^s: T* e-5 s <: l ^ 0-^ iinr ^ -3 A\\E UNIVERty s 2? . - iirr- s s I 1(1 e VICTORIA: ITS HISTOEY, EESOUECES AND PEOSPECTS. JEybibttion Memorial. (1888-89.) /Hcliourne: DS & McDotrGAi.L LIMITED, PBINTEHS, COLLINS STEEET WEST. MDCCCLXXXVIII. Stack Annex s oil CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAG Early History of Victoria . . ... ... 5 CHAPTER II. Population and Growth of the Leading Cities ... ... 22 CHAPTER III. Metallic Resources and their Development ... ... 33 CHAPTER IV. Agriculture ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 44 CHAPTER V. Vine Culture 62 CHAPTER VI. Dairy Produce 70 CHAPTRR VII. Wool 76 CHAPTER VIII. Commerce and Finance ... ... ... ... ... 86 CHAPTER IX. Development of Manufactures ... ... 99 CHAPTER X. Social Statistics : Birth, Marriage, and Death Bates. Education, Schools, and University. Eailways, Tele- graph and Post Offices. Religious Statistics. Cost of Liying. Victoria as a Field for Settlement ... 110 VICTORIA Its History, Resources and Prospects. CHAPTER I. EARLY HISTORY OF VICTORIA. * j I * DETAILED account of early discoveries by Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch navigators on the Australian coasts, north, east and west of the territory which now constitutes Victoria, will be studied with the deepest interest by all who desire to master the general history of " the Great South Land ;" but we are exclusively concerned, in the present sketch, with the particular colony in which the Centennial Inter- national Exhibition of 1888 is held, and which is attract- ing visitors at this moment not only from all parts of Australia, but from many countries in the northern hemisphere. It is universally admitted that the seaboard of Victoria was first observed by Captain Cook at Point Hicks, now called Cape Everard, in G-ippsland, situated between Cape Howe and Snowy Eiver, when he was on his way up from New Zealand to examine the coast-line of the mysterious continent. 6 VICTORIA. It was on the morning of the 19th April, 1770, that Cook's first lieutenant sighted the promontory just men- tioned, which continues to bear the name of the discoverer. Gabo Island and Cape Howe were seen by Cook himself on the same day. But more than a quarter of a century was allowed to elapse before further examination was made of the southern trend of Australia, which was still supposed to extend to the forty-third parallel of latitude. The first Europeans who touched the soil of Victoria were Clarke, the supercargo, and the crew of the Sydney Cove, wrecked early in 1797, south of Cape Howe. On the 4th January, 1 798, the Western Port inlet was entered by the intrepid Bass, who was accompanied by Matthew Flinders, then only a midshipman. The stay of Bass in that locality, however, was not prolonged beyond thirteen days, when circumstances obliged him to retrace his steps to Port Jackson, and he departed under the impression that the southern portion of Australia was connected with Van Diemen's Land, and that the passage now known as Bass' Straits was only a deep bight. To Lieutenant Grant, of the brig Lady Nelson, belongs the honour of having defined the entire coast-line of Vic- toria for the first time, from. Cape Bridgewater to Cape Schanck, in the year 1800. From this gallant adventurer Capes Northumberland, Bridgewater, Nelson, Solicitor, Sir W. Grant and Otway, with Mounts Schanck and Gambier, Laurence Eoad, and Lady Julia Percy Island, received the nomenclature by which they are still known. Portland Bay he called after the famous duke of Dutch descent, then one of the Secretaries of State. In the following year he surveyed the shores of Victoria from Wilson's Promontory to Western Port. Churchill's Island, in Western Port Bay, was visited by him, and Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 7 on that spot he was reduced to the necessity of cultivating a garden with a coal- shovel, in the absence of any more convenient implement. It would appear that he formed a decidedly more accurate opinion of the region in ques- tion than some of the authorities at Sydney, and other officials, subsequently did, for he compared the beauty of the scenery to Devonshire and the Isle of Wight. Grant, returning to England, was succeeded in the com- mand of the Lady Nelson by Lieutenant John Murray, who reaped the first Victorian grain-crop from the seed which had been sown by his predecessor. On the 5th January, 1802, that gallant commander left Western Port with the intention of exploring the coast trending in a north- westerly direction, but was beaten back by adverse winds. Baffled in his attempt to enter what looked like an inlet, he despatched his first mate with five seamen to examine the place, and thus was brought to the knowledge of the world the existence of Port Phillip Bay, which is destined to play so momentous a part in the future triumphs of commerce and civilisation in the Southern Pacific. The launch containing the exploring party rounded the pro- montory familiar to us as Point Nepean, that designation being applied to it by the first officer of the Lady Nelson on the occasion referred to. On the 1st February the "Hip" was safely passed through, when the great inland sea expanded to the wondering gaze of the visitors. On the fourth of the same month they returned to their vessel to report what they had seen, and, eleven days afterwards, the Lady Nelson sailed through the Heads. Traces of the natives were visible in the numerous huts standing near the portion of the bay where Lieutenant Murray landed, and in the charred appearance of some hundreds of acres which had apparently been cleared by J. II. Nicholson, 65 "William Street, Melbourne. 8 VICTORIA. fire. Murray was as much struck with the pleasant aspect of the landscape as Grant had been with the Vic- torian coast-line off Grippsland. He describes the bay as a "noble harbour," and compares the scenery to that of Greenwich Park and Blackheath, " the hills and valleys rising and falling with inexpressible elegance." A con- spicuous height on the eastern shore he designated "Arthur's Seat," from its likeness to the celebrated hill of that name overlooking the Scotch capital. The treacherous greeting given to the newcomers by the blacks came very near costing them their lives, and it became necessary, in self-defence, to give the aborigines a practical illustration of the power of the strange tubes pointing through the port-holes of the brig to vomit forth fire and destructive shot. On the 9th of March, Murray took possession of the bay and its surroundings in the King's name, hoisting his emblematic bunting on Point Patterson, and firing rounds of small arms and artillery in honour of the occasion. On the 12th the vessel got back through the " Rip" on an ebb tide, and steered direct for Port Jackson. The fate of the Lady Nelson forms a melancholy sequel to this narrative of the first visit of white men to the inlet at the head of which Victoria's capital was founded thirty-three years afterwards. In 1825, while engaged on a trading expedition in Torres Straits, she was seized by Malays, and it is believed that her crew was massacred ; at least she was never heard of again. Matthew Flinders, who has already been alluded to in his capacity as midshipman on board the vessel which had conveyed Dr. Bass to the South Pacific, entered Port Phillip Bay the very month after Murray quitted it. As no opportunity had occurred for communication between Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 9 the two commanders, they were entirely ignorant of being in such close proximity to each other. Flinders sailed from Spithead in July, 1801, in command of the sloop-of- war Investigator, under instructions to make a complete survey of the Australian coast. Sir John Franklin, after- wards Governor of Tasmania, and still more distinguished as an Arctic .explorer, served under Flinders as midship- man on the voyage referred to. Skirting t/he south-west coast of Victoria from Cape Bridgewater to Cape Otway,. Flinders passed through the Heads into Port Phillip on. 27th April, 1802, under the notion that he was in Western. Port. He was soon undeceived, however, by the spectacle- of a sheet of water so vast that its northern boundaries- were far too remote to be noticeable, even from a hill which he ascended for the purpose of endeavouring to- observe them. From You Yangs mountain, on the western side of the bay, he saw the plains of the interior, and caught a glimpse of those hills around the present Ballarat, which, 48 years later, yielded auriferous treasures so rich that the neighbourhood was reputed for a time a. veritable El Dorado, both in Europe and America. He did not fail to note the superior grazing capabilities of the country, but was unable to discover any signs of fresh water, although, as was afterwards ascertained, there were three distinct sources of supply within a few miles of the mountain (now called Station Peak) which he had climbed. Flinders is entitled to high rank in the list of Australian explorers, not only for the services just described, but also as being the first who circum- navigated Australia, and claimed possession of its entire territory for the British crown. The favourable report of Murray, confirmed by Flinders, induced Governor King to urge upon the Duke of Portland J. H. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. 