c^rt/. ^y4^U^9^/y ^^^^iJfe 
 
 '^i,e-ri'') 
 
 Cm^'i'enU^ yt>^ ^Qa^^^rm^ 
 
 iRITNEi 
 kseller 
 
 GE StREI 
 
 o. cana: 
 
 X50,c«o volu 
 d Euro pea, 
 American Books in Stocl 
 quent consignments f re 
 depot. Established, 1 
 Ene.. 1873; Toronto. : 
 
LAND, LABOUE, AND GOLD 
 
 TWO YEARS IN YICTORIA. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
LONDOS : 
 
 PBINTBD BT 8POTTI8WOODB AKD CO. 
 
 VSW-8TKBST SQUJlBB. 
 
 Ak 
 
LAND, LABOUR, AMD GOLD 
 
 TWO TEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 TISITS TO SYDNEY AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 
 
 BY WILLIAM HOWITT. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 CONTAINING THE MOST RECENT INFORMATION REGARDING THE COLONY. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDOK: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS. 
 
 1858. 
 
IS5B 
 
 HCMRY MORSe STerHEM* 
 
(MZ^ 
 
 TO 
 
 GODFREY HOWITT, M.D. 
 
 OF MELBOURNE, 
 
 THESE VOLUMES, 
 
 DESCEIPTIVE or A COLONY OF WHICH HE HAS WITNESSED THE 
 EARLY INFANCY AND THE MIEACULOUS GROWTH, 
 
 ^re Ittscrilieb' 
 
 BY HIS AFFECTIONATE BROTHER, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 514530 
 
Wo 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 This edition has been delayed some time in the hope that I 
 should be able to record the settlement of the great question 
 of the colony — the Land Question; but although the Home 
 Government in May, 1856, granted to the Australian colonies, 
 in their new constitutions, full power to deal with the waste 
 lands, the squatter influence has hitherto prevailed to prevent 
 the final completion of that great and most vital measure. 
 The battle of interests alluded to in the original preface to 
 these volumes, is now fighting, and bids fair to be of some 
 duration. Without waiting further I have, therefore, wholly 
 revised this work, putting out matter which has lost its value, 
 from the progress of events, but retaining the picture of the 
 colony at the period of my visit as a history of that singular 
 time, which the public will long look back to with curiosity 
 and surprise. In a new chapter I have traced, from au- 
 thentic sources, the progress of the colony up to this time, — 
 so that the world will be able to behold its most recent 
 features. 
 
 Mr. Charles Reade, in his novel of " Never too Late to 
 Mend," having borrowed very freely from this work, I have 
 requested him to acknowledge the fact, — which he has done 
 
 A 4 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 very fully in the following letter. It has been already 
 printed in the preface to my Australian story, '' Tallangetta," 
 but is repeated here lest those who have perused Mr. Reade's 
 book previous to reading this should make an odd mistake as to 
 the real original of many pictures of scenery and life scattered 
 through it. 
 
 London, February, 1858. 
 
 " 6, Bolton Row, Mayfair : March 2, 1857. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Should you ever fall in with a matter-of-fact 
 romance, called, *It is Never Too Late to Mend,'^ — and should you 
 wade as far in it as the Australian scenes, you will not be surprised 
 at this letter from me. 
 
 " To avoid describing Hyde Park, and calling it Australia, I 
 read some thirty books about that country ; but yours was infinitely 
 the best. In reading you I found I was in the hands of a man 
 who had really been there, and had seen things with his own eyes, 
 and judged them with his own judgment, and, rarer art still, could 
 paint them to the life. Your vivid scenes took hold of me ; and 
 your colours are the charm of many of my best pages. I could not 
 tell you all my obligations ; but some of them I can. You restored 
 my faith in nature. A pack of noodles had been out there, and 
 came home, and told us the air had no perfume and the birds no 
 song. 
 
 " The real fact is, that there have not yet been in Australia 
 two centuries of poets, to tell people what to hear and what to 
 smell. You extinguished that piece of cant. You smelt the land 
 like cowslips ninety miles off; and you not only heard the birds, 
 but described the song and note of each with a precision of detail 
 that were invaluable. That passage of yours was a nugget. 
 
 " I made use of it in a full description of the rising sun ; and 
 it is, to my fancy, the light of my whole picture. I had from 
 you, too, the snow-storm, — the flakes as large as the palm of your 
 hand, and the great branches of trees rent from the stems with 
 reports like cannon, by the weight of superincumbent snow. 
 
 *' Then, in the details of digging, it was you who told me the 
 furtive diggers were discovered by the stream coming down dis- 
 coloured. 
 
 '^ Itetn — the diggers steeped in cold water from the waist 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 downwards, yet steaming with perspiration from the waist up- 
 wards. Two out of three comic advertisements at the mines are 
 also from you. 
 
 '' Adde hue — the thunder of the cradles, the bottles sown broad- 
 cast over the land, with other happy touches of the sort, and one 
 divinely felicitous phrase, — Hhe sentences measled with oaths 
 and indelicate expressions.' In short, I have taken from you 
 far more than I could have taken with decency if our two works 
 had not been heterogeneous. As it is, I hope you are too candid 
 and too good-natured to grudge me, who can never hope to see 
 that wonderful land, a few colours from your palette. A traveller 
 with a painter's eye is a rarity. He must make up his mind to 
 teach the artists of the pen as well as the public. 
 
 "But though it is not in nature to refrain from profiting by 
 you, there is one casualty it is my duty to guard you against. 
 
 " You are, I hear, about to bring out a cheap edition of * Land, 
 Labour, and Gold.' Many will make their first acquaintance 
 with your volumes after reading mine. There must be no doubt 
 as to who is the original where you and I are found in amiable but 
 suspicious harmony. 
 
 " To conclude : I wish, my dear Sir, I could make you some 
 return by sending all my readers to your two rich volumes. I can 
 assure them the pearls I have strung from them on my string are 
 surrounded by hundreds of others of equally intrinsic value. 
 
 " May you' visit many countries, and may I sit by the fire and 
 see them on your glowing pages. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 "Charles Reade." 
 
 '* William Howitt, Esq." 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE FIKST EDITION. 
 
 My object in the following work has been to place the 
 reader, as much as possible, in my own position whilst col- 
 lecting the material for it. To let him see, feel, and draw 
 his conclusions, as far as I could enable him, as fully and fairly 
 as I did myself. I found myself in one of the most noble 
 dependencies of England, — in a country which one day 
 must become a great and populous one, and that at a crisis 
 unexampled in history, — new, strange, and without an exact 
 precedent. I saw that the position into which I had thus 
 stepped created a great national duty ; and I determined to 
 discharge it faithfully. As I had no interest in the questions 
 involved, — except such as are the interest of every British 
 subject — and no purpose to serve but a patriotic one, I 
 resolved to state simply, fully, and without fear or favour, 
 what fell under my notice. If, therefore, my plain speaking 
 shall, as it probably may, give pain occasionally to indi- 
 viduals, I can only plead a most sincere desire to avoid such 
 annoyance ; but that, without an honest and candid exposi- 
 tion of prominent parts, I could not give to the whole por- 
 traiture that truth which the most vital interests both of 
 the colony and the mother- country, demand at this moment. 
 
Xll PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 The condition of our Australian colonies is singular and 
 anomalous beyond conception ; and what is not the less ex- 
 traordinary is, that it is almost totally unknown at home. 
 Nothing has so much surprised me as to find how little 
 aware were the majority of people, well informed on subjects 
 in general, of the actual state of things in Australia ; no- 
 thing has surprised them so much as my statement of the 
 administrative system in Victoria especially. As new con- 
 stitutions for that colony and for New South Wales are at 
 this moment under the consideration of the Imperial Legisla- 
 ture, it is of the utmost importance that accurate informa- 
 tion regarding the singular condition and position of these 
 colonies should be as widely and as rapidly diffused as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 On the adjustment of these constitutions to the real wants 
 of the Australian colonies, and to the well-defined wishes and 
 opinions of the colonial public, depends whether we shall 
 long regard our Australian settlements as dependencies or 
 independencies. Strong as beats the British heart in those 
 distant lands, warmly as the thousand ties of birth, kindred, 
 and national pride, incline the Australians to their alliance 
 with us, yet the questions, whether these new and immense 
 countries shall be cramped and crushed in . their growth by 
 the most absurd restrictions, — whether old and ruinous 
 routine shall defeat all the elastic buoyancy of a young 
 national spirit, — are questions of such moment as admit of 
 no alternative but freedom at any cost. 
 
 Whilst writing this, I see that Lord John Russell has 
 called upon Parliament to sanction constitutions for New 
 South Wales and Victoria, more or less in accordance with 
 those framed by the Colonial Legislatures themselves, and 
 has obtained leave to bring in a bill regarding the waste 
 lands of these colonies. If, as I presume, these waste lands 
 
I 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XI 11 
 
 » 
 
 are to be consigned to the Australian colonies, to be dealt 
 with by their Legislatures under these new constitutions, the 
 battle betwixt the colonial public and the squatters and land- 
 owners will be at once transferred from the mother-country 
 to those colonies ; and that battle will be fought out with 
 much pugnacity and heat. Owing to the very partial popu- 
 lation of Victoria and New South Wales, and consequently 
 the imperfect state of their representation, the squatters and 
 landowners will be able to make a bold and vigorous stand 
 against the people. We shall not be long before we hear the 
 first rolling thunders of this gathering campaign ; and I trust 
 at these pages will enable my countrymen to comprehend 
 fully the features and bearings of the contest as it proceeds. 
 That the people will eventually triumph is certain ; and as 
 certain that, from that triumph of the enfranchised land, 
 will originate an emigration from this country, which will 
 only broaden and deepen with years, and a prosperity which 
 will be equally felt in those colonies and the mother- 
 country. 
 
 London, May 20th, 1855. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Signs of Approach to Land. — Arrival. — Excitement on Pilot coming on 
 Board. — News of the Diggings. — Monstrous Charges for everything.— Speci- 
 men of Mode of doing Business on the Wharf. — State of Things in Mel- 
 bourne. — Canvass Town Page 1 
 
 CHAP. n. 
 
 First Sample of Scenery. — Appearance of Melbourne. — Pleasant Environs. 
 — Extraordinary Wooden Suburbs of CoUingwood and Richmond. — Price 
 of Land and Rents. — Artificial Obstructions to Colonisation. — A new Colony 
 only a Government Pinfold. — Glut of Merchants' Clerks. — Wages of Ser- 
 vants. — Want of Labour. — Weedy Gardens — Great Nugget. — Appearance 
 of Emigrants arriving from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land - - 8 
 
 CHAP. m. 
 
 SCENES IN MELBOURNE. 
 
 Rage for Gain in Tradesmen. — Sending a Parcel. — Price of Provisions 
 
 News from the Diggings. — Prices there. — Land Mania. — Mad Prices and 
 amazing Rents. — Flower Show at Botanic Gardens. — A Walk into the 
 Woodlands. — A new Abbotsford. — A Gentleman's House and Grounds at 
 Brighton. — Melbourne Scenes and Characters. — Luggage Thieves. — De- 
 stroying a fine Site for a Town. — River-side Slaughter-houses. — Earth sown 
 with Bottles. — Caution to Women emigrating. — Street Scenes. — Successful 
 Diggers breaking a Horse. — Independence of Servants. — A Gentleman as 
 Groom. — Spring. — Appearance of Gardens - - - - - 16 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 STILL MELBOURNE, AND GLIMPSES OF ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 Projecting our Journey. — People a Month in getting their Effects from the Ship. 
 — Bank of England Notes at Twenty per Cent. Discount. — Expert Thieves. 
 — A Tailor's Stock stolen from the Lighter. — Clerks and delicate Men a$ 
 
XVI CONTENTS OP 
 
 Discount. — Governor wonders 'what people are coming for. — Visit to a 
 Farm. — New Settlements. — Rude Fencing. — Primitive Forest. — Fruits 
 fine, bat little cultivated. — An English Character on everything. — New 
 
 Birds. — Triantelopes New Plants. — Our London Harness ridiculed. — 
 
 First Taste of a Dust-wind.— A Wheelwright's Bill. — The new Aristocracy 
 and Hairystocracy. — Cabmen refuse to drive Gentlemen ; only take Dig- 
 gers. — Bushranging Feat in the Suburbs. — Alarm in the Night. — The 
 drunken Tanner Page 32 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ON THE WAT. 
 
 On the Way. — Many Counsellors about the Roads. — Riley's Swamp. — First 
 Encampment. — Spectral Aspect of the Forest from the great Bush-fire on 
 Black Thursday. — Paddy Burke's Bog. — A grand take-in by an Irishman. 
 — Watch and Ward. — Terrible Journey. — Heads of the Plenty. — Burning 
 Heat. — Lose our Horses in the Woods.— Grand Pursuit. — The Doctor lost 
 all Night. — News from a Bullock-driver. — A Chase into the Hills. — Wills's 
 wild Mob. — The Horses recovered. — Part Company with our Fellow- Tra- 
 vellers. — Opossum and Wild-Cat Hunting. — A Sample of the Pleasures 
 of Bullock- driving _---_45 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Break down Encamp in the Woods. — A Sailor turned Shepherd. — Rainy 
 
 Weather and leaky Tent. — In quest of a Wheelwright. — Humorous Re- 
 ception by a Squatter. — Kilmore and its Mud. — Squatter Life. — Chase 
 after a lost Writing-case. — Whitehead's Station. — How we spent the Fifth 
 of November. — Enter on sterile Country. — Vernal Flowers. — Leatherheads. 
 
 — Laughing Jackass. — Thrushes. — Warbling Crows. — Wattle Birds. — 
 Not true that Australian Birds have no Song. — Black Trout and Blue 
 Crawfish 63 
 
 CHAP. VIL 
 
 Scene on passing Sandy Creek. — Wonderful Scene at the Goulburn Ferry. — 
 
 Gross Neglect of Government Township of Seymour. — Burnt Ground 
 
 and Barren Woods. — Iguanas. — Snakes. — Pest of Flies. — Overtaken by a 
 Party of Friends. — Huge Trains of Bullock-drays and Diggers' Carts. — 
 Aspect of the Diggings. — Women. — Strange Costumes. — Free-and-easy 
 Address. — Van Diemenians. — Thorough Break-down again. — Scenes 
 around us. — Morepork. — Razor-grinder's Nest. — Mode of Life on Travel. 
 
 — A View of Interior of our Tent. — Scotch Publicans and greedy High- 
 landers. — Passing the Time till Wheels are repaired. — Sketching and Ex- 
 ploring. — Fresh Birds and Flowers. — A Friend returning from the Diggings 
 dilapidated -----.---.-75 
 
 CHAP. VIIL 
 
 Author attacked by Dysentery. — Intolerable Heat. — Melancholy Situation. — 
 Visit from mounted Bushrangers. — Their Cowardice and Cruelty. — Dis- 
 cover Mr. Forlonge's Station. — Remove to his Sheep Station. — Extreme 
 
THE FIRST VOLUME. XVll 
 
 Kindness. — Life at the Station. — Intelligent Overseers. — Sheep Washing 
 and Shearing Doings of Shearers. — Wonderful Wages. — Cavalier Con- 
 duct of Workmen. — Shepherds insane from Solitude. — Miserable Public- 
 houses. — Bush Life as regards Shepherds, Overseers, and Squatters. — 
 Adventures of Cattle Drivers. — Squatting System the great Obstacle to 
 Colonisation. — About 650 Individuals hold all Victoria. — Instances of 
 Colonial Mismanagement. — The Gold Discovery the making of the 
 Squatters. — Visits of Shepherds to the Author. — Daily Scenes at the 
 Crossing of the Creek — The Government and the Bridge. — Set forward on 
 our Journey -- Page 88 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Rise of Charges as we proceed Petty Thefts. — Strange Scene at the Broken 
 
 Eiver. — A Party of Shipmates returning from the Diggings, in Disgust. — 
 Fine View of the Australian Alps. — The Pest of Flies increases. — Dampier's 
 Account of them. — Grass-Seed Nuisance. — Prevalence of Cramp. — Mis- 
 chief of one-sided Accounts of Australia Monopoly of Ferry at Ovens 
 
 River. — Dialogue between Ferryman and Author. — Meet another Disap- 
 pointed Party. — Cattle-branding. — Reid's Station. — Odd Reception at 
 Mackay's Station. — Ovens Ranges. — New Class of Shrubs and Flowers. — 
 Groups on the Road _-_,---._ io3 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Ovens Diggings. — Extraordinary Scene. — Increasing Gold Fever in England. 
 — Reality here. — Sickness, Death, Disappointment. — A great Rush, which 
 proves a Hoax. — Murders. — Christmas-day 118 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Diggers' Propensities ; firing Guns and felling Trees. — Spring Creek and 
 Reid's Creek. — Wet Diggings. — Ants, Centipedes, Scorpions, and Flies. — 
 Reid's Creek, its repulsive Aspect. — Attempt to assassinate Mr. Reid. — 
 Sells his Station. — An official Snob. — Civility of Spring Creek Diggers. 
 — Death of Dr. Godwin, a Shipmate, from Disappointment. — His Grave. — 
 Fresh«Rushes. — Perpetual empty Rumours. — The Mysterious Germans, — 
 Heat 139°. — Our Digging Experience. — Intense Competition. — Determine 
 to go ahead. — Explorers dodging in the Bush. — Churl the Miller. — Result 
 of the dodging Manoeuvres. — We discover a Gold-field - - - 124 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Stealing away. — The Miller's Camp. — Miller's Boy lost in the Woods.— Steer 
 our Way through the Forest. — Arduous Journey. — Profound Solitudes. — 
 Obstructions from Jungle and dead Timber. — Dragging on through the 
 Rains. — The Yackandanda. — Two Diggers there ! — Our Encampment. — 
 
 Opossums and flying Squirrels Dog bitten by a Snake. — Extraordinary 
 
 Hawk Family. — Black Cockatoos. — Hot Wind.— Colony destitute of Wild 
 Fruits 135 
 
 VOL. 1. 
 
XVI CONTENTS OP 
 
 Discount. — Governor wonders 'what people are coming for. — Visit to a 
 Farm. — New Settlements. — Rude Fencing. — Primitive Forest. — Fruits 
 fine, but little cultivated. — An English Character on everything. — New 
 Birds. — Triantelopes. — New Plants. — Our London Harness ridiculed. — 
 First Taste of a Dust- wind. — A Wheelwright's Bill. — The new Aristocracy 
 and Hairystocracy. — Cabmen refuse to drive Gentlemen ; only take Dig- 
 gers. — Bushranging Feat in the Suburbs. — Alarm in the Night. — The 
 drunken Tanner Page 32 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 ON THE WAT. 
 
 On the Way. — Many Counsellors about the Roads. — Riley's Swamp. — First 
 Encampment. — Spectral Aspect of the Forest from the great Bush-fire on 
 Black Thursday. — Paddy Burke's Bog. — A grand take-in by an Irishman. 
 — Watch and Ward. — Terrible Journey. — Heads of the Plenty. — Burning 
 Heat. — Lose our Horses in the Woods.— Grand Pursuit. — The Doctor lost 
 all Night. — News from a Bullock-driver. — A Chase into the Hills. — Wills's 
 wild Mob. — The Horses recovered. — Part Company with our Fellow- Tra- 
 vellers. — Opossum and Wild-Cat Hunting. — A Sample of the Pleasures 
 of Bullock- driving -------- --45 
 
 CHAP. VL 
 
 Break down. — Encamp in the Woods. — A Sailor turned Shepherd. — Rainy 
 Weather and leaky Tent. — In quest of a Wheelwright. — Humorous Re- 
 ception by a Squatter. — Kilmore and its Mud. — Squatter Life. — Chase 
 after a lost Writing-case. — Whitehead's Station. — How we spent the Fifth 
 of November. — Enter on sterile Country. — Vernal Flowers. — Leatherheads. 
 
 — Laughing Jackass. — Thrushes. — Warbling Crows. — Wattle Birds. — 
 Not true that Australian Birds have no Song. — Black Trout and Blue 
 Crawfish 63 
 
 CHAP. VIL 
 
 Scene on passing Sandy Creek. — Wonderful Scene at the Goulburn Ferry. — 
 
 Gross Neglect of Government Township of Seymour. — Burnt Ground 
 
 and Barren Woods. — Iguanas. — Snakes. — Pest of Flies. — Overtaken by a 
 Party of Friends. — Huge Trains of Bullock-drays and Diggers' Carts. — 
 Aspect of the Diggings. — Women. — Strange Costumes. — Free-and-easy 
 Address. — Van Diemenians. — Thorough Break -down again. — Scenes 
 around us. — Morepork. — Razor-grinder's Nest. — Mode of Life on Travel. 
 
 — A View of Interior of our Tent. — Scotch Publicans and greedy High- 
 landers. — Passing the Time till Wheels are repaired. — Sketching and Ex- 
 ploring. — Fresh Birds and Flowers. — A Friend returning from the Diggings 
 dilapidated -----------75 
 
 CHAP. vin. 
 
 Author attacked by Dysentery. — Intolerable Heat. — Melancholy Situation. — 
 Visit from mounted Bushrangers. — Their Cowardice and Cruelty. — Dis- 
 cover Mr. Forlonge's Station. — Remove to his Sheep Station. — Extreme 
 
THE FIRST VOLUME. XVll 
 
 Kindness. — Life at the Station. — Intelligent Overseers. — Sheep "Washing 
 and Shearing Doings of Shearers. — Wonderful Wages. — Cavalier Con- 
 duct of Workmen. — Shepherds insane from Solitude. — Miserable Public- 
 houses. — Bush Life as regards Shepherds, Overseers, and Squatters. — 
 Adventures of Cattle Drivers. — Squatting System the great Obstacle to 
 Colonisation. — About 650 Individuals hold all Victoria. — Instances of 
 Colonial Mismanagement. — The Gold Discovery the making of the 
 Squatters. — Visits of Shepherds to the Author. — Daily Scenes at the 
 Crossing of the Creek — The Government and the Bridge. — Set forward on 
 our Journey >-_ - Page 88 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Rise of Charges as we proceed. — Petty Thefts. — Strange Scene at the Broken 
 River. — A Party of Shipmates returning from the Diggings, in Disgust. — 
 Fine View of the Australian Alps. — The Pest of Flies increases. — Dampier's 
 Account of them. — Grass-Seed Nuisance. — Prevalence of Cramp. — Mis- 
 chief of one-sided Accounts of Australia Monopoly of Ferry at Ovens 
 
 River. — Dialogue between Ferryman and Author. — Meet another Disap- 
 pointed Party. — Cattle-branding. — Reid's Station. — Odd Reception at 
 Mackay's Station. — Ovens Ranges. — New Class of Shrubs and Flowers. — 
 Groups on the Road - - - - - - - - -103 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Ovens Diggings. — Extraordinary Scene. — Increasing Gold Fever in England. 
 — Reality here. — Sickness, Death, Disappointment. — A great Rush, which 
 proves a Hoax. — Murders. — Christmas-day 118 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Diggers' Propensities ; firing Guns and felling Trees. — Spring Creek and 
 Reid's Creek. — Wet Diggings. — Ants, Centipedes, Scorpions, and Flies. — 
 
 Reid's Creek, its repulsive Aspect. — Attempt to assassinate Mr. Reid 
 
 Sells his Station. — An official Snob. — Civility of Spring Creek Diggers. 
 — Death of Dr. Godwin, a Shipmate, from Disappointment. — His Grave. — 
 
 Fresh'Rushes Perpetual empty Rumours. — The Mysterious Germans. — 
 
 Heat 139°. — Our Digging Experience. — Intense Competition. — Determine 
 to go ahead. — Explorers dodging in the Bush. — Churl the Miller. — Result 
 of the dodging Manoeuvres. — We discover a Gold-field - - - 124 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Stealing away. — The Miller's Camp. — Miller's Boy lost in the Woods. — Steer 
 our Way through the Forest. — Arduous Journey. — Profound Solitudes. — 
 Obstructions from Jungle and dead Timber. — Dragging on through the 
 Rains. — The Yackandanda. — Two Diggers there ! — Our Encampment. — 
 
 Opossums and flying Squirrels Dog bitten by a Snake. — Extraordinary 
 
 Hawk Family. — Black Cockatoos. — Hot Wind. — Colony destitute of Wild 
 Fruits 135 
 
 VOL. L 
 
XVIU CONTENTS OP 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Digging up the Creek. — Plenty of Gold. — Prospectors find us out. — A Ve- 
 teran of the Class. — A great Rumour of our Discovery, and a Rush. — 
 Ci'owds arriving, Ti'ces felling. Bullock-drivers swearing. — Tents and Stores 
 pitching. — Nature returned to Chaos. — Prospecting ahead again. — Scenes 
 among the Hills. — Routine of our daily Life. — The Miller and his Men 
 excited by our Success. — Our Claim robbed. — Frantic Conduct of the Men. 
 
 — Menace Assassination. — The Men punished Churl and an old Man. — 
 
 Predominance of Scotch in the Colony. — A Scotch Spendthrift - Page 144 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Fresh Throngs on the Diggings. — Estimate of Climate. — Fresh Accounts. — 
 Statements of various Authors. — All understate the Heat. — Heat shown by 
 our Thermometer. — Changes of Temperature. — Causes of Illness. — Effectual 
 I'recautions. — Evils inevitable in a new Colony. — Exposures of Digger 
 
 Life. — Fly-blight Diggers' Real Grievances. — Nothing done for them. 
 
 — Rigorous Exaction of License Money. — Russian Treatment. — Why no 
 Roads ? — What the Mormons did. — An American's View of our Policy. 
 — Colony opened to Plunderers, but not to Settlers - - - 160 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Leave the Yackandanda. — Vast Changes. — An Unlucky Digger. — Crowds 
 coming up. — More wonderful Rumours. — Richard the Groom turns up. — 
 His Wine-cellar. — Rides a Steeple-chase over the Holes. — Features of a 
 Digging as it is. — Ride to the Murray. — Granite Desert. — Pleasant Locality 
 of Reid's Mill. — Sleep in the open Air. — Bewildered old Man. — Camp of 
 Natives. — A Walk through Albury. — The Evils of the Squatting System 
 stamped on the whole Colony. — Why England produces more Wool. — A 
 Gang of Horse-stealers. — Second Night in the open Air. — Visits at Reid's, 
 Turnbull's, and Forlonge's Stations. — A Specimen of an Australian Gar- 
 dener. — A Squatter's Progress. — The Forlonge Family. — Mrs. Forlonge's 
 Wanderings in Saxony. — Introduce Saxony Merinos - - -172 
 
 CHAP. XVL 
 
 Immense Growth of Melbourne. — Government still busy with Town Allot- 
 ments, but without small Farms — Consequences of this Policy. — A Speci- 
 men of Rents and Bargains. — A Drunken Man's Luck. — Rage for Speculation. 
 — A supposed Error in a Title Deed. — Population of Melbourne. — Fortunes 
 not made at the Gold-fields. — Erroneous Views of this at Home. — Gold- 
 buying become Profitless. — The Land-shark a Government Creation. — 
 Speculators Birds of Passage. — Trade immense, but unsound. — Victoria the 
 Paradise of Labour. — Influx of Chinese. — Wooden and Iron Houses. — 
 Price of Building Materials. — Melbourne a Digger Babel. — Assumption of 
 Servants. — Distress of Immigrants on Landing, — Houses for the Destitute. 
 — Canvass Town. — Working on the Roads a Genteel Profession. — Sketch 
 of the Life of a Stonebreaker - - - - - - -191 
 
THE FIRST VOLUME. XIX 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 On the Road again. — Crowds still flocking to the Diggings. — Volcanic Plains. 
 
 — Stuck in the Mud all Night. — Curious'Incident at a Store. — A Lady 
 Storekeeper. — Horrible Roads. — Dragged through by Macdonald and Mac- 
 leod of the Isles. — Capsize of their Dray. — Break down again, and left 
 behind. — The Forge in the Woods. — Diggers on small Farms. — Why not 
 more of them? — Crab-holes and Dead Men's Graves — Desperate Struggle 
 through the Mud. — Ancient and extinct Volcanoes. — A solitary new Chum. 
 —The Big Hill. — Wonderful Escape of a Wool-dray. — Heavy Snow-storm, 
 and crashing Trees. — Man with a Break-down reading the Jest-book. — 
 Our second Break- down. — A Colonial Smith and his Profits. — Frightful 
 Eoad through Kilmore. — How to get at the Post Office ? — Highlander in 
 pursuit of a Thief. — A farmer's Idea of the Victorians. — Roadside Lodgers. 
 
 — Return to Melbourne for more Stores. — Scenes on approaching it. — 
 Heavily laden New Chum. — Cockatoo Settlers and Campers-out. — Hosts 
 of Drunkards. — Strange Public-house Sign - - - - Page 204 
 
 CHAP. xvni. 
 
 Struggling up the Road again. — Mischievous Cockatoo Settler. — Third 
 Break-down in the Bush. — Drunken Smiths. — The Big Hill and the Brandy 
 Bottle. — Fourth Break-down on the Sydney Road. — Boys sleep there. — 
 Author, like an old Gibeonite, reaches our Camp. — Start afresh. — Roads full 
 of broken Carriages and dead Cattle. — No Slavery like getting up to the 
 
 Diggings. — The Squatter and his Troubles Man digging his Boot out of 
 
 the Road. — Fortunes made by small Farmers. — Severe Nights, and thick 
 Ice, but warm Days. — Amusing Scenes on the Road. — Inquiry after the 
 Man in Slippers. — A Cockney Shepherd inquiring after himself. — Wonder- 
 ful Rumours and Rushes. — Arrive at M'lvor. — Pleasant Country. — 
 Stripping Bark in the Woods for a Winter Hut. — Rumours of a Copper 
 Mine 222 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Aspect of Diggings and Diggers. — Conspicuous Characters. — Mrs. Bunting. — 
 American Auctioneer. — Scene between him ^nd a Digger. — American 
 Baker. — Grog-selling. — Ruins. — Savage Dogs. — Noise of Fire-arms. — 
 Familiar Rudeness of Diggers. — A Specimen. — Corruptions of Language. 
 
 — What the Boys are growing into. — Account of one by himself. — How 
 they cheated the Commissioner. — Another Specimen and History. — Lesser 
 Fi7. — A Bush Concert of Bullock-bells 234 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 On the Way to Bendigo. — Cross the Campaspe. — Visit from a crazed Shep- 
 herd. — His strange Fancies and Conversation. — Midnight Visit from Bush- 
 rangers. — The Result. — Another Visit fi-om one as Scout. — Rob two 
 Ladies there next Morning. — Murderous Attack on the Gold Escort by 
 same Party. — Jenny, Kitty, and Lizzy Ennis, a merry Group of Bush 
 Children. — A Gentleman Shepherd. — The Story of the Frenchman and his 
 Badger 247 
 
XX CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Bendigo Diggings. — Their Appearance. — Vast Extent. — Beauty of Golden- 
 wattle in Flower. — Bendigo's Seven Hills, like Eome. — White Hills. — 
 Gold Company a Failure. — Diggers jealous of Capital and Machinery. — 
 Strange Architecture of Diggers' Huts. — Winter Weather ; Wet, Cold, and 
 Heat. — Women and their Costume at Bendigo. — Descend a Digger's 
 Hole in the White Hills. — Wild Rushes, and picturesque Groups. — Drunken 
 Riot and Robberies. — Duty on Spirits in Victoria more than Half a Million 
 per Annum. — Suppression of Grog-shops a Sham. — Inefficient Commis- 
 sioners. — Intelligent Friends. — Scene at a Dinner Party. — Cry of " A Boy 
 in a Hole I " — The Coroner's Ape. — Our large Dog stolen - Page 261 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Digger Insurrection. — Digger Grievances. — Official Treatment. — A Model 
 Police Magistrate. — Deafness of Government. — Hermsprong, Inspector of 
 Police, and his Doings. — Burns down Grog-shops and gets Rich. — His 
 Brass-knobbed Whip " Green Apples." — Burns the Widow's Tent. — Cha- 
 racter of Mr. Commissioner Gilbert. — His Mode of Action. — Obviates 
 Riot. — Digger Testimonial. — Present Agitation. — Processions and Na- 
 tional Banners. — Digger Monster Meeting. — A Republican Speech. — 
 Disgusting Conduct of Foreign Red Republicans. — Spring Glory of the 
 Woods. — Boy shoots a Horsestealer. — Another stabs a Bushranger. — 
 News of Riot at Ballarat 274 
 
TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Signs of Approach to Land. — Arrival. — Excitement on Pilot coming on 
 Board. — News of the Diggings. — Monstrous Charges for everything. — Speci- 
 men of Mode of doing Business on the Wharf. — State of Things in Mel- 
 bourne. — Canvass Town. 
 
 At sea, on the 9th of September, 1852, 1 wrote, " To-morrow, if the 
 wind is favourable, I trust we shall cast anchor off Melbourne, 
 after a voyage of 102 days!" That morning, at ninety miles 
 from land, on opening the scuttle in my cabin, I perceived an 
 aromatic odour, as of spicy flowers, blown from the land; and 
 going out to announce the fact, I met a gentleman coming into 
 the cuddy, who said, " Come on deck, and smell the land ! " 
 People could not at first believe it ; but there it was, strong and 
 delicious, as Milton describes it from the coasts of Mozambique 
 and of Araby the Blest. The wind was blowing strong off the 
 shore ; and the fragrance continued, something like the scent of a 
 hay field, but more spicy. I said I supposed it was the yellow 
 mimosa, which my brother Richard said we should now find in 
 flower all over the valleys. 
 
 A very amusing fellow passenger, who was always ambitious to 
 be the first to suggest anything, said eagerly, " It is the scent of 
 cowslips. Mind ! I say it is cowslips ; and we shall see when we 
 get there. Remember that!" On my observing that I did not 
 believe that there was either cowslip or primrose in the country, 
 except they were in a garden, our amusing friend exclaimed, 
 " Oh ! I say it is cowslips, or something like them. It is mimosa, 
 or something with a honeyed smell. It is something of that kind. 
 I say it is that." On which there was a general laugh, our saga- 
 cious comrade widening his assertion so as to include everything, 
 
 B 
 
2 • : , • . T\yop yK^-Tis : in victoria. 
 
 That eyejiingj appeared another sign of our approach to land — 
 a hawk, for all tbs Wotld! JiKe an English hawk. It is wonderful 
 what excitement so small a circumstance occasioned after a three 
 months' absence from land. Warned by what Miss Bremer had 
 said of the cruelty with which a wearied bird was knocked down, 
 that settled on the rigging on her way to America, I determined, 
 if possible, to prevent the like here. A sailor was instantly 
 running up the shrouds, to knock it down as it sate on the cross- 
 trees of the mainmast; but I called to him to let it alone. The 
 captain shouted to him, " Let it alone till it is dark ;" but I said, 
 *' Why till dark ? why molest it all ? Let it alone." The man 
 came down ; and after a while the little Australian herald sailed 
 away again. The same evening another bird, a species of fly- 
 catcher, came on board, and made itself quite at home in the 
 rigging, pursuing a small species of Harry-long-legs, which came 
 also on the breeze. 
 
 But a still more exciting indication of the approach to land was 
 the light on Cape Otway, the cape before we turn up towards 
 Port Phillip Bay. The captain after tea took a stellar obser- 
 vation, — the elevation of one of the fixed stars called in the 
 Nautical Almanac "lunar stars." After this he said the light 
 must be thirty miles ahead of us, on the lee bow, and placed him- 
 self to watch for it. The chief mate, and a sailor called Big Sam, 
 went aloft; and they immediately cried, "Light ahead!" There 
 was a stunning shout. The captain said, " Thank God ! we have 
 made no mistake then." The <>reat deep was passed; we were 
 within sight of land if it had been daylight, and were getting 
 into still water. 
 
 The next morning we found ourselves skirting the lofty coast 
 of Cape Otway forest. We could see the hills cleft with ravines 
 and hollows, the whole covered with wood, and the thickly-ranged 
 stems of the tall white-gums lit up with the sun. By ten o'clock 
 we were within sight of the heads of Port Phillip Bay, a bark 
 coming coastward behind us, as if from Adelaide, and three more 
 ahead of us were going off in the direction of Sydney. 
 
 In the evening we arrived in port, and cast anchor. Our 
 voyage was accomplished. We found, by the daily account kept 
 on board, that, including the circuitous route which all ships are 
 obliged to make to avail themselves of the proper winds, our 
 course had been only 13,000, and not 16,000 miles, as commonly 
 reckoned. 
 
 The fine stretch of woody hills on our left hand had gradually 
 sunk down as we advanced, into flat land ; and when we reached 
 
EXCITEMENT ON PILOT COMING ON BOARD. 3 
 
 the Heads, as they are called, of the bay, — that is, the opening 
 into the bay, — about two o'clock, we were amidst perfectly flat 
 scenery. The opening into the bay is, I suppose, about a mile 
 wide ; but there is a reef* on each side which contracts it still 
 more. At this place the pilot comes on board ; and it is very 
 necessary, for no less than four wrecks lying outside the reefs 
 showed that it was a very dangerous spot. There is a lighthouse 
 on the left-hand hill, on a piece of somewhat elevated land, con- 
 taining the enclosure of one or two fields, which looked very neat 
 and homelike after our long voyage at sea. On the opposite side 
 were wild sand-banks covered with tea-scrub, showing to our eyes 
 vastly like gorse-bushes. 
 
 But what a moment of excitement is that in which the pilot 
 steps on board ! Every soul is brimful of anxiety to learn what 
 is the news about the Gold Fields. The pilot, a tall, grave- 
 looking personage, steps on board, and is instantly surrounded by 
 the eager passengers as by a swarm of bees. A hundred questions 
 are put to him at once. " What of the Diggings ? Do they keep 
 up ? Is there plenty of gold ? Are they likely to last ? Do people 
 really make fortunes in a few weeks? How deep are the holes ? 
 Can we get easily up the country ?" &c. &c. 
 
 The grave, leisurely-looking man, no doubt internally enjoying 
 their impatience, says, " Put no questions to me : I must attend 
 to the ship." That is a damper; and the taciturn Palinurus 
 proceeds to lay down on the deck a basket of flowers that he has 
 brought with him to take to the town. In those flowers there 
 was an answer to one question ; they were magnificent stocks and 
 geraniums, at once beautiful and fragrant as if they had grown in 
 Paradise. There was an end to the assertion that flowers in 
 Australia have no scent. 
 
 But the gold ! the gold ! Burning with impatience, the pas- 
 sengers still pressed round the pilot with devouring looks : the 
 imperturbable man only looks aloft, and cries, " Lower your top- 
 gallants!" and to the man at the helm, *' Keep her full ! " The 
 passengers on the poop stood silent ; the intermediates, in a dense 
 crowd, stared up in blank disappointment. But at this trying 
 moment a small green vessel, " The Wild Irish Girl," comes gaily 
 brushing by, and the master shouts, '* Come along ! we'll show 
 you the way to the Diggings!" 
 
 " Hurrah ! " burst forth the delighted crowd of emigrants. 
 " There are Diggings then ! It is no hoax ! " And all brightened 
 up, and all began to talk and laugh together. For how natural is 
 the feeling! Not Wordsworth only has thought that "Lucy 
 
 B 2 
 
4 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 might be dead!" Thousands on thousands, when they have 
 neared the Land of Promise after months of voyaging and much 
 endurance, have felt their hearts sink at the sight of the strange 
 shores, and fears have stolen across their bosoms : " What, and if 
 the whole story should prove untrue ! what, and if they meet us 
 here with jest and laughter ! " 
 
 But the old pilot, now seeing that the secret was taken out of 
 his hands, began with a knowing smile to lug a huge roll of news- 
 papers from his pocket ; and crowds rushed round him, seized upon 
 them, and you saw half-a-dozen hands holding one paper, and a 
 dozen heads peering over the others, devouring the all- important 
 columns. The news oozed out rapidly. There was a moment's 
 deep silence ; then a brilliant paragraph was read aloud ; then an- 
 other, and another. — Abundance of gold; — New Diggings dis- 
 covered ; — High market price of gold; — Wonderful instances of 
 good luck ! Hurrah followed upon hurrah. 
 
 Then came inquiries about the price of provisions ; of freight ; 
 of carriage ; of horses and bullocks ; and all looked blank with 
 consternation. Horses which had been declared in English news- 
 papers, quoting former prices, worth from 10/. to 15/., selling at 
 70/. and 100/. ; pairs of bullocks, said to be worth 5/., selling at 
 40/. ; and so on. Freight to Melbourne from the bay, 3/. per ton. 
 How in the world were many people to get out of the ship even ? 
 Now was felt, in all its horrible force, the mischief of making float- 
 ing grogshops of passenger ships, in defiance of a dozen stringent 
 Acts of Parliament. Where was the money of scores and hundreds 
 of intermediate passengers, which would have carried them with 
 ease through this costly Melbourne, and up to the Diggings ? All 
 vanished in rum, beer, and tobacco-smoke ! Where were those 
 valuable orders on Melbourne banks which careful parents had 
 entrusted to uncareful sons, so that they might not be able to spend 
 their all on board ? Cashed by the captain, and all evaporated in 
 smoke and alcohol too ! 
 
 Anon there shall be seen troops of those jolly young fellows who 
 have been on the voyage so jocund and so jovial ; who have sung, 
 and danced, and gambled on the sunny deck, and drunk in the 
 lamp-light below ; who, in the merry blood of youth, elated with 
 the merry fire of rum, have put the pigs down betweendecks night 
 after night, and tied tin kettles to the tails of unoffending dogs, and 
 chased them amongst the berths of the sober and the sleeping — 
 of those who had more years, more cares, and more little children, 
 and far less riotous spirits of all kinds than themselves, — and who 
 have dashed pails of sea- water into the beds of others. Anon shall 
 
MONSTROUS CHARGES FOR EVERYTHING. 5 
 
 these prodigal sons be seen opening their boxes and exposing to 
 sale on the knee-deep mud-banks of Melbourne their shirts and 
 their best clothing, for cash to carry them on their needful 
 journey. 
 
 Careful parents of uncareful sons, go yet a step farther in care- 
 fulness, and send your order on the Australian banks to meet them 
 by post, not even telling your hopeful scions what is the amount of 
 your " small order," but merely giving them an authority to re- 
 ceive your remittance of a certain date. Better trust to the 
 honour of colonial bankers than to the seductions of floating grog- 
 shops. 
 
 On the 12th of September we were in Melbourne, and found all 
 our friends well, and heartily glad to see us. On our return to 
 the ship to see about getting off our effects, we learned that all the 
 sailors had decamped, and started for the Diggings, — a rather un- 
 fortunate event for our early starting. But all sailors at that time 
 did the same ; and nine of the soldiers sent out there to keep guard 
 on the ships and prevent this, had deserted, and gone off in the 
 same direction. 
 
 The charge for everything on shore was monstrous, the good 
 people of Melbourne seeming to understand perfectly the art of 
 playing into one another's hands. The town, by the river, is eight 
 miles off; by land, nearly three. There was not the slightest 
 shadow of a shade of any quay, wharf, or warehouse at the harbour, 
 
 — no work of man, in fact, to facilitate the landing and secure 
 stowage of goods, any more than if the bay and the country were 
 still in possession of the savages, and not of a civilised and mer- 
 cantile people with streams of gold flowing down the country, 
 and streams of people and of valuable merchandise flowing into it, 
 
 — except a single jetty, leading to a single public-house on the 
 naked beach, three miles, as I have said, from the town. Thither 
 you wer6 obliged to take a boat, the charges for which were 
 frightful. 
 
 The boat to take you to the beach, called Liardet's Beach from 
 the public-house there, charged 3^. each, whence you must get to 
 town by omnibus, 25. 6d. If you were alone, they asked you 10*. 
 or a pound ; and if you were obliged to go out to a ship^ and they 
 knew it, or if the water were somewhat rough, they charged you 
 what they pleased. A gentleman told me that one evenings being 
 obliged to go on board of a ship about to sail, the boatmen onl^ 
 charged him 12/. ! If you went over to William's Town, at the 
 mouth of the river, in order to get the steamer which ran thither 
 from Melbourne, you paid 2s. 6d. if there were several of you ; 75. 
 
 B 3 
 
b TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 or lOs. if only one, the distance in either case perhaps half a mile. 
 You then paid 5s. each for the steamer np the river. As there 
 ■were only two of tliese steamers, they were very independent, and 
 played into the hands of the boatmen, and vice versa. They could, 
 with very little trouble, put you down at the vessel on returning, 
 but they would rarely do it. I saw them refuse to go alongside a 
 vessel lying in their very way, though a dozen people wanted to 
 go on board of it. No ; they would carry you to the pier at Wil- 
 liam's Town, and hand you over to the boatmen. There was a 
 regular system of fleecing the arriver. 
 
 The freight from London thither was 3/. per ton ; from the ship 
 to the wharf, eight miles, it was just half that sum, 30^.; and thus, 
 with the system prevailing at the wharves, and the enormous 
 charge for cartage thence into the town, the whole cost of trans- 
 ferring your effects from the vessel to your lodgings was actually 
 more than of bringing them the previous 13,000 miles, including 
 the cost of conveying them from your house to the London docks. 
 
 What I witnessed at the wharves may give a pretty lively idea 
 of the way of doing things there at that time. I landed my effects 
 at a wharf, the owner of which was reckoned one of the most 
 honourable, straight -forward men in the colony. Yet this I saw, 
 and saw it done over and over. People whose effects were landed 
 — remember, these people were utter strangers there — hired a 
 cart to carry their effects up into Melbourne. The cart was ad- 
 mitted into the yard, was loaded, but the goods neither measured nor 
 weighed. A clerk said, off-hand, "Those things are 3/." or *'4/.," or 
 the like. The astonished people exclaimed at the astounding sum ; 
 declared that there was not a ton of them. '* Oh, yes," replied the 
 busy clerk, *' there's much more ; that's the price." — (To the gate- 
 keeper) " Do n't let those things pass till they are paid for." And 
 away he hurried to fresh booty ; and the people grumbled, paid, and 
 passed on. 
 
 When my own turn came, and I had one cart loaded, a pert 
 youngster with a pen behind his ear, surveying them, said, " They 
 are 4/." 
 
 "But, my good fellow," I observed, "how do you know that? 
 You have neither weighed nor measured them." 
 
 " Oh, do n't tell me," said he, with cool effrontery ; " I can guess 
 to a pound." 
 
 " But, my friend," I replied, " I do n't choose to be charged by 
 guess. There is the list of all my effects, with their weight as 
 taken at the docks in London, and charged for. By that I shall 
 pay." 
 
MODE OF BUSINESS ON THE WHARF. 7 
 
 *' Don't let the dray out till paid ! " shouted he to the gatekeeper, 
 and was moving off. 
 
 " Stop !" I said, seizing his arm, "there is 3/. for you ; the rest 
 we will settle when the remainder arrive, according to the ascer- 
 tained London weight, and not a penny more." 
 
 " Do n't you believe it," said he, trying to escape from my grasp. 
 " Don't let 'em out ! " he shouted again. 
 
 " Then," I observed, coolly, " come along with me to your mas- 
 ter ; for I happen to know him, and I will tell him that you have 
 neither measured nor weighed these things." 
 
 " I will swear," said he, without a moment's hesitation, " that I 
 have measured them all !" 
 
 This fine young fellow, however, on second thoughts, preferred 
 taking the 3/. to appearing before his employer, and allowed me 
 to pay for the after-load by the London measurement. But to 
 what an awful extent must the ever-pouring crowd of immigrants 
 — strange, bewildered, and confounded bythe din, bustle, dirt, and 
 jostling on these wharves — have been plundered during the whole 
 tide of this gold immigration ! Well might Melbourne wharfingers 
 make enormous fortunes. 
 
 The carriage up to the Diggings was on a similar scale, owing, 
 however, in a great measure, to the total want of roads. It was 
 70/. a ton, and had been 120/., for about seventy or eigh /miles ; 
 at the lowest rate 1/. per mile. 
 
 Advancing into the town, you found the same extraordinary 
 scale of prices prevailing. The charge for everything in the shops 
 was about 300 per cent, on the prime cost. The importers sold to 
 the retailers at cent, per cent, on their invoices. Such were the 
 astonishing crowds pouring into the country, that there was the 
 utmost difficulty in getting lodgings at any rate. Two small rooms, 
 wretchedly furnished, let for 4/. and 6/. a week. Two empty 
 ones, of the very meanest description, for 21. The inn-keepers 
 had turned their stables into sleeping-places ; and a man gave os. 
 a night for a third of a horse's stall, good straw, a blanket, and 
 rug. One Boniface entertained nightly seventy of these five-shil- 
 ling recumbents, netting the. pretty sum of 17/. 10^. nightly for 
 stable room. 
 
 Hundreds and hundreds even could not procure this accommo- 
 dation, but camped on the waste outside of the town in their tents, 
 the place having thus acquired the name of Canvass Town. The 
 Government charged 5^. per tent weekly for this occupation of the 
 waste lands, or at the rate of 12/. a year. This was the first evi- 
 dence of a government in the country ; for, furnishing no quays 
 
 B 4 
 
8 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 at the harbour, and no roads up the country, nor any light or 
 pavement in the streets, but mud up to the knees, you naturally 
 thought there could be none. If there be a government in a 
 country, however, and you fail to discover it in the shape of im- 
 provement, you are pretty sure to run your head against it in that 
 of taxation. The Canvass Towners were, I imagine, the first in- 
 habitants of those colonies who had the honour of paying a land- 
 tax. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 First Sample of Scenery. — Appearance of Melbourne. — Pleasant Environs. 
 — Extraordinary Wooden Suburbs of CoUingwood and Richmond. — Price 
 of Land and Rents. — Artificial Obstructions to Colonisation. — A new Colony 
 only a Government Pinfold. — Glut of Merchants' Clerks. — Wages of Ser- 
 vants. — Want of Labour. — Weedy Gardens — Great Nugget. — Appearance 
 of Emigrants arriving from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 Having effected a landing in this country bristling with hostile 
 steel pens, and where they came .down upon you with tremendous 
 charges, — not of cavalry, but of city train-bands, all furnished 
 with an awful artillery of prices, — let us endeavour to get some 
 idea of the features of the place as they were then. 
 
 We landed at Liardet's Beach, a low sandy shore, where there 
 was a shabby sort of inn, looking English but slovenly, before 
 which stood a shabby sort of long waggon meant for an omnibus, 
 the driver of which generously offered to convey us the three miles 
 to Melbourne for half a crown ; but, having been locked up in a 
 floating prison for 13,000 miles at sea, we preferred stretching 
 our legs on terra Jirma, We marched on amid a wildish scene of 
 sand, fern, odd sorts of shrubs, dusky evergreen trees with broken 
 heads, and other lower trees the leaves of which seemed cut out of 
 dingy green paper, and the stiff scrubby boughs stuck over with 
 bottle-brushes. These, we found, were Banksias. The trees like 
 battered, wind-torn willows, were gum trees ; and besides these 
 were others like great trees of broom, — Casuarinas, or Shiacks. 
 All around us stood plenty of stumps of other trees cut off about a 
 yard high, American fashion ; and amongst them, here and there, 
 was erecting a new wooden hut. The scene was not especially 
 paradisiacal for a first glimpse of this far-famed Austral Eden. 
 
APPEARANCE OF MELBOURNE. U 
 
 We advanced along this level, amid lagoons resounding with bull- 
 frogs, and began to enter on green meadow land of a richer aspect. 
 Then we arrived at a green eminence, called Emerald Hill, on 
 which was an encampment of immigrants waiting for the roads 
 drying, that they might get to the Diggings. The tents, to our 
 eyes, looked thin and white for out-door life ; and in front women 
 were frying and boiling at fires. Farther on, in the tents, we heard 
 singing and merriment. 
 
 At some distance we saw a great stone bridge spanning the 
 Yarra, and, on the farther bank of the river, Melbourne, covering 
 a longish range of gentle eminence. It reminded us strongly of 
 the situation and appearance of Nottingham ; only it wanted the 
 castle on its precipitous rock at the end nearest to us. This re- 
 semblance has struck many. 
 
 Now some weeks before, at sea, I had a dream of being at my 
 brother's at Melbourne, and found his house on a hill at the farthest 
 end of the town next to the open forest. His garden sloped a 
 little down the hill to some brick buildings below ; and as you 
 looked from the house, there were conservatories on the right 
 hand by a lofty wall. As I looked from the windows I saw a wood 
 of dusky-foliaged trees, having a somewhat segregated appearance 
 in their heads ; that is, their heads did not blend into one mass, 
 like those of our woods. 
 
 " There," I said, " I see your native forest of Eucalyptus," This 
 dream I told to my sons and several of the passengers at the time, 
 as we gossiped on deck. As we now walked over the meadows, 
 long before we reached the town, I saw this very wood. " There," 
 I exclaimed, " is the very wood of my dream ! We shall find Dr. 
 Howitt's house there." And we did so. It stood exactly as I saw 
 it, only looking newer ; and there, over the wall of the garden, 
 was the wood precisely as I saw it in my dream. When I looked 
 on it from my bed-room window, I seemed to be looking into my 
 dream. 
 
 Melbourne is a considerable town, well situated except being 
 somewhat too far from the bay, a disadvantage partly compen- 
 sated by a railroad. As I have observed, it stands on rising 
 ground parallel with the river, and has a valley running across it, 
 occupied by Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. Towards this val- 
 ley the town fell each way, and afforded every convenience for 
 drainage, when the age of drainage should arrive ; at that time it 
 was the age only of gold-digging, speculating in town allotments, 
 and making hay while the sunshine of unheard-of prices lasted. 
 To use the language of the late Chief Justice, in a pamphlet which 
 
10 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 he published on the gold fever, *' It was a capital that was neither 
 lighted, paved, nor drained." But all in good time. When we 
 recollect that the place was not more than seventeen years old, it 
 was a wonder. As might be expected, it had a straggling and un- 
 finished appearance, with a considerable number of churches and 
 chapels, standing in open waste places, which spaces one was asto- 
 nislied to find lying idle where building-land was so high. But, 
 no doubt, the proprietors were comfortably watching a rising mar- 
 ket for it. The streets were left of a noble width, and ran at right 
 angles, much on the principle of a hurdle; but I looked in vain 
 for those open spaces left for squares and public gardens, which 
 every new capital should jealously preserve, and which, once lost, 
 can never be recovered. 
 
 The houses were many of them merely of wood, of only one 
 story, and, where they had attained to two, had still a dwarfish look, 
 inevitable in a new settlement. These streets in a few years have 
 become bounded by large and handsome houses and rich shops, 
 and now present a striking aspect. What immediately caught the 
 eye then was the number of wild backwoods-looking fellows, in 
 broad hats, rough coats, and dirty boots, riding about the town, 
 almost all at a canter, on very rough-looking animals. Whether 
 the riders, with their long wild hair and shaggy beards, or the 
 horses, looked more colonial, it were hard to say. 
 
 But the country round Melbourne is pleasant. The site is ele- 
 vated ground, round a good part of which the Yarra winds. In 
 the spring of the year the grass is green, and the gum trees scat- 
 tered over it give it a parklike appearance. The trees, as most 
 people are now aware, are evergreens. The greater proportio-n of 
 them are of the genus Eucalyptus, and have foliage something re- 
 sembling the willow, but of a dusky hue, which creates a mono- 
 tony. Some of these were then covered with small white flowers, 
 while the broomlike foliage of the shiack, and the yellow flowers 
 of the acacias or, as they are there called, wattles, being in full 
 bloom, varied in some degree the monotony, but did not present 
 the vivid and tender variety of hues of an English spring. 
 
 All the swampy and watery river-flats are filled with the wattles 
 and the tea scrub, green and dense. These latter resemble low 
 woods of cypress, arbor vitae, and juniper, with here and there tall 
 naked stems, with round tufted heads, standing up above them. 
 
 I hastened to pay my respects to the Governor, whose residence, 
 for there was yet no Government House, was merely a small wooden 
 cottage, but elegantly furnished, and standing in spacious grounds, 
 exhibiting a great variety of native trees and shrubs. I drove 
 
COLLINGWOOD AND RICHMOND. 11 
 
 also with my brother several miles into the country another way, 
 beyond the river. Everywhere there was the same parklike look, 
 the same erection of new houses of all kinds, from the gentleman's 
 country seat, differing in little from the same class of houses in 
 England, down to the little wooden hut, with tents pitched near it 
 for accommodation which the house was too small to afford. 
 
 Just over the hill beyond the town, there met me an extraordi- 
 nary spe(?tacle. It was that of an immense suburb stretching, 
 parallel with the town, from the high land to the north, down into 
 the vale of the Yarra, some two miles in extent. Standing on the 
 hill, near the Bishop's palace — a new and heavy-looking erection of 
 trapstone, — the vale of Yarra lies at your feet. The opposite banks 
 of the river, at half a mile d^istance or more, are somewhat ele- 
 vated, and well wooded ; and over the woods show themselves,, at 
 a distance of twenty miles, the blue ranges of theDandenong Hills, 
 the last spurs of the Snowy Mountain chain in this direction. 
 But the scene which arrested my attention, lay in the valley at my 
 feet. It was that of an enormous extent of ground covered all 
 over with thousands of little tenements, chiefly of wood, and almost 
 every one of them of only one story high. These extended as far 
 as the eye could command the vale, the upper portion being called 
 Collingwood, and the lower Ri'hmond. These suburbs contained 
 a population equal to that of Melbourne itself ; and they had 
 sprung up from the vast influx of population, chiefly since the 
 gold discovery, and from the prohibition, by the Town Council, of 
 the further erection of wooden buildings in the city. 
 
 This was one of the first things which impressed me with the 
 reality of the rapidly running torrent of immigration. Here was 
 a new settlement in all its newness. The houses were some of 
 them complete, others just erecting. A balder and more unattrac- 
 tive scene could not meet the eye of man. Every single tree had 
 been levelled to the ground ; it was one hard bare expanse, bare of 
 all nature's attractions, a wilderness of wooden huts of Lilliputian 
 dimensions, and everywhere around and amongst them timber 
 and rubbish, delightfully interspersed with pigs, geese, hens, 
 goats, and dogs innumerable. The streets, so called, which all ran 
 in the true gridiron or rather hurdle style, were not roads but 
 quagmires, through which bullock drays dragged fresh materials 
 with enormous labour, ploughing the muddy soil up to their very 
 axles. There was not the trace even of the idea of a garden 
 amongst the whole of them. These diminutive tenements were 
 set down on the open field, as if they were the abodes of a race of 
 squatters, but they were all built on purchased allotments. 
 
12 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 But why so small ? why no gardens ? Simply because the 
 ground was so preposterously dear. Here you had immediately a 
 proof of that ingenuity by which men contrive to defeat the in- 
 tentions of Providence. Providence has given vast new lands, on 
 which the overflowing population may settle ; but selfish and pur- 
 blind governments immediately lay hold on that which was meant 
 to be a free gift of God, and dole it out in such modicums that the 
 pressing necessities of arriving immigrants compel them to bid up 
 at auction against each other, till the land of these new countries, 
 lying with millions of miles of unoccupied soil, becomes far dearer 
 than the dearest of that which they have left. 
 
 It was amazing to what a price this peddling and wicked system 
 had forced up land round Melbourne. We think 1000/. or 2000Z. 
 per acre near London high ; but there it fetched from 4000/. to 
 6000/. ! Houses were frequently pointed out to me in the out- 
 skirts, as having recently been sold, with a garden, for 10,000/. or 
 12,000/., which in the finest suburbs of London would not fetch 
 above 2000/. Little houses in the town, which in London, in good 
 streets, would let for 40/. a year, there let for 400/. My brother 
 built two good houses near his own, which would not let in Lon- 
 don for more than 80/. a year each, or 150/. together ; he let the 
 two for 1200/. ; and there was a single house near, worth in London 
 or its environs perhaps 120/. a year, for which the modest sum of 
 2000/. a year was asked! — a sum that would purchase it at home. 
 
 When God gives to his children new and ample countries, what 
 a pity that the devil should so instantly show himself in these 
 fresh paradises, and totally spoil them ! The devils of govern- 
 ment cupidity and trading speculation are the curse of all new 
 colonies — of none so much as this. An artificial barrier is 
 instantly erected where people show a disposition to colonise a 
 country ; the country itself is cut off, shut out, and literally ceases 
 to exist for the crowd of immigrants, so long as it pleases Govern- 
 ment. Till then, the ever-pressing throng is enclosed, as it were, 
 in a pound, till they ramp over and tread down each other, grow 
 frantic and furious, and purchase the little trampled modicum of 
 standing-place under each other's feet, at the most fabulous 
 prices. 
 
 It is true that not only the price of land, but the price of labour, 
 and of all materials which labour has to procure and prepare for 
 so sudden an inundation of population, as bricks, hewn stone, lime, 
 wrought timber, slabs, &c., must create a high scale of prices, 
 the price of skilled labour ranging from 61. to 9/. per week, and 
 of unskilled from IO5. to 205. per day. But had Government 
 
WAGES OF SERVANTS. 13 
 
 made the preparations which an able and Christian government 
 should — had it said, " A great, an unexampled crisis has arrived ; 
 a mighty population is pouring in upon us ; equivalent prepara- 
 tions must be made ; and, above all, there must be land cheap and 
 abundant for the people to settle upon " — though in the firstrate 
 localities for business and in the immediate vicinity of the town, 
 land must have a relatively high value, it could never have reached 
 its then preposterous scale, the madness of land-gambling could 
 never have originated. 
 
 As to the demand for labour, in one department we found 
 already a glut. Merchants' clerks and shopmen were a drug. 
 There was, of course, but a limited demand for them ; and it was 
 fourfold supplied. If you made any inquiries on behalf of young 
 men of that class, merchants exhibited to you lists of an appalling 
 length, of such as had come with introductions to them. As you 
 walked about the town there appeared no lack of men and women ; 
 but gardeners, grooms, and footmen, with their 70/. or 100/. a 
 year, and their board — housemaids with 30/., and cooks with 40/. 
 or 50/., indicated the proportion between demand and supply; and 
 the independent conduct of that class was corroborative evidence. 
 
 When we advanced into the country a few miles, too, we found 
 the want of labour stamped on the face of everything. The 
 gardens and pleasure-grounds of gentlemen, as well as the gardens 
 of an humbler description, were regular wildernesses for the most 
 part. They had literally nobody to cultivate them ; and I saw 
 arums, such as we cultivate in the house, with their white, marble- 
 like, spathal flowers ; jonquils, splendid cacti, the native indigo, 
 prickly pears, roses red and white, stocks as tall and large as 
 shrubs, yellow jasmine, date-trees, tobacco-trees, India-rubber- 
 trees, and a host of strange shrubs and curious flowers, which 
 stand the year round in the gardens there, and thus give you an 
 idea of the mildness of the winters — all these choked by a mass 
 of weeds up to your waist. It was strange to drive up to a good 
 house, with its English look, its English approach, and English 
 fields all round, and, on reaching its shrubbery, finding it looking 
 as if the place were deserted, — the walks all overgrown, and the 
 most gorgeous flowers and beautiful tropical plants and trees lost 
 in a desert of weeds, whilst among them cockatoos, parrots, and 
 paroquets, were flitting about, with strange voices, and the honey- 
 bird, a bird covered with longitudinal black and white streaks, 
 was busy sucking honey from splendid orange and scarlet flowers. 
 
 We found it a most diflicult thing to get our eff'ects up out of 
 the ship. There had been some dispute between the captain and 
 
14 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the men employed to discharge the cargo ; and they struck work. 
 This was no trivial matter for us ; for, independent of the delay 
 it occasioned us, not being able to prepare for an inland journey 
 till we had these out, including our tent and cart, it cost us 32^. 
 each time we made a visit to the ship. Meantime the number of 
 people pouring into the colony from all quarters was perfectly 
 astounding. They arrived by 5000 and 6000 a week ; and the issue 
 of licenses at the Diggings increased in equal proportion. At Ben- 
 digo, a few months before, the monthly licenses were 6000, then 
 8000, then 10,000, and at this time they were 20,000. 
 
 The great nugget of 28 lb. was dug there. Mr. Gilbert, the 
 commissioner, did all he could to persuade the man who found it 
 to entrust it to the care of the Gold Office till it was disposed of, 
 and then to let him get the money invested for him — but in vain. 
 He soon began to drink ; got a horse, and rode all about, generally 
 at full gallop, and, when he met people, called out to inquire if 
 they knew who he was, and then kindly informed them that he 
 was "the bloody wretch" — that was his phrase — "that had found 
 the nugget." At last he rode full speed against a tree, and nearly 
 knocked his brains out. 
 
 Meeting his Excellency in the street, he asked if we had yet 
 seen this 28 lb. nugget ; and, replying in the negative, he said, if 
 we went up at once to the Government Office, we should find 
 Major Campbell there, who, on using his name, would show it to 
 us ; but that it was on the very point of being removed to the 
 Treasury, to be packed for England. The Government had given 
 1600/. for it, and presented it to the Queen. We were just in 
 time, and had a good examination of it. It was a very singular 
 mass, but would look well amongst the treasures of the royal 
 palace. It had several small pieces of quartz and ironstone 
 sticking in it. Just at one edge was the mark of the pick, where 
 the digger struck it ; and it is supposed that, had he not just 
 caught the edge, it was so far at the side of his hole that it might 
 have been missed altogether. Another was found some time be- 
 fore as large, but not so handsome in form. 
 
 Having satisfied our curiosity, the Major called two young men 
 belonging to the office, wrapped the nugget simply in his hand- 
 kerchief, gave it to one of them to carry on his arm, and he and 
 the other clerk attended him as guards. He purposely avoided 
 having any policemen, their presence being likely to attract 
 undesirable attention. The Treasury was not far off"; but what 
 a prize, had some of the " old hands," as they call convicts, 
 been aware of the transit! Not long before, several of these 
 
GEEAT NUGGET. — APPEARANCE OF EMIGRANTS. 15 
 
 escaped Van Demonians, or Penton-villains, made a rush into a 
 gold-broker's shop who had great heaps of gold exhibited in his 
 window, knocked him down, and attempted to carry off the gold ; 
 but the people passing outside saw it, and seized them. A cleverer 
 set of these gentry about that time, as you would see by the 
 newspapers, went on board the Nelson in the bay, tied up the 
 few people on board, and carried off 2000 ounces of gold, which 
 never was recovered. 
 
 The old lags, another name for convicts, were flocking over 
 from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land by thousands, — there is 
 no exaggeration in the word. And what subjects they would 
 afford to the sketcher ! As we went down to the ship, the 
 steamers were coming in from those colonies. They were densely 
 packed on the deck of the steamer, as you have seen Irish emi- 
 grants on the decks of vessels setting sail from Liverpool for 
 America. What men ! and what costumes ! Huge hurley fellows 
 with broad battered straw or cabbage-tree hats, huge beards, loose 
 blue shirts, and trowsers yellow with clay and earth, many of 
 them showing that they had already been digging in Sydney, 
 where there is much gold, but, according to fame, not so abundant 
 or so pure as in this colony. Almost every man had a gun, or 
 pistols in his belt, and a huge dog, half hound and half mastiff, led 
 by a chain. Each had his bundle, containing his sacking to sleep 
 upon, his blanket and such slight change of linen as these diggers 
 carry. They had, besides, their spades and picks tied together ; 
 and thus they marched up the country, bearing with them all they 
 wanted, and lying out under the trees. 
 
 Every day this scene was repeated ; thousands followed upon 
 thousands in the same style, and took the road at once towards 
 the Diggings. Bands of others, attended by bullock drays loaded 
 with provisions, went overland all the way from Adelaide. They 
 were wonderful times ! 
 
 As for ourselves, a fortnight flew past without the shghtest 
 prospect of getting our goods up from the ship ; but we spent a 
 good part of the leisure time in receiving and paying visits. The 
 chief people were very polite. I had calls from I suppose nearly 
 all of them, from the Governor, the Chief Justice, and members 
 of the Executive and Legislative Council, the Mayor, and Town 
 Councillors, downwards ; and it cost me no little time to return 
 the courtesy, some of them living several miles out of town. We 
 grew intensely impatient to be on our march up the country. 
 
16 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 SCENES IN MELBOURNE. 
 
 Rage for Gain in Tradesmen. — Sending a Parcel. — Price of Provisions 
 
 Kews from the Diggings. — Prices there. — Land Mania. — Mad Prices and 
 amazing Rents. — Flower Show at Botanic Gardens. — A Walk into the 
 Woodlands. — A new Abbotsford. — A Gentleman's House and Grounds at 
 Brighton. — Melbourne Scenes and Characters. — Luggage Thieves. — De- 
 stroying a fine Site for a Town. — River-side Slaughter-houses. — Earth sown 
 with Bottles. — Caution to Women emigrating. — Street Scenes — Successful 
 Diggers breaking a Horse. — Independence of Servants. — A Gentleman as 
 Groom. — Spring. — Appearance of Gardens. 
 
 We sent off a parcel and letters by the mail-packet ; but, heaven 
 preserve us I what a piece of work it was to get it off! The 
 rage for gold, we found, was not confined to the Diggings, it 
 seemed to pervade everybody and everything in the colony ; so 
 the agent of the steam-packet company only wanted to charge me 
 two guineas instead of ten and sixpence for the parcel to London. 
 Fortunately, I had the printed terms of the company, and showed 
 them to the man, who had taken care to keep these terms out of 
 sight, and to put into his own pocket the modest sum of three 
 times the amount received on the company's account. At first 
 the man refused to take the proper sum, and declared that he 
 would not take the packet at all. " Be so good," I observed, " as 
 to say that again ; for I am writing to-day, and shall be glad to 
 address a note to the packet company, to apprise them of the 
 happy style in which you execute their business." 
 
 On this he took the parcel, but with the scowl of a thunder- 
 cloud, and not deigning to give me another word. I left Alfred 
 to fill up the required bill of lading ; but the amiable fellow was 
 resolved to put me to all the trouble possible, in revenge for 
 my mulcting him of his guinea and half booty, and insisted that 
 Alfred should come and send me down again. Accordingly I 
 had to march down again nearly a mile through their terrifically 
 muddy streets, after a shower ; for they had not yet a single square 
 inch of pave. Arrived, I got all arranged, though with very few 
 words, and very crusty ones, and with very surly looks. 
 
