T h e Gazette of the n t h M a y , 1839, notifies, as a remarkable sign of the times, "that M r . Thos. Sutherland, builder, married Miss Jones ; that fourteen days before the auspicious event he had neither house nor h o m e , and in that time had erected a substantial building thoroughly complete inside and out, and ready furnished to present to the object of his affection." The Town 8th June, 1839.
of Melbourne
was not brought
under
the operations
of the D o g Act until
N o person in Geelong could sell spirits or wines, even in quantities not less than two gallons, until June, 1839, when the second clause of the (then) General Licensing Act was extended to that township. A A very singular whale capture was effected off Williamstown on the 25th July, 1839. squadron of seven spouters put in an appearance, and had quite a lively time of it for an hour or two. Amongst others w h o beheld the sight was a M r . Harding, the chief officer of a brig n a m e d the " E m m a , " and a seasoned old whaler. They hastily m a n n e d a whale-boat, and not having a harpoon, borrowed a bayonet, which they fastened to a stick, and gave chase. Off Gellibrand Point a fine sperm whale was skilfully harpooned, and hauled ashore. It measuredfifty-fivefeet in length, and was purchased for ,£80 by Messrs. Campbell and Woolley, an old mercantile firm, and whose Mr. Woolley still lives in Melbourne. T h e first case of smuggling adjudicated upon in the colony was at the Police Court on the 17th September, 1839, w h e n one Spottiswood was charged by the Chief-Constable with a breach of the Customs Act, by having smuggled a ioolb. case of tobacco. H e was fined thrice the value of the
goods (,£57)Mr. H u g h Niven, a settler located a few miles from Geelong, was riding to that township on the 20th September, w h e n his horse stumbled and fell, throwing the rider and rolling over him. H e was found in the bush, and removed to McNaughton's inn, where he expired on the 23rd.
DROWNING OF A DIAMOND RING.
Perhaps of all the musty relics jettisoned by Time in the old waters through which I have trawled, there is none of m y recovered waifs possessed of a more peculiar interest than the legend here subjoined, and n o w for the first time worked into a connected narrative. It is a little epic in itself, both romantic and realistic, pointing the moral that in firmness and practical good sense is most likely to be found the efficacy sufficient to avert or mitigate the mortifying troubles of h u m a n existence. In the course of 1838 several English families of position and considerable pecuniary resources arrived in Sydney, intent upon wooing fortune in the wide field of Australian colonization, then attracting m u c h attention in the Mother-country. Attached to one of these migrating households in the capacity of governess, was Miss Theresa M , a bonny blonde, with gentle'Anglo-Saxon blood coursing through her veins, and of personal attractions only equalled by intellectual gifts and educational accomplishments. Born and bred in a London suburb, she contracted an intimacy with a young m a n in a higher grade of life, and, as usually happens, the attachment soon ripened into In consequence of the disparity in social relations an affection which was believed to be mutual. of their respective families, a marriage in England would entail consequences not to be prudentlydisregarded by one of the parties, and it was arranged that the lady should precede the gentleman in travelling to Australia, and he was to rejoin her in Melbourne by a certain time. A betrothal was enacted with all the fascinating folly of such ceremonies, and the gentleman's final attestation of the contract was slipping a diamond ring over what is conventionally known as the engagement