10 VICTORIA. the desirableness of forming a settlement at Port Phillip. This suggestion was based not merely on the obvious fertility of the soil and the genial character of the climate, but also on the anxiety of His Excellency to checkmate the French, who had sent out the ship Le Geographie to explore the Australian coasts with the alleged object of planting a French colony somewhere close by. Pending the arrival from Downing Street of full authority to carry out his contemplated project, Governor King commissioned Mr. Charles Grimes, the Survey or- General of New South Wales, and Lieutenant Charles Bobbins, a naval officer, to perform a walking tour round Port Phillip harbour. This task was undertaken by these gentlemen in December, 1802. The leader of the expedition discovered the river Yarra on the 30th January, 1803, and it was ascended by him as far as Dight's Falls, Studley Park, on the 2nd of February. The party breakfasted on Batman's Hill, which has since been levelled to make way for the Spencer Street railway station, Melbourne. Happily the journal of the Grimes Expedition, kept by James Fleming, one of the assistant surveyors of the party, is preserved in the archives of the Colonial Secretary's Office at Sydney. In that document Mr. Fleming remarks: " The most eligible place for a settlement that I have seen is on the Fresh- water River [the Yarra]. In several places there are small tracts of good land, but they are without wood and water. The country in general affords excellent pasture and is thin of timber, which is mostly low and crooked." A.t the same time the course of the Saltwater River was traced from its debouche back to Keilor. Corio Bay was carefully examined, but the explorers kept too near the beach in their journey to admit of any acquaintance being made by them with the Barwon or the Moorabool. On Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 11 the whole, the decision of the Surveyor, as the result of his circumambulation, was unfavourable to the vicinity of Port Phillip as a place of settlement. A different conclusion was arrived at, however, by the Colonial authorities in London, after considering the des- patches of Governor King. Eight days subsequent to the discovery of the Yarra, Lieutenant-Colonel Collins was sent out from England in charge of a cargo of convicts, under the surveillance of a small armed force, to form a penal settlement on the shores of Port Phillip, corre- sponding to the one which had previously been established at Sydney Cove. The party, numbering 402 souls, com- prised 15 Government officials, 9 officers of marines, 2 drummers and 39 privates, 5 soldiers' wives and 1 child, 307 convicts, with 12 married women and 1 child. They were conveyed in H.M.S. Calcutta, a ship of 1,200 tons, which was accompanied by the Ocean, a store ship of 481 tons, sailing from Spithead on the 24th April, 1803. The Calcutta called for stock, seed, and provisions at Teneriffe, Eio Janeiro, and Simon's Bay. The same vessel made the land about Port Phillip on the 9th Octo- ber, and entered the harbour on the same day, the Ocean arriving two days sooner. A landing of the exiles was effected about eight miles from the Heads, near the site of the present watering-place, Sorrento. The choice of Collins for the command of such an expedition was singu- larly unfortunate, since proof is only too plain that he came out to Australia under a strong apprehension that his mission would result in failure. He appointed Lieu- tenant Tuckey, with two assistants, to survey the harbour in the Calcutta's launch ; and, after spending nine days in this undertaking, Tuckey wrote of Port Phillip : " The kangaroo seems to reign undisturbed lord of the soil, a J. IX. Nicholson, 65 "William Street, Melbourne. 12 VICTORIA. dominion -which he is likely to retain for ages." In a similar strain Collins, in his despatches to the Home Government, dwelt ad nauseam on " the disadvantages of Port Phillip," and the unsuitability of the bay itself, " when viewed in a commercial light," for the purposes of a colonial establishment ; and he added a prediction, than which none was ever more signally falsified, that the place would never be " resorted to by speculative men ! " While regretting on a certain occasion, during his stay in Sullivan's Bay, the necessity of employing hands to load the Ocean previous to his abandonment of the proposed settlement, he justifies his course on the ground that " the sooner we are enabled to leave this unpromising and unproductive country the sooner shall we be able to reap the advantages and enjoy the comforts of a more fertile spot." In this view Collins was strengthened by Governor King, who had altered his opinion under the influence of Grimes' representations, and in a letter to Collins dated from Port Jackson, 26th November, 1803, His Excellency writes " It appears, as well by Mr. Grimes' and Mr. Bobbins' survey, that Port Phillip is totally unfit for settlement in every point of view." Moved by the picture of desolation thus exhibited, Lord Hobart sent out instructions that the Collins settlement was to be broken up and transferred to the river Derwent, Van Diemen's Land. On the 24th January, 1804, Collins was not sorry to quit the despised bay in obedience to orders from London. The expedition remained on shore altogether fifteen weeks, and during that period there had been one birth, one marriage, and twenty-one deaths. The first child of European descent was born in Victoria on the 25th November, 1803, and was named William James Hobart Thome. The first wedding took place on the 28th of the same month, Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 13 between Richard G-arrett, a convict, and Hannah Harvey, a free woman. The first death was that of John Skilhorne, a settler, on the 10th of October. When it is remembered that the persistent depreciation of Port Phillip by Collins and others in authority was attended with its fortunate escape however narrowly from the taint of convictism, we can but regard the erro- neous opinions which had been formed of the soil as a "blessing in disguise." Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that from the abortive attempt of Collins at settlement dates the prejudice indulged by a section of the Sydney people against the country, which has never been com- pletely effaced, despite its marvellous strides in popula- tion, wealth and enterprise in the last forty years. How near the officers of the Calcutta were to ushering in the gold era which, however, did not dawn for about thirty years later is seen from the recorded fact that some of them found a sparkling substance in a sandy stream they had met with, which they thought to be gold. For twenty years after the departure of the Calcutta, Victoria remained unvisited by a single ship, and un- trodden by a white man's foot. Meanwhile, a limited patch of territory around Sydney had, during that interval, deve- loped good agricultural capabilities. These pastoralists had more or less prospered, and flocks and herds had mul- tiplied. The spirit of exploration was also active among the inhabitants of Port Jackson. In 1817, the head waters of the Macquarie were reached by Wentworth and Blax- land over the Blue Mountains. Evans brought to light the productive region now known as Bathurst Plains. Oxley journeyed along the banks of the Macquarie and the Lachlan, foreshadowing the discovery of a mighty stream, flowing in a south-west direction. But it was not J. H. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. 14 VICTORIA. until 1824 that the Murray was seen for the first time by- white men. Those who enjoyed this distinction were Hamilton Hume and W. C. Hovell, two stockmen, who in that year crossed the Australian Alps, discovered the Upper Murray, and passed into Victoria. Hume was a bold, persistent, and energetic bush traveller, and had been previously consulted by Sir Thomas Brisbane, in Sydney, in reference to an overland expedition to the south coast of New South Wales. The travellers started on the 3rd October, and on the 1 7th November crossed the Murray. On the 24th the Ovens River was met with and named ; the head waters of the G-oulburn were struck on 3rd December ; King Parrot Creek was discovered on the 7th, and the shores of Corio Bay, near the present site of Q-eelong, on the 17th of the latter month. Hume was afterwards second in command to Captain Charles Sturt, and Hovell was attached to an expedition despatched from Sydney to Western Port by Governor Darling in December, 1826. The origin of the latter expedition which consisted of detachments of the 3rd and 30th Regiments, despatched in H.M. ships Fly and Dragon was a determination on the part of His Excellency to forestall a supposed design of the French to appropriate Western Port for colonising purposes. After a year's trial, however, the British settlement at that point was given up, partly because suspicion of the French had cooled down, and partly for the unsupported reason that the place was unfit for a penal settlement. Captain Sturt' s exploration of the Murray belongs to- general geographical discovery in Australia. The next leading event, directly bearing on Victorian history, was. the establishment of the first permanent settlement in Victoria by a few Englishmen who had experienced dis- Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 15 appointment in respect to the capabilities of Western Australia and Van Diemen's Land. To the brothers Henty belongs the honour of being the first family who came to Victoria to stay. The Jason of these Argonauts was Edward Henty, who died in 1878, and whose memory is entitled to special respect as the real father of the colony. He was the son of Mr. Thomas Henty, banker and landowner in Sussex, who, with his sons, emigrated to Launceston, Tasmania, in 1831. Edward, being desirous of ascertaining by personal inspection what part of the coast was best adapted for settlement, visited Spencer's Oulf, and spent two months in examining the country. Bad weather drove his vessel, on her return passage to Launceston, for refuge into Portland Bay, 266 miles west of Port Phillip. The appearance of the country impressed 3dward Henty favourably. He visited Portland again in 1833, bringing with him from Tasmania farm imple- ments, vegetable seeds and fruit trees, supplied to him by his father. The first building erected in Victoria was Mr. Henty' s wool store ; the first dwelling was Richmond House, in which he resided at Portland, and where the first native Victorian of European descent, Richmond Henty, was born. Edward constructed the first plough, which was exhibited at the Victorian Agricultural Show of 1887, held in Melbourne, turned the first furrow, planted the first vine, milked the first cow, shod the first horse, and sheared the first sheep, in Victoria. His brother Stephen and he had been successful in whaling pursuits while at Launceston, and soon converted Portland into a whaling as well as a sheep and cattle station. Francis, a younger brother, who was a youth when he landed with his brother Edward in Victoria, resided in Melbourne at the dat% of our writing, and no name in the colony is more highly esteemed. J. H. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. 