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T h e first soldier's funeral in the colony was on the n t h March, 1844. Sergeant M'Culla, of the 99th Regiment, was seized with sudden illness, and died in a few hours, presenting the indications generally attendant upon Asiatic cholera. His body turned blue, and when this got to be known, there was great alarm through the town, and rumour speedily circulated the astounding intelligence that several persons were attacked by similar symptoms, which was subsequently ascertained to be only a scare. Notwithstanding the temporary panic, M'Culla was interred in the (now) old burial ground with military honours, and a firing party of twenty placated his manes with the orthodox farewell volley. In April, 1847, four small pieces of Ordnance were received in the town, and carriaged outside the barrack walls in Collins Street West, with their muzzles pointed towards the Yarra, as if to warn off any invading force rash enough to come up the river. There were then no intervening buildings to intercept the view. T h e gold discoveries in 1851 necessitated a further increase of the military force, and consequently, on the 27th December, a reinforcement of Ensign Finch and 31 rank and file of the n t h Regiment arrived from Sydney. T h e immediate purpose of the addition was to enable the Officer in c o m m a n d (Captain Conran) to provide a Non-Commissioned Officers' guard for the Treasury, where m u c h of the gold brought by the escorts from the diggings, used to be deposited ; and an Officers' guard for the Gold Commissioners' tent at M o u n t Alexander. Lieutenant Maunsell was ordered to the Mount with a contingent, which was not to do any police duty. H e was to have 10s., and the m e n 2s. 6d., extra pay per diem, an arrangement to which they could have no objection. As with everything else, so with the military, did the immediate future work changes little expected by even the greatest wiseacre of the time. T h e Old Colonist with the "marvellous memory," to whose kindness I have referred in other chapters, has favoured m e with a m e m o , of military gossip of a highly readable kind. His style is more discursive than m y sketch, and he does not limit himself to the chronological lines which I have drawn. A s he writes solely from personal recollection, some discrepancies m a y be noticeable between him and m e ; but, after making all reasonable allowancies, the communication m a y be perused with m u c h interest at the present day :— " T h e first Garrison in Melbourne was composed of a detachment of the 4th Regiment, the ' King's Own,' a renowned and highly distinguished contingent of the British army. For upwards of 200 years this corps had been noted for its bravery, especially under Wellington in the Peninsular campaign W h e n Sir Richard Bourke visited the infant settlement of Port Phillip in 1837, and landed where is n o w the Queen's Wharf, he was received by a guard of honour of the 'King's Own.' Captain Lonsdale, the first Police Magistrate of the new Province, and other officials, belonged to the same regiment, as also did M r . George Wintle, the first gaoler, w h o had been regimental drum-major. " I n 1839 the barracks, consisting of a long slab building on the 'Government Block,' between West Bourke and Collins Streets, were occupied by the Grenadier C o m p a n y of the 28th Regiment, w h o all wore bearskin hats, branded with the regimental number on the front and back. This distinction was given them to commemorate a deed of valour displayed when they landed at Aboukir Bay, in 1801, under General Sir Ralph Abercrombie. They were encountered by a French Infantry Regiment, which, at the point of the bayonet, they drove up the sand hills near the landing place, and, while thus engaged, were suddenly attacked in the rear by another French regiment; but they were equal to the occasion, for while the front rank defeated their antagonists, the rear rank faced about and served their opponents in a similar manner, an event unique in the annals of war, and worthy of being held in remembrance. O n e of their number died while in Melbourne, and the funeral procession, preceded by a fifer and drummer, playing ' Adeste Fideles,' passed down Collins and along Queen Streets, to the cemetery. " T h e 28th were succeeded in Melbourne by the 80th, the head-quarters of which were stationed in Sydney. A Company, under the c o m m a n d of Captain R. Lewis, was ordered to