"Johnny" Fawkner was domiciled rearward of the now Custom House, off the southern line of Little Flinders Street near its junction with William Street; D'Arcy, one of the Survey party, towards the other end, near Market Street; and Webb, a Customs' officer, perched in the middle of Little Flinders Street close by. Onward, in the same line, some half-way between Market and Queen Streets, a Mr. Michael Carr, an ancient publican, barred the way, and flanked his position with an enclosure, intended for the growth of cabbage, potatoes, or other useful esculents. Some half-a-dozen storekeepers seized on or about the Market Square, and amongst them appeared the names of Diprose, Powell and Nodin, whilst a Mr. Robson hoisted his signboard in the centre of Collins Street, and Mr. Skene Craig similarly located himself in William Street. Mr. James Smith was berthed cosily like an old hen on the south side of Collins Street West, and a Mr. Eyre further down. Robert Russell and Darke, of the Survey staff, pitched their tents over the river, close by the "Falls;" but the encampment of the working gang was pitched on the side of the hill, north of Russell Street. Dr. A. Thomson, the pioneer settler of his profession, and one of Batman's party, took up some ground between Swanston Street South, and Russell Street; whilst two enterprising individuals—Adams and Armstrong—coolly jumped an area for a cultivation paddock, near the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Streets, taking in the present site of St. Paul's Cathedral. But the rashest adventurer of all was Mr. Thomas Halfpenny, who had the temerity, with a mate, to throw up a hut of sods and reeds in Collins Street, opposite the now Bank of Victoria, where he contented himself for some time. He was so far without the pale of civilization that friends often seriously advised him to come "nearer home." Yet he laughed at their apprehensions, and clove to the forest, where he throve so well that, in the course of a short time, he went into "public" business and continued for years one of the best known and most flourishing of the old Bonifaces. He is still hale and hearty in the land of the living. A nondescript wooden building served as a church, or chapel, or conventicle, as required, at the north-west corner of Little Collins and William Streets, now the St. James' school reserve, and a diminutive area is indicated as a graveyard, on the eminence to the far north-west, then known as the Burial Hill, afterwards the popular Flagstaff Hill, where all the Melbourne "world and his wife" used to take their outings on Sundays and holidays, and on every other day when they had time or inclination to inhale the fresh country air.
It was a struggling, uncomfortable battle of life, during this period for the few enterprising colonists who clung to the n e w country, and its rough-and-ready mode of existence, with a tenacity that deserved success. The year at length came to a close, and, from the police returns taken at the time, the following was the state of the province on the 31st December:— The population made a total of 224 individuals, i.e., 186 males and 38 females—within a fraction off five men for each woman. During the year there had been one birth as against three deaths. There were 50 acres of unpurchased land under cultivation, and the live stock was put down at 75 horses, 155 horned cattle, and 41,332 sheep.
In March, 1837, an event of much importance occurred, being nothing less than the arrival of Sir Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales, from Sydney. His Excellency was received with a loyal and dutiful iespect by the young colonists; and, as a matter of course, the inevitable address of congratulatory welcome and the reply were not omitted from the programme. His visit, though brief, was turned to good account, for, approving of the site of the township, he called it Melbourne, named the streets, and, after aflyingtrip to Geelong and Mount Macedon, returned whence he came.
Having thus traced the "unnamed village" from its discovery to the birth of Melbourne, I cannot conclude this chapter more appropriately than by appending brief personal notices of the two individuals who had so much to do in bringing matters to such a state. John Batman was born in 1800, at Parramatta, New South Wales. Tall and dashing, energetic and courageous, he was cut out for what he really was, a capital specimen of the thorough bushman. Passing over to Van Diemen's Land, he led a daring, active life there, rendering good service in assisting to "stamp out" the plague of bushranging, with which the island-colony was then infested. In 1825 he captured Brady, an escaped convict, who had taken to the bush, and committed several depredations—a feat which the Government rewarded by the grant of a thousand acres of land. In the project of quieting the residue of the aboriginal population, by impounding them on Forrester's Peninsula, Batman also distinguished himself; but, in the "Black War," he was said to be as remarkable for his knowledge of the bush and compassion for the natives, as for skill in their pursuit;