16 VICTORIA. One of the surprises encountered by Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell on his exploratory overland journey in 1836, from New South Wales to the southern country, was " a considerable farming establishment belonging to the Messrs. Henty," which ho found in a region regarded by him as totally uninhabited by whites. After examining the Darling and Riverina districts, he turned southward on the 20th June, 1836, towards the junction of the Loddon and the Murray. Bending his course westward, he crossed the Avoca and the Wimmera, and climbed to the top of Mount William, overlooking a magnificent and variegated range of country, whose rare adaptation for agricultural and pastoral purposes justified him in denominating it Australia Felix. After discovering the beautiful valley of the Wannon, lying to the east of the river now known as the Glenelg, and which received its name from the explorer, Major Mitchell and his party reached Portland on the 20th August. His first thought was that the establish- ment of the Hentys was a nest of pirates, while that family, with quite as much justification, deemed Mitchell and his party a gang of bushrangers. Naturally, the satisfaction of hosts and guests was mutual in being un- deceived. It is noteworthy that another infant settlement had taken root on the banks of the Yarra, of whose exist- ence Mitchell had not been cognisant. Speaking of the view from the summit of Mount Macedon, to which he assigned the name it bears, he says : " I could trace no signs of life about this harbour [i.e., Port Phillip]. No stockyards, cattle, nor even smoke, although at the northern point of the bay I saw a mass of white objects which might have been either tents or vessels." Yet, upwards of a year previously, a settlement had been formed near the bay, and the foundations laid of the city of Melbourne. Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 17 The next notable figure identified with the early history of the colony was John Batman, who arrived from Van Diemen's Land at Port Phillip in May, 1835, and con- cluded a treaty with the natives for a grant of 600,000 acres of land, which, however, like many other schemes of a like kind proposed by immigrants, was unceremoniously disallowed by the Imperial Government. About eight years previously, John Batman and J. T. G-ellibrand, of Launceston, asked for a grant of land at Western Port, with a view to following pastoral pursuits in that locality. The application, however, was summarily rejected by Governor Darling, to whom it was addressed. But the project went to sleep until Batman, in 1835, chartered a vessel at Launceston, and, in company with seven black fellows from Sydney, proceeded to Port Phillip. Follow- ing the track of Flinders, as laid down in a copy of a chart sketched by that commander, Batman ascended Station Peak, and looked down with admiration on the rolling and fertile country which Hume and Hovell had traversed. He then followed in part in the footsteps of Surveyor-General Grimes, ascending the Saltwater and Freshwater Rivers. The latter he called the Yarra Tarra, supposed to mean the " ever flowing." Meeting a body of natives, he arranged the contract before referred to for the transfer to himself and his heirs for ever of a large area of land, which included the present sites of Melbourne and Geelong and all their suburbs. The price to the natives by the intended buyer, for an estate considerably more than half a million acres in extent, was twenty pairs of blankets, thirty tomahawks, a hundred knives, fifty pairs of scissors, thirty looking-glasses, two hundred hand- kerchiefs, one hundred pounds of flour, and six shirts to be paid down at once; and an annual value of one J. H. Nicholson, 65 "William Street, Melbourne. 13 VICTORIA. hundred pairs of blankets, one hundred knives, one hun- dred tomahawks, fifty suits of clothing, fifty pairs of scissors, and five tons of flour. The original document may be seen in the Melbourne Public Library. Another transaction, only somewhat less ambitious, was attempted by Batman with a tribe who claimed to be owners of a great domain in the vicinity of Corio Bay. He endeavoured to obtain from the latter possession of 100,000 acres in that district ; but, as in the larger negotiation, the Imperial Government refused to ratify the bargain. His partners in the undertaking were C. Swanston, James Simpson, J. T. Gellibrand and J. H. Wedge, and ulti- mately the Governor of New South Wales allowed the Batman Syndicate <7,000 in remission of money actually due from them on land they had purchased at Port Phillip, in compensation for the claims which Governor Darling and the home authorities had cancelled, " recog- nising the services which the company had rendered in the colonisation of the country." Notwithstanding pro- fessions of goodwill by the aborigines, it turned out that they had hatched a plot for taking Batman's life, which was only frustrated by the interposition of " the wild white man," William Buckley, who had escaped from the short-lived settlement under Captain Collins in 1803, and who, after solitary wanderings, had lived among the natives as one of themselves for thirty years. When Batman met this almost naturalised blackfellow, he had lost all recollection of his native language, which was only to a very small extent brought to mind by him during the remainder of his life. He was held by the blacks to be an ancient and buried chief, risen from the dead, and was venerated accordingly. The sight of one of his own race, after so long and unbroken a period spent among Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. EARLY HISTORY. 19 savages, touched his sympathies. Hence the assistance he so seasonably rendered to Batman in a moment of peril. Close upon the heels of Batman came John Pascoe Fawkner, another Launceston man, who in the same year organised an expedition for the colonisation of the same locality. Fawkner had served in some capacity on board the Calcutta, when Collins made unsuccessful efforts to found his settlement near Sorrento, and he consequently knew something of the harbour. For partners in the new immigration movement he had six other persons. He chartered in Tasmania the Enterprise, a 50-ton schooner, which entered Port Phillip Heads on the 16th August, 1835. The vessel was moored on the north bank of the Yarra, immediately opposite the site of the present Custom House, in Flinders Street, Melbourne. At that time the river was fringed with feathery scrub, and was not as yet tainted by the sewage of a great city. The Enterprise landed its cargo, consisting of horses, ploughs, pigs, furniture, and farming implements. Five acres were soon ploughed and planted with corn, fruit trees and vegetables. But Fawkner delayed his own coming until the following trip of the vessel. Five hundred sheep and fifty head of cattle arrived in the following month. John Aitken also brought a number of sheep about the same time, and depastured them on Mount Macedon. Fawkner " turned the first sod, built the first house, opened the first church, and started the first newspaper in the settlement." He may r therefore, claim to be the father of Melbourne, Batman being entitled to credit as the first coloniser of the shores of Port Phillip Bay. The first sermon was preached by the Rev. James Orton, a Wesleyan minister who came over with Batman in April, 1836, under the shade of the J. H. Nicholson, 65 "William Street, Melbourne. 20 VICTORIA. Casuarina oaks on Batman's Hill. The settlement on the Yarra was now sufficiently advanced to call for govern- mental administration. A petition to that effect was agreed upon at a public meeting. Governor Bourke was solicited to appoint a resident magistrate at Port Phillip, and the prayer of the petitioners was conceded. Already 177 settlers from Yan Diemen's Land had become inha- bitants of the district, their stock and other property amounting to .110,000. Before the close of 1836 the population was materially increased. The resident magis- trate appointed by Governor Bourke was Captain Lonsdale, and his duties were rendered specially arduous owing to the number of blacks within a circuit of thirty miles, being five times the number of whites under his magis- terial jurisdiction. The first public-house was started by Fawkner at the corner of what is now William and Collins Streets, from which centre the city spread eastwards. The first houses, for the most part, were of wattle-and-dab, and to the east of Swanston Street all was wilderness. In 1837 Sir Bichard Bourke came over from Sydney to visit the rising city, and encamped in the western part of the street called after him. Half-acre city allotments, put up at auction at ,5 each <7 being then deemed too high a price were sold a few months afterwards at =25 to 100 each. The hut of Batman's shepherd stood where St. Francis' Cathedral is erected, in Elizabeth Street, and the first post-office was opened in a small brick building a little west of what is now Temple Court, in Collins Street West. On the 4th February, 1839, Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies, appointed Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe Superintendent of the District of Port Phillip, that office carrying with it the authority of Lieutenant-Governor. Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness.. EARLY HISTORY. 21 He erected a wooden house, which he had brought out with him from England, on sloping ground eastward of the city, upon which he saw fit to bestow the name of Jolimont. In August, 1850, an Imperial Act was passed erecting the district into a separate colony, Mr. Latrobe being appointed first Governor. In that year, which immediately preceded the one in which gold was disco- vered, the province of Port Phillip, not yet fifteen years old, had a revenue of .230 000, while its exports amounted to ,760,000, and its population to 76,000. These figures are sufficient to show that the colony had ample resources to ensure its solid development, independently of the gold discoveries, which, nevertheless, so powerfully accelerated its expansion. What sanguine dreamer, in his wildest imaginings, could have anticipated, thirty-seven years ago, that Victoria, in the year 1888, should possess more than a million inhabitants ; that the population of its capital and suburbs should reach 390,000; that the revenue of the colony should be ,7,000,000 a-year^ that the products of the western portion of the colony, first cultivated by the Hentys and the Robertsons, should have attained such large dimensions ; and that G-ippsland, discovered by Angus McMillan, who started on his tour of exploration from a station near the Snowy Mountains in January, 1840, with a stock-rider, should give promise of such splendid progress ; that 1,800 miles of railways should be working, and paying to the bondholders who lent the money to huild them full interest on the outlay, with a surplus to the ojood ? J. H. