stopped before it came to a head; subsequent attempts to revive it in different forms failed, and the colony was preserved from the direct convict taint. The first official census of Port Phillip, was taken in November, 1836, when the population numbered 186 males and 38 females; and, towards the close of the year, the first death of a child, the son of one Goodman, occurred. There is no record of the date of the first Melbourne marriage, though the first marriage celebrated in the colony was on the 27th November, 1803, by the Rev. Robert Knopwood, chaplain of the Collins' Expedition—and the happy pair were Richard Garrett and Hannah Harvey. The interesting event happened at Sorrento, a fact which ought to tell favourably for that popular watering place, as an auspicious retreat for the proverbial Hymeneal pastime of honeymooning. It is remarkable that Sorrento was the locale of the first mortuary and of the first Lucinean[1] rites, for the first man who died in the colony was cook of the "Calcutta" (one of the Collins' ships), and he was buried there on the 16th November, 1803, whilst on the 25th of the same month the wife of Sergeant Thorne (also a member of the Expedition) presented her husband with a son, and the little stranger was christened, with all the honours, at Sorrento, on Christmas Day following.
In 1836, one birth (a son of Batman's, on the 5th November, some years after drowned in the Yarra) and three deaths occurred in Melbourne, whilst in 1837 the births went up to seven and the deaths down to one. The first white marriage ceremony was performed in Melbourne, in 1837; and on the 30th April of the same year the first white child was baptised in the name of John Melbourne Gilbert. This was the first-born of Melbourne before referred to, and the little stranger that "put the cat's nose out of joint."
Reference has been already made to the journals kept by Captain King and Mr. Hoddle, and the following extracts will give some idea of Melbourne in the March of 1837. T h e former writes:— "I was very much pleased with the settlement. After pulling for eight miles through a ti-tree scrub, which impenetrably clothes the low banks of the river, the settlement suddenly burst upon our view. It is scattered, of course, at present, but consists, perhaps, of 50 or 60 huts. Some are of sods, others framed and weather-boarded, others wattled and plastered. The framed houses have all been sent from Sydney or Launceston. Were it not for the burnt-up appearance of the place, the scenery about the town would be beautiful; the ground undulates, and between the houses and the river is an alluvial flat of good soil, in which good gardens may be formed, and very productive too. We called upon the ladies of the place, and found them enduring great discomfort, some living in mud hovels, others in tents, and others just entering their new abodes formed of 'wattle-and-daub.' Among them is an old acquaintance of ours, Mrs. D'Arcy; her husband is surveying the country here preparatory to its being sold." Mr. Hoddle remarks:— "The weather-boarded building under Batman's Hill, was erected by Batman, and Captain Lonsdale stayed there until the two road parties' huts were joined together, and formed his dwelling. A tent at the rear of the huts was the dwelling of his cook, a fire in front his cook-house. The huts afterwards had a roof built over them which improved their appearance. Near this was Mason's weather-boarded hut, used as an ironmonger's and other goods' store. This became the property of Allison and Knight. The next weather-boarded hut was erected on the site of the present Custom House, and was used as an inn by one Smith. A few wood and mud huts and tents formed the township in 1837. The site of my house (western end of Bourke Street) was the ground where the tents were erected for Sir Richard Bourke and his party. The Governor's tent was in Great, and mine in Little Bourke Streets, both of which were so named as soon as I had marked out the first blocks and streets."
Sir Richard Bourke, in opening the Legislative Council in Sydney on the 30th May, 1837, refers in the following terms to the newly-proclaimed settlement:— "After I had last the honour of addressing you, I received Her Majesty's gracious permission to open for location the country adjacent to the waters of Port Phillip, and in the vicinity of Twofold Bay. The former of these districts already contains a population of above 500 souls, whilst more than 100,000 sheep may be found grazing on its ample pastures. The expenses attending this occupation have been hitherto defrayed from the revenues of Crown lands, to which the sale of such lands within the district will hereafter largely contribute."
- ↑ A poetic allusion to Lucinea, Goddess of Child-bearing.
