AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
I once thought that of all things in the world the least likely to happen would be my writing a history of Melbourne, and I should not have even dreamed of assuming such a responsibility were it not first suggested by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, under the following circumstances:—
One summer Sunday in February, 1873, I was his guest at Sorrento; and, in the course of the evening, our conversation, drifting back to the sayings and doings of the olden days of the colony, some reminiscences which I disinterred so amused him that he declared I ought to write an Anecdotal History of Melbourne. The notion appeared so preposterous, that I thought he was joking; but, on intimating as much, he assured me it was,nothing of the kind, and even pressed me to give the subject my consideration. It occurred to him, he said, that such a work would be extremely interesting; that from both an historical and a general point of view, it ought to be written; and that, if not done in the course of a few years, it would never be; and he even went so far as to pay me the very undeserved compliment of adding, that he knew no other person who possessed to the same extent the necessary local experience and ability requisite for the undertaking. I remained unconvinced, and the idea passed out of my mind, probably never to return, but for its revival on every subsequent occasion when w e met. We never spoke since that day without his recurring to the subject, though ineffectually, until just seven years after (on another Sunday in February, 1880), when we dined at the hospitable board of Mr. Andrew Tobin at Balaklava. Some "Garryowen Sketches" had recently appeared in a Melbourne newspaper, of which Sir Charles Gavan Duffy spoke indeed too flatteringly,and then the Anecdotal History once more appeared on the tapis, when the result was that, in a moment of weakness, I yielded a reluctant consent. I was early taught to regard a promise as binding as a bond, and nothing now remained but to keep my word, which I resolved to do under any circumstances—to become "The Chronicler of Early Melbourne"—successfully, if I could—and otherwise at the worst. I have lived to learn that I much underrated the burden I had taken on my shoulders; but I entered upon my novel enterprise with a will, thoroughly determined that no extent of trouble or toil should scare me from a duty in which I had voluntarily, though misgivingly embarked. It was in a certain sense a "labour of love" tinged with melancholy—a kind of pleasure-trip to the region of Long-ago—an excursion to Phantom-land, to wander amongst the shadows of the past, in which I had once been a mover, and often an actor—to obtain a ghostly glimpse of many an old familiar face, and a grasp of many a vanished hand long stilled by the icy touch of death. I was like a person for more than a generation away from a country where he had cemented friendships, contracted ties of sympathy, and left behind him kind remembrances; who returned to find the whole aspect of things changed—those he liked and respected gathered to their fathers—the friendships, sympathies, and remembrances evaporated like dew under the sunbeams, and nothing left but memories springing up, like apparitions, at every advance.
Such is the Melbourne of old to me, and my retrogressive pilgrimage has imparted a mixed sensation—a regretful, yet satisfactory excitement in recalling scenes, reunions, and recollections long consigned to oblivion, and, so to write, resuscitating, for a time, many stages of my past existence. In treating of the infancy of Melbourne from its settlement, in 1835 to 1840, much difficulty has had to be encountered through the want of reliable data and records. During a portion of 1838 and the whole of 1839, two publications (hardly even in courtesy to be styled newspapers) were issued, yet no complete files of them are obtainable; and, without disparaging the efforts of those who have written of the time, the conviction is forced upon me that, with the viva voce help available up to ten years ago, it is surprising