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. CHAPTER n. POPULATION AND GROWTH OF THE LEADING CITIES. has risen, in the short space of fifty-three years, from the little farming village, established by Batman and Fawkner on the banks of the Yarra in 1835, to the position of the ninth city in the world, and handsome streets and buildings, which have been admired by visitors from all parts. Mr. Anthony Trollope described it as " one of the most successful cities on the face of the earth." Mr. Gr. A. Sala gave it a world- wide reputation as " Marvellous Melbourne." The town of Melbourne, when fifteen months old, consisted of about 100 houses, amongst which were stores, inns, a gaol, a barrack, and a school-house. Some of tho- dwelling-houses were tolerable structures of brick. A few of the inhabitants were living in tents, or in hovels with thatched roofs, till they could provide themselves with better accommodation. The town allotments had been put up at ^5 each, but some of them sold for from <25 to .100 each. The Bank of Australasia established a Melbourne branch in 1838, the oificers who came over from Sydney making a voyage of six weeks' duration in a schooner. Victorian journalism had its birth in the Nicholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. POPULATION AND GROWTH. 23 same year, Mr. Fawkner's first newspaper, the Advertiser, being published in manuscript. The pastoralists who took up land to the north and west prospered, and the metropolitan settlement rapidly increased. Melbourne was made a city in 1849, and in the following year Port Phillip, as the district was called, had a revenue of .230,000; its exports amounted to ^760,000; and its population was over 76,000. In February, 1851, the great bush fires occurred. Fertile districts were wasted, and there was a terrible destruction of life and property by the conflagrations, which culminated on " Black Thurs- day." In July of the same year the district of Port Phillip became the colony of Victoria. A few weeks afterwards the country was electrified by the gold dis- coveries, which were to have such an important effect on its advancement. Early in the following year immigrant ships had begun to arrive in large numbers in one year alone 80,000 persons arrived and the quiet town of Melbourne became a very bustling place. Two remarkable developments which arose out of the crowded state of the metropolis were Canvas Town and Rag Fair. House accommodation became wholly inade- quate to meet the requirements of the great multitude, and holders of tenements made enormous profits by letting portions of their mean dwellings at extraordinary high rents. Many persons not destitute of means were obliged to live in tents, while large numbers slept in the open air. A unique suburb sprang into existence on the south side of the Yarra, just beyond Prince's Bridge. It was impro- vised by the surplus population, who could not obtain shelter in overcrowded Melbourne. Its name Canvas Town describes its construction. It was pleasantly situated, commencing on a grassy slope, and was laid out J. ZZ. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. 24 VICTORIA. in streets and lanes ; the principal thoroughfares were crowded with boarding-houses and shops, all of canvas. The Government charged the occupant of each impromptu dwelling 5s. per week for the right to camp on the site. All sorts of people mingled together in this primitive township, and here many "new chums" took their first lesson in roughing it. After a time, however, the police gave so bad an account of the place that the Government determined on its suppression. Another novel and interesting scene was the market which sprang into existence on the wharf, where most of the arrivals landed, in Flinders Street. The exorbitant rates charged for cart-hire and store-rent precluded many from removing their heavy luggage, which remained day after day piled up in huge heaps by the water-side. At length some of the immigrants devised a plan for its sale. An impromptu bazaar was opened ; the sea-chests were placed back to back and arrayed in lines with the upturned lids strewed with the contents, so that the merchandise was fully exposed for inspection. A brisk trade soon sprang up, in which abundance of wearing apparel and household furniture was sold at "alarming sacrifices," as the exigencies of the times demanded the immediate dis- posal of all cumbrous articles. The low prices increased the popularity of this Rag Fair, as it was called, and the business became at last so considerable that, in response to the complaints of shopkeepers, the City Council ordered its discontinuance. In striking contrast to the efforts made by these new chums in getting rid of their superfluities in order to buy a suitable outfit for the diggings, were the dissipations and freaks of many returned diggers, who, having been lucky on the goldfields, were now recklessly squandering their quickly-acquired wealth. These extra- Nieholson's Ear Drums Cure Deafness. POPULATION AND GROWTH. 25 vagant displays tended to quicken the movements of new arrivals in their preparations, and to keep up a constant flow of the population between the rich diggings and the town. In these days the streets of Melbourne were full of gum-tree stumps and deep ruts. The principal thoroughfare, Elizabeth Street, was for months in the year a flooded quagmire, in which, on one occasion, a waggon and team of horses were absolutely swallowed up, and bullock drays were daily bogged. Imported iron buildings and bark " humpies " were also common on every hand. Melbourne is now one of the finest capitals in the world. Including its suburban municipalities, eighteen in number, all lying within a radius of ten miles of the Town Hall, it contains 371,630 inhabitants. It is well laid out, with wide and regular streets, with broad side- walks, well-paved and lighted. Tree-planting in the streets has been extensively carried on, giving a pleasant shade, as well as being refreshing to the eye. The chief buildings are not only handsome, but many are of great archi- tectural merit. The cathedrals and churches, schools, Parliament House, Treasury, Town Hall, Post Office, Law Courts, Customs House, University, Museum, Free Library, National G-allery, banks, clubs, theatres, and other public institutions, are worthy of special admira- tion. The banking corporations are settled in buildings which would adorn Threadneedle Street. The wharfs on the banks of the Yarra now give accommodation to large ocean-going steamers. The shops and warehouses are equal to those of leading cities in the Old "World. Every- thing necessary to make life enjoyable can be procured in Melbourne, and the mansions in the fashionable suburbs are only less gratifying evidences of the pro- sperity of the people than the thousands of pleasant J. H. Nicholson, 65 William Street, Melbourne. 26 VICTORIA. cottages many of them the freehold property of their occupants to be seen on every road within a few miles of the city. Any visitor to the colony must be struck with the perfect arrangements for water supply. Every house, down almost to the smallest cottage, has its bath-room. The most important reservoir is the Yan Yean, which is an artificial lake at the foot of the Plenty Ranges, nearly nineteen miles from Melbourne proper. A few years back complaints as to the quality of the water of the Yan Yean were numerous; but now, the water, though perhaps not quite pellucid, is perfectly safe and pure. The numerous parks and reserves and public gardens in and around Melbourne are heritages, sacred to the health and enjoy- ment of the people, which astonish the new-comer from crowded European cities, where one is taxed for space to breathe. This is above all a place for the people. In no large town of the world has a working man so many enjoyments as in Melbourne, or so many privileges. The whole country, as well as the metropolis, is dotted with free State schools. The Free Library, Museum, Picture Galleries, and the Botanic and Zoological G-ardens afford free recreation and instruction to the labourer and mechanic, as well as to the clerk or shopman. Melbourne is plentifully furnished with provident, charitable, literary, scientific, religious and social institutions to suit all classes and creeds. In the matter of amusement the inhabitants of the metropolis are furnished with five theatres and several music halls, and there are numerous flourishing musical societies. There is also abundant provision for outdoor sports, which are always well patronised. Racing, cricket, lawn tennis, football, rowing, yachting, and bicycle riding are the most popular amusements. There are no more POPULATION AND GROWTH. 27 perfect arrangements of the kind in the world than those at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the members' pavilion is not only a grand-stand, but possesses dining, billiard, and bath-rooms. Melbourne possesses two first- class racecourses within a few minutes' ride by rail from the city. At Flemington the greatest race in Australia, the " Melbourne Cup," is run on the first Tuesday in November. From every part of the continent, people of all classes then flock to Victoria's metropolis. The " Cup Week " is the Carnival of Australia. If Flemington is like Epsom, Caulfield course may be said to be the Ascot of Melbourne. There is an annual attendance of not less than 100,000 well-dressed people at Flemington on Cup Day, and drunkenness and disorder are always conspi- cuously absent. Melbourne is well supplied with omnibuses, cars, cabs and waggonettes, which are commodious and clean. Parliament, by special Act, authorised the construction of traction sub- surf ace cable tramways through the main streets of the city and the respective suburbs, most of which have been laid down by the Melbourne Tramways Trust, a body elected for that purpose by the city and suburban corporate councils. There are inland towns in the colony which are deserving of mention, on account of their large and pros- perous populations, as well as their substantial architectural characteristics. Ballarat, the second city in the colony, is situated one hundred miles from. Melbourne. It has been well named the " Golden City." In the early days the gold-yielding powers of Ballarat were simply marvellous. No district in the world ever produced so much of the precious metal in so short a space of time. It has been stated that, in many instances, "claims" not more than 28 VICTORIA. eight feet square, and about the same depth, yielded from 10,000 to 12,000 each. At the