 This rapacity seemed to run through everything there. In the 
 shops the prices they asked were actually amusing from their 
 enormity ; and if you seemed to acquiesce in them pretty easily. 
 
EXCESSIVE CHARGES. 17 
 
 they appeared immediately to accuse themselves of having done 
 themselves a serious injury by not asking more ; and we fre- 
 quently found, before leaving the shop, that they had quietly 
 determined to lay on another 50 per cent, on articles the price of 
 which we asked. 
 
 I saw in a newspaper a thing which a good deal surprised me, 
 — it was an instance of another person besides myself actually 
 remonstrating against paying anything tliat the people were 
 pleased to ask ; for really the fever of high prices appeared to me 
 to affect everybody, both payers and receivers, so that the payers 
 gave themselves up, as a matter of course, to be victimised, hoping, 
 probably, to victimise others in return. The case was this. A 
 cabman had only demanded 4^. for driving two hundred yards in 
 the rain, instead of 2s. 6d., the settled fare ; and some one was 
 really found to object to an extra eighteen pence. Well, thought 
 I, I was not so unreasonable after all, in objecting to be " chiseled," 
 as they elegantly term it, out of two guineas instead of ten and 
 sixpence. 
 
 But why did not some patriot pull up a boatman or a wharfinger 
 or two ? 
 
 Why should poor cabmen alone be confined to a tariff, where 
 plunder was the order of the day ? 
 
 Provisions were very high ; and it was feared there might be a 
 dearth of flour, unless brother Jonathan brought in a good deal 
 of his surplus ; and the merchants there had played him such tricks 
 that he was afraid to bring it. When he had brought it in, they 
 had dropped the price to below the remunerative scale, and Jona- 
 than had come by a loss. The people had therefore to suffer, 
 either in price or quality, and had only their merchants to thank 
 for it. 
 
 The value of houses and lands was running up beyond the value 
 of labour and of all articles of food. The land-allotment mania 
 bade fair to surpass what it was previous to the disastrous 1842. 
 A piece of land bought a few months before for 120/. was resold for 
 1,120/. ; and every day the same thing was occurring. A short 
 time before, a house and garden were bought for 4000/., and would 
 have been dear at that price in London ; and they were now re- 
 sold for 12,000/. Thus, whatever were the value of gold else- 
 where, it was there only of one-third the value it was a few 
 months previous. That which now required twelve thousand 
 sovereigns, then was purchasable for three thousand. The prices 
 of all things were in proportion. Flour was 36/. to 40/. per ton ; 
 bread, the 41b. loaf, 2s. ; hay, 40/. per ton, actually more than 
 
 c 
 
18 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 sugar! Oats, 155. per bushel; we had ten bushels in our cart, 
 which cost us 41. in London. All tools and the like, which we 
 brought out with us, were a hundred per cent, higher ; whilst long 
 mining boots, for which we paid 1/. 155., were there w^orth 9/. per 
 pair. A. could have sold his minie rifle for 30Z. Butter was 3s. 
 per lb. ; cabbages, Is. each ; cauliflowers, 2s. 6d. ; onions, 8d. per 
 lb. B. could sell his house and garden — a good house, it is true, 
 with stables and greenhouses — for 12,000Z. The Government 
 rented a flour steam-mill in the town for barracks, which cost 
 6000/. building, for 4o00Z. a year. These evidently were prices 
 which could only be maintained during the scarcity of labour : 
 that ceasing from the enormous influx of people, it was clear that 
 they must rapidly fall to the proper value, and the property thus 
 purchased prove dear and in many cases ruinous pennyworths. 
 
 Three weeks after our arrival we were still waiting for our 
 effects from the ship. How the poorer passengers, who had to 
 wait in lodgings at the enormous price of everything, held it out, 
 was a wonder to us. And all the time such news from the 
 Diggings ! The following was the news from the Ovens Diggings 
 in one morning's paper : — " One man found 20 lbs. in one pocket; 
 another party of four got 84 oz. in one day, value 294/. ; a party 
 of two, 60 oz. ; another of three, 30 oz. There is not a man amongst 
 them who is not averaging from 15/. to 20/. per week." There 
 was a report of a nugget 100 lbs. weight found at Mount Alex- 
 ander; and we were naturally impatient to be off". 
 
 The following were the prices of things at the Diggings, as 
 quoted in the newspapers of the day: — Flour, from 9/. to 10/. per 
 bag ; butter, 5s. per lb. ; sugar, 2s. ; carting stores for three or 
 four hours, from 8/. to 10/. It was said that a man with a horse 
 and cart at the Diggings might make 1,000/. a year by merely 
 doing job-cart work. Indeed, I saw gentlemen who came out as 
 first-class passengers very coolly going about with a horse and 
 cart each, dressed in thorough carter style, who, however, said 
 that they were making their 4.1. per day, and did not trouble 
 themselves about what anybody might think of them. They said, 
 "Every one does as he likes here, you know." 
 
 The land mania was raging increasingly. The people of Mel- 
 bourne are very mercurial in this respect. Recollect the mad 
 speculations terminating in the crash of 1842. It was quite as 
 bad again. I saw a gentleman on the other side of the Yarra, who 
 told me that land there, two miles from the town, was selling at 
 700/. per acre. The same gentleman quoted to me the rents that 
 were paid around him. For a little wooden cottage of one story, 
 
NEWS FROM THE DIGGINGS. — FLOWER SHOW. 19 
 
 consisting of two rooms, and which in England might be let for 
 41. or 5h, he got 1501. Small villas in the same vicinity, chiefly 
 of one story, and with a garden and perhaps a paddock, let for 
 600/. a year, and so on. This was perfect madness, for it bore no 
 proportion even to the high price of labour; and when labour was 
 so dear that they could not get their gardens cleaned, it appeared 
 doubly ridiculous. Punch could hardly have conceived a more 
 absurd idea than of a man giving from 8,000/. to 12,000/. for a 
 small place, and yet be too poor to pay for a gardener ! But you 
 saw this every day. They would be much ofiended at the case 
 being put in that form ; they would say that no gardener is to be 
 obtained, he is gone to the diggings. True ; but if they would 
 have paid him as well for the gardening, he would have staid ; 
 therefore it came to this, that when they had given a thousand 
 pounds for a place more than its value, and to which natural value 
 it must return the moment that labour came once more into the 
 market, they could not afford to keep a gardener. 
 
 I went to the Melbourne Flower Show, at the Botanic Garden. 
 The Botanic Garden is situated beyond the Yarra, on the south- 
 east of the town, and by the nearest way, down the meadows and 
 across the river, by a punt, or, as we should call it, a ferry boat, 
 not much more than a mile off. The garden is finely situated at 
 a bend of the river, so that it slopes up to a considerable height 
 above it in a fine sweep. These slopes are laid out in very good 
 taste in walks, including large beds planted with all kinds of 
 native and foreign shrubs, trees, and flowers that will flourish in 
 the open air. Many of these were in flower, and were not only 
 very beautiful, but loaded the breeze with a delicious fragrance, 
 perceived at a great distance before reaching the place. We did 
 not go the nearest way, but by the town bridge, and round over the 
 liill on which the Government House is to stand. Our approach 
 was through the native forest, resembling a walk through some old 
 English park, both from the antiquity of the trees and the appear- 
 ance of the forest turf under our feet. The trees, however, Avere 
 the universal eucalyptus and shiack, interspersed with young 
 wattles, a name there for the acacias, many of which resemble in 
 form and foliage the sensitive plant. As, we approached the 
 gardens, we saw a number of flags displayed over the small tent 
 or booth which contained the show of flowers and fruit. 
 
 Of course I did not expect a Chiswick show, nor even a 
 Regent's-park Botanic Garden, with their mile and half of 
 splendid equipages ranged side by side, and 10,000 gaily-attired 
 aristocratic ladies and gentlemen, as in England ; but there was a 
 
 2 
 
20 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 good number of carriages nevertheless, and 2,500 people making 
 as handsome an appearance for their number as you see in England, 
 and there were many beautiful and truly elegant women among 
 them. There was also a band of music, which played at inter- 
 vals, though its pauses were somewhat of the longest. The Go- 
 vernor and his lady were there, the Mayor, and most of the in- 
 fluential people of the town ; so that altogether it was well worth 
 seeing. The show of flowers was small, the fruits and vegetables 
 being the finest part of the show. There were some splendid 
 apples, and a dish of St. Germain pears which were quite magni- 
 ficent, one of which I have no doubt weighed fully two pounds. 
 The vegetables would have done honour to any of the markfet 
 gardeners of Fulham and Battersea-fields. The rhubarb was poor 
 and small ; but I was told that later in the season it is really fine 
 and large. The leeks were some of the finest I ever saw; the 
 beet-roots and potatoes very fine. It was not the season for 
 grapes, which, I was told, are splendid, but are not much cul- 
 tivated yet in greenhouses, so as to have them out of season. 
 
 The gardens themselves were, as Lord Castlereagh would have 
 said, the most prominent feature of the show. To me the walks 
 about the garden were a real delight. One was the more obliged 
 to walk from the paucity of seats ; but that was of less consequence, 
 as the natural charms of the place induced one still to walk on. 
 The sun was bright, the air delicious ; the shrubs and trees all 
 around us were full of flowers and fragrance ; the lake, or lagoon, 
 at the bottom, covering some acres of ground, looked wild with 
 rushes and aquatic plants, and a good portion of it occupied with 
 a jungle of tea-scrub. A loud chorusing of frogs, in which the 
 bull-frogs were the bass vocalists, and the strange cries of the 
 hidden waterfowl of various kinds, came thence in concert with 
 that nightingale song of the bird which I heard before, but always 
 near water, which makes me suspect that it must be some kind of 
 reed-sparrow. There were two black swans sailing amongst the 
 flags and rushes of the lagoon, giving it a true Australian look. 
 
 The gardens include 120 acres — a splendid extent, of which as 
 yet two only were cultivated. The walks, the longest of which 
 extends along the banks of the Yarra, are said to measure four 
 miles in length. Among the shrubs in flower were the yellow 
 wattles, mimosas, the protea, a fine, luxuriant, and tall plant, with 
 dark-red flowers, the melianthus, and a most deliciously sweet one, 
 with pale purple flowers, of the pea-blossom shape, the podaliria. 
 
 Tiie walk over the hill to the Botanic Garden was very fine. 
 When you look back towards the town, you see the whole of 
 
WALK INTO THE WOODLANDS. 21 
 
 Melbourne stretched before you on the opposite banks of the 
 Yarra. To the right the woody heights of the police barracks, 
 and on the left the Yarra winding down towards the bay. 
 When you turn the other way, you have the bay, covered 
 with a whole forest of ships, and to the left of them St. Kilda, 
 a favourite resort on the beach, embosomed in its trees. Over 
 the Botanic Gardens you see sweet country villas on the slopes 
 of rounded and wooded hills, and beyond, over an extent of forest 
 country, the bold blue range of the Dandenong Hills, part of the 
 Australian Alps in the direction of Gippsland. 
 
 On our return, we called on Major Davidson, who had a charm- 
 ing one-storied house, with garden, and a vineyard which produced 
 splendid grapes. The previous year they sold for 6d. per lb. ; that 
 year no doubt they would fetch 1^. Opposite to the major's, a gen- 
 tleman had a large vineyard on the slope, which was in as good 
 order as any in Germany, spite of the want of labour. He made, 
 I was told, 200/. by his vineyard the previous year. There had 
 been a wedding there that morning ; and the party was just leaving 
 the house as we arrived, but insisted on turning back with us. It 
 is a beautiful situation, with a fine view of the town, and over 
 the forest to the Dandenong or Corn-Warrable Hills; and yet 
 they were tempting even him to sell his little paradise. 
 
 On Sunday, Oct. 3rd, we were still waiting for our effects from 
 the lighter. This "slowest of all coaches" was, however, at 
 length on its way, and we were promised it in the morning. On 
 Friday afternoon we took a walk of about three and a half miles, 
 to look at some land which Mr. B. was about to sell. It lay be- 
 yond the new town of CoUingwood, of which I spoke as lying 
 north of Melbourne. It was a piece of native woodland, lying on 
 the steep banks of the Yarra, which is a very winding river, and 
 where the land is all hilly and picturesque. We crossed by a 
 floating ferry — there, as I have observed, called a punt. On this 
 side of the river, lying within a sweep, were two farms, one called 
 Abbotsford, — its proprietor, of course, a Scotchman, — and the 
 other St. Helier's, its proprietor being, of course, from Jersey. 
 They both had a very pleasant, home-like look ; both were one- 
 story houses, surrounded by their green enclosures and large gar- 
 dens and vineyards, with cattle and horses grazing, and children 
 at play. A group of weeping willows near the river gleamed out 
 like a mass of sunshine, from the lively green of their foliage 
 amid the dusky hues of the native trees. There were a couple of 
 wooden farm-houses on the other side, amid the forest, look- 
 ing very much like, as one imagines, such places in the American 
 
 c 3 
 
22 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 backwoods. One of them had a large kettle boiling on a fire of 
 logs in the open air, and an abundance of children about then], 
 one child having a splendid dead parrot in its hand, of brilliant 
 yellow, red, and purple hues. 
 
 Our walk was up a fine solitary woodland of the usual gum and 
 shiack-trees, with here and there a Banksia, or, as they oddly 
 enough call them, honeysuckles, the trees being like a stiff pine, 
 with short, stumpy leaves, and something like cones, but which, 
 on close inspection, are more like heads of teasles. In fact, almost 
 every tree, shrub, and plant look to our eyes like what it really is 
 not. You see a tree which you would declare was a willow, and 
 it is something from Sydney or the Cape, with a long botanical, 
 but no household name ; another, w^hich should be a poplar, but 
 it is only a fig, and a fig which is like anything but a fig. What 
 you take for a barberry is not a barberry ; or for a currant, is not 
 a currant ; or an oak, is not an oak ; and so on through the whole 
 chapter. This, however, was the time for flowers, before the hot 
 weather came, when they all vanish. We gathered many beau- 
 tiful flowers, a great variety of their orchises, but, of course, no 
 more like our orchises than possible. There was a beautiful 
 crimson pea-shaped creeper, a Kennedya ; a lovely flower like 
 the hepatica, but, of course, not one. None of these flowers 
 have much, if any scent : the bushes and trees possess the 
 fragrance. The mimosas, or wattles, were in their glory, — one, 
 that fragrant acacia which is cultivated in our greenhouses in 
 England ; some of them bushes, others trees, all covered with 
 their yellow blossoms and shedding their fragrance through the 
 forest. Then there were the tea-scrubs, which grow in the 
 swamps, one species in the salt lagoons, another in the fresh ; 
 these, too, were all covered with their white flowers, and were 
 very sweet. 
 
 We enjoyed the walk very much, and admired the spot which 
 Mr. B. had reserved for his own house. It stands above the bend 
 of the river, and commands a forest slope of great beauty, and 
 which would afford charming woodland walks, if paths were made 
 through it and it were appended to the pleasure grounds. Thus 
 is the Englishman converting the wild forests of the most distant 
 regions of the earth into homes of beauty and taste, and making 
 them, as it were, a portion of the mother country. Everything 
 receives so completely the English stamp, that, spite of the totally 
 different vegetation, all looks like a piece of England. 
 
 We next made a visit in another direction, to Brighton, about 
 eight miles down the coast of the bay We were to dine with a 
 
A gentleman's gaeden. 23 
 
 gentleman who resides there. We drove through forest land, 
 fast giving way to cultivation. Everywhere huts, and in many 
 places good country houses, springing up, and everywhere the 
 stumps of the gum-trees left in American fashion breast high. 
 The road was mostly the beaten track over the sandy soil, guilt- 
 less yet of Macadam, soft and pleasant to the horses' feet, but in- 
 tersected every now and then with bogs and channels that tried 
 the wheels, and sometimes even compelled us to alight and put 
 the shoulder to the wheel. But the day was very fine ; the gum- 
 trees and wattles were in all the beauty of their bloom, and bathed 
 us in their fragrance, while the bull-frogs in the lagoons between 
 us and the sea kept up a noise exactly like that which the wheels 
 of the Blackwall railway used to make, or which the steam-engines 
 make when they stand and are allowed to give free vent to their 
 steam, — a loud sort of boiling sound which never ceased. 
 
 The house to which we were going stood beautifully, over- 
 looking the bay and catching views of the Dandenong Hills and 
 Mount Macedon. It was, like so many others, of but one story ; 
 but it was built nearly round a court, and had a good deal of room 
 in it. There was a large extent of shrubbery, flower-garden, and 
 vineyard surrounding the house. The shrubbery consisted for 
 the most part of the native forest, with paths simply winding 
 through it. At each side of the drive in front grew several huge 
 aloes ; and the native box and tea-scrub in flower closed in the 
 drive as you proceeded down towards the beach, as laurels and 
 other evergreens do in England. In the garden you were sur- 
 rounded by trees, and shrubs, and flowers, that would only grow 
 in our conservatories; whilst one side of the garden was bounded 
 by a hedge of Licium bai barum, which is called the tea-tree in 
 England, mingled with ma ?ses of scarlet geraniums at least fifteen 
 feet high. They grclw there the year round. It was such a 
 scene of luxuriance and beauty as can scarcely be imagined. In 
 the fruit-garden and vineyard, which was six acres in extent, we 
 proceeded down a covcu-ed Avalk of vines precisely the length of 
 the Great Britaiji steam(^,r. The vines and quinces and other 
 fruit-trees appeared most vigorous ; the quinces just in blossom. 
 Quinces there grow to seveial pounds weight; figs, peaches, and 
 almonds are especially fine and abundant. We were shown the 
 Australian cranberry, which produces its berries under the creep- 
 ing plant, and which, though well tasted, have stones in them. 
 We also ate the Australian cherry, which has its stone, not on 
 the outside, enclosing the iruit, as the usual phrase would in- 
 
 c 4 
 
24 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 dicate, but on the end, with the fruit behind it. The stone is 
 only about the size of a sweet pea, and the fruit only about twice 
 that size, altogether not unlike a yew-berry, but of a very pale 
 red. It grows on a tree just like an arbor vitse, and is well-tasted, 
 though not at all like a cherry in flavour. The most odd thing 
 that we saw was a winter cherry ; it is a plant which grows in 
 England in old-fashioned gardens, but is never eaten. This 
 species, however, has not a red, but a pale-yellow fruit, and lias a 
 fine, somewhat acidulous flavour ; it is commonly eaten at dessert. 
 
 We gathered a number of very curious flowers in the garden. 
 The scarlet and crimson raesembryanthemum grows wild tliere at 
 the foot of the gum-trees, but is always closely cropped by the cattle, 
 if they can get at it. In the garden it spreads over an extent of 
 many yards its fleshy leaves and splendid flowers, seeming to say, 
 " Here I am at home, not cooped up in your little pots and con- 
 servatories!" This splendid flower is called there by the absurd 
 name of pigs' faces ! We took some spines from a thorn called 
 the camel's thorn, a Cape shrub, which are at least four inches 
 long ; and we walked over a plant something like ground ivy, 
 and which grows abundantly in the sandy soil, and which in hot 
 weather emits the most inconceivable stench. 
 
 Altogether, such places as Mr. W.'s make one cease to wonder 
 that intelligent men like to spend their lives in those distant 
 colonies. There is a wild, fresh beauty and novelty about them 
 that aflect the imagination agreeably. You have wood, and sea, 
 and a wild vegetation around you that can only be cultivated at 
 home under glass and at a great expense. Within doors there is 
 a rural abundance ; and all is English, with the addition of fruits 
 and vegetables which only such a climate can furnish in the open 
 air. We were waited upon at dinner by a Chinese servant : ve 
 had salmon trout of the country, — a very tolerable fish, — fine 
 Australian mutton, and the very best Kiidesheimer that I ever 
 tasted out of Germany. 
 
 But the gold had disturbed the pleasant quiet and the prolific 
 abundance of even these charming spots. 
 
 " This used to be a pleasant, quiet country," said the lady of 
 the house ; " but it is all over now !" 
 
 And I soon found that the enormous sums ofl^ered for such pro- 
 perty were making the owner consider whether he ought not to 
 secure such an opportunity for the realisation of a large amount. 
 The golden apple of temptation was there continually ejecting the 
 children of Adam and Eve out of their paradises. The mania 
 grew every day. Everybody was calculating what his place would 
 
MELBOURNE SCENES AND CHARACTERS. 25 
 
 fetch ; and every day purchases were made at more and more 
 exorbitant prices. 
 
 I expected to see a fine collection of the scum of tiie earth 
 in Victoria, including Sydney and Van Diemen's Land con- 
 victs and Californian adventurers ; but I did not apprehend any 
 danger from them. There is no denying that crime had already 
 reached a height which was awful. The vast mass of rude fellows 
 who flocked thither from all quarters of the world, and then got 
 extraordinary sums of money, such as they hitherto had had no 
 conception of, made this no wonder. There, too, they mingled 
 with the worst escaped convicts, and received a ^finish to their 
 education in all depravity which they could not have obtained 
 elsewhere. The number of drunken fellows which you saw about 
 the streets was something fearful ; and their language was still 
 more so. Successful diggers ! (that was the phrase) were every- 
 where, either galloping along, rude figures as they were, on rude 
 horses, or standing about the doors of public-houses. Everybody 
 gallops there, or at least goes at a canter — which they call the 
 Australian lope. Boys who take horses to water go at a headlong 
 rate over steep gullies, torn out by the rains, and amid every- 
 where-standing stumps. I often wondered that they were not 
 dashed to pieces ; but I suppose the young rascals were reserved 
 for another fate. I saw them go right into the river at this pace, 
 and never stop till the animal stooped his head to drink. The 
 streets, spite of the fine weather drawing off" immense numbers 
 daily to the diggings, were crowded with rude-looking diggers and 
 hosts of immigrants with their wives, their bundles, and their 
 dogs. All down, near the wharves, it was a scene of dust, drays 
 and carts hurrying to and fro, and heaps of boxes, trunks, bun- 
 dles, and digging-tools. Here you saw ships unloading all kinds of 
 goods, and scores of drays fetching them away, making it almost 
 impossible to pass among them without being crushed ; and the 
 fellows were not at all mindful of you. It was every man's busi- 
 ness to take care of himself there. They are just as independent in 
 their speech as in their actions. It is a wonderful place to take the 
 conceit out of men who expect much deference. The Governor was 
 riding along among this crew, attended by one soldier ; but not the 
 slightest notice was taken of him, not even by a touch of the hat. 
 
 They were just as free in helping themselves to your property. 
 All seemed bent on fleecing their neighbours to the utmost in their 
 power. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, boatmen, draymen, wharfingers, 
 all got all they could out of the unfortunate gold-adventurers. My 
 effects cost me more in getting them up to the town from the ship 
 
26 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 than they did in bringing them thither from London ; and to do 
 this a fortnight was consumed, — thus detaining the whole ship's 
 passengers in the town at a terrific cost, and away from the gold- 
 fields, where they might be reimbursing themselves. Surely never 
 had colony made less preparation for what it must have foreseen 
 twelve months before. 
 
 Everybody might calculate that the fortnight he would probably 
 be detained there would cost him as much as the whole voyage ; 
 besides which, without the strictest watchfulness on his part, his 
 luggage would be plundered ; for the thieves proper were a very 
 active class of gentry there. One of our fellow passengers had his 
 boxes regularly gutted ; and we ourselves had our mining boots 
 and other boots and shoes stolen. The mining boots were indispen- 
 sable to us, and could not be replaced there at less than 9/. per pair, 
 of their quality. We found the expert thieves which England 
 had transported, and who had flocked over from Sydney and Van 
 Diemen's Land, every day exercising their conveyancing talents. 
 The police were supposed to consist largely of these very thieves. 
 
 But the one great principle of the colony is the Dutchman's 
 maxim: — "Get honestly, if you can; but at all events get 1" 
 People avow the principle. They come here, in fact, as they go 
 to India, to make fortunes, and then — "go home." That is the 
 phrase. Everybody talks of England as home. They are all 
 going home some day. This and that person are selling their 
 property, and going home. Others are going home for a visit ; 
 but in any case it is towards home that their thoughts tend. Hence 
 so little is done for the colony, that splendid colony ! Every one 
 thinks of himself; there is no patriotism, because no man looks upon 
 that country as his home. All are in a sort of temporary exile, — 
 the servants of mammon, that they may spend " golden earnings 
 at home." 
 
 Here was a fine situation for a town which circumstances will 
 probably make the principal seat of Australian government ; but I 
 question if there is any general plan laid down for building the town 
 so as to make it a splendid and befitting whole. While there is 
 the opportunity, the future capital of a great country should be 
 sketched out, with its squares, its terraces, its public walks, its 
 parks, and its gardens. They have long wide streets, alternating 
 with long and narrow ones ; and the only plan perceptible is that 
 of a chess-board. There was, in front of my brother's house, a 
 noble situation for a noble park, which might be adorned with 
 public buildings and public walks, and which was then scattered 
 with fine native trees ; but there was eyery prospect that a few 
 
RIVER-SIDE SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. 27 
 
 years would see this superb space covered with unmeaning masses 
 of houses, and thus one of the great advantages and adornments 
 of a great city irrecoverably lost. This space lies high, and then 
 resembled a fine old English park. It sloped down towards the 
 river, which at some distance sweeps round more than half of its 
 circumference. It was already surrounded by buildings, including 
 the suburbs of Collingwood and Kichmond ; and if the Govern- 
 ment had but had taste and forethought, scarcely a yard more 
 would have been built upon. What a noble site for a parliament 
 house some day ! for a great gallery of fine arts, and similar public 
 buildings, surrounded by public walks through this superb park ! 
 This would be seen far and wide, from one side to another, and 
 produce an imposing effect, whether contemplated in proximity or 
 at a distance. But the 1000/. per acre, the 10/. per yard, nay, the 
 from 150/. to 220/. per foot for building frontage, and the absence 
 of pure, high taste, and the fatal idea of " going home," will, I 
 greatly fear, as effectually nullify or annihilate all the advantages 
 which nature has offered as if they did not exist. There was an 
 excuse for the Italian peasantry building pigsties in the ruins of 
 the ancient Romans, because they were poor ; but the excuse 
 which will exist for the influential people of Melbourne — a people 
 living in an inexhaustible region of gold — will, at least in the 
 breasts of their posterity, be of a different kind. If one may be 
 allowed a pun on this occasion, it may hereafter be said of the 
 early rulers of Victoria, that they were thinking so much of their 
 golden heritage, that they entirely forgot the capital. What enor- 
 mous sums is London now spending in making parks where nature 
 had made them already, could our ancestors have looked into futu- 
 rity! In Victoria, however, the future was so palpable and 
 positive that none could miss seeing it. 
 
 The most revolting sights which I saw were the slaughter- 
 houses, which were placed exactly on the river-side, so that any 
 one coming up by the steamer was treated to a view of tham. 
 They were wooden buildings, with a fenced-in yard on one side, 
 in which stood the poor wretched victims, amid mountains of the 
 heads of their predecessors, from which a host of pigs were rend- 
 ing the flesh. On the other side, and half in the river, were equal 
 heaps of entrails and garbage, which other swine were rending. 
 Altogether the filth, the blood, the piles of heads of cattle, either 
 stripped of their flesh or in process of it, and the crowd of poor 
 animals standing in the midst, patiently awaiting their fate, was 
 one of the most shocking and disgusting scenes that can be con- 
 ceived. In the hot weather the stench and danger of contagion 
 
28 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 must be of no ordinary kind. The railway by the short cut from 
 Melbourne to Liardet's Beach, across the plain, must have thrown 
 this nuisance into the back-ground, if it still exist. There it was 
 in the very front and prominence of the approach to this El-Do- 
 rado capital. Nor was the matter much mended on any side of the 
 town. I was not able to find a walk into the open forest without 
 having to run the gauntlet of heaps of dead horses, that made the 
 most horrible stench. People seemed to regard worn-out horses as 
 criminals that must be executed at cross-roads ; and this might have 
 been forgiven if they would only have buried them there. But they 
 were, in fact, in far too great a hurry. They prided themselves 
 on fast assuming the American type ; and in that they were not 
 mistaken. They went ahead in everything excepting order, 
 cleanliness, eiFective police, good taste, and security of property. 
 
 I remember seeing a statement in the former speculative era of 
 1842, and thereabouts, that the whole country was scattered with 
 champagne bottles. I believe poor Sir John Franklin made the 
 statement. I found it still the case for miles round the town. I 
 could scarcely see a tree under which did not lie the remains of 
 bottles which had been dashed against it, as they were emptied. 
 Nay, I saw whole bottles lying thrown out all about the outskirts 
 of the town, which not a soul thought it worth his while to pick 
 up. I am convinced that if any one wanted to bottle off a pipe of 
 wine, he need only have taken a light cart round Melbourne, and 
 picked up plenty for his purpose. The bottles, however, were 
 passable, and only showed a recklessness of expense ; but the dead 
 horses and bullocks were disgusting. We saw a bullock's head, 
 with a large pair of horns, lying on the road, as if the animal, ac- 
 cording to Milton's description, were just created and rising out of 
 the earth, having as yet only got its head free. 
 
 Female servants were wanted, and got good wages, about 30/. 
 per year ; but I did not see that pressing want of them, in the 
 town at least, which I expected. And as to the prospect of 
 getting married, that appeared a very hazardous matter from the 
 influx of adventurers. They were in a great measure extremely 
 rude and vulgar. To marry any stranger there was a most perilous 
 affair ; for many of these men had left wives at home. Nobody 
 knew anything of them or their history, and numbers of them 
 married girls and went off to the diggings, and never were heard of 
 again. One girl I heard of who married a man who left her the next 
 day. 
 
 It was nearly a month before we had all our packages from the 
 ship ; but, with the exception of our boots and shoes and a few 
 
STREET SCENES. 29 
 
 dozen coloured shirts, all were safe ; and even in this case we were 
 lucky, as Captain Cole, the owner of the lighters, from under 
 whose care they were stolen, behaved very well, and paid some- 
 thing towards the loss. The thieves were more than suspected ; 
 but they were off to the diggings with their booty. 
 
 I spent a morning in watching the " successful diggers" in 
 Bourke Street. At the top of this street there was a large yard 
 only railed round, which seemed to belong to a horse-dealer. There 
 were various carts also standing there for sale to diggers. You 
 could rarely pass this ground without danger of being galloped 
 over ; for the diggers were always trying horses there, and came 
 headlong out of the yard into the street, and galloped and ram- 
 paged about the street in a famous way. The whole street swarmed 
 with diggers and diggeresses. Men in slouching wide-awakes, 
 with long untrimmed hair and beards, and like navvies in their 
 costume. Some had heavy horsewhips in their hands, and were 
 looking at the exploits of other diggers on horseback with a know- 
 ing air. Others were swearing, about the doors of pot-houses, 
 where others, again, were drinking and smoking. Others, with a 
 couple of bundles or a pair of huge boots swung over their shoulders, 
 were lighting their pipes at a candle or cheapening digger-appa- 
 ratus. The whole street abounded with second-rate shops, which 
 supplied tools, kettles, tin ware, boots, clothes, and so on. You 
 were amazed at the price of every article. 
 
 Meantime the diggers were trying their steeds along the streets. 
 Most of the horses which I saw were bush horses, which had been 
 brought down to Melbourne, and had never had a bridle on or been 
 in shafts before. The reader may therefore imagine the scenes that 
 took place. I saw one man on a stout bay horse, a very good and 
 powerful half-breed. He took a span new saddle, and a double 
 bridle, having both snaffle and curb-bit, — for there they were not 
 content with a single bridle, but seemed to stuff as many into a horse's 
 mouth as they could get there, and had a whole handful of reins 
 in their grip. Well, this man was trying this horse, and it was 
 running round with him as if it were in a mill. He was a tall, 
 active fellow, in a green plaid shirt and fustian trowsers, with a 
 wide-awake on his head, and a short heavy dog-whip in his hand. 
 When he had tried to no purpose to make the animal go, he dis- 
 mounted and lashed it furiously about the legs, then mounted it 
 again, but only to make it spin round again, and plunge and start 
 so as to endanger every one near him. Another digger, also with 
 a short heavy dog-whip in his hand, pushed past me, saying, " Aye, 
 it's that curb ; it would be quiet as a lamb without it. These bush 
 
30 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 horses won't bear a curb." The man, however, finding all his 
 efforts in vain to make it go, dismounted, banding it over to a boy, 
 who seemed to be a younger brother, and who led it up the street, 
 the digger marching off followed by his diggeress, a tall slim 
 young woman, who strode on like a trooper, and appeared on the 
 eve of becoming a mother. Just where they made their exit was 
 another crowd, in the midst of which a digger was trying a young 
 horse in a break. The horse was as resolute not to draw as the 
 other was not to carry. In answer to the whip, it only reared, 
 plunged, kicked, and seemed disposed to break everything and 
 kick everybody near it. But about a dozen diggers seized the 
 reins on each side, and attempted to drag it forward, while others 
 pushed at the wheels, but in vain ; the animal only stood doggedly 
 still, or recommenced kicking and plunging. At length it shook 
 off all its holders, and made one of those extraordinary vaults that 
 they call buck-jumping. I had not yet seen this feat, and cer- 
 tainly it was a most marvellous motion. The horse at once sprung 
 up into the air with all its four feet^ and at the same time made a 
 writhing movement forwards, first with one shoulder, then the 
 other. Had it merely been saddled, it would have got clear. As 
 it was, the man, after this display, let it stand quietly awhile, smok- 
 ing like a furnace and wet with perspiration ; and in a little time, 
 to my surprise, after a good deal of patting and coaxing, it trotted 
 quietly away with the break. These scenes were continually going 
 on. Amid all this there were open carriages driving about, crowded 
 with diggers and their diggeresses, at the rate of \l. per hour. 
 Diggerdom was gloriously in the ascendant. 
 
 Our relatives were again without gardener or groom, one of these 
 gentlemen having gone off to the diggings. The reader may imagine 
 that the word gentlemen is a joke ; but wait a wee, as the Scotch 
 say. In the first place, every servant in this Austral Utopia thinks 
 himself a gentleman, and really is far more independent than his 
 employer for the time being. He engages on his own terms ; and, 
 if he be at all a decent fellow, said employer is only too glad to 
 catch him. He does just as he likes w^hile he condescends to stay 
 with you, and takes care not to hurt himself with work. His 
 doctrine is that of old Matthew Clay of Mansfield, a half-witted 
 pauper that I used to know, " Hard work would kill a man ;" and 
 he is a philosopher who carries out his theory to perfection. If 
 you object in the smallest degree to his theorem or his praxis, he 
 says, " Suit yourself, for I am off;" and he goes in all the dignity 
 of independence, and leaves you dependent on your own exertions. 
 He is, out and out, a more independent gentleman than you are. 
 
A GENTLEMAN AS GROOM. 31 
 
 Each of these gentry asked 150/. a year for his services, and lived 
 in the house, and would live well too. Like the butler in Punchy 
 who, when his master complained that his dinners had been but 
 so so of late, replied, '* Well, really, sir, I think when we have any- 
 thing good in the servants' hall we always send you a little of it 
 up," these independent fellows would rather patronise you if you 
 complained. 
 
 One morning we blacked our own boots, put the horse into the 
 cart, and rode down to the wharf in it for the rest of our goods. 
 Well, the sons of the Chief Justice had to do the same for him and 
 themselves — black boots, and harness horses to the carriage, — 
 and why not we ? Alfred and his cousin slept in the harness- 
 room, with a revolver, and Prince for a watch-dog, as horse-steal- 
 ing is a very favourite amusement in Victoria. 
 
 But I must do the last groom justice. Pie was a real gentleman, 
 a gentleman by birth and education. His father was a clergyman 
 of high standing. He himself was educated at Oxford, and used 
 to ride with the Melton hounds. One of the many real gentlemen 
 who came out at the first account of successful Diggings, he had 
 been up and found no luck at the El Dorado ; so, being very 
 knowing in horseflesh, and liking horses, he engaged with my 
 brother ; and never was there such a groom. Steady, orderly, at- 
 tentive at all hours and all points, invulnerable in his good humour, 
 he was the perfect groom and yet the perfect gentleman, and in 
 nothing more so than in that he never presumed upon it. He 
 sunk all pretensions to an equality of rank ; he set himself to be the 
 groom and nothing more while he occupied that situation ; but he 
 was never more a gentleman in spirit and in manners than when 
 grooming his horses or driving out his master. When importuned 
 by his old mates, as the term is, — his old comrades, — to make 
 another trial of the diggings, he told the Doctor that he should be 
 obliged to go, but that he would not go till he was suited. This 
 was the only instance of such true politeness which our relatives 
 had met with since diggerdom commenced ; for the general an- 
 nouncement is, " I am going to-morrow !" — and they go. Richard, 
 however, kept his word, and did not go till his master thought he 
 was suited. 
 
 Whilst England was declining into the autumnal fall of the 
 leaf, there we were just in the pride of spring. From the 
 window where I was writing, I beheld a beautiful garden scene. 
 Our European trees were in full blossom ; the pear blossom, 
 indeed, was nearly over, but the plums, cherries, and hawthorn 
 were in full flower. An abundance of flowering shrubs, large 
 
32 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 masses of arums, beds of mesembryanthemum, and borders of 
 thyme were all brilliant with florescence. The cacti and cereuses 
 were in full blow in the conservatories, but are later in the open 
 air, where, however, they bloom vigorously — especially the 
 Cereus speciosa, that splendid flowered one. Tall clusters of 
 bamboos, the tobacco-tree, the native indigo, the date-palm, and 
 various tufts of primulas flourished side by side. The arrow-root 
 plant, African and French olives, the prickly pear, the fig, the 
 guava, the New Zealand flax, the pomegranate, the oleander, and 
 the English hawthorn grew in other parts of the garden, while 
 multitudes of beautiful Cape heaths, roses, geraniums, and strange- 
 looking native shrubs and plants from the Murray and Plenty 
 rivers, flourished luxuriantly. The honey-bird came to the honey- 
 plant in numbers ; and swallows, with cinnamon-coloured breasts, 
 built under the eaves. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 STILL MELBOURNE, AND GLIMPSES OF ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 Projecting our Journey. — People a Month in gettirig their Effects from the 
 Ship. — Bank of England Notes at Twenty per Cent. Discount. — Expert 
 Thieves. — A Tailor's Stock stolen from the Lighter, — Clerks and delicate 
 Men at Discount. — Governor wonders what People are coming for. — Visit 
 to a Farm. — New Settlements. — Eude Fencing. — Primitive Forest. — Fruits 
 fine, but little cultivated. — An English Character on everything. — New 
 Birds. — Triantelopes. — New Plants. — Our London Harness ridiculed. — 
 First Taste of a Dust-wind. — A Wheelwright's Bill. — The new Aristocracy 
 or Hairystocracy. — Cabmen refuse to drive Gentlemen ; only take Diggers. 
 — Bushranging Feat in the Suburbs. — Alarm in the Night. — The drunken 
 Tanner. 
 
 We delayed our journey a little to obtain more precise information 
 respecting the Ovens Diggings, as they were quite new, were 1 50 
 miles distant, and especially as five or- six parties seemed deter- 
 mined to go where we went. We heard from private sources, as 
 well as from the newspapers, that they were yielding a most extra- 
 ordinary quantity of gold ; that it lay very near the surface ; that 
 there was plenty of good water there all the year round ; and that 
 it was a beautiful and healthy country. These diggings lay on the 
 Sydney mail road, so that there were inns and stations all the way, 
 at which we could procure necessary supplies. At the same time, 
 
 I 
 
A month's detention. 33 
 
 as the distance was so much greater than to Mount Alexander and 
 Bendigo, we hoped that it would be a good while before there was 
 that rush and cru^ there which were overwhelming those earlier 
 diggings. The alarming numbers which were pouring into the 
 colonies from all countries and quarters seemed likely to produce 
 much distress. They could not all be supplied at once with food, ex- 
 cept at a frightful price, in a country which produced nothing itself 
 but meat and wool. In a while the diggings would be extended; for 
 there was no doubt but that the gold would be found far and wide. 
 Some was found in Melbourne on the hill on which the govern- 
 ment offices stand ; and the hill would speedily have been all 
 turned up had it not been prohibited. The district on the Plenty 
 river, not far from Melbourne, was confidently declared by some of 
 our friends to be a gold country. Well, at all events, if there 
 were plenty of gold, there were plenty of people coming for it. 
 The arrivals per week were from 7000 to 8000. But already 
 numbers were flocking back again from Mount Alexander, who 
 were disappointed, but chiefly, it was asserted, because they were 
 unfit for labour, had knocked themselves up on the journey, and 
 exhausted their funds. What was truth and what was not, we 
 could not yet pretend to say. We depended on report ; in a while 
 we should be able to speak from experience. The wet weather, 
 which had continued an unusual period this season, had also, it 
 was said, filled the diggers' holes, and stopped their work to some 
 extent ; yet one week there was sent down from Mount Alexander 
 more than 100,000 ounces of gold. The roads had been fearfully 
 bad too ; and all these circumstances had contributed to keep us 
 in Melbourne. Besides, we had not got our last things from the 
 ship. 
 
 Only think of people being detained a month in that fiery 
 furnace of expense, simply to get their luggage out! I saw some 
 of them, respectable people, obliged to shelter themselves in such 
 dogholes as would astonisli their friends at home. Though we 
 were in the best and kindest quarters, yet our patience was wofully 
 tried. Many highly respectable people were obliged to work as 
 porters on the wharves to enable themselves to exist during this 
 cruel delay. No few, too, of those jolly fellows who spent their 
 cash on board in spirits and tobacco, had sharply to suffer for it. 
 Unpopular as I was obliged to make myself on board, through my 
 determination to keep down the sale of spirits, especially after we 
 had had more than once every sailor in the ship drunk at the same 
 moment, — the very man at the wheel letting the helm go out of 
 his hands, — and once the drunken crew coming to open mutiny, 
 
 D 
 
34 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 I was, I then found, just as popular with the same persons for 
 having done it. " Oh," they said, " If Mr. Howitt could have 
 had his will all the voyage, we should now have our money in 
 our pockets." I often encountered them in my walks ; and their 
 cordial, respectful recognitions were quite touching. I had various 
 applications from them, to assist them in getting places, and I did 
 what I could. One young fellow who used at night often to come 
 into the front of the cuddy, and shout, " Bring out those cuddy 
 passengers, and let us fling them overboard ! " went ashore in the 
 same boat with us. We had three miles to walk, and I had a 
 valise in my hand containing a change of linen. The moment we 
 stepped on shore, he sprang forward, took possession of my valise, 
 and would not allow me to carry it one foot of the whole way. 
 " What ? " said I, " is that you who used to wish so kindly to 
 give us a nocturnal sea-bath ? " " Ah ! " said he ; " but we know 
 better now; we now know who are our friends and who are not." 
 
 I wrote a letter to the newspapers at home, to warn people 
 against bringing out Bank-of-England notes, as they charged 20 
 per cent, for cashing them there ! This loss of a fifth of all such 
 money was a very serious item added to all the rest of the plucking 
 that immigrants experienced. I felt it my duty to expose this 
 extortion the moment I could, and to prevent all persons in future 
 bringing out anything but gold, or orders on the Banks ; and this 
 forced the Melbournians to reduce this preposterous discount. 
 One of our fellow-passengers was victimised to the extent of 40/. 
 by these charges, and most of them to some extent, we amongst 
 the rest. 
 
 People going thither should reflect that they are going into a 
 colony abounding with the expert thieves who have been trans- 
 ported from England to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land, and 
 have assembled there to dig for gold in the pockets and coffers of 
 the immigrants. There was no safety for goods coming from the 
 ships even in the lighters ; for the lightermen were, almost to a 
 man, of this same class, who " had left their country for their 
 country's good." The lighters came dawdling up the river at a 
 snail's pace, taking two or three days to make this eight miles; 
 and on the way these lightermen amused themselves by exploring 
 the interior of the packages entrusted to them, and selecting what 
 best suited them. They appropriated upwards of 201. worth of 
 our boots and shirts, finding them particularly good; and they are 
 extremely discerning fellows. About half-way they lay to for the 
 night; and they were met by their accomplices, wdio received on 
 shore the selected goods. The banks of the river are there covered 
 
EXPERT THIEVES. 35 
 
 with a dense scrub ; and they could readily conceal themselves and 
 their booty till it was conveyed away. One poor fellow, a tailor, 
 who meant to set up in the town, had all his stock of goods 
 cleared out of his packages, and was obliged in consequence to 
 march off to the diggings, leaving his family behind. He could not 
 recover the value of his property, as we did, because he had 
 entrusted the transfer of the packages from the ship to the lighter 
 to those on board, and could not swear that he saw his goods safe 
 into the lighter. To enable him to insure this security, he must 
 have gone off daily to the ship for a month, at a cost of I6s. per 
 day! 
 
 Once that goods were out of the lighters and had paid smart 
 wharfage rates, as already described, the carters only asked you 
 ] /. per cart-load for taking them into the town ! 
 
 Such were a few of the realities which at that time met the ad- 
 venturers on the threshold of the Land of Gold ; but all this has 
 been most agreeably changed by the railway from the bay to Mel- 
 bourne. These evils, however, as then existing, I soon perceived 
 were followed by hardships and severity of labour for which men 
 bred in offices and banks are totally unfitted. Hence the number 
 of failures, and the miserable objects which you saw coming down 
 again from the diggings, in total destitution and dejection. These 
 obverse features of the golden medal of Australia Felix have since 
 been well made known at home. Most people now understand 
 that even regular labourers and navvies require all their energies, 
 their bone and muscle, to endure their ordinary degree of labour 
 under the extraordinary force of the sun for six months in the 
 year. — a fact which should enter into the calculations of every one 
 who means to wield the pick and shovel. 
 
 At length, preparing to start, we purchased a couple of good 
 horses and a lighter cart than the one we brought out, that being 
 pronounced too heavy for the boggy country. We laid in a suffi- 
 cient stock of tea, coffee, flour, rice, hams, sugar, oats for our 
 horses, &c., &c. While we were obliged to wait, we made an ex- 
 cursion about twelve miles into the country, to the estate of our 
 friends the Bakewells ; and our visit there may give some idea of 
 the abodes and mode of life of the settlers in the country round 
 Melbourne. 
 
 Our road lay through a partially reclaimed country. First, at 
 a distance of two miles from the town, we crossed a small stream 
 called the Merri Creek, where there was a new bridge which no- 
 body would use, because the road was a little round, but persisted 
 *^a passing over a ford constructed at a cost of 200/., but which the 
 
 D 2 
 
36 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 first winter torrent tore up, leaving a confused mass of huge round 
 stones in the water for the waggons and carriages to lumber over. 
 There was a piece of good macadamised road beyond the ford* for 
 about a mile, the only piece of such road then in the colony ; but 
 beyond the bridge there was no road at all. So we had to cross a 
 wild tract of land for a mile or more till we reached the road again. 
 
 The rivers there have all the same character. They lie deep 
 between their banks, or they run through narrow deep gullies, as 
 they call them, — that is, water-courses. The moment that you 
 catch sight of them, running deep in their hollow ravines, you per- 
 ceive abundant traces of violence about them. Huge dead trunks 
 of trees are lying in wild confusion ; some of them on the banks, 
 some in the stream, and otiiers hanging suspended from the pre- 
 cipitous cliffs and slopes above them. Heaps of round, porous, 
 and ferruginous-coloured boulders lay about ; and lines of dead 
 twigs and leaves at some distance from the stream, told a tale of 
 headlong torrents in the w^et season. 
 
 After crossing the bridge we made our way as well as we could 
 for boggy ground, dead trunks of gum-trees, and the huge stones 
 just mentioned, which in some parts of the country cover hundreds 
 of acres. They are basaltic, their surface honeycombed, and rust- 
 coloured. They look as if they had been roasted in subterranean 
 fires. They are more or less round, as if they had been rolled in 
 agitated waters, and require immense labour to heave them out of 
 the soil and carry them away. They will hereafter be excellent 
 material for building and roads, when labour is more abundant. 
 But the farmers there did not yet seem to have any notion of 
 piling up these boulders into stone fences for their fields, as the 
 Scotch do when they clear them from the land ; but they dragged 
 them together into heaps, and left them lying. On our left hand 
 we had a number of settlers' huts, built of wood, and covered with 
 sheets of the ruddy-brown bark of the stringy bark-tree. These 
 were kept upon the roof by poles fastened along them ; and alto- 
 gether the huts had a very rude and settler-like aspect. They 
 were almost always guarded by two or three huge savage dogs, 
 and had gardens exhibiting patches of cultivation and rampant 
 crops of weeds, out of which gigantic crimson stocks lifted their 
 heads conspicuously. The fields were enclosed by what they 
 call brush fences, that is, simply the trees, as they are felled, thrown 
 along in long lines, and their branches piled upon them. That is 
 the first rude fencing of a new country, and we passed plenty of 
 it. After these come posts and rails ; and finally, as cultivation 
 and wealth advance, will planted hedges succeed. 
 
PRIMITIVE FOREST. PLENTY FARM. 37 
 
 The whole of our way lay through the primitive forest, ex- 
 hibiting occasional openings of cultivation, and primitive abodes. 
 Here and there the woods were fenced off with posts and rails in 
 large extents ; and these sections of woodland are called paddocks, 
 and kept for grazing. They are thinly scattered with the uniform 
 timber of these forests, the eucalyptus, the shiacks, and Banksias, 
 with wattles wherever the ground is moister. Wherever the eu- 
 calyptus is cut down and the ground is burnt, the wattles spring 
 up, and, it is said, the better for their seeds being roasted. All 
 under the trees lie immense quantities of fallen timber. You see 
 huge trees which have snapped off like carrots, probably having 
 become hollow at the bottom. A few miles from town they drag 
 these fallen trees together by bullocks into heaps, and burn them 
 to clear the land ; yet any that they condescend to cart to town 
 they charge 21. and 3/. per cart-load for ! There seemed to us no 
 bounds to the charges in Australia for everything. They asked 
 what they pleased ; and people gave it without a remark. It ap- 
 peared to be a settled matter that nobody should say that any- 
 thing was dear. We saw plenty of places where the owners of the 
 land might, by a cart-load only per day, at 3/., by the mere labour 
 of cutting into lengths and carting away the fallen timber, clear 
 18/. per week, or nearly 1000/. a year. 
 
 The country grew pleasanter as we advanced, of a gently undu- 
 lating character. There were, here and there, good houses of 
 wealthy settlers ; the woods were enlivened by parrots, warbling 
 magpies, and other birds, whose notes are generally clear and 
 pleasant, though not aspiring to the rank of song. 
 
 The Plenty farm is very agreeably situated on a high swell 
 above the river of that name. It has a considerable extent of 
 cultivated fields; and the house is one of those wooden ones brought 
 out of England, and which seem as good now as on the day they 
 were set up. They certainly have answered well. To this are 
 added extensive out-buildings, generally of wood, and some of 
 them roofed with sheets of stringy bark. We found a hearty 
 welcome from Mr. Robert Bakewell, who chiefly resides there. 
 From the brow of the hill on which the house stands, on a lawn 
 of rich Kangaroo-grass, the bank descends steeply to a flat of 
 from four to five acres, which is laid out in a garden, orchard, 
 and vineyard. The river runs round this flat in a semicircle, 
 coming up at each bend near to the foot of the hill on which the 
 house stands. The river is not a large one, not wider than a 
 good high-road. It is, like all the Australian rivers, deep between 
 its banks, and is encumbered with an extraordinary number of 
 
 D 3 
 
38 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 fallen trees. From the hill near the house you have a full view 
 of the whole garden. The fruit-trees were nearly all in blossom, 
 and the vine-plots were well dressed and kept. They cut their 
 vine- stocks there generally much shorter than in Germany, little 
 more than a foot from the ground, and give separate sticks to each. 
 Mr. Bakewell's were an exception. I was surprised to see the 
 flat of this garden planted with the vines, and the sloping sides 
 of the hills only partly planted with them. But as they grow the 
 grapes chiefly for market, no doubt they obtain much heavier 
 bunches, but they w^ould not produce so finely-flavoured a wine. 
 The apples, pears, and plums there flourish and bear immensely. 
 They have plenty of gooseberries, which do well in places shady 
 and not too dry for them; and I am persuaded that they would 
 succeed there well on the plan of the market gardeners near London, 
 that is, grown under the fruit-trees, especially in cherry-orchards. 
 Currants they have too. All other fruits flourish beautifully. 
 They have the finest and most abundant peaches, where they are 
 cultivated ; but that is yet but rarely. I read, as I was on the 
 voyage, of peaches and all sorts of fruit being as abundant in 
 Australia as in America. They would be so, if they were as 
 much cultivated as in America ; but this is by no means the case : 
 land is too high, labour too dear, and the people in too great a 
 hurry to make fortunes, with the favourite and universal idea of 
 " going home." Therefore fruit we found very rare and very 
 dear. Their apples and pears are superb, and of a large size and 
 good flavour. Plums, apricots, melons, grapes, and almost all 
 kinds of fruit are as fine as can be grown, where they are grown. 
 Almonds and figs abound on the trees, the latter producing two 
 crops a year : the quinces are gigantic in size, and make the most 
 admirable marmalade. They have oranges and lemons in the 
 open air ; but they succeed much better at Sydney, whence 
 Melbourne is chiefly supplied. I saw filbert trees ; and they say 
 they bear abundantly. English cherries are splendid ; and I am 
 told that, as on the continent of Europe, they are obliged to prop 
 the branches of the apple-trees, the crops are so heavy. The 
 Japanese fruit, the loquat, which grows on a tree very much 
 resembling the medlar, is frequent. It resembles a yellow plum 
 about the size of a pigeon's egg, with a peculiar acidulous flavour. 
 All kinds of kitchen vegetables do well. Peas now (the 18th of 
 October) were in flower ; and they had long been cutting asparagus. 
 The sea-kale crop was over. I observed that the rhubarb there 
 grows nearly flat on the ground, instead of upright as ours does, 
 though brought from England. I heard of very large rhubarb, 
 
ENGLISH STAMP ON EVERYTHING. 39 
 
 but I only saw very small. The scorzonera, or Schwarz Wurzely 
 is finer than any I saw in Germany, the roots being as thick as 
 your thumb, and very tender. 
 
 All these things you see growing amid the strangest and most 
 foreign-looking things, especially the loquat, the date-palm, great 
 fleshy prickly pears, with their oval leaves stuck one on the end 
 of another, and their purple fruit ; cacti and cereuses, which with 
 us only flourish in the conservatory. But, spite of foreign vegeta- 
 tion, the English stamp and English character are on all their 
 settlements. They are English houses, English enclosures, that 
 you see ; English farms, English gardens, English cattle and 
 horses, English fowls about the yards, English flowers and plants 
 carefully cultivated. You see great bushes of furze, even by the 
 rudest settlers' cottages. There are hedges of sweet-briar around 
 their gardens, bushes of holly, though rare ; and, what is odd, the 
 finest holly-trees I saw were grown from seeds of the fine old 
 trees about our own house at home. There are hawthorns and 
 young oaks in the shrubberies. There are cowslips and oxlips 
 now in flower in the gardens ; but I saw no primroses. There are 
 lots of snapdragons of various hues, roses and lilacs, looking very 
 English. England reproduces herself in new lands ; and how 
 feeble seem the native races against the sinewy, plucky, pushing, 
 predominating Englishman. The hunter races of the earth, the 
 forerunners of the house-building, ship-building, ploughing, busy, 
 encroaching white man — they who occupied the wilderness, and 
 sat under the forest-tree, without commerce or ships, living easily 
 on the animals of the chase — they who lived like the mammoth 
 and the mastodon, the kangaroo and the emu — have perished 
 with them, and are daily perishing before the civilised and 
 artistic tribes, indomitable in the spirit of the conqueror and the 
 possessor. 
 
 One thing pleased me there, — the old English dog, in the fire- 
 places of the country houses instead of stoves. Wood is the chief 
 fuel ; the fires it makes are very warm anji cheerful ; and at the 
 Plenty we found them very acceptable, for it came on heavy rain, 
 followed by a south wind, which is always cold. I don't know 
 when I felt it colder than when we arose at five o'clock in the 
 morning to return. The valley was filled with white fog, and the 
 grass glittered in the rising sun with a frosty dew. But the sun 
 speedily chased away fog and dew, and all was bright and warm. 
 AH night the quails in the corn-fields near had kept up their 
 plaintive cry, which would make us fancy that their name was 
 but an ancient pronunciation of the word " wail." Towards 
 
 D 4 
 
40 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 morning they were superseded by a host of other birds with 
 strange voices, many of them clear and bell-toned. 
 
 The woods which at a distance surround the place, looked very 
 duskily pleasant in the morning sun, and the voices of birds thence 
 came mingling with the more familiar ones about the house. 
 These were the singularly deep, sonorous, piping notes of the 
 magpie, or, as he is often called, the whistling crow ; and truly, 
 whether he be crow or magpie is a question. He has the black 
 and white, or pied plumage of the magpie, but he has a shape 
 and habits more resembling those of the crow. He has none 
 of the hops, the starts, and flirts of the long tail of the mag- 
 pie. He is a plump bird, with a rather short tail and small 
 head, and flies steadily and heavily, much in the manner of a 
 wood-pigeon. He is a great ornament of the woods, and there is 
 something irresistibly amusing in the creature's voice. You 
 would fancy often that you heard the distant call of your old 
 friend Punch when he carols lustily to collect an audience. It is 
 in the same falsetto key, and there is a kind of quiet waggery in 
 it. Several of the birds get upon a dead tree (for they are 
 numerous), and make the oddest, half-talking, half-singing chorus, 
 like a parcel of boys whistling in a deep sonorous key. In 
 another quarter you are startled by a loud, sudden cackling, like 
 flocks of geese, followed by an obstreperous hoo ! hoo ! ha ! ha ! ha! 
 of the laughing jackass {Dacelo gigantea\ a species of jay. The 
 leatherheads utter their settled phrase, " Off we go ! off we go ! " 
 in the woods, or they come to suck honey from the Melianthus 
 major, which stands up like a huge artichoke plant, tipped with 
 dark red plumes of flowers. Then you have two or three birds, 
 which, if you could squeeze them into one, would make a very 
 good nightingale ; for one has the true "jug, jug! " but nothing 
 further, and another the plaintive piping note, and another some 
 other characteristic of the nightingale. There is a tree-creeper, 
 which keeps up a perpetual pee ! pee ! pee ! never stopping for 
 a moment, apparently, to take breath, as it runs up the loftiest 
 tree from foot to summit, searching all the way for insects. I 
 thought once I had discovered the bell-bird ; but it turned out only 
 to be a bell-bullock. 
 
 The boys amused themselves with fishing, and caught what 
 they call black-fish and trout, to us quite new fish, and a brilliant 
 blue crawfish, with prickles all down each side of its tail. I 
 amused myself with watching the huge spiders which the common 
 people here will persist in calling, not tarantulas, which they are, 
 but triantelopes, and examining the, to me, equally new vegetation 
 
OUR LONDON HARNESS. 41 
 
 on the banks of the river : the tea-scrubs ; a Michaelmas daisy 
 growing on a shrub ; another shrub, with flowers and leaves 
 like buckwheat, which they oddly enough call the native currant, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 On returning to town, we found that His Excellency had left a 
 quantity of introductory letters to squatters, commissioners, &c., 
 up the country, which were very serviceable. Our cart we found 
 was too heavy for the roads, or rather no roads, of this colony ; 
 and what I am now about to say is worthy of the serious attention 
 of all emigrants to Australia who intend to go up to the diggings. 
 The wheels of our cart were four inches or more wide ; and every 
 one told us that, though admirable for the macadamised roads of 
 England, here they would sink in the bogs, and, the stiff mud 
 closing over them, their very breadth would make it impossible 
 for the horses to pull them out, that the wheels should not have 
 tires of more than two inches and a half, which would cut their 
 way through, This was clearly sound advice. We sold our cart, 
 and procured a colonial one, though one of Ransom and May's 
 patent ones, of this width of wheel, would have been much more 
 to depend on than a colonial one. 
 
 But this was not the worst. We had purchased our harness of 
 an outfitting trader, of Bishopsgate Street, who supplied us with 
 the hardware articles for the expedition. This harness was not 
 forthcoming till the very last day before sailing, and had to be 
 packed without our seeing it, — our worthy outfitter, however, 
 assuring us that it was good useful harness — the only kind, 
 according to his printed list (which I retain), and highly approved. 
 Imagine our consternation when Ave unpacked it. In was in size 
 fit only for ponies or donkeys. Instead of being of good horse- 
 leather, it was of slight cowhide, unblacked ; and the collars — so 
 the saddlers there said — were merely covered with sheepskin 
 leather. As the collars would not go on to either horse, and the 
 cart-saddle sat like a little log of wood on the horse's back, we 
 sent the harness to the principal saddler's, to see if it could 
 possibly be altered. It was received in the saddler's shop with fits 
 of laughter. " What ! more of that abominable harness ? " the 
 saddler cried, holding his side. " More ? Have you had any of 
 it before?" 
 
 " Any ? Plenty ; you may see dozens of sets hanging at second- 
 hand shop doors, which may hang there till asses become the 
 fashion." 
 
 " Can you not then alter it at all ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," said the saddler. "It is not worth it. See 
 
42 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 here !" — and he laid hold of a collar, and showed us what material 
 it consisted of, and that it was merely stuffed with hay. The end 
 of the matter was, we flung the rubbish aside and bought a fresh 
 set. 
 
 Besides this, the tools of hardware, — shovels, picks, dippers, 
 working cradles, &c., which had been puffed off to us in London, 
 as being on the true Californian principle, we should have been in- 
 finitely better without. The cradles, like the harness, were the 
 laughing-stock of the diggers ; and many of our fellow-travellers 
 broke theirs up and burnt them. Indeed, whoever purposes to 
 make a journey to the Australian diggings, if he be wise, will load 
 himself with nothing in England, except it be a good light water- 
 proof tent, and a patent Ransom's cart, with narrow wheels. All 
 that he wants he can procure of the true construction, much 
 better, and in the end more reasonably, on the diggings^ sparing 
 himself the most serious labour of trailing them up the country. 
 The wisest man is he that has the lightest load. 
 
 Before leaving Melbourne we experienced a dust-storm. The 
 wind shifted to the north, and brought along with it the most 
 astonishing dust-storm conceivable, as it invariably does. The 
 accounts I had read spoke of this nuisance occurring about twenty 
 times in the year. It occurred about every third day, so far as 
 our present experience went. Whenever the wind is in the north, 
 there it is ! You hear this wind the moment it commences. It 
 howls about the doors and windows like a winter's wind at home, 
 and the air is immediately darkened with one vast driving volume 
 of dust. Sometimes in summer it is so thick that you cannot see 
 your hand before you. It blew through the sash, and covered me 
 and everything in the room. In the streets you cannot walk 
 without a veil over your face ; or your eyes and mouth are speedily 
 filled. So far as I have seen, it is the worst thing they have ; 
 and a terrible drawback to the climate it is. That of itself would 
 drive me out of the town ; for up the country there is little or 
 nothing of it : but near the roads, which are neither macadamised 
 nor scraped, it is a perfect pestilence. It would drive English 
 ladies mad to see their houses and all their beds, sofas, and 
 beautiful furniture every few days literally buried in fine dust. 
 But it is admirable with what patience the ladies there get to 
 endure the inevitable evil — how coolly they wait till the storm is 
 over, and then set about to have all cleaned up, shook out, and put 
 in order again. 
 
 So we prepared a hasty good bye for awhile to this odd but ex- 
 travagant Melbourne, which every day became more droll — 
 
THE NEW HAIRTSTOCRACY. 43 
 
 actually that is the only phrase for it — droll in its extravagance 
 of all sorts. My brother amused us one morning by reading some 
 of the contents of "a little bill" from his wheelwright : — "To 
 greasing his cart-wheels, twice, 11. Os. 6d.," or 10s. M. each time. 
 "To putting a nut on one of the cart screws, 15^." — a really six- 
 penny job ! And the diggers actually, in their folly, encouraged 
 these harpies in this style of charge. One of them one day asked 
 the fare of a cab for the day. " Perhaps more than you 'd like," 
 said the Jarvie ; for the digger was a very common-looking fellow. 
 " What is it ? " asked the digger. " Seven pounds for the day." 
 " There is ten," said the fellow ; " you can light your pipe with 
 the difference." 
 
 A gentleman, high in government, told me that he was about to 
 take one of* these carriages for some distance ; but the man said, 
 " We don't drive the likes o' you now-a-days." " Well, but what 
 is the fare ? My money is as good as another's, I suppose." 
 "Oh!" replied the fellow, hesitating, "I don't know, — in fact, 
 we don't drive the likes o' you now !" And that was all he could 
 get out of him. The diggers are styled " The New Aristocracy ;" 
 and the shopkeepers flatter them with the title in their adver- 
 tisements. Here is one : — "To the New Aristocracy. If you 
 want the best article of any description to be had in the city, you 
 can be supplied by De Carle and Co., Gold Diggers' General Pro- 
 vision Stores, Little Bourke Street." Whilst this new aristocracy, 
 or more properly hairystocracy^ — for hairy enough they were in 
 all conscience, — thus encouraged their own plundering in the 
 town, the bushrangers were practising at its very gates. Four 
 fellows, armed with guns and pistols, stopped successively twenty 
 people, and tied them under a tree on the most frequented high- 
 way to the next village, St. Kilda, and that in the broad day, at 
 half-past three o'clock in the afternoon. This game they kept up 
 till half-past five, or two full hours. Numbers of wealthy mer- 
 chants go out that way about that time of day ; and some of them 
 were caught. There was a report that the Governor himself was 
 on the road very nearly at that time. The fellows, having fi- 
 nished their work, then went oiF towards the Dandenong ranges, 
 "sticking up," or "bailing up" in colonial phrase, that is, stopping 
 and robbing every one that they met. Government offered a 
 reward of 2000/. for their apprehension. 
 
 As for ourselves, we had a little alarm one night, which, upon the 
 whole, however, was rather amusing. I had sat up writing. It was 
 one o'clock. I had thrown down my pen and jumped into bed, 
 but was not asleep, when Dick, a little funny black and tan ter- 
 
44, TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 rier, who slept on the rug by the door in the hall, began to bark 
 furiously, and became every moment more and more angry. There 
 had been some daring burglaries just lately in tliat immediate 
 neighbourhood. I got up, and the Doctor came out of his chamber. 
 We went down stairs. I armed with a double-barrelled gun. We 
 heard somebody treading about in the portico, but could get no 
 answer to our demands of who was there. Still there was a great 
 trampling, attended with the vilest smell of a tan-yard I ever 
 smelt. It poured through the door into the house like a pestilent 
 steam. Dick grew more and more violent. At length we disco- 
 vered that it was a drunken tanner, who very freely said he wanted 
 a bed, and should pay os. for it. It was iiseless telling him that 
 he could have no bed there. He was too drunk to reason with ; 
 and if he stayed there Dick would not let anybody sleep. So 
 Alfred got his revolver, and he and the Doctor set out on the 
 dubious adventure of discovering a policeman. They sallied forth 
 by another door through the garden, and traversed the streets in 
 vain for half an hour; for the police there are just as discerning 
 fellows as those at home, and greatly prefer warm beds, or wfirm 
 pot-house firesides, to rambling about cold streets at midnight. 
 Their last hope was in the central police station ; and there they 
 found two officers, who, however, held a long colloquy in the Dog- 
 berry style, as to whether the house lay in their beat. When at 
 length they were put in motion, they had many discussions whether 
 they should go up this street, and whether they should not avoid 
 that, which, one asserted, was dangerous. 
 
 At length they arrived, and, by the aid of a bull's-eye, dis- 
 covered the scamp, a most filthy villain, dead drunk, and lying al- 
 most naked in a bed of prickly pears. Apparently he fancied 
 that he had got a bed, and had undressed himself, as far as his 
 muddled brain allowed him. If he had one spine of the prickly 
 pears in him, he must have had thousands ; and any one 
 who has been punctured by them well knows how painful they 
 are. But the wretch appeared totally insensible of them, though 
 he had crushed the whole bed down. The policemen had enough 
 to do to raise him, shake him, try to make him walk^ and finally 
 haul him away with his shoes off. One of the policemen was 
 actually sick with the fellow's stench. He was an Irishman, and 
 had all the look of a debauched digger, tanner as he was, and 
 smelling worse than the vilest tan-pit in Christendom. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM MELBOURNE. 45 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ON THE WAY. 
 
 On the Way. — Many Counsellors about the Koads. — Rirey's Swamp. — First 
 Encampment. — Spectral Aspect of the "Forest from the great Bush-fire on 
 Black Thursday. — Paddy Burke's Bog. — A grand take-in by an Irishman. 
 — Watch and Ward. — Terrible Journey. — Heads of the Plenty. — Burning 
 Heat. — Lose our Horses in the Woods.— Grand Pursuit. — The Doctor lost 
 all Night.; — News from a Bullock-driver. — A Chase into the Hills. — Wills's 
 wild Mob. — The Horses recovered. — Part Company with our Fellow- Tra- 
 vellers. — Opossum and Wild-Cat Hunting. — A Sample of the Pleasures 
 of Bullock-driving. 
 
 At length we" were really on our journey. On Wednesday the 
 24th of October, 1852, we left Melbourne. There was a train of 
 three carts, attended by thirteen men well armed, and therefore 
 not very likely to be attacked by bushrangers. Our blue cart, 
 well loaded, and drawn by two capital horses — the shafter a 
 bay, whom we named Ben, and the leader a handsome gray, whose 
 name, too, was Gray — led the way, the articles it contained de- 
 fended from any rain that might overtake us by a good tarpaulin. 
 Our party consisted of myself, Alfred, and Charlton, and my 
 nephew Edward. The next party was headed by the surgeon of 
 the ship we came over in, and Mr. L., our fellow-passenger, and 
 was completed by several young men, whom they had engaged 
 from amongst the intermediates. The third was headed by a 
 Captain Nolusbolus, who chose to follow without asking any one's 
 permission, and was made up of his ship-associates. We led the 
 way, because we had possessed ourselves of most information re- 
 garding the route. 
 
