Treasurer from first to last, and after it left my possession I was informed its destination would be the Melbourne Public Library, where it would be provided with a quiet resting-place for all time. It would seem that such intention was on further consideration abandoned, for the book has passed into the guardianship of the present Medical Society of Victoria. A meeting of that body was held on the 7th October, 1885, and from a precis of its proceedings as printed in the Australian Medical Journal, I extract the following:—" T h e H o n . Secretary read the following letter from Dr. T h o m a s Black:— " 14th September, 1885. " Mr. President and Gentlemen,—I a m happy to say I a m n o w in a position to offer for your acceptance the minutes of the first Medical Society formed in Melbourne, by the late Dr. Wilkie and myself; also a list of the legally qualified medical practitioners of the Colony of N e w South Wales, 1838-the first published list in any of the Australian colonies. " I have good reason to believe that the only survivors of the late Port Phillip Medical Association and the N e w South Wales list are Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., n o w residing in London ; Dr. William Campbell, Russell Street, Melbourne ; and myself. " I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, " Yours faithfully,
" THOMAS BLACK, M.D. " The President proposed that a vote of thanks be accorded to Dr. Black for his valuable gifts, and further that he be created an Honorary M e m b e r of the Society. " The motion was seconded by Dr. Allen and unanimously agreed to." ARCHITECTS, SURVEYORS, AND ENGINEERS.
The first survey operations conducted in Port Phillip were those of the expedition despatched from Sydney in November, 1802, in charge of Mr. Charles Grimes, the Acting Surveyor-General of N e w South Wales. T h e party consisted (in addition to the gentlemen named), of Dr. M'Callum, a surgeon ; James Meehan, a surveyor; and James Flemming. T h e curious story of this expedition is told in the journal kept by Flemming, and exhumed in 1877 by Mr. J. J. Shillinglaw, amongst piles of musty State Papers in the office of the Colonial Secretary at Sydney. W h e n Batman effected his memorable officially repudiated bargain with the Aborigines, he had in his party Mr. Charles Wedge, in the capacity of Surveyor, and this gentleman m a y be fairly recognized as the "father" of the profession in the colony. The first to announce himself as an architect in Port Phillip was Mr. Samuel Jackson, whose brother, William, came from V a n Diemen's Land with Fawkner's party of occupation in 1835. The Jacksons afterwards took up some country on the Saltwater River, and Jackson's Creek near Sunbury was named after William. Samuel settled in Melbourne, and followed the practice of his profession for many years. Russell was more of an Architect than a Surveyor, for he first served articles in an eminent Architect's office, and it was through an afterthought that he became a Surveyor. Melbourne was not many years a proclaimed township when the Surveyors and Architects began to pour in, and at the close of 1840, according to Kerr's Port Phil/if Directory for 1841 the following were located in Port Phillip : — L a n d Surveyors — Messrs. Henry Douglass, Henry B. Foot, S. P. Hawkins, T h o m a s H . Nutt, George Smyth, Thos. S. Townsend, C. J. Tyers, James Williamson. Architects and Surveyors—Messrs. James Purves, Robert Russell, and Alexander J. Skene. M r . James Ballingall appears as a Surveyor of Shipping, Mr. John Manton a Civil Engineer, and Messrs. Joseph W . Hooson and Peter Hurlstone simply as Engineers. T o these m a y be added Mr. James Rattenbury, the Clerk of Works, who claimed to be an an Architect, but whether so or not I cannot undertake to decide. It is singular that there is no mention made of Mr. Robert Hoddle, the head of the then Government Survey office, but he is given in the Directory for 1842, in which also appears the name of Mr. Charles Laing. Gradually other names crept into the newspapers such as Messrs. George Wharton, John Gill, Arthur Newson, James Blackburn, etc., etc. For some unaccountable reason Russell was never appreciated as his ability and integrity deserved.