Prince Eegent mine, men made as much as 16,000 each by a few months' work. At one claim, a tubful of dirt yielded 3,325. The "Welcome Nugget," found in 1858 in the same neighbourhood, was sold for 10,500. Those days have gone, but Ballarat, as it is now, is still more wonderful than when gold was in very truth "more plentiful than blackberries." Anthony Trollope said of Ballarat, some fifteen years ago, that " in point of architectural excellence, and general civilised city comfort, it is certainly the metropolis of the Australian goldfields." Sturt Street, the principal thoroughfare, is a mile and a half long, two hundred feet wide, and has a fine row of trees in the centre. The principal buildings on either side are the city hall, post office, mechanics' institute, banks, theatre, hospital, and several large churches. The population is 40,000. The reservoirs, from which the water supply is obtained, have a storage capacity of 600,000,000 gallons. These works cost 300,000. Lake Wendouree now adds to the charming aspect of the city; hundreds of small yachts, miniature steamers, and rowing boats float on the lake, which is stocked with perch, trout, and carp. The botanical gardens, on the other side of the lake, are prettily laid out and well kept. Fine wheat and wool are grown in the neighbourhood of Ballarat, and the city has some repute for its iron manufactures, especially loco- motives for the railways. The public buildings comprise a spacious hospital erected on high ground, orphan and benevolent asylums, lying-in hospital, refuge, public baths, mechanics' institute (with library of 12,000 volumes), free public library (with 13,000 volumes), extensive railway premises, 2 town halls, 3 theatres, and POPULATION AND GROWTH. 29 about 40 churches. The educational establishments num- ber 2 colleges, 4 grammar, 10 State, 3 denominational schools, and a Government school of mines. Three well conducted daily, and one weekly, newspapers are published. Over 84 miles of good streets have been constructed, and attractively planted with trees, and 164 miles of footpath are now made and channelled. There are 8 iron foundries, 13 breweries and distilleries, 4 flour mills, and 1 woollen mill; also, boot and other factories. Gold was first discovered at Ballarat in June, 1851. As the surface diggings became exhausted, it was found that richer deposits of the metal could be obtained at lower depths, to which fact is to be attributed the permanence of the progress of Ballarat. Returns from these goldfields show that the value of material employed is considerably over ^8300,000, the number of miners employed about 9,000, and the extent of auriferous ground now worked more than 856 square miles. The first juvenile exhibition in Victoria was held at Ballarat, and was very successful. Sandhurst, or as it was originally termed, Bendigo, is a little over one hundred miles from Melbourne. It has about the same population as Ballarat, 40,000. It is the head quarters of a rich auriferous country, consisting principally of quartz ranges, which, from their almost inexhaustible character, will doubtless be a source of pros- perity for years to come. There are about 1,000 quartz mining leases in the district, covering an area of over 18,750 acres, 160 mining plants being within the city, which is traversed by 100 miles of streets. The main street, named Pall Mall, abounds on one side with hand- some brick and stone shops and stores, the opposite side being a reserve known as Rosalind Park. A substantial and ornamental building facing Pall Mall has just been 30 VICTORIA. erected by the Government, with ample provision for all the necessary public offices. There is a savings bank, hospital, benevolent asylum, mechanics' institute (with library of 6,800 volumes), branches of several banks, a fine theatre, and the town, masonic, temperance, and St. James' halls. There are three recreation reserves in the city, Rosalind Park, Weeroona Park and lake, and the botanical gardens, the latter beautifully laid out and planted with choice shrubs, and having a good collection of foreign animals and birds. There are eighty miles of trees planted in the streets, and the visual effect is very pleasing. The industries followed, besides gold mining, are represented by large iron foundries, railway carriage works, coach building factory, pottery, granite cutting and polishing, tanneries, brick and tile works, and cordial manufactories. Farming and wine-growing is largely pursued in the neighbourhood. Sandhurst has 19 churches ; St. Paul's (Church of England) having an excellent peal of bells. Mining operations give employ- ment to 6,500 miners, and 260 steam engines. The value of the mining plant is estimated at about .550,000, and the operations extend over 144 square miles of country. Three newspapers are published in the city. The Sand- hurst School of Mines is well patronised. Instruction is given, not only in the various branches of science con- nected with mining operations, but also in many other subjects not necessarily connected with mining. Geelong, which takes rank as fourth in Victorian cities, is picturesquely situated on the shores of Corio Bay. In the early days, having a rich back country, it for a long time promised to rival Melbourne, but a bar in the harbour proved an impediment to shipping, and the metropolitan city soon shot ahead of its temporary POPULATION AND GROWTH. 31 rival. The population of the town is now estimated at 10,000. This is one of the oldest municipal town- ships of Victoria ; it lies forty-five miles south-west of Melbourne. The town is well laid out, on ground sloping to the bay on the north side, and to the Bar- won river on the south ; and its streets abound with attractive shops, fine stores, and business premises. The principal buildings comprise the town hall, exhibition building, hospital, benevolent asylum, numerous churches, free public library, mechanics' institute (with library of 11,127 volumes), post office, branches of various banks, agencies of insurance companies, clock tower, grammar school, Geelong college, State schools, and the law courts. The botanic gardens, overlooking the bay, are extensive and well laid out. The public gardens and park are very fine. Corio Bay has four good jetties, alongside which ships of the largest tonnage can load and discharge. G-eelong has the credit of establishing the first woollen mill in Victoria. The cloth is manufactured by hand loom and steam power. Four mills are in full operation. There are five wool brokers, a meat preserving company, one of the largest tanneries in the colony, and several excellent wool-scouring establishments. The increastd facilities given for shipping wool direct to England, from the wharves, has led many growers and buyers to avail themselves of the saving thus effected. Extensive quar- ries of limestone are developed at the eastern boundary of the town, on the shores of Corio Bay. Two daily and two weekly newspapers are published. Five of the suburbs of Melbourne are now cities, viz. : South Melbourne (formerly Emerald Hill), with a popu- lation of 36,000 ; Prahran, with a population of 34,000 ; Richmond, with a population of 31,000; Fitzroy, with a 32 VICTORIA. population of 30,300 ; and Collingwood, with a population of 28,500. During the past three years there has been an extraor- dinary rise in the price of land in the city and suburbs, and the whole colony has shared in this evidence of pros- perity. In 1886, as compared with the previous year, there was an increase of .525,627 in the annual value of urban rateable property, and of .302,018 in the country properties. The increase was much larger in 1887, but the figures are not yet available. During the years 1886-7 and 1887-8, Melbourne has been affected by a land boom of unprecedented dimensions as far as this colony is con- cerned. In the principal streets of some of the suburbs of Melbourne, land, which two years ago could have been bought for d850 a foot, is now selling at from <100 to .200 a foot. During the last twelve months land in some parts of Collins Street has advanced from ,1,100 per foot to .1,500 per foot. In the best parts of Elizabeth Street the value of land jumped from .700 or .800 to .1,300 per foot. The old disused premises of the English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank in Elizabeth Street, sold by the bank for .33,000, were re-sold a few months after- vrards for .45,000, and a short time afterwards changed hands again at the price of .61, 000. All this happened within the past year, and many other similar instances could be quoted. Another remarkably profitable land transaction of recent times may be mentioned. In 1882, a man purchased a small allotment in Cavanagh Street, on the south bank of the Tarra, at 2 10s. per foot. He spent ,2 15s. per foot in filling up the land and erecting a brick cottage on it ; and a few months ago he found a purchaser at ,70 a foot. CHAPTER in. METALLIC RESOUKCES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. VICTORIA, owes much to its metallic resources as an initial element in its rapid development. To the attractions of the precious metal are due the vast influx of population which occurred between 1851 and 1857, and gold continues to he one of the leading exports. The gold mining industry comprises two principal descrip- tions, quartz and alluvial gold mining. In the first, veins and lodes, or reefs of quartz traversing the silurian rocks, and containing gold, are mined in much the same manner as other metalliferous lodes, and the quartz is crushed and the gold separated by means of mechanical appliances. The quartz is contained in the silurian rocks in an infinite variety of forms as solid lodes, coinciding with the planes of the nearly vertical strata; as "saddle formations," resembling in cross-section a succession of inverted V's, thick at the apex, and thinning out in the limbs ; as succes- sions of blocks; as flat veins; and as assemblages of veins and bunches, following certain bonds of the silurian rocks, or traversing igneous dykes which intersect the latter. The gold occurs in the quartz in many forms as small specks, as strings and ragged pieces, occasionally attaining a large size, and, more rarely, as crystals or groups of B 34 VICTORIA. crystals. The principal associated minerals are iron, copper, and arsenical pyrites, galena, and zinc blende; the iron pyrites frequently contain a large proportion of gold in mechanical combination. Alluvial gold mining includes a number of different conditions, varying from " surfacing," where the gold is found in the thin soil and rubble, covering the surface of nearly exposed silurian rock to "deep lead" mining, where the concealed auriferous gravel deposits of ancient river beds are reached by means of sinking costly shafts through hundreds of feet of volcanic and sedimentary layers which overlie them. Under whatever conditions, however, it may be found, alluvial gold means detrital gold, or that which once contained in veins and reefs of quartz has been] disintegrated and conveyed by geological action to various distances from the sites of those matrices. Geological investigations tend to show that the gold- bearing reefs were formed in the silurian rocks of Victoria before the close of the palaeozoic era, and that the upper portions of these rocks, with their contained quartz veins, have been planed off by denudation to the extent of thousands of feet in vertical height. All the alluvial or detrital gold deposits yet found in Victoria are red, older than the middle tertiary or pliocene epoch ; many of them are post-tertiary or recent. Some time before actual discoveries of gold were made, Sir Roderick Murchison predicted them on the strength of specimens of Australian rocks which had been sent to him. Station hands were also reported to have found pieces of gold, but the stories were hushed up, the squatters not desiring that their flocks and herds should be disturbed by an influx of gold seekers. The great discoveries in METALLIC RESOURCES. 