 We had made all possible inquiries on this point from parties 
 most likely to know, both as to the best route to the Ovens, and 
 as to the state of the roads ; and, as in all such cases, we found no 
 two persons of the same opinion. One said we must go one way, 
 and another another way. One said the road lay through Fle- 
 mington and the Mooney Ponds, and so on to Kilmore, where we 
 came upon the great Sydney mail-road, and should have a good 
 road ever afterwards. All agreed that the direct Sydney road 
 from Melbourne to Kilmore, a distance of forty miles, was exe- 
 crable ; but this was the extent of agreement. We were to take 
 a side road by an inn called the Young Queen, to avoid the hor- 
 
46 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 rors of the main road. But here, again, a fresh set of counsellors 
 declared against the Mooney Ponds and the Young Queen, pro- 
 tested that that road was perfectly frightful, and recommended to 
 us the vale of the Plenty. One day we were assured that this 
 road was very good, and the next that it was impassable. Then, 
 again, that it was quite passable, and far better than any other. 
 To settle the matter, we resolved to go by the Plenty ; and as it 
 turned out, if the other ways were worse than it, they must have 
 been awful indeed. 
 
 On Wednesday, about noon, we got under way ; and with such 
 a show of big dogs, rifles, pistols, and bowie-knives as must have 
 daunted the most heroic bushrangers. Several of our friends 
 accompanied us a few miles on our way; and one experienced 
 servant of one of them went also to see us safe over the Merri 
 Creek. There was good need ; for the moment that we left the 
 town, we found ourselves on the margin of a celebrated bog called 
 Eirey's Swamp. Here we had our first taste of what we were 
 destined to encounter ; and we agreed that, if we came upon 
 Bunyan's Slough of Despond within a single mile of Melbourne, 
 we were very likely to meet with something rather extraordinary 
 farther off. It gave us at once a very lively idea of what swamps 
 in a new country are ; and we must do the government the credit 
 of admitting that they had not, by any well-meaning interference, 
 done the slightest thing to diminish our idea of it. 
 
 Rirey's Swamp was not merely a place deep in mud, but in 
 mud as stiff as unbaked paste and as tenacious as glue. This was 
 ploughed out, by the force of ponderous drays drawn by a dozen 
 bullocks each, into deep trenches, and thrown up into ridges of a 
 yard high. In the midst of this slimy chaos lay holes a yard deep, 
 perpendicular in their sides, and filled with more fluent mud. It 
 was a desperate-looking place. But through these oceans of viscid 
 mud, and these slime-pits or mud-kettles, beautifully interspersed 
 with huge masses of stone, the colonials plough their way, with 
 their ponderous bullock trains, with the utmost nonchalance, 
 though the ponderous vehicles tumble and reel about, bang, jolt, 
 and jostle, as though they would every moment be knocked to 
 pieces. But, oh ! ye good people travelling smoothly over the 
 macadamised roads of England, how little do you conceive of 
 travelling in Australia, even in the immediate vicinity of the 
 principal towns ! If you could but even see Rirey's Swamp, with 
 its mud, its deep holes, its huge stones, the deep gullies torn by 
 torrents through it, and with sides as abrupt as walls, you would, 
 like us, stand appalled, and wonder how any mere horses and carts 
 
FIRST ENCAMPMENT. 47 
 
 were to go through it. But they did go through, under the cool guid- 
 ance of Mr. Bakewell's carter. These men are like eels in skin- 
 ning, they are used to it ; and though our suffering vehicles rolled, 
 bounced, and thundered through the holes, and over the stones, 
 they went through, and we advanced with some anxiety to the 
 first encounter of the Merri Creek. But here, what was our plea- 
 sant amazement to find that there were actually so many men in 
 the colony, that half a dozen could be spared to bring this ford 
 into some degree of order. Accordingly, where a few days before 
 we saw a chaos of huge volcanic stones obstructing the stream, 
 and carts and carriages leaping, bouncing, and splashing amongst 
 them in a most extraordinary manner, we went over with ease, 
 and proceeded well enough to the Plenty, where we took up our 
 quarters for the night, and turned our horses into Mr. B.'s pad- 
 dock. The very night before, a horse had been stolen out of this 
 paddock ; but as the negro, who in the sea-fight stuck his head 
 into the hole in the ship's side through which a cannon ball had 
 passed, saying it would be the greatest miracle in the world if 
 another were to hit the same place, so we did not much fear ano- 
 ther visit of the kind so immediately. 
 
 Our fellow-travellers made their first encampment at about a 
 mile distant in the forest. In the morning we joined them, and 
 pursued our way. The road, or rather track, continued for some 
 miles dry and good ; and we seemed to be journeying through a 
 pleasant park. If there were a bad place in the road, we could 
 turn out — there were no fences ; and we found many such wind- 
 ing tracks, all leading back again into the main road. As there 
 was no underwood, and the trees were only thinly scattered, we 
 had a clear view of our way before us. All was green and grassy 
 beneath. So far we had no dense woods, such as the beech- 
 woods of Germany or the oak-woods of England, where the tree 
 tops make a continual shade — in the former country often for 
 scores of miles — and all below was brown, bare earth, scattered 
 with leaves. Here the eucalypti are so thinly scattered, and their 
 foliage is so thin, that they afford little or no shade in sunshine, 
 or shelter in rain. 
 
 Everywhere the traces of fire in these parts are universal. The 
 great bush-fire of what is called Black Thursday, or Thursday the 
 6th of February, 1851, which extended over a large part of the 
 colony, and destroyed many people and immense property, raged 
 fiercely in these parts. On all sides you perceive the signs of its 
 ravages. Some trees are totally killed, and stand black and spec- 
 tral objects. Others have been severely scorched, their bark 
 
48 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 is black and charred ; and yet they have put out again fresh foliage. 
 Beneath them lie countless giant trunks, many of them of the 
 wildest and most grotesque shapes ; while others still stand, 
 although bleached, naked, and as it were bony, pointing their 
 skeleton branches to the sky. 
 
 If you traverse these woods, in the dusk or in the moonlight, 
 your imagination has abundant scope for exercise. All the old 
 blackened stumps, or fallen trees bleached to whiteness, assume 
 characters many of which never really existed in these lands. 
 Others recall the past of these forests themselves. Some appear 
 like dark images of the natives, who have been pushed from their 
 hereditary seats by the white man. In one place appear dark wo- 
 men carrying their infants, black as ebony, on their backs ; and 
 often they are followed by a little troop of other children. Here 
 are dark figures standing as if in deep consultation, or in an atti- 
 tude of indignant resentment at the encroachments of the stranger. 
 There are grotesquely shaped trees, which assume the forms of all 
 kinds of animals, — kangaroos, iguanos, huge crocodiles, and ser- 
 pents of enormous size and tortuous length. But far oftener these 
 dark masses appear in the shapes of your own native regions, and 
 your own history. Eangs of lofty stature, and in flowing robes, 
 sit on ebony thrones ; bishops and abbots stand arrayed in stole 
 and mitre ; silent women, seated with their heads stooped on their 
 knees, seem lost in profound grief; and hollow stems of trees, 
 broken olf at some six or eight feet from the ground, present the 
 appearance of strange orators in some historical scene, with ele- 
 vated arms, from which fall their robes in picturesque volumes to 
 the ground, their whole aspect eloquent with an earnest and mys- 
 terious enthusiasm. I do not know that these objects affect others 
 in this manner ; but I could not avoid seeing them thus continually 
 in the twilight or the moonlight.- But to return to daylight 
 realities. 
 
 It w^as not long before the difficulties of our way began to pre- 
 sent themselves. We were soon called from the easy and pleasant 
 though slow career along the woods, listening to the pleasant 
 voices of the magpies and the laughing jackasses, to encounter 
 roads enough to make any stranger stand in horror. So long as 
 we were in the open country, all was pretty well ; but we now 
 came to enclosures — those huge paddocks of hundreds or thou- 
 sands of acres, simply divided from the open country by bush 
 fences or posts and rails. Here we were compelled to keep to the 
 road, whatever it might be ; there was no facile divergence into 
 the more solid forest ; and difficulties now multiplied rapidly. In 
 
PADDT BURKE's BOG. 49 
 
 one place a gigantic tree, which had stood in the very centre of 
 the road, had been burnt by fires made repeatedly against it, till it 
 had fallen, its huge limbs tumbling on each side entirely across 
 the road, and its blackened bole still standing aloft in sooty gran- 
 deur. Here it was necessary to trespass on the adjoining paddock, 
 as those who had gone before us. had done, for a short distance. 
 Scarcely were we well past this obstruction, and past an inn called 
 the Plough Inn, where they offered us brandy at 7^. and beer at 
 3*. a bottle, than we came to a piece of road utterly impassable. 
 
 It was a bog of such frightful character and dimensions as left 
 us no hope of forcing our horses and loads through it. It had 
 been ploughed up and worked into such a slough by the bullock- 
 teams, that our horses could find no bottom, and absolutely refused 
 to advance into it. Two respectable-looking settlers who came 
 up, and whose horses, without carts, could but just manage to 
 wade through it, called to us not to attempt it, for that we should 
 certainly stick fast. They advised us to take a rail out of the 
 paddock fence, as we had done just before, saying the proprietor, 
 they were sure, would not object to it if we replaced the railing. 
 We did so ; but scarcely were our carts on the greensward, when 
 up came, riding furiously, a fellow in a shabby cabbage- tree hat, 
 and wanted to know what business we had trespassing on his pad- 
 dock ? The consternation of the greater portion of our valiant 
 party was quite amusing ; and I have no doubt that this encou- 
 raged the fellow to a greater air of assumption. I was at some 
 distance ; but near enough to see and hear what passed. I there- 
 fore hastened up, and told hira that surelv. looking at the road, as 
 they called it, outside, and as there could be no real damage done 
 to this wild paddock — mere uncultivated forest— by passing over 
 a few hundred yards of it, carefully replacing the rails, there could 
 not be found a man barbarous enough and inhospitable enough to 
 object to us, as strangers^ taking the slight liberty that we had 
 been advised to do. 
 
 But this fellow, whose name was Burke, was a worthy inheritor 
 of the name, not of the orator, but of Burke of the firm of Burke 
 and Hare ; and he was determined to Burke us. He was one of 
 those low, hectoring, rowdy Irishmen, whose violence and want of 
 principle have done so much to ruin their own country_, and who 
 carry their depraved and dishonest character with them to the 
 world's end. The man was determined to rob us ; and therefore, 
 when we proposed, if it was not agreeable to him to let us pass, to 
 go out again, he declared that we should neither go forward nor 
 backward till we had paid 3/. ! I laughed at his demand, and 
 
 E 
 
50 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 asked him if he thought he were likely to get it from a dozen stout 
 and well-armed men. He was taken rather aback by this ; but 
 while we were explaining that if he thought himself aggrieved he 
 could summon us for trespass before the next magistrate, and see 
 what he would get, up rode three other men, all well armed with 
 pistols in their belts. Several of our party were very much 
 frightened, and said to me, " Pay him ! pay him ! they look like 
 bushrangers." But I replied, " Never, unless awarded by a ma- 
 gistrate." I then turned to tlie man, and demanded to know what 
 proof he could give that he was really the owner of the paddock ; 
 that there were many bushrangers abroad, and, for aught we knew, 
 he might be one. To this he replied, pointing to an elderly man 
 on horseback, " That is my brother ; and he can tell you that." 
 The old man, however, sat very quietly, and said nothing. He 
 certainly looked neither a dangerous nor an insolent character. 
 Here my nephew whispered me that he recognised the old man, 
 that his name was Paddy Burke, and that the property was his. 
 
 On this I said to the old man, " Though most of us are strangers 
 just arrived in the colony, a gentleman here is from Melbourne, 
 and knows well both the settlers in the neighbourhood and the 
 people at Melbourne ; and you may depend upon it that your treat- 
 ment of us will be made very publicly known." On this the pre- 
 tended proprietor's tone changed; he dropped his demand of 3/., 
 but said, " However, you won't find your way through the pad- 
 dock, and the road all along outside is just as bad as here; give 
 me one pound, and I will be your guide, and will take you to where 
 the good road begins." 
 
 This was reasonable enough ; we accepted his offer, and moved 
 on. But the man, true to his scoundrel charactei*, led us down to 
 the end of the enclosure, and, pointing to a track down a valley, 
 said, " That is your way," and disappeared in the wood. We pur- 
 sued the direction indicated, but soon found ourselves involved in 
 bogs and swamps. All traces of the road disappeared, and, as 
 night was coming on, we began to be anxious for the upshot. So 
 onward we pushed, now plunging through deep bogs, our carts up 
 to the axles, and now bouncing and reeling over volcanic boulders, 
 or blue stones, as the people call them, till our carts jarred again, 
 and threatened to smash to pieces. At length two of our carts 
 were so completely bogged that we were obliged to join our teams 
 to drag them out, and were not able even to do that till we had 
 dug away the clay from the wheels, which was as tenacious as 
 glue. As for the third cart, by the time the two were extricated, 
 it was sunk still deeper, and, in trying to drag it out, one of its 
 
WATCH AND WARD. 51 
 
 shafts was broken, and it was not extricated till after an hour's 
 digging, and hauling with ropes and chains. 
 
 At length we managed to reach a dry mound, and discovered 
 that the river Plenty was not far below us. Here, therefore, we 
 encamped, and made our first experiment of sleeping in a tent. 
 
 The mount lay pretty high and dry ; we drew up our carts so 
 as with our tents to form a semicircle in front of the fire. The 
 fire, as is customary, we made against the foot of a tree, which, 
 itself burning, increases the heat and throws it back towards you. 
 But, with the inexperience of young travellers, we did not reflect 
 that the bulk of the tree was not proportioned to the size of the 
 fire which we needed for the warmth and the cookery of so large 
 a party, and would therefore fall before morning. This once per- 
 ceived, there was great alarm, every one declaring that it would 
 fall upon his tent. In the end, however, we were brought to see 
 that it would fall on no tent ; and therefore all went to bed con- 
 tented, except the two who were to take the first watch. Like all 
 young travellers in the bush, there was a constant fear of bush- 
 rangers ; and great was the arming and vigilant the watching, — 
 the latter a most onerous and most unnecessary infliction on people 
 who have to undergo the severe labour of a daily march over a 
 new rough country, and which they very speedily grow sick of and 
 abandon to the dogs, the best watchers after all. 
 
 Our watches were to extend from ten to one o'clock, and from 
 one to four o'clock, when it began to dawn. At four o'clock, just 
 before the second watch quitted its post, the tree fell with a thun- 
 dering crash, which made every one start up in alarm ; but the 
 tree had fallen very innocently away from us. I arose and strolled 
 down to the river. It lay in a deep valley, amid rocks and high 
 slopes scattered with crags and trees. Winding amid this scenery 
 and the solemn woods hanging on picturesque slopes along its 
 course, it was fine enough for an English nobleman to be proud of 
 in such a park. I returned, and Charlton and I took down the 
 horses, and then washed them from the mud of yesterday's bogs, 
 and cleaned out their hoofs, after which I had a delicious bathe in 
 the clear, rushing waters of the river. From a settler near, we 
 purchased a side of excellent veal and plenty of milk ; and from 
 him I learned that the pretended Burke, as I suspected, was an 
 impostor, and not the proprietor of the paddock at all, but a good- 
 for-nothing fellow trading up to the diggings. 
 
 This day's journey was the most terrible that we had yet had. 
 It was up a country which was all either bog or stones. No sooner 
 were we out of a bog than we were bouncing over these round 
 
 E 2 
 
52 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 great stones, which, as hard as iron, protruded from the earth as 
 thick as plums in a pudding. No one but those who have tra- 
 velled over them can conceive the shocks they give to loaded carts. 
 Mile after mile we bumped along over these horrible stones, two 
 of us holding each a horse, and the third driving ; for, besides the 
 stones, which we did all in our power to avoid, we had to guard 
 against contact with stumps and with standing trees, between 
 which, frequently, there was barely space to pass. No sooner were 
 we out of the stones, than we were again in bogs that were awful 
 to see. Wherever these had been passable, bullock drays had 
 ploughed them up into a frightful state. As one track had ceased 
 to be passable another had been attempted ; and it was often our 
 business to go on before the carts and carefully explore the ground 
 for some possible passage. Often we were at our wits' end, and 
 when we did get through, it was only by dodging about in all sorts 
 of circuitous routes. Ever and anon we came to deep, defying 
 places, where we were compelled to join our teams and tear through 
 in desperation. The only w^ay to accomplish a passage we found 
 was to dash into the thick of it at full speed ; all shouting to the 
 horses at the same time, a man at each horse's head, flogging and 
 cheering, and clamouring, and away they went. On ! on ! tantivy, 
 neck or nothing, hurry scurry, we tore through the deep abysses 
 of mud, tough and viscid as bird-lime, the loaded carts heaving 
 and reeling first one way and then another, threatening every 
 moment to go over, crash down, or stick fast up to the axles ! 
 
 It was an easy thing to say, " I'll go to the diggings ; " but no 
 one then knew what it meant till he had tried it. The voyage 
 itself is no trifle ; Melbourne, with its delays and its expenses, was 
 no trifle ; but when you began to go up the country, you soon got 
 some idea of the Herculean labour that you had undertaken. For 
 three days we thus laboured on, every evening having only time 
 to pitch our tents, attend to our horses, and cook our suppers. At 
 Barber's Creek, which in England would be called a brook — but 
 in Australia there are no such things as brooks, — we had to cross 
 such a place as at home would have been pronounced impossible. 
 The water lay between two steep banks of several yards in 
 depth. The horses had to plunge precipitately into the water, and 
 then drag the load up an almost perpendicular wall, as it were. 
 We put our horses all together, and drove through, luckily with- 
 out sticking fast, as carts and bullock-drays often do, though it 
 tried them severely. 
 
 Before passing this creek, whom should we see but our old 
 acquaintance of the paddock, with a loaded cart and three horses, 
 
THE HEADS OF THE PLENTY. 53 
 
 endeavouring to force his team into a bog that they had too much 
 sense to enter. To compel them, the wild Irishman stripped off 
 his coat and ran from one horse to another, furiously lashing them 
 about the legs and shrieking hideously, but in vain. I went up 
 to him and observed to him that he appeared to be in as great a 
 fix as he found us a few days ago. After informing him that we 
 had discovered his pitiful imposition upon us, strangers in distress, 
 I told him tliat the bog he was attempting was a mile wide and 
 utterly impracticable ; that I had been ahead to reconnoitre the 
 road, and could now show him the way without charging him a 
 pound for it. Having done that, I left him, and saw, as I looked 
 back, that he had quietly donned his coat and was availing himself 
 of the information I had given him. Ireland has had many suffer- 
 ings, but none greater than from such worthless sons, who, as I 
 have observed, having ruined her at home, go to the ends of the 
 earth to disgrace her. 
 
 The day after, we advanced to the heads of the Plenty, that is 
 the sources of the river Plenty, which is but a small river, falling 
 into the Yarra near Melbourne. These springs lie amongst ranges 
 of hills almost approaching to mountains. They cover a consider- 
 able space of country, and go back nearly to the river Goulburn. 
 It is a fine country on this side of the ranges. There are some 
 cultivated farms on the flats between the hills ; but the greater part 
 is still wild, boggy, and swampy, but in the summer time ranged 
 by great herds of cattle. They are surrounded by fine slopes, and 
 grassy swells and uplands formed by the feet of the hills, resem- 
 bling an immense and splendid park. Indeed, we seemed to be 
 travelling all the way through such a park, so much so that we 
 could not, every now and then, help fancying that, on some height 
 or slope amongst the trees, we should catch sight of some gentle- 
 man's seat, or perceive a carriage, with all its finished appoint- 
 ments, rolling downward to the road. But a moment's reflection 
 reminded us that all was solitary wilderness, that there was no road 
 in reality, and that such houses and carriages lie, perhaps, hundreds 
 of years in the background. Even where human life has yet en- 
 livened the waste wood, it is only in a few widely-lying farms, and 
 in huge, lonely, and wholly unfenced sheep and cattle-stations. 
 
 The day that we reached the heads of the Plenty, the heat was 
 intense ; but it was not an oppressive, but a burning heat. The 
 sun was more like a burning-glass than the old, genial sun, and 
 scorched our hands till they smarted as if they were scalded, and 
 compelled us to defend them with gloves. It gave us an inkling 
 
 E 3 
 
54 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of what we were to expect in summer, if this was a touch of early 
 spring. 
 
 We encamped on a mount near an inn, Heffernan's Inn. At 
 our feet lay a broad grassy water-meadow, as we should call it in 
 England ; it was, in fact, a flat, flooded by the winter rains. Our 
 horses here luxuriated in the rich grass, wading in the water for 
 it ; and we had plenty of fallen timber for fires. We resolved, 
 therefore, to spend the Sunday there. We could see our horses 
 grazing in the flat below us, encircled by the woods, having hob- 
 bles on their feet to prevent their straying ; and we procured good 
 mutton, butter, and milk from the settlers. For a whole sheep, lOs. ; 
 butter, 2s. 6d. per lb. ; milk, Is. per quart. 
 
 We passed a pleasant, quiet time at this encampment till four 
 o'clock on Sunday evening. We had cooked some of our mutton, 
 and made a roll-pudding ; and at that hour, as we went into our tent 
 to dinner, we could see our horses quietly grazing in the swamp. 
 When we came out, after dinner, they were not to be seen. Alfred 
 and Charlton set off" to see where they had strayed into the woods, 
 and, to their consternation, could not find them. Alfred came 
 back in haste, and I set off" with them. As the inn is a central 
 spot, where many travellers, bullock-draymen, and horse-dealers, 
 and others meet, it was looked on by our party as a dangerous 
 spot, and we were alarmed lest they might be driven off". The 
 thieves of these colonies are, as I have had occasion to show, ac- 
 complished thieves, and none more so than the horse-stealers. A 
 drayman had just told us that, as he had stopped to refresh at a 
 roadside public-house, and tied his saddle-horse to a post before 
 the door, where he had a iuU view of him, he saw a man ride up, 
 untie his horse's bridle from the post, and gallop off* with it before 
 he could run out and stop him. Pursuit was vain, and he never saw 
 the horse again. These fellows plunge into the woods, and make 
 their way w^here no stranger can follow them. They will creep 
 on their hands and knees up to a horse on the off* side, leap upon 
 him, and ride him away in the very presence of spectators. Dr. 
 Howitt, when he used to ride his rounds in Melbourne, commonly 
 tied his horse at the door of the house where his patient was. 
 One day, on coming out, it was gone. Some one wanted a saddle 
 and bridle ; but the horse was too well known, and it went home 
 minus the aforesaid articles. 
 
 Alarmed for the safety of the horses, we traversed the woods 
 all round the swamp till it was dark. Nothing of them was to 
 be seen ; and it was inconceivable that they could have strayed 
 far with their feet hobbled. After tea, as it was moonlight, we 
 
HORSES LOST. — THE DOCTOR LOST. 55 
 
 posted away again ; and this time Doctor C. accompanied us. We 
 went diiFerpnt ways, and roamed about for hours, but with no suc- 
 cess. Considering the unlimited extent of the woods, we thought, 
 with well-founded dread, of the distance which they might have 
 strayed by morning, if they had merely strayed. We returned 
 weary and dispirited; it seemed a bad commencement of our 
 expedition. The horses could not be replaced under 120/. ; and 
 Alfred would have to walk down to Melbourne to get them ad- 
 vertisedj with a description, and bring fresh horses up. Mean- 
 while we must be sticking on that hill alone, a melancholy group, 
 full of vexation and anxiety. 
 
 But our anxiety for the hgrses soon gave way to anxiety for 
 Dr. C, who had not reappeared from the woods. It was now near 
 midnight ; the moon w^ent down, it was pitch dark, and there was 
 no appearance of him, nor any sound of his call from the woods. 
 As nothing is so easy as for people completely to confuse them- 
 selves in the bush, we felt sure that the Doctor would go wandering 
 about all night, and only get further off. Three men mounted on 
 horseback, and others set out on foot, to seek him. We ourselves 
 were completely tired down. We heard them shouting far away 
 in different directions in the forest ; but hours went on, and at 
 length they returned, one after another, having found no trace of 
 the missing Doctor. Here was a fresh cause of anxiety. The 
 Doctor was only clad in a very light summer dress, and the night 
 was extremely cold ; and the question was how he could possibly 
 get through the night without being quite perished. If he walked 
 to keep himself warm, he would probably only walk farther and 
 farther away. The whole night passed, and he never found his 
 way back ; to a certainty he was bushed, as the phrase is, that is 
 — lost ! 
 
 With the first peep of dawn we were all up, and preparing to 
 seek the Doctor; but just as we were setting out, we beheld him 
 coming out of the woods in an exactly opposite direction to that 
 by which he had entered them. He had made the entire circle of 
 our camp. He had had the precaution to carry a match-box with 
 him, and, when he found himself lost, to make a fire, and, stretching 
 himself under the side of a fallen tree, out of the wind, with his 
 blazing fire before him, had passed the night very tolerably. 
 Fortunately for him, it was a country without lions and tigers. 
 
 Alfred, Charlton, and I now traversed a wide range of hills and 
 valleys in quest of the horses from this early hour till noon ; and 
 some of our party mounted their horses and aided in the search. 
 One of these, however, had gone, half famished, to a station in the 
 
 E 4 
 
56 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 woods, and had been well entertained. After riding away and 
 hunting about till near evening, he came to another house, as he 
 supposed, and entered, to request another refreshment, when, to 
 his astonishment, he found himself in the midst of the same 
 hospitable family, having made the circuit of the house, as the 
 Doctor had made that of our camp. However, he was only 
 received with a burst of good-natured laughter, and again well 
 entertained. 
 
 We now gave the horses up for stolen, and sat down to dinner, 
 dejected, and without appetite. Alfred, tired as he was, would set 
 off to Melbourne that night, lest the horses might be too far gone 
 to give any chance to an advertisement. In the midst of our 
 dispirited silence, we heard a boy say in the neighbouring tent, 
 " Mr. Howitt's horses are heard of ! " We sprang up simul- 
 taneously, and encountered the boy at the door. He told us that 
 a bullock-driver who was at the inn had seen the horses up 
 amongst the hills seven miles off. Away we hastened ; found the 
 man, a dark-complexioned, black-eyed, bearded fellow, who in 
 England would have been taken for a gipsy or a tramping potter, 
 and who probably was of gipsy origin. He was quite confident 
 that they were our horses ; had passed us on the road, noticed 
 them then, and now described them. He said the hills where 
 they were, still in their hobbles, were intricate, and would be 
 difficult to trace, but offered to go with us for a consideration. A 
 pound note put amazing activity into him ; and once more we 
 were off on a seven miles' tramp, and seven miles back that night, 
 if possible. 
 
 The man went on at a round pace, the neck of a bottle of beer 
 peeping out of his coat pocket, showing that he had thought of a 
 refresher on his long run ; and we speedily struck into the woods. 
 
 A young man of the party accompanied us. Our guide led 
 us up amongst lofty and solitary hills, silent and solemn as night. 
 We ascended and descended amongst the tall white columns of 
 the white gum-trees, and the brown, rugjjed, and huge stems of 
 the stringy-barks, on and on, saluted only by the voices of the 
 birds above us. The laughing jackass seemed to jeer us, as if in 
 pursuit of a false hope ; and the magpies treated us to their indis- 
 cribably comic, and yet musical, chorus. Mile after mile we 
 went on through the hills and the woods, getting ever deeper and 
 deeper into their intricate glens ; the drayman, as we reached an 
 eminence, pointing to the lofty ranges which we had seen from our 
 camp on the other side of the valley, and telling us, for our com- 
 fort, that the highest range there was Mount Disappointment ; 
 
THE HORSES RECOVERED. 57 
 
 that, if our horses got into that labyrinth of hills, they were lost 
 for ever ; that in the valleys between those hills there were scores 
 of horses that have escaped, and in time grown wild and irreclaim- 
 able ; that one valley ran into another, and that into a third, and 
 so on, in such a network, that it is exceedingly difficult for any 
 one going in to find his way out again ; and that a gentlemaii, 
 some time ago, who attempted to explore them, never was heard 
 of till his bones were found. He said, three months before, a 
 horse of his escaped thither, and he had tried to recov^'r it in 
 vain. The herd is called '* Wills's wild mob," and they range at 
 freedom, knowing the defiles of the hills better than any human 
 creature. In those valleys, he added, the wood is so dense that 
 it is almost dark at noon. Fern-trees grow there to a great size, 
 and close so thickly above your head that you cannot see the 
 sky. 
 
 Listening to these stories, we went on into the heart of the 
 hills, till we reached a post-and-rail fence, called Macdonald's 
 Paddock. Here the man said he had seen them not many hours 
 ago, and that they were following the fence, as if desirous to get 
 through. But here they were not now. The young man, who 
 accompanied us so far, now touched me on the elbow, and gave 
 me a sign to follow him a little aside. He then asked me if I 
 were not suspicious of the man ? if I did not fear that he was 
 leading us into this lonely and desolate region for some purpose of 
 his own ? whether it might not be to some haunt of robbers with 
 whom he was in league ? I laughed at his fears ; but he only 
 shook his head, and said I might laugh, but for his part he should 
 go no farther. He did not like the man, and could not trust him ; 
 so here he turned back. We, however, had no such fears. The 
 man was evidently one of those who have lived much in the bush, 
 and on the roads, and by the alehouse fire ; w^ho had seen much 
 of that sort of life, and had knowledge and instincts that belong to 
 that kind of experience. He had a merry twinkle in his dark eye ; 
 and his roun,d, dusky face, and somewhat upturned nose, was full 
 of knowingness. Presently he pointed out the hoofmarks of the 
 horses in the soft mud. They were clearly those of our missing 
 horses: we were sufficiently acquainted with the peculiar size 
 and shape of their hoofs ; and they were still clearly hobbled, as 
 the two fore feet were always put down together. Inspirited by 
 the sight, we followed the track for a mile or more, then lost it in 
 the hard ground, then sought it in a different direction, but in 
 vain. Night was now fast falling, and here it falls quickly. If 
 we did not recover the horses that night, ere morning they might 
 
5^ TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 have escaped into the Mount Disappointment ranges ; and then 
 good bye to them. Our anxiety returned, and we proposed to 
 jfoUow on in the direction that they had last been taking. In a 
 jfew minutes, we met a stockman on horseback ; and in answer to 
 iOur inquiries, he said, " Yes, those horses are in the next flat." 
 
 ^ Imagine the effect of these words ! Weary as we were, we 
 hurried on ; and there, sure enough, in a large, swampy meadow, 
 with a great herd of bullocks, the two wretched vagrants were 
 grazirig*^ The grey had already reached the foot of the very hills 
 we had to dread ; and the next morning we might have sought 
 them in vain. The guide appeared as much pleased as ourselves ; 
 and the more so as he had caught the sound of bells in the woods, 
 which he recognised as those attached to some bullocks which he 
 had lost, and which he was seeking when he came upon our 
 horses. Our return to the camp with the horses was regarded 
 with astonishment ; for the young man who went back had carried 
 a dismal story of our wild-goose chase, and the party expected 
 little else but that we were already murdered. 
 
 The next morning, wearied as we were with the extraordinary 
 exertions of the two past days, we struck our tents with the rest, 
 and advanced on our way. But the time was approaching when 
 it was necessary to make a new movement, in fact, to quit our 
 travelling companions, and assume a more convenient indepen- 
 dence. We have said that the so-called Captain Nolusbolus was 
 by no means a desired member of our company. On shipboard 
 his associates had been of a class not at all to our taste ; and his 
 party consisted of men of this description. The Doctor and Mr. L., 
 highly respectable and agreeable men, had unfortunately made up 
 their party of fellows stout and active, but in other respects as 
 little agreeable to us as the comrades of Nolusbolus. The system 
 of watch and ward we began to perceive was utterly unnecessary. 
 By tethering our horses for the night near the tent, they were 
 perfectly safe ; and our dogs were certain to give the alarm if any 
 one came near us. We were all wearing ourselves out by daily 
 fatigue and nightly watching ; and though the heads of the par- 
 ties, when they watched, kept silence, the rest of the men made a 
 point of talking, laughing, and making all the noise they could 
 over the fire. Kest, therefore, was impossible ; and the language 
 which you were obliged to overhear was of a description which 
 no decent person would willingly submit to. 
 
 This was our nocturnal annoyance ; our daily one was that of 
 seeing our poor horses made the drudges of the whole party. 
 Strong enough to pull our own load through, they were at every 
 
PART COMPANY. 59 
 
 difficult place called upon to do the same for the other parties. 
 They had thus three times their proper work to do ; for though 
 we had protested against the company of Nolusbolus and Co., h.3 
 and his party made just as free as the rest, and even more so, in 
 constantly fetching our unfortunate leader to drag them throug-h 
 the bogs. Everything admonished us to draw off, and proceed, as 
 Jonathan says, " on our own hook." With our dogs and our iire- 
 arms we had no fear of bushrangers; in fact, the danger from 
 them weighed much less with us than the daily contact with the 
 vulgar portion of our present party. ^ To-day brought this decision 
 to a crisis. -- ~ 
 
 The road was so swampy that, with the perpetual demands on 
 our horses, in the afternoon we had advanced about five miles, 
 and found ourselves at the foot of a steep hill, along the side of 
 which for three miles the track ran. The steepness of the declivity 
 along which we should have to proceed, and the state of the road, 
 full of swampy hollows and stony ridges, made it necessary that 
 we should here divide our loads, and take them at twice. Even 
 then we should have to keep the cart from rolling over and down 
 the hill by hauling in with ropes on the upper side. Our horses 
 were perfectly able to convey our effects in this manner ; but as 
 the Doctor and Mr. L. had a very stout shafter and a very poor 
 little leader, I proposed that we should unite our leader and their 
 shafter, and take up our goods at four times, proposing to go no 
 further that day. Tlds they gladly agreed to; but just as we were 
 about to take our first load, we heard that the Nolusbolus party, 
 without even saying " if you please," had unceremoniously taken 
 possession of our leader. I therefore sent and reclaimed him, re- 
 presenting that we were ourselves ready to set out. This pro- 
 duced a volley of execrations from these amiable fellows, who 
 immediately began to flog their own horses up the hill without 
 dividing their load, and in a few minutes were stuck fast up to the 
 axles in a slough, where we left them to curse and unload. 
 
 We proceeded, and took the goods of our friends first; and what 
 sort of an achievement it was^may be inferred from the fact, that 
 it took from eight o'clock in the morning till two o'clock. And 
 now, at this hour, returning to fetch up our own cargo, the com- 
 panions of the Doctor and Mr. L. advanced and informed us that 
 we could not have the shafter. We told them that we had nothing 
 to do with them, but with the two gentlemen whom we had 
 assisted ; but they laughed, at the idea, and said they had as much 
 property in the horses as the Doctor and Mr. L. On hearing this, 
 I despatched Alfred to learn from these gentlemen, who were 
 
60 TWO YEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 remaining by our cart and effects, .whether this were so; and these 
 j^entlemen very soon made their appearance, extremely annoyed at 
 the occurrence, but obliged to confess that the horses and cart 
 were the joint property of the party. On learning this, I took 
 tioese gentlemen aside, and told them that, knowing this, we 
 should quietly drop behind, for, however much we regretted being 
 obliged to part with them, we could hold no partnership with 
 these men, who were all under the influence of Nolusbolus. They 
 candidly confessed that it must be more agreeable to us, but were 
 excessively i^nnoyed by the occurrence, shaking their heads doubt- 
 fully when I expressed my own fears on their own account. And 
 I may here antedate my narrative sufficiently to say that these 
 gentlemen were themselves very soon obliged to get rid of their 
 free and easy mateSj to use the colonial phrase, who, amongst 
 other feats, all the way up the country, persisted in using our 
 nam.es at the squatting stations, declaring that they belonged to 
 my party; and obtained all sorts of good things — meat, vegetables, 
 milk, butter, and fruit by that ruse, most commonly at free cost. 
 They were delighted beyond expression at what they called " this 
 capital lark ; " the two nominal heads of the Doctor's party being 
 proportionably annoyed. Luckily these fellows " went on their 
 way, and we saw them no more." 
 
 From this time forward we travelled along independently, 
 dropping all care of watching, leaving our dogs to do that, only 
 keeping our horses near the tent. We slept soundly, arose every 
 morning refreshed, went as far as the roads permitted us, and, 
 freed from the daily contact of rudeness and vulgarity, first began 
 to enjoy ourselves and the country. After fetching up our cart 
 and goods, we encamped about a mile onward, near another party 
 who were in the same predicament that we had been, namely, 
 having lost their horses — or rather horse, for one they had re- 
 covered. It was a splendid moonlight night, and we went out 
 with two of this party to see them shoot opossums. They had 
 some good dogs, which hunted up the opossums into the trees, at 
 the feet of which they stood and barked till their masters came up. 
 
 The animals are about as big as good large rabbits, with a thick 
 grey or brown fur, and a long and black bushy tail. They are 
 sometimes difficult to spy out amongst the leaves ; but at other 
 times they sit on the dead branches, the very plainest of marks ; 
 and you may shoot at them two or three times, if you do not 
 happen to hit them, before they will. move. You have only to 
 get them between the moon and yourself, and you are pretty sure 
 of them. 
 
OPOSSUM AND WILD-CAT HUNTING. 61 
 
 The next morning these men came to borrow an axe to cut a 
 wild cat out of a hollow tree. These cats make their nests gene- 
 rally in the hollow trunks lying on the ground, or in the hollows 
 at the feet of the trees. In this case there proved to be a nest of 
 young ones about the size of rats. These cats, as they are called, 
 much more resemble ferrets or polecats, and are about the same 
 size. They have cats' tails with rats' feet, and sharp snouts of a 
 red colour. They are of different colours, but principally brown 
 or grey, sometimes black, but invariably covered with large round 
 white spots, about the size of a fourpenny piece. They have 
 pointed teeth as sharp as needles, and fight furiously, giving the 
 dogs severe bites. Tlie young ones were taken alive, and they 
 showed their ferocity by instantly fastening on the sleeves of their 
 captors, where they hung all the way to the tents like so many 
 leeches. 
 
 Several days passed, and we heard by people coming up the 
 road that this party had not yet found their horse. It may be 
 imagined what an almost hopeless thing it is to lose a horse in 
 that huge, unfenced wilderness. Once out of sight, who shall 
 say in what direction the strays are gone? If the ground is hard 
 where they start, so that you cannot discern their footmarks, you 
 may traverse the whole circle of the horizon, and never come near 
 them. There is nothing to prevent the animals going hundreds 
 and thousands of miles, if they are so disposed ; and many horses, 
 once at liberty, seem to have a frantic desire to make their liberty 
 permanent. Hobbles on their feet are very little security; for 
 they learn to canter in them almost as well as without them. 
 Two feet up and two down are quite compatible with hobbles. 
 The only safe thing is to tether and watch them : they require 
 often shifting ; but that is better than to lose them. The straying 
 of horses is one of the grand anxieties and universal accidents of 
 the bush. 
 
 Bullocks are equally addicted to straying. Wherever we went, 
 we met men inquiring after their bullocks. We heard of at 
 least a dozen teams being loose in one quarter or another. We 
 saw one man who had been camped by the roadside on his way to 
 the diggings for ten days, and had not then recovered his bullocks. 
 How men like to drive bullocks is to me inconceivable ; and yet 
 these drivers say they would have nothing to do with horses. 
 
 The teams consist generally of eight or ten bullocks, drawing 
 two abreast under heavy yokes. The drays have only one pair of 
 wheels, like a common cart ; so that, going downhill, there is a 
 tremendous weight on the necks of these poor wretches, enough. 
 
62 ' TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 one would think, to break them. The drays generally take a load 
 of two tons or more ; and the wheelers are yoked to a stout pole. 
 The difficulty of driving them is this, that you cannot lead them 
 by a bridle as you can a horse. They are obliged to drive them 
 by the whip and by the voice, aided by a plentiful amount of 
 swearing. It is an absolute article of faith here that bullocks 
 won't go at all without swearing. The whi^s are generally young 
 wattle-trees, tough as whalebone, with a thong of bullock hide. 
 You often see them carrying a bundle of these young wattles in 
 their drays, which they have cut in the swamps. They wield the 
 whips with both hands, and lash the animals unmercifully, accom- 
 panied with loud cries and oaths, calling out the particular names 
 of the oxen, which are for the most part fine, large, and powerful 
 creatures. 
 
 We saw one drayman going up a difficult road through the 
 woods with his team ; and an idea may be formed of the diffi- 
 culties these men have to encounter in going up to the diggings, 
 from what here took place. In driving up a steep road, hanging 
 all on one side, amongst a chaos of growing and fallen trees, his 
 dray caught against a gigantic trunk lying with its end to the 
 road. In calling back his bullocks sideways, to get clear again, 
 they all ran into a confused heap, heads and tails mingled ; and 
 there he was for hours, whipping, shouting, and swearing, but 
 without being able to bring them into any order. 
 
 Another dray coming up, the man brought his team and 
 harnessed them in front of the refractory team ; and again began 
 the whipping, cursing, and hallooing, all to no purpose. After 
 another hour, the whole sixteen bullocks had -tangled themselves 
 up into a still more confused heap ; and night came, and they 
 were obliged to set them at liberty, make a fire and camp, to 
 begin again the same attractive labour jn the morning, with what 
 success we did not remain to see. On these occasions they sleep 
 on a rug under their drays, or, if they have an awning, under that, 
 upon their goods. 
 
AN ACCIDENT. — A SAILOR SHEPHERD. 63 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Break down Encamp in the Woods. — A Sailor turned Shepherd. — Eainy 
 
 Weather and leaky Tent. — In quest of a Wheelwright. — Humorous Ee- 
 ception by a Squatter. — Kilmore and its Mud. — Squatter Life. — Chase 
 after a lost Writing-case. — Whitehead's Station. — How we spent the Fifth 
 of November. — Enter on sterile Country. — Vernal Flowers. — Leatherheads. 
 — Laughing Jackass. — Thrushes. — Warbling Crows. — Wattle Birds. — 
 Not true that Australian Birds have no Song. — Black Trout and Blue 
 Crawfish. 
 
 We had not proceeded many miles before we found the linchpin 
 of our cart was broken, and that it was necessary immediately to 
 stop. We had to ascertain where there was water, which we 
 found not very far off. 
 
 On examining the extent of the mischief, we discovered that 
 the terrific jolts that our cart had made over stocks, stones, and 
 roots, had broken one of the bushes of the wheels ; and this in 
 its turn had broken the linchpin. Here was a situation I alone in 
 the woods, and uncertain how far it was to any place where we 
 could get a smith or a wheelwright. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had we encamped, when we saw a man 
 coming whistling up the wood, clad in a blue shirt and trowsers, 
 and without a hat. "That," said Alfred, "is one of the Kent 
 sailors." And sure enough up the man came, merrily calling out 
 "Well, Mr. Howitt, how are you?" It was a jolly sailor of the 
 name of Wright, who had gone off in the captain's boat. He 
 could not tell what had become of the rest of his companions, 
 except Smidt, the Dane, who he said was at Mr. Broadhurst's 
 sheep-station near. They had all dispersed on landing, the 
 better to get up the country ; for, as he observed, seventeen of 
 them together could not get supplied at the same farmhouse; and 
 as they had come away without their wages, they could not afford 
 to go to inns. He himself had lost all his clothes, except what he 
 had on his back. He supposed that, in the hurry of escape, they 
 had been thrown overboard in the dark, instead of into the boat. 
 He had engaged himself as hut-keeper on the Messrs. Broadhurst's 
 station ; and his business was to cook and keep house for the 
 shepherds. He professed, like Mark Tapley, to be very jolly, and 
 to have plenty to eat and little to do ; but it was quite clear that a 
 fellow of his spirit and activity only meant stopping there till he 
 had earned money enough to proceed to the diggings. He made 
 
64 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 himself very free and easy, assisting in making a damper, and 
 giving us various hints for camp-life. All sailors are cooks, more 
 or less. He moreover informed us that we could get our damages 
 repaired at Kilmore — about five miles off, as he calculated. 
 
 In the night it came on to rain heavily. We had been obliged 
 to encamp rather in a hollow, not being able to get the cart in its 
 crippled state up the slope ; and all at once we found torrents 
 pouring down upon us from all sides. We were compelled in- 
 stantly to commence digging a trench round the tent, and another 
 ricket enclosing the cart and the fire. This had the desired 
 effect ; but we soon found the water coming as briskly in upon us 
 in another direction ; and this was from above. When the tent 
 had been set up in my brother's garden at Melbourne, it appeared 
 quite waterproof; but the rain here was far more violent, and it 
 came through at the seams. We were miserable. We were 
 obliged to draw our beds into the centre, the drip descending 
 through the seams and falling about a yard within the tent all 
 round. The nuisance was inconceivably great. The rain also^ 
 penetrating the cover of our cart, obliged us to bring many of 
 our things into the tent ; and there, spite of our precautions, 
 it was continually soaking into our salt, our sugar, our flour, 
 and amongst our clothes and ammunition. 
 
 It continued to rain heavily all night, and all the next day. 
 Poor Alfred was, notwithstanding, obliged to mount a horse, and 
 proceed to Kilmore about the cart. Wright, the sailor, came 
 to put him in the way, which was a very intricate one through 
 the woods, with scarcely any track, and over the Messrs. Broad- 
 hurst's station the whole way. 
 
 Whilst preparing to set out, up came a whole troop of people on 
 their way to the diggings. They had walked seven miles that 
 morning, and were as thirsty as fishes. They very soon drank 
 our kettle dry, and marched on, leaving us to prepare afresh for 
 breakfast. Scarcely were they gone, when up came a foot-sore 
 sailor, who had run away from some ship, and was also as thirsty 
 as a fish, and hungry too. We managed to squeeze him out a 
 single pannikin of tea and a biscuit, and sent him on, only to 
 behold the arrival of a whole family from the Isle of Skye — 
 father, mother, and children — just as famished and thirsty. They 
 were on their way to Dr. Lumsden's station, as shepherds. 
 
 All these hinderances, owing to our proximity to the high-road, 
 kept Alfred a good while ; and scarcely had he set out when it 
 began to pour down in perfect cascades, attended by the most 
 awful thunder and lightning. We sincerely hoped that he would 
 
IN QUEST OF A WHEELWKIGHT. 65 
 
 turn back ; which, however, he did not, but through the whole pouring, 
 drenching day, he threaded the woods, and reappeared only as it 
 was growing dark. A terrible day he had of it, such as we could 
 have no conception of till we went ourselves. However, he had 
 succeeded in finding a wheelwright, who promised to do all that 
 was necessary, but declared that the cart must come to him. But 
 how ? With a shattered bush and a nail for a linchpin, we were 
 aware that it was a hazardous enterprise ; and it was in reality 
 more so than we imagined. Charlton and I set out the next 
 morning. We found the road running over steep rocky ranges, 
 and down again into deep valleys, over abrupt gullies, and through 
 abrupter creeks. This sort of road soon jolted out our nail 
 linchpin. Luckily we had supplied ourselves with a few extra 
 nails ; but we were soon come to our last one, when we managed 
 with a stone to turn up its point, which prevented its escaping (it 
 was an oversight that Alfred had not brought a temporary linch- 
 pin, but it had not struck him) ; and now we got along better. 
 
 But, heaven help us ! what a day it was ! The rain fell as heavily 
 as the day before. The way, instead of five miles, was ten, if it 
 was a yard ; and just before we came to the Messrs. Broadhurst's 
 home station, we had to descend a steep hill and cross a torrent, 
 out of which stood up ridges of stone which threatened to dis- 
 locate efiectually our failing wheel. Once through, we had again 
 to drag our wretched cart up another hill as steep, and then found 
 ourselves at the gate of the Messrs. Broadhurst's residence, the 
 track leading through their yard. 
 
 Here we had an encounter at which we have often laughed in 
 recollecting it. As Charlton was opening the gate for us to pass 
 through, a tall gentlemanly man with a moustache approached 
 from the house, and said in a stern tone, " What has brought you 
 here?" 
 
 " Why, sir," I said, " this admirable equipage that you see." 
 
 '* But what business have you here?" added the gentleman as 
 gravely. 
 
 *' Nay, that is more than I can tell," I rejoined ; " but I can tell 
 you what business we have at Kilmore, if we can find it, which I 
 hope in heaven we may, for they told us it was five miles ofi*, and 
 we have come that already. If we are ever lucky enough to get 
 there, we are bound to a cart-doctor, our cart having dreadfully 
 broken its constitution on your beautiful roads." 
 
 An incipient smile began to dawn about the corners of the gen- 
 tleman's mouth ; but he suppressed it, and said, " Well, you are 
 quite off the road. You have no business here ; the road goes 
 
 F 
 
66 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 right round yonder," pointing over the woods, " and I don't allow 
 any oYie this way." 
 
 " We are off the road, sure enough," I added ; " and ha.ve been 
 ever since we have been in this colony. A road is a thing that 
 we should be rejoiced to get a sight of; but I trust you won't 
 insist on us turning back, for this is all the track we have seen 
 anywhere ; and, once out of your neighbourhood, I'll promise you 
 we will never come again. But still, if you wish it, we'll try 
 back." 
 
 Here Mr. Broadhurst, — for one of the brothers it was, — laughed 
 outright, and said, " No, sir, you shall go on ; and I beg you will 
 come back this way too, for it is the best, and you might not find 
 the other ; and so now pray come in, and take some refreshment." 
 
 We thanked him, begged to be excused, and took our leave. 
 After passing this house we passed over extensive flats, through 
 the drenching rains. The track, instead of a road, was a rushing 
 river ; and we ploughed our way through bogs and rotten ground 
 as well as we could, and near fresh creeks and gullies, till we 
 reached Kilmore, where the wheelwright, after examining the 
 cart, declared he could not finish it that day. Here was another 
 weary journey for the cart before us ! But there was no help for 
 it. The wheelwright lent us a saddle. Charlton mounted behind 
 me, and we jogged back through the rain, the bogs and the woods, 
 the horse often sinking up to his chest in the rotten ground. It 
 was dark long before we reached the tent, and the waters were 
 out, so that we were afraid we had lost our way ; but we trusted 
 to the instinct of the horse, and he brought us safe home. 
 
 This was Saturday night ; and we spent Sunday, another 
 drenching day, in our tent. A miserable day; the rain dripping 
 in as fast as ever, and the floor all round us soaking mud ; though 
 upon our tarpaulin carpet, which was turned up at the sides, it 
 was tolerably dry. 
 
 On Monday morning Charlton and I set out again for Kilmore. 
 It was fair, and we enjoyed it. Ben trotted away, and we were 
 soon at Messrs. Broadhurst's station. The sailors Wright and 
 Smidt had told them who we were ; and the brothers met us at 
 the gate, and begged that we would come in as we returned, which 
 we promised. 
 
 We were soon at Kilmore, a place with the most abominable 
 road through it, and the most mud about it that I ever saw in 
 my life. It lies in one of those volcanic valleys which consist 
 of deep black earth, which in wet weather becomes like so much 
 printer's ink, and a profusion of those huge masses of trapstone 
 
KILMORE AND ITS MUD. 67 
 
 that we have so frequently mentioned. There were holes in the 
 streets deep enough to swallow our cart, and mud enough to bury 
 all the carts in the colony; and, in the abysses of mud, a good 
 quantity of these stones of several feet in diameter, enough to 
 knock your wheels to pieces ; yet Kilmore is on the great mail 
 road to Sydney. 
 
 It must have been settled by some Irishmen, and abounds with 
 Irish, and has an Irish look ; but, strange to say, had neither a 
 potato nor an onion in it. How should it, when they fetched at 
 the diggings 2s. a pound? Kilmore boasted a couple of well-built 
 inns, a number of huts and new houses scattered about along the 
 roadside, and in new plots of enclosure. 
 
 "We met here with numbers of our old shipmates, who were on 
 their way to the diggings, but were so daunted by the appearance 
 of the roads that they were waiting till the advancing season dried 
 them. If they waited till Kilmore streets were passable, I fear 
 they might wait six months. You would not believe it, — but we 
 know that it is true, we have it from the most direct authority, — 
 that a young gentleman, Mr. Curr, actually lost his horse, staked 
 on a bullock's horns in these streets. The bullock had been sunk 
 in one of the mud-holes in the middle of the street, and was suffo- 
 cated. Its head rested on one of the great stones, with the horns 
 erect ; and as Mr. Curr was riding along, his horse plunged sud- 
 denly down into the same slough, struck its chest on the bullock's 
 horns, and either killed itself or was obliged to be killed on the 
 spot. 
 
 But you will say, why did not they mend these streets? Ay, 
 that is a question, the answer to which is that everybody was too 
 busy, and the Government too careless. I understand that the 
 Government had voted 16,000/. to make these roads ; but it took 
 no trouble to see it done ; and all those most concerned were too 
 busy. It was so everywhere and in everything. We were aston- 
 ished to see in large letters " general post-office " painted on 
 the fronts of no less than four houses here. What, four general 
 post-offices! that was too Irish: four post-offices in such a village! 
 On inquiry, the mystery solved itself thus. The post-office had 
 been successively removed from one to another of these houses, 
 and nobody had taken the trouble to put out the name from the 
 disused ones. No doubt many a stranger had gone the round of 
 the four, before he discovered the right one. 
 
 Just so on the roads. A tree falls across one, and completely 
 stops it. A few strokes of an axe would clear it away ; but, 
 rather than stop to do it, everybody will go quite round through 
 
 F 2 
 
68 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the bush, and give themselves three times the trouble. "We have 
 frequently filled up holes on the way with our spades, before we 
 have gone over them ; but I never saw this done by any one else. 
 They bolt over fallen trees^ or stones, or anything that they can ; 
 and when they cannot, they travel round them. They are much 
 too busy to stop a moment to smoothen a difficulty for themselves, 
 much less for another. 
 
 On our return we made our call on the Broadhursts, and were 
 very courteously received. The house was of wood, as most of 
 these stations are, with various outbuildings around it. It stands 
 on a fine, lofty mount, surrounded by woods and hills. Within were 
 books, and other signs of refined life, and plenty of good cheer, as 
 we found. We were surprised to see the number of people that 
 made up the establishment : two gentlemen, a lady, children, and 
 men and women servants. Some of these seemingly* solitary 
 stations in the Australian woods are not so solitary after all. 
 I have no doubt that to men fond of rural affairs they are very 
 pleasant. They have their people about them, and their tens of 
 thousands of sheep and cattle to look after. They are the lords of 
 wide domains, often as large as an English county ; and occasional 
 shooting, and visiting their neighbours some ten or twenty miles 
 off*, varies their existence. 
 
 On the Sunday morning we were on our way again ; but such a 
 way! — over the spurs of a range of hills running out right across 
 our path, and in such quick succession, that for two days we were 
 doing nothing but struggling up hills and plunging down them, — 
 rushing into deep gullies and creeks, and sticking fast. We had 
 repeatedly to unload to extricate ourselves ; and in our violent 
 jolts across those delectable places we had various articles sent 
 flying out of the cart. Now a frying-pan took flight, now a tea- 
 kettle, then a leg of mutton, and so on ; but I believe we recovered 
 everything but a capital water-keg which was slung under the 
 cart. One loss had like to have been irreparable — that of my 
 writing-case. 
 
 We had gone on some distance in the morning to reconnoitre 
 the road that we had to pass, and found it so formidable that we 
 concluded to take our load at twice over the difficult part. As we 
 were on the way with the first half of the load, an old man over- 
 took us, and asked if we had not lost something like a writing- 
 desk, for he saw some men with a raob of horses, and who had a 
 cart also with them, pick such a thing up, just as we had passed. 
 He had, he said, told them that it must be ours, and that he saw 
 us come from a tent by the road, which he showed them, and told 
 
CHASE AFTER A LOST WRITING-CASE. 69 
 
 them they had better ask there. We saw at once that the writing- 
 case was gone ; and thanking the old man heartily for his infor- 
 mation, we took out one of the horses, stripped off his gear, 
 clapped on him a rug, tied it with a rope instead of a girth, and 
 tied up another rope into a pair of stirrups, for we had no saddle 
 with us on the spot. The news was startling. The case con- 
 tained all my writing materials, my memoranda, all our letters of 
 introduction, besides small articles that I did not want to lose from 
 old associations. There was nothing for it but decisive action. 
 If the fellows had not left it at the tent, they did not mean to 
 leave it : in that case I must pursue them ; and if they refused to 
 give it up, then my only chance was to ride to the next magis- 
 trate, who, I expected, was no nearer than Kilmore. I was deter- 
 mined, however, to recover it, if possible. 
 
 I therefore mounted at once in this primitive style, and away I 
 cantered. The fellows had not made any inquiry at the tent 
 where my nephew was, in passing ; on the contrary, he observed 
 that, to his surprise — for he was at the door — they had kept 
 themselves as much as possible out of sight, going on the other 
 side — the wrong side of the dray and horses. It was evident 
 that they did not mean to restore it, if they could help it. Away 
 I went after them, but did not overtake them till I had ridden 
 about seven miles. Here I found them stopping to rest, and to let 
 their horses graze. They were sitting very composedly on the 
 cart shafts, when I rode up. 
 
 " Good day," said I. 
 
 " Good day," replied one of the fellows, gruffly. 
 
 *' You picked up a writing-ease of mine on the road ; I will 
 thank you to return it to me." No answer. 
 
 " I am quite aware that you have it, and therefore I beg you to 
 let me have it without delay, for my party are detained by the 
 accident." No answer. 
 
 "An old man saw you pick it up, and advised you to leave it at 
 my tent, which you passed directly after. So pray do not detain 
 me ; I am ready to pay you any reasonable sura for your picking 
 it up." No answer. They were three as sturdy and dogged- 
 looking fellows as you would wish to see, or rather not wish to 
 see in a solitary place like that, in a country infested by " old 
 lags." I began to think that I should have to extend my ride to 
 Kilmore, for nothing seemed to move them ; and it was evident 
 they did not mean to confess that they had the thing. Had I 
 been on foot, I should have expected that they would just have 
 seized me, taken me a little way into the wood, and tied me up to 
 
 f3 
 
70 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 a tree, while they went off; but being on horseback and well 
 arraed, I had no apprehension on that score. An idea now oc- 
 curred to me. The case contained a number of introductory let- 
 ters from the Governor. 
 
 " Now, my good fellows," I said, " you had better be obliging, 
 and not detain me. The writing-case contains letters of his 
 Excellency the Governor ; and I give you fair warning, that, 
 after this demand, if you oblige me to proceed to a magistrate, it 
 will go hard with you." This took effect at once. They ex- 
 changed looks with each other, and one of them went to the cart, 
 fetched out the writing-case, and handed it to me without a word. 
 
 " What am I in your debt ? " I asked. 
 
 " D — n the debt ! " said the fellow w^ho handed it to me ; " if I 
 had known that it belonged to such a high and mighty person, it 
 might have lain in the road for me ; and the next time I see any- 
 thing it shall lie." 
 
 " By all means, my friend," said I, turning my horse's head for 
 a retreat ; " do so, — the thing may then chance to fall into honest 
 hands. Good morning to you." And away I galloped. On 
 examining the case, there was nothing missing ; but the fellows 
 were knowing ones. They had opened the little secret drawer, 
 expecting to find money (there was none in the case) ; and in 
 closing it again, they had let a number of steel pens fall into it, 
 which betrayed their search. 
 
 We halted a day at Whitehead's station, then held by Dr. 
 Lumsden, who, with Mrs. Lumsden, were extremely kind and 
 courteous. From that point we travelled on, with splendid wea- 
 ther and good roads. On " The Fifth of November" we en- 
 camped in a very charming place. It was a fine, grassy country, 
 and yet we had scarcely seen a herd of cattle or sheep for twenty 
 miles or more. There were splendid meadows, up to the knees 
 in grass, down which the Sunday Creek ran ; and all around were 
 the finest slopes, descending into the valley from the wooded hills, 
 like the slopes of some beautiful old park, green and smooth as if 
 mown for pleasure-grounds. Our horses revelled in the richest 
 herbage, and below us lay a valley up to the middle in grass ; a 
 considerable lagoon, surrounded by giant red-gums; and, be- 
 yond, the creek, or little river, running amid a mass of thick 
 trees. 
 
 After we had pitched our tent, I went down to the creek, and 
 had a delicious bathe. Trees of stupendous size and height over- 
 shadowed the stream, deepening still more the advancing twilight. 
 I could not help thinking how impossible such an ablution would 
 
ENTER ON STERILE COUNTRY. 71 
 
 have been in almost any other wild country in a similar climate. 
 Lions, tigers, or boa-constrictors would have made free to wait 
 upon you, or serpents would have dropped from the trees above. 
 Here there was nothing to fear ; and I saw the rapid shades of 
 evening falling around me before I got dressed again, having 
 been annoyed by nothing but a few mosquitoes, and the dissonance 
 of a large flock of white cockatoos, which came to roost there, and 
 extremely resented my intrusion, flying from tree to tree with the 
 most grating cries. Surely, of all birds in creation,, these cockatoos 
 have the most harsh and rasping voices. 
 
 On my return to the tent, we sat down on the grass, and took 
 our tea-supper by a blazing log, at the foot of a magnificent white 
 gum-tree, in great jollity. The sky above us was cloudless, and of 
 the deepest blue. My old acquaintances, the Southern Cross, the 
 splendid Scorpion, and the Magellan Clouds, bright as at sea, 
 called back my thoughts to the days of our voyage. On the hill 
 opposite to us were three other tents, belonging to parties going 
 the same way ; and their fires lit up the trees around, in all their 
 azure foliage, most beautifully. Our horses were tethered near in 
 great luxury of grass ; — and thus passed the Fifth of November, 
 1852! 
 
 The following day we entered on a new kind of country, more 
 sterile, and already burning up. It seemed to consist of a sandy 
 clay, which bakes in the sun as hard as stone. The grass upon 
 it was poorer, though the trees were still very large. The roads 
 looked by places as if they had been burnt with fire, the small 
 stones upon them being hard and brittle, as if they had been 
 in a fierce heat. On our right hand stretched hills almost amount- 
 ing to mountains, — part of that hilly district which extends from 
 the Goulburn river, near which we then were, to the Heads of the 
 Plenty. Amongst these arose conspicuously the hill of Tallarook, 
 on the station of Mr. Horden. 
 
 On the driest places of this dry region grow immense quan- 
 tities of the yellow everlasting, — two kinds, the many-flowered 
 and the single-flowered, — the latter having a disc as large as a 
 half-crown piece. We have both kinds in England. On all the 
 dry flats near the rivers grows, too, as common as sloe-trees in 
 England, the acacia fragrans, — the sweet-scented acacia of our 
 conservatories. The flowers of this colony, so far as we had gone, 
 we found often very lovely and sweet, but small, and so sparsely 
 scattered in the grass, that they produced very little effect. I 
 nowhere saw the same masses of flower-colour which I have seen 
 in the fields in England ; but there are two flowers that are con- 
 
 f4 
 
72 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 stant reminders of England, — the common buttercup, just as with 
 us, and a purple violet, but without scent. There is a flower like 
 a larkspur, standing about the same height, and having many- 
 flowers on astern, — purple, with a rich, heliotrope odour, — which 
 they call everywhere cherry-brandy {Thysanotus tuherosus). 
 There are lovely orchises and lobelias, some of which have the 
 same scent as the lime-tree. In the grassy places, the murnong 
 of the natives, like a yellow hawkweed, and a yellow bachelor's 
 button {Craspedia Ridua), are very gay. There is everywhere, 
 at that time of the year, a very pretty flower, which, before it 
 opens, looks very like the Hypericum pulchrum ; but when the 
 flowers expand, more resembles a star of Bethlehem. It is of a 
 fine gold colour {Bulbine semibarbatum). But the hot weather 
 soon sends away most of these vernal flowers. The native flax, 
 just like our flax, grows all over the country, showing its azure 
 blossoms with another, but shorter, azure flower, very like a 
 nemophile. Amongst the flowering shrubs, I observed various 
 Daviesias and Grevilleas, with their pink and orange blossoms 
 looking very lovely, but not magnificent. There was, too, the 
 native hop, as much unlike a hop as the native cherry is unlike a 
 cherry. This so-called hop — only so called because it is intensely 
 bitter — is a shrub with oval leaves, growing in the bush, from 
 two to six feet high, and with various shoots springing from one 
 root, very much resembling tufts of plum-suckers, or suckers of 
 the poplar, and having orange-coloured flowers. Instead of a 
 humulus, it is a Daviesia, the latifolia. 
 
 But perhaps the birds * are the most striking feature of Aus- 
 tralia, next to the hills and forests themselves. They are nu- 
 merous, varied, often splendid, and are around you everywhere. 
 Foremost amongst them are the magpie, the leatherhead, and the 
 laughing jackass. The voice of the laughing-jackass was familiar 
 to us, from having heard it so frequently in the Zoological Gardens, 
 as we crossed the Regent's Park. But the leatherhead and piping- 
 magpie are constant companions; and they are the more amusing 
 the more you see and hear them. They begin with the first peep 
 of dawn, and there is then a perfect jargon of their and other 
 birds' voices. There is a species of gray thrush, which has a 
 splendid, but unvaried note. It is constantly singing " Otock- 
 tock-o-tue," laying a fine stress on the last vowel. Some of them 
 seem to say rather, " ! O ! ochio-chee." The richness and 
 
 * All this account of the birds is borrowed by Reade iu " Never too Late 
 to Mend." See Preface to this Volume. 
 
PIPING MAGPIES. — LEATHERHEADS. 73 
 
 music of the tone is unrivalled. A score of others have each their 
 own note, and take part in the great concert ; but they are the 
 leatherheads and piping magpie that are the chief and constant 
 performers, and it would be difficult to do justice to their varied 
 powers. There is a droll jollity, a spirit of the grotesque, mingled 
 with the merry and the musical, in these birds, which I have 
 never perceived in any others. I do not believe they could do 
 anything like it in confinement. Their mirth, oddity, and music 
 seem to be a fountain bubbling up from the soul of liberty and 
 enjoyment of their native woods. 
 
 The piping magpies, or crows, whichever we are to call them, 
 have the richest voices, and sometimes pipe most melodiously ; but 
 are sure ere long to break out into wild fantasias of those ringing. 
 Punch-like tones, mingled with croakings which remind you of 
 their crow affinity. Now, they are piping in a deep musical key, 
 as boys in rich tones whistle some air that they have learned. 
 Then again you have a lot of them chanting, as it were, together 
 in a low key, and with such extraordinary variety of modulations 
 as astonishes you. They seem to be holding little singing-meet- 
 ings, — family concerts, — in which the subject of their songs must 
 be something very comic. In their louder warblings you have 
 continually recurring the sound of " Ochio-faliera-po." You see 
 these magpies, with their clean black and white plumage and plump 
 comfortable-looking bodies, in numbers all over the forest. 
 
 The leatherheads, again, with a very different voice, are just as 
 various in their performances. At one time they seem to bark 
 like little dogs, at another they shout " Off we go ! " Then they 
 are crying for an hour together, " Nylgau," or some such note. 
 About Kiimore, they have a cry most distinct of '* Kilmore," and 
 must, to a certain degree, be mocking birds ; and their chatterings 
 amongst themselves are inimitably ludicrous. 
 
 There is a sort of large, dark-coloured thrush called the wattle- 
 bird, not because it haunts the wattle-trees, but because it has 
 wattles like a domestic fowl. This bird frequents the Banksias, 
 sucking the honey from their flowers, and has a crow and voice 
 very like a pheasant. But it has many other notes. One common 
 cry is " Yock ! yock !" At other times it sits singing for hours in 
 a clear, soft voice, " tacamahac." If you startle it, it cries " Karac- 
 karock," the name of the native goddess : and at other times, in a 
 harsh voice near you, it seems to say, " Where's your bacca-box, 
 your box, your box?" And then this cry as rapidly changes into 
 a jovial, rollicking note of " Gyroc-de-doc, roc-de-doc ; cheboc ! 
 cheboc ! " 
 
<^ TWO T16AR8 IN VJOTORIA. 
 
 It is false to my that no Australian birds have a complete song; 
 there are warblers that sing pretty much as those that visit Eng- 
 land. The piping magpie iu^s a complete collection of songs ; and 
 the leatherhead, besidt^s what I have mentioned, has a regular 
 8ong, which it is impossible to describe, but is like a merry tune 
 played on a tiddle, and is constantly heartl at this season, wheu 
 they have nests. Their voice has something metalHo in it \ 
 and their notes seem often worked otT by some odd kind of n^n- 
 ohinery, 
 
 Chai'lton, my youngest son, saw and heard all this as he led tho 
 fore horse along the foi^st track ; and oi\en, when he should Ih> 
 paying the olosest attention to avoid stumps and tj'ees, or wheu 
 we wer« newr somt ditticult gully, he would shout out, " See, see ! 
 what a beautiful parrot hangs, head downwards, on that tree !** or, 
 '< See, see! what a beautiful nest! ** or, << See, see! what a flock of 
 gi^en paixjquets!" or, " What a splendid red pariH)t !** or ** bright- 
 blue parixJt!" If a young piping magpie had fallen out of a nest, 
 it was carried along with uji. All bandicoots, kangaroo rats, and 
 opossums caught his eye immediately. At our halting place ho 
 saw a crane in the creek below, and that amphibious creatui^e, the 
 platypus, and found a number of lovely nests in the hunglr 
 branches of the trees. One was a perfect globe, suspended 
 cords ; one very small, like a wiHow-wren*s nest, and the eggs 
 pi'ecisely the same colour. He enjoyed the life amazingly; ai 
 when we came to a sheep or cattle station in the woods, and I re- 
 marked what a solitary life it must be, he always added, *'r>ui i 
 think it must be very pleasant/* 
 
 He and Alft'od also fished a good deal, and caught blaviv .1.-.., 
 perch, tixiut, and mullets, besides those bright-blue crawtish* 
 They went to flsh at the ci^ek with some of our travelling i ' 
 hours, while I sate writing under a tree through one of tlu 
 serene and heavenly evenings that I ever saw, amid the sctuu 
 the gum-trees, like the incense of a Catholic ehuj*ch, ditfu> 
 through the forest. And I was so absorbed by the voices a 
 proceedings of the biixls which I have mentioned, that I beca. 
 insensible to the attacks of mosquitoes, which left their blo^> 
 marks ia some scores of places upon me. 
 
