The Trial Stakes were taken by Bessy Bedlam, a brown filly from the Austin Stable, and Bunyip won the Publicans' Purse in a field of eight. This day passed off in an unprecedentedly quiet manner, the judicial punishments of the previous year probably exercising a salutary effect in preserving the peace. O n the second day Bunyip beat Petrel and three others for the Ladies' Purse, and the meeting went over the third day, and was pronounced to be a great success. In addition to Bunyip, the Austins got up a minor sensation by displaying on the course a four-legged goose, hatched on the station of M r . Josiah Austin. T h e quadruped marched about on all fours as naturally as if the extra pair constituted no deformity.
Bunyip
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The new idol, before whose prowess the short-lived renown of Petrel was doomed to pale, was got by the Duke of Argyle, a horse shipped from Sydney by the H o n . J. Erskine Murray, out of an imported Arab mare belonging to Mr. J. W . Shaw. She formed part of the stock of Messrs. Smyth and Prentice, squatters, and was purchased at a sale of Kirk and Harlin, well-known auctioneers. Bunyip, a yearling colt, was bought at the same sale for ,£7 10s. by Mr. Austin, and shortly after began to give indication of the stuff of which he was made. H e wasfirstrun when a three-year-old, at Geelong, on 4th March, 1846, when he conquered Stevenson's Cornet. Three weeks after witnessed his debut on the Melbourne course, where he secured the P O R T P H I L L I P S T A K E S . His third appearance was at Colac, 4th February, 1847, where the C O L A C and S Q U A T T E R S ' P U R S E S fell to him; and turning westward, on the 16th of February he w o n the T O W N P L A T E and L A D I E S ' P U R S E at Belfast. O n the ioth March he pocketed the G E E L O N G T O W N P L A T E , walked over for the M E R C H A N T S ' P U R S E , and the next day w o n the P U B L I C A N S ' P U R S E . Hitherto he had never been beaten, and was considered the champion of the turf. 1848. Up to this period the Flemington Course was held under no stronger tenure than sufferance, and there was not even a line of writing to authorize its occupation. It was at length determined to apply to the Government for the issue of a ten years' lease to Messrs. W . F. Stawell, J. C. Riddell, and J. F. L Foster, as Trustees for the public. T h e application was granted, and the Turf Club commenced the partial fencing of the course, and had a substantial Grand Stand erected. T h e meet of this year came off on the 5th, 6th, and 7th April, and this was thefirstoccasion of a publican venturing to put up a drinking-booth on the Hill. T h e enterprising individual was Mr. Timothy ("Tim") Lane, a well-known Boniface of certain largely-developed peculiarities, but one who had a special knack of making money. H e kept the Builders' Arms, in Little Collins Street, and no m a n of his time was better known, or oftener laughed at. "Tim's" establishment was accordingly perched on the hill-top, and he drove a roaring trade there for the first day; but on the second a strong wind came roaring about him, and his tentage, barrels, pewters, bottles, grog and swipes were blown away as if they were a heap of egg-shells, and it was with much difficulty that the heterogeneous assortment was saved from destruction in the Saltwater River. Petrel was the only favourite forthcoming, and his prestige had n o w waned — whilst as to Bunyip, from w h o m so much was expected, he was not only n o w out of running, but it was averred that the best of his running days were over. T h e weather was as unpropitious as it could possibly be. Day N o . 1 was a terror of wind and dust; N o . 2 more boisterous, if a shade less dusty; and as to N o . 3, barring the dust, it was a combination of wind and rain, with the meteorological embellishments of thunder and lightning superadded. These discouraging climatic conditions exercised a depressing influence, and everything wasflatand tame and dull. Petrel w o n the T O W N P L A T E , beating Garryowen, a much-admired horse, belonging to Mr. Rawdon Greene, and was ridden by a jockey named Holmes. H e also took the P U B L I C A N S ' P U R S E ,
