Funds for the undertaking were to be raised in transferable ,£50 shares, each holder to be privileged to nominate one pupil for each share held, at one-half the rates to be charged to non-proprietors. T h e property of the Institution was to be vested in five Trustees elected by the proprietors or shareholders. T h e management was to be entrusted to a President, two Vice-Presidents, and ten Directors, all elected annually by the proprietors, and empowered (subject to the review and control of the general body of shareholders) to nominate Masters and all other Officers necessary for conducting the ordinary business of the establishment. Donors of ,£200 or more were to be Honorary Life Directors, and strong hopes were entertained that the Government would grant a site for the building. T h e Report was adopted, and the Provisional Committee were authorized to retain office until ,£2000 had been raised. This pro tern, body consisted of Messrs. W . H . Yaldwyn, James Simpson, J. D. L. Campbell, G. B. Smyth, E. J. Brewster, Sylvester, J. Brown, George Porter, and Arthur K e m m i s , supplemented by the pastors of the various denominations of Christians. A n application was forwarded to head-quarters soliciting the so-much-desired land gift, and Governor Sir George Gipps commissioned Superintendent Latrobe to select a suitable locale. There was so m u c h unoccupied area around the small township that the choosing entailed but little trouble, and a reserve of five acres (off the South-East corner of the Carlton Gardens, then an open stretch of bush country) was selected. His Excellency's answer was expected by every overland mail, but the arrangement was unceremoniously broken in upon by the Rev. P. B. Geoghegan, the R o m a n Catholic Pastor, w h o offered an emphatic opposition to the preferential endowment of any particular Religious Denomination. T h e movement, though ostensibly for the benefit of all the Christian Sects, was in reality an Episcopalian overture, and others beside the R o m a n Catholics regarded it as thefirststep towards the establishment of a Church of England ascendancy. T h e grant was never completed, the Collegiate prospectus fluttered for a season before the public eye, and the proprietary vanished.
THE FIRST SCHOOL.
It is a singular fact that what might be termed the first "Seminary" of the colony was an institution for the instruction of Aboriginal children. It was established by order of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, in 1836, on a portion of the reserve n o w known as the Botanic Gardens. Itsfirstteacher was Mr. George Langhorn, an Episcopalian Missionary, who, for a time, had Mr. John T h o m a s Smith (subsequently the well-known Melbourne Mayor) as an assistant. T h e number of little black pupils in attendance during thefirstyear varied from 5 to 2 8 ; in 1837, 28 to 1 7 ; in 1838, 17 to 3; and in 1839 (when it was discontinued), 3 to 2. In 1841, a second school was formed at an Aboriginal Station, at Narre-Narre-Warren, near Dandenong, the scholars ranging for thefirstyear from 11 to 2 3 ; in 1842, 23 to 15; and in 1843, I 5 t0 m^> which caused its break up. T h e third school of the kind was founded in December, 1845, principally through the instrumentality of the Rev. John H a m , at the junction of Merri Creek and Yarra. It began with 1 attendant, and during a portion of 1846 had 32, which number dwindled to 7 during the following year; and in 1850 there remained only 2 children, deserted by their mother, but subsequently cared for by the Government, and in 1853 they were under training at the Moonee Ponds National School.
THE PRIMITIVE SECTARIAN SCHOOLS.
One of the first acts of the religious community after its formation, and when temporary provision had been m a d e for Divine worship, was the initiation of a school, no matter how small; for next to the care of their souls sprang up an anxiety for the education of a rising generation, more or less on the increase. T o maintain religious and scholastic establishments in the early times solely by private benefactions was out of the question, and the Government, with praiseworthy liberality, provided a pecuniary endowment in a small way. Grants of land were accordingly given as sites for churches,