SCENE ON PASSING SANDY CREEK. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Scene on passing Sandy Creek. — Wonderful Scene at the Goulbum Ferry 
 
 Gross Neglect of Government Township of Seymour. — Burnt Ground 
 
 and Barren Woods. — Iguanas. — Snakes. — Pest of ilies. — Overtaken by a 
 Party of Friends. — Huge Trains of Bullock-drays and Digger's Carts. — 
 Aspect of the Diggings. — Women. — Strange Costumes. — Free and easy 
 
 ■ Address. — Van Diemonians. — Thorough Break-down again. — Scenes 
 around us. — Morepork. — Kazor-grinder's Nest. — Mode of Life on Travel. 
 — A View of Interior of our Tent. — Scotch Publicans and greedy High- 
 landers. — Passing the Time till Wheels are repaired. — Sketching and Ex- 
 ploring. — Fresh Birds and Flowers — A Friend returning from the Diggings 
 dilapidated. 
 
 For a couple of days we had travelled over good road, and with 
 splendid weather, throughr a pleasant country. All at once we 
 came to a most formidable gully called Sandy Creek. It was, in 
 fact, a river lying deep amid a scene of chaos which the wintry 
 torrents had produced. First there was a precipitate descent 
 down to the bed of the river, steep as the roof of a house. Then 
 there was a quagmire of adhesive clay, deep enough to take the 
 horses up to their bellies, and the cart to the axles. Then, if you 
 got through that, you would be obliged to make a sudden turn 
 upon a heap of solid earth thrown up in the middle of the river, 
 and then make another steep descent to the water, and, finally, to 
 pass through the bed of the river, of some twenty yards wide at 
 least. The water was up to your waist ; and some huge trunks 
 of trees lay sunk in the stream, ready to stop or to overturn your 
 vehicle. 
 
 The party that was passing this hideous place immediately be- 
 fore us, had their cart at once turned topsy-turvy, and their horse 
 thrown upon its back in the water, with its heels in the air. 
 Luckily the water was not deep just at the spot ; or the horse 
 must have inevitably been drowned. The poor people's luggage 
 — their beds, clothes, provisions, everything, were soaking in the 
 stream. 
 
 Warned by their fate, we set to, and with our shovels levelled 
 down some of the ridges of the middle heap ; and Alfred wading 
 through the river, leading the fore horse, and I on the shafts driv- 
 ing, we passed successfully through with half our load ; for we 
 did not venture with the whole, lest we should capsise too, or be 
 scotched against some of the sunken timber, especially as we had 
 
76 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 to ascend a very steep hill as soon as we had crossed. In taking 
 the second half over, the horses played me and Charlton a trick ; 
 for, accustomed to make a rush at such places, before we could 
 mount, away they dashed through the river, spite of all Alfred's 
 exertions, and left us to wade through after tliem. But this was 
 no hardship : the day had been very hot ; and we found it cool 
 and refreshing. Our clothes were quickly dry again ; and we en- 
 camped on a rising ground above the stream, near the station of 
 Captain Adams, where we procured milk and mutton. The latter 
 article rose as we approached the diggings. At first we purchased 
 a sheep for IO5. ; here half a sheep cost that sum. 
 
 We rested the Sunday ; and Alfred and I took a walk to the 
 ferry over the Goulburn, near Seymour, about three miles from 
 our camp. We found the stream about the width of the Thames 
 at Henley, but of a very different character. It has none of the 
 clearness and brightness of an English river, but, like all Austra- 
 lian ones that I have yet seen, has a sobiewhat sullen and moody 
 look. It lies deep between its banks, and abounds with fallen 
 trees and snags ; and, appearing deep itself, these circumstances 
 tend to give it its sombre look. 
 
 We were there struck with two extraordinary things. One was 
 the enormous traffic on the road to the diggings ; and the other 
 the amazing neglect of the Government of the natural resources of 
 the colony, and consequently of the interests of the public. 
 
 When w^e came down to the ferry on the Sunday afternoon, we 
 found a train of loaded drays, of about a mile long, all waiting to 
 go over. When we went, early on the Monday morning, there 
 was still a train of equal or greater length. " What ! " we asked, 
 " have these drays been waiting here all night to go over? " " Oh, 
 no ! " said the drivers ; " we are all come up this morning." 
 " Then why don't they let you cross ? " 
 
 *' You may ask that," said the men ; " but they have got us on 
 this side, and they do as they like with us ; they know we can't 
 ford it." 
 
 " But why does not the Government see to this obstruction ? " 
 
 " Government ! Government ha'n't got nothing to do wi't. They 
 only should ; and then, I reckon, it would n't be no better." 
 
 *< Who, then, has to do with it ?" J 
 
 " Why, the publican here, to be sure. He put the ferry over ; * 
 Government never troubles its head about sich things ; and a 
 pretty penny the man is making of it. Why, he sacks 100/. a 
 day, if he sacks a penny. Look, here 's more nor fifty drays here 
 
TOWNSHIP OF SEYMOUK. 77 
 
 now ; not one on 'em will get over under a pound a piece ; and 
 there's plenty more on the road." 
 
 Our astonishment may be imagined. Here was a government 
 doing nothing in the world to the roads to enable the diggers — 
 the very life-blood of the colony, and the source of its unrivalled 
 prosperity — to get their provisions up, and their gold down ; and 
 here had nature put into their hands, by this unfordable river, a 
 means of raising funds to any extent for the making and mainte- 
 nance of them ; but so far from laying hold on this grand advan- 
 tage, they suffered the first man that pleased, not only to monopolise 
 it, but to make it an engine of unexampled extortion to the public! 
 Well, we thought, may colonial government be proverbial, if it be 
 like this : — a toll which in England would not exceed a halfpenny 
 for a man, threepence for a horse, and sixpence or a shilling for a 
 dray, at 6d. each foot passenger, ls,6d. each horse, and 1/. or more 
 for a dray and bullocks ! 
 
 But worse still, the government neither protected the pockets 
 nor the time of the public. We watched the proceedings at this 
 ferry (or punt, as they call it) with increasing astonishment. The 
 lucky publican, who levied a good round tax for his liquors and 
 entertainment at his house besides, not only laid on such incredible 
 tolls here, but treated the people that he fleeced with the utmost 
 contempt. Notwithstanding the pressure for transit, and the 
 value of the passers' time, he could only employ two men to work 
 the ferry-boat, who seemed quite resolved not to hurt themselves. 
 They turned their winch very leisurely, stopping every now and 
 then to gossip with bystanders ; and if people called out in impa- 
 tience to be over, they moved all the slower, besides giving some 
 insulting answer. At breakfast time and at noon they disappeared, 
 each time for an hour ; and though their master was netting such 
 a splendid sum every day, he could not afford to keep a relay of 
 two men to work during the two hours they were away. It was 
 eleven o'clock before our turn came to pass ; and we thought our- 
 selves very lucky that it was not twelve, or we should have had to 
 wait till one. 
 
 We crossed the Goulburn Nov. 9th — Lord Mayor's day ! — at 
 Seymour, which cuts a considerable figure on the map, but then 
 consisted of two inns, one shop, and a few cottages. At the shop we 
 found the very coarsest sugar Is. per lb., and flour 150/. per ton 1 
 
 From Seymour we proceeded twenty-five miles over a flat coun- 
 try, sterile and burnt up. It appears some time to have been 
 bodily on fire. The small stones scattered everywhere over the 
 surface, which is of a reddish colour, grind up on the roads exactly 
 
78 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 like brick-dust. The ground is as hard as stone, the grass scanty, 
 and the trees comparatively small. It was, as you may suppose, 
 pretty warm walking through this almost desert country with the 
 sun at 100° and more. There were few birds to be seen or heard ; 
 they prefer the more fertile regions ; but every now and then we 
 came to a great iguana or tree-lizard, lying dead on the road ; for 
 the diggers shoot all they see, probably imagining them venomous, 
 though they are not so, but are eaten by the natives as a great de- 
 licacy ; and travellers have eaten them too, and pronounced the 
 same verdict. At the same time their appearance is by no means 
 prepossessing. Some of them measure five feet in length, and 
 resemble small crocodiles. They are of a dingy grey or lead-colour, 
 with a dry, leathery look. They brandish a long steel-blue tongue, 
 as they creep rapidly up the boles of the trees ; and their tails are 
 long, and taper away to the smallness of a piece of whipcord, and 
 are frequently divided into alternating lengths of three or four 
 inches each of grey and white. They, as well as most of the 
 lizard tribe, like hot places. There were also, every now and then, 
 huge serpents thrown out on the road, which travellers had killed. 
 Some of these were, at least, five or six feet long, and as thick as 
 one's wrist ; but we saw few alive, and they were all anxious to 
 get out of our way. Near our tent we found a piece of the skii 
 of a carpet-snake which was ten inches in circumference. 
 
 But these creatures never troubled us. They are the flies whicl 
 are the torment and nuisance of this country. They exist in mil- 
 lions, and cover you and your horses all over as you go. There is 
 a small .fly just like our common house-fly, which is a perfec 
 fiend. It is legion ; and every day, the whole day long, during 
 six months of the year, they are darting in a cloud at your eyes 
 nose, and mouth, with an incessant and determined audacity. Wj 
 were obliged on their account to wear veils on our hats, whicl 
 went all round and drew close to the neck ; but these veils ai 
 very close and smothering in hot climates. I therefore preferret 
 to whisk a small branch about before my face, and I had it in mj 
 hand from morning till night. As soon as these flies leave you ii 
 the evening, the mosquitoes take you up, and are at you all night 
 I have often wondered why Beelzebub was called the god ol 
 flies ; but I know now. He must have been the very chief of toi 
 mentors. 
 
 One morning, about eleven o'clock, as we were quietly pro 
 ceeding through the torrid woods, we saw a large party with twi 
 bullock-drays, who had stopped to rest and refresh, and were 
 seated on the ground very jovially. Alfred and Charlton were 
 
OVEBTAKEN BY A PARTY OF FRIENDS. 79 
 
 going on before with the team, and I observed to my nephew, who 
 was walking with me, that these were none of your rude diggers, 
 but English gentlemen. They had most of them blue blouses, 
 with belts round them, and veils on their straw hats. Scarcely 
 had I spoken, when we saw two gentlemen start up and rush forth 
 out of the party after Alfred and Charlton, and call after them. 
 They stopped, and then commenced a hearty shaking of hands. 
 I imagined that it must be Mr. Hankin and his party ; but, on 
 coming up, found that they were Mr. Bateman, Mr. Burnhard 
 Smith, and Mr. Woolner, three artists, and their friends. They 
 had not at first recognised the two youths in their Australian dis- 
 guises, — Alfred in scarlet blouse, with revolver and bowie-knife 
 in his belt, and Charlton in his grey blouse and white wide-awake. 
 
 Mr. Bateman had brought us a whole heap of letters and news- 
 papers up from Melbourne ; and we sat down on a log alternately 
 to talk and peruse them. The reader may imagine that it was a 
 joyful moment to us. Just before us was a spectacle that would 
 have astonished a cockney. It was a tree on fire. A party over 
 night had made their camp-fire at its foot. The tree was a large 
 red-gum, but hollow as they often are. The fire had gone up it, 
 as up a chimney, to its very branches. At its foot the ashes 
 poured out of its glowing interior as from a furnace, and, as we 
 sat, the huge head of the tree came down with a tremendous 
 crash. The fire had consumed all its interior support, and the 
 whole tree-top, covered with its green leaves, lay on the ground 
 smoking from the thick ends of the branches, and leaving the tall 
 stem standing as a fire-chimney. Well for the campers that it did 
 not fall before they went — that it had not indeed fallen on them 
 while asleep ! 
 
 Mr. Bateman at once joined our party, and we travelled on with 
 this accession of company to near this spot, where we camped, our 
 new neighbours making themselves very merry round their fire 
 just by us — one playing on the flute, and others singing. All 
 were gay, because the news from the new gold-field of the Ovens 
 was good. Alfred and Charlton were as blithe as any of them. 
 They were always full of spirit and resources, never discouraged 
 by untoward events, and liked the life amazingly. Edward, my 
 nephew, w^hose great taste is chemistry, and who really has a sur- 
 prising knowledge of it, was carrying a bottle of strong nitric acid 
 all the way in his hand, to use as a test, and dared not put it into 
 the cart, lest it should break and destroy things. 
 
 It was amusing to see the almost endless trains of bullock-drays 
 and diggers' carts on the road. The drays were covered with can- 
 
80 TWO TEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 vass awnings, and drawn by eight or ten bullocks each, amongst 
 •which there was almost sure to be a Cockey, a Tiger, a Brindle, a 
 Strawberry, a Lion, a Mulberry, and a Dandy. The diggers' 
 carts were piled with all sorts of diggers' apparatus — shovels, 
 sieves, cradles, iron buckets, picks, axes, and the like. Behind 
 hung whole heaps of pms, panikins, kettles, and iron pots, with 
 a sprinkUng of frying-pans. Upon the rest of the cargo lay beds 
 and bedding, and often two or three women and some children. 
 Under or beside the cart went a couple or more of huge dogs. 
 Around the cart marched on eight or ten fellows, many of them 
 with guns on their shoulders; and others with their swags, as 
 they call them, that is, bundles rolled up in various fashions, ac- 
 cording to fancy ; often containing a rug or blanket for a tem- 
 porary bed at night, or to roll themselves up in under a tree. 
 
 I saw one day four or five of these fellows strolling on behind 
 their cart. Amongst them was a young woman very well dressed, 
 wearing a sun-bonnet, that is, not a bonnet with " an ugly," but 
 a full flap behind, at least a foot long, to screen the neck. On one 
 shoulder she had a gun, and in the other hand a basket, while one 
 of the men carried a baby, and another a swag. Many were 
 travelling up without cart or horse, bearing all they took on their 
 backs ; others with a packhorse. You saw a good many women 
 going up on the whole, and some of them right handsome young 
 girls. They all seemed very cheerful and even merry ; and the 
 women appeared to make themselves very much at home in this 
 wild, nomadic life. 
 
 As for the generality of the men, they were, to look at, as rude 
 fellows as you ever saw. They beat your navvies at home all to 
 nothing. They were generally rigged out in strong fustian 
 trowsers, and stout shoes or boots ; a blouse or cloth shirt, 
 called a "jumper," tucked into their trowsers, — sometimes blue, 
 often scarlet, and as often of great tawdry stripes of red and white, 
 and blue and white, and, in fact, of all sorts of strange and flaming 
 colours. They almost all wore the dirty battered cabbage-tree 
 hat, had grim beards, and looked as if they never washed. 
 You may know the old diggers by the worn and dashed state of 
 their appurtenances. Many of these fellows are escaped convicts 
 from Sydney or Van Diemen's Land, and are as rude and lawless 
 as they look; They are very cavalier and independent in their 
 speech and behaviour. Here they throw off all restraint of law or 
 custom ; that of good manners some of them never knew. 
 
 They hail you as they pass with, *' Well, my lads, are you for 
 the Ovens ? " They come up and examine very freely everything 
 
THOROUGH BREAK-DOWN. 81 
 
 you have about, and make the freest possible remarks on them. 
 " Well, old man," is a common salutation from one to another. 
 Their extreme freedom of address was quite amusing to me. But 
 rude and lawless as the bulk of these men are, they seem generally 
 content to live on the gold they get. At least, so far, that is three 
 weeks on the way, we encountered them in all sorts of places, but 
 never suffered the slightest molestation from them. But all go so 
 well armed, that that may be one reason why the peace is pretty 
 well kept ; for, spite of the apparent security, nothing is more 
 certain than that a great number of these fellows are of the vilest 
 scum of creation. They are, however, mixed up with a large 
 amount of respectable men, though I did not see anything like 
 that proportion of gentlemen that we were led to expect. 
 
 On Friday, Nov. 12, we found ourselves in a fix that almost 
 made us despair of our extrication. Our cart broke down in the 
 midst of the wilderness, ten miles from the nearest wheelwright, 
 and we were not certain that there was one at that time even 
 there ! We were passing over a deep creek, when our cart got 
 such a shock that one of the wheels gave way, and down came 
 the whole affair. We had no idea whether it were possible to get 
 the wheel repaired within any reasonable distance, or whether 
 there were any station near. There was nothing for it but to set 
 up our tent by the stream, and get our property under cover till 
 we could see what was to be done. Meantime the party that we 
 had so lately joined were obliged to go on and leave us behind. 
 But our fate was not at all singular. All the way up, the road 
 was scattered with dead bullocks and horses, broken axles, dis- 
 located wheels, drays smashed bodily, or fixed deep in bogs. 
 People without end had lost their horses or cattle. One party 
 supplied their loss of a horse with two bullocks, which they har- 
 nessed in front of their shaft horse ; another gentleman had a 
 horse, which cost him 100/., drowned in the Goulburn, and had to 
 buy another at that price. We were not so badly off. We heard 
 of a station near, where we could get meat, and Alfred rode off to 
 inquire about the wheelwright. 
 
 Alfred returned successful. He found the wheelwright, who 
 engaged to repair the wheel for 8/. ; quite a trifle for such a job 
 there, though in England you can get one of Ransom's best patent 
 carts altogether for 121. Well, there was, at all events, a prospect 
 of getting all right again sometime. 
 
 As we had to remain a month at this spot, on a creek called 
 Two Mile Creek, not far from Mr. Forlonge's station, at a new 
 
 G 
 
82 TWO TEARS IN VICTORU. 
 
 village, of three or four houses, called Euroa, an extract from one 
 of my letters will tell the reader how we contrived to pass our 
 time, and what was our daily routine on the road. " All night we 
 hear the opossums and flying squirrels round us. The sounds at 
 night are as peculiar as those in the day. For the greater part of 
 it the frogs keep up their chorus. Some seem to play on castanets, 
 others to spin wheels round, others to whirl rattles, and others to 
 bark like dogs. One day we really thought we had heard a pack 
 of hounds, but it was a set of very deep-mouthed bull-frogs. 
 Then again the curlews cry from the distant swamps, the quails from 
 the bush ; and the morepork, a species of caprimulgus or goatsucker, 
 keeps up all night the exact repetition of its own name, * More- 
 pork ! morepork!' It is a sound to me the most expressive of a 
 dreary loneliness and twilight distance that I ever heard. At 
 first we fancied that it was a nocturnal cuckoo, the cry of which 
 its note resembles; and many new comers actually think it is one. 
 Last night an opossum came close to the door of our tent, rearing 
 up like a hare, and looking in. It makes an odd snoring noise, 
 and the flying squirrel a terrific screech. As soon as there is a 
 moon we mean to shoot some of them. 
 
 " The other day Charlton found the nest of a razor-grinder. 
 *■ What !' you will say, *do razor-grinders make nests in Australia?' 
 Certainly. The razor-grinder is a bird which very much resembles 
 a swallow, but is larger, and swings its long tail about just like a 
 magpie. It is a very bold bird, and makes a noise precisely like 
 a knife passed over a grindstone. You see it continually about 
 your horses, and always about their noses as they graze — I sup- 
 pose, to catch the flies that annoy the poor creatures ; and they 
 seem to be quite aware that the razor-grinders are doing them a 
 service. This pair had built their nest over a brook on the bough 
 of a mimosa-tree, so that snakes or wild cats could not easily get 
 at it. There were three young ones quite ready to fly, and it wa3 
 laughable to see them ; for the nest was very small, and any one 
 of the young birds was enough to fill it. So there they all sat, 
 like outside passengers of a coach, while the old birds flew at us 
 in a very bold manner, not caring for us. Sometimes they were 
 hovering in th^ air just before our noses, and then perching on a 
 branch close to us, and chattering and waving their tails about in 
 great agitation. When we retired, they were not contented, but 
 followed us a good way, as if to insult us, flirting up against us, 
 and keeping up an incessant chatter, as if saying, * What business 
 have you coming about our premises ? Impertinent intruders ! you 
 ought to know better. So you are going at length, are you ? 
 
MODE OP LIFE ON TRAVEL. 83 
 
 But we will see you safely off the ground, for we have the worst 
 possible opinion of you.' 
 
 " When we are travelling we have little leisure. We encamp, if 
 we can, not later than four o'clock. We look out for a good supply 
 of water, running water if possible. Near water we must be, both 
 for ourselves and horses. The next requisite is wood to cook 
 with ; and though the Australian forests abound with dead wood, 
 yet sometimes near a great road and favourite camping-spots, it is 
 cleared away to a good distance rounds and requires some labour 
 to collect. The third requisite is always, in fact, the first with us 
 — plenty of grass for the horses, and yet ground dry enough for 
 safe lodging upon it. We always look out, too, for a fallen tree to 
 make the fire against, or a tree sufficiently slanting, so that, if it 
 burn through, it may tumble away from us. These desiderata 
 being found, we draw off to some distance from the highway — a 
 welcome sign of stopping to the horses, and which they instantly 
 understand. We place the cart so as to be convenient to get what 
 we want out of it ; then pitch our tent opposite to the fire, but so 
 that the smoke shall blow from us. Cliarlton takes the horses, 
 gives them water, and tethers them out where there is the best 
 grass. Meantime Alfred and I make the beds up in the tent, and 
 the two Edwards make a fire, get out flour, and prepare a damper 
 or a leather-jacket for tea. The damper, the universal bread of 
 the bush, is a mere unleavened cake of a foot diameter, and from 
 an inch to an inch and a half thick, baked in the ashes. The 
 leather-jacket is a cake of mere flour and water, raised with tartaric 
 acid and carbonate of soda instead of yeast, and baked in the frying- 
 pan ; and is equal to any muffin you can buy in the London shops. 
 A fat-cake is the same thing as a leather-jacket, only fried in fat, 
 and is not only much sooner done, but is really excellent. After 
 tea they bake in the camp-oven, in the embers of the fire, a loaf, 
 raised also with acid and soda, and which is equal to any home- 
 baked bread in England. A suet pudding, called a dough-boy, or 
 a dish of rice or potatoes, if we have them, are put into the fat, 
 and when ready, beef steaks or mutton chops are fried ; and our 
 tea-dinner, you will admit, is not to be sneezed at, especially with 
 the Spartan sauce of a day's travel. It is amazing what a quantity 
 of tea is drunk in the bush. It comes upon the table everywhere 
 in the bush or on the road. Two or three panikins, that is, from 
 a quart to three pints, are thought no extraordinary quantity for 
 one person, after the copious perspiration of a day's travel in this 
 warm, dry country. 
 
 After tea Alfred gets his pipe ; Tve talk over our affairs, and 
 
 G 2 
 
84 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 retire early to bed. We are up at peep of day, that is, from four 
 to five o'clock, breakfast again on tea, damper, and a fry ; pack 
 and move on till noon, when we stop near some stream, get a 
 luncheon pretty much like a dinner, lie down for a couple of hours, 
 and then on again till four o'clock. That is our routine, except 
 getting a bathe, or good cool wash from head to foot where bath- 
 ing is impracticable, after we have camped. 
 
 If you could see us, however, now we are stationary — if you 
 could see all our pots, pans, panikins, our buckets and tin dishes, 
 for making loaves or puddings in, and our larger ones for washing 
 in ; our knives, forks, and spoons lying about ; our little sacks — 
 pillow-cases, in fact — of sugar, rice, salt, flour, &c., standing here 
 and there ; our tea-chest, our tin tea-pot, of capacious dimensions ; 
 our tea-kettle, in constant requisition; our American axes, for 
 chopping firewood into suitable lengths ; our lantern, at night sus- 
 pended by a cord from the centre of the tent, or more commonly a 
 crowbar stuck into the ground with a candle between its fork — 
 a famous candelabrum, — if you could see the whole interior of 
 our tent, with its tarpaulin spread for a carpet, and the beds spread 
 out over part of the floor covered with grey rugs, that is at night, 
 but in the day rolled up into a divan ; the tent hung round with 
 straw hats with veils on them, caps, &c., revolvers, daggers, travel- 
 ling pouches ; our guns standing in a corner, with books and port- 
 folios lying about, you would say that it was a scene at once 
 curious, yet comfortable-looking. It is amazing, however, since 
 Bateman arrived, what an unvaried air of neatness the place has 
 assumed. Things have fallen into order, and have been grouped 
 so as to produce artistic effect. We have had four posts set down 
 in front, and a roof made of boughs, so that we can sit out there 
 in the air and the shade; and the ground under it is scattered 
 with rushes, or the twigs of the shiack, so that we are thus carpeted 
 like the barons in their halls of old. 
 
 ^^ Monday^ Nov. I5th. — Yesterday Alfred and I rode over to the 
 Salutation Inn, a good twelve miles, in my opinion, to see the 
 wheelwright again about our cart-wheel. We had constructed a 
 kind of sledge of boughs to draw it on ; but, considering the dis- 
 tance, the heat, and the dust, we determined to send it by some 
 empty cart. The first people that we saw proved to be High- 
 landers; and of all the men that I have encountered here, High- 
 landers are the most unfeeling and rapacious. Before the gold 
 discovery, this colony was almost entirely Scotch ; and all the 
 world gives the palm to the Scotch for ability in turning a penny. 
 When buying some meat at a public-house the other day, another 
 
SCOTCH PUBLICANS AND GREEDY HIGHLANDERS. 85 
 
 purchaser said, in my presence, *Now, I must have a nobbier 
 out of this/ that is, in colonial phrase, a glass of grog, — for 
 scarcely anything but rum and brandy are drunk here, beer being 
 6s. a bottle. ' I wish you may get it,' said the servant who was 
 selling it ; *but my master is — Scotch!' 
 
 " Ten times Scotch, however, are all the Highlanders that we 
 have hitherto come across. Poor as rats at home, they are as 
 rapacious as rats abroad. There is scarcely a year at home that 
 there is not a piteous outcry about the poor famishing Highlanders; 
 but catch a Highlander out here that has any feeling for an Eng- 
 lishman except that of — fleecing him. There may be some of a 
 different stamp; but I have not yet met them. Now these men, 
 who were not asked to go a yard out of their way, who must go to 
 this very place with their empty carts, onli/ asked 21. to take the 
 cart-wheel these ten reputed miles ! and they would not abate a 
 penny. They thought we were in distress, and in haste, and must 
 give it them. 
 
 " But we waited ; and the next who came up was an Englishman, 
 who reasoned thus: — * Well, I know what I was charged for 
 having one of my wheels carried twenty miles ; that was a pound, 
 and half that way should be half the sum ;' and he at once took it 
 for that. 
 
 " Alfred and I mounted our horses, in bush style, and rode after 
 him. Not supposing that we should much require saddles, we 
 brought none ; but I see that we must get some. We threw rugs 
 over the horses, folded so as to make a pad ; put on our rope stir- 
 rups, in which Alfred made a great improvement by fixing a flat 
 piece of wood in the bottom, instead of a stirrup-iron — no doubt 
 the original predecessor of a stirrup-iron. Away we rode ; Alfred 
 upon the grey; looking, in his scarlet jumper, his huge jackboots, 
 his broad straw hat with a brown veil on it, his revolver glittering 
 in his belt on one side, and his bowie-knife on the other, for all the 
 world like a figure out of one of Wouverman's pictures. As we 
 approached Middlemiss's Inn, the Salutation, we met two men, who 
 called out, * If you are going to Middlemiss's, that man is dead.' 
 
 " ' Dead ! ' we exclaimed, in consternation ; * what, the poor 
 fellow who took our wheel ?' 
 
 " ' Oh, no,' said they ; * the blacksmith. We thought you (that 
 iSj we two!) were the doctor.' 
 
 ' The smith ! That was bad news, too ; for he was required to take 
 off the tire from the wheel, and put it on again. The man 
 had died in the night ; and we found the wheelwright working 
 away at such a speed at his coffin, that he could hardly give us a 
 
 G 3 
 
86 TWO TEAKS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 word : * for/ said he, < the man is flyblown already, and we must 
 have him in the ground this evening.' 
 
 " Oh, these flies ! these troops of Beelzebub ! They are an in- 
 tolerable pestilence, an incessant torment. And these yellow- 
 bottles, — for blue-bottles they are not, — deposit live maggots 
 on meat immediately it is killed, and on game the moment it is 
 hung up ; and in a few hours these maggots are more than half an 
 inch long. 
 
 '* But the black flies are the most persecuting vermin. As I sit 
 writing this in my tent, I have a branch of eucalyptus in my left 
 hand, which I incessantly whirl round my head ; or I could not 
 proceed for a moment. You cannot sit one instant, even in your 
 tent, without hat or cap, for them. How people continue to spend 
 whole lives in such an Egypt, we have yet to learn. But this is a 
 parenthesis. 
 
 ^'A party coming over the creek here, soon after us, snapped 
 their bullock-dray pole just where we smashed our wheel ; but 
 they had a carpenter with them, and they have felled a tree and 
 made another. They say that they saw three bullock- drays lying 
 with broken axles, a little way behind ; and you should hear the 
 account of a man who has come over this road all the way from 
 Sydney, 500 miles, crossing rivers and creeks, and having the 
 whole of his horses drowned in one. Another man has stuck 
 fast in the creek here, and has been flogging at his bullocks, and 
 swearing, from nine o'clock this morning till three in the after- 
 noon, before he could get out. Hosts of croakers are now coming 
 down with empty drays, saying, ' Ah ! you don't know what you 
 have before you.' And numbers of coward-hearted diggers are 
 turning back. It will be time enough for us to do so when we 
 find that we must. 
 
 " While we are waiting here, Alfred and Charlton are generally 
 out shooting and fishing ; and Mr. Bateman and Edward are 
 sketching a huge fallen tree, in a pleasant valley on the banks 
 of a fine stream called the Seven Creeks. This tree may give 
 you some idea of the timber here. It is a red-gum, which trees 
 are fond of growing near the water, and often in it, though they 
 are found, too, on the very driest ground. They have no tap- 
 roots, but their roots run along the surface, like those of our ash ; 
 and these trees are therefore easily blown down. I measured a root 
 of this tree as far as it was visible ; and that part of it was 21 yards, 
 or 63 feet. This tree has been blown over by the roots, which 
 stand up loaded with earth 16 yards high and as many wide. It 
 measures upwards of 150 feet to the branches, and must have 
 
VEGETATION. A DILAPIDATED FRIEND. 8 7 
 
 Stood, complete, more than 200 feet high. It is of proportionate 
 thickness ; and about half-way up divides into three stems, each of 
 which would make a colossal tree. 
 
 " The valley where this tree lies, and where, too, the boys are 
 fishing, is very pleasant. The water widens, ever and anon, into 
 great pools, with huge trees tumbled into and across them ; and 
 along the grassy valley grow the most magnificent wattles {Acacia 
 mollissima). They are as large as tolerable oaks, and covered with 
 one mass of golden blossom, which scents the whole air around 
 with the odour of meadow-sweet. On the highest branches of the 
 tallest gum-trees near, we observed a kind of nest made of mud. 
 It was of the shape of a hat-crown, or of a Stilton cheese, set 
 upright on the branch in a way that puzzles us to imagine how 
 it can be kept perpendicular. It is said to be nest of the black 
 magpie ; but we saw no birds about it. This charming valley 
 was bounded by a fine range of hills, which, on Saturday, Alfred 
 and I ascended. The hills must be 2000 feet high, very steep, 
 and rudely scattered with granite crags. Up to the very tops 
 they were covered with grass and scattered trees ; and in the 
 ravines the grass was up to the knees. The shiack-trees, moan- 
 ing in the breeze, reminded me of the sound of the pine-trees 
 in the Black Forest of Germany. The barer crags were covered 
 with everlastings, some golden, some white, but all as crisp as if 
 they had grown in a furnace. There were also some fine hawk- 
 weeds and vetches, abundance of campanulas as light as our 
 harebell, and large tufts of a pale blue flower with a strong poppy 
 smell, probably a calendenia. There is also a white speed-well 
 just like the blue one of our gardens, but three feet high ; and the 
 Dianella ccerulea^ a plant with blue flowers, like that of our bitter- 
 sweet {Solamim dulcamara), but springing from grassy leaves. 
 We observed in the hollow trees several nests of the little green 
 paroquet, — here, from its colour, called the leek. 
 
 *' As I close my writing to-day, the road is crowded with heavily- 
 laden bullock-drays, on the way to the Ovens. There are swarms 
 of people going up, and whole trains of empty drays coming 
 down, — all signs of the great attraction of these new diggings. 
 Amongst the people coming down, I met poor old Ikr. R. He 
 would insist on going up, though totally unfit for such laborious 
 work under an almost tropical sun, or for anything but acting as 
 tent-keeper and cook for some party. The person he went up with 
 proved a Jew pedlar, and never dug at all, but sold his goods at 
 two or three hundred per cent., and hurried ofi" down again for 
 more. Poor R. had no friends, and no tools, nor much strength 
 
 G 4 
 
88 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 to use them if he had, especially as he had little to eat, and had 
 to lie out in the open air. He was going down with a party that 
 only gave him the protection of their company, but found him 
 neither board nor lodging : so you may imagine what a figure he 
 cut. He lay under the trees at night, and ate what he could 
 get. He realised my idea of a wayworn pilgrim returning from 
 some distant shrine ; and, indeed, in this case it was the shrine of 
 Mammon. With a tall, rugged stick in his hand, a beard white 
 and untrimmed, a belt round his waist with a panikin hung t<^ it, 
 foot-sore and travel-worn and dusty, and with a slow, tottering 
 gait, showing that his constitution had suffered a shock, I thought, 
 \Yhat does that man deserve who inveigled him out ? His right 
 hand, with the burning sun and the flies, was one great wound ; 
 he had it wrapped up in a rag ; and he was nearly blind with the 
 fly-blight. Who could imagine this poor old man a gentleman 
 who had been bred in the lap of affluence ? We led him into our 
 tent, gave him refreshment, and filled his pockets for his journey/ 
 He was most thankful, and said it was a real godsend. But a far 
 greater consolation to him was, that we could give him a good ac- 
 count of his family : that they were doing extremely well, and 
 that a comfortable home awaited him at Melbourne. I also gave 
 him a note to my brother, begging him to assist him in procuring 
 some post suitable for him ; so that he went forward in great 
 animation of spirits, and like a new man." 
 
 CHAP. VHL 
 
 Author attacked by Dysentery. — Intolerable Heat. — Melancholy Situation, — 
 Visit from mounted Bushrangers. — Their Cowardice and Cruelty. — Dis- 
 cover Mr. Forlonge's Station. — Eemove to his Sheep Station. — Extreme 
 Kindness. — Life at the Station. — Intelligent Overseers. — Sheep Washing 
 and Shearing Doings of Shearers. — Wonderful Wages. — Cavalier Con- 
 duct of Workmen. — Shepherds insane from Solitude. — Miserable Public- 
 houses. — Bush Life as regards Shepherds, Overseers, and Squatters. — 
 Adventures of Cattle Drivers. — Squatting System the great Obstacle to 
 Colonisation. — About 650 Individuals hold all Victoria. — Instances of Co- 
 lonial Mismanagement. — The Gold Discovery the making of the Squatters. 
 — Visits of Shepherds to the Author. — Daily Scenes at the Crossing of the 
 Creek. — The Government and the Bridge. — Set forward on our Journey. 
 
 My writing was suddenly cut off by illness ; and for seventeen 
 days I was not able to hold a pen. We had not been many days 
 
AUTHOR ATTACKED BY DYSENTERY. 89 
 
 waiting for our cart-wheel, when I was seized with a violent 
 attack of dysentery. I believe the place was an unhealthy one. 
 Though perfectly dry in summer, during the winter it is almost 
 entirely under water; and therefore, no doubt, an unwholesome 
 miasma arises from it. The Two-Mile Creek, too, was sluggish, 
 and had vast quantities of fallen trees rotting in it. However, we 
 all more or less felt the effect of it, but I far more than any of the 
 rest. In fact, the complaints which prevail in that country, as in 
 all warm ones, don't trifle with you. They are rapid and resolute, 
 and make short work of it ; and this seemed as if it would make 
 very short work with me. We were thirty miles from any medical 
 man. Edward's pills, which he had brought with him as a perfect 
 nostrum in this disease, so fatal in that climate, produced not the 
 slightest effect. We did not know who, or if anybody, lived any- 
 where near us in the woods. The weather suddenly set in tropically 
 hot; the thermometer stood at 120° of Fahrenheit in the shade of 
 the tent. For three days I lay prostrate with the disease, and broil- 
 ing with the heat, the whole day persecuted by the incessant attacks 
 of the Australian devils — the little black flies, the most intole- 
 rable, unabashed, and shameless vermin that ever were created. 
 My young people did all they possibly could to defend me from 
 their attacks, though almost driven mad by them themselves. 
 They threw a piece of net-lace over my head, securing all the 
 sides under the bedclothes, but in vain. When they could not 
 find a way in above, — and they would find the very smallest, if it 
 existed, — they dived under the bedclothes, and travelled along 
 till they reached my face. 
 
 I shall never forget those three days. What long, weary days 
 they were. Alfred and Mr. Bateman made a canopy outside the 
 tent, where I could catch what little breeze there was ; and there 
 I lay, watching the sun pass slowly — oh, how slowly! — through 
 the blazing sky. When, at length, it descended, the black tor- 
 mentors took their leave ; and legions of mosquitoes came piping, 
 in their thin notes, from the creek. But these we could keep out. 
 The black fly seems all fire and all devil ; but the mosquito is but 
 like the ghost of a fly. Lanky and feeble, he is easily killed if 
 you watch him ; but he has an awful power of punctuation, if he 
 be allowed time. 
 
 While I was at the worst, there rode up, one day at noon, 
 towards the tent, seven horsemen, one of them having a led-horse 
 by the bridle. As they approached, I was quite satisfied by their 
 appearance of what they were. They drew up in rank, at about 
 a hundred yards from -the tent, and one of them rode forward. 
 
90 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Only a portion of our party were at home ; but to them I gave 
 warning that seven well-mounted bushrangers were at hand, and 
 they got their firearms ready. For my part, ill as I was, I deter- 
 mined, if they demanded money, to go into the tent, on pretence 
 of fetching it, and giving them the contents of a revolver in 
 rotation. Our tent was extremely convenient for that, as we 
 could fire from under the valance round the eaves, without those 
 without seeing precisely where we were, and we made up our 
 minds from the first to treat such fellows as we would so many 
 wolves. 
 
 The one who had advanced, rode round the front of the tent, as 
 if to see how many people were there ; and then gazed at me, 
 without saying a word. I asked him, very sternly, what he 
 wanted ; and he asked, in reply, if we sold lemonade. I said, no ; 
 we sold nothing, except what we should sell pretty dear; and 
 desired him to take himself off. The man seemed quailed by my 
 manner, wheeled his horse round, rode to his fellows, said some- 
 thing, and away they trotted. 
 
 Soon after, a young man of the name of Morgan, whom these 
 seven dastardly fellows had surrounded, knocked off his horse, 
 beaten till he said he was sure that two of his ribs were broken, 
 came up and inquired if we had seen them. It was his horse that 
 they were leading away with them. He said that they had taken 
 all his money except 5/., which he had in a match-box, and which 
 they took out of his pocket and flung away. 
 
 These cowardly villains continued to haunt that road for some 
 time, but only attacking solitary individuals. This young man, 
 watching for them, at length saw two of them at Middlemiss's 
 inn, where we got our wheel mended, and had them captured, and 
 condemned to eight years in the road-gang. 
 
 Scarcely were they gone, when a reiver of a different kind came. 
 My illness continuing as violent as ever, Alfred was about to 
 mount and ride to the Broken river, thirty miles, for a physician, 
 when up came a party and camped near us. They came to borrow 
 a frying-pan and a camp-kettle, which we lent them ; and one of 
 them professing to be a doctor, Edward thought he might tell him 
 what they had given me. The man recommended him to give me 
 some aromatic powder; and had the impudence to charge 1/. for 
 his advice. My proposal was to charge him I/, for the loan of the 
 camp-kettle and frying-pan, and so be quits ; but as, of course, 
 this did not satisfy this soi-disant doctor, we paid him his demand 
 to be rid of him. We soon found that there were plenty of such 
 
LIFE AT A SHEEP STATION. 91 
 
 sharks on the diggings, who had no more real title to the name of 
 doctor than I have. 
 
 Meantime, we had written to Dr. Howitt, who sent medicines 
 and directions for my treatment ; but, for a week, there we lay in 
 a most wretched condition. The intolerable heat had run into 
 thunder, deluges of rain, and cool weather ; but still the frightful 
 complaint continued unabated, and my strength every day was 
 sinking. When some of our party went for the wheel, it still was 
 not done ; and there we were, pinned to the ground in this dismal 
 wilderness, without resource. The grating and dissonant croak- 
 ings of the bullfrogs in the creek, the loud screaming of the cur- 
 lews, and the uncouth sounds of opossums and flying-squirrels, 
 made the nights dolorous. 
 
 At this moment we discovered that we were on the station of 
 Mr. Forlonge, a wealthy squatter; and Alfred immediately rode 
 off to his house, about seven miles distant amongst the hills, to 
 endeavour to get some articles suitable for an invalid. Mr. For- 
 longe instantly supplied him with as much good bread, butter^ 
 eggs, milk, and vegetables as he could bring ; and the next day 
 sent one of his overseers from the hut near us, and took us — tent, 
 baggage, and crippled cart — all away together. They soon had 
 our tent pitched near the hut, where our party could sleep, while 
 Alfred and myself were located in the hut. To this generous 
 and hospitable treatment there is no doubt that I owe my life. 
 A few days more on the banks of the old creek would have seen 
 the last of me. The details of our life at Euroa will be best given 
 from my letters written there. 
 
 November 20th. — Here we have been since then, and here we 
 are ; and I must now give you some notion of the place, and the 
 life here. We are lodged in a slab hut, roofed with broad sheets 
 of the stringy bark, which are tied to the rafters by thongs of bul- 
 lock hide, and still more secured from the force of the winds by 
 poles, which are fastened along the outside of the roof. Remem- 
 ber, that in such huts the greater number of the squatters of Aus- 
 tralia live ; people, many of them of old English and Scotch 
 families, retired officers, medical men, and clergymen — wealthy, 
 and even elegant people. Here lived the squatter of whom Mr. 
 Forlonge bought the run, or station ; and here Mr. Forlonge and 
 his family lived some time, till he built his present handsome house 
 in a much finer situation. 
 
 Well, there is a broad verandah on the sunny, that is the north, 
 side of the house, and the whole has a rough and picturesque 
 aspect. At each end there is a chimney, built externally of wood, 
 
92 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and lined some four or five feet high in the inside with slabs of 
 granite, to prevent the wood catching fire. These fire-places are 
 very capacious — I suppose nearly six feet square, and the fire is 
 laid on the hearth. In the room where we were first located, the 
 bare wood of the walls had no lining, and the chinks between the 
 slabs were often wide enough to put your hand through. There 
 was no ceiling, but all open to the roof. We soon removed to the 
 room at the opposite end of the building, which was lined and 
 ceiled with canvas, but w^here the floor was still mud, and an old 
 table or two, and a few broken-backed chairs, the only furniture, 
 except an old-fashioned sofa. Yet here lived for some time the 
 wealthy holder of various squatting stations, some hundreds of 
 square miles in extent, and possessing 30,000 sheep, and many 
 thousand cattle. 
 
 Mr. Forlonge is a gentleman, and a man of education. He was 
 educated in Germany. Mrs. Forlonge is a lady who, for person 
 and manners, would grace a ducal coronet ; and they have a very 
 fine family of children growing up. They have a very amiable 
 and accomplished governess. Miss Maclean. Mrs. Forlonge, senior, 
 Mr. Forlonge's mother, is one of the pleasantest and most energetic 
 ladies I have ever met with. So there you have a picture of an 
 Australian squatter's family ; and a real providence it has been 
 that we fell in with these amiable and hospitable people. 
 
 Here in the hut we have experienced the utmost hospitality. 
 We found here three of Mr. Furlonge's overseers ; the principal 
 one, Mr. Rutherford, a most worthy, excellent man. He is evi- 
 dently one of the most experienced men in sheep-farming in the 
 colony ; and Mr. Forlonge has the greatestr espect for him, — and 
 with good reason. The second is Mr. Cameron, a young man 
 commencing bush life, and therefore styled the New Chum. The 
 third is Mr. Haliburton. You will observe all these are, as well 
 as Mr. Forlonge himself, kindred in nation — Scotch. Haliburton 
 has read a great deal, and has a decided literary turn, and a still 
 more decided turn for smoking. He appears to be very clever in 
 all that relates to cattle, has passed years on the wildest stations 
 in Sydney and on the Murray, and has had many singular expe- 
 riences of bush life, with which he enlivens the fireside of an 
 evening. You may suppose that we hear a deal of the adventures 
 of such life — of cattle-driving amongst the hills, swimming rivers, 
 sleeping out in tempests, and so on. They are all gentlemen, 
 and looking forward to become future holders of sheep or cattle 
 stations. 
 
 Sheep washing and shearing are going on here. Spite of all the 
 
SHEEP WASHING AND SHEARING. 93 
 
 outcries of ruin of the flocks, and of the impossibility of securing 
 the wool, the flocks are all tended, and the wool is steadily shear- 
 ing, and going down every day on bullock-drays to Melbourne. 
 True, they do not get so many men as they used to do, but they 
 get suflScient to do the necessary work in a little more time. True, 
 they are obliged to give higher wages, and find these washers and 
 shearers very lordly and independent. They pay iOs. per day for 
 sheep-washing, and board and lodging ; and 305. per hundred for 
 shearing sheep, also with rations. A man can do about seventy 
 per day on an average ; so that these labourers get about 61. per 
 week with their living. Jolly times for them ! They get a great 
 deal more than the overseers themselves, many of whom have not 
 above 70/. a year salary, with maintenance. These workmen will 
 have the best of everything. They keep a sharp look-out on what 
 is cooked in the kitchen for us, and if we have anything that they 
 have not, they just make free to take it. Yesterday the cook 
 brought us in a beefsteak pudding, and he said they had so abused 
 him for not having made them one too, that he had had a scufiie 
 for it, and gave notice to quit. To-day they sent me some vege- 
 tables from the head station, and these good fellows at once appro- 
 priated them ! 
 
 A little time will set this right. There is such a tide of popula- 
 tion pouring in, that there will be plenty of labour, and these gen- 
 tlemen will alter their note. At present the position of the squat- 
 ters, especially near the roads to the diggings, has its annoyances. 
 They dare not speak to any of their men, for they immediately 
 march off, saying, "Do your work yourself." They shear the 
 sheep very badly, they are in such a hurry to do a large number, 
 and are by no means particular as to clipping large pieces out of 
 them. I have seen sheep snipped occasionally in shearing in P]ng- 
 land, but never saw any such wholesale mangling as these fellows 
 make. The other day, one of the overseers had to stitch up the 
 skin of two sheep's stomachs that they had actually cut right 
 across. 
 
 The diggers going up the country also plunder their gardens, 
 sweeping off all the vegetables, and all the fruit, ripe or unripe. 
 Some of them last autumn carried off a sack-bag full of peaches, , 
 and could be traced for ten miles by the unripe ones they threw 
 away. They have a fine garden opposite to the house here, which 
 on this account lies wholly uncultivated. The diggers put their 
 horses at night into their paddocks, and even into their corn ; and 
 when Mr. Forlonge remonstrated with them, they threatened to 
 stick his head into a water-hole. Amiable state of things ! 
 
94 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 But don't imagine that the squatters have not their consolation 
 for these temporary annoyances. They have it, and amply too, 
 in the enormously increased value of all their property, as I shall 
 show you by and by. Meantime it is the golden age of labour. 
 
 We had an amusing instance of the independent notions of la- 
 bourers at present in this colony, this morning. A labouring man 
 employed on the station has a cottage about two hundred yards 
 off. His wife does the washing for Mr. Forlonge's family, for 
 which she receives 60/. a year and her rations ; that is, the usual 
 allowance of meat, sugar, flour, tea, &c. The man himself is now 
 getting his 61. per week at sheep-shearing, and has regular em- 
 ployment the year round at 10^. per day and rations. He is 
 allowed to keep a cow on the station ; and as there does not hap- 
 pen to be another milch cow here just now, the overseer has or- 
 dered a quart of milk per day, at Is. per quart. The man has 
 hitherto brought it ; but this morning he announced that hence- 
 forward they must send for it, as he finds the walk too long for 
 him ! 
 
 There is a great strong shoemaker on the other side of the 
 creek, who is just as amusing. He can make a pair of boots per day, 
 for which the leather costs him 05., and he charges 35*. for them ; 
 so that he can get 91. per week, if he pleases. Yet, though the 
 Forlonges, with their shepherds and stockmen, are his main cus- 
 tomers, one of the overseers here has, ever since we came, wanted 
 a boot mending, and has not been able to get it done. He says 
 what the fellow wants is, that he will offer him a bottle of grog, 
 value 6s., when it would be done at once ; and he supposes that he 
 shall at last have to comply. Delightful state of things ! and a 
 little contrast to that of the poor peasants of Dorsetshire and Wilt- 
 shire, with their 6s. per week, and no rations at all. This cer- 
 tainly is the Paradise of Labour. 
 
 A class who have benefited as much as any by the change, are 
 shepherds and hutkeepers ; that is, men who keep the hut where 
 two or more shepherds sleep, and cook for them. These men, 
 before the gold discovery, had, the hutkeepers 18/. a year, the shep- 
 herds about 251. and rations. For this miserable sum, they vege- 
 tated rather than lived in these monotonous woods, generally without 
 wives or children, and with no idea but the eternal one of sheep, 
 sheep, sheep. Thus their minds gradually became a vacuum, and 
 gradually contracted to the dreary routine of their lives. Thus 
 they grew old without any connections, and without a single ob- 
 ject of interest to soften life's decline. A more wretched or 
 
BUSH PUBLIC-HOUSES. " 95 
 
 desolate existence for a wretched pittance it is impossible to con- 
 ceive. 
 
 So far as wages are concerned, they are now better off. They 
 get, I am told, from 70/. to 80/. a year. For the rest, their lives 
 are the same ; and it is scarcely a question whether this advance 
 does them any good. For these walking automata are still not so 
 thoroughly automatic as to be destitute of all desire for excite- 
 ment orfrecreation. And what recreation is there for them ? None 
 but the bush public-houses. These are scattered at intervals along 
 the roads, wherever there is a chance of custom enough to pay. 
 And a little will do this ; for a more wretched set of houses of 
 public entertainment cannot be imagined. Even those along the 
 side of this great Sydney road would astonish Englishmen. In- 
 stead of the neat, clean rooms, and the luxurious fare of English 
 country inns, you find dirt, discomfort, and most extortionate 
 prices. Beds, if you get them, infested with vermin ; tough mutton 
 or beef, with bread and bad tea, for your fare. For such enter- 
 tainment it will cost you about 1/. per night, and another 1/. for your 
 horse! Instead of the splendid homebrewed beer of England, there 
 is rarely anything to be got but what they call grog — generally a 
 vile species of rum or arrack, vilely adulterated with oil of vitriol, 
 and therefore the finest specific in the world for the production of 
 dysentery. If they have English ale or porter, it is 6s. a bottle ; 
 and their vile spirits are 7*. and 8*. a bottle, and Is. and l^. 6d. ^ 
 glass, denominated a nobbier — if half a glass, a nip or a ball. 
 
 The people in the bush seem, in fact, to have depraved their 
 taste altogether by the use of this abominable trash ; for they 
 drink it, and praise it, and really often do not know rum from 
 brandy. To such wretched, unwholesome public-houses, the 
 wretched shepherds generally post off when they get their wages, 
 and seldom come away again till they have spent the whole ; when 
 they return to follow their thousands of sheep-shanks through the 
 wilderness. 
 
 I am told that the poor, simple fellows often go into these houses, 
 and say to the landlord, — " Here, mate, is so much money ; keep 
 it, and when it is all spent, let me know." How these conscien- 
 tious publicans execute their trust may be supposed ; for, so far as 
 I have seen, a more sordid, grasping, extortionate, and churlish 
 set of men never followed a base calling more basely. They have 
 but one object — to make fortunes; and they will accumulate their 
 10,000/. a year in spots where you would say there was hardly a 
 living creature to drink their poison. Of course, there are excep- 
 tions ; but, as a class, they are few. 
 
96 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 As for the poor shepherds, I have talked with a good many who 
 are getting old, and a more simple, dreamy, half-alive sort of men 
 I never saw. Many of them have a great passion for wandering, 
 and seldom stay long with one employer. The weight of the 
 woods seems to lie on their souls ; they are not attached to any 
 particular spot — how should they? — and feel a want which they 
 do not know how to fill. As they get old, many go deranged, and 
 become wandering vagabonds. Some are taken care of by Bene- 
 volent Societies ; but it is said that, as soon as they cease their 
 nomadic life, they stagnate and die off rapidly. 
 
 When I look over this bush life, it presents to me few but melan- 
 choly features. The numbers of men who lead happy and aspiring 
 lives are very few indeed. The squatters of the whole of Victoria 
 only amount to about 650. These monopolise, with the exception 
 of the very small portion of land which has been sold near the 
 towns, the whole surface of the colony. To these may be added 
 their overseers, who are men of some education — sometimes of a 
 superior one. They have an object and an ambition ; they trust 
 some day to become masters of squatting stations themselves, and 
 so, eventually, rich. But in the career to reach this position, they 
 occasionally suffer much hardship and privation. They are ex- 
 posed to much wet weather, and occasionally considerable cold, too, 
 during the winter season. Even in summer they will have the 
 thermometer at noon at 140°, and in the following night down at 
 40° ; and they have to follow their cattle, when mustering them 
 or conveying them across the country, through mountains and 
 rivers, sometimes swimming, sometimes wading, and lying in their 
 wet clothes at night. By day they will be galloping through 
 mountain ranges, collecting wild cattle, or horses as wild ; and by 
 night will have to camp out with them, wrapping themselves in a 
 single rug, and sitting or lying at the foot of a tree, often amid 
 deluging rains. 
 
 I have heard one of them describe his passing a whole night 
 sitting on a saddle to keep him off the flooded ground, and holding 
 another saddle over his head to keep off the heaviest of the rain. 
 In the morning, it is probably too wet to raise a fire, and to com- 
 fort themselves with their favourite panikin of tea ; and they get 
 a piece of heavy damper and some cold meat ; mount and go on. 
 Perhaps, if they are bringing cattle from the distant Murray, orj 
 from the far-off Darling Downs, Liverpool Plains, or other pastoral 
 districts of Sydney, to Melbourne, they will find that the whole 
 herd has gone off in Indian file, silently as the night itself, anc 
 they have to gallop back for miles and for days, perhaps, to re* 
 
SQUATTING SYSTEM OPPOSED TO COLONISATION. 97 
 
 collect them. They say that sheep, when camped near you, will 
 generally lie till you go to move them ; but that when you have 
 cattle in charge, if you are awake at one or two o'clock in the 
 morning, you will probably hear a soft, quiet lowing from a bul- 
 lock. That is the signal from the leader of the herd for it to move 
 off; and if they are not at once on the alert, the whole will have 
 disappeared before morning as silently as a cleverly retreating 
 army. 
 
 I mention these as the life occurrences of overseers, because, 
 though overseers on settled stations have more settled life, most of 
 them have, occasionally, to collect herds, or mobs, as they call 
 them, of horses and cattle, and drive them across the country, 
 often to great distances. At their settled huts their lives are mo- 
 notonous, and their fare the same. Beef and mutton, damper and 
 tea, that is their perpetual food, with the addition of a few dough- 
 boys or hard dumplings. 
 
 I never saw a country where the cultivation of vegetables for 
 the shepherds and overseers was so utterly neglected. There is 
 rarely a potato, onion, or cabbage to be seen in the bush, except 
 at the head stations of the squatters ; and yet the least trouble 
 would procure all these things at the huts of the shepherds, and 
 fruits, too, in any quantity. Apples, pears, peaches, peas, beans — 
 every fruit and vegetable, might be had in the fullest abundance ; 
 but only the chief settlers have these luxuries about them. 
 
 And how many of this class are there in the whole colony ? It 
 is divided into 1000 stations, and two or three are often held by 
 one individual, so that the number of squatters in Victoria is, as 
 I have said just now, but about 650. In fact, it is a colony rather 
 inhabited by sheep, cattle, and horses, than men. 
 
 The fatal Wakefieldian system of only selling colonial lands at 
 a high price, and only where Government pleases, has totally 
 quashed that intermixture of tillage, that diffusion of cheerful 
 villages up the country, which would have converted it from a 
 desert to a place of happy and civilised life. The theory of pre- 
 venting the too rapid spread of population in new lands has here 
 prevented it spreading altogether. The regulation of not selling 
 less than 100 acres at once, except for town allotments, and at not 
 less than IL per acre upset price, to be carried as much higher as 
 possible by auction, produced the squatting system; for men 
 refused to buy on such terms, and the only alternative was to 
 allow them to graze upon it on a temporary tenure. This has led 
 to a large growth of wool, but to nothing more. In all the hun- 
 dreds of miles up this road we scarcely saw a village ; and where 
 
 H 
 
98 TWO YEAKS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 there was one, it was a wretched one ; for it had none of the elements 
 of prosperity ; no good farms around it, supplying all the articles 
 of life, and no little tradesmen to supply, in return, clothes, shoes, 
 and stores, on those reasonable terms which a certain degree of 
 competition ensures. The attempt to direct forcibly the sale and 
 purchase of land into an artificial channel, has signally failed, as 
 everything that is opposed to nature must ; and the example of 
 the prosperity of the United States of America, on the exactly op- 
 posite system, has hitherto been lost on the British Government. 
 
 And while the mother-country cannot be roused to a perception 
 of its gross and fatal fundamental blunder in the philosophy of 
 colonisation, what is the Government of Victoria itself but a series 
 of blunders equally amazing ? 
 
 I have heard a great deal of Colonial Government ; but seeing 
 it for oneself can only make us credit what it really is. It seems 
 to consist in either leaving nature to do everything, or in thwart- 
 ing her efforts where she would do right. It seems only to have 
 one eye, and that fixed solely on the money of the subject. No 
 sooner does the Home Government give up liberally all the pro- 
 ceeds of the gold-fields, to enable the Colonial Government to 
 make those improvements that are necessary to an active and ex- 
 tended traffic, than these profound legislators immediately attempt 
 to burn tlieir candle at both ends. Not content with levying a 
 monthly license of 305. on every individual who digs or traffics on 
 the gold-fields, a large proportion of whom never dig up anything, 
 they are also eager to lay on an export duty of 2s. 6d. per ounce. 
 A former attempt to double the license fee, making it 3/. per 
 month, had failed, showing them the folly of striving to do more 
 than they had strength to carry out. The natural consequences 
 of so absurd a measure as the export duty began to show them- 
 selves the moment that the question was mooted in the Legislative 
 Council. Gold began to fly over the frontiers in all directions ; 
 and Melbourne would soon have seen its gold trade dried up, like 
 one of its creeks. What forces had Government, to maintain a 
 cordon all along its frontiers, to prevent this transit ? None. It 
 had not force enough on the fields to compel the diggers to pay 
 the license-fee, which they declared that they would refuse, if the 
 duty was imposed. 
 
 The most glaring sign of the fatuity of a Government is its 
 unconsciousness of its own weakness, or of the power of those 
 whom it seeks to control. When the bull-frog attempts to swell 
 himself into the bull, ^sop tells us the inevitable result. But the 
 most fatal error which a Government can commit, is to teach its 
 
COLONIAL MISMANAGEMENT. 99 
 
 subjects its utter inability to compel them, if they choose to resist ; 
 except it be that of setting them an example of injustice and 
 rapacity, — a lesson only too readily learned by those on whom they 
 seek to practise it. 
 
 The next astonishing feature of Colonial Government which 
 has forced itself on my notice, in coming up the country, is the 
 total absence of all attempts to introduce those improvements for 
 which the Home Government gave up so splendid an income. 
 Nature has done much up this Sydney road in spreading an im- 
 mense level, but Government has done nothing. This same 
 Government, so eager to impose taxes on the diggers at both ends, 
 has not done a single thing to make the road to the diggings 
 passable. There is scarcely a wooden bridge over a gully ; and 
 there is not a dangerous piece of hill-side or precipice where the 
 Government spade or pick has left its trace. The diggers and the 
 carriers of the supplies of their necessaries of life, whom the Go- 
 vernment were in such haste to tax, are left to make their way up 
 the most terrible roads conceivable, as they can. Their carts and 
 drays are dashed to pieces ; their goods are shattered and 
 damaged ; their horses and bullocks are injured, and even killed, 
 by scores, on roads, so called, for the making of which so splendid 
 a revenue is resigned by mother England. Yet this Government, 
 which does absolutely nothing on the roads, takes care to sit at 
 the end of them, like a dragon, to swallow up the wreck which 
 remains to these suffering men. 
 
 But even more surprising, with this lust of income, is that 
 stupidity to which I have already drawn attention, of neglecting 
 the toll which might be secured, on a fair scale, at rivers like the 
 Goulburn, and allowing publicans to fleece the public at those 
 places by the most monstrous impositions. It is impossible to 
 conceive stolidity beyond this, — particularly existing not on an 
 entirely new road, but on this, the great mail road to Sydney ! — 
 while the condition of the mail, carried in an ordinary spring-cart, 
 is universally complained of, as most wretched, unsafe, and 
 inefficient. 
 
 I have just been to look at the sheep-washing here. It is a 
 very odd scene to a man who has witnessed the process in England. 
 Accustomed to see our valuable sheep at home dropped by ones or 
 twos into a stream where men stood to catch them, to wave them 
 to and fro in the fresh water, and then squeeze every individual 
 liandful of wool till the whole fleece was clean, I was amazed to 
 see a number of men forcing the sheep and lambs, by a dozen or 
 two at a time, into the brook, and other men with long forked 
 
 H 2 
 
100 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 poles poking them under water. The poor wretches had to 
 wash themselves by their struggling and swimming. After 
 a good scuffle, the men poked their heads down under a beam 
 fastened across the surface of the water, and, as they came up 
 another man, standing in the stream, poked them down under a 
 second beam, whence, on rising to the top, they swam to shore 
 as well as they could. Some, indeed, were too exhausted to gain 
 the land ; and I saw no less than three drowned. But time is 
 much more valuable than sheep here, and, as there are 20,000 on 
 this run, they cannot stay to be very particular. 
 
 How diametrically different has been the effect of the discovery 
 of gold in Australia on the wool-growers to what was predicted. 
 All the flocks were to run wild for want of shepherds, a prey to 
 the wild dogs. Of course they could not be shorn, for there 
 would be no shearers ; and there was nothing for it but the total 
 destruction of our great wool growth here. The squatters backed 
 this cry lustily, and it has answered well. The flocks are better 
 shepherded than ever ; for when there were plenty of shepherds, 
 they used to pen their flocks regularly : now, as they have but 
 one shepherd to one flock, he camps his flock, that is, he assembles 
 it near his hut at night, and there it lies quietly till morning. It 
 is found that this suits the flocks amazingly. They are not 
 crowded together as in a fold of hurdles. They get some food 
 often in the night, and they are stronger and better. The cry has 
 raised the wool-market at home, and the squatters have kept it up 
 as long as they could, by pretending that the flocks are diminished 
 by want of proper shepherding, and that the amount of wool will 
 be naturally diminished. It is all fudge. The flocks are just as 
 numerous, as healthy, and as productive of wool as ever, as the 
 exports of the wool will prove. Sheep hare risen, in consequence of 
 the demand at the diggings, from 7s. to lo*. and 1/. per head. Cattle 
 have risen in like proportion ; and horses, which used to be worth 
 some 305. a head in the bush, are now driven down to Melbourne, 
 and sold for from 40/. to 100/. each. In fact, the squatting stations 
 are now, on an average, quadrupled in value. It is true that most 
 of the squatters were alarmed at first by the gold discovery ; and 
 some actually in their panic sold their stations at any price they 
 could procure. But a very little time sufficed to show that this 
 idea was erroneous. This very station on which we now are was 
 offered, with all its sheep, for 20,000/. to a neighbour. He took 
 a week to consider of it, and, not closing, the holder of it demanded 
 30,000/., and directly after, 40,000/. That is the effect of the gold 
 on the squatters. 
 
SCENES ON CROSSING EBRQib C3E2K. 101 
 
 I must now tell you something that ^ill amy^e you. The sheep- 
 shearers, the other day, asked ondof j:he ove^sev^ry y/hether j'-was 
 the real William and Mary Howitti He gravely said, " Yes ; " on 
 which one as gravely replied that he never expected to see " an 
 able man" come out of England to see the diggings. But I have 
 had sundry visits from the shearers and shepherds round, making 
 a similar inquiry, and, on being answered in the affirmative, want- 
 ing me to " take a nobbier with them." 
 
 Wednesday, Dec. Sth. — To-day I have been sitting on the banks 
 of the creek, contemplating the beauties of Colonial Government. 
 Cart after cart, and bullock-dray after bullock-dray came up, and 
 the drivers stood aghast at the horrid descent they had to make 
 into the stream — sheer down a steep bank into a deep slough of 
 muddy clay. One after another made the desperate descent, and 
 one after another stuck fast. 
 
 There was a two-horse cart, laden with flour. It stuck fast at 
 once, and had to be thoroughly unloaded, and the bags carried 
 over. Meantime a host of bullock-drays were waiting behind ; 
 the first plunged in, drawn by sixteen bullocks, but it stuck fast 
 too. One wheel nearly disappeared in the mud, and down fell two 
 of the oxen in the water, and were with difficulty saved from 
 drowning. Then they tried once more. Down went the bullocks 
 again ; the leaders, feeling the check, turned round, and the whole 
 sixteen were soon in a jumbled heap in the middle of the water. 
 Then there was a good half-hour's shouting, swearing, and cutting 
 at the bullocks with their heavy whips, the drivers being all this 
 time in the water ; and when they had disentangled their bovine 
 chaos, they had again to flog, shout, whip, and swear for another 
 hour. In vain ; they, too, were obliged to unload, and take the 
 cargo over at several times ; and so they lost the whole day, and 
 had to encamp on the other bank, opposite to all the unfortunates 
 that had to follow them. 
 
 One more of these determined to cross this evening, if possible. 
 It was a man from a station somewhere farther up, who had stores, 
 flour, sugar, salt, ten, and the like, in a two-horse cart. No sooner 
 had he made the plunge, than his cart was capsised in the flood, 
 and all his articles were spoiled or dissolved by the stream ! If 
 he had not been energetically aided by those about, who rushed 
 into the water to his rescue, both his horses would inevitably have 
 been drowned. 
 
 Such are the scenes daily and hourly exhibiting at this creek, 
 and this but one of scores like it on the road. And yet, about a 
 furlong higher up the stream, there are the remains of a very sub- 
 
 II 3 
 
102 lAYO YE^RS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 stantial brides, ^o^euR years ago, the gentlemen here gave notice 
 to Gov^vnik\ci}t ,t>iat i^oirje'of 4be minor timbers had given way. 
 No notice whatever was taken of it. From year to year the dila- 
 pidations increased ; and fresh notices were forwarded to Mel- 
 bourne, receiving the same neglect. Last winter a flood carried 
 half of the bridge away, and deposited it in the pool below. Fresh 
 notice of this was sent to Government; and, six weeks ago, a 
 Government official came galloping up, gave a glance at the ruined 
 bridge, said something must be done, and galloped back again. 
 The people here, like the Babes in the Wood, have anxiously 
 looked for the promised help: — 
 
 " But never more they saw the man, 
 Returning from the town." 
 
 What would be thought of such government at home ? Roads, 
 the first consideration in the internal traffic of a country, — and the 
 whole traffic of this colony lies on these roads to the diggings, — 
 never seem to occur to the executive here as matters of any con- 
 sequence whatever. Meantime, the people go on cursing the au- 
 thorities, and beholding their cattle and their property destroyed 
 by wholesale, and themselves worn out by the most frightful wear 
 and tear. 
 
 And now we are about once more to set forward. For a whole 
 month I have lain here, persecuted by this awful complaint, but 
 amidst the kindest friends. The neighbouring squatters have 
 been extremely courteous ; and the ladies have manifested that 
 generous sympathy which is the noble attribute of woman in 
 every quarter of the world. They have sent all sorts of good 
 things, which they thought would contribute to my comfort or 
 convalescence ; and we shall always have occasion to remember 
 the kindness of the interesting family under whose roof we have 
 been entertained, and of the neighbouring inhabitants of the bush. 
 Without the benefits of that kindness, 1 should scarcely be now 
 writing this. 
 
 Long shall I remember the rustic home at Euroa ; the wide 
 forest-plains around ; the full stream in front, for ever gliding 
 past, beneath the immensely tall red-gum trees ; the black and 
 white dovelike birds, called magpie-larks, so pure in colour, and 
 tame in manner, crying, " Chain ! chain ! " on the banks of the 
 river ; and the little birds, in those lofty giant trees which shaded 
 the hut, that all day long, in the bright sunshine, seemed to sing 
 exultingly, "Away, away, we go! Away, away, we go!" 
 
 The picture of Government apathy and mismanagement given in 
 
RISE OF CHARGES. 103 
 
 this chapter is such as it was at that time ; other and better 
 Governments have succeeded, of which we shall have to speak 
 hereafter. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Rise of Charges as we proceed — Petty Thefts. — Strange Scene at the Broken 
 Kiver. — A Party of Shipmates returning from the Diggings, in Disgust. — 
 Fine View of the AustraHan Alps. — The Pest of FHes increases. — Dampier's 
 Account of them. — Grass-Seed Nuisance. — Prevalence of Cramp. — Mis- 
 chief of one-sided Accounts of Australia Monopoly of Ferry at Ovens 
 
 River. — Dialogue between Ferryman and Author. — Meet another Disap- 
 pointed Party. — Cattle-branding. — Reid's Station. — Odd Reception at 
 Mackay's Station. — Ovens Ranges. — New Class of Shrubs and Flowers. — 
 Groups on the Road. 
 
