selected was "The Advantages of such Institutions." Mr. Osborne was appointed joint Secretary with Mr. Morrison, who some time after retired. The second lecture was delivered on the 1st May, by Mr. Redmond Barry, who produced a very learned and ornate discourse upon "Agriculture," its only fault being that the theme was not sufficiently popularized, for it was, in fact, an accomplished, scholarly, and recondite essay. The Rev. James Forbes, Presbyterian Minister, followed on the 15th May to a croyvded audience and in the presence of Superintendent Latrobe. He spoke on "Colonization," and his address was a deliverance of remarkable interest, and eloquence. On the 29th, Mr. George Arden, the Editor of the Gazette, gave an exposition of "The Mechanical Agency of the Press in the Dissemination of General Knowledge." Dr. Greeves lectured on "Geology," 12th June, and was succeeded on the 26th by Mr. Edward Sewell, a Solicitor, who discoursed very interestingly on "Heat." The Rev. P. B. Geoghegan, Roman Catholic Pastor, appeared 10th July as the expounder of "The Existence of a Deity, judging from Reason and Nature alone." As a speaker of rare gifts, he was at home alike in the pulpit and on the platform. On the 7th August, Dr. Wilmot, the Coroner, lectured on "The Science of the Present Day." Mr. Osborne followed (4th September), on "Phrenology," and Mr. Barry wound up the session on the 2nd October by a second essay on " Agriculture."
An application to the Government for a grant of land on which to erect a suitable building, and for pecuniary aid towards it, was refused by Sir George Gipps, considering the infancy of the movement, but if a building were commenced, and likely to be well supported, a contribution of £300 would be forthcoming. This qualified promise was not acceptable, and the promoters decided for the present to trust to self-reliance and public confidence to speed them onward. In neither of these allies were they disappointed, for at the close of the year they had 241 members on the books, and under one of their rules they were empowered to confer "honorary membership on persons in any part of the world, who have distinguished themselves by their researches or attainments in Science, Literature, and the Arts, or who might in any way have conferred signal benefit on the Institution." To secure a sufficiently central site for a building, and make a little money by the bargain, the Committee determined to purchase two allotments at a Government land sale, one whereon to erect the Institute, and the other to be re-soid at a favourable opportunity. This was done on the 13th August, 1840, and an old map of Melbourne shows the name of J. H. Osborne as buyer of lots two and three, of block eleven, extending from Collins to Little Collins Street, for £142 10s. each. This space adjoined eastward the reserve afterwards given to the Corporation for a Town Hall, and a portion—66 feet frontage by a depth of 155 feet was at once marked off for the Mechanics' Institution, and the remainder afterwards sold at a large profit. The Scots' School was used as a place of meeting until December, when a small brick bouse was rented in Bourke Street, where a library was commenced, which at first consisted mainly of free gifts of books. Tenders were called for the erection of a building not to exceed £2000, but no available offer followed.
In the course of 1840 the honorary sinecure of Patron yvas created, the eight V.P.'s were compressed into two, and the Committee reduced by 50 per cent, i.e., from 30 to 15. One Treasurer was considered a sufficient guardianship for the funds, and as the Museum was yet a myth, with nil to take care of, it was evidently useless to have one Curator helping another to do nothing, and one of those ornamental appendages was knocked off. At the commencement of 1841, the Board of Management, the first virtually of its kind, was thus constituted:— Patron—His Honor C. J. Latrobe. President—William Lonsdale, Esq. Vice-Presidents—The Rev. James Clow, and Farquhar M'Crae, ESq., M. D.—TreasurerWilliam Highett, Esq. Secretary—The Rev. J. H. Osborne. Curator of Museum—David E. Wilkie, Esq, M. D. Committee of Management.[1]—Messrs. Joseph Anderson,* Redmond Barry, John Caulfield,* George Beaver,* J. M . Chisholm, Patrick Mayne,* J. R. Murphy, D. C. M'Arthur, A. M. M'Crae, Alexander M'Killop, J. J. Peers,* Robert Reeves, Thomas Strode,* John Sutherland, and P. W. Welsh. Auditors—Messrs. John Carey, and D. C. McArthur. There was also a Librarian, Mr. Thomas Burns, and a Collector (of cash, not specimens, it is to be presumed), Mr. F. Hitchins.
- ↑ The "Trades" element was rather considerably eliminated from this Committee, for only the names asterisked could be in any sense put down as representative of the mechanic or artisan stratum of the community. The Committee, however, included much of the spirit of the day, and the influence and social position of the majority of its members helped on an undertaking of no ordinary difficulty, and which would in other hands have gone down in the surf of financial troubles which soon after burst upon the Province and kept it in tribulation for some years.
