flour, tomahawks, &c., and only understood that by that payment he became their ally.
Batman selected the site of his future manor-house at Indented Head. Thence he soon beheld the approach of the ships of the Association whom, by his rapid proceedings, he had forestalled in the honour of founding the future Victoria.
It is said, we know not with what truth, that he mounted his horse, and, galloping down to the beach, warned them off his estate. Perhaps, in 1950, a young Victorian painter may assemble crowds in the Melbourne National Gallery, to see "Batman warning the intruders from Port Phillip Bay."
Some of the party, awed by his legal threats, retired inland, and set their flocks to feed on land they eventually acquired. Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner, a name still well known in Victoria, with more obstinacy and good fortune, took up a position on the northern banks of the Yarra, overlooking the spot where a natural ledge divided the salt tide from the fresh river at the ebb, above a natural basin, which has since, by the aid of masonry, been converted into a port for the city of Melbourne, open to vessels and steamers of two hundred tons.
Batman had previously addressed a letter to Colonel Arthur, the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, in which he informed him of his proceedings; described the country he had explored in glowing but not exaggerated terms; and requested the support of his excellency in his schemes of colonisation, and for the civilisation of the natives. Colonel Arthur transmitted copies of Batman's letter, and all the documents connected with his alleged purchase from the natives, to the Colonial Office; expressed his decided opinion that the settlement of Port Phillip would form a useful outlet for the settlers of Van Diemen's Land; and that Mr. Batman, "whose conduct had been marked by humanity as well as enterprise," was deserving of a grant of land, although his purchase, as he had already informed him, was clearly illegal.
Lord Aberdeen, and his successor, Lord Glenelg, followed the unfortunate course which has almost invariably been adopted by our colonial ministers. They began by saying no, and in a very short period were obliged to say yes—to acknowledge a fact!
Lord Aberdeen in December, 1834, and Lord Glenelg in July, 1835, wrote elaborate despatches, the one against the occupation of Twofold Bay, the outlet to Brisbane Downs, or Maneroo, as it is now called, on the borders of Port Phillip, as recommended by Sir