 We left Euroa on Thursday, December 9th, and we were resting 
 on Sunday, the 11th, on the banks of the Broken River, thirty 
 miles on our way. We felt that, so long as we continued in in- 
 action, notwithstanding the kindness of our hosts, we should never 
 get entirely rid of our indisposition. Alfred and Edward, as well 
 as myself, were affected by it. We therefore resolved to set out, 
 and try what change of place would do ; and on Thursday afternoon 
 we made a short stage. The moment that we moved on, we left our 
 tiresome enemy behind. Every symptom disappeared, and I was as 
 well as ever, except for debility. But I could almost immediately 
 walk comfortably about five miles a day, and the rest I rode in a 
 snug corner of the load, which my good boys made for me. We 
 camped for the day on the banks of the Broken River, so called, 
 because it is broken into many channels- There is a village there, 
 and two inns. We had a letter to Mr. Smythe, the Commissioner 
 of Crown Lands there ; but he was at the Ovens Diggings. His 
 overseer, however, offered us anything that he had in the garden ; 
 so that we had a good supply of vegetables ; and he would have 
 baked us some loaves, had it not been Sunday. 
 
 We found everything now monstrously dear on the roads, the 
 nearer we got to the diggings. My youngsters, at an inn called 
 The Honeysuckle, would insist on my, having a pint of beer. It 
 was 3.5., and most disgustingly vapid. We got some milk, how- 
 ever, at Is. a quart, butter at 45. a pound, and cabbages at 6d. a-piece, 
 which were reckoned very low prices there. We got a horse's shoe 
 put on for 75. 6<i., and the man only wanted 15^. for merely shifting 
 
 h4 
 
104 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 three others. We declined the favour ; and he said that it suited 
 him quite as well, for that he was particularly busy. He had 
 literally nothing to do ! 
 
 But the worst was, that we run the gauntlet of petty thefts 
 whenever we came near any people on the road. Luckily, so far 
 as we are concerned, they yet were very petty ones. At every 
 place where we camped near any one, we missed something — 
 some panikins, an umbrella, or an axe. At The Honeysuckle — 
 which the reader is not to suppose some English-looking country 
 inn with a honeysuckle porch, but a wooden house, so called from 
 some wretched scrubby and half-dead Banksias near it — we set 
 a tin kettle down on the ground to get some milk in ; but while 
 getting something else out of the cart^ it was cleverly whipped 
 from our very heels. But a much cleverer dodge in a very small 
 way was played off on Charlton. He was fishing, and a big boy 
 came and looked on. Anon, Charlton's hook came off, and he was 
 about to fasten it on again. This boy, who had been lamenting 
 that he could catch huge fish in this river, but had no hooks, nor 
 had we any to give him, as soon as he saw the loose hook, re- 
 marked, that it wanted a notch or two filing in the upper end, or 
 that it would soon come off again, and proposed to take it to the 
 village and get it filed. But Charlton not attending to the sug- 
 gestion, this clever lad immediately saw some wild ducks under 
 the bushes near, and eagerly affected to point them out to Alfred 
 and Charlton. Instantly down went the line and hook, the guns 
 were snatched up, and Alfred and Charlton were earnestly hunting 
 after the ducks, which, of course, were not found, nor, on their 
 return, was the boy or the fish-hook either. 
 
 That night we heard a number of people quarrelling and making 
 a great clamour at the inn across the river; and the next morning 
 it was rumoured that they had managed to kill one of their party; 
 but it turned out that he jumped out of the chamber window in 
 delinum tremens. About noon, the whole set were seen by Mr. 
 Bateman on the bridge, with the dead body in a cart, quarrelling 
 about how they should dispose of it. 
 
 Behold! Mr. L., his son, and his two nephews, our old ship- 
 mates, returning from the Ovens ! As I expected, very soon 
 after they left us with Captain Nolusbolus they found it im- 
 possible to associate with their rude and reckless comrades. There 
 was a speedy dissolution of partnership ; and Mr. L., his son, and 
 nephews went on by themselves. Mr. L. declared on shipboard, 
 that he would not come down from the diggings in less than two 
 years, — but the very sight of them was enough for him. He now 
 
SHIPMATES RETURNING FROM THE DIGGINGS. 105 
 
 denounced the whole affair as a most unmitigated hoax ; declared 
 that the Victorians, with their well-known powers of puff, had 
 propagated the most outrageous falsehoods regarding the gold- 
 fields ; that it was true there was gold to be got, but not in the 
 easy manner described by the Governor and Mr. Town Councillor 
 Guthrie, pretty much like digging potatoes ; that the aggregate of 
 100,000 oz. a week at all the diggings, divided amongst 100,000 
 diggers leaves on an average one oz. per week per man, or about 
 3/. per week, which, even if easily got, he contended, would never 
 make a fortune. But then the actual getting ! Pits full of water 
 black as ink, and with a stench like a tanyard, in which men were 
 working under a broiling sun, up to the waist, the upper part of 
 their bodies in profuse perspiration, the lower part chilled with 
 the water which was very cold. Sam Slick's Kentucky men, half 
 horse, half alligator, he thought, could not stand it. And then 
 the people who swarmed there ! Thieves and murderers from 
 every quarter of the globe ; Norfolk Island devils, Sidney and 
 Van Diemen's Land convicts, and the elite of St. Giles's and Rat- 
 cliffe Highway ! Certainly, the prospect, as thus drawn, was by 
 no means tempting, but we resolved to see and judge for ourselves. 
 
 We reached at length an eminence, our way, ever since we left 
 the Goulburn, being over one immense plain. From this eminence, 
 a part of Futter's Ranges, we had a view such as we have not yet 
 had in Australia. Below us stretched an immense ocean of dense 
 wood, and beyond, to the right, at some twenty miles' distance, 
 extended ranges of mountains, with higher ranges behind them. 
 They were the great chain of the Australian Alps, looking wild 
 and dim in their hazy dignity. Edward exclaimed, *' This is the 
 finest scene in the world ! " But as he had neither seen the Euro- 
 pean Alps, much less the Andes, or the Himalayas, we will not 
 consider him a very safe judge. In fact, this view was not to be 
 named with a distant view of the Alps, yet it was fine, and was 
 very cheering to us after our long travel across that dreary and 
 parched-up plain. We there came again upon the same sort of 
 burnt brickdust country that commenced at the Goulburn, and 
 again we were amongst golden everlastings and iguanas crawling 
 up the trees. 
 
 There were here many shrubs and flowers quite new to us. 
 There were some beautiful geraniums, dwarf grass-trees, and the 
 forest was of the iron bark-tree, a species of eucalyptus, which 
 affects only the most arid and hilly regions, and gives a peculiar 
 character to them by its great stems standing black as if burnt, 
 and its bark ploughed out into longitudinal grooves and ridges, 
 
106 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 wliicli stand up six inches, this bark being full of gum resin, and 
 where wounded, exuding the bright red gum kino of the shops. 
 But all our pleasure in observing what was new in nature, was 
 destroyed by those old and universal abominations, the flies. They 
 were in millions on millions all over the country. Every hour of 
 the day, from sunrise to sunset, they assail you with incessant and 
 unconquerable avidity. You carry them along with you, for they 
 cover your horses, your load, and yourselves ; your veils smother 
 you, and there is no defence but eternally whirling your bough 
 about your head. 1 expected to be whirling my bough every day 
 for the next three months ; a charming prospect ! At your meals, 
 in a moment myriads come swooping down, cover the dish and the 
 meat on your plates till they are one black moving mass ; dash 
 headlong into your tea, or whatever you are drinking, and fight 
 you to the last moment for the last morsel. Every meal is a pitched 
 and a hard-fought battle too. It is impossible that it could have 
 been worse in Egypt in the time of the ten plagues ; and I sus- 
 pect that when the wind blew the flies away from Egypt, it blew 
 them thither, for they must certainly be of the same species, or 
 worse. 
 
 But go into a butcher's shop ! The air is black with all sorts of 
 flies, and the sound is like thunder, — you cannot hear yourselves 
 speak ! When, on the hills I was wishing to take a closer view 
 of the plants and stones, I put on my spectacles. Instantly, dozens 
 of the black flies ensconced themselves behind the glasses, as many, 
 in fact, as could crowd in, and they defied me to dislodge them. I 
 was obliged to take ofi" my glasses, and go on with my doom of 
 bough twirling. 
 
 It is curious that Dampier, in his Voyage round the World in 
 1688, never mentions the annoyance of flies anywhere but in Aus- 
 tralia, though he had been in the hottest regions of the West 
 Indies, South America, and the Indian Ocean ; which shows that 
 there they are an unexampled plague. Speaking of the natives, 
 he says : — " Their eyelids are always half-closed, to keep the flies 
 out of their eyes ; they being so troublesome here that no fanning 
 will keep them from coming to one's face ; and without the assist- 
 ance of both hands they will creep into one's nostrils and mouth if 
 the lips are not shut very close. So that from their infancy, being 
 thus annoyed with these insects, they do never open their eyes as 
 other people, and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold 
 up their heads as if they were looking at somewhat over them." 
 
 On Futter's Ranges we encountered too, for the first time, the 
 Australian nuisance of grass-seeds. When these become ripe, 
 
GRASS-SEED NUISANCE. — CRAMP. 107 
 
 they are like so many needles ; and it is a point to get the sheep 
 washed and clipped before these seeds are ripe, or they fill the 
 wool and ruin the fingers of all who attempt to clean, spin, or 
 weave it. They seem furnished with little barbs or scales, which 
 continually push them forwards on the least motion, so that they 
 are forced through the sheep's skins by thousands, and even pene- 
 trate to the lungs ; for so long as there is any motion where they 
 are, they keep travelling forward till they meet with something 
 too hard to penetrate. I have had skins shown to me after the 
 sheep were killed, regularly bristled inside with the points of those 
 vegetable needles. There are cranesbill geraniums also, the seeds 
 of which penetrate the bodies of the sheep, only working forward 
 in corkscrew fashion. 
 
 The grass on these hills was up to the waist, and the seeds pene- 
 trated our light trowsers in all directions, like so many pins. It 
 was intolerable. You could not walk without agony, and we has- 
 tened back to the road as fast as possible. Boots, they say, are 
 the only defence against this nuisance, and the ladies in the bush 
 wear tall laced ones. But to be secure from them men must wear 
 boots to the hips. 
 
 The hot weather had spoiled all the water. It was tepid, and 
 vapid, and bitter. There are no rocks up this road, whence cool 
 water gushes, no deep-shaded springs ; the only places to get 
 water from are the creeks ; and in them the powerful sun drives 
 off* all the carbonic acid gas, which should give sharpness and 
 freshness to it ; and the thousands of tons of gum-trees lying and 
 rotting in these creeks make it bitter and unwholesome. We 
 heard that there was fine cool water at the Ovens. 
 
 A considerable nuisance remains to be mentioned. From what 
 cause it arises I do not know; nor have I yet met with any one, 
 medical or not, who could tell me ; but such is the fact, that people 
 are very subject to cramp in this country. Cramp and paralysis 
 are very prevalent ; the dogs especially are extraordinarily affected 
 with paralysis. You cannot be a day in Melbourne without no- 
 ticing the enormous quantity of dogs lying about in the streets ; 
 and a great number of these are so paralytic, that they can scarcely 
 move, particularly in their hinder parts. 
 
 The cramp was my enemy from the moment that I landed. 
 Why it should be so, in that dry and otherwise tine climate, 
 puzzles me. As soon as I arrived, I was extremely pestered with 
 it ; a thing quite new to me. Doctor Howitt said, " Oh ! this is a 
 terrible crampy country." And so it proved. It was very an- 
 noying to me, because it was sure to attack me in the right hand 
 
108 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 whenever I wanted to write. The moment I took the pen up, 
 the fingers cramped together ; and it was only by a constant and 
 determined struggle, sometimes for hours, that I could conquer it. 
 But I never ceased till 1 made it yield. 
 
 We were not long in Victoria before we had seen so much of 
 the miserable consequences of the outrageous system of puffing re- 
 garding the colony, that I resolved candidly and honestly to set 
 down things as I found them. The seventh heaven is the seventh 
 heaven, and no country, I am persuaded, on earth is that place. 
 All countries, be they where they will, and as charming as they 
 will, undoubtedly have their drawbacks ; and if they are not 
 fairly laid before people at the same time with the delicice, the 
 portrait is one-sided and false ; and when the truth is discovered, 
 there is a feeling of indignation excited, which does more real 
 injury to a country than any truthful statement possibly could. 
 Almost every portrait of this colony which I have seen, is false 
 and deceptive, because one-sided ; and yet the colony is un- 
 doubtedly a good colony, and the climate a fine climate. But how 
 many hundreds, nay thousands, of people have I seen almost 
 foaming with indignation at what they considered the deception 
 practised upon them ! When the dustwinds blow, when the sun 
 burns three times hotter than the statement of " the climate of 
 Devonshire" led them to expect, when the cramp or the dysentery 
 seizes them with diabolical pangs, when the mosquitos puncture 
 them, and the flies drive them almost mad, "Is this," they exclaim 
 in fury, "your heaven upon earth ? is this your delicious climate? 
 this your Australian paradise ? " And hundreds upon hundreds 
 rush back again, cursing the false, flattering, and interested state- 
 ments which lured them out. It is, in truth, a serious thing for 
 people to go all the way to the antipodes, on the faith of a trader's 
 or speculator's puff. Yet is it not a fact, that if both sides of the 
 picture had been truthfully sketched at first, as many people 
 would have come out ? Perhaps not the same people, but people 
 who, looking out for a new home, or for a road to fortune that 
 they do not see at home, would come prepared to face the really 
 existing evils; and when they met them, would have thought 
 all the less of them because they expected them, and would have 
 enjoyed the fine genial weather, and the pleasant, if not romantic 
 country all the more. A distorted picture will always produce 
 distorted impressions ; and they who have hitherto painted this 
 colony in entire coleur de rose, have grossly mistaken its real 
 interests. I determined, therefore, as much as if upon oath, to 
 state " The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 
 
FUTTER's ranges. — DIALOGUE WITH FERRYMAN. 109 
 
 On the 15th of December, we were at length across The River 
 Ovens, and only about twenty miles from the diggings. The 
 river there, though yet in the plain, was by far the clearest that 
 we had seen. It had not the sullen look of the others, but a 
 clear azure-green colour, and when you took it up into your 
 vessels, was bright and transparent as any English water. Cool, 
 as yet, it was not ; for we had had three or four broiling days, 
 which, as iisual, terminated in a magnificent thunderstorm; and 
 then the sky becomes cloudy and cool, but this did not last long 
 enough to cool down the water. 
 
 The thunder there is frequent and intense, in proportion to the 
 quantity of electrical fluid carried up in the copious evaporation 
 under so much more powerful a sun. One day, we saw the frag- 
 ments of a huge tree in the forest, that had recently been shattered 
 by the lightning. The remains of the trunk stood aloft, all 
 shattered and splintered, and the boughs and bark, and fragments 
 of wood, lay far around in four directions, as if scattered to the 
 four quarters of heaven. The electric bolt must have been terrific. 
 
 After passing the gap out of Futter's Ranges, our coutse lay for 
 miles along the side of a vast marsh, abounding with wild ducks 
 and geese ; but the most extraordinary thing there was the boom- 
 ing of the bitterns. I never heard anything like it, and could not 
 have supposed any bird capable of producing such a sound. It 
 was like the low bellowing of bulls, or like the blowing of a 
 bullock's horn, in short hollow puffs ; but perhaps still more like 
 some one blowing into the spout of a watering-pot. The force 
 and compass of it, and the distance to which the sound could be 
 heard, were amazing. 
 
 On the 14th, we crossed in the punt, over the river which was 
 about twenty yards wide, and the punt precisely like that of the 
 Goulburn. Exactly as in that case, the Government had not 
 taken a single thought for the passage of the public ; but had left 
 it to be accommodated and fleeced, according to the conscience of 
 any man who chose to make the speculation. The man w^ho did 
 undertake it, was on the punt himself, and charged us 12*. for the 
 passage of our cart and ourselves. The descent to the ferry, and 
 the ascent from it, were so steep that it was highly dangerous to 
 heavily laden drays. The following dialogue took place between 
 us : — 
 
 Passenger. I suppose you pay a large rent to Government 
 for this ferry ? 
 
 Ferryman. The Government ! The Government has nothing 
 to do with it : it is my own, I put it up myself. 
 
110 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Passenger. Then I think you might afford, on your large 
 profits, to make the approaches to the punt easier. Surely five 
 minutes spent in taking us across cannot honestly earn 125. unless 
 you have done something else for the public. You should lower 
 the brows of the hills on each side ; and having done that, put up 
 a board of fares ; and if you were wise, you would let them be 
 moderate fares, or you will some day find Government stepping in 
 and taking the concern into their own hands. 
 
 Ferryman. Ha ! ha ! ha I The Government indeed ! If you 
 wait till Government does anything, you may wait till doomsday. 
 
 Passenger. Don't be too sure of that. Government may be 
 still, if the public will let it ; but will the public submit much 
 longer ? I think not. 
 
 Ferryman. But what has the Government to do with my 
 ferry ? I tell you it is my own property. I put it up, and it cost 
 me 1500^. Government never did anything; and if I had not put 
 down this punt, you might have poddled through the water : and 
 then you gentlemen come and complain of the charge. 
 
 Passenger. Excuse me ; we do not complain of a moderate 
 and/(7i> charge, but of an exorbitant one ; and this is exorbitant 
 and monstrous. Now, confident as you seem of your security, I 
 will venture to say, that when we return this way in the course 
 of a few months, all this will be changed. The public won't bear it ; 
 and I for one promise you a good lift. I know both the Governor 
 and most of the members of the Government, and you may take 
 my word that I will do all I can to effect a change here. 
 
 The man gave a queer sort of twist with his mouth, as though 
 he had tasted something bitter, and so we left him. But only 
 imagine what a Government was that which permitted such 
 things ! Why Sancho Panza, the proverb-loving Governor of 
 Barataria, would have sent word to these punt-keepers, who levy 
 from 50/. to 100/. a day each on the public, saying, " Here is a 
 tariff of charges for you. Put that up and abide by it, or we will 
 throw over a bridge and annihilate your ferry." The rogues must 
 submit ; they would have no alternative. 
 
 While encamping by the Ovens, Burnhard Smith, Woolner, and 
 their party came up to us. They were on their way back from 
 the Ovens' Diggings, and to the Delatite, or, as the diggers prefer 
 calling it, The Devil's River. They had in a month dug up 120/. 
 worth of gold, five of party ; but that of course did not satisfy 
 them, and there had come a great fame of The Devil's River. 
 This is always the case. In gold digging, as in life, " Man never 
 is, but always to be blessed ;*' and people are always posting with 
 
C ATTLE-BRANDING. Ill 
 
 bag and baggage from one digging to another. I may say- 
 that the fame of The Devil's River at this time proved groundless, 
 and this party disgusted with their short experience of the dig- 
 gings, marched down again to Melbourne, after losing one of their 
 party who was drowned in The Broken River. 
 
 They informed us that the Commissioners had letters awaiting 
 us, and that a party had been and taken out licences in our names. 
 The Commissioners had asked this party of impostors whether 
 they belonged to the party of Mr. William Howitt, the author, and 
 they said, — " Yes." They were unquestionably the same Nolus- 
 bolus set who had assumed our names all the way up the country. 
 The Commissioners, however, were suspicious of them, and there- 
 fore did not hand over our letters to them. 
 
 Our next encampment after leaving The Ovens River, was at 
 the station of the Messrs. Reid. I had a letter to Mr. David 
 Reid, addressed. Ovens River, and therefore supposed that this 
 was his house. As we drew near the place we saw a number of 
 men busy in a stock -yard branding cattle. These stock-yards are 
 large square enclosures, fenced in with posts and rails. They are 
 divided into two or more compartments, so that the squatters can 
 drive their cattle or sheep into them, and then drive them by 
 portions into the smaller divisions to catch them, or single them 
 out for any purpose. They were branding the yearling calves ; 
 an operation which, if we are to believe the inflicters, is by no 
 means cruel ; but which the evidence of the sufferers, given in 
 bellow ings and kickings, shows to be far from agreeable. It is 
 not particularly attractive as a spectacle ; but appears to be abso- 
 lutely necessary in an open wild country, quite unfenced, and 
 where there is, of course, no means of identifying cattle or horses, 
 except by a brand of the owner's initials. No one can assert his 
 property in cattle or horses more than a year old, that is, without a 
 brand. So long as foals or calves follow the dam, they are recog- 
 nisable by that fact, but not afterwards ; and there are not wanting 
 plenty of sharp fellows in the Bush, who are ready to put a brand 
 on where an animal is without one, belong to whom it may. But 
 from this branding system you are at first surprised to see magni- 
 ficent horses disfigured by an indelible scar ; yet this, which in 
 England would be considered an intolerable eye-sore, you here 
 soon almost cease to notice. 
 
 As we drew near the stock-yard, we heard desperate bellowings, 
 and saw cattle running and plunging about madly, and a group of 
 men all struggling with some one of the unfortunate beasts. 
 There was smoke ascending, and a strong smell of singed hide and 
 
112 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 hair. Coming nearer, we saw what was going on. The cattle 
 and great calves were crowding into one corner of a small com- 
 partment, and one of the men was dexterously throwing a lasso 
 over the heads of the calves in succession. One of them was 
 noosed, he began to plunge, and run, and bellow furiously, as if 
 conscious that no very agreeable treatment awaited him. But, 
 spite of his struggles, and plunges, and bellowings, he was rapidly 
 dragged along to one side of the yard, where he was thrown down 
 and the hot branding-iron clapped on his hip. It was no touch-and- 
 go application, but a regular pressure on the poor wretch's hide 
 for some half minute or so, till it burnt through hair and hide, 
 during which the unlucky beast roared lustily. At the same time 
 his eyes seemed starting out of his head with the throttling of the 
 rope, which from the furious resistance of some of them actually 
 cut through the skin of the neck. Once liberated, however, up 
 they jumped without any bidding, and dashed back to the herd. 
 They are said not to evince any great suffering from the operation, 
 except at the moment, but the mark remains for life. 
 
 Of course we did not stay to witness these scenes longer than 
 was necessary ; but being told that Mr. Reid was superintending 
 his business, I went to deliver my letter. I found, however, that 
 Mr. David Reid did not reside here, but at the Ovens Diggings, 
 Reid's Creek there being on his station. There resided Mrs. 
 Reid, his mother, and three of his brothers. Nothing could be 
 kinder than our reception by the whole of this hospitable and very 
 intelligent family. 
 
 Mrs. Reid is very fond of her garden, and has a very excellent 
 one, full of the most splendid flowers and fruit, but not yet ripe. 
 It is amazing how flowers and all kinds of fruit flourish when 
 they are cultivated there. My old favourites, the sweet scabiouses, 
 were nearly as tall as myself, and with many other flowers, are 
 spreading out into the open country, and likely to become regular 
 denizens of the forest. The vines were covered with clusters of 
 young grapes as thick as they could hanj?, none of which they 
 thin out, because the stocks are so full of life that they feed them 
 all to a fine size. 
 
 There were very good crops of wheat in their paddocks, rather 
 thin but healthy looking, and much finer in the head than any I 
 ever saw on the Rhine plains ; but they were terribly infested by 
 huge flocks of white cockatoos, that devour a hundred times more 
 than our sparrows. The harsh cries of these birds, as they rose 
 from the corn at our approach, were horrible. 
 
 On the open plain not far from their house there was a palisado 
 
COLD RECEPTION AT MACKAy's. 113 
 
 enclosure of a grave. One often sees these enclosures in the Bush. 
 There was no stone or inscription to this, as there scarcely ever 
 is ; but they told us that it was the grave of an old merchant from 
 Rio de Janeiro, whom they had known in that city, and who, on 
 some account, had come out hither when upwards of seventy. 
 They heard of his lying ill somewhere in the Bush, and went and 
 brought him here, where they nursed him till he died : and there 
 he lies. 
 
 Some of the Messrs. Reid had been at the Ovens Diggings buy- 
 ing gold, and the accounts they gave us of individual success 
 were wonderful. One of Mr. David Reid's shepherds, it seems, 
 first discovered it at Reid's Creek, and had made about 1400/. in 
 a few weeks. They had themselves purchased of one party there 
 61 lb. weight of gold in a week, and they had got as much more 
 by the week following. These are wonderful accounts, but we 
 expect to hear of these things rather than see them ourselves. 
 
 On leaving this hospitable house we were literally loaded with 
 presents of beef, bread, butter, and milk. The beef by far the 
 best that we had yet tasted in the colony. 
 
 At noon we arrived at a very different place. In Melbourne 
 Dr. Black had given me a letter to Dr. Mackay, and particularly 
 begged me to deliver it in person. As it was sealed, and, there- 
 fore, I inferred might contain matters of his own beyond a mere 
 introduction, we drove about a mile out of our way down to the 
 neighbourhood of his station, where we proposed to rest and cook 
 our dinner. The place, however, was so dry and parched up, and 
 seemed so fenced off as to shun approach, that we went on about 
 another mile in quest of water ; and finding a pool of very yellow- 
 looking water, we there, in lack of better, watered our horses, and 
 filled our kettle, and while dinner was cooking, I turned back to 
 Dr. Mackay's station, to deliver the letter, and to make some in- 
 quiry as to the road that we should take from this point. It was 
 a broiling noon, and the whole place looked scorched and baking. 
 I perceived that the Dr. had arrived at the dignity of a small one- 
 storied brick-house, the earlier stages of these stations being of 
 wood ; and there were the usual number of wooden huts or out- 
 buildings, scattered about at considerable distances. The kitchen 
 is always separate from the house. There was also the usual 
 quantity of sheepskins hanging to dry on the garden fences, that 
 is, the skins of the sheep they kill for their consumption and that 
 of their shepherds and stock-keepers, so that they are often in 
 hundreds, and extend a long way round. This is the usual ap- 
 pearance of a squatter's station, — a slab hut, with a great number 
 
 I 
 
114 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of lesser huts about it, sheepskin-adorned wooden fences, and a 
 garden looking very vividly verdant in comparison with the dusky 
 hue of the open forest around. 
 
 As I went towards the house, I saw a boy of apparently twelve 
 or fourteen, come out of the kitchen, look at me some time, and 
 disappear again. Then out came two women, took a good look, 
 and again disappeared. The boy, apparently a son of the house, 
 and the two young women were in the kitchen when I reached it, 
 the latter busy washing. I asked if Dr. Mackay was at home. 
 The boy said, "Oh yes!" and I requested him to give him Dr. 
 Black's letter and my card. He vanished, and I was left standing 
 in the heat of the sun for about ten minutes, the only alternative 
 being to step into the kitchen, reeking with steam and the odour 
 of soap-suds. 
 
 At length the boy returned, and said in a curious sort of way, 
 "My father is very unwell, but he says you can go in and get 
 some dinner." I said, " I am sorry to hear that, and I do not 
 want any dinner, thank you, my boy, as my party are waiting for 
 me to dine ; but I should be glad to ask some one about our route 
 forward. Is your mamma at home ?" 
 
 " Yes/' said the boy ; " but she's ill too." 
 
 On this I paused a moment to consider what the message meant. 
 The boy had said nothing in the first place of any illness, which 
 it occurred to me must be a very sudden attack indeed ; but sup- 
 posing I should see somebody who could give us reliable informa- 
 tion of our way, as the Reids had enjoined us particularly to ask 
 it here, I concluded to go in. The boy did not lead me directly 
 into the house by the door opposite, but took his way leisurely to 
 a gate at some distance into the garden, and went by circuitous 
 walks to what I suppose claimed the dignity of being the front 
 door. Here I was introduced into a room where evidently a con- 
 siderable family had been dining at the moment of my arrival, 
 and, as it was evident, had made a precipitate flight on the an- 
 nouncement of a stranger. The table was covered with dishes, 
 the contents of which had been pretty well exhausted by vigorous 
 appetites, and plates and tea-cups (for tea appears at every meal 
 in the Bush) only partly emptied. The chairs stood in confusion, 
 as if the whole party had started up in alarm ; and there was one 
 dish of meat covered with a wire cover, — constantly used in the 
 colony to clap on as soon as the carver ceases cutting, to keep out 
 the host of flies, which in a single second would cover it entirely 
 with one black mass. The room roared again with the myriads 
 of angry and disappointed vermin. 
 
•" 
 
 ODD REiCEPTION AT MACKAY's STATION. 115 
 
 The boy giving^ a push to the back of the chair which stood by 
 this dish, said, " There is dinner ! " Still more astonished, I again 
 informed him that I should not take any dinner, but would thank 
 him if he would send some one to me who could give us some in- 
 formation regarding our route. He disappeared by an opposite 
 door, and I was left to my meditations. Seeing a chair at a dis- 
 tance from the table, I sat down, and sat, and sat. No one ap- 
 peared except two little pale-looking girls, of seven or eight years 
 of age, with a great deal of hair falling on their shoulders, and 
 most vigorously twisting the corners of their pinafores into their 
 mouths, and seeming resolved on eating them up altogether. Anon 
 they withdrew from the door, and anon they stole back to gaze at 
 the stranger, and make a fresh onslaught on the corners of their 
 pinafores. 
 
 This continued for nearly half an hour, when a bell from a dis- 
 tant room rang, and presently a little servant-girl, with a dreadful 
 squint, brought out of a cupboard a decanter of sherry, fetched a 
 jug of water, a tumbler and wine-glass, and setting them on the 
 side of the table nearest to me, said " There 's wine," and marched 
 off in a queer nonchalant way. 
 
 Is this, thought I, Bush hospitality ? Certainly it was some- 
 thing that I had not seen in the colony so far ; and I was curious 
 to see how it would end. As to eating or drinking under such 
 circumstances, I believe any Englishman would perish of hunger 
 or thirst first. So I sat on, expecting that, perhaps, this was the 
 prelude to the appearance of some one of this invalid and now 
 invisible family ; who, as it was evident that they had not lost 
 their appetites, might not possibly have lost the use of their legs. 
 But I sat in vain : the house continued as still as a tomb ; so, after 
 another quarter of an hour I sallied forth to see if I could find 
 somebody. Nobody was discoverable till I again crossed the yard, 
 and found again the two girls progressing with their work. 
 
 " Are Dr. Mackay, and Mrs. Mackay, and every one else," I 
 asked, "too ill to see any one?" 
 
 " I don't know," said the little maid with the unfortunate obli- 
 
 ity of vision. 
 
 " Can you tell me ? " I said to the other, a clever-looking Irish 
 
 gii'l. 
 
 " Oh," said she, with a very significant expression, " I have 
 nothing to do with it. I am only here by the day!" 
 
 At this naive declaration, I had much ado to avoid laughing 
 outright. " Pray," said I, '* go in and beg Dr. Mackay not to dis- 
 turb himself, as I can remain no longer." And with that, instead 
 
 I 2 
 
116 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. ' 
 
 of making the same formal circuit by which I had entered, I bolted 
 out of the yard through a gap in the pales, and made my way to 
 my party as fast as I could. We had a hearty laugh at the scene 
 over our dinners, and many jokes were circulated on the occasion. 
 One thought that Dr. Black must have been asking the squatter 
 for the payment of a debt in the letter; and another thought that 
 the alarm was occasioned by the first irruption of an author into 
 the Bush ; and that the whole family were afraid of being put into 
 a book. If that was the case, they have had the same fortune as 
 the poor lady who pretended to be dumb in the presence of Hol- 
 berg, the great comic author of Denmark. 
 
 Paying a morning visit to some ladies, Holberg addressed some 
 words to a strange lady seated near him. She only replied by a 
 profound bow. Soon after he put to her a question : she replied 
 only by the same profound inclination of her head. On a visit, 
 some time after, to the same family, Holberg inquired of the lady 
 of the house after her friend the dumb lady. 
 
 **Diimb lady !" she exclaimed, "I have no lady friend who is 
 dumb." 
 
 "Yes," said Holberg, "certainly you have;" and he described 
 what has now been stated. 
 
 " Good gracious ! " said the lady, " she is no more dumb than 
 you are ; but when she heard that it was you who had called, she 
 said, * O ! I won't say a word, or he will put me in a play.' " 
 
 "Good heavens!" exclaimed Holberg; "why I have done it. 
 I have put her in as the Dumb Lady ; if she had only spoken, I 
 should never have thought of her at all." 
 
 As I had not learned what we wanted to know, — our route 
 through the hills, Mr. Bateman went off to the hut of a stock- 
 keeper within sight to ask this. As he approached, he picked up 
 a large stick, to defend himself from any outrush of large dogs, 
 which is very common. A child, playing before the hut, on seeing 
 this, rushed away into the house ; and, on Mr. Bateman's arrival, 
 he found two women standing in attitudes of alarm and of de- 
 fence, no doubt expecting that the tall man with a big stick was 
 nothing less than a bushranger. To all Mr. Bateman's inquiries 
 he couid only procure answers that told nothing ; they seemed to 
 have lost their wits. " Can you tell us anything of the direction 
 of the road leading to the Ovens Diggings?" "No; only you 
 are wrong." " How shall we get right again ?" " !" said the 
 women, " you might as well ask a gum-tree as us." And so we 
 left this odd, impracticable place, and blundered out our way as 
 Well as we could. 
 
GROUPS ON THE ROAD. 117 
 
 We had now got amongst the Ovens ranges, and were approach- 
 ing the diggings. Hill after hill we had to pass with our load, 
 now rushing down again through deep gullies, and now again 
 bouncing over rocky roads. The bare granite began to show 
 itself. Broad bare spaces of it burned in the sun ; and around us 
 we saw chains of mountains stretching in different directions. 
 Tlie trees on these hills looked battered and weather-beaten, and 
 half their limbs dead. The foliage became bluer and bluer ; it 
 might be some azure forest in a fairy tale ; and the leaves perpe- 
 trated the strangest vagaries. There were two or three diiFerent 
 kinds of leaves on the same trees. Many of them had on their 
 lower branches round leaves embracing the stem, very much like 
 the trumpet-honeysuckle ; while those above were long, willow- 
 shaped ones. There were again, acacias with long, narrow, simple 
 leaves, and bipinnate leaves alternating. And at length, in the 
 granite ridges, and fast rooted in their crannies, where there ap- 
 peared not a particle of earth, we saw a new tree, a species of 
 pine, with foliage like a Scotch fir, but the tree tapering up like a 
 larch or silver fir. Its cones, or rather seed-vessels, — for they 
 were round, and resembling those of the cypress, — were about the 
 size of marbles. It was evidently not a pinus, but a callitris, and, 
 no doubt, akin to the Murray pine. 
 
 Besides this, the flowers and shrubs of those bare, hot, granite 
 hills, were to us new and curious. The everlastings abounded ; 
 and there was a shrub very like an everlasting, too, the Cassinia 
 aculeata. It grows five feet, and often more, in height ; has 
 broad, white, umbelliferous flowers ; is light and elegant ; and 
 accords well with the other shrubs, which are curious, but difficult 
 to describe. There was a shrub growing out of the chinks of the 
 hottest and barest stone, which had small pinnate leaves, some- 
 thing like a chrysanthemum, but was covered with masses of hop- 
 like seed-cases, like those of the rattle-grass {Rhinanthus crista- 
 galli). It was the Dodoncea hirtella. There were various dia- 
 nellas, the flowers resembling those of the solanums, some delicately 
 white, others blue. 
 
 Singular groups passed us continually on the road. Here were 
 five or six diggers on splendid horses, their rugs rolled up before 
 them. Then, again, another group cantering along on lanky horses 
 with switch tails, and having themselves a more work-a-day and 
 weather-beaten look. After them came a train of bullock-teams. 
 They were all the property of one man, who travelled from dig- 
 ging to digging with stores — flour, tea, sugar, cheese, bacon, &c. 
 See! they arrive at a' creek. All halt, take out their bullocks, 
 
 i3 
 
118 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and let tliem graze. Out of one covered waggon descends a stream 
 of children from two to seven or eight years old, followed by their 
 mother, with her sun-bonnet shading her neck with a broad flap. 
 A fire is made, and the kettle is set on, and the frying-pan brought 
 out. The youngest child seats itself in the very middle of the 
 road, and begins to play with the dust. The rest get down to tlie 
 stream, and paddle in it, and wash their faces. The eldest girl 
 pulls out a comb, and combs and arranges the hair of. the younger 
 ones. Then she pulls out a small looking-glass, attaches it to tiie 
 bark of the tree by a hook, and arranges her own. The boy is 
 busy helping to drive the bullocks to the best grass. The mother 
 calls, and they all run off to dinner. 
 
 But there, again ; see what a train ! It is like that of the re- 
 tainers of some old feudal baron. First rides a man in a cloth cap 
 with a gold tassel, and in a scarlet mantle, which flies behind him. 
 He has a led horse, carrying luggage in a leathern valise. Next 
 rides another man in ordinary dress, leading two horses ; and, 
 finally, one in the bee-hive white pith helmet of the mounted 
 police, leading another horse. I suppose it is some gold commis- 
 sioner and his attendants. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Ovens Diggings. — Extraordinary Scene. — Increasing Gold Fever in England. 
 — Reality here. — Sickness, Death, Disappointment. — A great Rush, which 
 proves a Hoax. — Murders. — Christmas-day. 
 
 " Hurrah ! there are the diggings at last!" Such was our joyful 
 cry, after the arduous and eventful journey of nearly two months, 
 over only about 250 miles of ground, but such ground ! there are 
 really the diggings. On reaching the brow of a hill, we saw a 
 broad valley lying below us, and white tents scattered along it for 
 a mile or more. The tents, right and left, glanced out of the 
 woods on all sides. In the open valley they stood thick, and there 
 was a long stretch up the centre of the valley, where all the 
 ground had been turned up, and looked like a desert of pale clay. 
 
 After our long pilgrimage, it seemed as if we ought never to 
 come to diggings at all, but that our business was to go on and on. 
 But here were the diggings, spite of fate. "We descended the hill. 
 There stood a great wide-open tent, with a pole and handkerchief 
 
OVENS DIGGINGS. 119 
 
 hoisted upon it, in sign that it was a store or shop. We went on, 
 — huts, dusty ground, all trodden, trees felled and withering up 
 in the sun, with all their foliage ; here and there a round hole 
 like a well, a few feet deep, where they had been trying for gold, 
 and had not found it. Down we went, — more tents, more dust, 
 more stores, heaps of trees felled and lying about; lean horses 
 grazing about on a sward that a goose could not lay hold of; hole 
 after hole where gold had been dug for, and was now abandoned ; 
 washes hanging out ; horrid stenches from butchers' shops, and 
 holes into which they had flung their garbage : along the valley to 
 the right, green, smooth sward, and nothing to indicate that there 
 was gold there more than in a thousand other places that we had 
 passed over with unconscious feet. 
 
 But to the left, up the valley, hundreds on hundreds of tents 
 were clapped down in the most dusty and miserable places ; and 
 all the ground was perforated with holes, round or square, some 
 deeper, some shallower, some dry, some full of water, but in few 
 of which work was going on. The diggers had flitted to other 
 holes. All between the holes, the hard clay-coloured sand lay in 
 ridges ; and you had to thread your way carefully amongst them, 
 if you did not mean to fall in. Still horrider stenches from 
 butchers' shops and garbage pits ; the scene thickened, and tents 
 after tents, stores, and bark-huts crowded upon you like a great 
 fair. There was the creek or little stream, — Spring Creek, — no 
 longer translucent as it came from the hills, but a thick clay 
 puddle, with rows of puddling-tubs standing by it, and men busy 
 washing their earth in tins and cradles. 
 
 Such was the first view of a digging. But we turned up to the 
 right into a green quiet glade of the forest, and there pitched our 
 tent, at a distance from the throng, and where there was food for 
 our horses. After a hasty tea, we set off to the Commissioners' 
 Camp for our letters. The tents of the Commissioners stood in a row, 
 on a rising ground on the other side of the creek, with a number 
 of other tents for servant and officials behind them. The whole 
 was enclosed with post and rails, and sentinels were on duty as in 
 a military camp. The Commissioners' tents, lined with blue 
 cloth, and of a capacious size, looked comfortable and, to a degree, 
 imposing. Mr. Smythe, Commissioner of Crown Lands for this 
 district, as well as a gold commissioner, and Mr. Lieutenant 
 Templeton of the mounted police, received us most cordially, and 
 promised us every information in their power. They had a good 
 packet of letters for us, which we soon returned to our tent to 
 read. 
 
 i4 
 
120 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 The gold fever, the newspapers told us, was still growing morO' 
 intense at home. Well, those who went out found enough to cool 
 them down. We soon saw sufficient to show the falsity of the Ara- 
 bian Kights' fables, which the Melbournians had circulated all 
 over the world. The idea of walking up to Mount Alexander in 
 a couple of days, and shovelling up a few sack-bags full of gold, 
 and going home again, was very charming, and quite as true as 
 the romance of Aladdin's Lamp. The history of our memorable 
 journey to the gold-fields, will show what a gigantic undertaking 
 going to the diggings then really was. And our history is but 
 that of thousands. We were not the only ones who had hardship, 
 accidents, and sickness to encounter. Hundreds had already 
 gone back again, cursing those who sent such one-sided statements 
 of the gold-fields and of 'the climate. Thousands had been struck 
 down, and many of them were still lying on their backs, from the 
 effects of change of climate, but still more from those of the 
 change of living, and exposure to heat and cold, wet and night 
 air, to which they had never been accustomed. Numbers had 
 made a much more rapid progress up the country than we had, 
 because they had endeavoured to dispense with a tent and with a 
 tarpaulin under them. They rolled themselves in a rug at night, 
 often soaked with rain, or chilled with the cold of the night, which 
 is often very penetrating, especially after a day's march under a 
 hot sun ; and, lying on damp ground, were seized, very naturally, 
 with dysenteries, fevers, and rheumatism, which would cripple 
 many for life, and have already carried many out of it. New as 
 were these diggings, there was a tolerably populous cemetery on a 
 hill there ; and some who crossed the sea with us were already 
 sleeping in it. Thus, according to the old adage, the most hasty had 
 not been the best speed, and perhaps those whom all along the 
 road we had seen with broken axles^ carts broken down, or 
 sticking fast in the bogs, were not the most unfortunate parties. In 
 short, to get up to the diggings was a gigantic labour. But for 
 ourselves, we were no whit daunted. We determined to dig, and 
 to buy gold ; and whether we should get more or less, we 
 should still be picking up information for an ultimate object. 
 
 After writing the above, we wandered about amongst the 
 diggings. No language can describe the scene of chaos. The 
 creek, that is, a considerable brook, was diverted from its course ; 
 and all the bed of the old course was dug up. Then each side of 
 the creek was dug up, and holes sunk as close to each other as 
 they could possibly be, so as to leave room for the earth that was 
 thrown out. These holes were some round, some square, and 
 
CHAOTIC ASPECT OF THE DIGGINGS. 121 
 
 some no shape at all, the sides having fallen in as fast as they had 
 been dug out. They were, in fact, pits and wells, and shapeless, 
 yawning gulfs, not three or four feet, as in the tempting accounts 
 from Mount Alexander, but from ten to thirty feet deep. Out of 
 these the earth had to be drawn up in buckets ; and some wound 
 them up with windlasses, rudely constructed out of the wood that 
 grows about ; and others hauled it up with blocks and pulleys ; 
 others, and the greater number, merely with their hands. The 
 diggers themselves generally ascended and descended by a rope 
 fastened to a post above, and by holes for their feet in the side of 
 the pit. 
 
 Many of these holes were filled, or nearly so, with water, 
 filtering from the creek, It was black as ink, and had a stench as 
 of a tan-yard ; f)artly from the bark with which they lined the 
 sides of their holes. In the midst of all these holes, these heaps 
 of clay and gravel, and this stench, the diggers were working 
 away, thick as ants in an ant-hill. The labour of all this may be 
 imagined, and especially of keeping down these subterranean 
 deluges of Stygian w^ater. 
 
 The course of the creek was lined with other diggers washing 
 out their gold. There were whole rows, almost miles, of puddling- 
 tubs and cradles at work. The earth containing the gold was 
 thrown into the puddling-tubs — half-hogsheads — and stirred 
 about with water, to dissolve the hard lumps, when it was put 
 through the cradle, then washed out in tin dishes. It was a scene 
 of great bustle and animation. We saw some parties who had 
 washed out in the course of the day 1 lb. weight of gold, others 5 
 or 6 oz. ; and so most of them had some golden result. 
 
 As we were watching this process, we observed that the atten- 
 tion of a great number of the diggers was directed to a little green 
 rocker, as they called it, that is, little green-painted cradle. They 
 said that they had seen the people belonging to that green rocker 
 wash out 7 lbs. of gold from nine tin dishes of stuff. All eyes, 
 therefore, were on the watch to trace the party to the hole they 
 brought it from ; and that being done, there was a desperate rush 
 to that spot. In a very few hours hundreds of claims were 
 marked out, as near as possible to the golden hole. It was curious 
 to see swarms of men suddenly appear upon the place, all engaged 
 with their picks and spades in marking out the turf into squares 
 of eight feet, or, if for more than one person, of twelve or sixteen 
 feet. The mode of making a claim is simply this : each man 
 traces out one or more of these squares, and sticks a stick down at 
 each corner, and turns up a sod in the middle of it. That is 
 
122 TWO TEARS IN TICTORIA. 
 
 taking possession ; and work more or less must be done in it every 
 day, or it is forfeited. It is a common practice for them to mark 
 out one or more claims in each new rush, so as to make sure if it 
 turn out well. But only one claim at a time is legal and tenable. 
 This practice is called shepherding ; but if any one discovers that 
 a party is holding more than one claim, he can seize any of the 
 supernumerary ones. In case of any dispute about a claim, the 
 Commissioner is called to decide it. 
 
 Well, in a few hours, a great space of many acres was marked 
 out, and more people were flocking on, so that they bade fair 
 speedily to come up our quiet glade, to our very tent ; and, in 
 fact, there are several sinking holes very near us. Before the day 
 was over it was amazing what a quantity of holes were dug four 
 and five feet deep, and how the whole scene, which a few hours be- 
 fore was a green sward, looked like a tumbled stone-quarry, with 
 all its heaps of rubbish. Had there been much gold found, the 
 whole of this glade would soon have been turned upside down ; 
 but very little was found, and the knowing ones said " it is no go." 
 "We marked out two claims, and sunk them nearly six feet each, 
 with no result ; and about noon we had a specimen of the way in 
 which mares' nests have been got up to humbug successfully 
 England, Europe, America, and all the world. 
 
 There was a great hurrahing at one hole, and a man who knew 
 me came running to desire me to go and see a nugget nearly as 
 big as his finger. As no nuggets had yet been found there, but 
 only small gold, it appeared the more surprising. I hastened on ; 
 but before I could reach the spot, I heard a man say, " Well, I 
 have sold the nugget and my hole for 51. I5s, Od.'^ " Where is 
 the nugget ? " I asked. " Oh ! " said he, " the man who bought it 
 has gone ofi* with it." 
 
 Now there was a nugget, but it had been first put in by this 
 fellow, an old Bendigo digger, in order to sell his hole. The 
 nugget was probably worth half the money. The diggers dug on 
 with renewed ardour, but soon came down to the rock, and 
 scarcely a particle of gold was found. I have no doubt that many 
 of the Munchausen holes out of which the 5000/. and 7000/. were 
 so readily shovelled up at Mount Alexander in a few days, were 
 got up the same way, and for the same purposes. The people 
 everywhere did not hesitate to assert that the wonderful finds that 
 the Governor reported to the Home Government were prepared 
 by interested parties. Their expression was, " The holes were 
 peppered for him." I believe very little, if any, gold was got out 
 of the whole of this rush ; and most of the holes were immediately 
 
CHRISTMAS-DAY. 123 
 
 deserted. Indeed, it seemed to be a general opinion that the rush 
 was planned by the people of the "Little Green Rocker," who 
 saw that they were watched, and resolved to mislead their 
 watchers. 
 
 Mr. Smythe, the Commissioner, asked me to go to the camp, to 
 look at seven men whom they had in charge for the perpetration 
 of two murders. He thought they might probably be the seven 
 who visited us on the road. But they were very different fellows ; 
 as rascally and murderous-looking a set as I ever saw. The two 
 murders were committed on two individuals whom they found at 
 a distance from their camp. One was a German Jew, Marcus Just, 
 or some such name. He was on his way to these diggings, and 
 had camped somewhere not far off. He had gone to a horse that 
 he had tethered in the wood, when the fellows seized and murdered 
 him. Four bullock-drivers who were camped near, saw them 
 murder the man, but were too cowardly to interfere. It was on 
 the evidence of these bullock-drivers that they were detaining the 
 ruffians. But the bullock-drivers had disappeared, and the man's 
 wife was gone away to Melbourne. I much fear the villains, 
 therefore, escaped from want of evidence. The diggers would have 
 lynched them upon the spot, but the Commissioners very properly 
 prevented it, as it was by no means certain that these were the 
 murderers. 
 
 We did not alarm ourselves about these murders and rumours 
 of murders. They were only committed on solitary individuals ; 
 and we made it a practice never to go far into the Bush alone, nor 
 unarmed. As for these diggings, they were quiet and orderly : 
 and people left their tents all day, and seldom had them "shook," 
 as the phrase was, or, in plain English, robbed. But the diggers 
 had a notion that we had some official business up there. They 
 saw us with the Commissioners a great deal, and that might be 
 one reason ; but all the way up the road they persisted in calling 
 ours " the Government team," for what reason we could never 
 discover; and I having on one day a Bernous, bordered with 
 scarlet, some diggers going up inquired of Alfred if I were not 
 Judge A'Beckett going to judge the prisoners at the Ovens. 
 Though we disclaimed the judgeship, we were at no pains to do 
 away with their notion that we were in some way official, as it was 
 evidently a protection. In fact, nobody interfered with us. 
 
 Christmas-day we celebrated with the good old orthodox roast- 
 beef and plum-pudding. We invited two young gentlemen dig- 
 gers, Messrs. Cooke and Palmer, the latter a nephew of the 
 Speaker of the Legislative Council, to dine with us ; and drank a 
 
124 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Merry Christmas to all our friends in Old England, in a tumbler 
 of brandy-and-water. We tried to believe it Christmas, spite of 
 the thermometer at 120°, of diggers' tents in the distance, and the 
 Bush around us. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Diggers' Propensities ; firing Guns and felling Trees. — Spring Creek and 
 Reid's Creek. — Wet Diggings. — Ants, Centipedes, Scorpions, and Flies. — 
 Reid's Creek, its repulsive Aspect. — Attempt to assassinate Mr. Reid. — 
 Sells his Station. — An official Snob. — Civility of Spring Creek Diggers. — 
 Death of Dr. Godwin, a Shipmate, from Disappointment. — His Grave.^ — 
 
 Fresh Rushes Perpetual empty Rumours. — The Mysterious Germans, — 
 
 Heat 139°. — Our Digging Experience. — Intense Competition. — Determine 
 to go ahead. — Explorers dodging in the Bush. — Churl the Miller. — Result 
 of the dodging Manoeuvres. — We discover a Gold-field. 
 
 We had now passed more than six months since leaving home, 
 and had bade adieu to the year 1852, The close of the year was 
 celebrated by the diggers, in firing ofif guns and making bonfires, 
 with the usual additions of drinking, fiddling, and the like. There 
 was no such thing as any body sleeping till near morning. It is 
 the custom of the diggers to keep up a temporary firing every 
 night. It is the custom at all the diggings, and probably origi- 
 nated in the idea of letting the evil-disposed know that they were 
 well armed. The diggers think, too, that it is necessary to dis- 
 charge a gun or pistol at night, and charge it afresh ; but, except 
 in rainy weather, the powder in this climate is not likely to become 
 damp. However, all are armed, and all fire ofif their guns at night 
 in rapid succession, so that the abominable noise may be imagined. 
 But the diggers seem like children, who are immensely delighted 
 with the noise of gunpowder. 
 
 The diggers seem to have two especial propensities, those of 
 firing guns and felling trees. It is amazing what a number of 
 trees they fell. No sooner have they done their day's work, than 
 they commence felling trees, which you hear falling continually 
 with a crash, on one side of you or the other. In fact, the stringy- 
 bark is the most useful tree conceivable, for the diggers as well as 
 for squatters. Its bark easily peels off, and forms large sheets, 
 which become hard as boards, from half an inch to an inch thick. 
 These make sides and roofs of huts. They make also floors for 
 them, and for tents. They make seats and tables, one of which 
 
SPRING CREEK AND REID's CREEK. 126 
 
 we have laid on two trestles in our tent. They form boats, and 
 spouts and shoots, for water. You see large shoots of it to convey 
 the water from the diggers' holes, or to their washing places. A 
 few sheets of canvas, or a few blankets, eked out by sheets of 
 stringy-bark, form numbers of temporary abodes at the diggings. 
 You see numbers of stringy-bark trees standing with the bark 
 stripped off for six or eight feet high, and others felled, and com- 
 pletely stripped. The wood is not less useful, It has the property 
 of easily cleaving, and splits up readily into posts and rails, into 
 slabs for the walls of huts, or into anything that you want. There- 
 fore, there is a great destruction of this tree, and fortunately there 
 is no lack of it. It burns very well quite green, so that it supplies 
 fuel at hand. 
 
 Before relating our individual experience in digging, I will 
 give a more extended idea of the Ovens gold-field at that time. It 
 consisted, in fact, of two fields, Spring Creek and Reid's Creek. 
 Spring Creek runs into Reid's Creek some three or four miles 
 below. Altogether there were calculated to be nearly 20,000 
 people on these diggings, and 13,000 oz. of gold were occasionally 
 sent down to Melbourne by escort. The greater part of this gold 
 was got out of the wet diggings ; that is, out of the bed of the 
 Creek. No one, except he saw it, could possibly form any idea of 
 what wet diggings were. It required from ten to fourteen men to 
 work a claim, for the water poured in so fast as to require a good 
 number of them constantly bailing it out ; this was done both by 
 buckets and pumps. You saw long poles fixed on posts, like those 
 at old wells in Germany, the outer end of the pole being weighted 
 so as to balance the bucket when full ; this machine they call a 
 wee-gee. Others used a Chinese pump, called a belt-pump, which 
 the Chinese took to California, and which Californian diggers were 
 using here. The belt-pump consists simply of a long wooden pipe 
 or tunnel, about six inches square, at the upper end of which is a 
 wheel turning a long band of canvass, the two ends of which are 
 sewed together so that it forms a circle. On this band are fixed 
 upright square pieces of board at regular distances ; and as the 
 wheel is turned, these pieces of board move onward with the band, 
 enter the lower end of ^:he tunnel, and carrying the water with 
 them, discharge it at the mouth. 
 
 Many of these wet diggings were from ten to twenty feet deep ; 
 and not only were they thus flooded with fetid water, but the sides 
 were continually tumbling in, and required to be cased with slabs 
 or sheets of stringy-bark. If this were neglected, most likely, at 
 the moment that the diggers reached the gold, an enormous mass 
 
126 TWO TEARS IN VTCTORIA, 
 
 of earth fell in and buried it and them too, if they were not very 
 lucky, many feet deep. Imagine, therefore, the Herculean and in- 
 cessant labour of these wet diggings ; for they must be worked day 
 and night, or they became filled with water to the brim. 
 
 In these dismal and troublesome holes we saw groups of men 
 working under the broiling sun, streaming with perspiration, and 
 yet up to the middle in water. It may well be imagined that 
 nothing can be more destructive to the constitution, yet the quan- 
 tity of gold found in these wet holes being much larger than what 
 was found in the dry ground, there was always a rush there. Yet 
 what a scene it was ! amazing to a stranger. Those deep and un- 
 shapely abysses, black with mud, in which lay beams and poles, 
 and masses of stringy-bark ; other holes worked out, or whence the 
 people have been driven out by the overpowering force of water ; 
 and amidst all this sludge, and filth, and confusion, swarms of 
 people, many of them gentlemen of birth and education, all labour- 
 ing as for life ! When you had seen this, you began to have a 
 truer notion of what gold-digging is, than from the rose-water ro- 
 mancing of the Australian papers. 
 
 Next came the dry diggings : these were far enough from the 
 stream to be free from its drainage. Every yard of ground was 
 there dug up ; the whole surface was honey-combed with holes, 
 from ten to forty feet and more deep. These were far more tolerable 
 than the wet holes ; but working, even there, was no play. The 
 strata through which they were cut, were often as hard as flint ; 
 and a noon sun darting perpendicularly into them, and not a breath 
 of air being able to reach the worker, the reader may imagine 
 something of the severity of this labour. 
 
 In some places large square masses had been dug out solidly ; 
 and the excavations resembled the foundations of some ancient 
 city, like Nineveh, laid open to the day. The amount of labour 
 had been already enormous, and gave us a very different idea of 
 gold-digging to anything that we had seen described in England. 
 Indeed, if any one at home asks whether he shall go to the Aus- 
 tralian diggings, advise him first to go and dig a coal-pit ; then 
 work a month at a stone-quarry ; next sink a well in the wettest 
 place he can find,, of at least fifty feet delp ; and finally, clear out 
 a space of sixteen feet square of a bog twenty feet deep ; and if, 
 after that, he still has a fancy for the gold-fields, let him go ; 
 understanding, however, that all the time he must live on heavy 
 unleavened bread, on tea without milk, and on mutton or beef 
 without vegetables, and as tough as India-rubber. 
 
 All the meat that we got at the diggings was intolerably tough, 
 
REPULSIVE ASPECT OF THE DIGGINGS. 127 
 
 partly because the squatters were killing off first what they called 
 their hospital-flocks — the scabbiest sheep, and those worn to 
 skeletons with foot-rot ; and partly because it was obliged to be 
 eaten immediately, on account of the heat and the flies, which are 
 truly described by a Melbourne advertiser of wire-gauze dish- 
 covers, as " the insect-pests of Australia." As for the little black- 
 devil fly, I give up all attempts to convey any idea of it as a 
 perpetual torment ; and the blow-flies we became quite contented 
 with, if they did not fly-blow ourselves. They blew our blan- 
 kets, or anything that had a particle of woollen in it. One day 
 Charlton was skinning a flying squirrel just shot, and it was crawling 
 with live maggots before he had finished. Another day we saw 
 an ox in a dray, which had its eye burst, and there were actually 
 dozens of maggots in it, eating it out. But, stranger still, a gen^ 
 tleman in a party working near us hurt his eye with the handle of 
 a windlass ; and the next morning, feeling a strange, creeping 
 sensation in it, he got up, and, to his horror, actually saw it alive 
 with maggots. 
 
 In truth, Australia seems the favourite home of insect life ; 
 insects there are endless in numbers and form. Many are most 
 singular and curious ; but the ants, the flies, the centipedes, and 
 the scorpions, are a terrific nuisance. The bite of all these is 
 severe and venomous. There is a red spider, too, whose bite is 
 said to be deadly ; but the ants are the most numerous, next to the 
 flies. They cover the whole surface of the ground, I might almost 
 say of the whole colony, of all colours and sizes ; and almost every 
 variety of them stings keenly. Nor is it the ground only on 
 which they swarm ; there is not a log lying on the ground, nor a 
 tree standing in the forest, up and down which they are not creep- 
 ing in myriads. Trains of them are constantly ascending to the 
 topmost twigs of the loftiest gum-trees, 250 feet high, and other 
 trains descending. They appear to be a main cause of the pre- 
 valent hollowness of the trees, as they pierce to the centre of the 
 youngest ones, and eat out and make their nests in their hearts. 
 They eat the wood of the boughs ; so that immense arms often fall 
 off, with a sudden snap, just as if they had been cut asunder by 
 an axe. One day we cut down a young stringy-bark tree, and 
 split it to make some trestles, and the heart of it was all eaten out 
 and occupied by ants. These insects, many of them an inch long, 
 contested the ground with us, when we were pitching our tent in 
 any fresh place ; and their sting is as severe as that of a wasp. 
 
 But to return to the diggings. We went one day to Reid's 
 Creek, and found it much more populous than Spring Creek, 
 
128 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 For nearly two miles a wide valley was completely covered by 
 tents, and the soil turned upside down by the diggers. A more 
 rowdy and uninviting scene I never saw. There was an inde- 
 scribable air of blackguardism about the place. All the trees 
 were cut down ; the ground, where it was not actually dug up, 
 was eaten perfectly bare by lean horses ; and the tents and booths 
 and nondescript erections had anything but a look of prosperity 
 about them. More shabbiness and apparent wretchedness it would 
 be difficult to conceive ; and yet heavy quantities of gold were 
 undoubtedly taken from the Creek there. 
 
 Alfred and I had no little difficulty in making our way into it 
 and through it; for the diggers had evidently taken an especial 
 pleasure in felling trees across the roads, where they were made. 
 When the carts and drays were thus compelled to make circuits, 
 they had felled other trees across their new tracks, till there 
 actually was no road to be found through this delectable digging 
 of gold. You could well perceive what delight these fellows had 
 had in witnessing the difficulty of the draymen in threading their 
 way amid the rude chaos of felled trees ; and that these trees were 
 really felled for this purpose, was evident from the fact, that there 
 they lay, tops and all, and, therefore, had not been cut down for 
 fuel or other uses. 
 
 Reid's Creek had the character of being a disorderly and dan- 
 gerous place. There have been no less than fifteen murders com- 
 mitted at it ; and we were warned, if we went there, to look well 
 after our horses, as horse-stealing was very rife there. One of the 
 murders was that of a man by his mates. He was known to have 
 got a large quantity of gold, and it was observed that his tent was 
 closed for several days. This attracted attention ; but his mates 
 said he w^as gone away on business. After this had continued for 
 about ten days, the neighbours strongly expressed their suspicions 
 to the Commissioner, and recommended the tent to be searched. 
 But as he declined this, the diggers entered it themselves, and 
 found the body buried under the floor, and in a state of putre- 
 faction. Meantime, the assassins had disappeared. 
 
 Mr. David Reid, on whose station this digging was, and who lived 
 about two miles and a half off, was several times waylaid by men 
 who sought to rob him. As he was in the habit of buying large 
 quantities of gold, the villains imagined that he carried it home with 
 him in the evening, which, however, he was too prudent to do. 
 As he did not expect to escape assassination eventually, he sold 
 his station and went away. 
 
 We had a letter to Mr. Reid ; and, inquiring where we should 
 
DEATH OF DR. GODWIN. 129 
 
 find him, we were directed to the Assistant-Commissioner's tent, 
 as the best place to learn. We rode there, and saw an official 
 personage standing in front of the tent, having very much the 
 look of a clerk of a coal wharf. This, we afterwards learned, was 
 a Mr. Mackaye, the inspector of police. He pretended not to know 
 Mr. Reid, appeared offended that we should presume to talk to so 
 great a personage, and in the most snobbish manner turned into 
 the tent, refusing to give us any information. A more civil man 
 pointed out Mr. Reid's hut, which was about fifty yards in front 
 of this silly jack-in-office as he stood. The inspector of police, I 
 found from Mr. Smythe the next day, was a low, drunken sot, 
 and was a few days afterwards dismissed, for commanding his 
 men to charge a respectable store with fixed bayonets, in a drunken 
 fit, when his own men knocked his hat over his eyes, and marched 
 him away to the Commissioner. 
 
 Mr. La Trobe told us that some of the most desperate characters 
 in the colony wer^e at the Ovens Diggings. They seemed in- 
 stinctively to have congregated at Reid's Creek ; for I must say, 
 that a more quiet and orderly population I have rarely seen than 
 at Spring Creek. We went about amongst them, and watched 
 them at their work, asking all sorts of questions ; and in every 
 instance we met with the utmost civility and good nature. People 
 left their tools and cooking apparatus about outside their tents, 
 while they were perhaps a mile away at work ; and it was very 
 rare that anything was touched. Nay, one day a digger found 
 a valuable tether-rope of one of our horses in the woods, and came 
 and asked if it were not ours ; a great contrast to our experience 
 on the road. 
 
 We found gold far from plentiful, except in the wet diggings, 
 which they were fast exhausting ; there was a great dearth of pro- 
 fitable labour. The majority of the diggers were dissatisfied, and 
 not earning more than their expenses ; many not that. There 
 seemed a general feeling of disappointment ; and there was as ge- 
 neral an expression of indignation at the inflated accounts which 
 had drawn such numbers to the colony. They declared that the 
 only object had been to cause a large immigration at any expense 
 of truth ; and that where the accounts were true in some re- 
 spects, they were not the whole truth ; the drawbacks and diffi- 
 culties being carefully kept out of sight, which made all the dif- 
 ference. Numbers of those who came out in the same ship with 
 us had abandoned the quest of gold, and a considerable number 
 made their way back ; but the most melancholy fate was that of 
 Dr. Godwin. He was one of the most intelligent and best-in- 
 
130 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 formed men in the ship. One of the first persons whom I met on 
 my arrival here, was a Mr. Pettifor, who had been the partner of 
 his enterprise. He had occasionally given the passengers le(;tures 
 on biology. He now presented himself to me in an old, slouched, 
 white wide-awake, and the rest of his dress in correspondent di- 
 lapidation. He was nearly blind from the attacks of the flies; had 
 an ulcer on his nose ; and was altogether so metamorphosed, that 
 I did not in the slightest degree recognise him. 
 
 After saying who he really was, he added, " I suppose you have 
 heard the news?" "What news?" "The Doctor is dead!" 
 " What ! Dr. Godwin ? " " Yes ; did you not hear of the coroner's 
 inquest?" 
 
 " 1 heard of a coroner's inquest over a person who was supposed 
 to have cut his throat, or to have poisoned himself. Surely the 
 Doctor did neither of these acts ?" 
 
 " Oh ! no ; nothing of the sort. These are false rumours, owing 
 to the suddenness of his death. But the truth i«, he died of sheer 
 disappointment, — of nothing more nor less than a broken heart. 
 The depression of his spirits, on perceiving how cruelly he had 
 been drawn from one end of the world to the other by enormously 
 exaggerated statements, completely overpowered him. He was 
 very ill, and at length died of utter collapse, in a few hours." 
 
 This statement was fully confirmed to me by Dr. Green, the 
 coroner. Poor Godwin ! I was really shocked at the news. The 
 many long conversations I had had with him on the poop of the 
 Kent, on moonlight evenings in the tropics, came back upon me 
 strangely. Then he was full of his plans for the diggings ; of the 
 gold that had been represented so plentiful and so easy to procure ; 
 and now, already, he was sleeping on a neighbouring hill in the 
 Bush, one of a considerable company who had thus early broken 
 this virgin soil of the wilderness, not with their gold-spades, but 
 with their mortal remains. I went up the hill, and contemplated 
 his grave with strange and melancholy feelings. Like those of his 
 fellow -si umberers, his grave was surrounded by a rude paling, but 
 without any inscription. What golden hopes and visions, I 
 thought, lie quenched in this recordless spot ! 
 
 The uneasy state of the digging population at the Ovens was 
 evidenced by their being so generally on the qui vive for a rush. 
 Wonderful rumours were afloat on all sides, and everywhere the 
 diggers were ready to run after them. Scarcely was that over 
 which I have described, on what became called Pennyweight 
 Flat, as indicative of the amount dug up there, when there came 
 other stories of wonders in the woods between us and the Bufl'alo 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS GERMANS. 131 
 
 ranges. For days bands of diggers, with their picks and spades, 
 their washing dishes and provisions, were going up. Drays and 
 carts, with all their loads of tools and instruments, soon followed. 
 Alfred and I went too, and saw some small creeks at three and 
 five miles distance, and tents pitched and people working, but with 
 so little result, that some of them were already on their way back. 
 And what a road they had had to make and travel up ! All the 
 way ascending steep stony hills without a track, through the woods, 
 and amid huge stones and fallen trees. 
 
 Then there was much talk again of famous diggings at The 
 Buffalo ranges and at The Devil's River ; but the Commissioners 
 assured us that really nothing was doing there. Then there were 
 wonderful tales of certain mysterious Germans, who brought in 
 large quantities of gold from nobody knew where, and whither 
 nobody could track them. There was the same story at Mel- 
 bourne before we left. The scene of those mysterious Germans 
 was in the Dandenong hills, where, when followed, they always 
 disappeared as by magic at a certain spot. The same story had 
 circulated at Bendigo ; and there the mysterious Germans, equally 
 untraceable, said they brought their loads of gold from Whipstick 
 Gully. At the Ovens, when asked by the Commissioners, they 
 were said to reply, that they brought it from Wattle Gully ; which 
 meant anywhere, for wattles grow in all gullies. It was confi- 
 dently stated that they had brought into the gold office 1001b. 
 weight in one day ; and this soon grew to 1501b. weight. It was 
 evidently one of those myths in which people delight ; and as it 
 was all over the diggings, and produced universal excitement, I went 
 purposely to the camp, and there it turned out to be 100 oz. ! The 
 Commissioner declared that to be the very largest amount that had 
 ever been brought in there by any one party at one time. If the 
 golden stories that reached home, could have thus been put to the 
 test, how many thousands might have spared themselves the cir- 
 cumnavigation of the globe! 
 
 And now for our own experience. Our holes at Pennyweight 
 'lat yielded nothing. We then sunk a hole eighteen feet deep, 
 ^near our tent. It was through gravel set as hard as adamant, and 
 appeared as if it would go down to the centre of the earth. We, 
 therefore, concluded to leave it for an easier trial, especially as the 
 sun stood, on the last day that we worked it, at 139° of Fahren- 
 heit, at noon ! We were the more resigned to abandon it, because 
 some of our neighbours had gone twice the depth with the like 
 result. Yet I have heard since that one party went 130 ft. deep 
 near there, and got a tolerable quantity of gold ! 
 
 K 2 
 
132 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Observing, however, that the gold was most abundant in the 
 stream, or near it, and must, therefore, have come down the stream, 
 we set off, and prospected, as they call it, that is, reconnoitred, 
 upwards. With the exception of about half a mile at the head of 
 the Spring Creek diggings, which for some cause remained untried, 
 we found parties on the Creek and in the gullies bordering on it, 
 for two miles upwards. In one gully going off to the right, called 
 Blind Gully, there were great numbers at work ; and they had 
 been tolerably successful, but had now nearly worked it out. 
 