35 California, however, followed by those in New South Wales, caused systematic efforts to be made to achieve similar results in Victoria, and they were crowned with unex- ampled success. Between March and September, 1851, gold was found in large quantities at Clunes, Mount Alexander, Ballarat, Buninyong, the Pyrenees, and various other localities, which were speedily occupied by thousands of diggers. James Esmond was the Victorian pioneer digger. He it was who found gold in payable quantities at Clunes on the 1st July, 1851. In 1848 he was driver of the mail coach between Buninyong and Horsham. For several years he had filled that monotonous position, when, attracted by the gold discoveries in California, he deter mined to try his fortune there. Meeting with no luck in California, he returned to Victoria, and occupied himself with bushman's work on a station in the Pyrenees. Presently a German geologist, named Dr. Bruhn, arrived on the scene, and showed to Esmond and his mate rich specimens of gold found in the neighbourhood. Esmond and his companion then, on the 1st July, 1851, entered on a prospecting tour. On reaching the banks of Deep Creek, a tributary of the Loddon, they were gladdened by the sight of glistening quartz. A little diligent fossicking there was rewarded by the unearthing of a few rich specimens of grain gold, or what appeared to be such. In order to make sure of the richness of the metal, Esmond determined to have the specimen tested by an assayer at Geelong. On arriving at that town the pure- ness of the gold was vouched for, and eager inquiries were made for the locality where the precious treasure could be found. Esmond declined to divulge his secret, and hastened to obtain the necessary implements and B2 36 VICTORIA. utensils for working the coveted field. It was the 6th of July before his digging expedition (the first in Yictoria), which consisted of three men besides himself, was fully equipped. Before leaving Geelong, Esmond disclosed his destination to the assayer, who advised other parties fitting out for the Turon diggings to remain in the district, because of the probability of richer gold- fields being shortly found close at hand. In the mean- time another discovery was announced. A party of six men found sprinklings of gold in the bed of Anderson's Creek, a tributary of the Yarra, and only a few miles from Melbourne. Esmond's field attracted about thirty men, and produced satisfactory results until the end of August. It then became evident that tlis precious yellow grains were no longer to be found in the alluvial deposits. The men at Clunes were getting into severe straits because of the poorness of the shallow diggings when a visitor to the place brought the welcome news of fresh discoveries and encouraging prospects for diggers in the neighbour- hood of Buninyong. Amongst the first to leave the Clunes diggings was ' Esmond, its original prospector. He joined a party of nine, who marched over the hills to the newly-discovered fields. Though remarkably successful as a digger, he was singularly unfortunate in his speculations. Subsequently, .1,000 was voted to him in reward for his discoveries. He also received a grant of a piece of land on the site of the first gold-field. During the early days of the gold-fields, the diggers suffered a great deal from misgovernment. They were hunted by the police, and fired at if they could not produce their licenses when called upon, and it was a common thing to see a 'digger chained to a log, awaiting the adjudication of a magistrate, because he had not paid METALLIC RESOURCES. 3T the monthly sum of thirty shillings ; or because he did not happen to have the license in his pocket when called upon by a trooper to produce it. At the end of 1854 a large proportion of the diggers on Ballarat, exasperated by a failure of justice in a case in which one of their number had been murdered in a disreputable hotel, and, irritated by numerous tyrannical acts on the part of the police and the officials, took up arms, and entrenched themselves in a stockade, having some wild idea that they could over- turn the Government. Mr. Peter Lalor, late Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, was chosen leader. The diggers hoisted their standard the Southern Cross and five hundred of them took a solemn oath to fight to defend their rights and liberties. , The Government forces consisted of police and soldiers. Captain Thomas, who was in charge of them, determined to take the insurgents by surprise, in preference to waiting for them to attack the camp. The attack was made just before daylight on the morning of Sunday, the 3rd December. Many of the disaffected diggers were not sleeping in the stockade, as they did not anticipate that the military would make any move before reinforcements arrived from Melbourne. The assault was brief but bloody. The stockade, which con- sisted chiefly of a barrier of ropes, slabs, and overturned casks, was penetrated in a few minutes, and the defenders, who fought vigorously for a time, were driven out into the shallow holes in the neighbourhood. Several volleys were fired on both sides, but most of the diggers who fell met their deaths in the shallow pits, where they were shot or bayonetted in the first heat of the conflict. The military force numbered 276 men. The loss of the latter also was considerable, including one officer, Captain Wise, of the 40th Regiment. Of the insurgents, 30 were killed on the 38 VICTORIA. spot, and a great many wounded. There -were 125 prisoners taken in the stockade. The following account of the engagement was given by Kaffaelo, an eye- witness : " I awoke Sunday morning. A discharge of musketry then a round from a bugle the command ' Forward' and another discharge of musketry was sharply kept up by the red coats for a couple of minutes. The shots whizzed by my tent. 1 jumped out of my stretcher, and rushed to my chimney facing the stockade. The force within could not muster then above 150 diggers. The shepherds' holes inside the lower part of the stockade were turned into rifle pits The dragoons from the south and the troopers from the north were trottxig at full speed towards the stockade. Peter Lalor was on top of the first logged up hole within the stockade, and by his decided gestures pointed to the men to retire among the holes. He was shot down in his shoulder at this identical moment. It was a chance shot. I recollect it well, for the discharge of musketry from the military now mowed down all who had heads above the barricades. . . . . Those who suffered most were the pikemen, who stood their ground from the time the whole division had been posted on top, facing the Melbourne road from Ballarat, in double file under the slabs to stick the cavalry with their pikes. The old command, ' Charge' was dis- tinctly heard, and the red coats ran with fixed bayonets to storm the stockade. A few cuts and kicks, a little pulling down, and the job was done ; too quickly for their wonted ardour, for they actually thrust their bayonets through the bodies of the dead and wounded strewed about the ground. A wild hurrah burst out, and the ' Southern Cross' was torn down. Of the armed diggers some made METALLIC RESOURCES. 39 off the best way they could, others surrendered themselves as prisoners, and were collected in groups and marched down the gully. . . . The red coats were now ordered to ' fall in,' their bloody work being over, and were marched off, dragging with them the ' Southern Cross.' " When Mr. Lalor fell he was covered by his friends with slabs and escaped capture. In concealment his arm was amputated, and, though a large reward was offered for his apprehension, his hiding-place was never disclosed. The leading rioters were prosecuted by the Government, but the public sympathy was with them, and no jury could be found to convict. The riot, though it was deplored by the best friends of the men engaged in it, had the effect of directing attention to many evils suffered by the diggings population, and of eventually securing their remedy. Most of the great goldfields were opened during the, few years immediately following the first discovery, the prospecting population being then so great. Other new fields of less importance and extensions of old ones have since been opened from time to time, but no great dis- covery in shallow ground has been made for the last ten or twelve years. There are now leads being worked at from depths of from 400 feet to 500 feet. The position and depths of leads supposed to be auriferous are now usually first ascertained by means of boring, for which purpose diamond drills are extensively used. Shafts are then sunk through the superincumbent layers into the bed- rock, drives are extended, and rises from the latter put up to the gravel, which, if payable, is then excavated and brought to the surface to be washed. Tens of thousands of pounds are frequently expended before the deep alluvial mines become remunerative, and sometimes after all failure 40 VICTORIA. is encountered ; but successes have