Mr. Robert Russell was the first man who placed a surveyor's theodolite on the land which was afterwards marked out as the township of Melbourne. After leaving school, as an articled pupil he entered the office of Mr. William Burn, of Edinburgh, probably the first architect of his day, where he remained five years, and according to an indorsement on his indenture in 1828, "he had faithfully and properly conducted himself during the whole of that time." Proceeding to London, he obtained a position in the office of Mr. Nash, the King's Architect, then engaged on extensive additions to Buckingham Palace, whence he passed over to the Irish Ordnance Survey, then being conducted under Colonel Colby, and whilst there, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the Irish survey. In 1832, rejoining Nash, he formed the acquaintance of Mr. Francis Clarke (one of the best men in the establishment), who was proceeding to New South Wales, and afterwards appointed Town Surveyor of Sydney. Russell also took it into his head to try his fortune in New South Wales, and having strong introductory letters to the Surveyor General (the subsequent Sir Thomas Mitchell), and Chief Justice Forbes, found little difficulty in obtaining an appointment as Assistant Town Surveyor. It was he who surveyed the greater part of the town of Sydney, prior to the issue of Crown grants. He was thus engaged when a Survey Staff was required for Port Phillip, and at the suggestion of Mr. W. W. Darke, one of his colleagues, volunteered to take charge of the branch department. Mr. Russell's "Letter of Instructions" dated roth September 1836, was a curiosity in its way. Amongst other duties he was enjoined, while travelling "To be vigilant over the conduct of his men; to forbid their straggling or provoking the Aboriginal natives to acts of hostility, and to have no intercourse with them unless in his presence. To concilitate the natives, and for any assistance rendered, recommend them for presents, to the Police Magistrate; also to observe the disposition of the natives, whether ferocious and hostile to strangers, or showing any inclination to friendly intercourse. To state in his reports, as far as he could, the number of each tribe, how armed, and whether for war or merely for the pursuit of game." Mr. Russell and his party arrived in Melbourne in the "Rattlesnake" on the 5th October, and on the 25th he and D'Arcy went to Geelong in the pinnace of the "Rattlesnake," made soundings in the harbour, ascended Station Peak, and took observations. Returning on the 2nd November to the "Settlement," Russell did not remain idle, but made the sketch of unformed and unnamed Melbourne, referred to in Chapter I.
On the 1st January, 1837, Mr. Russell received his appointment as Commissioner of Crown Lands (the first in the colony), and two days after the Police Magistrate wrote asking him, in his new capacity, to settle a mutual complaint from Messrs. Smith and Highett respecting a sheep run on the Salt Water River. On the 20th, the Commissioner replied to the effect that the matter had been arranged by Mr. Highett agreeing to move off the disputed land. This was the first of a long series of squatting altercations which cropped up in the aftertime, and few of them were so amicably adjusted. The Russell party pushed on with their survey business, and, considering the drawbacks, brought on by the exceptional times and circumstances by which it was beset, made reasonably good progress. A change of management, however, occurred in March, when Mr. Hoddle, who accompanied Sir Richard Bourke, was placed in charge, and Mr. Russell, thus relieved, returned to Sydney. There was no incapacity or misconduct alleged against Mr. Russell who returned soon after in the position of Clerk of Works, and the only manner of accounting for the transfer made in the Survey branch, is a presumption that Sir Richard Bourke wished to replace Mr. Russell by an officer, ranking higher in the service both by seniority and departmental status. If not this, some unexplained undercurrent of favouritism must have effected the removal of an officer for another in no way his superior in professional ability. Mr. Robert Hoddle, consequently, succeeded as Principal Officer of Surveys and Crown Lands Commissioner, and also acted as the first Government land sale auctioneer, but this did not prevent him doing a little in the land-buying way himself, for he one day ventured to bid for the two half-acre lots extending from Bourke to Little Collins Streets, at the west side, and, being the highest figure, knocked them both down to himself for £54-the best bid he ever made in his life. He had also the good sense to stick to them through all the monetary manias in the colony, and the consequence is they are now a mint of money in themselves. Born in London, he was, in 1811, attached to the Engineer Corps of the Military Service, and passed many years of his professional life at the Cape of Good Hope. Arriving in New South Wales, he was appointed Assistant-Surveyor by Governor Sir