 We returned to the unoccupied part nearest the diggings, and 
 prospecting, soon found gold. Thither, therefore, we removed our 
 tent, and set to work. Two men, following our example, one of 
 them a negro, immediately sunk a hole near the creek. Gold was 
 speedily found there, but the water was too powerful and drove 
 them out. To avoid this evil we set in at some forty yards from 
 the creek, but with the same fortune. The water at about four 
 feet deep ran through a gravelly silt, like a millstream ; and after 
 throwing out, with all the vigour of our whole five persons, 7000 
 buckets of it, we perceived that it was hopeless to endeavour to 
 keep it down. Yet we could see the gold in rich quantities on 
 our shovels, but which was immediately washed off by the water. 
 It was clear that the gold here, plentiful as it was, could only be 
 got by a great number of parties working it at the same time. 
 We did our best to attract people there ; but the water deterred 
 them, and the charms of a dry gully just behind our tent, with 
 the alluring name of Madman's Gully, turned all that way. We 
 were on the point of opening a claim there ourselves, and intend- 
 ing to return to the creek side as soon as a sufficient rush could 
 be drawn there. But we were destined to follow another direc- 
 tion. Seeing the thousands that now came pouring into Madman's 
 Gully, and the yet very irregular results, we perceived that there 
 would not be any chance of securing more than one claim before 
 the whole gully would be occupied. 
 
 This fierce competition, owing to the amazing numbers thrown 
 upon the diggings all at once by the marvellous reports sent 
 through the whole world, we saw would defeat every chance of 
 large individual accumulations, except in some incidental cases. 
 Europe has nothing to compare, for a desperate struggle of com- 
 petition, with that which the diggings of Victoria present. It 
 struck us, therefore, that the best chance was for those who went 
 boldly a-head into new scenes, and that the only period of profit- 
 able harvesting would, even then, be that which elapsed before 
 the eager tide had overtaken you. The gold clearly came down 
 
DODGING IN THE BUSH. 133 
 
 the stream from the hills, and we resolved quietly to steal away 
 and explore them. 
 
 But our scouts had not penetrated far into the Bush before they 
 encountered another emissary on the same errand. This was a 
 person belonging to the party of Churl, a substantial miller who 
 had abandoned his grist and his toll in quest of the native gold. 
 Having seen this party on the road hither, our pioneers now learnt 
 that they were watching a certain dray, which, well loaded with 
 tools and provisions, was as quietly as possible stealing across the 
 Bush. The man said that they knew the head of this party well, — 
 Braidy of Albury — and that it was one of great experience, and 
 would not move across the trackless Bush without being in pos- 
 session of some rich and real object. They had been off prospect- 
 ing, and were now, doubtless, on the way to some newly discovered 
 digging-ground. 
 
 Our scouts joined this man, and they together pursued this in- 
 teresting dray. They went on till they reached the heads of 
 Spring Creek, in fact, till it was lost in bogs, instead of descend- 
 ing from the mountains as was supposed. They followed on till the 
 land dipped down the other way into a great valley filled with 
 scrub and rank grass up to their horses' necks, and they saw 
 ranges of hills before them. 
 
 At length they came up with a loaded cart, also on the track of 
 the bullock-dray. Very soon after they overtook two Yankees on 
 foot with their swags on their backs, and also on the same chase. 
 Two bearded fellows they were, who had more the look of Poles 
 or Hungarians, but whose intonation left no doubt of their na- 
 tionality. They declared that they would dog the dray to the 
 world's end if necessary, saying that they had heard that the pro- 
 prietors of this party had brought twenty pounds weight of gold 
 with them. The country was covered with hop-scrub up to their 
 very heads, so that these Yankees could follow very near to the 
 pioneer dray, unseen. 
 
 As there appeared no likelihood of the dray moving on with 
 those spies after it, our scouts rode on to some distance to explore 
 the country, and on returning found the original dray, the cart, 
 another bullock-dray which had come up also, and the two Yankees, 
 all camping for the night near each other. The original dray people 
 declared that they had provisions for three months, and would not 
 move a step further while the others remained. There they lay 
 watching each other, and endeavouring to tire each other out ; the 
 followers declaring their determination to follow, and the leading 
 party protesting that it would not lead, and that even were it to 
 
 K 3 
 
134 TWO YEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 go on, the rest would find the road over rocks, precipices^ and 
 streams, such as they had little idea of. The others responded 
 that, where they could live, they could too, where they could pass, 
 they could. Thus our party left them, like chess-players watch- 
 ing for the next move, and returned home. 
 
 On Friday, Jan. 7th, we went to the tent of Churl the miller, 
 and learnt that the parties we have described had continued to lie 
 in the Bush for two days, obstinately watching each other. On 
 the third morning before daylight, the original bullock-dray party 
 had put in practice a clever dodge. While it was dark they had 
 sent off two pack-horses, and the most able of their party towards 
 their destination. They knew that the ground being dry and 
 hard, it would be more difficult to track the horses than the loaded 
 dray. The dray remaining just where it was, and all having been 
 conducted with wonderful quietness, the departure of a portion of 
 the party was not discovered for some hours ; and then, indeed, 
 there was a running, and a hunting, and an excitement ! 
 
 The remainder of the other party had secretly sent in the night 
 to the diggings for other horses, which they had ridden to and fro 
 in the scrub, so as to confound the traces of those which had gone 
 forward. And now, as the other parties eagerly began to pore 
 over the ground on all sides, to make out the foot-prints of the 
 pack-horses, it was found that they had set off in quite a different 
 direction to that which the dray had been pursuing, and had made 
 such a zigzag route till they got upon the hard stony ranges, that 
 all were thrown out by it. Meantime, the people of the dray 
 themselves, quietly collected their bullocks and drove back to the 
 diggings, followed by all their pursuers, except the two Yankees. 
 They coolly declared that they would never quit the search after 
 the pack-horses till they found them ; and like two Indians of 
 their own forests, they continued to pore after their traces, some- 
 times on their hands and knees; sometimes, making long cross 
 tracks through the bush, eyeing the grass and the shrubs to dis- 
 cover where they had been broken by any passing animal, and 
 thus they disappeared at length in the woods, and they succeeded ! 
 After numerous hardships they came upon the original dray party 
 on the lower Yackandanda, and on the spot which on this disco- 
 very speedily grew into the present Yackandanda Diggings. 
 
 Our party, once more resuming their exploratory expedition, 
 took a direction to the right of that where these rivals had lain, 
 they camped during the nights under a temporary blanket-tent 
 with a fire at their feet. The country which they traversed was 
 more wild and hilly than any that they had seen. The grass, the 
 
WE FIND A GOLD-FIELD. 135 
 
 hop-scrub, a white speedwell, and other shrubs and plants which 
 Alfred, who was our representative, did not know, reached to the 
 horses' necks. They saw kangaroos hurrying out of their track in 
 their deep woods, and the ground was full of dens of the wombat 
 {Phascolomys ursinus) and, therefore, most dangerous for their 
 horses. They passed through glens where the tree-ferns were so 
 tall and thickly grown as to close over their heads, and made it 
 nearly dark. But the most important thing was that at some 
 twelve or fourteen miles distance amongst the hills, they pro- 
 spected a considerable stream, and found abundant signs of gold. 
 Thither, therefore, we determined to steal away as secretly as we 
 could. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Stealing away. — The Miller's Camp.— Miller's Boy lost in the Woods.— Steer 
 our Way through the Forest. — Arduous Journey. — Profound Solitudes. — 
 Obstructions from Jungle and dead Timber. — Dragging on through the 
 Kains. — The Yackandanda. — Two Diggers there ! — Our Encampment. — 
 Opossums and flying Squirrels. — Dog bitten by a Snake. — Extraordinary 
 Hawk Eamily. — Black Cockatoos. — Hot Wind. — Colony destitute of wild 
 Emits. 
 
 After what we had witnessed of the dogging of Braidy's party, 
 it was clear that a ^vigilant look-out was kept for any sign of suc- 
 cessful prospectors on the move to get to their newly discovered 
 grounds. We saw that it would require the greatest caution to 
 get away without being watched and followed. As we must take 
 our carts with us, it would be impossible to prevent leaving traces 
 of our wheels. Our best chance, we thought, lay in drawing first 
 to an outside, and then to busy ourselves in apparent prospecting 
 up the creek, as if we knew of nothing better farther off. We 
 commenced at first by removing and encamping near the miller, 
 as he had a short time before withdrawn himself to an isolated 
 and retired spot on the higher part of Spring Creek, and was 
 digging there for a blind. His tent was pitched in a solitary bend 
 of the creek with high wooded hills on each side, and he and his 
 men were digging in the banks of the creek, with all apparent 
 zeal. It was a picturesque spot. High banks overhung the stream 
 on the near side ; and on the other, you looked up steeps thickly 
 covered with shrubs, and solemn with giant growth of trees. The 
 stream ran clear as crystal; and close to the tent lay a stupendous 
 
 K 4 
 
136 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 blue-gum tree, blown down, with its mass of roots and earth reared 
 like a wall close upon the stream ; and on these sat a tame gray 
 magpie, and a green paroquet called a leek. 
 
 We pitched our tent close by, proposing to make another move 
 the next day, as if bent still on trying this stream higher up. The 
 night was intensely cold, though now the hottest season of the 
 year, the middle of January ; and we were delayed in the morning 
 by a circumstance which may show you the ease with which 
 cattle, both horses and bullocks, may be lost in the Bush. A few- 
 evenings before, in approaching the miller's tent, and not a 
 quarter of a mile above it, in coming down the banks of the creek, 
 we met the miller's boy with a dog, going up to bring in the 
 bullocks, eight in number. These bullocks we had passed in the 
 gully not ten minutes before. We were astonished, therefore, on 
 arriving at the miller's tent to pitch our own, to learn that neither 
 boy nor bullocks had been seen till the day but one after. He had 
 never caught sight of the bullocks at all ; and for two nights, and 
 nearly for two days, he had been wandering through the woods in 
 quest of them. He had lived by casually coming upon some stock- 
 men collecting cattle, who had given him some provisions ; but 
 how he had borne the bitter cold of those nights is to me a 
 mystery. It was such that it had nearly killed a horse that 
 yesterday we found fallen into a hole made by an uprifted tree. 
 We got some men, and pulled it out by main force, but it was so 
 cold and cramped that it could not rise for nearly the whole day. 
 
 However, though the miller's boy was returned, the bullocks 
 were not ; and a day was again spent in seeking them, but in 
 vain. The next morning, therefore, leaving the further search of 
 these for the present, we moved on, taking the track which had 
 been followed by Braidy and his pursuers for some distance. If 
 any one was aware of our departure, and on the watch, our keep- 
 ing this track might seem to impress them with an idea that we 
 were only endeavouring to follow the course of that party. 
 
 But when we had advanced a few miles, perceiving no one in 
 any direction during this whole time, we took the opportunity at 
 a hard, dry, stony place, suddenly to cut away from that track, 
 and to point our course in the direction of our new goal. After 
 proceeding for several miles, we flattered ourselves that we had 
 perfectly succeeded in giving the slip to every one, and that our 
 track would not be likely to be noticed, as, from the hardness of 
 the ground where we lett the other, it ceased there to be at all 
 visible. 
 
 At noon we reached a creek in a secluded valley, and paused to 
 
STEER OUR WAY THROUGH THE FOREST. 137 
 
 dine. We had now to direct our course through the perfectly 
 trackless forest by the compass. Our progress was slow enough, 
 for the whole wilderness was overgrown with the hop-scrub and 
 long grass, up to our middles ; this hop-scrub, as I beliere I have 
 said, resembling bushes of plum-suckers, or perhaps more like 
 bushes of poplar-suckers, of a light green, both stem and leaf. 
 These, in the smoothest parts, made it very heavy drawing for the 
 horses ; it was, in fact, a regular forcing and ploughing our way 
 through it. But the greater part of our way lay over high hills, all 
 rough with rocky stones, and embarrassed by fallen trees. Im- 
 mense trees they were, of a former generation ; of a vastly greater 
 bulk than any now standing, most of them from 150 to 200 feet 
 long, and many of them six and seven yards in girth ; and these 
 lay continually across our path. All were charred and black, — 
 both these and the lesser trees and branches, which were concealed 
 by the grass and scrub. Some terrible bush-fire — years, many 
 years, ago — must have done this ; for the trees now standing 
 have a youthful look, though many are quite as tall, though none 
 so bulky. 
 
 Onward we went, up hills and down valleys, and over creeks, 
 wade, wade, wade, through the deep scrub. The country appeared 
 as if no mortal had ever yet traversed it. The solemn stillness of 
 the boundless woods ; the wild growth of shrubbery and grass ; the 
 tangled thickets ; the lofty trees ; the immense masses of fallen 
 timber lying on all sides, and often completely cutting off our way 
 and shutting us in ; the thick, dense masses of wattles and tea- 
 trees in the valleys, which, with swamps and jungle, hid the 
 streams, — all bore evidence that here we were truly in the 
 haunts of primeval nature ; and that, in the language of Childe 
 Harold, it was ours — 
 
 " To slowly trace the solitary scene, 
 Where things that own not man's dominion dwell, 
 And mortal steps had ne'er or rarely been." 
 
 Mr. Bateman and I went on in advance, to pioneer ; and we were 
 really pioneers, according to the witty definition — " the men 
 what axe the way ;" for we had continually to clear away fallen 
 trunks and huge branches for the passage of the carts ; to drag 
 others aside, when we could, and, when we could not, to cry halt, 
 and call up the assistance of the whole troop. Every few yards 
 we were met by these obstructions, and the labour was immense, 
 and the progress slow. Alfred and Charlton led the horses, and 
 had continually to bounce the cart over timber that we could 
 
138 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 neither cut, drag, nor go round. Edward came behind, to see 
 that nothing was jumped out of the cart in this rough progress, — 
 carrying in one hand a gun, in the other a tin kettle or billy, as 
 the diggers call it, of yeast for baking ; and on his shoulder 
 perched the miller's green paroquet. The gray magpie, which 
 had ridden on the miller's load, had its leg broken by the blow of 
 a bough, and was obliged to be killed. 
 
 The way through the woods became more and more difficult, 
 and, to add to our troubles, rain came on. All the afternoon it 
 continued to rain heavier and heavier ; but we were unwilling to 
 stop till we reached the banks of the Yackandanda. We therefore 
 pursued doggedly our way, thoroughly soaked, both by the falling 
 rain, and the dripping scrub through which we waded. At length, 
 as evening drew on, we descried the object of our search. 
 
 The Yackandanda runs many miles from this part of the 
 country, and falls into the Murray near Albury. Some twenty 
 miles lower down are those Yackandanda Diggings which sprung 
 out of the pursuit of Braidy. We were here, not many miles 
 from its source; but though we were yet buried in seemingly 
 unfrequented woods, it was not to be hoped that we should be left 
 long to the sole enjoyment of them. The diggers were sure to 
 trace up the stream if they found gold in it. Parties or indi- 
 viduals were scattered for scores of miles in various directions 
 from the Ovens Diggings, exploring, tracing up every little stream, 
 and certainly would not stop till they reached the Snowy Mountains. 
 We felt that we must take time by the " top-knot," and make all 
 speed we could with our digging, before we had company. In 
 the most solitary and remote woods, where scarcely, if ever, a 
 white man had yet set his foot, the adventurous gold-digger was 
 now daily wandering, his rug, his tea and damper, his sole re- 
 sources. 
 
 As we gazed on this valley, it looked wild and lonely enough. 
 The stream was bidden in the bottom of a considerable valley, 
 amid a dense green shroud of wattle and tea-tree, and bordered 
 outside these with great swamps and jungles. We looked up and 
 down, it was all the same, profoundly still and sombrely gloomy. 
 We had not seen hitherto a single hut, nor a single head of sheep 
 or cattle. The natives had abandoned these parts ; and the white 
 man has scarcely, even in the shape of a solitary squatter, taken 
 possession of them ; but there was gold here, and the rushing tide 
 of men, in pursuit of it, was not far behind. 
 
 There we pitched for the night, and were glad to creep into 
 our blankets, without attempting to make a fire and enjoy tea. 
 
DRAGGING ON THROUGH THE RAINS. 139 
 
 The rain fell so furiously that it was hopeless to do more than 
 clap down the large top of our tent on the ground, and throw 
 hastily in our bedding, with the tarpaulin under it on the wet 
 ground. We were all wet to the skin, and our boots soaked 
 through and through ; but we had dry things in our bags, and so 
 managed to lie down in dry night-clothes. But the rain continued 
 to fall in such deluges, that our tent top, not being well stretched, 
 the water ran through as through a sieve, and other streams came 
 running in under us. But there was no help for it ; so we made 
 the best of it, poor supperless creatures as we were, and found 
 something to be merry over in the fresh outcries of one or another. 
 " Oh ! I am drowned ! The water is pouring on me as out of a 
 spout I " " Ah ! ah ! ah ! there is a regular river running into my 
 bed ! " " Ugh ! there comes Prin (the dog), all wet as a mop, and 
 has dived, shivering, right down into bed beside me?" Amid 
 these outcries, attended with fresh laughter, tired as we were, we 
 at length dropped asleep ; and yet a more miserable situation 
 cannot well be conceived, in those, to us, unknown woods, with 
 darkness, and the winds howling around us, and the stream moan- 
 ing along it swampy bed below us. 
 
 But morning came and cured all our ills. It was fine, and we 
 were soon up, not a whit the worse for our previous day's drench- 
 ing. We were camped on a pleasant knoll above the valley, under 
 some huge trees. We had soon a roaring fire kindled at the foot 
 of one of them ; the kettle boiling, and steaks frying. We spread 
 out our wet clothes in the sun to dry ; and so warm was it now, 
 that, by the time we had breakfasted, they were ready to pack. 
 
 Again we proceeded on our way, the journey being only a 
 repetition of yesterday, labouring on amid scrub and fallen timber ; 
 sometimes involved in such labyrinths of it, as brought us to our 
 wits' end. We followed the course of the stream upwards, and as 
 near to it as we could for the swamps. We had no doubt that 
 there was gold in the creek here ; but the swamps and the volume 
 of water presented difficulties which would be lessened higher up. 
 We crossed a brook coming from the right hand ; and falling into 
 this, since well known as the Nine-mile Creek, and abounding in 
 gold, but at this moment all intact in its native wilderness, with- 
 out a digger upon it. We were bound for a spot higher up, at 
 the junction of another small creek flowing from the left, where 
 the ground was more elevated, and the creek less swampy and 
 scrubby. About noon we reached it, and were no little surprised 
 and chagrined to find two diggers already encamped upon it. 
 They had traced our scouts, beheld the markis where they had dug 
 
140 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 in prospecting, made themselves certain of the presence of gold, 
 and, having nothing to carry but their light tent-sheets and a few- 
 tools, were there before us ! 
 
 No time, we saw, was to be lost. We crossed the creek with 
 some difficulty, and selected a camping-place on a rising ground 
 in the fork made by the two creeks. All around us we had the 
 view of the woods behind us, and of those beyond the two creeks, 
 in most places rising in a gradual slope, till lost in the thickness 
 of the forest. The soil, a reddish gravel, in many places on the 
 forest slopes showing itself through the thin grass, gave an ap- 
 pearance of dryness to our location ; while the greenness of the 
 grass in other quarters promised food for our horses. The green 
 hop-scrub, however, spread more or less everywhere, and the trees 
 were the loftiest we had yet anywhere seen. They were of the 
 white-gum on the slopes, with huge red-gums and blue-gums by 
 the water. 
 
 Thus we had quietness and greenness, and the most deliciously 
 cool water, sweet and clear. But this quietness and greenness 
 could not last. Prospectors were certain speedily to follow us. 
 We foresaw that all those bushy banks of the creek would be 
 rapidly and violently invaded. The hop-scrub would be burnt, 
 the bushes in and on the creek cleared away, the trees on the slope 
 felled, and the very ground torn up for miles around. The crys- 
 talline water would be made thick and foul with gold-washing ; 
 and the whole converted into a scene of desolation and discomfort. 
 
 Such were our thoughts as we pitched our tent, cut a little 
 trench round it, to carry away any wet from rain, cleared away 
 the scrub from the front, and gave it an air of neatness and com- 
 fort. This done, we laid down our tarpaulin carpet, arranged our 
 beds, rolling them up in divans ; and then, with a couple of rude 
 tressels made of forked branches, and a large sheet of stringy- 
 bark, some two yards long by one wide, furnished ourselves with 
 a table. 
 
 We now began in earnest to dig ; but before I relate our pro- 
 ceedings and our fortune in that operation, I shall treat the reader 
 to a few miscellaneous observations from my journal, which will 
 give a more lively idea of the natural objects that we lived 
 amongst. 
 
 " One thing which has struck us in this country is the extreme 
 tenacity of life in many of its animals. The opossums will often 
 take two or three discharges of shot, as if it were only so much 
 dust or dough. Even when forced to quit their hold of a bough 
 with their feet, they will cling to it by their tail, and hang for 
 
OPOSSUMS AND FLYING SQUIRRELS. HI 
 
 hours. They will fall from a bough, perhaps 150 feet from '1^s(^^_ 
 ground, with a bump and a bounce, which of itself, you would «a^s-^ 
 would knock the life out of anything not already perforated \ttt^^ 
 some dozens of shot-corns. You may hear the thump of their fall 
 some hundreds of yards off; yet this only seems to revive them. 
 Up they will spring, and, if not instantly seized by the dogs, will 
 be up the nearest tree as quick as a squirrel, and disappear in a 
 hole. Here, though both they and the larger flying squirrels, 
 or perhaps, more properly, flying opossums, called Tuons, which 
 are as large as opossums, abound, we have ceased to attempt ta 
 shoot them ; the trees are so wonderfully tall — from 200 to 259 
 feet — that they may be said to laugh at our shot. It is only when 
 the dogs surprise them on the ground, and they run up into young 
 low trees, that we get them. They are the favourite and principal 
 food of our dogs, as they have been, next to kangaroos, of the natives. 
 
 Dogs, immediately on coming into the Australian forest, become 
 perfectly frantic in the pursuit of opossums. The moment the 
 night falls they are off, if they are loose, into the woods, and, 
 chasing the animals up the trees, stand at the foot, and bark vehe- 
 mently for you to go and shoot them. They w^ould hunt all night, 
 and every night, if you would let them ; and when you are in the 
 habit of chaining them up to prevent this, they steal away, if 
 possible, most cunningly at the approach of dusk, and you may 
 call them in vain, till they betray themselves by their barking. 
 
 The miller's tent and ours count no less than ten dogs. Two 
 only, however, are ours. Prince, Prin, Perkin, or Prim, as he 
 is often called, from his reddish-drab colour, that we brought 
 out with us, is a famous opossum hunter, following them often, 
 where a tree slants, right up it. As a retriever, he is unrivalled, 
 and fetches us any wild-fowl that we shoot, out of any water. 
 Our other dog is a large and very handsome black one, with long, 
 silky hair, a fine brush tail, and is supposed to have a strain of the 
 wild-dog in him. He came up to our tent one evening, worn 
 down with travel, lame, and exhausted. We fed and caressed 
 him, but it was several days before he recovered from his fatigue ; 
 and we find that he has had one of his fore- legs broken some time, 
 as if by a wheel having gone over it. Possibly this was the cause 
 of his being left behind. We named him Buff — not certainly 
 from his colour, but from his coming to us from the direction of 
 the Buffalo Mountain. You may imagine that, with ten dogs for 
 guards, no one can approach our tents without very vociferous 
 notice of it. 
 
 Buff was bitten the other day in the ear by a black snake, which 
 
142 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 species abounds on the banks of these creeks, and he was very 
 nearly killed by it. He still droops that ear ; and before we left 
 Spring Creek, a very fine dog, belonging to an Irish gentleman, 
 was bitten by one of those black snakes, and died on the spot. 
 
 In a very lofty tree near our tent there was a hawk's nest. The 
 old ones offended Charlton's feelings very much, by continually 
 bringing small birds in their claws, and rending them up for their 
 young. We therefore consented to destroy the predatory family. 
 But here, again, we were met by the wonderful tenacity of life. 
 Alfred shot at the young ones as they sat on the side of the nest. 
 One of them fell, and hung by a leg, but in a few minutes, to our 
 surprise, recovered itself, ^regained the nest, and sat upon its edge, 
 ^^s blithe as ever. Alfred fired at them repeatedly, but, so far as 
 we could see, they only retreated into the nest. He sent two rifle 
 bullets through the nest, with as little effect. In a little while 
 they were all sitting again in a row on the side of the nest, await- 
 ing the arrival of their parents with fresh prey. We, therefore, 
 felled the tree. When the tree fell, which was 150 feet long, we 
 went to the nest, expecting to see the young ones all killed ; but, 
 with the exception of one, which had its leg broken, and which we 
 destroyed, all the rest — although flung far out of the nest by the 
 shock of the fall — were as lively as possible, and are now sitting 
 all-arow on a pole before the tent of the miller, who begged them. 
 Numbers of the birds here appear quite insensible to shot. I 
 have seen a parrot fired at half a dozen times, and evidently hit 
 each time, go off at last as if there was nothing in the world amiss 
 with it. But the life-tenacity of these birds is nothing to that of 
 the insects. To the accounts I have given you of them, I may 
 add tliat we have watched the actions of the large inch and inch- 
 and-half long ants, called bull-dogs, and are satisfied that they 
 sting exactly as wasps or bees do. We laid a quantity of rice, 
 which had got wet, to dry in the sun. A cloud of the little black 
 flies settled on it ; but very soon advanced a host of bull-dog ants. 
 They pounced on the flies, as tigers would on their prey, seized 
 the flies with their mandibles, and then stung them with their 
 tails. The death was instant ; and the ants then marched off with 
 them. If the bull-dogs only killed the black fly, we should regard 
 them as no trifling benefactors ; but they are so vicious, and sting 
 us so abominably on all occasions, that we wage ruthless war on 
 them, if they enter our tent ; but as to killing them by cutting 
 them to pieces, that is hopeless ; cut them in two, and the head 
 will immediately seize the body, and gripe it fiercely with its 
 nippers, and the tail will sting away at the head. They never 
 
BLACK COCKATOOS. — HOT WIND. 143 
 
 trouble themselves to die ; and the only way to destroy them is to 
 crush them to powder. 
 
 The nests of ants are everywhere; and many of them are 
 enormous. As I have said, they make the trees hollow, and fill 
 the interior with earth, in which they live. If a tree is broken 
 oiF, they fill the stump with earth, and convert it into a nest. 
 Others collect whole cart-loads of quartz and other stones, about 
 the size of peas, and live in them. These nests are often six or 
 eight feet across each way, and as hard as rock itself. When trees 
 are blown over — and that is by hundreds and thousands — you 
 see the nests of a species of ants under them, or within the hollow 
 bole, as large as globes of two feet diameter. These are globular, 
 and formed of leaf-like layers, or imbrications, of what seems a 
 mixture of earth and the gum kino of the tree. They are like 
 huge, globular wasps' nests, but hard like gutta-percha, and about 
 as tough. 
 
 The white ants form conical nests of clay, of three or four feet 
 high, and three or four feet in diameter at the base. These are 
 baked by the sun to the hardness of brick ; and the entrances to 
 them are so carefully concealed, that they seem only one solid pile 
 of clay. A troop of these white ants we were by no means pleased 
 to find, the other day, had made their way into a clothes trunk, 
 and had laid a great number of eggs in our coat-pockets, sleeves, 
 &c. We speedily routed them. 
 
 A curious natural fact which has been pointed out to us, we find, 
 from repeated notice, to be quite correct. It is that the black 
 cockatoo, a much larger and more splendid bird than the white, is 
 a certain prognosticator of rain. These birds are rarely seen in 
 flocks ; seldom more than two together ; but whenever you hear 
 their loud, clear cry of * clayo ! clayo!' you may rely on speedy 
 rain. These birds have a rich gold colour about their heads. 
 We have also flocks of gray cockatoos, with scarlet heads, which 
 have a strange creakling note. They are said seldom to rear 
 more than one young one at once ; and that half-a-dozen birds 
 will assist at this difiicult achievement. When they have young 
 ones about in the trees, they make a strange croaking cry, like a 
 barn-door fowl when some one has caught it. 
 
 The other day we had one of the hot winds that blow from the 
 interior. It is the north wind, and is the most singular wind I 
 ever felt. This wind blew for a few minutes hot as out of a 
 furnace, and yet mixed, as it were, with lines of cold wind. In a 
 few minutes it ceased ; there was a lull ; and then it blew back 
 again from the south, but now all cold. Then, again, there was a 
 
144 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 lull for a few minutes ; then back again hot ; and so it seesawed 
 from south to north, and north to south, in the most odd and un- 
 accountable manner, till it ceased altogether. 
 
 Another natural fact regarding this colony is its almost total 
 absence of wild fruits. There is scarcely a nut, a berry, or a wild 
 fruit of any kind. Many people who have been in America ex- 
 press their surprise at the difference in this respect between the 
 two countries. There you find many rich berries, and abundance 
 of nuts (hickory-nuts and others), in the woods, as well as wild 
 grapes. Here you literally find nothing from one end of the colony 
 to the other, except a red-fruited bramble, very inferior to our 
 good old blackberry. No apples, no plums ; even poor as crabs 
 or sloes. There is a species of cranberry, the fruit of which grows 
 under the plant ; but this is extremely rare ; and there is a fruit 
 called the quandong, which grows on the Murray, which has a 
 large stone, and would seem to resemble a plum. Edible roots 
 are as few. In fact, except a very rare sort of fungus, growing 
 in the ground, called native bread, which the natives roast and 
 eat, and the small root called the murnong, the natives had no 
 vegetable food, but vsrere thrown entirely on animal food. But 
 this is a country which takes kindly to almost any fruit, root, or 
 vegetable that civilised man brings into it ; and will, doubtless, 
 one day, be as affluent in all these riches of nature as any land on 
 the globe. We have said how prodigally the peach flourishes ; the 
 same is the case with the vine and the fig ; and hereafter every 
 man may and will ' sit under his own vine and his own fig-tree, 
 and none shall make him afraid.' I see no reason why vineyards 
 should not be cultivated to any extent, and wine produced with- 
 out stint in quantity or superior in quality. To-day, however, 
 these lie in the background of gold." 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Digging up the Creek. — Plenty of Gold. — Prospectors find us out. — A Ve- 
 teran of the Class. — A great Rumour of our Discovery, and a Rush. — 
 Crowds arriving, Trees felling. Bullock-drivers swearing. — Tents and Stores 
 pitching. — Nature returned to Chaos. — Prospecting ahead again. — Scenes 
 among the Hills. — Routine of our daily Life. — The Miller and his Men 
 excited by our Success. — Our Claim robbed. — Frantic Conduct of the Men. 
 
 — Menace Assassination. — The Men punished Churl and an old Man. 
 
 — Predominance of Scotch in the Colony. — A Scotch Spendthrift. 
 
 We soon began to destroy the beauty of our creek. It soon ceased 
 to run clear between its banks, covered with wattles and tea- trees, 
 
DIGGING UP THE CREEK. 145 
 
 and amongst its shallow parts overgrown with foreign-looking 
 shrubs, flags, and cypress-grass. A little while, and its whole 
 course exhibited nothing but nakedness and heaps of gravel and 
 mud. We diggers are horribly destructive of the picturesque. 
 
 The creek ran about fifty yards to the left of our tent, and was, 
 perhaps, some ten or a dozen feet across ; but the stream only 
 occupied part of this space, running amongst thickets of the afore- 
 mentioned shrubs. Well, we set to work in earnest as soon as 
 our tent was complete. This was what might be called surface- 
 digging ; for the gold lay near the surface of the bottom of the 
 creek, and indeed we found it hanging in the roots of the shrubs 
 that we pulled up from the spaces that stood above the water. 
 But the main quantity of gold in this stream was found to lie on a 
 layer of clay about two feet below the surface. On this lay mud ; 
 and in this mud there was more or less gold. We had no need, 
 therefore, to dig holes of from ten to eighty feet there. 
 
 Our first business was to select a portion of the creek where, 
 from its slope, from natural obstructions in it, or otherwise, it ap- 
 peared likely that the gold would lodge. Along the bank of such 
 a portion we then cut a race, some twenty or thirty yards in 
 length, through which we diverted the stream, leaving the channel 
 dry by throwing a dam across. Immediately below us the miller 
 and his men threw another dam across, and raced off" another por- 
 tion. We then placed our cradle by the side of the race, and 
 began digging up the bed of the creek, and both its banks, as far 
 as we could find any gold. We found all the mud and gravel to 
 contain more or less gold ;. and therefore we put all through the 
 cradle, one bailing on water as another rocked, the rest digging 
 and carrying the precious sludge. After putting a certain number 
 of bucketfuls of the washing-stuff through the cradle, we took 
 the fine gravel out of the slide of the cradle, where it lodged with 
 jjhe gold, and washed the gold from it in a tin dish. 
 
 Let the reader imagine us setting to work on any brook that he 
 :nows, cutting down the bushes and sedge, and paring off the 
 grass, damming the water off into a channel cut for the purpose ; 
 and then digging up the bed and the banks of the old channel, 
 and washing the whole of the mud, gravel, and earth through a 
 cradle. It would seem absurd to expect gold in it. But there is 
 nothing in those Australian brooks that looks different : the mud 
 is just as black and muddy, and the wet and dirt are just as wet 
 and dirty. Yet out of the very roots of the grass we shook gold. 
 We could see the particles shining as we opened pieces of the 
 
 L 
 
146 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 grass-roots.* But the chief part of the gold lay on the clay at 
 the bottom ; and that seemed studded with it just like a pudding 
 with plums. The gold was small, much finer than that of any 
 other Australian diggings, and purer too. Only very small nug- 
 gets, and very few of them, were found there ; seldom larger than 
 the size of a horse-bean. 
 
 We proposed to work the washing-earth in the creek with a 
 Long Tom ; that is, a trousjh some ten or twelve feet long, and 
 about six inches deep, with a grating at the end, where the gold 
 drops through into a box placed under it, and the stones are 
 shovelled away. As the stream turned into the Tom washes the 
 earth when shovelled to and fro, the work is much more rapid. 
 
 We found gold beyond our expectation ; and if we could have 
 had a few months to ourselves, we should have come home laden 
 like bees. In this creek, within a mile, there lay undoubtedly a 
 splendid fortune, if we had had it to ourselves. But that was not 
 to be hoped for. We had been only a few days, and we already 
 saw symptoms of an accession of company. Smokes were per- 
 ceived by us, rising over the woods down the valley.* The man 
 working below had disappeared, it was expected, to fetch others to 
 help him ; and, with the numbers constantly on the watch, others 
 were sure to be quickly on their heels. 
 
 The wonderful accounts sent from Melbourne had taken out 
 throngs, not only of English, but Germans, French, Italians, peo- 
 ple from the Cape, Californians, Americans, and even New 
 Zealanders. You met them on every hand. At the Ovens there 
 were thousands doing no good, who were on the qui vive for a new 
 rush ; and no sooner did a man pitch his tent in the most secluded 
 spot, than he saw others coming after him. His smoke betrayed 
 him, or the discoloration of the stream where he worked his gold. 
 Numbers ranged about merely to examine the streams, who, the 
 moment they saw any discoloration, followed it up till they found 
 the cause. Cautious diggers, therefore, never wash at a stream, 
 if they are not actually working in it ; but resort to some pool, or 
 take water from the stream, and run it off another way.* 
 
 The number of men prospecting^ that is, seeking out gold in new 
 situations, is always very great ; and therefore, let you penetrate 
 into the most obscure places, they eventually come upon you. The 
 first-rate prospector is a peculiar character, worth noticing. He 
 is a cautious mortal. He steals quietly away through the woods — 
 generally at first taking a direction opposite to that which he 
 
 ♦ Facts borrowed by Reade, in " Never too Late to Mend." 
 
PROSPECTORS FIND US OUT. 147 
 
 means to follow. He is sometimes on foot, sometimes on horse- 
 back, carrying, besides his swag, a spade, a pick, and a tin dish, to 
 examine the soil of the creeks, or their banks. If he find gold, 
 his phrase is that he has got a prospect, good, or pretty good, or 
 excellent, as it may be. The prospector generally belongs to a 
 party, who continue working at their old location till he comes 
 back with good tidings. Then they go away, generally pretending 
 that they are doing nothing, and are off to some well-known dig- 
 gings. They steal away as quietly as they can ; interest makes 
 them the most modest and retiring of men. The prospector hates 
 popularity, as much as some people like it. He desires no flourish 
 of trumpets or beating of kettledrums before him. 
 
 An old fellow of this description was one of those who had got 
 up to our creek. When our prospectors were out, they found 
 him digging beside a lonely creek amongst the hills; and he did 
 not seem very well pleased to be found. He declared that he 
 never followed anybody, and wished that nobody would follow 
 him. He was an old man, stoutly built, sported a grizzly beard, 
 and, like old Johnny Wolgar, rode an old white horse. But the 
 old fellow, no doubt, carefully traced them to this stream. He did 
 not, however, seem to be satisfied with it ; for he was always going 
 to and fro through the woods on his horse, on pretence of seeking 
 some mysterious station, where meat and potatoes might be pro- 
 cured, Alfred and a son of the miller's proposed to accompany 
 him ; but he led them seven hours through the woods, an4 they 
 found no station. The next day he went away, and never- reap- 
 peared ; but a man who had been his mate staid a day or two 
 behind, and then followed, leaving us a blessing by setting the 
 scrub on fire before he went. Luckily for us the wind was 
 not strong, or it would soon have destroyed our tents. As it was, 
 we succeeded in beating it out with branches. This old prospector 
 ^declared that on one occasion he was lost in the bush for nine 
 foys, and subsisted on lizards, the heads of which he chopped off, 
 ffid then boiled the bodies in his quart pot, and that they tasted 
 ^ike fish. 
 
 Jan. 21th. — Our fears were realised. Prospectors came wander- 
 ig up the creek. They had succeeded in following our tracks ; 
 id they declared that there was a great rumour at Spring Creek 
 )f splendid surface diggings somewhere in this direction. Of 
 course we professed only to be prospecting, but, as we had dug 
 out a considerable space of the creek, confessed to finding a little, 
 adding, however, that if there were really splendid diggings, we 
 imagined they must lie on some other stream. But you cannot 
 
 L 2 
 
148 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 delude these fellows. In a day or two a man made his appearance, 
 and, spying our tin dish, in which we had washed out a few 
 ounces of gold, and placed it in a hollow tree, he very uncere- 
 moniously marched up to it, took it up, and began to examine it. 
 I called out to him that that was making rather too familiar. 
 "All right!" said he, set down the dish, and disappeared; and 
 the next morning he reappeared at the head of some scores of 
 others, marching in Indian file through the wood, shouldering 
 their picks and spades. 
 
 So there was an end to the quiet of those woods, and to the gold 
 of that creek. This formidable invading army, looking gay enough 
 in their red jumpers, and blue jumpers, and wide-awakes, but by 
 no means attractive to us, at once marched straight up to our 
 claim, sprang down into it, examined the clay at the bottom, 
 nodded to each other their approbation, and hastened to appro- 
 priate sections of the creek both above and below. We had cast 
 our eyes on several spots which appeared particularly promising ; 
 they pounced upon them all ; and we beheld their carts arriving 
 with their tools and tents. They must have been somewhere not 
 far off when their scout discovered us. 
 
 Feb. lOth. — We lost no time in working out our first portion 
 of the creek, and securing another while one was left ; for it is 
 amazing what a host of people had flocked up thither after us. 
 Our going there was like cutting the dam of a reservoir, and let- 
 ting all the flood in upon us. Spring Creek and Reid's Creek 
 were crowded with diggers, who were doing no good, and were 
 ready to run at the first news of something better ; and soon there 
 were many thousands settled down for three miles along the creek, 
 and for about the same distance along the branch which we 
 crossed on the right hand, which they called the Nine-mile Creek, 
 and which was still richer than ours. Below that distance, the 
 water was too strong to cope with. 
 
 But what a change in so short a time ! Those valleys which, 
 when we came up them, were so solitary, and so dense with tea- 
 trees and wattles shrouding the courses of the streams, were now 
 all studded with tents. The trees were felled by thousands ; the 
 creeks laid open in long stretches to the day, by the tea-trees and 
 scrub being cut down. There were carts and bullock-drays going to 
 and fro with stores ; there was a beaten road where we had dragged 
 away the fallen trees out of our path ; the forest echoed to the 
 blasphemy of the bullock-drivers; there were stores and a butcher's 
 shop at Nine-mile Creek ; there was a doctor's shop, and soon a 
 
PROSPECTING AHEAD AGAIN. 149 
 
 government camp there. These revolutions are about as rapid 
 as the shifting of scenes in a theatre. 
 
 Our first claim in this creek turned out wonderfully ; and we 
 set to work on another, which bade fair to equal it. But by the 
 time that we should have finished this, which would be in the 
 course of a few weeks, we saw that we must be prepared with a fresh 
 one, and that on another creek ; for this was every day getting 
 fuller and fuller. Fellows came every day and attempted to dis- 
 pute possession with you. They declared that you had too much ; 
 and in one instance a large party actually commenced in the very 
 middle of our claim. We always got rid of them by telling them, 
 when they did not heed our remonstrance quietly, to do as they 
 pleased, and we would send for the Commissioner to settle it. We 
 were pretty certain that none of thera had licenses ; and so it 
 proved, for none of them staid to risk the arrival of a Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 But, to be prepared, we set at liberty two of our party to 
 prospect some of the creeks still farther ahead. In the pursuit 
 after Braidy's party, Alfred had seen a mountainous country, which 
 he imagined to be a gold country ; we therefore proceeded to the 
 spot where he obtained this view, directing our course by a pocket 
 compass. The whole way lay through woods which, from their 
 look, you would imagine had never been tracked. The scrub, the 
 ubiquitous native hop-scrub, was up to our chests, and sometimes 
 even over our heads. We waded through it with no little labour ; 
 but wherever we went we could see neither man nor beast, except 
 a few kangaroos. We were obliged to be very careful, lest we 
 should plunge down the perpendicular holes which the natives 
 have dug in pursuit of the wombats, which abound in these 
 forests. 
 
 The wombat resembles a large badger in the shortness of its 
 legs, but has a little of the pig and the bear in its shape, hair, and 
 movements. It is so large that it is said frequently to weigh a 
 hundredweight. It digs a circular hole wide enough for a good 
 big boy to creep into, and entering the earth in a slanting direc- 
 tion, to the distance of thirty or forty feet. There are frequently 
 three or four entrances in different places to these burrows ; and 
 the natives have generally struck down in the centre position 
 between these holes. The holes the natives have dug are circular 
 and perpendicular, like chimneys, and from ten to fifteen feet 
 deep ; so that they are very dangerous to ride or walk over, for 
 the tall grass often hides them, and your horse might break his 
 legs in them, or you might disappear down them in a moment. 
 
 L 3 
 
150 TWO TEAKS m VICTORIA. 
 
 But of the wombat holes themselves you are warned bj the heaps 
 of earth and stones that the animals have thrown out of them, 
 amounting to wliole waggon-loads. 
 
 We came upon a creek, which we tried for gold, and found 
 some, but not in quite so rich a quantity as in the creek where we 
 were. This creek was bordered, by places, with fern-trees, but not 
 more than four or five feet high. The stems of the fern-trees 
 consist of a spongy elastic substance ; except a small portion in 
 the centre, which is more solid, and striped with alternate black 
 and white. As for the timber-trees, there are more noble stems 
 of many yards in girth, and from 100 feet to 200 feet long, than 
 would supply all England from these neighbouring woods. It 
 would be worth something to have 100,000 tons of them lying in 
 some timber-yard in London. 
 
 We pursued one creek till it fell into another, and that into a 
 third, the Barwidgee, which went bounding on its way over 
 granite rock deep amidst dense woods. Before descending to this 
 last, we crossed the one we were upon, and ascended the woods, to 
 obtain, if possible, a view, and soon found ourselves on a preci- 
 pitous steep, overlooking a sea of hills, the prospect being bounded 
 by the huge bulk of the Buffalo, at, I suppose, some 20 miles 
 distance. It was one of the finest views that we had yet seen ; for 
 we rarely got any view at all in that part of the country, the 
 whole, as far as we had seen it, being one unbroken forest. Their 
 sheep and cattle stations were all uninterrupted woods, which 
 were, of course, extremely monotonous. 
 
 Here, however, we had an ample prospect of hills beyond hills, 
 a whole region of them; and, far below us, the valley of the 
 Barwidgee winding through them, towards the Buffalo Mountain, 
 whose bare ridges stood clear in the azure atmosphere. I do not 
 know the height of the Buffalo, but should suppose it about 3000 
 feet. The nearer and lower hills were dotted all over with what 
 appeared short, stumpy trees, but which, I dare say, were tall 
 enough in reality. They looked, many of them, very much like 
 hills covered with vineyards. The higher and more distant 
 ranges had a wild, forest, and solitary look ; and solitary was the 
 whole scene. There was no smoke, except a great one near the 
 Buffalo, which we supposed to proceed from a bush-fire ; no sign 
 of man, or animals, except that we could occasionally perceive the 
 lairs and drinking-spots of wild cattle, but could get no single 
 glimpse of them. 
 
 After making tea in a quart pot, as the diggers do, — that is, 
 putting the tea and sugar into the tin, and boiling them for a 
 
ROUTINE OF OUR DAILY LIFE. 151 
 
 while on the fire, — we descended the steep to the Barwidgee. It 
 was very precipitous, and nearly half a mile before we reached 
 the bottom. Huge masses of granite, imbedded in drift sand, 
 formed the channel of the creek ; and all around was deep jungle 
 and wooded hills. Gigantic trees had fallen across the bottom of 
 the valley; and we had to clamber over them, and again jump 
 down into the thick grass and jungle up to our heads. But even 
 here the prospector had been before us. There were holes dug at 
 intervals along the creek, which only very strong parties could 
 have made. One was twelve feet square, and as deep ; and out of 
 it they had raised blocks of granite of at least a ton each. But it 
 was evident that the labour had been fruitless ; the valley had 
 been abandoned. We tried the creek, but could get no single 
 trace of gold. It was clear that we must still penetrate deeper 
 into the mountains to find it ; and, as our present claim demanded 
 our speediest operations, we returned to work it out. 
 
 Before proceeding, I will give the reader an idea of our daily 
 life at this spot. It was monotonous enough — that of active, 
 daily, but profitable labour. We saw only a newspaper by ac- 
 cident ; and as we were twelve miles from the Ovens Diggings, 
 we knew little of what was going on there. We rose with the sun, 
 about half-past four o'clock, and left ofi" work when he set, 
 about six. On rising, we performed our ablutions at the great 
 log near the tent, — a fallen tree of some 200 feet long, which we 
 had burnt through in the middle with our daily fire. We then 
 went to work for about an hour before breakfast ; and so through 
 the day, only allowing ourselves a good hour at dinner time. 
 After tea, we generally congregated round the fire, where I 
 manufactured and placed a long bench; and some of our neighbours 
 often came and held a chat. We went early to bed ; and that was 
 the course of the whole week. Sundays were, of course, our days 
 of rest and reading. On those pleasant days, too, we wrote our 
 letters, and occasionally took long rambles through the woods, 
 noticing all that they had to show to us of vegetable and animal 
 life. 
 
 Feh» 21th. — The harmony of our immediate neighbourhood 
 was soon sadly broken up by the demon of gold ; and I must 
 give a short history of it, for it is one of a kind that is con- 
 tinually occurring, and finds the Commissioners enough to do in 
 settling disputes and restraining offences. It must be so where 
 Mammon is lord paramount, and will illustrate curiously one 
 feature of digger-life. 
 
 Churl, the miller, and his men, had been very peaceable and 
 
 L 4 
 
150 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 But of the wombat holes themselves you are warned by the heaps 
 of earth and stones that the animals have thrown out of them, 
 amounting to wliole waggon-loads. 
 
 We came upon a creek, which we tried for gold, and found 
 some, but not in quite so rich a quantity as in the creek where we 
 were. This creek was bordered, by places, with fern-trees, but not 
 more than four or five feet high. The stems of the fern-trees 
 consist of a spongy elastic substance ; except a small portion in 
 the centre, which is more solid, and striped with alternate black 
 and white. As for the timber-trees, there are more noble stems 
 of many yards in girth, and from 100 feet to 200 feet long, than 
 would supply all England from these neighbouring woods. It 
 would be worth something to have 100,000 tons of them lying in 
 some timber-yard in London. 
 
 We pursued one creek till it fell into another, and that into a 
 third, the Barwidgee, which went bounding on its way over 
 granite rock deep amidst dense woods. Before descending to this 
 last, we crossed the one we were upon, and ascended the woods, to 
 obtain, if possible, a view, and soon found ourselves on a preci- 
 pitous steep, overlooking a sea of hills, the prospect being bounded 
 by the huge bulk of the Buffalo, at, I suppose, some 20 miles 
 distance. It was one of the finest views that we had yet seen ; for 
 we rarely got any view at all in that part of the country, the 
 whole, as far as we had seen it, being one unbroken forest. Their 
 sheep and cattle stations were all uninterrupted woods, which 
 were, of course, extremely monotonous. 
 
 Here, however, we had an ample prospect of hills beyond hills, 
 a whole region of them; and, far below us, the valley of the 
 Barwidgee winding through them, towards the Buffalo Mountain, 
 whose bare ridges stood clear in the azure atmosphere. I do not 
 know the height of the Buffalo, but should suppose it about 3000 
 feet. The nearer and lower hills were dotted all over with what 
 appeared short, stumpy trees, but which, I dare say, were tall 
 enough in reality. They looked, many of them, very much like 
 hills covered with vineyards. The higher and more distant 
 ranges had a wild, forest, and solitary look ; and solitary was the 
 whole scene. There was no smoke, except a great one near the 
 Buffalo, which we supposed to proceed from a bush-fire ; no sign 
 of man, or animals, except that we could occasionally perceive the 
 lairs and drinking-spots of wild cattle, but could get no single 
 glimpse of them. 
 
 After making tea in a quart pot, as the diggers do, — that is, 
 putting the tea and sugar into the tin, and boiling them for a 
 
ROUTINE OP OUR DAILY LIFE. 151 
 
 while on the fire, — we descended the steep to the Barwidgee. It 
 was very precipitous, and nearly half a mile before we reached 
 the bottom. Huge masses of granite, imbedded in drift sand, 
 formed the channel of the creek ; and all around was deep jungle 
 and wooded hills. Gigantic trees had fallen across the bottom of 
 the valley; and we had to clamber over them, and again jump 
 down into the thick grass and jungle up to our heads. But even 
 here the prospector had been before us. There were holes dug at 
 intervals along the creek, which only very strong parties could 
 have made. One was twelve feet square, and as deep ; and out of 
 it they had raised blocks of granite of at least a ton each. But it 
 was evident that the labour had been fruitless ; the valley had 
 been abandoned. We tried the creek, but could get no single 
 trace of gold. It was clear that we must still penetrate deeper 
 into the mountains to find it ; and, as our present claim demanded 
 our speediest operations, we returned to work it out. 
 
 Before proceeding, I will give the reader an idea of our daily 
 life at this spot. It was monotonous enough — that of active, 
 daily, but profitable labour. We saw only a newspaper by ac- 
 cident ; and as we were twelve miles from the Ovens Diggings, 
 we knew little of what was going on there. We rose with tlie sun, 
 about half-past four o'clock, and left off work when he set, 
 about six. On rising, we performed our ablutions at the great 
 log near the tent, — a fallen tree of some 200 feet long, which we 
 had burnt through in the middle with our daily fire. We then 
 went to work for about an hour before breakfast ; and so through 
 the day, only allowing ourselves a good hour at dinner time. 
 After tea, we generally congregated round the fire, where I 
 manufactured and placed a long bench; and some of our neighbours 
 often came and held a chat. We went early to bed ; and that was 
 the course of the whole week. Sundays were, of course, our days 
 of rest and reading. On those pleasant days, too, we wrote our 
 letters, and occasionally took long rambles through the woods, 
 noticing all that they had to show to us of vegetable and animal 
 life. 
 
 Feh» 2lih, — The harmony of our immediate neighbourhood 
 was soon sadly broken up by the demon of gold ; and I must 
 give a short history of it, for it is one of a kind that is con- 
 tinually occurring, and finds the Commissioners enough to do in 
 settling disputes and restraining offences. It must be so where 
 Mammon is lord paramount, and will illustrate curiously one 
 feature of digger-life. 
 
 Churl, the miller, and his men, had been very peaceable and 
 
 L 4 
 
152 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 useful neighbours up to a certain point. The man had an honest, 
 bluff look, and seemed disposed to be very civil, especially as he 
 had flour, sugar, &c., to sell, which we were willing to buy. He 
 would occasionally borrow a horse from us, when his own had 
 strayed, or had sore backs — a very common case in this warm 
 climate, where horses are not groomed at all in the bush, and 
 where the saddles are generally very flat. Of all book-knowledge 
 he was as innocent as any miller need be ; but as that was an ac- 
 complishment that we did not look for in him, we had no cause to 
 complain on that account. It was something to have a party near 
 you that you seemed to know something of, — for of the majority 
 of diggers, of course, you knew nothing, — and with whom you 
 could establish a sort of neighbourly standing, and mutual-obliga- 
 tion-and- protection society. 
 
 All, therefore, went well till our claim began to assume a very 
 golden aspect, far surpassing that of the miller. Then was it 
 wonderful to see the excitement, the agitation, and the restless- 
 ness that seized on him and his company. This consisted of two 
 men, whom he said he had taken into his employ for charity, 
 having found them reduced to a state of utter destitution. The 
 looks of these men certainly did not recommend them. They 
 were both red-haired, and one was destitute of an eye. Amongst 
 ourselves, they accordingly went by the names of Polypheme and 
 Caliban. The one was a stupid sailor, the other, Polypheme, a 
 more acute and knowing fellow ; but both, up to this point, were 
 well-behaved and civil. Besides these, there were two boys. Bob 
 and Bill. 
 
 As I have said, the moment they began to witness our success, 
 their whole nature seemed changed. They were working the por- 
 tion of the creek next below us, and there is every reason to be- 
 lieve that it was equally as good ; but instead of digging it all out 
 clear before them, they dug here and there, turning the whole up 
 pretty much as so many pigs would. No part could be said to be 
 cleanly and thoroughly washed; and their refuse was actually 
 thrown in their own way. 
 
 When, therefore, they witnessed the gold that we obtained, — 
 and they kept a sharp look-out, — they became more like the wild 
 beasts in the Zoological Gardens at the approach of feeding-time, 
 than anything else that I can think of. They were all in agita- 
 tion. Every nerve seemed to quiver with irritability. They 
 were in constant action ; running to us, to look at our proceeds 
 every time we worked a fresh dish or emptied a cradle ; then run- 
 ning back again, jumping into their holes, and digging away like 
 
THE MILLER AND HIS MEN. 153 
 
 maniacs for a few minutes ; then jumping out again ; then hold- 
 ing a hurried council, and setting in in some fresh part of their 
 claim, as soon to abandon it. 
 
 Before they had manifested any symptoms of this violent gold- 
 fever, I had confidentially said that, if no one took up the portion 
 of the creek immediately above us, before we had done this, we 
 would take that. They now, therefore, rushed away from their 
 own claim, before it was half finished, and yet leaving a quantity 
 of tools in it, by way of retaining it, though quite unavailing if 
 any one chose to slip into it while they were at work on another. 
 
 Here they delved and plunged about in the same extraordinary 
 way ; and, as if they thought that all tlie gold, by some magic 
 process, was conjured into our claim, they came and pared down 
 our dam as close as they could, so as not actually to let the water 
 in upon us ; for which, however, we were chiefly indebted to the 
 logs we had laid across it, and which they could not cut through. 
 After working two or three days with little success on this new 
 claim, and seeing that we were approaching the lower end of ours, 
 they as suddenly abandoned the one above us, and returned to 
 their old one. There they set in as close to ours as possible, and 
 cnt away their dam, so that if we had turned the water into our 
 claim, when finished, it would have entirely drowned them out. 
 But having cut away their dam, they pared away the earth close 
 to our claim, the boundary of which was marked by a tree on each 
 side of the creek, as if they were anxious to leave the smallest 
 possible grain of gold that their terminus would admit. 
 
 But unfortunately they did not stop here ; for on going to our 
 claim the next morning, to my astonishment, I saw that the thirst 
 for some of our gold had been too strong for them ; they had ac- 
 tually been at work in the night, and had cut away four feet of 
 our claim quite across ! Surprised as I was, I proposed in my 
 own mind that no notice should be taken of it, but that we would 
 quietly draw away, when we had finished this claim, now nearly 
 done, from these so clearly dangerous neighbours. But some 
 others of my party were not so forbearing. Their youthful blood 
 boiled with indignation the moment they saw the encroachment ; 
 and they told Polypheme and Caliban, who were the spadesmen of 
 the party, that there must be no more of that. 
 
 This was the signal for what these fellows call "a flare up." 
 They were on fire with cupidity and jealousy at our success, and 
 there only wanted a spark to cause their gunpowder spirits to 
 explode. They did explode, in such a volley of oaths and abuse 
 as only the most accomplished blackguards could let loose. But 
 
156 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 rate and diabolical nature of Polypheme, and how little was to be 
 hoped from the better nature of the miller, we began to have 
 serious fears that his malignity would urge him to other attempts; 
 and our first thought was of our horses, which grazed in the bush 
 near, and were therefore exposed to any mischief that he might 
 desire to practise upon them. To prevent this, we could only 
 trust to our constant watchfulness, and to that of our dogs, who 
 gave instant notice if any one stirred amongst the tents near us. 
 
 No such mischief happened, which perhaps was again caused 
 by the Scotch caution of the miller, who, though enjoying and, no 
 doubt, abetting the insolence of his men, was careful not directly 
 to commit himself. The rage and insults of Polypheme and the 
 stupid Caliban, who was his ready tool, continued unabated. 
 After we had finished that claim, and commenced one down the 
 creek, at some distance from them, we trusted that the infernal 
 fire would die out gradually. But by no means. We had still to 
 pass near the miller's tent to our own ; and on all possible occa- 
 sions, Polypheme assailed us with the vilest language. No one 
 ever returned a syllable ; and this seemed to exasperate him more 
 and more. 
 
 This had gone on for about a fortnight ; there was no abatement 
 whatever of the nuisance. The very boy Bill, an Irish lad, was 
 set to insult us whenever we passed ; and nothing availing to 
 rouse us to any notice of their conduct, Polypheme began to utter 
 the most deadly threats against us. He took his gun, and, pre- 
 tending to shoot at birds in the bushes near us, sent his shot right 
 amongst us while at our work. Luckily we had been watching 
 his motions, and took care to interpose the trunks of some good 
 large trees betwixt ourselves and him. But it now appeared time 
 that we should seek some protection against him. We were in the 
 Bush with no police ; the government camp was not yet estab- 
 lished there ; and we were entirely exposed to the brutal wicked- 
 ness of this fellow at any moment ; while his malicious fury only i 
 seemed to grow by time. An opportunity was very soon presented] 
 for seeking redress. 
 
 As we returned from our claim to breakfast, near the miller's 
 tent, Polypheme crossed our path, carrying on his shoulder a huge 
 branch of a tree, the thicker end of which he held near the grounc 
 As Alfred passed, he dexterously pushed the bough betwixt hifi 
 legs, evidently with the intent to throw him down ; but Alfrec' 
 got away, and, without even turning his head or uttering a re 
 mark, walked on towards our tent. I was standing near Poly- 
 pheme, who now occupied the path with his person and his hug( 
 
MENACES OF ASSASSINATION. 157 
 
 bough. Defeated in his object, he now burst forth with a torrent 
 of the most horrible language, and menaces of murder, which I 
 did not wait long to listen to ; but no sooner had Alfred and my- 
 self reached the large tree by our fire, where we washed our hands 
 for breakfast, than Polypheme and Caliban came out to the corner 
 of their tent, about twenty yards from us, and recommenced the 
 most violent threats of murder. Polypheme vowed particular 
 destruction against Alfred ; and his faithful shadow, Caliban, ex- 
 claimed, " Why not do it now ? Why not do it at once ? I 
 would." 
 
 The miller had for many days heard the murderous threats of 
 his men, and never interposed a word of rebuke. He now sat in 
 front of his tent, a most placid image of a member of the Peace 
 Society, and heard all these vows of violence and bloodshed, and 
 littered no word whatever. It appeared, therefore, high time that 
 an end should be put to this state of things, that all prudent for- 
 bearance had reached its limits. I therefore said to Polypheme, 
 " There has been quite enough of this ; you shall now hear what 
 the magistrates have to say to your conduct." 
 
 The miller, on this addressing Polypheme, opened his mouth with 
 these oracular words, — " There! you have put your leg in it, and 
 they'll take advantage of you." 
 
 As we sat at breakfast we could hear great altercation in the 
 miller's tent, and his voice loudly raised, denouncing their folly, 
 for, as he phrased it, " getting their leg into it." But he had en- 
 joyed their malicious insolence too long ; his caution and con- 
 demnation came too late. After breakfast Alfred, well-armed, 
 rode off to Spring Creek ; and in about three hours came canter- 
 ing back again with three troopers, and a warrant for the appre- 
 hension of the offenders. The magistrates made short work of it 
 with them ; they condemned them to pay a fine of 5/. for Poly- 
 pheme, as principal actor, and both he and Caliban to be bound 
 to keep the peace for six months in penalties of 80/., which the 
 miller had to guarantee. The magistrates also assured them that 
 the shghtest attempt to renew their insolence or annoyance, inde- 
 pendent of any higher breach of the peace, should be most severely 
 punished by imprisonment, and the penalties most rigorously ex- 
 acted. Never were men more completely muzzled. We had cal- 
 culated that it would not be safe to remain near them ; but there 
 was no fear : they were thoroughly quailed ; and within a week 
 afterwards the miller dismissed them, and they went at large, he 
 being for six months responsible for their conduct, — I have no 
 doubt, a severe punishment to his sordid and cautious nature. 
 
158' TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 So far as we were concerned, we suffered no further molesta- 
 tion from them ; but we were witnesses of a further development of 
 the miller's character, which, though it did not surprise, extremely 
 disgusted us. 
 
 Amongst the arrivals who had now thronged to this creek was 
 an old man who had pitched his tent near to the miller's. He had 
 been seized with a severe illness, and lay long confined by it. His 
 vigour was greatly impaired ; but he had a good tent and tools ; 
 and his mates having left him in his illness, he had given to a 
 strong young fellow the use of his tent and tools, to help him, and 
 go shares in the proceeds. No sooner had the miller lost his own 
 two men, than he cast his eyes on the stout mate of the old man, 
 and offered him inducements sufficient to lure him away from his 
 partner. The old man came to me, and said, " What, in God's 
 name, am I to do ? The miller has wheedled away my mate, and 
 I am set fast. We have a hole within a few feet of the bottom, 
 which I am confident will turn out well ; but I cannot work it 
 alone, I cannot both dig and wind up the dirt." I advised him 
 to go through the diggings and see if he could not find some other 
 able young fellow, who, for the comfort of a good tent, and the use 
 of tools, would join him. 
 
 " I must try," said thfe old man, despondingly ; " but here is a 
 claim in the creek which seems abandoned ; that I could work 
 alone, as it is surface work, and it is very near my tent." 
 
 " That," said I, " is quite at liberty. It is a good claim ; I saw 
 much gold taken out of it by the last party ; but they were from 
 Bendigo, and said it was better there, and are gone back. It has 
 been untouched for a fortnight ; and is yours if you like it." 
 
 The old man fetched his cradle, set it down by the race, and 
 began to work. Suddenly the miller looked out of his tent, 
 lifted up his head like a startled hare, on seeing the old man at 
 ' work, rushed into his tent where the old man's former mate was, 
 brought him out, pointed to the old man ; and both he and the 
 young man seizing spades, immediately hastened to the old man, to 
 let him know that they meant to have that, and began to shoulder 
 him off. The poor old man came again in his trouble to me, and 
 said, ** What i^ the world shall I do ! The miller has taken my j 
 mate; and now he is taking the very ground from beneath my 
 feet." 
 
 I told the old man not to distress himself; to go and assure 
 them that I would prove his right to the claim, and would stan( 
 by him in an appeal to the Commissioners. This had the effect 
 of bringing them to some reason. They agreed to divide th( 
 
CHURL AND OLD MAN. — SCOTCH SPENDTHRIFT. 159 
 
 claim ; and the old man, to avoid loss of time and the trouble of an 
 appeal, consented. A tree, which lay across the claim, was to be 
 the dividing boundary ; but it was soon seen that, when the old 
 man was absent, the miller and his party rolled the tree with 
 levers forward, thus continually encroaching on him. 1 therefore 
 advised him to begin and dig at the tree, so as eifectually to stop 
 them. This served for a time ; but we were going soon away ; 
 and then poor indeed would be the old man's chance against them. 
 They would be sure to drive him out of his claim. 
 
 That is certainly a strange history of an honest miller, who 
 boasted that his mill was making him 3000/. a year. Abounding 
 as the diggings do with singular demonstrations of character, they 
 can, I think, furnish few more remarkable than that. 
 
 And yet, perhaps, that of a Scotch prodigal is not much less so. 
 We give the Scotch such unbounded credit for enterprise and the 
 quality which their own word "canny" so well expresses, that we 
 are not surprised to find a host of Scotchmen on whatever shore 
 we may step, where money is to be made. Neither the snows of 
 Canada nor the heats of India present any obstacles to them. 
 This colony, before the gold discovery, was almost entirely Scotch. 
 An immense majority of the squatters were Scotch, and remain 
 so still. Tihe principal merchants are Scotch ; there is the same 
 preponderance of the North Briton amongst the medical men and 
 officers of the colony ; and the publicans are almost entirely 
 Scotch and Irish. On the diggings Scotland has no lack of repre- 
 sentatives ; and they are everywhere, in all professions, careful, 
 grasping, and thriving men, with a few exceptions. Take one : — 
 
 An old man came one day, and throwing off his wallet, sat down 
 on a log by us, wiped his brow, — for it was tropically hot, — and 
 began what he called '' a crack," and in which he gave us this sketch 
 of himself. He was from Glasgow. He came out before the 
 gold discovery, having a brother at Hobart Town, in Van Die- 
 men's Land. He did not say that either he or his brother had 
 been sent thither. On the breaking out of the gold fever, he went 
 over to the diggings, and arrived at Bendigo in the first abundance 
 of its yield. He soon cleared 1300/. With this, like numbers ol 
 others, he went down to Melbourne ; and, as there was no land to 
 buy and settle on, he spent in drunkenness and riot 800/. One ot 
 his countrymen, belonging to his party, robbed him of 300/. more. 
 He went over to Hobart Town, and arrived with 170/., which his 
 brother prevailed on him to place in a bank. Of this he soon drew 
 out 70/., and started once more for the diggings. But the days of 
 wonder were over; his luck had deserted him, as it had done 
 
160 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 thousands of others. From one place to another he had wandered 
 on — through Ballarat, Bendigo, the Ovens ; and here he was, with 
 nothing but his pick and spade on his shoulder, and his blanket 
 and provisions on his back. His 70/., he said were nearly gone ; 
 but then, he had still 100/. in the bank at Hobart Town ; and there 
 he would go and winter, if no better fortune detained him. '*Ah! 
 those grand days," he said, "when the stuff he dug out was so 
 rich, and glittered so that he was obliged to throw his blanket over 
 it to prevent people seeing it! " He was now bound for some one 
 of those wonderful diggings which are always floating in the ima- 
 gination of the digger, and, aided by interested storekeepers, drive 
 him on, and on. The one he had heard of was somewhere up this 
 creek, and amongst the hills. It was useless to tell him that we 
 knew of no such place, but only of one boundless waste of forest 
 and mountain in that direction, where gold had been, to our own 
 knowledge, sought in vain. He " humped his swag," in diggers' 
 phrase, that is, shouldered his pack, and disappeared in the woods. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Fresh Throngs on the Diggings. — Estimate of Climate. — Fresh Accounts. — 
 Statements of various Authors. — All understate the Heat. — Heat shown by 
 our Thermometer. — Changes of Temperature. — Causes of Illness. — Effectual 
 Precautions. — Evils inevitable in a new Colony. — Exposures of Digger 
 Xiife. — Fly-bhght. — Diggers' Real Grievances. — Nothing done for them. 
 — Rigorous Exaction of License Money. — Russian Treatment. — Why no 
 Roads ? — What the Mormons did. — An American's View of our Policy. 
 — Colony opened to Plunderers, but not to Settlers. 
 
 The crowds which every day oppressed, as I may truly say, the 
 diggings, grew constantly and rapidly. They were discontented; 
 crowds, and far from healthy ones ; and I should not give a true ' 
 picture of the real condition of the gold-fields, and of the colony 
 generally at that time, if I did not at some length endeavour fairly 
 to state the causes of these facts. 
 
 If we were to judge of the healthiness or unhealthiness of the! 
 colony of Victoria by the amount of sickness in the population,^ 
 we must pronounce it to be very far from a healthy country. Bu| 
 this would be by no means a fair judgment. There are man] 
 circumstances to be considered before drawing a conclusion on s< 
 very important a point, as it regards emigration. In the first 
 
ESTIMATE OF CLIMATE. ' 161 
 
 place, the colony is a new countiy, and a country yet uncultivated 
 to any considerable extent. It is to Englishmen a new climate ; 
 and, however mild and delightful for six months in the year, 
 for the other six months it is a far hotter climate than England ; 
 and it is not to be supposed that, were there no other causes to 
 affect the health of immigrants, this change of climate could be 
 made by adults with impunity. 
 
 The heat of the summer is much greater than any accounts of 
 the colony lead you to expect. Dr. Lang says the climate in 
 summer is like '*the climate of Devonshire ;" but the sun Avould 
 much astonish the Devonians if it treated them to such summers 
 as they have there. In fact, this colony lies under the same degree 
 of south latitude as the south of Spain and Portugal do in north 
 latitude, including two degrees of Africa. Count Strzelecki was 
 more correct when he compared it to the climate of Naples. 
 