in the main counter- balanced the failures, and increasing experience tends to lessen the risk of the latter. There are still hundreds of miles in length of unworked leads, which are likely to reward future enterprise. During the first five years of gold-digging little or no attention was paid to quartz-mining. The early modes of working quartz were rude, and for a long time the belief prevailed that the lodes were not likely to prove remune- rative below a depth of 400 feet, from the surface. By degrees, however, it was found that in many reefs whose payable quartz had died out a short distance from the suiiace, other " makes " of auriferous stone were to be met with by sinking deeper, and confidence was restored as fresh discoveries were made at increasing depths in the quartz lodes of Stawell, Sandhurst, Clunes, and other mining centres. There are now many mines in which highly remunerative quartz is being obtained at depths varying from 1,000 feet to 2,500 feet. The total yield of gold obtained in Victoria, from the first discovery to the end of 1886, has been 54,393,182 ounces, valued at .217,572,728 ; and the proportions of the total obtained- respectively from quartz and from allu- vial workings are about equal, though during the first ten or fifteen years the alluvial gold greatly exceeded in quan- tity that obtained from quartz. In future it may be expected that the yield from quartz will year by year progressively excel that from alluvial workings. Extensive and important as are the known quartz mines of Yictoria, the total area occupied by them is insignificant compared with what are of probably similar character, which, although as yet untested, contain alluvial gold deposits, and these are a sure index of proximity to auriferous METALLIC RESOURCES. 41 quartz. There is little cause to doubt that, as predicted by Mr. A. E. C. Selwyn, twenty years ago, the quartz lodes of Victoria -will equal the tin mines of Cornwall as perma- nent fields for mining industry. Dividends have been paid by Victorian gold-mining companies as follows : Quarter ended Sept., 1886 138,190 Dec., 1886 130,265 March, 1887 104,397 June, 1887 95,267 Total in twelve months 468,119 The following table shows the estimated quantity of gold raised in Victoria from 1871 to 1886 : 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 oz. 1,355,477 187.9 . 1,282,521 1880 . 1,241,205 1881 . 1,155,972 1882 . 1,095,787 1883 . 963,760 1884 . 809,653 1885 . 775,272 1886 . oz. ' 758,947 829,121 858,850 898,536 810,017 778,618 735,218 665,196 In his summary prefixed to the official report of the mining registrars for the quarter ended 31st Decemlx^r, 1887, Mr. C. W. Langtree, the Secretary of Mines, remarks : " In my last summary I recorded an increase of 15,889 ounces for the quarter ended September, and now it is my pleasing duty to chronicle an increase for the December quarter, the figures being as follows : oz. dwt. gr. 160,102 6 7 166,411 14, 11 September quarter December quarter ... ... Increase The reports from the principal mining stations for the period are of an encouraging nature, and there is every 42 VICTORIA. indication that the present year (1888) will be moi pros- perous, as regards mining, than any of the last decade. The mining population of the colony for the final quarter of 1887 was estimated at 25,795, the number employed in quartz mining being 12,384, and 13,413 in alluvial mining. The area of auriferous ground actually worked is returned as a little over 314 square miles. The subjoined table shows the value of minerals and metals other than gold produced in Victoria from 1851 to 1886 : Name. Estimated Value. 1851 to 1885. Year 1886. Total. Silver 72,041 362,974 105,559 169,295 5.326 15.636 17,399 3, .'38 7,444 65,294 2,732 7 12 10,901 108 630 5,284 90 1,922 107 304 1,883 1,536 77,325* 363,064 107,481 169,295 5,326 15,636 17,506f 3,542 7,444 67,177 4,268 7 12 10,901 108 630 Tin Copper and copper ore ... Coal Kaolin ... ... ... Slates Gvpsum ... ... ... Magnesite ... ... ... ... Ores, mineral earthy clays, &c. ... Diamonds ... ... ... Sapphires, ; to 1-1 o O O O3 o o \a co 2 O QJ ^ c3 -D co__ 5* o N : ; *S .S C OD"'^ TW CO CO co"csf of xo O ^ *q _^ ^ *T3 00 O5 i i J? c3 O p_( Q J-3 i-H co i p 8 Xo 1 dn I a CO CM ta iH CO CO r-l XQ O : SpUBJJ eo" sonata *" 10 TflCO (M co : ; ^ 1 a> 1 |l " 1 oT co O o^S o o : oo: of r-T p . a : M : * : -n : : : , J 03 I g . . . p - CO c> M ^ M O 3 1 Si ; i P-l . C3 . rA H M . M *x o : f^ _* aT H i | g o 1 I bo y, H q ?, 1 IJH 1 >; 8 a H a s X P 03 " O fn ? P B g fc Deacription of Manufacto BOOKS AND STA Account-book manufactories, tioners .., Printing establishments (inclu factories) MUSICAL INSTB Organ-building establishments Pianoforte manufactories CABVING FIGU Statuary works DESIGNS, MEDALS Die-sinkers, engravers, m makers Indiarubber stamp manufacto Type foundry ... PHILOSOPHICAL INSI Electric-lighting apparatus m! MANUFACTURES. 103 O c 3 o o !>. O US CO O >O O O US O O US IK US CO rH !> J~- SO O c o 1.1 : us as : os i oo o - ' US 05 "00 * OO 00 SD tN. CO O -* O * i rH O rH jq 1-4 c, r 3 H us us co n -* OS eq us co os . co t" us" US o CO CO rH C-l ^j rH 05 Cq rH * ^ CO ^ ? t- rH cq COrHUS OS ^ CO US Ci eq os co co * cq rH rH "^ : 1 co ; ; WS O CS CS CO O ; rH ; - CS us : -* : os : : cq o us o o o o i(0 *( O CO CO U7: OS CD O rH X c~. u S CD cq eq co t> cq" cq" us rH so c-i rH o cq * rH 00 cq : C ^ I so OS <3S O US O us o cs ; o o : oo co - . o us o cq o o rH KS CS O "t 4 * fr C- Tfi Oi 4 os OS CO CS rH US Cq os cq T}< O CO CO. rH lH Q 3 CO rH ; Tfl CO N t- rH co cq co t~ <* cc US - * - CO rH CO "^ r .2 CO* ', ' ', 5^ "^ - ' i 1 1 - o H PS "."|||| -' r- T as C3 ?3 .2 00 rf' Philosophical instrument manufactori SURGICAL INSTKUMENT o,,,, .; ...i ;.,.,*,, ^..f <,, ; ,,,.,,,,, r.,..i ARMS, AMMUNITION, & Blasting powder, dynamite, &c. mar Fuze manfactory Shot manufactories MACHINES, TOOLS AND IMPLI Agricultural implement manufactorie Boiler and pipe-covering manufactori Cutlery, tool manufactories Domestic implement manufactories i lows, churn, washing machine, &c., Iron foundries and engineering estab eluding brass- founders nnd pattern Nail manufactories Pattern-makers Sheet-iron and tin works CABRIAGES AND HAENE Carriage lamp manufactories Coach, waggon, &c. manufactories . Perambulator manufactories ... Saddle, harness manufactories Saddle-tree, &c., manufactories Whip manufactories ... 104 VICTORIA. * O 00 OJ CD oo O **i* c So co ; CD CO O : oo 30 CD l.O CO lgl|2i 06" ' i> Cvf CO Tj co C5 00 oo oo 00 1-1 _ O 1 ? li fj * rH rH 00 rH M rH co oo CO oo 00 rH -.VnKU O CO rH CO W rH MANUFACTORIES, 1 1 % i H < o d 03 :::: p g a :4 : : ; M y 5 B TJ ^ . rs 7^-^ ^ -*^ 2 "^ 13 . o ^ bpio"S "^C-J-S d IS ^S -2 ^ e3 LlousES, BUILDINGS, &< Architectural modelling works Patent ceiling ventilator manufactorie Enamelled mantelpiece manufactories Lime works Roof-covering composition manufacto Venetian blind manufactories FtlKNITUKE. Bedding, flock, and upholstery manut Cabinet works (including billiard tab I5edstead manufactory Earth-closet manufactory Iron-safe manufactories MANUFACTURES. 105 O O VO IT 00 (M C-. 10 OS O O CO i-H ^1 .!> CO CO CO VO - O (M vo CO vo * o i-H X ^H O O O O vo IM * 1.0 X X OS O O CO t> O 1-1 CD * o * 1 1 I 1 vo in 00 00 VO rH CO " S ^Tt-Tco o IM co co CO O CO iH rH CO to to cs IM 01 O rH VO IM VO 10 CD IO 00 i-H l-H x * : : i-i m o * CO -? t^. 1 CD i-H i^ >O !T4 VO ?1 VO N vqco * I-H : CO CO~ CO CO CO O X 00 *>i-l I-H -H i-i w ao 00 : O5 t i 1 o o o c; o O CO 00 00 o vo o co I-H OS VO a : : :S o -H (M i 1 O ^ O vo IM o o co ; o IM : i-l rH O i 1 ' CO Jt> CO 00 i i w CO I-H co" i coco* to ^ 00 CO CO N CO Jt- is co^cs^ SO to O CO M OO i-H^ r-J^ 00^ CO l-H CO CO N 2S CO CO * IM ;rH ; 00 o i-H VO CO CO IM IO OS rH o co evi : : : : S : 1 : : : 1 : " . tT . O - b J S .... .-2 9 11 t* l>* t* CO lO TT -* (M ITS rH -CO rHOOO 1 ll NiM :rtt OOOOOcOrHIN ? a v S -M ^ d t> rH 00 00 rH 00 1 s "* C^l C o-* cows ooooeoco C O O5 ^O iO .t^ CO ;COO 'NrHOOicOtM ^OOiO p s <* "i 1 CO o MANUF "o g 1 o.SS::9gta r : 8 : 5 1 owi jz; ^go B J ^ ^ 1 11 1 a . '3 ? SS' B s l 11 lie. : ^1 I r : g oTcs oso&n W 3S1 ^ri ^5 o g^j C(H^>^ ~s tD r 2S "C -uT 'C fl O 3 -^ '2 & : j '3 ^c .S^a B 5 'J 9 S i ; ? *^_g *^S? F *S C a ! 1 2" o eo I-H : : : co : * TP o os : I-H oo r> o x o oo IN CO OO (N W r-l o ' (N 00 rH tO en "# O s" rH IN rH CO (M (N * l> C5 IO ; IN : : : O r-f CO ; CO CO : on _H (N i-H 00 ; rH O rH 00 CO N rH rH rH CD CO 00 rH i-H . i I i 1 H* i 1 rf \a * CO 9 rH CO N rH CO * i-H O CO IN o o : 10 o O 3 o >o o O Tfl O /o m o o co o : o ia t> : o o * O IN CO, O O O CO 00 iO CO O CO "^1 o to o *> o <* *> co * oo * O5 i-H ^l>w rH &&O IG> * i-T IN iH rH CO -I oo 10 o co ; CO CO O kO * ^8 CO IN t* O O Q : o o o ; O O oo oo T* Tp CO CO rH CO >O O O CO O> 1> O CO CO SO O eo oo o co IN CO CO IN rH oo"o 10 CM U3 rH rH 00 CO oo" o q, r-T rH tO rH CO (N to * co co rH IN to CO * t~ rH : : :-Q 00 ablishin actories 3 S V? washin oo O -1 M ? ! k manui as il S 3 fl 5 "o o P M M H 1 | ' " 1 : refineries s, snuff manu AUIMAL MA' tallow-rend erin i bone manure ctories .. ;tory ... w;tories... mufactories lufactories g (machinery) i r leather man 1 " 1 1^ a -a 3 * mongeries, and VEGETABLE AJ M) 9 rg : : 3 ; o " m i '2 1 ji - ^ O T3 'rrtO^oaeSeSfK-wTa ' h a i " i r^3-""S'S g. ^^ ^ *^ Qj 3 e!l1 ^H ^2 C3 |V I -H QDeZ.: _ rH iT iZ E *3 ac S os 3 "H f ~, a Z ^ .s i m cu ;K = _-u r- 3.3 p jj 60 S O S -5 S -9 Sfl 108 VICTORIA. .2 - *- b "2 00 : o O O 04 00 10 O4 i-( CO C5 1 co : Islfla oo " CO~O4~ ' ^T CO o? i-T CO C5 ! " p3 jCOldwi 8 spins w 04 ta ' ! & 04 CO * ; rH rH O4 i 1 ?O o ; co - 8?aaca rH O4 1-1 r-l iH (D O) rH CO kft . U5 CO oo r "' ^ppomm O4 jo aaqnmK 04 \a O co o o o 78 35 ; o * oo o IN ; 3 p4 itl O) P. .g M 04~0~O' oi 04" OS rH r-l kO to OT O5 i-l . . lO " 1-H . f-l O5 O5 CO 04 00 rH 04 . i . . a m ci 3 g i : '. '. o 00 W & . . S C E I fc i| : : : T 02 B 1. : : 2 a io ^ H *. i> ,2 3 H . > . . . . . &" H i 43 Description Qf Manufac OOAL AND Li Gasworks Electric-light works ... STONE, CLAY, EABTHENI Artificial stone manufactory . Asbestos works Brickyards and potteries Ceme lit tile works Filter manufactories ... Glass manufactories works. Stone-breaking, asphalte, tar- Stone and marble sawing, pol WATKI Ice manufactories A n cT H g IH X O Goldsmiths, jewellers, and facturing) Rojal mint MANUFACTURES. 109 ws o : O O in Tji o OS oo O i I 00 N q eo CO iH JO i-H !> rH co : cs to t; CO lO r-i " **. o of .| . 