cause not very clearly defined it had to be abandoned. Captain Howell, however, gave a tolerably faithful description of the country. He says , " Western Port affords safe anchor age for vessels of any draught of water.

The settlement lately formed by the Government, but since abandoned, was situate on the eastern side of the bay. This was but scantily supplied with good water. The country from this spot to Bass River consists principally of a rich alluvial soil, interspersed, here and there, with patches of heath. li The space between Wright's River, Cape Patterson, and Shallow La goon, consists of a low undulating heathy surface, badly watered, with, here and there, a patch of good timber. -At Cape Patterson coal is plentiful and good, lying partly above the surface, and some of it jutting into the sea." In the year 1836, the Sydney Government resolved upon the equip ment of an expedition, under the command of Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor-general of New South Wales, to complete the survey of the Darling and the Murray, and, as far as practicable, the country on the left bank of the latter river, which now forms the colony of Vic toria.

The preparations for this memorable journey were made with great care : the party was selected and organized by the distinguished explorer who was to take charge of it, and consisted of the following persons: — Major T. L. Mitchell, chief of • the party; C. C. Stapylton, Esq., second in command; Alexander Burnett, overseer; Robert Muirhead, second overseer; Charles Hammond, William Thomas, Richard Lane, James M-Lelland, Charles Webb, bullock drivers ; John Johnston, Walter Blanchard, blacksmiths ; William Woods, Charles King, John Gayton, horse carters ; John Drysdale, medical attendant ; John Roach, collector of birds ; John Richardson, collector of plants ; John Palmer, John Douglass, sailors ; Joseph Jones, shepherd ; James Taylor, groom ; Edward Pickering and Archibald M'Kean, carpenters ; James Field, shoemaker; Anthony Brown, cook.

Mitchell was in high spirits when he finally started on this important expedition, on the 17th June. He says, " Dr. Johnson's ' Obadiah ' was not more free from care on the morning of his journey, than I was on this, the first morning of mine. It was St. Patrick's Day, and, in riding through the bush, I had leisure to recall past scenes and times connected with the anniversary. I remembered that, on this morning, twenty-four years before, I marched down the glacis of Elvas, to the tune of ' St. Patrick's Day in the Morning,' as the sun rose over the beleaguered towers of Badajos : now, without any of the pride or pomp of war, I was proceeding on a service not very likely to be peaceful, for the natives here assured me that the Myalls were coming up, very angry to meet us."* On the 23rd of May, the expedition reached the Murray, without any accident worthy of notice ; but, like Captain Sturt, who * Mitchell's Expeditions, vol. THE HTSTORY OF VICTORIA. 11 had, a short time before, passed down this stream, they found the abo rigines very troublesome ; and, after several skirmishes, an actual collision took place on the 27th May, and about eight of the most troublesome were killed.

This unfortunate event occurred at Mount Dispersion, and, although much regretted by the leader of the expedition, had yet the salutary effect of permanently delivering the party from the imminent danger of being murdered by these savage and treacherous barbarians. The party proceeded without farther annoyance, and crossed the Murray on the 13th June, into that portion of the Australian continent which constitutes the Colony of Victoria. Proceeding up the left bank of the Murray, the party reached Lake Boga on the 20th, where an encounter between the natives and Piper (the black fellow attached to the exploring party) occurred, and resulted in one of the strange tribe being shot. Mitchell proceeded, by Mount Hope, towards the Grampians, crossing the Wimmera, near Mount Zero, with considerable difficulty, passing Mount Arapiles to the right, and arriving at Greenhill Lake on the 24th July.