 All the statements that I have yet seen profess to be based on 
 the Government observations taken regularly at Melbourne and 
 Geelong : and here the mystery is solved ; for Archer's Register of 
 Victoria informs us that the three daily observations are made at 
 the following hours : — 8h. 30m. a.m., 2h. 30m. p.m., and 9h. p.m. ; ' 
 and all from a thermometer in the shade. From these observations 
 the published meafi temperature is drawn. Now, let it be under- 
 stood, that immediately after sunset in this climate the air cools 
 down with an almost miraculous rapidity. Sunset at the very 
 latest takes place at twenty-seven minutes past seven o'clock, that 
 is, in January. So that more than an hour and a half of this cool- 
 ing process has been going on after sunset. This gives a stranger 
 a most delusive idea of the temperature there, and elicits hearty 
 curses when he feels the heat in which he has to work. 
 
 Mr. Westgarth, one of the best statisticians of the colony, follow- 
 ing such guides, says, " The hot winds last commonly for one or 
 two days at a time, with a temperature of from 80° to 90° in the 
 shade, ascending sometimes, though rarely, as high as 100°." * 
 
 Now, without any hot winds at all, we very frequently had the 
 temperature within our tent from 100° to 120° ; and one day we 
 had the temperature in the sun at 139° at noon, the thermometer 
 sinking in the following night to 40° ; so that within twelve 
 hours there was a variation of 100° within one ! I kept a careful 
 register of the thermometer for twelve months, from which I shall 
 give extracts in this work. 
 
 People going out there under the impression that they are to 
 experience a Devonshire climate, are confounded when they find 
 
 * Page 27. 
 M 
 
162 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 themselves labouring under an almost Indian sun at the severe la- 
 bour of the diggings ; and when, after a profuse perspiration during 
 the day, they lie down, and the thermometer falls rapidly, as it 
 always does in the night, they are again confounded at the extra- 
 ordinary cold which they experience. To these rapid and wide 
 variations within each four-and-twenty hours, to the want of that 
 preparation for them which a truer exposition of the climate 
 would have induced, and to the neglect of the all-important pre- 
 caution of having a perfectly waterproof oilcloth or tarpaulin to 
 sleep upon, are owing three-fourths of the severe complaints 
 which attack those who go to the diggings. 
 
 We spent one 'pound in an ordinary railway tarpaulin, such as 
 is thrown over the carriages of the goods trains, which we ob- 
 tained from Mr. Richardson, tentmaker, of the New Road ; and, 
 from what we observed we were convinced that we escaped a hun- 
 dred pounds' worth of doctors' bills by it, as well as the utter de- 
 struction of our constitutions. We invariably, whether travelling 
 or stationary, laid that down on the ground, to place our beds 
 upon ; and we slept as dry as in the best chamber in England. 
 We often came to ground swimming with water at the close of a 
 day's journey, and we had no alternative but to camp upon it. 
 Yet what mattered it ? We laid down our tarpaulin, and had a 
 floor as dry as that which the Queen of England has under her ; 
 and w^hatever were our days, whether hot or cold, our nights were 
 nights of comfort; and our health was far better than that of 
 most of our neighbours. 
 
 We saw the most frightful effects of cramps and rheumatism, of 
 fever and dysentery. With the cramp and the dysentery we had 
 our struggle ; but our constitutions were intact, and our health 
 good; whilst around us we saw the strongest men racked and 
 crippled, and others cut off by fevers with fatal rapidity. But 
 what had been the practice of these men ? They had been taught 
 to believe that they might abandon all the habits of their English 
 life in that fine climate. They had gone up the country thinly 
 clad, and thinly provided. They had toiled and broiled through 
 intensely hot days. They had drunk large quantities of water 
 impregnated with decaying trees and gum leaves ; they had drunk, 
 too, often, no trivial quantities of brandy or rum ; and at night 
 they had thrown themselves down on the ground, wrapped in a 
 single rug, and awoke in the morning nearly frozen, and their 
 whole frames chilled with the moisture of the ground under them. 
 Is there any wonder that such men became the victims of excru- 
 ciating rheumatism, of cramps, and dysenteries. And, therefore^ 
 
EXPOSURES OF DIGGER LIFE. 163 
 
 you heard almost every one denouncing the climate as most insi- 
 dious, most variable, and, in a word, *' the most execrable on the 
 face of the earth." 
 
 As to the variableness of the climate, that does not apply to the 
 state of the weather from day to day. Nothing can be more 
 steady, nothing more uniform. For days, weeks, months, you 
 liave the same fine stretch of weather, whether the season of the 
 year be hot or temperate. The trying variations are within the 
 four-and-twenty hours — variations of temperature. When the 
 sun rises it becomes in summer almost instantly hot ; the moment 
 it sets it becomes as rapidly cool, and in the night cold. But once 
 aware of this, and there is neither danger nor discomfort. Get 
 into plenty of blankets, and have a tarpaulin under you, and you 
 know nothing of the cold of the night, and risk nothing from it. 
 
 I have said, too, that this is a new country, as well as climate. 
 It is yet, with very trivial exception, one huge, unreclaimed 
 forest. Now, I do not believe that any country, under any climate 
 in the world, can be pronounced a thoroughly healthy country, 
 while it is in this state. The immense quantity of vegetable 
 matter rotting on the surface of the earth, and still more of that 
 rotting in the waters, which the new visitants must drink, cannot 
 be very healthy. The choked-up valleys, dense with scrub and 
 rank grass and weeds, and the equally rank vegetation of swamps, 
 cannot tend to health. All these evils, the axe and the plough, 
 and the fire of settlers, will gradually and eventually remove ; 
 and when that is done there, I do not believe that there will be a 
 more healthy country on the globe. But at present, many things 
 are attributed to the climate, which arise from other causes, — 
 from the new habits, the exposures, the excesses, and the neglects 
 of the new population : the digging population, especially, owes 
 the effects on its health, in a great measure, to the violent change 
 ^^pf diet. People who have come from the regular tables of Eng- 
 ^■jfend — its well-fed and well-cooked meats, its puddings, its milk, 
 ^Bknd other domestic luxuries — and find their food to consist of 
 ^Kiutton and beef, frequently tough, damper as heavy as a stone, 
 ^^Knd this unvariedly morning, noon, and night, from day to day, 
 I^Hreek to week, and month to month, with an almost total exclu- 
 sion of vegetables, — depending on the frying-pan for the eternal 
 sameness of their cookery, — ought not to be surprised that their 
 stomachs are astonished at the change, and that they are extremely 
 liable to dysenteries, diarrhoeas, and indigestions ; nor that, work- 
 ing up to the waist in water under a tropical sun, and sleeping ex- 
 
 M 2 
 
164 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 posed to cold and damp, they should be visited by cramps and 
 rheumatism. 
 
 But the flies and the fly-blight ! Yes, truly, they are a curse, 
 and no mistake. Numbers of men that you meet up the country 
 in summer are half blind through them ; and some people alto- 
 gether lose their sight. Numbers of people have their faces 
 muffled up in veils — a smothering alternative. Some of our party 
 had their eyes much inflamed for a week or more, when they 
 swelled up like two great eggs, just as if their owners had been 
 fighting ; and then they turned black. In a morning the sufferers 
 cannot open them till they have been washed with warm water. 
 Our dogs suffered too ; and we feared once that Prin had lost the 
 sight of one eye. 
 
 They told us that a little green fly generally causes the blight ; 
 but we saw no green fly, it is the little black devil which causes 
 it. And we had another fly come out in spring, which they call 
 the March fly. It is a great grey-black blundering fly very like 
 an aged beef-fly. It is, in habit, however, a real gad-fly, and per- 
 secuted our horses infamously. Charlton killed scores of them 
 upon the poor animals. They settled on us unceremoniously, and 
 bit abominably ; but fortunately they are very easily killed. In 
 the advance of cultivation and population the diminution of this 
 insect nuisance must be looked for. 
 
 But, said the complainants, Melbourne is equally unhealthy 
 with the country. That is not quite true, for, in my opinion, it 
 is far more so ; for we found the settled population of the country, 
 the squatters, enjoying good health enough. They had good com- 
 fortable houses or huts, and enjoyed the necessary supply of fruits 
 and vegetables, as well as meat, eggs, and good varied cookery. 
 But in Melbourne we were told that there were no less than about 
 150 doctors, to about 80,000 people. There were certainly very 
 great numbers, and, what was more, they flourished. But wher- 
 ever was there a healthy populous town, in a hot country, which 
 was totally undrained, and which drank the water of a small 
 river, into which all its filth ran ? That was precisely the 
 status of Melbourne at that time ; now that it is supplied with 
 a pure water, it is probably a much less flourishing town — for 
 the Doctors. 
 
 Another cause of a very prevalent discontent amongst the dig- 
 gers was this. Besides their complaints of the climate, and its 
 diseases and nuisances, as just enumerated, they almost to a man 
 considered themselves grossly imposed on by the accounts of the 
 
t 
 
 diggers' real grievances. 165 
 
 richness of the diggings, the depth at which the gold was found, 
 and the ease with which it was procured. 
 
 There was undoubtedly great justice in this complaint. Tiie 
 stories of the gold being generally found at some four or six feet 
 below the surface, and of its being shovelled out by single diggers, 
 to the amount of 5000/. and 7000/., in a week or ten days, may 
 possibly have been true in a few isolated cases. Nay, in the 
 acknowledged superiority of richness in the early fields of Forest 
 Creek and Bendigo, there must have been much truth. But, as 
 a general fact, we did not witness anything of the kind, nor 
 meet with any person coming to any of the diggings at the same 
 time with ourselves, who had witnessed it. The gold was far less 
 in quantity generally ; was far more frequently obtained at much 
 greater depths, even to that of a 100 ft. ; and the numbers which 
 the marvellous accounts had brought out had converted the whole 
 scene of gold-digging into a scramble and competition unexampled 
 even in the sharpest competition of England. The weekly quan- 
 tity of gold sent down to Melbourne and Geelong, which was re- 
 presented to be 150,000 ounces, then rarely amounted to half that 
 amount, though the number of diggers was enormously increased. 
 Wherever we went, the tone of discontent was the same : the 
 diggers generally declared that they were scarcely paying their 
 expenses. Yet, at the very time, crowds were still pouring into 
 the field, lured by the most wonderful stories propagated noto- 
 riously by the publicans on the roads, and the store-keepers on 
 the diggings. These stories can only be tested on the spot ; and 
 then it is too late for those who have been enticed by them. And 
 no sooner did the digger arrive at one field, and find his mistake, 
 than he was attracted by the same stories of wonderful discoveries, 
 and wonderful finds of gold, in some equally distant scene. There 
 they were digging up nuggets like potatoes, within a foot of the 
 surface ; and again the people posted away ; and thus there were 
 perpetual rushes and perpetual disappointments, except to the 
 publicans on those roads, and the store-keepers on those fabulous 
 rields. We frequently tested these grand rumours, and always 
 with one result — their falsity. 
 
 The second cause of complaint with the diggers was the enor- 
 ous price of every article of life, which they charged, and justly, 
 the gross inattention of Government to everything that affected 
 their interest. They were prepared to expect a great advance on 
 the usual prices of such things, — yes, a very great advance in a 
 new colony, and with a sudden influx of population, — but they 
 contended that the total neglect by Government of the facilities 
 
 M 3 
 
166 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 for furnishing ground for cultivation of vegetables, and of the 
 roads, had at least quadrupled the price of everything that they 
 wore or consumed at the diggings. No land was to be procured 
 in the neighbourhood of Melbourne for gardens under some thou- 
 sands of pounds per acre, owing to the refusal of Government to 
 sell any but the most restricted quantities, and that for building 
 land. And up at the diggings none was to be got at any price, 
 because the squatters held it all ; and they, in their turn, were 
 strictly forbidden to cultivate more than was absolutely necessary 
 for their own establishments. 
 
 Hence no vegetables were procurable at the diggings under Is. 
 per pound for potatoes and onions, often Is. 6d. ; cabbages, 3^. 6d. 
 each. Milk was charged 3*. per quart, and that skimmed. Fresh 
 butter 5s. per pound, and rarely purchaseable at all. Sheep, 
 which used, before the diggings, to be 4*. or 5s. each, were now 
 IL, and those picked ones — not picked for their fatness, but to 
 get rid of them as scabbed, or worn down with foot-rot. Wretches 
 they were — much worse than India rubber or gutta percha. Oxen, 
 which, before the diggings cost 305., were charged 15/. and 20/. 
 each. 
 
 Well, with the exception of the sheep and cattle, — the squat- 
 ters being prohibited the cultivation of the other articles, to wit, 
 corn, hay, or vegetables, — the diggers looked with the more 
 anxiety to the rate at which they could procure groceries and 
 other stores from Melbourne and Geelong. But here the utter 
 want of roads interposed ; and besides the astounding prices which 
 the merchants charged for all goods in those ports, the carriage 
 which had to be laid on the prime cost of all that they consumed 
 ranged from 40/. per ton, in summer, to 150/. in winter ! 
 
 Government, in fact, had done nothing whatever for the diggers 
 but tax them ! The whole amount of taxation which the squat- 
 ters, who held the whole country in possession, and charged their 
 produce at the rates mentioned, paid to Government, was 20,000/. 
 a-year. The diggers, on the contrary, paid in licences more than 
 half a million a-year; namely, in 1853, 542,420/. in licence fees, 
 and 50,184/. in escort fees, &c. And yet Government had actually 
 done nothing whatever towards making roads, and thus reducing 
 the ruinous price of all things that the diggers needed. There 
 were no bridges, no roads, no anything. The Colonial Govern- 
 ment of Victoria appeared to have no idea but the single one of — 
 Taxation, and no feeling but of grasping — all they could get. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the avidity, the rigidity, and arbitrary 
 spirit with which the licence fees were enforced on the diggings, 
 
WHAT THE MORMONS DID. 167 
 
 and the eagerness with which Government sent off a batch of 
 commissioners and police to collect tax on every newly-discovered 
 digging, — invariably never spending a thought on roads or facilities 
 f any kind, by which the onerous life-cost of the digging popu- 
 lation might be lightened. These things naturally grated dread- 
 fully on the spirits of the digging population, — a large amount of 
 which were gentlemen, — especially when they saw the arbitrary, 
 Russian sort of way in which they were visited by the authorities. 
 Any one found without a licence in his pocket — though he had it 
 in his tent — was, without excuse or explanation allowed, marched 
 off to camp, and there summarily fined from 3/. to 51. ; and if he 
 showed any reluctance or indignation at this treatment, he was, 
 without ceremony, handcuffed and dragged off. These things were 
 not only true, but too true, and too common, and were creating a 
 spirit that broke out very soon after energetically. 
 
 Many an indignant digger, when he had his licence in his 
 pocket, and could afford to speak, said to the police, when they 
 asked him to show it, " Go and look after the roads, and then 
 come and demand our licences." 
 
 And why did not the Government make passable roads ? No- 
 thing was easier, and, therefore, nothing was more culpable than 
 the not doing it. I do not mean that, at the then price of labour, 
 they should have made regular macadamised roads to the dig- 
 gings. That was the very error they were committing. They 
 were making macadamised roads at Melbourne at some 6000Z. a 
 mile, which, if continued, would reach the diggings in some 
 twenty years. What was wanted was a simple and expeditious 
 mode of making them passable ; and nothing was more practicable. 
 A band of some twenty active labourers, under the inspection of a 
 good practical engineer, for each line of road, and with a good 
 spring-waggon to carry up their bedding, tools, and provisions, 
 would, in a month or two, have made a very passable road to each 
 digging. The materials were there on the whole way. They had 
 only to glut the bogs with fagots till they would take no more, 
 as the heavy bullock-drays passed over them. That would have 
 conquered them as Chat Moss was conquered. There would re- 
 main only to level the approach to the occasional gullies, lower the 
 brows of abrupt hills, and throw rude, strong bridges of trees, 
 growing at hand, over the deeper ones. 
 
 All that, it may be said, sounds very well on paper. Yes, and 
 would have sounded much better in reality in the ears of the 
 diggers, and is but a mere fraction of what a single detachment of 
 the Mormons did on their way from Nauvoo to the Great Salt 
 
 m4 
 
168 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Lake. They made a road for those who had to follow them, over 
 a country at any rate as bad, and through swamps far more exten- 
 sive for 1200 miles, with all the necessary bridges, filling up bogs, 
 and levelling of gullies. Surely the Government of Victoria — a 
 country which boasted itself the richest of any country on the 
 globe of equal population, which exported gold to the amount of 
 7,000,000/. a-year, and taxed the diggers more than half a million 
 a-year — could have done as much as a single band of emigrants. 
 But little more than one-third of this extent of road-making was 
 demanded of Victoria; for say, at the fullest measurement — 
 
 From Geelong to Ballarat is 50 miles. 
 „ Melbourne to ditto 75 „ 
 
 „ ditto to Forest Creek 80 „ 
 
 „ ditto to Bendigo 100 „ 
 
 „ ditto to Ovens 180 „ 
 
 The total is 485 „ 
 
 To say that the Government of Victoria had made that extent 
 of road passable, — for great portions of it are naturally so, — 
 would not be to recount any giant exploit ; but to say that it had 
 rigidly, and even oppressively, exacted the diggers' money to the 
 amount of upwards of 600,000/. a-year, and given them no single 
 quid pro quo, is to describe a Government which — requires no 
 describing. 
 
 Lastly, in the list of the diggers' grievances, and indeed of the 
 whole body of immigrants, was that sore question, the Land 
 Question. 
 
 If we had been told of a nation of lunatics, who had a splendid 
 extent of rich and pleasant country, which they were anxious to 
 populate as speedily as possible, and who, while they sent over 
 the whole world the most bewitching descriptions of its charms 
 and its fertility, steadily refused, on the arrival of the people they 
 wanted, to sell them a yard of it, to settle and farm on, we should 
 say it was very lunatically correct, and should enjoy our laugh at 
 their insanity. But to admit that this nation was a nation of 
 Englishmen, and that such a government was the Government 
 of our colony of Victoria, was naturally a concession which made 
 us look very foolish, and dreadfully ashamed of our countrymen 
 in office at that time ; especially when we cast our eyes across the 
 Atlantic, and saw how wide awake our relatives there were to this 
 folly, and how immensely they were profiting by it. They were 
 drawing daily from us the sinews of a gigantic empire, which, 
 
AN American's view of our polict. 169 
 
 in Australia, we were repelling by all the force of idiotic 
 folly. 
 
 This land question is a great question. I shall find another 
 opportunity to state fully its history and general bearings ; here I 
 now only notice it as it presented itself to the mind of the digger ; 
 and I cannot do that more clearly than by simply repeating the 
 remarks which we heard made by American diggers. They, of 
 course familiar with the liberal and sagacious system of their own 
 country, were proportionately astonished at the features of ours 
 in Australia. I heard numbers of them say, who had made money 
 at the Victoria Diggings, " We like this country, and we would 
 not be at the trouble of going all the way back to the States, if 
 we could settle here on anything like equal terms ; or, if indeed, 
 we could settle at all. But see how they treat us. 
 
 " No sooner do we land than we find ourselves almost pulled 
 limb from limb in Melbourne to make all they can of us. They 
 seem as if they would chop us up and make money of us. Cali- 
 fornia was nothing to it. We have id pass through the purgatory 
 of Hobson's Bay, through boatmen, lightermen, wharfingers — all 
 clutching at our very life with their unheard-of demands ; and 
 escaping them, we fell into the hands of the Melbourne trades- 
 men. And surely, never in the history of the world did such a 
 system of ruthless rapacity show itself, as in Melbourne. We 
 assure you that it struck dismay to our hearts ; and never will 
 they cease to remember the harpies of the capital of Victoria. 
 Whether we wanted to lodge, to refresh at an inn, to purchase 
 anything at the shops, it was all alike ; and Government had not 
 done a single thing to facilitate our escape from the place. There 
 was no quay for landing our effects ; and we had to wait a month 
 to get them out of the ship. Once clear of the town, the same 
 utter neglect of Government met us on the roads. Roads ! there 
 was not a yard of road — but a frightful bog, a mile wide, and 
 seventy miles long. The carriage of our efiects up to Bendigo 
 was at the rate of 150/. per ton. 
 
 " Once there, with weary limbs, and empty pockets, before we 
 could dig up a grain of gold the police were down upon us for 
 I/. lOs. each for licences. We did not object to the licence, that 
 was quite just and fair; but we thought it hard to be dragged off 
 to the camp at a moment's notice, and expected to pay betore we 
 had had a single day allowed to get the means. Here, however, 
 we found a true gentleman, Mr. Commissioner Gilbert, who, seeing 
 that we were honest, paid the money for us out of his own pocket, 
 and gave us ten days to refund it. God bless him ! That was 
 
170 TWO TEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 the only drop in our bitter cup on landing in Victoria. It nerved 
 our hearts again, and we got gold and repaid him in less than a 
 week. 
 
 " Well, we have done pretty well, and would stay here ; but, 
 strange to say, the people who allured us hither by their praises 
 of the colony, won't allow us to settle here — they won't sell us 
 land. If we land in America with 100/. in our pockets we can 
 have 400 acres of land from the Government for that money, and 
 we can select it where we will, and the Government will make a 
 road to it. But here we cannot get it at all. We have been to 
 the Commissioners of Crown Lands, and they say there is none to 
 be sold. So we must go home again." 
 
 Is this not a beautiful system ? Was it any wonder that 
 Americans were astonished when they came into a fine country, 
 all lying open and waste, and found nearly its whole extent of 
 93,000 square miles, or 60,000,000 acres, handed over to 1000 
 squatters for a mere 20/. a-year each? — That, with a vast popu- 
 lation pouring into the country, and who wanted to settle, there 
 should be more than 60,000,000 of acres still unsold, and yet not 
 an acre to be had? — That 1000 men, for the small aggregate sum 
 of 20,000/., should hold the whole from the public, who w^ould 
 pay millions of money for it, and establish a population upon it, 
 trading to the amount ^f millions every year with England? — 
 That each single man, for 20/. a-year, should enjoy on an average 
 nearly 93 square miles, or 60,000 acres ? 
 
 What, it may be asked, had these men done to merit this 
 wonderful favour ? How had they become the particular darlings 
 of the British Government, that they should be thus actually 
 overwhelmed with good fortune ? The only answer is that their 
 merit, and what they had done, was, that they managed to get on 
 the blind side of the English Government, and persuaded it that 
 Australia was such a pooi', barren country, and so utterly unfit for 
 agriculture, or for anything but grazing a few sheep and cattle upon, 
 that the Government, with the same sagacity which lost America, 
 was actually glad to make it over bodily to these obliging squatters 
 who were willing to take it off their hands. 
 
 But, said the diggers, *Hhey have actually mended their bargain 
 for them, and have remitted the head-money which they originally 
 paid for their cattle and sheep, one ^d. for each sheep, IJc?. for 
 each head of cattle, and 3d. for each horse, and having done that, 
 why press so stringently on the digger w^ho happens to be unfor- 
 tunate? That sum would probably not amount to more than 
 
COLONY NOT OPEN TO SETTLERS. 171 
 
 another 20,000/., yet they levy upwards of 60,000/. on the digger, 
 and allow him neither land nor franchise." 
 
 And, I may finally ask, on what principle the British Government 
 had thrown open the gold-fields to the people of all nations, if it 
 were not as an inducement to settle there ? The gold is the pro- 
 perty of the British people, and should have been carefully 
 preserved to them, unless it were made an equivalent for some 
 other benefit, which settlement in the country would be. True, 
 the Americans have set the example of giving free admission of 
 all foreigners to their gold-mines, but then they set the example 
 also of inducing these foreigners to invest the gold they got in the 
 land, by its cheapness and facility of attainment. This example 
 we did not follow, but having drawn a vast amount of foreigners 
 into the colony, as soon as they had loaded themselves with our 
 gold, we forced them out of it to expend their gold elsewhere, as 
 if our only object had been to rob ourselves and our fellow-sub' 
 jects as much as possible. I can only conclude this chapter in 
 admiration of the perfection of that suicidal policy which the go- 
 vernment of Victoria had arrived at : for England had accorded 
 full power to it to pursue a directly opposite course if it pleased, 
 or rather, had the sagacity to do so. 
 
 I have here described Victoria, its roads, its diggings, and its 
 land monopoly, as I found it at that period ; in a concluding 
 chapter I shall describe the changes for the better which have 
 taken place. In a letter from the present worthy governor. Sir 
 George Barkly, dated June 15th, 1857, he says, " The improve- 
 ment in this colony since your visit must, in every respect, be vast, 
 and I could scarcely believe your accounts to refer to the same 
 country, when I travelled the other day over good roads to the 
 Ovens Gold Field, and visited some of your old haunts at the 
 Woolshed and Yackandanda, still very flourishing diggings." 
 
 Yet all the roads to the diggings cannot be good even now, for 
 so late as October 8th, 1856, large meetings were being held in Mel- 
 bourne calling on Government to advance half a million sterling to 
 make roads to the diggings, and especially to Castlemaine, de- 
 claring them in many places impassable. 
 
172 T^TO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Leave the Yackandanda. — Vast Changes. — An Unlucky Digger. — Crowds 
 coming up. — More wonderful Rumours. — Eichard the Groom turns up. — 
 His Wine-cellar. — Rides a Steeple-chase over the Holes. — Features of a 
 Digging as it is. — Ride to the Murray. — Granite Desert. — Pleasant Locality 
 of Reid's Mill. — Sleep in the open Air. — Bewildered old Man. — Camp of 
 Natives. — A Walk through Albury. — The Evils of the Squatting System 
 stamped on the whole Colony. — Why England produces more Wool. — A 
 Gang of Horse- stealers. — Second Night in the open Air. — Visits at Reid's, 
 Turnbull's, and Forlonge's Stations. — A Specimen of an Australian Gar- 
 dener. — A Squatter's Progress. — The Forlonge Family. — Mrs. Forlonge's 
 Wanderings in Saxony. — Introduce Saxony Merinos. 
 
 We quitted our pleasant abode in the woods at the Upper Yackan- 
 danda on the 2nd of March, 1853, and took our course back 
 again to Spring Creek. But we had no longer, as in coming up, 
 to make our way through the untracked bush. It was tracked to 
 some purpose. The diggers who had followed on our course were 
 thousands. They had settled along those creeks for miles ; and 
 the extent of ground that they had turned up was surprising. We 
 were astonished at the population that we found where, at our 
 coming up, it was an untracked desert. On the Nine-mile Creek 
 the throng was great, and some of the diggers had done well. One 
 party of our acquaintance had obtained 16 lbs. weight of gold per 
 man. But, of course, there were complainers there as every- 
 where. 
 
 We stopped to talk to one young man who was rocking his 
 cradle by himself at the creek. He seemed to me to have been a 
 clerk in some bank or merchant's office. Evidently he had not 
 been brought up to hand-labour ; and you might take him as a 
 type of hundreds, and even thousands, who have gone out to that 
 land of gold, with glowing expectations, but with no conception 
 whatever of what they were really undertaking. 
 
 He was a slender young man, of fair complexion and pale, 
 yellow hair, with that faintly florid colour which often accom- 
 panies that colour of hair, and thin short whiskers of a similar 
 hue. The upper part of his face was closely muffled in a reddish- 
 brown veil, and the lower part in a pale, ruddy beard. He replied 
 to our greeting in a feeble voice, that seemed to betray a feeble 
 chest. In fact, he appeared on the very verge of consumption, 
 and said that he had been a year and a half in the colony ; that 
 he had been to all the diggings both in Sydney and Victoria, but 
 
AN UNLUCKY DIGGER. 173 
 
 everywhere with the same absolute want of luck ; that everywhere 
 he had been pursued by dysentery, or some other exhausting com- 
 plaint ; that he had gone up there into the bush, and how he was 
 to get down again was a problem far more difficult than any in 
 Euclid, for his party was broken up, and he had no means of 
 carrying his tent and tools away. 
 
 When we talked of England, he shook his head, and said, "Ah ! 
 it is a very long time since I have heard any thing from England:" 
 and with that, he began rocking his cradle in silence, and we went 
 on. The sight of that young man, I thought, might have acted as 
 a considerable sedative to numbers who, over desks and counters, 
 never having handled pick or spade in their lives, are yet dream- 
 ing of the wondrous treasures of the Eldorado of the south. 
 
 But strange and very pathetic cases occur at the diggings every 
 day. Mr. Gilbert, the Commissioner of Forest Creek, was relating 
 numbers one day which had come under his notice. Numbers of 
 cases of men who came there, fell ill, died, and were buried with- 
 out any clue beinp^ obtained as to who they were. He spoke 
 particularly of a German, who was evidently reduced to great 
 distress. He had only a piece of canvass, which he threw over 
 the trunk of a fallen tree, and lay under one side of it, while his 
 cradle, spade, and pick lay under the other. He was found lying 
 there extremely ill — indeed, in the last stage of exhaustion — and 
 it was reported to Mr. Gilbert, who immediately went to him — 
 but it was too late. He was too far gone to give any information 
 regarding his friends, or the place whence he came. But it was 
 clear that he had left a family somewhere, for he continually re- 
 peated to himself, " Meine arme Frau ! Meine arme Kinder ! " 
 His name was found written in a small pocket-book, but no ad- 
 dress, and there were no papers to disclose it. 
 
 No doubt his family, as that of thousands of other sanguine ad- 
 venturers, still live in the hopes of golden tidings that will never 
 reach them ; still, sometimes, no doubt, think it unkind that they 
 send no greetings. Those who should send them lie in the wilder- 
 ness, enclosed with one of those square palisade fences which 
 mark the diggers' graves. 
 
 As we returned to Spring Creek, we met numbers still stream- 
 ing up to the creeks we had left. One woman sat on the road-side 
 on a pile of boxes and bedding, while the rest of her party were 
 gone back for the remainder of a load too heavy for their horses 
 to bring at once up the hill. She said the accounts of the surface- 
 diggings at these creeks were wonderful. It was said everywhere 
 that they were fust-rsite. It was in vain for us to tell her that 
 
174 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 we knew of no real surface-diggings there, but wet diggings in 
 the creek, and dry sinkings. She still maintained, with a know- 
 ing shake of the head, " Oh, yes ! surface-diggings — fust-rate I " 
 
 No sooner had we encamped near Spring Creek, than a man, 
 who had come overland with his family all the way from Sydney, 
 400 miles, came rushing up to us, and exclaimed, *' You are just 
 in time. The real gold-fields are found ! Five miles from the 
 Buffalo Mountains, a stockman has come upon four men digging 
 without licences. They were shovelling out gold by basketfuls. 
 He came and informed the Commissioners, who sent troopers, and 
 fetched the four men in, and fined them for digging without 
 licences ; but they said they did not mind that, for they had got 
 as much gold as they wanted." 
 
 He added, that in consequence, 100 drays had gone off to the 
 place in the night, and that hundreds of others were on the point 
 of starting. We thanked him for his information, and told him 
 we would ascertain how far the tale were true from the Commis- 
 sioners themselves. Accordingly I went up to the camp : finding 
 on the way the whole of the diggings in a state of excitement. 
 
 But, alas for this new golden vision! Mr. Clow, the Chief 
 Commissioner, assured me that the whole of it was a fable ; no such 
 digging was discovered ; no such stockman had been there ; and 
 no such lucky mortals had been brought in. So our poor informant, 
 considerably chopfallen, resolved on making an immediate progress 
 in the direction of Bendigo. 
 
 At Spring Creek we were astonished at the changes which had 
 taken place in less than two months. The old location of the 
 diggings was already worked out and deserted and the stream of 
 research and labour had ascended the creek two miles or more. 
 All this space, during the short time that w^e had been away, had 
 ceased to be unbroken forest ; the trees were felled, the ground 
 was turned up or perforated with holes, and the creek diverted 
 from its course ; w^here our tent had stood alone, there was now a 
 whole town of tents, and where we had in vain endeavoured to 
 keep down the water, hundreds of wet holes had been sunk, and, 
 being worked at once, had been drained, and a rich harvest of 
 gold obtained. 
 
 Alfred and I, walking through the diggings, were accosted by 
 a gentleman, mentioned in the earlier part of this volume, who 
 had been Dr. Howitt's groom, under the name of Richard. He 
 had got, since he came up, 200/., and was very jolly ; he had chal- 
 lenged the diggers to ride a steeple-chase amongst the holes, for 
 a large bet, and had won it ; for when it came to the point, no- 
 
STEEPLE-CHASE OVER THE HOLES. 175 
 
 bodj dared to follow him in his madcap dash right over a region 
 of pits, enough to have broken the necks, and destroyed the riders, 
 of any number of horses ; but by the luck of such neck-or-nothing 
 men, he escaped, to the wonder of a gaping crowd of some thou- 
 sands, and pocketed his cash. He now insisted that we must go 
 and take a glass of wine with him at his tent, but as we were late 
 for dinner at our own, we excused ourselves till another day. On 
 hearing this, E-ichard suddenly disappeared down a hole some 
 twenty or thirty feet deep, and again speedily emerged with a 
 bottle in one pocket and a tumbler in another. It was a bottle of 
 superb port ; he knocked off the neck against a stump, poured out 
 a tumbler for each of us, and threw the empty bottle down another 
 hole near. I observed that such wine must have cost a good 
 price : " Oh!" said he, "only 16^. per bottle." 
 
 Going on, we were more than ever impressed with the strange, 
 and by no means attractive aspect of the diggings ; in truth, no 
 scene can be more revolting to an eye that is accustomed to the 
 beautiful. No scene would be pronounced more horrible by Eng- 
 lish ladies, if they could see it ; no scene is less characterised by 
 an air of wealth than a gold-digging. The tents have a wretched, 
 rag-fair appearance, and they stand on a field composed of holes, 
 and clay, and gravel heaps. Every tree, is felled; every feature 
 of Nature is annihilated. The tents are rarely handsome or clean; 
 many are eked out with old sheets and blankets, and others with 
 pieces of bark, and boughs, with all their withering leaves upon 
 them, crisp with the sun ; some are made entirely of poles covered 
 with boughs with their dry evergreen leaves ; then, at intervals, 
 appear the butchers' shops, which are merely sheds or shades, 
 consisting of a flat roof of leafy boughs raised on four posts ; meat, 
 _often not very attractive, hanging in quantities under it. 
 
 There are also tents covered with boughs with their dry leaves, 
 
 deaden the force of the sun on the canvass ; and other masses of 
 
 >ughs enclosing carts to prevent the sun shrinking their boards, 
 
 id, still more, their wheels, which would otherwise soon fall to 
 
 iieces. Then there are huts of mingled boughs and sheets of 
 
 >ark ; and here and there simple mimies, in imitation of the mimi 
 
 of the natives, that is, just a few boughs leaned against a pole, 
 
 supported on a couple of forked sticks, and a quantity of gum-tree 
 
 leaves for a bed. 
 
 The stench of butchers' shops, or putrid meat, and skins frying 
 on palings, or lying festering on the ground, was awful here. 
 Blankets, clothes washed and unwashed, hung over tent-lines; 
 beds were laid out to air ; old tubs and boxes and tools were stand- 
 
176 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 ing about ; old rags, and bottles, and old slieeps' heads, and bul- 
 locks' heads and feet, lay about everywhere ; and with a host of 
 huge, savage, and barking dogs, a sprinkling of goats and hens, a 
 swarm of great, rough, hairy men, and, finally, a number of women 
 and children completed this strange scene. It was rather different 
 to a walk through a spring meadow in England, strewn with vio- 
 lets ; to a wood with banks of primroses ; to an autumn stroll 
 through apple-orchards, nut-copses, or corn-fields, and quite as 
 much to a promenade through Hyde Park, when the ring is 
 crowded with " beauty and fashion." 
 
 On reaching the Government camp we found typhus (no ex- 
 traordinary guest amid such scenes as have just been described, in 
 a warm climate) had carried off one or two of our friends there — 
 amongst them Dr. Green, the coroner. 
 
 Having pitched temporarily in a quiet outskirt of the digging, 
 Alfred and I trotted off for a ride to the Sydney border. The 
 distance to Albury on the Murray was forty miles, and took^is till 
 quite evening before we arrived at our camping place. That was 
 on a high ground two miles short of Albury, overlooking the 
 swampy Murray flats which extended from the foot of this hill to 
 the river. 
 
 Our ride was, for the most part, through a country of granite 
 rocks and desolation. This scenery commences immediately at 
 Spring Creek. On one side, that of the diggings, you have the 
 gravel and slate, with a fine rich green sward where the diggers 
 have not destroyed it. Step across, and you are at once on the 
 barren granite, with its grey masses of stone projecting every- 
 where from the earth, covered with a thin heath-like vegetation. 
 There is a fine wild glen running down from Spring Creek to 
 Reid's Creek, commencing with a bold waterfall close to the dig- 
 gings, and having another near Reid's Creek. 
 
 We rode on over hill after hill covered with these projecting 
 masses of granite, many of them as large as a house, and all scat- 
 tered with scorched trunks of trees, the remains of incessant bush- 
 fires. It was such a country as you see in the older illustrated editions j 
 of Spenser's Fairy Queen, stern, wild, and desolate. The soil, for] 
 the greater part of the way, consisted merely of decayed and dis-j 
 integrated granite, and the very stringy bark-trees which coverec 
 the hills were short, crooked, and in austere keeping with the 
 scene. We obtained, ever and anon, some splendid views froi 
 eminences in the woods, one especially, giving a distant view o\ 
 Reid's Creek Diggings, the white tents of which ranged on th< 
 plain, and backed with vast masses of forest, in whose skirts w( 
 
reid's mill. 177 
 
 could also see tents gleaming out, looked like the camp of an 
 army. 
 
 About halfway, for a distance of fifteen or twenty miles, all 
 around Reid's Mill, lay a much pleasanter country, the ranges of 
 granite mountains showing themselves at a distance, and fine land, 
 in swells and slopes, descending from them to the banks of the 
 Yackandanda Creek. 
 
 The mill there is so called after Mr. David Reid, who, I believe, 
 built it, as well as the house, a good brick house, lying on a plea- 
 sant mount beyond the creek, surrounded by a famous garden 
 abounding in the season with grapes, melons, water melons, and 
 fruits of most kinds. The Yackandanda there spreads itself out 
 in broad sheets of water abounding with flags and reeds, water- 
 fowl, and large fish. But the creek comes down yellow and 
 muddy from the diggings above. Still, the place is a pleasant 
 place, situated in a pleasant though solitary country. The house 
 used to be a hospitable place of call for travellers between the 
 Ovens and Albury ; but Mr. Reid, disgusted with the neighbour- 
 hood of the diggings, having, as earlier stated, had his life threat- 
 ened, had sold this spot with the station for a mere trifle. It had 
 fallen into the hands of the hospitable Dr. Mackay, at whose house 
 on the Ovens I encountered so droll a reception ; and the people 
 at the mill told us that the doctor had been there, and left orders 
 that no one was to be entertained there under any circumstances. 
 We endeavoured to procure some melons or other fruit, but were 
 told that all fruit was cleared ofl* and sent to the diggings. So we 
 jogged on. 
 
 As we approached Albury, the country again grew barren and 
 flat, and from our encampment we saw the Murray flats lying ap- 
 parently rich and grassy at this time of the year ; but in winter 
 they are all under water. 
 
 At night we made a fire at the foot of a tree on an elevated 
 camping-place, turned out our tired horses, boiled our tea, and 
 made our supper of provisions brought with us. We then lay 
 down in our rugs before the fire, and slept soundly under the grand 
 starry expanse of heaven. We never slept more sweetly, except 
 that we were exposed to various disturbances. First came an old 
 man inquiring if we had seen anything of a boy on the road to 
 Melbourne. We informed him that we had not been on that road. 
 Had we seen him on the road to the Ovens Diggings ? We had not. 
 Then he stood over the fire, and gave us a long history of this 
 boy's going away with some bullock-drivers, and why he was 
 gone, and how he had tried to dissuade him, and that he was his 
 
 N 
 
178 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 grandson. Next, he solicited mucli advice how he should go 
 about to recover him, which we gave him to the best of our sleepy 
 ability, and hoped, at length, we were well rid of him. But at 
 midnight our dogs barked again and roused us, and there stood 
 the old man warming his hands, and giving us a long history of 
 his having endeavoured to find out the Ovens road, and wandering 
 in the bush till then. We advised him to lie down and sleep till 
 it was daylight ; but no, he thought he would try the Melbourne 
 road. He went ; we dropped asleep, only to be awoke again 
 about three o'clock, and hear the old man's voice maundering 
 away as he stood over the fire, about having been lost again. As 
 we could not prevail on him to lie down, we advised him to try 
 the Melbourne road again, which was close by, and luckily saw 
 him no more. 
 
 But once or twice we were again awoke by a loud rushing 
 sound, as of a vast meteor sweeping through the air. We soon 
 found that this proceeded from huge flocks of wild ducks and 
 pelicans, on a lagoon at the foot of the hill, which occasionally 
 took flight, and made this rushing sound with their wings. 
 Lastly, a drunken party issued from a public house, which turned 
 out to be below the hill, and were quarrelling in a style so 
 sonorous that it effectually roused us. 
 
 We jumped up, got breakfast, and rode over the flats to Albury. 
 On our way we passed an encampment of natives, the first that 
 we had seen. It was a wretched exhibition. There they sate, 
 different families of them, on the ground, under a few gum-tree 
 boughs pricked into the ground, not even calculated to keep off" 
 the sun, much less a shower of rain, or the cold of the frequently 
 very cold nights here. 
 
 They were surrounded, as they always are, by a great swarm of 
 dogs ; for they are said to be fonder of their dogs than of their 
 children, and it is asserted that, when provisions are short, they 
 make the children go without, rather than the dogs. Nay, a 
 native woman has been seen on a journey carrying a great dog on 
 her back, while her children trotted wearily along behind. They 
 are said to smother their children in the smoke over the fire ; and 
 there is abundant evidence of their being cannibals. 
 
 This Murray tribe used to be a very fierce one, and often killed 
 the settlers as well as their cattle; but they are now too well aware 
 of the power and vengeance of the white man, to meddle much with 
 him. Yet I hear that of late, finding that the stockmen were iew, 
 owing to the diggings, they have been troublesome. Within a 
 very few years, the Ovens or the Goulburn blacks used to attack 
 
 I 
 
CAMP OF NATIVES. 179 
 
 the shepherds on the stations of Dr. Mackay, Mr. Faithfull, and 
 others, and kill some of them, but were soon chased away by the 
 squatters, and are now tame enough. Mr. Byerley, a friend of 
 ours, was engaged in a sharp encounter with them. They had 
 murdered a young man of the name of Beveridge, on the Murray ; 
 and Mr. Byerley, who was residing near, became aware of the 
 three natives who had perpetrated the deed. He managed, with 
 the aid of some others, to inveigle the blacks into a hut on the 
 station, where they were secured. But numbers came up to rescue 
 them, made a desperate attack upon the house, climbed upon the 
 roof to set fire to it, and were only repulsed by a careful and well- 
 directed discharge of fire-arms, by which one or more of them 
 were killed. 
 
 They are more properly copper-coloured than black, particularly 
 the women and children — the men and some of the women being 
 much darker. They have, many of them, very flat noses, large 
 w^iite teeth, intensely black but not woolly hair, but otherwise 
 have a very negro look. 
 
 With all my feeling for justice towards the aboriginal tribes, 
 and all that I have written, in " Colonisation and Christianity," of 
 their treatment by the whites, I really could not help asking 
 myself, on seeing this miserable spectacle of humanity, in the 
 midst of a race full of activity and progress, whether such a race 
 could be intended by Providence to ramble over, without pos- 
 sessing, much less improving, large regions of the earth? and I 
 could not avoid admitting to myself that that which will not go 
 onward in the world's progress, must go down. 
 
 There is no reason why we should act unkindly or unjustly 
 towards them; but it seems to point to a great fact, that the hunter 
 races are but the precursors of the sons of Japhet, who till the soil, 
 and build cities, and that the sons of Nimrod will only remain till 
 the Japhetians come and take possession with spade and plough 
 instead of bow and spear. The mammoths and the saurian tribes 
 are gone, and the hunter tribes of mankind appear as certain to 
 go after them; for, with no lack of native acuteness and ingenuity, 
 within a certain circumscribed circle, they appear to possess no 
 organ of imitation, no emulative principle, or faculty of construc- 
 tiveness and progression. Amid the wonders which are introduced 
 around them, they remain just where they were. They see fields 
 tilled and yielding abundance of food, yet they do not cultivate; 
 they see houses rise full of comfort and plenty, yet they raise 
 none, but still crouch under the miserable gunyah or mimi of 
 withered boughs ; they see the white man ride on horses, but they 
 
 N 2 
 
180 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 still wander on foot. The white man carries fire-arms ; they, for 
 the most part, still carry the spear and tomahawk. The white 
 man has his flocks and herds ; they still lie in wait for the 
 kangaroo, and climb the notched tree in pursuit of the opossum. 
 The white man grows his fields of potatoes ; they still grub up the 
 wretched root of the hawkweed, called by them the murnong, still 
 eat the roots of fern, and pick the grub from the wattle. The 
 white men live in harmony, and overrun the earth with their 
 numbers ; they kill one another whenever two different tribes 
 meet, and thus carry, in their most rooted customs, the means of 
 their own extinction. 
 
 But the vices and diseases of the white men, the only things 
 which they acquire from them or imitate in them, kill them off* 
 faster than they kill one another. Wherever you see them, they 
 are crowding about the public houses for spirits. They fish and 
 hunt, make baskets and opossum rugs, and sell their produce to 
 the white men, and drink it. There is a heavy penalty on selling 
 spirits to them ; but though there are nominal Protectors of the 
 Aborigines, they do not seem to enforce the law on their behalf, and 
 it remains a dead letter. The fire-water is killing them off, as it has 
 killed such numbers of the American Indians, and every primitive 
 race where the white man has come. These poor creatures adhere 
 chiefly to the banks of rivers, which yield fish and wildfowl; for 
 the kangaroo is now scarce wherever the white man is numerous. 
 A gipsy camp is a princely scene compared with a camp of Au- 
 stralian natives. The gipsies have good tents, often good covered 
 carts, have horses and asses ; the native has none of these. A 
 stake, on which is suspended a bag containing the spoils of the 
 chase — a few opossums, kangaroo rats, or perhaps a portion of a 
 kangaroo : that is their larder. The men are rarely in more than 
 jumper or shirt, often vilely dirty, or an old smoky blanket, 
 fastened over the chest with a wooden peg. The women wear the 
 blanket, or often, in very hot weather, a heavy opossum-skin rug ; 
 but, when no whites are near, they freely dispense with both. 
 The children run about naked as they were born, and are remark- 
 ably pot-bellied. We saw young women seated on the ground 
 naked to the hips, their lower extremities covered with their 
 blankets thrown round them. Others sit squatting like frogs. 
 There were old hags of women limping about, supported by long 
 sticks, and a swarm of mongrel dogs about them. One young man 
 sat by his pot, stewing on the fire, under the boughs of his mimi 
 as we went; and he was sitting in precisely the same posture and 
 place when we returned, hours afterwards. 
 
CAMP OF NATIVES. 181 
 
 Another man and his wife were just setting out towards Albury. 
 He had on only a red shirt, or jumper ; she an opossum rug, her 
 arms and legs being left bare. She was a tall woman, of a very 
 good figure, but ugly face ; and she walked, as many of them do, 
 with the air and gait of a queen. Many of the women have a 
 firm, free step, and really graceful walk ; and they throw on their 
 blankets with a certain elegance, leaving the arms bare to the 
 shoulders, and tlie legs to the knees. I observed that most of the 
 women had their arms, between the shoulder and elbow, marked, 
 as if done by a succession of slanting gashes, which had left scars. 
 These cuts are said to be made with pieces of broken glass, and to 
 be very painful, the women crying out lustily under the operation. 
 But their faces were free from any such disfigurements. One young 
 woman, who was of a light copper colour, appeared to me a half- 
 caste. She was the only goodlooking woman in the party : her 
 features were quite European, and she had a quiet, sensible, and 
 even aristocratic look ; but she had dreadfully disfigured herself 
 by painting the whole of her forehead with red ochre, which at a 
 distance looked like a scarlet cloth. 
 
 I spoke to the man and his wife, who were going to Albury, at 
 which the man seemed especially delighted ; and, with a strange 
 kind of chuckling laughter, he replied, " Yes ! yes ! we go to 
 Albury — Albury." They were followed by eight dogs. They 
 did not trouble themselves about the ferry, but, putting their 
 garments on their heads, swam across the river. I asked the ferry- 
 man if they ever paid to come over ? He said, " No, no, not 
 they; they are just like fish." Numbers of natives, men, and 
 women, and boys, were fishing along the banks of the Murray, or 
 crossing the stream to and fro. 
 
 We crossed the ferry, and found ourselves in Albury, in the 
 Sydney or New South Wales Colony. Albury, like almost every 
 township that I have seen laid out by the Colonial governments, 
 is buiU on its actual level near a river; so that some day, when it 
 overflows its banks pretty rapidly, the whole place will probably 
 be swept away, like Gundagai, of Colonial notoriety. Gundagai is 
 situated on this highroad from Melbourne to Sydney, on the 
 Murrumbidgee, equidistant from those capitals. It was, I think, 
 in the preceding year suddenly swept away by the rise of the 
 river, with circumstances of great terror and loss of life ; and the 
 inhabitants complained to Government that the cause was so low 
 a spot being assigned for the township. Government thought the 
 complaint reasonable, and gave them land on a hill, which they 
 sold, and returned and rebuilt their houses on the very spots from 
 
 n3 
 
182 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 which they had just before been swept away. A second rising 
 threatened them with a similar fate; and when it really occurs, as 
 is pretty certain, they will have no very profound claims on the 
 public commiseration. 
 
 Albury is like most of the towns up in the bush of this country. 
 It is a village of one-storied houses, scattered about on a wretchedly 
 flat sheet of baked clay, which at this time of the year grows only 
 goose-grass {Chenopodium), and the Bathurst bur (^Xanthium spi- 
 nosum), a plant with long triple spines like the barberry, and 
 burs which are ruinous to the wool of the sheep — otherwise, itself 
 very like a chenopodium, or good-fat-hen. 
 
 The town then consisted of a number of inns, a shop or two, a 
 bakehouse, and a quantity of wooden huts. As usual, there was 
 scarcely a single garden, and what garden there was only growing 
 weeds and cabbages in amicable disorder ; but there was a large 
 exhibition of back yards full of carts, heaps of wood, and the like 
 lumber. Everywhere there was a slovenly colonial air. The 
 sole attempt at cultivation which we observed was at the far end 
 of the village — a large stubble field, with a crazy barn in it. 
 The stubble was standing up about a yard high, as if the reapers 
 had been too lazy to stoop, and had only cut off the heads of the 
 corn, while in some places it was pulled up by bullocks that were 
 in the field. A portion of it, ploughed up again, lay in huge 
 lumps, which farmers in England call " horses' heads." A couple 
 of settler-looking men, in white linen coats and huge straw hats, 
 were on horseback, with dogs, driving out the bullocks. Alto- 
 gether it was one of the most wretched attempts at tillage that I 
 ever saw. 
 
 But the truth is that, all the way across this colony of " unri- 
 valled fertility," I did not see a single farm, or a single agricultural 
 attempt, except in one or two squatters' paddocks, after leaving 
 Melbourne twenty miles behind, up to this splendid example. 
 The squatting system had acted as a perfect prohibition and 
 incubus of agriculture, and therefore of the settlement of the 
 country. How long is this to last? If squatting was a mere 
 temporary expedient, to occupy the waste lands till population 
 poured in, it is time that it should at last retire before population, 
 so far as is requisite. But if it is to remain as a whole for ever, 
 and the perpetual destiny of the colony is to be one great and 
 intact sheep-walk, it should be fairly stated, and the tide of emi- 
 gration be allowed to diverge into some more auspicious quarter. 
 To invite population, on the ground that this is a region of 
 *' unrivalled fertility," is, in Lord Denman's phrase, "a delusion, a 
 
A GANG OF HORSE-STEALERS. 183 
 
 mockery, and a snare." And it should be remembered that, in 
 demanding land for the advancing population, it is one thing to 
 demand a sudden annihilation of squatting, and another, such a 
 modification of it as shall cede to the agricultural emigrant as 
 much as he needs. Long must be the term of years before the 
 squatter will be called upon fully to relinquish his wide unfenced 
 wastes ; nay, when all shall be eventually enclosed, a judicious 
 allocation of a tract of alluvial ground for tillage, with a large 
 background of ranges and lighter soils for flocks and herds, will 
 unquestionably, as in England, leave the product of wool as large 
 as ever, with a product of tillage, not yet existing, immense in its 
 amount. In fact, England, with all its enclosures and its large 
 proportion of corn-land, produces six times the sheep and the 
 wool that Victoria does. 
 
 We were very soon satisfied with Albury; and, not perceiving 
 that the political division of the two colonies made any difference 
 whatever in the aspect of nature, but that burnt-up ground and 
 dusky gum-trees still abounded, we trotted back again. 
 
 In going out we had met a number of fellows mounted on good 
 horses, and leading others, who looked to us very like bushrangers. 
 We kept our pistols and revolvers in readiness as they approached. 
 They were indeed a villainous-looking set of scamps, but they 
 were very civil in passing, in their rough way. In the course of 
 the day we met two young men hurrying on foot along the road, 
 who asked us if we had met any party with horses, which they 
 described. Sure enough their horses were in the possession of 
 these fellows. They had stolen them at daybreak out of the flats 
 near the Murray, with five others belonging to parties camped 
 there for the night. The young men ran on, in the vain hope of 
 overtaking them at the Ovens Diggings. As we drew near 
 Albury we were surrounded by numbers of the other people and 
 their families, who had been thus left stationary on the spot. 
 They said that fourteen felons, condemned to labour in Cockatoo 
 Island, had broken out of the prison at Liverpool near Sydney; 
 that they had been traced this way ; and that, no doubt, these 
 were a part of this gang. 
 
 It was amazing what swarms of people were now on the road 
 from Sydney, attracted by the exaggerated fame of the Ovens. 
 While those who had been lured by the usual hoaxes up from the 
 earlier Victoria Diggings were pouring out of the Ovens at one end 
 back again, these fresh dupes were pouring in at the other. It was 
 a melancholy sight. Four hundred miles they had dragged along 
 their carts, over gully, swamp, and mountain, leaving the richer 
 
 N 4 
 
184 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 diggings of the Turon and of Bathurst behind them, to gather 
 at the Ovens, as they had been assured, hundredweights of gold ! 
 Surely this is a system of monstrous and of unabashable humbug ! 
 One young man, who had been down for a long time at Bendigo, 
 and had done pretty well, but not better, he said, than he had 
 done at the Turon, sat on the bank of the river the picture of 
 melancholy. " My poor mare ! " said he ; " she brought me up 
 from Sydney, and she has been with me through bad and good ; 
 and now these villains have taken her, and how she'll get used I 
 don't know. If I don't get her again, I must sell this," said he, 
 taking out a nugget of seven or eight ounces ; " and I meant to 
 have kept it while I lived, as a remembrance of old times. But I 
 must have another horse to drag my cart home, and I've sent my 
 other gold by escort." We would have bought his nugget, but 
 he would not sell it till he gave up all hope of recovering his 
 mare. 
 
 As we set off late in the day from Albury, we were compelled 
 to pass another night al fresco. As we staid a little time to see 
 the Yackandanda Diggings, which were found but of moderate 
 extent and yield, a rough-looking fellow came up and asked us if 
 we would sell our grey horse. We told him, no ; but he was 
 very intrusive in his importunity, and seemed to think we ought 
 to let him have it merely because he wanted it. I said, " My 
 friend, we cannot spare it." " Can't you ? " said he ; " perhaps 
 you'll be obliged to spare it sooner than you think." With that 
 he gave a significant nod, and went away. It was then getting 
 nearly dark ; and as we rode on we thought it very likely that 
 this fellow and some of. his chums might belong to the escaped 
 Liverpool Gaol convicts who were on this road, and might watch 
 us and make an attempt on our horses in the night. Therefore, 
 when we had ridden a few miles, we suddenly turned from the 
 road, where they could not readily track our horses' feet, and 
 seeing a deep valley at some distance below us, we made for it. 
 
 We rode up it till we found a situation where our fire could not 
 possibly be noticed from the road. It was in a deep hollow, well- 
 wooded, and with plenty of grass, and a small stream of water. 
 We turned our horses loose, determining to see that they did not 
 stray far from us; made a good fire at the foot of a large tree, cooked 
 our suppers, rolled ourselves in our rugs, and were soon asleep. 
 We were neither disturbed by horse-stealers, old men, nor pelicans; 
 but our awakeners to-night were a number of small rats, which 
 they call the marmot rat, which came out of the long grass, and, 
 no doubt taking us for logs of wood, ran over our faces, without 
 
VISIT reid's and turnbull's stations. 185 
 
 ceremony. Once, on awaking, one was sitting on my shoulder ; 
 but the moment I turned my head to look at him, he took an 
 immense spring into the scrub. There was a young opossum, too, 
 in the giant tree above us, and which, finding a strange phe- 
 nomenon, a fire burning at the foot of its tree, could not come 
 down to feed. It appeared occasionally angry at the interruption, 
 making the most chattering noises, and scampering about the 
 tree, cracking and sending down rotten branches, which fell upon 
 us, and woke us up, which was all very well, as it enabled us to 
 keep watch on our horses. 
 
 Leaving Spring Creek, the great difficulty on our road down 
 was to get water and feed for our horses. When going up, we 
 found rivulets and lakes ; the water was now all dried up for 
 scores of miles, and, had we not taken the precaution to carry a 
 keg with us, and fill it wherever we found any, we should often 
 have had to go without, and travel immense days' journeys into 
 the bargain. The poor frogs, which were so jovial when we went 
 up, were, what few remained alive, faintly quagling in the dry 
 rushes. The grass, all burnt up to hay, was everywhere eaten 
 near the road by the hosts of horses and bullocks that, during the 
 summer, had travelled the road, and camped near water-holes and 
 swamps at night. 
 
 We called at our old and kind friends, the Reids, and made 
 havoc amongst their magnificent peaches. We also spent a day 
 at Mr. Turnbull's station, at Faithfull's Creek. It stands on a 
 hill, with a fine range of granite hills surrounding it at some dis- 
 tance. The hut is a slab hut. I imagine American houses in the 
 back settlements very much like it. A piece of India matting 
 hung in front of a verandah ; behind that we dined, and a pleasant 
 dining-room it made. In the sitting-room the green trailing 
 branches of creeping plants hung down the chimney, and occupied 
 the place of the winter fire. It had a very agreeable effect. In 
 spring the place must be charming with greenness and flowers ; 
 but now all was burnt up. But in the garden near the creek 
 below there was abundance of fruit — melons, peaches, and the like, 
 and a single vine, a Sweetwater, which showed what vines will do 
 in this climate. It must have had some hundredweights of the 
 finest imaginable grapes upon it. 
 
 We next went on to Mr. Forlonge's station, at Seven Creeks, 
 or, as called by the natives, Gurra-gurra-gong. It is a fine squat- 
 ting-station, about eight miles from Mr. Turnbull's, extending 
 thirty-five miles long and ten broad. It lies on a good stream, and 
 is finely bounded on either hand by hills, approaching in altitude 
 
186 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 to mountains. Here we spent a couple of days, and supplied our- 
 selves plentifully with fruit and vegetables for the road. 
 
 We had a very amusing contest with the gardener ; and he 
 may serve as a very good specimen of the consequence which such 
 characters assume here, because they fancy they cannot be done 
 without. This old fellow was the actual dragon of the garden ; the 
 whole family, except Mrs. Forlonge senior, seemed almost afraid of 
 him. He had a hut in the garden, and would hardly let them have 
 anything out of it. As to carrying vegetables up to the house, he 
 would not do it ; he said, if they wanted things, they must fetch 
 them. And yet, such was the want of men, they went on tolerating 
 him. The garden lay on the other side of the creek, in the flat, a 
 quarter of a mile from the house. It was, I suppose, fivfi or six 
 acres in extent, and full of splendid fruits in the season — loads of 
 grapes and melons of all kinds especially. They desired him to let 
 the shepherds and hut-keepers have the surplus vegetables ; but he 
 would not do it, he had much rather sell them : and no doubt he 
 found good customers of his own ; for potatoes at the diggings were 
 Is. 6d. per lb., grapes 5s. y water and other melons from 5s. to lO*. 
 each. 
 
 When we told him that we must have different kinds of vege- 
 tables and fruit, he scowled at us as if he thought we were mad. 
 "Who are t/ou?'^ said he. "Ourselves," said I. "No doubt; 
 and who is that young fellow in the rough coat ? " " My son." 
 " Ah ! " said he, " I remember him ; he was here when cherries 
 were ripe : and who told you to come here for things ? " " Mrs. 
 Forlonge." The old fellow vowed, with a sort of grunt, that we 
 should have nothing. 
 
 " Very well," I added, "then we will just help ourselves ; we 
 can handle a spade." " Can you ? by dad ; and I can handle an 
 axe, and, by dad, if you touch anything. Til cleave you down." 
 
 " Well, we must send to your mistress for an order, I suppose ; 
 perhaps you '11 obey a written order." 
 
 " By dad, and I don't know that ; I think the old woman (his 
 polite and respectful phrase for his mistress) is cranky ; one day 
 she tells me to let nobody have anything without an order, and 
 then she goes and sends down a whole clanjamfrey of people to 
 carry everything off." 
 
 My nephew was meantime gone for a written order, which now 
 arrived in these words, — " Mrs. Forlonge desires Joe to give 
 Mr., Howitt everything in the garden." The sight of this actually 
 seemed to take away the cankered old Polypheme's breath ; but 
 on recovering it, he said, — " Do you know Dr. Godfrey Howitt 
 
THE FORLONGE FAMILY. 187 
 
 of Melbourne?" "Yes, I think I ought, he is my brother." 
 '* Well," said he, "I worked for him five years ago;" and there- 
 upon he began to abate his ire, and to cut away at melons and 
 grapes in good earnest : but, lifting his head, and seeing Mrs. 
 Forlonge, who, to make all sure, was coming there herself, he 
 exclaimed, **Well, there's the old woman herself, — by dad, and 
 she is cranky, and no mistake." Wherefore, having tolerably 
 well supplied us, he made off to his hut, and left us to add any- 
 thing that we pleased, at our own discretion. Certainly, that is 
 a fine specimen of a colonial servant. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Forlonge were gone to England for the education 
 of their children, and Mr. Forlonge's mother only was remaining 
 in the large house which Mr. Forlonge had recently built. She 
 is one of the most energetic and meritorious women of the colony, 
 and is a fine example of what ladies often are in the history and 
 advancement of their families. Many an educated woman, who 
 has been brought up in delicate care and refinement at home, goes 
 out into our distant colonies — Canada, Australia, the Cape, and 
 elsewhere, and is a far truer heroine in the unnoticed obscurity of 
 the unreclaimed forest, than numbers who have figured in chro- 
 nicle and song. 
 
 Mr. John Forlonge was living on a small patrimonial property 
 in Scotland, near Glasgow. He had two sons, William and 
 Andrew. When William, Mr. Forlonge of this place, was about 
 fourteen, he betrayed, during his rapid growth, symptoms of con- 
 sumption. A warmer climate was recommended for him ; and 
 Mrs. Forlonge formed the plan of his coming out to New South 
 Wales, a colony then beginning to attract the attention of adven- 
 turous graziers and wool-growers, especially in Scotland. Stimu- 
 lated by her arguments, Mr. Forlonge procured an introduction 
 through Sir Thomas Brisbane, a friend of the family, to Mr. 
 Huskisson, then Colonial Secretary. He proposed that his sons 
 should be educated in Germany, in all that related to the manage- 
 ment of siieep and of fine wool, and then to send them, each with 
 a select flock of Saxony merinos, to New South Wales, where Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane was Governor. 
 
 Mr. Huskisson warmly seconded the proposal; and the Forlonge 
 family proceeded forthwith to Leipsic. Mr. Forlonge soon re- 
 turned home, to attend to his own afiairs ; but Mrs. Forlonge staid 
 four years in Germany with the boys. She had introductions 
 from high official persons to Professor Brandis and other gentle- 
 men in Leipsic, and to all the great wool-houses and wool-growers 
 in Saxony. When her sons had learnt the language familiarly, 
 
188 TAVO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 she had them placed in the most eminent wool-sorting warehouses, 
 till they were well acquainted with all that related to the quality 
 and management of wool. She then set out on foot with them 
 throughout Saxony, to select and purchase sheep to take over to 
 Australia. 
 
 They went on, this noble mother and her two sons, from village 
 to village, and from farm to farm, through the length and breadth 
 of Saxony. It was not then as now, when railroads traverse the 
 country, and the English abound in every street and on every 
 highway. Germany was then a rarely-visited country ; its roads 
 were villainous, and the accommodations at country inns none of 
 the best. But they went steadily forward, selecting the finest 
 specimens of sheep, testing the fineness of the wool by probes 
 — instruments for the purpose, — and, when they had purchased 
 any, putting each a collar round its neck, secured and sealed with 
 their own seal, so that they should not by any possibility be 
 changed. 
 
 These sheep were then of great value, 30/. each. When they 
 had purchased all that they wanted, they went once more over the 
 whole ground, collecting the sheep, and driving them onwards 
 towards Hamburg. There was Mrs. Forlonge, like a shepherdess 
 of old, with a long staff in her hand, wandering on after their ever- 
 augmenting flock, and tbeir money sewed into her stays. Every 
 night when they halted, they had the sheep locked up in a stable, 
 and fed with hay or corn, so that they might be able to warrant 
 them as the very sheep they had selected. It was not ahvays easy 
 to procure such accommodation, and such lock-ups ; and they were 
 obliged to incur much trouble and expense for that object, or to 
 undergo heavy watching after a hard day's travel. Then they 
 were obliged to have their passports, and all their receipts, in 
 order to produce to the authorities on every occasion, as, with so 
 valuable a flock wandering on from place to place, they might be 
 suspected as not having come rightfully by them. Any one who 
 knows the slow and cautious punctilio of Germany in all such par- 
 ticulars, even now, after the rapid and daily intercourse with the 
 French and English, may form some idea of what this ordeal was 
 then, when a German landlord would let you have no dinner if 
 you were not in at the precise hour of his table dhote, and when 
 Wordsworth and Coleridge were driven with cudgels out of a 
 village inn, as suspicious foreigners, and compelled to sleep under 
 a hedge. " My heart," said Mrs. Forlonge, relating this to me, 
 " used to sink, as I heard the chains of the drawbridge rattle on 
 coming to a fortified town, lest our passport and all our papers 
 
INTRODUCTION OF SAXON MERINOS. 189 
 
 should not be at hand, or should by any chance be lost." On one 
 occasion their passport could not be found, and their flock was 
 taken possession of, and they were carried before a magistrate. 
 But they soon discovered the missing document, and were dis- 
 charged with an apology. 
 
 So they went on, till they reached Hamburg, whence they 
 sailed to Hull, and then crossed England till they reached Liver- 
 pool, in the same manner. Thence, if I recollect right, they 
 sailed to Greenock. This flock the Australian Agricultural Com- 
 pany, I believe, bought ; and it obtained the chief medal of the 
 Scotch Agricultural Society. Once more they selected, in the 
 same manner, a flock of a hundred first-rate specimens of Saxony 
 sheep ; and William Forlonge, then only eighteen years of age, 
 embarked with them for New South Wales. But the ship being 
 obliged to put into Van Diemen's Land, Col. Arthur, then Go- 
 vernor, prevailed on the young emigrant to settle there with his 
 splendid little flock, by a grant of land. Mr. Forlonge was con- 
 siderably chagrined by his son stopping thus short of Sydney, 
 w^here he hoped for the zealous patronage of Sir Thomas Brisbane. 
 However, the advantages offered in Van Diemen's Land soon 
 induced Mr. and Mrs. Forlonge, with their younger son, to follow 
 with another flock. Mr. Forlonge soon returned, I believe, to 
 prosecute the claims of his son Andrew, who was refused a grant 
 on his arrival with seventy-six sheep, on the plea that he was a 
 minor. But at that juncture Government was ceasing its grants, 
 in consequence of immigration no longer needing that stimulus. 
 Mr. Forlonge died at home ; and Mrs. Forlonge continued with 
 her sons, still intrepidly prosecuting the claims of her son Andrew, 
 but without effect. The following passages from a printed me- 
 morial addressed by her to Lord John Russell, in 1840, will give 
 the main facts of the introduction of Saxony sheep by the For- 
 longes into Tasmania : — 
 
 "In 1826, my late husband Mr. John Forlonge of Glasgow, after several 
 communications with Mr. Huskisson, then Secretary for the Colonies, was 
 induced to send our sons William and Andrew to Saxony, for the purpose of 
 acquiring a competent knowledge of the sheep economy of that country. This 
 was done with a view of their afterwards importing into New South Wales a 
 flock of fine-wooled Saxon sheep. My husband went twice to Saxony to assist 
 them in their inquiries ; and I remained with them for nearly four years, 
 stimulating and directing their energies, and qualifying them to fulfil their 
 father's promise and engagement to Mr. Huskisson. 
 
 " In 1 829, my eldest son, William, then eighteen years of age, returned to 
 England, and immediately thereafter sailed for Sydney, recommended in the 
 strongest manner by Mr. Huskisson, as Colonial Secretary, to the Governor of 
 
190 TWO TEAKS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 New South Wales. He carried with him one hundred fine Saxon Merino sheep 
 (worth about 3000/.), and he received from the Colonial Office, Downing Street, 
 the necessary copy of the regulations respecting emigration, of 1827. Having 
 touched at Hobart Town on his way to Sydney, Sir George Arthur, the Go- 
 vernor of Van Diemen's Land, impressed with the value of the undertaking, 
 and its importance to the colony, prevailed upon him to remain there ; and 
 upon evidence of his possessing the requisite amount of capital, okdbeed him a 
 
 MAXIMUM GRANT OF LAND. 
 
 " In 1830, my husband and the remaining members of our family emigrated 
 to Van Diemen's Land, On our arrival, my husband, on exhibiting his capital, 
 easily procured a maximum grant of land. 
 
 " My youngest son, Andrew, who accompanied us in 1830, took with him 
 one hundred and thirty fine Saxon Merino sheep and lambs, which he had 
 personally selected and purchased, — of which, however, he was only successful 
 in landing ninety-one, the remainder having perished in a storm at sea. 
 