38 CD 00 o oo o CD a co IN oo os ^ o 9 CO eo i i O : o 00 CO O CO O o OS | i-H O I 1 oo f : 2 c is * s* S 2 ^: i; _ i. CHAPTEE X. SOCIAL STATISTICS : BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH RATES. EDUCATION, SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITY. RAILWAYS, TELEGRAPH AND POST OFFICES. RELIGIOUS STATIS- TICS. COST OF LIVING. VICTORIA AS A FIELD FOR SETTLEMENT. VITAL STATISTICS. Marriages in Victoria numbered 7,737 in 1886, or 342 more than in the previous year. In 1887 there was a further numerical advance to 7,768. The annual marriage rate was thus 7*84 per 1,000 of the population in the former year and 7'62 in the latter. The proportion which the number of marriages bears to the total population is generally called the marriage rate. This for many years has been declin- ing in Victoria, for, whilst in the three years prior to 1863 it was above 8 per 1,000 of both sexes and all ages, from 1863 to 1865 it was between 7 and 8, and between 1868 and 1878 it was between 6 and 7 per 1,000. It reached its lowest point, 5 '90 per 1,000, in 1879, and then gradually revived, and in 1886 mounted to 7'84, the highest rate which has prevailed during the last twenty-four years. Births in 1886 numbered 30,824, or 31-23 per 1,000 of the population, and in 1887, 33,043 or 32'40. During STATISTICS. Ill the twenty years ending 1883, the number of births in Victoria had remained almost stationary ; but in 1884 a marked increase took place, which was more than sus- tained in 1885, 1886, and 1887, the number of births in the latter being the highest ever recorded. In proportion to population, however, the births decreased steadily for a number of years. The death rate in 1886 was 15 '17 per 1,000 of the population. Over a period of twenty-six years the deaths of males per 1,000 of the same sex living exceeded by 2| the deaths of females per 1,000 of that sex living. It has been held by high authority that in countries in which the climate is healthy, hygiene properly attended to, and the population in a normal condition as regards age, the ordinary mortality incident to population would probably cause the death rate to be in the proportion of about 17 per 1,000 persons living. During the past twenty-six years in Victoria the mortality exceeded 17 per 1,000 seven times, but over the whole period it has averaged below 16 per 1,000. In the last ten years it has never been so high as 16 per 1,000, whilst in six of those years it was below 15 per 1,000, in one of them being even below 14 per 1,000. In 1887 the death rate was 1570 per 1,000. The net increase of population in Victoria in 1887, as compared with 1886, was estimated at 33,075, as against 40,953 in New South Wales. The computed total popula- tion of Victoria at the close of 1887 was 1,036,119, as compared with 1,003,043 in 1886. The number of males is set down at 550,050, and females at 486,060. On the 31st March, 1888, the estimated population was 1,047,308, showing an increase in the first quarter of the present year of 11,189, 6,946 being males, and 4,243 females. 112 VICTORIA. EDUCATION. The State educational system of Victoria has been most successful in its operation. The foundation of it is, that secular instruction shall be provided without payment for children whose parents may be willing to accept it, but that, whether accepted or not, satisfactory evidence must be produced that all children are educated up to a given standard. Tor securing the object sought, it is believed that the system compares favourably with that of any other country in the world. The number of children returned as on the rolls of State schools in 1886, after the system had been in force for thirteen years, was 230,576, and 1,870 schools were open. The parents of children between the ages of six and fifteen are obliged by the " Education Act " to cause them to attend school for at least sixty days in each half-year, unless there is some valid reason to prevent them from so doing. The total expenditure on public instruction in 1886-7 was .659,553, of which only .3,549 was paid by parents. Besides the State schools, which are attended by five-sixths of the children under instruction in the colony, there are, according to the latest returns, 691 private schools, attended by 35,811 scholars. Some of these private schools are attached to religious denominations, as many as 175, with 20,854 scholars, being connected with the Roman Catholic Church. Six are called colleges or grammar schools, two of which are connected with the Church of England, two with the Roman Catholic, one with the Presbyterian, and one with the Wesleyan Church. In these, as well as in some o f the other private schools, a very high class of education, quite equal to that obtained in the best public schools in England, is given. The Melbourne University was established under a special Act of the Victorian Legislature, which was STATISTICS. 113 assented to on the 22nd January, 1853. This Act, as amended by an Act passed in 1881, provides for its endowment by the payment of .9,000 annually out of the general revenue recently increased by Parliament to .11,000; also, that no religious test shall be required of any one to entitle him to be admitted to the rights and privileges of the institution ; also for the election, by the senate, of a council consisting of twenty members, to hold office for five years, of whom not more than three may be members of the teaching staff, and for the election by them, out of their own body, of a chancellor and a vice- chancellor; also for the constitution of a senate, con- sisting of all male persons who have been admitted to the degree of master or doctor, and for the election by them annually of one of their body as warden, as soon as the superior degrees should amount to not less than one hundred. This number was reached in 1867, and the senate was constituted on the 14th of June of that year. The council are empowered to grant in any faculty, except divinity, any degree, diploma, certificate, or license which can be conferred in any university in the British dominions. Royal letters patent, under the sign-manual of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, were issued on the 14th March, 1859, declaring that all degrees granted, or thereafter to be granted, by the Melbourne University should be recognised as academic distinctions and rewards of merit, and should be entitled to rank, precedence, and consideration in the United Kingdom and in British colonies and possessions throughout the world, just as fully as if they had been granted by any university in the United Kingdom. The foundation stone was laid on . the 3rd July, 1854, and the building was opened on the 3rd October of the following year. On the 22nd March, 114 VICTORIA. 1880, the University was thrown open to females, and they can now be admitted to all its corporate privileges except as regards the study of medicine. Affiliated to the University is a college in connection with the Church of England, and one in connection with the Presbyterian Church, and a third is in course of being associated with the central seat of learning belonging to the Wesleyan body. The Presbyterian institution is called the Ormond College, after the Hon. Francis Ormond, M.L.C., who has given nearly .25,000 towards its erection and endowment. The University Hall, built at a cost of about .40,000, is called the Wilson Hall, after Sir Samuel Wilson, who contributed the greater portion of the funds for its erection. Since the opening of the University, until 1886, 2,395 students had matriculated, and 1,169 degrees were granted, of which 877 were direct, and 292 ad eundem. The students who matriculated in 1886 numbered 154, of whom 18 were females, and the graduates in the same year numbered 124; 249 males and 123 females having passed the matriculation examination. RAILWAYS. All the railways in Victoria are the pro- perty of the State, whose policy it has been to open up the interior by their means to such an extent that railway communication will keep pace with settlement, be the latter ever so rapid. The consequence is that railways are extending to the most remote parts of the colony. Cheap excursion trains are run weekly, as well as at all holiday seasons, the tickets of the former being available from Friday until Monday, and those of the la,tter for much longer periods. In June, 1887, 1,880 miles were open for traffic, 236| miles of which were laid with double lines. The cost of construction, inclusive of rolling-stock, and building a bridge over the Murray to connect with the New STATISTICS. 115 South Wales lines, was over 25,000,000, or an average of about .13,000 per mile. The train mileage during the year was 7,991,378. The total receipts amounted to .1,025,962, and the working expenses to ,1,427,116. The net income was equivalent to a return of 4*170 per cent, on the whole capital cost, which shows a substantial surplus, after paying the interest due on the bonds representing the capital expended on the lines. The nominal rate of inte- rest payable on the borrowed capital now averages 4'25 per cent., or .4 5s. per ,100. Formerly, the rate was as high as 4| per cent., but, owing to the redemption of 6 per cent, debentures and the issue during the years 1883 to 1885 of 4 per cent, debentures in lieu thereof, a reduction of 158,292, upon a total of 482,677, was effected in the annual interest payable. POST OFFICES. A very efficient postal system exists in Victoria, and post offices are established throughout the length and breadth of the colony ; 1,429 of such institu- tions now exist, as against 1,007 eight years since. In the same period the letters and newspapers despatched and received in a year increased from 33,000,000 to 55,800,000. The postage on letters to places in any of the Australasian colonies is 2d. per ounce, and on newspapers one halfpenny each. The postage on letters to the United Kingdom is 6d., and on newspapers Id. Money order offices in Victoria in connection with the post office have been established in 362 places, and the system is being rapidly extended by the opening of fresh offices. Besides the issue and pay- ment of money orders at these places, such orders are issued in favour of Victoria, and Victorian orders are paid, at places in Great Britain and Ireland, and in the various Australasian colonies ; also in the United States and Canada ; Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and some of 116 VICTORIA. the other European countries ; Ceylon, India, Straits Settlements, China (including Macao), Japan, the Cape of G-ood Hope, etc. Postal notes are also issued, for use within the colony, for any amounts not exceeding