 " On his arrival, Andrew applied to the Land Board to have his stock 
 valued, with the view of procuring a grant of land to depasture his sheep. 
 The Board accordingly made the valuation, and estimated the sheep exhibited 
 (seventy-six in number) at thirty pounds sterling per head, or 2280/. in all. 
 He then made application, under the 13th Article of the Regulations of 1827 
 (a copy of which he had also received in Downing Street), for a maximum 
 grant of land, to which parties possessing such an amount of capital were 
 entitled ; but was met with the statement that, being a minor, he had no title 
 to such grant. On this resolution being communicated to him, Andrew re- 
 quested that a maximum grant should be reserved for him, in terms of the 
 almost unvarying usage, till he attained majority ; but this also was refused, 
 and, in short, to this hour he has received neither equivalent nor compensation 
 for the capital embarked from this country, or for that expended on his scientific 
 education in Saxony, or indeed for any part of an undertaking, the importance 
 of which to the colony can neither be gainsaid nor denied." 
 
 Mr. Macarthur, I believe, was the first to introduce fine Saxony- 
 sheep into New South Wales ; and for the introduction of only 
 four of these, he received a grant of 10,000 acres of land. Mrs. 
 Forlonge had, therefore, great right to insist upon the claim of 
 her son Andrew ; but this was resisted under the shield of new 
 regulations made in 1831, a year after his arrival with his flock. 
 But though Mrs. Forlonge did not succeed in wresting this justice 
 from the Government, she had the satisfaction to witness the suc- 
 cess of her sons. From Van Diemen's Land they passed over to 
 Sydney, and thence to Port Phillip. Andrew afterwards married, 
 and, making a tour in America, settled there. William, from his 
 business habits, and the thorough knowledge of all which relates 
 to the growth of fine wool, with which his mother had taken care 
 to imbue him, has gone on prospering till he has reached his pre- 
 sent fortunate position. 
 
 Mrs. Forlonge, senior, is still full of the vigour and enjoyment 
 of life, is very fond of the country, and manages all with the 
 utmost ease, in the absence of her son and his family. She may 
 
IMMENSE GROWTH OF MELBOURNE. 191 
 
 be added, as another instance, to the list of mothers who have laid 
 the foundations of their families. 
 
 After leaving Gurra-gurra-gong, nothing of interest occurred 
 on our journey, which was easy and rapid, from the state of the 
 roads. They were dry and beaten smooth by the traffic of a 
 whole summer ; and therefore we broke no wheel, we had no de- 
 lay except what was voluntary, and, consequently, no ill-health. 
 Exclusive of the time that we staid at friends' houses, we were 
 only about ten days in getting down. We called on our way to 
 see our friends, eat peaches, grapes, and water melons, and in these 
 agreeable relaxations spent nearly a week. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Immense Growth of Melbourne. — Government still busy with Town Allot- 
 ments, but without small Farms. — Consequences of this Policy. — A Speci- 
 men of Rents and Bargains. — A Drunken Man's Luck. — Rage for Speculation. 
 — A supposed Error in a Title Deed. — Population of Melbourne. — Fortunes 
 not made at the Gold-fields. — Erroneous Views of this at Home. — Gold- 
 buying become Profitless. — The Land-shark a Government Creation. — 
 Speculators Birds of Passage. — Trade immense, but unsound. — Victoria the 
 Paradise of Labour. — Influx of Chinese. — Wooden and Iron Houses. — 
 Price of Building Materials. — Melbourne a Digger Babel. — Assumption of 
 Servants. — Distress of Immigrants on Landing. — Houses for the Destitute. 
 — Canvass Town. — Working on the Roads a Genteel Profession. — Sketch 
 of the Life of a Stonebreaker. 
 
 We reached Melbourne on the 27tli of April, 1853, saw immense 
 changes in the few months that we had been away. Canvass 
 Town, as they called it, a large camp on the other side of the Yarra, 
 where people who could not get lodgings, or who could not afford 
 to pay exorbitant prices for them, pitched their tents, had sprung 
 up while we had been up the country, and contained, I suppose, 
 some thousands of people. There were also in the same locality 
 whole rows of wooden houses erected for the same purpose — the 
 temporary shelter of the immigrants, who yet kept pouring in. 
 On Emerald Hill, a slight elevation in the swampy flat between 
 Melbourne and Liardets' Beach, where there had been a camp of 
 emigrants, there had now sprung up a whole town of wooden 
 houses, like mushrooms — inns, shops, and cottages. On all other 
 sides of the town there was the same amazing increase of popula- 
 tion. The Government, the most peddling government in the 
 
192 TWO YEARS IN VICTOIIIA. 
 
 world, totally inadequate to, or totally unmindful of, the unex- 
 ampled crisis which had arisen, was still doling out one small 
 scrap of land after another in the suburbs, for building upon. 
 They would not throw a good quantity into the market, so that 
 people could get little farms and enclosures, for that would reduce 
 the price ; but they only sold little bits at such intervals of time 
 as ensured a monstrous price for it : for people must have houses 
 of some sort and somewhere. But where ? It could be nowhere 
 but in Melbourne or Geelong, for they would not sell land up the 
 country : that would interfere with the squatter ; and the squatter 
 and the Government, however they may differ on other points, 
 are perfectly agreed on this. The squatter insists that he ought 
 to have all the land — that there is nothing like wool ; and the 
 Government officers don't want to take any of the squatters' land, 
 for it would reduce the pressure on Melbourne, and, of course, on 
 the value of town allotments, in which, as they know beforehand 
 where and what is to be offered for sale, they have great advan- 
 tages for speculation. In their opinion there is nothing like town 
 allotments. People, therefore, are all penned up, like sheep in 
 a fold, in the one or two towns, chiefly in Melbourne, except those 
 who go up to dig, and are compelled to buy at any price. Thus 
 the fiercest gambling in town allotments is created. Thus specu- 
 lation in such lots is a trade — one of the greatest in the colony — 
 a trade pursued with a step as steady as Time, and a spirit as 
 inexorable as Death. 
 
 By this system these lots were at that period forced up from 
 250/. to 2000/. per acre! And the Government had raised its 
 income from 350,000/. a year to 2,000,000/. a year. It pocketed 
 the cash ; and the wretched purchaser just got enough to build a 
 pigstye upon, without an inch of yard for a garden ! The whole 
 of the suburbs of Collingwood and Richmond, for miles round, 
 were covered with these miserable little wooden huts. The town, 
 instead of a city of houses fit for the capital of a state, was thus 
 converted into a town of dog-kennels or rabbit-cotes. 
 
 But the land-question was every day acquiring life. There 
 was a stern demand for the land to be thrown open ; the Argus, a 
 newspaper of uncommon ability, was the great organ of this inces- 
 sant cry ; and it has grown louder and warmer till it has become 
 irresistible. But what then, I asked myself, will become of all the 
 poor people who will have given such extravagant prices for their 
 little modicums of land ? These scraps will tumble down in price 
 to next to nothing, and the houses upon them in the same ratio. 
 Labour, by the vast influx of emigrants, will, as a matter of 
 
RAGE FOR SPECULATION. 193 
 
 course, fall to the same extent, and nine tenths of the purchasers 
 of these dear morsels, if they are not ruined, will find themselves, 
 so far as they are concerned, not possessors of £ s. d. but of ! 
 an anticipation which since then has been extensively realised. 
 
 All property was then, however, at the same insane price. The 
 rage for speculation was terrible. Every one who had bought 
 land and built houses, when things were at a rational rate, was 
 selling little spots, worth in England, near London, perhaps, 1000/. 
 or 2000/., for their 20,000/. and 30,000/. Three houses were 
 pointed out to me, which in London would let for 50/. a-year each. 
 They were bought by a lady, j ust before the gold discovery, for 
 loOO/., and she was then letting the three for 1200/. a-year, or 
 every fifteen months putting the whole purchase-money in her 
 pocket again. 
 
 A drunken fellow, while in his cups, stumbled into an auction 
 room, and immediately began bidding for the thing which hap- 
 pened to be under the hammer. It was a lot of land for building, 
 at Prahran, near the Botanic Garden. It was knocked down to 
 him. The next day, waking with a confused feeling that he had 
 bought something considerable at an auction, he went to the auc- 
 tioneer, and inquired what it was. Being informed, he went next 
 and examined his bargain. It was a small square bit of ground, 
 covered with a heap of stones. As he stood scratching his head 
 at the sight, a person passing asked him what was amiss. " Why 
 d — it," said the fellow, " see what drunkenness does, now. Yester- 
 day, when I had been lushing, I gave 100/. for this cursed stone- 
 heap." 
 
 *' You would sell it, perhaps?" asked the stranger. "Sell it? 
 To be sure I would." " Well, what will you take for it ? " " Oh, 
 a trifle," said the man, in a random, jeering way; " 1000/. or so." 
 
 " ril have it," said the stranger, carried off the astonished 
 Bacchanalian, at once to secure the bargain, and soon after turned 
 it over to a third customer, who wanted to buildj for twice the 
 sum. 
 
 A lawyer's clerk engrossing a conveyance deed of some property, 
 pointed out to his principal what he conceived to be an error. 
 In the former conveyance to the present vendor, the price, a few 
 months before, was set down at 7000/., but in the draught of the 
 conveyance to the present purchaser it stood 70,000/. "It is per- 
 fectly correct," said the principal : " that is now the price." 
 
 Such are no extraordinary facts. The whole place abounded 
 with them, and the v/hole property of it and its vicinity was tossed 
 about in the same Dutch Tulip-mania style. There must come, 
 
 o 
 
194 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of course, a day of reckoning for all this, as there did in 1842. 
 Nobody believed it, any more than the people believed Noah, 
 when he told them a flood was coming. But it came notwith- 
 standing. All this was apart from the real prosperity of the place; 
 it was the froth on the liquor, which, however good and genuine, 
 was all in a ferment below. The liquor would in due time settle 
 and clear itself; the froth and yeast be blown away. But the 
 Melbournians, from some cause or other, have shown themselves 
 from the beginning of their brief history a most mercurial race, 
 — the maddest speculators in the world. At the slightest touch 
 of prosperity, up they go beyond the clouds, and if they met the 
 man-in-the-moon in their flight, he would never convince them 
 that they must descend again — till they actually fell. At that 
 time they disdained everything but the most lunatic prices and 
 profits. To all warnings, " The gold ! the gold ! " was the answer, 
 accompanied by an assurance that this outrageously unnatural 
 rate of property would last for ever. They might as well have 
 expected pyramids to stand on their points. It was contrary to 
 all the laws of specific gravity. The value was not in the things, 
 and, therefore, it could not remain. 
 
 Imagine houses not so good as let for 70/. a-year, in St. John's 
 "Wood, letting for 1200/., or as much as one of the very finest 
 houses in Belgrave Square. And imagine, too, a family living 
 quietly on some 300/. a-year when the gold-fever came. This 
 family, if it did not happen to possess the house it lived in, and 
 had only a fixed income, which did not rise with this state of 
 things, — this family, if renting a house of 30/. a-year, found it 
 rise in rental, at one jump, to 300/. a-year — the whole of its 
 income, — and was inevitably compelled to flee the colony. Such 
 a state of things was as sure to continue as the mellow pears of 
 the last autumn. 
 
 The population of Melbourne, which a little while before was 
 calculated at 30,000, was then estimated at 80,000. Servants 
 were still scarce, and were still, in most cases, the real masters 
 and mistresses. A maid of a lady that we knew very well, went 
 one day to the races. Her mistress told her that she herself had 
 an engagement in the evening, and hoped she would be back 
 in good time. The girl very condescendingly replied that she 
 would see if she could not make it convenient to be back in time, 
 and set Mrs. M. at liberty. It was altogether a very pretty, queer, 
 topsy-turvy state of things. 
 
 With respect to the gold-fields, which are at the bottom of all 
 the rush to Victoria, it is very important that they should be 
 
FORTUNES NOT MADE AT THE GOLD FIELDS. 195 
 
 better understood at home ; that the fictitious should be brushed 
 off from the real value ; and that it should be well understood who 
 are the people to whom they are an object of genuine attraction. 
 It is not to gentlemen, but to the working classes. Fortunes, as 
 gentlemen estimate them, are not to be made there by digging. 
 I have seen all the chief diggings, and know that it is not to be done 
 at any of them. Fortunes are not made by any one. There are 
 now so many people gone out to the diggings, that, even were 
 they as profitable as they were at first represented, there is such 
 a rush to any one promising point that the whole thing is torn to 
 pieces. Nobody, with very rare exceptions, gets more than 
 navvies' wages for real navvies' work at the diggings. 
 
 The people at home look at the great Ballarat nugget, and 
 every man thinks he can just run over and pick up one like it. 
 They look at the aggregate amount of gold shipped monthly to 
 England, and are persuaded that going to the diggings and 
 enormous riches are synonymous. Nothing will teach them the 
 reality, but the stern reality itself. 
 
 They must go up to the diggings, and see what they are. In 
 1853, whilst the gold-fever in England was at its height, the scenes 
 in the capital of the gold country itself were extraordinary. The 
 most fearful distress was looked for that winter^ that is, in May 
 and June, and still the cry was, " They come ! they come I " 
 There were 2000 souls at one time waiting a change of wind at 
 the mouth of the harbour, to go up the bay. When they arrived 
 in Melbourne, they found lodgings 3/. and 4/. a-week, for a single 
 room, and everything in proportion. Well, the natural, the 
 inevitable consequence of this immense influx was, such crowding 
 and elbowing at the diggings, that the majority got a very meagre 
 dividend. 
 
 Gold-buying was every day, too, becoming a leaner trade. 
 Gold had gone up on the diggings to 3/. 17s. an ounce, and was 
 only 3/. 185. in Melbourne, so that it left but a margin of \s. per 
 ounce to pay escort fees, and brokerage in Melbourne. Through 
 the competition of Sydney and Adelaide, it got every day higher, 
 till it paid no one to meddle with it except for remittances. But 
 at the same time everybody was making, or said to be making, 
 fortunes in trade, and the lawyers were doing wonders. As mere 
 conveyancers, the sale and transfer of town allotments was a 
 splendid digging for them. The Government sold its little 
 sections of an acre ; the purchasers divided each such acre into a 
 sort of chessboard of little squares, and resold them for building, 
 any one of which homoeopathic doses of land required a legal con- 
 
 o 2 
 
196 . TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 veyance! The diggings were nothing to that. A digger, with 
 violent exertions, might clear his 100/. a year; a lawyer cleared, 
 in great bodily comfort, his 5000/. and 10,000/. 
 
 But Government now began to sell eighths of acres, as it said, 
 for the accommodation of people of small means; but it was 
 merely because it saw that the speculator did this, and while it 
 desired to pocket the extra profit, it assumed a patriotic pretence 
 of endeavouring to keep out the speculator. The real and only 
 way to put down the speculator and the landshark is to keep the 
 supply of land always a-head of the demand. To glut the market 
 with land is to make it cheap, as it is with any other commodity. 
 To accommodate the poor man is to give him a hundred times as 
 much lor his money as he now gets. To sell land at 5*. an acre, 
 as the Government of the United States does, is the way to 
 swamp the speculator and accommodate the poor man, linking to 
 the sale a strict condition of cultivation. Why is there none of 
 this hotbed speculation in America? For these very causes, — 
 cheapness, and the obligation to cultivate. 
 
 The farther the Victoria Government proceeded in this career, the 
 more mischief they inflicted on the community. When the day 
 comes, which is now coming, that they will be compelled to throw 
 open the lands, by that very act they will demonstrate the dis- 
 honesty of their conduct : because it must necessarily depreciate 
 the value of all the land which they have sold at such enormous 
 prices under this forcing system. In exact proportion to the 
 quantity they have sold, will be the amount of their robbery on 
 the public. The La Trobe Government were thus in a cleft stick, 
 and the only alternative which they had was to rob the whole 
 public by withholding land, and keeping it and everything at an 
 insane value, or to rob all they had sold to by giving it. 
 
 But there was another evil that they were fostering conjointly 
 with the speculative mania : it was that of fictitious purchases. I 
 found that in many of these transfers, bills of from tioo to five 
 years were given ! This threw a rather startling light on the 
 nature of the speculative rabies. Needy and unprincipled adven- 
 turers, on this system, could, by paying a deposit of ten per cent., 
 purchase quantities of land, give these bills for five years, sell this 
 land again for cash or for good bills, and, long ere their bills were 
 due, vanish. In all probability, a whole series of these fictitious 
 sales would have taken place, on the same property, and when the 
 day of reckoning came, the nature of it may be well imagined. 
 
 The people, however, contended that the quantity of gold which 
 was constantly being dug up in the colony, would buoy up the 
 

 INCREASE OF POPULATION AND REVENUE. 197 
 
 public prosperity in spite of all these circumstances. But they 
 forgot that the gold went, all or the greater part of it, out of the 
 colony to purchase almost every article abroad which the popula- 
 tion demanded. Excepting beef and mutton, they had to send out 
 of the country for all that they consumed. They had not land in 
 cultivation, nor could have, under that system, to supply the 
 rapidly accumulating population with corn, nor even with fruit 
 and vegetables. They must send their gold as fast as it was got 
 to purchase flour, hay, oats, groceries, tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar, 
 wine, beer, spirits, and every kind of manufactured article. We 
 may safely say that nearly the whole of the real wealth which 
 remained in the country was that brought in by the emigrants : 
 and in nothing, was the government system of refusing land to 
 the emigrant more obviously high treason against the colony than 
 in this. If they sold land freely, they would fix a settled popula- 
 tion in the country ; a population which would take firm root 
 there, and retain on the soil the produce of the soil and of their 
 industry. By refusing to sell land, they actually cut off every 
 fibre and root of the population which would lay hold on the soil ; 
 and extracting from the digger^, the great producers of wealth, all 
 that wealth as fast as realised, by the enormous demands created 
 by this system, and throwing it in masses into the hands of mer- 
 chants, publicans, and squatters, they virtually created a class of 
 mere birds of passage, who loaded themselves with the colony's 
 affluence, merely to fly off with it to England. This w^as the 
 grand and perpetual drain of this colony ; it was the actual open- 
 ing of its chief arteries, and they who defended and maintained 
 this murderous practice might be regarded, not as the governors, 
 but as the assassins of a nation. 
 
 In my letters at the time, I remarked that, should the gold-fields 
 become exhausted even for a time, that is, should there be a break 
 between the using up of old fields and the discovery of new ones, 
 or should there be a cessation of immigration from the impossi- 
 bihty of obtaining land, or the decreasing charm of gold-digging, 
 how could the gold, which was got only to be carried out of the 
 colony, stave off the evil day ? There would be a panic, a depres- 
 ion, and a shock, such as would check the progress of the country 
 r years. The stamina which should bear it through such a crisis 
 ould be already gone, and the cormorants of speculation would 
 fly precipitately after it. Too much of this became realised in 
 little more than a twelvemonth from that time. 
 
 Meantime the increase of population, and the progress of build-, 
 ing in and all round Melbourne, were marvellous. Imagine the 
 
 o 3 
 
198 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 place. being only eighteen years old, and then just look at the 
 statistical facts which were published there by the Chamber of 
 Commerce. From these it appears that, in 1851, the population 
 of the colony was 95,000; in 1852, it amounted to 200,000, or, in 
 other words, there had in one year been an increase of 105,000 
 people ! They had more than doubled themselves. Melbourne 
 itself, in 1851, contained 23,000 inhabitants — a great number for 
 a place which was a wild wood eighteen years before. In 1852, 
 it contained 80,000, or had increased in one year, 57,000 ! The 
 neighbouring port of Geelong, in 1851, contained 8000 people; in 
 
 1852, it contained 20,000 ! The amount of shipping, in 1851, 
 inward vessels, were 669; in 1852, they were 1657. The tonnage 
 of these vessels, in 1851, was 126,000 tons; in 1852, it was 
 408,000. The value of the imports, in 1851, were 1,056,000/. ; 
 and in 1852, they were 4,044,000/. The exports of 1851 were 
 1,424,000/. ; in 1852, they were 7,452,000/. ! 
 
 The quantity of gold produced up to the end of 1852 was 
 4,491,000 ounces. In addition, there had been brought down in 
 
 1853, by escort, in January, February, and March, 527,998 
 ounces. 
 
 The general revenue in 1851, for the quarter ending March, 
 was 232,099/. ; the same quarter in 1852, it was 524,394/. ; or 
 an increase of 126 per cent., namely, 292,294/. The revenue of 
 Victoria was, therefore, now upwards of Two Millions a Year ! 
 
 The duties on the sale of spirits had, during this period, risen — 
 in round numbers — from 30,000/. to 80,000/. ; on tobacco, from 
 18,000/. to nearly 20,000/. ; tea, coffee, and wine, from 15,500/. to 
 28,458/. ; post office receipts, from 2241/. to 4358/. the quarter. 
 The land sales in the same quarter of 1852 realised 95,248/. ; in 
 that of 1853, 157,864/. 
 
 Another transcript from my letters shall finish this chapter, as 
 it gives a lively picture of the period, and time has only too fully 
 verified my anticipations. 
 
 These are evidences of an amazing progress and prosperity, 
 which must continue so long as gold flows in at both ends ; that 
 is, from the diggings and from England with emigrants. That 
 gold will continue to be found there is little doubt ; and people 
 will flock over from England, if they are offered inducements by 
 liberal measures to settle here. But that the folly of the Colonial 
 Government will create a revulsion ere long is certain ; yet not 
 less certain that the spirit of the people will push down that fool's 
 barricade — the land restriction ; and that Australia, as a whole, 
 will progress into a great country. I may prefer the old country. 
 
INFLUX OF CHINESE. 199 
 
 and so may any one who looks for tl)e picturesque and the beau- 
 tiful in scenery, and for a high state of intellectual culture and 
 taste, as the chief ingredients of the pleasure of existence ; but 
 what thousands and millions are there to whom the main con- 
 sideration is, to live ! How many thousands to whom the great 
 object is, to get rich speedily ! And for both these classes Aus- 
 tralia offers ample inducements. 
 
 Victoria is the Paradise of Labour. The demand for labourers 
 is almost boundless ; and all species of labour are, therefore, paid 
 at extraordinary rates. To every enterprising man of mercantile 
 or mechanic genius, it is the arena of certain success. To these, 
 tormenting flies, swingeing heat in summer, the abominable dust- 
 winds, occurring about every week, and lasting half of it, mud to 
 the knees when there is no dust, hosts of thieves at your elbow, de- 
 moralization and discourtesy in the mob going hand in hand, 
 fevers, dysentery, and influenza holding carnival with drunkenness 
 and want of drainage, will be a few reminders that they are not 
 indeed in the Seventh Heaven, as speculators promise them. But 
 Englishmen seek honour at the cannon's mouth, and wealth in 
 every torrid desert, pestilent swamp, and frozen region on the 
 face of the globe, and, compared with these, Australia is an Eden ; 
 for the progress of cultivation and society will augment its agre- 
 mens, and diminish its nuisances. 
 
 Of the number of thieves in this colony, the united contribu- 
 tions of Sydney, Van Diemen's Land, and the purlieus of dear old 
 London, the Argus, one day in April, 1853, gave a singular evi- 
 dence. It contained twelve columns of advertisements of stolen 
 horses ! 
 
 The aspect of the streets is mottled with the people and cos- 
 tumes of nearly all nations ; amongst them Americans, Persians, 
 and Chinese. There are crowds of Chinese, men almost all under 
 the middle size, in uncommonly wide trowsers of a most rude cut 
 and flimsy material, often the thinnest blue calico ; and with the 
 sallow, flat, faces which you see on their tea-pots. They are many 
 of them brought over, as coolies are carried to the Mauritius, into 
 a sort of slavery. They are bound for four years, during which 
 time they work for their masters, only receiving their maintenance. 
 Others come on their own account ; and a very worthless class of 
 immigrants they appear to me. If they come to gather gold, only 
 to return with it, they to that extent rob the English subject; if 
 they settle, they are not a race that are very likely to amalgamate 
 well with the rest of the population. The Chinese take out none 
 of their women with them : they are not likely to settle, therefore, 
 
 o 4 
 
200 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and colonize, for none but a few isolated Irishwomen of a low 
 grade have yet married Chinese. In fact, thej all propose to re- 
 turn to China, and, under such circumstances, the sooner, in my 
 opinion, the better. As to their present labour, that cannot be 
 very valuable, for they appear of a very inferior physique, and not 
 inclined to hurt themselves with hard work. We saw a number 
 of them putting up their tents in Canvass Town. There was a 
 stump of a tree in their way, and each of them worked at it with 
 a pick for about half a minute, the rest standing round to wait for 
 their turns. A few feeble strokes made the man give up the pick 
 to the next, and so on. A couple of good English labourers would 
 have rooted out the stump in a tenth of the time. 
 
 Three hundred of these poor creatures were shipped from Can- 
 ton in the " Spartan/' a vessel of only 300 tons. There was a 
 mutiny on board, in which the Chinese killed one of the mates, 
 and wounded the other and the captain. They were eventually, 
 however, put down ; and the vessel, under convoy of an American 
 ship, put into a port in India. This same vessel has brought 180 
 of these poor people here. They, with Turks, Lascars, Negroes, 
 and black natives, and many other strange races, in strange cos- 
 tumes, are all in quest of gold, along with Englishmen, French- 
 men, Germans, Poles, Swedes, Danes, Spaniards, Californians, 
 Yankees, and men of still other nations. 
 
 I mentioned the wonderful growth -of building from Melbourne 
 to Liardet's Beach, including Emerald Hill. I have been out on 
 that side of Melbourne, and am still more surprised at the growth 
 of buildings in other directions. Prahran, on the south of the 
 town, has become a large village, at a distance of a mile and a half, 
 and itself stretching as much further. St. Kilda, three or four 
 miles olF, has grown equally. It is true the greater proportion of 
 these houses are of one story, and are built of wood, — erections 
 evidently not intended for eternity, nor for the encounter of any 
 tolerable hurricane. The timbers of which their skeletons are 
 first formed are often only two inches by two and a half in thick- 
 ness. I actually measured some in Collingwood, — the spars and 
 joists about two inches by three. The floors are generally I'aised 
 about a foot from the ground, and are principally supported by 
 pegs driven into the ground, just as you see pegs driven to mark 
 out the site of any intended building. The whole thing, before 
 they cover it with boards, looks more like a spider's web, or a 
 bird's cage, than anything else. You imagine you might just kick 
 it over as you would a basket. 
 
 But there are also a great number erected of an equally pon- 
 derous kind. They are of what they call corrugated iron — sheets 
 
PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC. 201 
 
 of iron, fluted or channelled. These have been brought out from 
 England, and look like huge caravans, the roofs being arched like 
 them ; or like great steam-engine boilers, or gasometers. These 
 houses seem to have a vast demand, because they are rapidly put 
 together ; but they should send out iron constitutions with them, 
 for the people who are doomed to inhabit them in climates like 
 this ; for they will be very cold in winter, and in summer will 
 just roast their tenants alive. They will prove admirable houses 
 — for the doctors. 
 
 And now, too, they are beginning to build good houses of brick 
 and stone, large, and of several stories high. You may imagine 
 the cost of these, when bricks, which I suppose are not more than 
 10^. per thousand in England, are 21. lOs. per thousand here; 
 stone, wood, iron, everything of equal cost ; and the labour which 
 prepares and raises them, 11. os. to ll. lOs. per day. A shop- 
 keeper's house and shop, now building, of moderate dimensions, 
 will cost 20,000/., that is, lOOOZ. a-year rental. But there are 
 plenty of shops from 500/. to 1000/. and 5000/. a-year rental. The 
 public-houses let at enormous rents, and no wonder, for they are 
 always full. It is amazing to look into the ordinary tap-rooms 
 opening into the street. What a dense crowd ! What a din of 
 voices! What a scene of diggers, in jumpers of all colours, and 
 wide-awakes ; carters, whip in hand ; fellows of all sorts, in dirty 
 cabbage- tree hats: and with, wild hair, huge beards andwhiskers, 
 and an indescribable colonial look. 
 
 The unions of trades here often strike you as odd. You see 
 ironmongers and stationers combined ; and in one window is a 
 paper announcing ^' Heavy mens corduroy trowsers;" just as 
 " The brown lady's parasol " was advertised. Alfred, the other 
 evening, went to the theatre, and he has attended a concert or 
 two, and was much amused to see diggers sitting at both places in 
 their shirt sleeves ; and most of them their pipe or cigar in their 
 mouths ; an actor being occasionally saluted with *' Well done ! 
 Go it, old fellow ! " or a singer with, " Bravo ! Bray away, old 
 woman ! " 
 
 Certainly the bulk of the emigrants are a rough, rude, work-a- 
 day get of fellows, very independent, and very unceremonious. 
 They seem to think when they get out here that they may do just 
 as they please, and in that they are not far wrong. The new 
 hairy stocracy seem to indemnify themselves here for tlie subjec- 
 tion in which they are kept in England. So do the servants, and 
 here it is the masters and mistresses who are obliged to be on 
 their good behaviour, if they mean to keep their places. If emi- 
 
202 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 gratlon should continue as extensive as it is at present for a few 
 years, the aristocracy of England too will have their servants as- 
 suming a good deal, and omitting a good many " Yes, my Lord," 
 and " Yes, my Ladys," and instead of touching their hats, they 
 will take them up and go at the slightest touching of their dignity. 
 
 There never has been known in any one week more people 
 enter port here than during this last week. Upwards of 1800 
 came in one day, and nearly 800 another, or upwards of 2,500 in 
 two days ; and in the whole week, as I see in the Argus this 
 morning. May 2nd, the number was 3888. There left, however, 
 553 ; but most of these, probably, only for the neighbouring colo- 
 nies, to come again ; the actual increase being, in any case, 3335 ! 
 "What these armies are to do for lodgings this cold and stormy 
 weather is the mystery. What sort of comfort the gold-digger finds 
 on first stepping upon this, to his imagination, enchanted land, the 
 newspapers of Saturday, April 30th, would show. Crowds turned 
 out on the quay in the dark, up to the knees in mud, and wander- 
 ing about the wet, dark streets, seeking a shelter in vain. 
 
 The condition of the emigrants by the " Sacramento," one of a 
 number of large vessels which have been for many days tossing 
 about outside the Heads in great danger, and which itself went 
 upon the reef at Lonsdale Point, and had its 250 passengers only 
 saved by great exertion, is awful, as described in the Argus, of 
 this morning. They were Government emigrants, and they 
 escaped in their night dresses ; many even of the women had to 
 come up to town without shoes and stockings, and dressed in 
 sailors' jackets. There is a long letter in the same paper, calling 
 loudly on the public and the Government to make more effectual 
 arrangements for the immigrants on arriving. 
 
 People at home have heard such glowing accounts of this 
 climate, that they think it has no cold, no rain, no inconvenience 
 at any time ; and they flock into it in the midst of winter, and 
 wonder where the paradise is. But the writer in the Argus 
 describes what they actually encounter : — 
 
 " What is passing on our quays lifts the curtain from the scenes of intense 
 misery and distress which are daily enacted amongst us, and shows how in- 
 adequate are the few occasional glimpses that we obtain, heart-rending as they 
 are, to portray the stern lineaments of that gaunt wretchedness which stalks 
 unchallenged through our streets. An uncommon state of things must be met 
 by uncommon measures. While we deliberate, hundreds are sinking. The 
 remedy, to avail, must be immediate and decisive." 
 
 There will be no efficient remedy which at the same time is 
 immediate ! The Methodists have a house of refuge for distressed 
 
ROAD-MENDING GENTLEMANLY. 203 
 
 immigrants, but it is full, and, I think, only affords shelter for ten 
 days. The Government has built a dozen or two of wooden huts, 
 where it lets to each of these poor families a couple of empty 
 rooms for 1/. 15s. a week, or at the rate of 91/. a year ! Glorious 
 benevolence ! In Canvass Town too the Government charges 
 the poor creatures 5s. a week for pitching their tents on the waste, 
 or at the rate of a rent, for their own tent, of 12/. a year ! 
 
 Again I ask, are these things known at home ? Do the corres- 
 pondents of the newspapers make this state of things clear and 
 prominent? Do they tell people that Government w^ll not let 
 them have any land to farm upon, and that there are already at 
 least 80,000 diggers on the gold-fields, while the weekly amount 
 of gold obtained averages about 40,000 ounces, or half an ounce 
 per man, something less than 21. a week, and that to purchase 
 provisions at those digging prices which I have so often quoted ? 
 
 Let truth be published and made familiar, and then emigrants 
 will only have to blame themselves if they disregard it. Let all avoid 
 arrival in the winter months here — May, June, and July. Let 
 all who come take care to have a tolerable reserve-fund in their 
 pockets — not less than from 10/. to 30/. — to bear them through 
 till they obtain work. Let carpenters, bricklayers, slaters, black- 
 smiths, wheelwrights, glaziers, gardeners, sawyers, stonemasons, 
 and all able-bodied men who can handle a spade and pick, break 
 stones, drive bullock-teams or carts, and the like, come freely and 
 fearlessly. They are wanted, and will be well paid. Let all 
 those who want to settle on small farms wait, and listen out for a 
 wise and Christian Government in the colony, which will allow of 
 their purchase ; unless they can, as they ought to do, handle the 
 labourer's tools, when they may come and wait here. But let 
 clerks and shopmen, and all delicate and dainty people, remain 
 where they are. 
 
 Yet, stay ; there is one refuge for the destitute here, and that is 
 working on the roads. Let no one start in alarm at this, for I 
 assure them it is as easy a post as any one can desire, and quite 
 lucrative. It is, moreover, a gentlemanly profession here, and 
 rather the fashion with knowing gentility. I saw a young ac- 
 quaintance of mine the other day perched on a stone-heap, on the 
 high road that is to be. He is a smart fellow, of a very dis- 
 tinguished family, and first-rate education, and he gave me these 
 tempting particulars of the practice in this his new profession : — 
 The wages are 3/. per week ; and the rule is to take it easy 
 enough. Their motto is the old one — Festine lente. The rate of 
 exertion is three strokes to a minute, and half a minute's pause. 
 
204 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 They work a little before eight o'clock for the sake of an 
 appetite ; and then breakfast till nine. They reckon to work till 
 twelve ; then dine till two, and profess to work till four. I say 
 profess, because, if a cloud comes over the sky, and a drop or two 
 fall, they go into the good tents which Government finds them, 
 and which are always pitched at hand, and amuse themselves with 
 books or cards. If a real shower fVills, that's a rainy day ! — and 
 they never even profess to work on wet days. In the evening 
 they go out shooting oppossums ; and thus they earn their 105. a 
 day, or 3/. a week per man. That is the way all Government 
 work is done ; and I think if you were to ask one of these much- 
 enduring men who ride stone-horses by our waysides, and break 
 up small a few tons of stone for a half-a-crown, he would say it 
 is a very pretty profession. 
 
 CHAP. XYII. 
 
 On the Road again. — Crowds still flocking to the Diggings. — Volcanic Plains. 
 
 — Stuck in the Mud all Night. — Curious Incident at a Store. — A Lady 
 Storekeeper. — Horrible Eoads. — Dragged through by Macdonald and Mac- 
 leod of the Isles. — Capsize of their Dray. — Break down again, and left 
 behind. — The Forge in the Woods. — Diggers on small Farms. — Why not 
 more of them ? — Crab-holes and Dead Men's Graves. — Desperate Struggle 
 through the Mud. — Ancient and extinct Volcanoes. — A solitary new Chum. 
 — The Big Hill. — Wonderful Escape of a Wool-dray. — Heavy Snow-storm, 
 and crashing Trees. — Man with a Break-down reading the Jest-book. — 
 Our second Break-down. — A Colonial Smith and his Profits. — Frightful 
 Road through Kilmore. — How to get at the Post Office ? — Highlander in 
 pursuit of a Thief. — A famous Idea of the Victorians. — Roadside Lodgers. 
 
 — Return to Melbourne for more Stores. — Scenes on approaching it. — 
 Heavily laden New Chum. — Cockatoo Settlers and Caropers-out. — Hosts 
 of Drunkards. — Strange Public-house Sign. 
 
 We started once more up the country on May 6th, our first desti- 
 nation a new digging called M'^Ivor, and thence to Bendigo. We 
 dined with His Excellency the evening before our departure, and 
 he very kindly wrote down in my memorandum-book the best 
 route for us, having himself been up to the diggings recently. 
 He also gave us a general letter of introduction to the Commis- 
 sioners at the diggings, requesting them to give us all the assis- 
 tance they could in our inquiries. 
 
 The weather was fine when we set off, but that very day 
 it broke up ; heavy rain came dashing down, and the roads. 
 
MISERIES OF THE ROADS. 205 
 
 absorbing it rapidly, were immediately in a most discouraging 
 state. It was a grand fatality, that the roads and everything ia 
 the colony had been so entirely neglected by the Government. 
 The labour of getting up a country with no roads consumes all 
 your time. As we meant to winter at the diggings, we determined 
 to take up sufficient stores ; but we had been calculating on suffi- 
 cient fine weather, and being overtaken by the wet, we were 
 nearly a month on the way, and in the first forty miles out of 
 the seventy-five to M'lvor, we broke our axletree four times, 
 and spent 13/. in repairs of it. But we were by no means 
 singular; there were scores of carts and bullock-drays broken 
 down upon the way, — some with their w^ieels, some with their 
 axles, some with their poles shattered to pieces. Many a horse 
 and bullock lay dead by the roadside, the victims of the stupen- 
 dous effiarts to get along what were called roads, but which were 
 something that defy all language to describe. No one who has not 
 been in a new country, and especially in a new country like that, 
 where an enormous traffic had suddenly sprung up, can conceive 
 the vast, the excessive labour, of getting up to the diggings. At 
 least 80,000 people had gone up into the wilderness after the 
 gold, and everything except meat which they wanted had to be 
 carried to them. It required a constant train of ponderous loads 
 of goods to supply them. You saw huge piles of goods on heavy 
 drays, dragged, by from ten to sixteen bullocks, labouring and 
 ploughing their way along the deep mire and clay : now sticking 
 fast in deep bogs, now striving in vain to surmount steep and 
 rocky eminences. Yet on they went, by incredible exertions, and 
 incredible exercise of patience, like the slow tortoise, by little and 
 little, drawing towards the conclusion of their Herculean labours. 
 The amount of swearing, shouting, thundering cracks of the heavy 
 bullock-whips, and the persevering straining through difficulties 
 that to a new comer appeared hopeless, were such scenes as have 
 no parallel anywhere else. 
 
 Those who, like us, went up with horses and carts, carrying 
 their stores with them, fared like us. They were continually 
 breaking down, getting stuck fast in deep sloughs, and compelled 
 to unload and reload continually. There were instances of people 
 being ^w^ months in getting up to the diggings with loads. We 
 set out with only half our stores, intending to go down again for 
 the rest ; but being informed that the roads forward from a spot 
 which we named Mount Midway near Kilmore were pretty good, 
 we went down and got the whole up so far. A German and his 
 wife, who camped near us at that place, had been a fortnight in 
 
206 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 making this forty miles with half their load ; and they calculated 
 that it would take them two months to get the whole up. 
 
 On the other hand, those who went up only with their swags, 
 containing their blankets, tea, and sugar, had to buy all their 
 stores all winter at digging prices, as well as tent and tools, which, 
 if they w^ere not pretty lucky, took the whole of their proceeds. 
 So, going up to the diggings was, after all, no joke, especially 
 when you add to the labour, what those who had not good tents 
 and plenty of blankets suffered from exposure to heat, cold, and 
 rain. Very often men who have had a comfortable home in 
 England lie wrapped in a single rug all night in the rain under a 
 tree, and have no means of making a fire in the morning, because 
 everything is soaking wet. To the rain you may, at this time of 
 the year, add sharp night-frosts, and winds that seem able to blow 
 you away. Yet the numbers who were going up the country 
 under all these disadvantages, wading all day through the quag- 
 mires of the roads, and lying all night as I have said, were quite 
 awful. If the diggings were a solid region of gold, it seemed to 
 us as if it could hardly yield a remunerative portion to all that were 
 going there. At this time of day it is clear that no immensity of 
 distance, no amount of labour or of suffering, can prevent a 
 struggle and a conflict of competition where there appears any- 
 thing to be got. There, at the ends of the earth, the struggle was 
 as fierce and discouraging as it is in London itself. But to my 
 narrative. 
 
 We took the Mount Macedon road, — the blue ranges of that 
 mountain showing themselves before us. The country was for 
 some distance rich and flat, and enclosed in large fields of fifty or 
 a hundred acres each. It was quite a different style of country to 
 that up which we proceeded last year ; splendid land for farming, 
 clear of trees, partly from nature, and partly by cultivation. It 
 was a cheering sight, that of open land down to the very bay near 
 Melbourne. As we advanced too nearly all the trees were 
 shiacks, — not the eternal gum-tiees, — and these, interspersed 
 with Banksias, now in fresh foliage, and new^ pale yellow cones, 
 or rather bottle-brushes, with a sprinkling of gums and golden 
 wattles, gave what you rarely see in that country, a variety of 
 foliage and hue. The shiacks (casuarinas) were too in full 
 flower — these flowers being long slender catkins, and the whole 
 tree appearing beautifully bronzed. We thought how much one of 
 these trees would be admired on an English lawn. The sound of 
 the wind had the wild melodious tone of the pine-trees in the 
 Black Forest of Germany. 
 
STICK IN THE MUD ALL NIGHT. 207 
 
 The whole of tke land in that direction is volcanic. It is part 
 of the huge plain or basin extending from the Plenty ranges to 
 the sea, and from Melbourne to Geelong. Here and there it is 
 scattered with great, burnt-looking whinstones ; but everywhere 
 very fertile, as the volcanic land is, consisting of a rich, deep, 
 black earth, excellent for farming, but detestable to travel over 
 in wet weather. If, as Mr. La Trobe said, when he gave us 
 this route, this was the very best road in bad weather^ what must 
 the others have been ? 
 
 When only six miles from Melbourne, we came upon this 
 volcanic land, and the horses immediately stuck fast with the cart. 
 "VVe were on the top of a bare hill ; but, oddly enough, the tops of 
 the hills are generally the most boggy. The mire was stiff and 
 adhesive as glue, and though we dug it clear from the wheels, the 
 horses would not attempt to move the cart. Night was coming on, 
 for we had started only for a short stage in the afternoon ; and 
 with the night came still heavier rain. We endeavoured to per- 
 suade some of the drivers of empty bullock-drays passing to put to 
 a couple of bullocks and drag us out. One minute would have 
 done it. But nothing would tempt them on such a night to stop. 
 One merely shook his head ; another sneered at the very idea ; all 
 passed on. We saw we were fixed for the night, and therefore 
 got our tent top down as fast as we could, set it up on the muddy 
 plain, got our beds under it, and crept into them till morning ; but 
 such a night of wind and drenching rain we had seldom if ever 
 passed as in that exposed place. 
 
 In the morning a good-natured digger put to his horse, and we 
 were in a few seconds out on the firm land. There was no wood 
 there, not a piece as big as one's finger, to make a fire ; but we 
 got a kettle boiled at a tent at some distance, and breakfasted. 
 But in preparing for breakfast, we discovered that we had left 
 our frying-pans behind, and I went back to a tent store near the 
 Lincolnshire Arms, half a mile, to get one. And here was another 
 instance of the odd things that happen there, and of people most 
 oddly placed. 
 
 A young woman whose air and manner indicated superior 
 breeding was the only person in the store. She showed me a lot 
 of frying-pans, and I selected one. While doing this we entered 
 into conversation, and I was more and more convinced that, 
 though vending frying-pans, and bread, and groceries, this was a 
 lady of education and intelligence. I asked her if she liked the 
 colony, and she said no. Like thousands of others, her husband 
 and herself had been brought out by one-sided representations ; 
 
208: TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and there was nothing in the world she wished so much as to get 
 back again. We spoke of various people and things connected 
 with emigration to the colony ; and she took out a quantity of 
 letters, and said — " Here are letters to a number of people, but 
 the reception of those we have delivered does not make me in- 
 clined to deliver the rest; and, indeed, there are names here 
 whose owners I should not know where to find." 
 
 She laid the letters before me, and one of the first I noticed was 
 addressed to me. On opening it I found that it was from a par- 
 ticular friend, introducing the lady and her husband, as two most 
 amiable and accomplished people, who were gone out to push their 
 fortunes. The gentleman had held an office of considerable re- 
 sponsibility in London ; and I now learnt that he was gone to 
 Melbourne for a load of stores, and that something must have 
 happened, for he had been away all night. While we spoke he 
 arrived with the dray, and the old story of having been bogged at 
 the top of Elizabeth Street in Melbourne, — ■ a noted place. 
 
 This was an odd encounter, and all owing to a frying-pan. 
 Another letter which they had was to my brother, Dr. Howitt, 
 which I strongly pressed them to deliver; and was obliged to 
 hasten away to my party, wishing them success, which I dare say 
 they would have, though under circumstances neither they nor 
 their friends in England could ever have contemplated. But 
 nothing was more common than to see gentlemen both of family 
 and education carting goods about Melbourne, and to meet them 
 often in the outskirts, lolling in their carts as they returned empty, 
 with their long whips over their shoulders, as much at home as 
 if they had been regularly brought up to it. And their comfort 
 was that they made about 4/. a day. 
 
 We had now six miles of the most villainous road that I ever 
 saw, to pass. It lay between fences, so that there was no getting 
 out of it ; and, besides being regularly nearly a foot deep of this 
 stiff, adhesive mire, had holes in it a yard in depth, that took 
 a cart at once up to the axles — sudden, abrupt holes, perpen- 
 dicular down into them, and perpendicular out again, and brimful 
 of mud. 
 
 Here, again, you had proof of the most unpardonable neglect 
 of the Government. Whenever land is sold and the road fenced 
 off, it is a bounden duty of Government to expend a portion 
 of the proceeds of the land sale to make the road. I know that 
 there are statesmen who contend that the proceeds of the sala 
 of new lands in colonies ought not to make any part of income, 
 but should constitute capital as a source of future revenue, am 
 
HORRIBLE ROADS. 209 
 
 to supersede the necessity of taxation. But, till such fund is 
 adequately established, nothing can be clearer than that so much 
 of the proceeds of the sale of new lands as are necessary, should 
 make the requisite roads through them. If that is not done, a 
 nuisance and an obstruction to public traffic is created, instead 
 of roads. But nothing of this kind had ever entered the heads 
 of the legislators of Victoria. Not a farthing was expended on 
 the roads when the land was sold ; and in such places as this 
 you had the horrible result in a frightful and all but impassable 
 slough of six miles long. So long as these strange rulers left the 
 forest open, you could diverge into a new track ; where they 
 enclosed it, you had nothing for it but plunging through the abyss 
 — if you could. 
 
 Luckily for us, two bullock-drays were just coming along, 
 attended by a party of gentlemen carrying stores to the diggings. 
 Yes : gentlemen ! and engaged in a very profitable business. 
 Without knowing anything in the world of them, or they of us, a 
 tall, stout young man, with black hair and whiskers, came up to 
 me, and said, " You are sure to stick here ; keep as close to us as 
 you can, and we will pull you through." 
 
 This was a striking contrast to the bullock-drivers over night ; 
 but, of course, common bullock-drivers are common bullock-drivers ; 
 often coarse, hard, uni'eeling wretches; though often, too, very 
 different. But gentlemen are gentlemen, all the world over. 
 These bullock-drivers got, every now and then, rooted, as it were, 
 deep and fast in the horrid slough, and had to put on all their 
 sixteen bullocks — and then sometimes in vain, till we had all set 
 in with spades and shovels, and dug the wheels clear — and 
 assisted the team with poles, used as levers behind the wheels. 
 Yet, no sooner out themselves, than they came and dragged us out 
 too. But oh ! what a six miles of road was that ! Such mud ! 
 such mud-holes ! such rushing and struggling and sticking fast, 
 time after time. Without our volunteer friends we never should 
 have got through. 
 
 And who were the good fellows ? They were Isle of Skye 
 men, Macdonald and Macleod of the Isles ! Mr. Macdonald was 
 the tall, athletic, dark-haired man who had first accosted us, and 
 another of the party was the son of Dr. Macleod, the principal 
 clergyman of Skye, who had taken so prominent a part in the 
 agitation and establishment of the Free Kirk. 
 
 By one hole, in which one of their drays was for a long time 
 plunged, lay a dead horse ; and a man rode up, looked earnestly 
 at it for some time in silence, and then said, " Ha ! this is as I 
 
 p 
 
210 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 expected. He is dead!" H^ then told us that his team had 
 stijck fast in that hole the evening before, and had to be dragged 
 out by bullocks ; but this horse was so exhausted that they were 
 obliged to leave him ; and there he was. 
 
 We were now, however, over the worst of that day, and had 
 only to bowl down a hill to a pleasant green valley, called Broad 
 Meadows, with a new, though thinly scattered, village in it. The 
 cottages stood here and there on verdant slopes, — a neat, new 
 stone Episcopal chapel, with a steep roof, and, at a distance a 
 Methodist chapel, conspicuous amongst them, — all backed by the 
 high forest ridge of Mount Gellibrand, so called after one of the 
 first explorers of this part of Port Phillip. In this pleasant 
 valley we encamped for the night, by a creek which turned out to 
 be brackish; but we got pretty good water from another at a 
 distance. 
 
 Our kind fellow-travellers, however, were not destined to get 
 over the creek without trouble. There was a rude bridge of trees 
 across it ; but the descent to it was so steep and broken, that, in 
 passing the bridge, one of the drays, with its load of a ton and a 
 quarter, capsized, and all but went over the bridge into the creek. 
 Luckily, it hung on the edge of the bridge, and the bullocks were 
 extricated without injury, and the party succeeded in getting 
 away the loading, and setting up the dray again, before they went 
 to bed. 
 
 The next morning, these excellent fellows did us another ser- 
 vice. The surveyor of roads — a Mr, Foote, I understood — being 
 a man of very aspiring mind, had determined on carrying the road 
 up the very steepest place that he could find, out of the valley. 
 Common sense, in the shape of the carters, who had been accus- 
 tomed to pass there before, had taken the most easy, and, as a man 
 there called it, slantingdicular direction, and the old track is still 
 visible. But as the Government of that period would have nothing 
 to do with common sense, this aspiring Mr. Foote (perhaps, if I 
 did not cross my ^, I should more correctly name him) determined 
 to let every carter and bullock-driver with a heavy load know that 
 there was a Hill of Difficulty in reality as well as in Bunyan's 
 dream. Not all the persuasions of the inhabitants, nor the offers 
 of the gentleman to whom the land belonged to give for the road 
 the piece where the easy line lay, could make him abandon his 
 absurd and mischievous resolve. So there runs up this abomin- 
 able road still, a monument of engineering stupidity, disgraceful 
 to the colony, and ascended every day by groaning bullocks, pant- 
 ing horses, and men who curse the surveyor with their most sa- 
 
THE FORGE IN THE WOODS. 211 
 
 voury curses. Heavily laden drays have been know^n, spite of all 
 that eight or ten bullocks could do, to run backward down the hill, 
 dragging the cattle after them ; and not long before one had rushed 
 clean away into the creek at its foot. 
 
 Up this hill our obliging Islesmen dragged us; and they would 
 have dragged us out of all such scrapes, and we should have seen 
 M'lvor long before we did, but alas ! a few miles onward, crack 
 went our axle, and there we were fixed. We took a reluctant 
 leave of these gentlemen, and remained to consider what was to 
 be done. We were still within the fences, and must, therefore, 
 get our horses into a paddock till we could have our axle mended, 
 Luckily we found a small farmer not far off, of the name of 
 Laurence, who very hospitably begjred us to camp upon his 
 ground, near his cottage, and sent a horse and cart to fetch up 
 our tent and property. His terms for our horses were very rea- 
 sonable : and here we were soon located. 
 
 The grand question was, where was a smith to be found. 
 
 Mr. Laurence thought that we must take the axle back to 
 Flemington — nine miles, and over that horrible road. But an- 
 other settler, who just came up, said there was a smith working 
 at a granite quarry, not a mile off, back in the woods ; and he had 
 no doubt that he would do it. Accordingly my son Alfred and I 
 posted away, under the guidance of Mr. Somers, the son-in-law of 
 Laurence, and soon found the smith. 
 
 It was like going to the forge of Mimer or Wayland Smith, as 
 Siegfried went. The smith was a young man from Liverpool, 
 and his wife said she was the niece of Mr. Bower, who had built 
 the New Docks at Liverpool, under the direction of Jesse Hartley. 
 They had a hut made partly of wood and partly of canvas, with 
 blocks of wood for seats ; a bed on one side, and the usual huge 
 open fireplace at the far end. There was a bullock-driver, a young 
 man, and a quarryman and his wife ; and they had some other 
 small tents or huts for sleeping. Near at hand was the granite 
 quarry at which they worked, and between that and the hut was 
 the forge. It was raised of blocks of granite under a gigantic 
 gum-tree, and the woodwork of the bellows was fastened to its 
 bole. A roof of boughs, with all their dried leaves, completed the 
 smithy ; and here this little colony lived in the midst of the un- 
 tamed wilderness, and made it echo to their labours. 
 
 The young smith was an active fellow, who talked as fast as he 
 worked, and said if a man did not get on in this country it was 
 liis own fault, and ere long he meant to commence something for 
 himself. He had the axle soon mended, the young bullock-driver 
 
 p 2 
 
212 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 blowing the bellows, and Alfred and I carried it back, and set up 
 the cart again. 
 
 We had here a specimen of the admirable effects of gold-digging 
 when followed by the power of procuring land. Here were several 
 small farms of about 50 acres each, which had been purchased by- 
 labouring men, with the few hundred pounds made in the good 
 times of the diggings. They had given 61. per acre for this land 
 to the person who had bought it at the upset price of 1/., and they 
 calculated that it was already worth 12/. per acre. I believe it 
 had been part of a special survey, a system which at an earlier 
 period of the colony had favoured the capitalist and land-jobber, 
 at the expense of the poor man, but was abolished in 1844. Any 
 man willing to take 5000 acres at the upset price of 1/., could 
 have 20,000 acres surveyed by the Government Surveyor, and 
 then pick his 5000 where he pleased. This evil, at least, had been 
 got rid of by the dislike to throw much land into the market. Yet 
 even this partial system had its good side, for speculators bought 
 their 5000 acres, divided it into sections, and re-sold it, so that 
 small farms were thus obtained where they could not at this period 
 be got at all. 
 
 Mr. Laurence, the farmer on whose land we camped, had all 
 the appearance of an agricultural labourer : he and his son-in-law 
 were clearing off the trees; fencing off fields with trunks and 
 boughs, and preparing to plough up a field of twelve acres for 
 oaten hay. Now if hay should be on the edge of the next winter 
 40/. a-ton again, as it probably would, there would be 480/. for 
 them, at a ton per acre. A pretty little sum, paying off at once 
 the 250/. cost of the farm, and leaving 230/. in pocket for one 
 year's profit, independent of what they would get from pasturing 
 cattle on their wild land, and from carting up goods to the diggings 
 during the time that their crop was growing. 
 
 It is cheering to see this class of men thus established by their 
 own prudence and industry. In a few years they will be rich 
 and independent, and they will deserve it in this instance, not 
 only from their sobriety and industry, but from their real kind- 
 ness and hospitality. They were ready to oblige us in any way 
 that they could, and asked the most moderate remuneration for 
 what they did ; very unlike the generality of those that you were 
 obliged to deal with there. A farmer a little beyond, Scotch cfr 
 Irish, I forget which, asked us the most monstrous price for the 
 same accommodation, simply because he saw our accident, and 
 thought we could not help ourselves. 
 
 At present our worthy host only occupied a small wooden hut, 
 
DIGGERS ON SMAXL FARMS. 213 
 
 but the pretty, neat, active wife of Mr. Soraers made it the scene 
 of comfort and plenty, and anon there will spring up, no doubt, a 
 good house there. The purchaser of the next allotment had come 
 so recently that he had only a tent on his farm ; but short as had 
 been his possession he had already got his old father out, a man of 
 seventy-six years of age, a re<2^ular simple looking old labourer, 
 who said that he came out of Huntindonshyre, and was astonished 
 at his son's prosperity, never expecting, he said, to find him a 
 landed propridtor. He himself had been working all his life for 
 about 95. a-week. 
 
 There are a good many of these small farms on this road, and 
 the public must never cease demanding the emancipation of the 
 land, that there may be plenty of them everywhere. The country 
 between the hilly ranges and the sea from Gippsland to the 
 Glenelg, on the borders of Adelaide, is one splendid stretch of 
 magnificent land for farming, and, settled by an honest, English, 
 independent class of farmers on properties vSmaller or larger, will 
 soon fill the country with that rural abundance of which it had 
 been hitherto, by the suicidal, insane, starvation system of keep- 
 ing the earth uncultivated, so dreadfully destitute. Corn, hay, 
 well-fatted cattle, instead of the lean kine of the wild pastures, 
 milk, eggs, poultry of all kinds, butter, cheese, bacon, fruits of al- 
 most every nameable variety, would, in a few years, exist in such 
 prodigal abundance, that instead of this wretchedly misgoverned 
 colony having to send out all its wealth to procure the greater part 
 of these good things of life, it would not only possess them in such 
 cheapness and profuseness that every family could luxuriate in 
 them, but it might export immensely to less favoured regions. 
 
 And surely to any government of humane men — to any men 
 possessing the power of such creation — the glorious privilege of 
 being allowed to raise such a scene of prosperity — to plant such 
 families — to originate such abundance — to diffuse such a wide 
 happiness — would be fiir more delightful than any feelings of ped- 
 dling pettifogging gain ; than any frigid adherence to Wakefieldian 
 theories, or the barren track of official routine. How was it that 
 our friend La Trobe, benevolent and kindly as he was in private 
 life, did not see this and feel this, and rise superior to the miser- 
 able trammels which surrounded him ? Certainly the power was 
 in his hands if he chose to exert it. The orders in council, which 
 were the law in the land question, did not refer him to any legis- 
 lative council, or executive, or any other authority besides his own. 
 *' The Governor is empowered." Those were the omnipotent 
 words which made the work and the responsibility his own ; and 
 
 p 3 
 
214 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 what a difference to reflect upon, and to have attached historically 
 to your name, whether you leave a country tied up in a net of 
 withering, cramping, life-destroying policy, or free and moving 
 all its limbs — free and vital in all its energies — spreading daily] 
 its circle of life — daily building new homesteads — kindling the 
 fire on new family hearths — pouring forth its fresh millions into 
 the wilderness — and turning it, by the noble alchemy of hope and 
 industry, into a region of cultivated domains, of gardens and 
 homes, where the hum of human happiness supersedes the thank- 
 less silence of the desert. Could it be supposed that there could 
 be a doubt in the mind of any enlightened man, or set of men, 
 what course to pursue? That the honour and the gratification of 
 producing such an amount of human good — a rare privilege con- 
 ferred even on men of the most exalted talents, and in the most 
 exalted spheres, would not themselves have been irresistible in- 
 centives ? 
 
 From this place we went over a flat country with a rich soil, 
 admirably calculated for agriculture, — a fat soil, and not the 
 picturesque, being what farmers look after. In a couple of miles, 
 or so, we got out of the fences, but were immediately met by new 
 difficulties in what are called Crab-holes and Dead-men's Graves. 
 These are all connected with volcanic agency, and abound, as well 
 as the basaltic masses of stone, in volcanic districts. 
 
 Crab- holes, or Frog-holes, as they are called in some districts, 
 from land crabs and frogs frequenting them when they hold water, 
 are small pools or quagmires some few yards across, more or less, 
 but so scattered about over certain places that it is next to im- 
 possible to pass between them, and as to going across them with 
 your cart, that is out of the question. They are often of unascer- 
 tainable depth of mud, and are supposed to be occasioned by 
 fissures in the volcanic rock beneath, through which the water 
 has been originally sucked down, as it were, carrying the earth 
 with it, and leaving these holes on the surface, which in time have 
 become glutted with mud, probably, as it has been baked in the 
 summer, and so made capable of holding water. This is the case 
 even with large volcanic craters, which instead of fire now hold 
 lakes. 
 
 Akin to these Crab -holes are the Dead- men's Graves. They 
 are oblong heaps of earth distributed over certain extents of these 
 low, volcanic plains, which for all the world present the appear- 
 ance of a grave-yard. The heaps or mounds are placed almost 
 as regularly as the squares of a chess-board. Yet not exactly ; for 1 
 they are never in rows so as to allow you to pass between them. ■ 
 
DEAD-MEN S GRAVES. 215 
 
 There is a heap and a hollow on every side of you, turn which- 
 ever way you will : and it is impossible to conceive the unplea- 
 santness and difficulty of passing across them with a loaded cart. 
 It is bounce, bang, bang, bounce all the way. Yet over them you 
 must go, sometimes for a quarter or half a mile. I can only sup- 
 pose that they are occasioned by the basaltic stones beneath having 
 settled into that shape. Many people have been simple enough to 
 believe them burying grounds of the natives. But the natives 
 never did or do bury in any one particular place. 
 
 From these stony and yet earthy plains we advanced, rushing 
 through mire and bogs, and banging against stumps and stones, to 
 the foot of the hills which bound this great volcanic champaign. 
 From the little eminence where we encamped for the night, we 
 could see the plain extending for miles and scores of miles as level 
 as a bowling-green, and seeming evidently made for a great corn 
 country. Here and there arose in the level a conical hill, ob- 
 viously volcanic, and to the nearest one, about three miles dis- 
 tant, I walked the next morning. His Excellency had strongly 
 recommended us to visit it as containing a very clearly marked 
 extinct crater. 
 
 So off I went, attended by Buff and Prin, over Dead-men's 
 Graves for the greater part of the way, and through a wood of 
 Banksia trees, which, as well as shiack, particularly affect volcanic 
 soil ; the dogs in continual excitement with the noises of vast 
 numbers of parrots, paroquets, and wattle-birds, which were feast- 
 ing on the honey of the Banksia flowers. 
 
 The hill was of a considerable elevation, and very curiously 
 the ordinary forest trees, the eucalypti, grew only to a certain 
 height on its sides. Thence, at a well-defined line, it rose up 
 green and clear, except for a few shiack trees, encircled below, as 
 it were, by a dark sea of forest. An opening on the side by which 
 I ascended admitted me to the bosom of the hill, and there lay the 
 crater, several hundred yards in width, now tilled with rich, damp 
 earth, overgrown with grass, as level as a bowling-green, and as 
 perfectly circular as if struck out with compasses. I had no spade 
 or pick with me to dig in quest of lava, but there could be no 
 mistake about it. The hills rose round it smooth and green, show- 
 ing that it was now long since fires had raged there: and I 
 gathered a large quantity of fine mushrooms from the turf. From 
 the top of the hill was a magnificent view, including ranges of 
 mountains at various distances on three sides, and of level country 
 quite down to Melbourne, and the sea on the other; the great 
 
 p 4 
 
216 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 ocean of forest, and another of plain filling up the area. At foot 
 of the hill lay Mr. Beveridge's Station amid the woods. 
 
 Cutting across the plain in a direction to meet ray party, who 
 were going forward, I saw a tent pitched by the road-side, having, 
 " Edgington, Tent-maker, London," upon it. I went up to it, and . 
 found it occupied by a solitary new-chum, evidently a gentleman. 
 He was at breakfast ; his plate rested on the end of a box ; a good 
 English stove burning in the tent, the pipes ascending outside ; 
 and a double-barrelled gun leaning against the back of his chair. 
 He said that their cart had broken down in coming over the hor- 
 rible plain ; and that his party were gone on to the M'lvor with 
 half their load, leaving him their guardian of the remainder. 
 Wishing him secure enjoyment of his solitary post, I soon reached 
 my party : and we now ascended the hills on good hard road of 
 nature's making, for about six miles. Here we were encountered 
 by what is called the Big Hill, or Pretty Sally's Hill, one of the 
 most extraordinary hills for a road to pass over that can be con- 
 ceived. Imagine a road for heavily laden drays passing over the 
 Brocken, and this is not unlike it. Yet every day, the year round, 
 — I don't except Sundays, because the bullock-drivers don't, — 
 drays with vast loads were toiling, struggling, and slaving over 
 this hill. For still more oddly, all the roads coming from Mel- 
 bourne converged at the foot of this lofty and abrupt hill, as 
 though it was the greatest pleasure in life to climb its very highest j 
 point. Government, too, as if sorry to deprive the public of this I 
 taste for a Hill of Difficulty, had never done anything to ascertain 
 an easier ascent, or to make this more accessible ; though a dozen 
 men, in a few weeks, would throw out a terrace road round its 
 summit, and remove the whole obstruction. 
 
 Arriving at this strange place we stood aghast ; and after taking 
 a long and discouraging view of it, concluded to encamp on this 
 hill till morning, to consider the best way of getting over it, and 
 with the horses fresh. Having fixed our tent, and made a blazing 
 fire on a height which looked over a vast extent of country, and a 
 wild solitude of woody glens and hills below us ; certainly in a 
 most airy situation, with the wind roaring round in the forests 
 very grandly ; Alfred and I went on to reconnoitre while supper 
 was preparing. The more we saw of it, the more we were as- 
 tounded. The road at the last pinch went up an ascent which 
 seemed very like the ascent of a pyramid. How a loaded cart was 
 to climb that was beyond our conception ; and, to make the matter 
 worse, the top of the hill, as usual, instead of being dry, was one 
 deep bog, covered on the sides with a rich, red loam, which the 
 
WONDERFUL ESCAPE OP A WOOL DRAY. 217 
 
 bullock-drays had ploughed into, yards deep. Once on the top, 
 the scene was dreary enough. The clouds passing across the 
 height gave it a dismal, hazy aspect. The wind roared with a 
 melancholy sound through the woods ; and nothing ever more re- 
 minded me of the ascent of the Brocken than this Big Hill. 
 
 Beyond, the descent appeared as bad as the ascent, for the roads 
 were terrible, and it was difficult to discern where we were to get 
 down. With this pleasing knowledge, we returned to our quarters ; 
 and the next morning advanced to the foot of this last steep ascent, 
 intending to take off half our load before attempting it. At this 
 moment, however, appeared two bullock-drays, loftily laden wdth 
 wool, in the very act of descending. They were coming on, drag- 
 ging huge trees behind them by their drag-chains, to prevent the 
 ponderous loads rushing precipitously down the declivity, carrying 
 bullocks and all before them. At the sight of the descent, they 
 paused as if dismayed at it. I seized this moment to call out to 
 them, that it would be better for them to put a few bullocks on, and 
 drag us up out of their way, as their bullocks might shy, and carry 
 the load over the hill side. This the good-natured fellows did at 
 once ; and thus, to our astonishment, we found ourselves aloft on 
 the summit of the hill ! We had difficulty to persuade the drivers 
 to accept half-a-crown for their important service, and w^e waited 
 to witness their descent. 
 
 The first huge load moved on, preceded by its eight bullocks ; 
 but, midway, the dray ran to the lower side of the road, and struck 
 on the stump of a tree, cut off about a yard high. Here was a 
 case ! The men stood as if stupified. How in the world was that 
 huge load to be got off ? I advised them to put all their sixteen 
 bullocks on behind, and drag the dray_, if possible, backwards, 
 w^ere it only a couple of feet, so that they might turn it aside from 
 the stump. They did so, but all their efforts were vain. The only 
 thing now possible was to cut down the stump, so as to let the axle 
 of the dray pass over it ; and this they set themselves about in 
 good earnest. It was a perilous work, for the slightest thing might 
 twist the dray round, and let it go, carrying the man with it, who 
 was chopping under it, and crush him. But the man chopped away 
 stoutly, — at every crack of the stump starting out from beneath 
 the dray. In the midst of the operation the stump split with a 
 loud crash ; the dray, with its huge load, spun round as on a pivot, 
 and hung suspended over the precipitous side of the hill! 
 
 There appeared now nothing for it but the destruction of the 
 dray, and of the two bullocks still fast to the pole ; for, without 
 these bullocks to keep up the pole, the dray would topple over head 
 
218 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 foremost. If the dray shot down that steep declivity, as shoot 
 down it must, nothing, it appeared to us, could save the bullocks. 
 If they lost their legs, their necks -would be instantly broken ! 
 But there was no alternative now but to cut away, and let the dray 
 take its course. Chop, chop, therefore, went the man, while we 
 stood in intense expectation of the result. At length crack went 
 the stump, and away down the steep rushed the huge vehicle and 
 its load, like a railway carriage on its line. On, on, down, down, 
 it sped ! but, wonderful ! the bullocks, gigantic beasts, managed 
 to keep their legs, and the whole concern, gradually decreasing its 
 velocity, reached the lower, level ground, and stopped in safety ! 
 It was like a miracle ; and the more so as it had not come in contact 
 with any of the trees, which would have shivered the dray to atoms. 
 
 The next dray descended the road with great regularity ; and 
 we proceeded to descend the other side of Pretty Sally's Hill, which 
 we accomplished without accident, and found at its foot a man en- 
 camped by a broken bullock-dray reading Robinson Crusoe, and 
 having The Complete Jest Book lying on a fallen tree beside him. 
 He said that he had been there ten days, waiting for a new wheel, 
 which was making at Kilmore, I asked him if he found any good 
 jest in his book about bullock-drays breaking down ; at which he 
 gave a melancholy smile, and said it was no joke at all. 
 
 That night we encamped in a fine park-like situation, about two 
 miles to the left of Kilmore, and were scarcely settled when it set 
 in heavy rain. All night it was a perfect tempest of violent wind 
 roaring through the woods, and of drenching, driving rain. The 
 next morning it rained till eight o'clock, when it began to snow ; 
 and it snowed hard the whole day till three o'clock. At the com- 
 mencement the flakes of snow were the largest 1 ever saw in my 
 life. They were as large as the palm of my hand ; and one that 
 I took up from the back of Buff would certainly have weighed half 
 an ounce. As the storm proceeded, the flakes diminished to their 
 ordinary size. By the time it cleared up the snow was three 
 inches deep ; and in the defiles of the hills near, the settlers said 
 it was three feet deep in some places. The most remarkable cir- 
 cumstance was the way in which the loads of snow crashed down 
 whole trees, and the huge heads and branches of others. These 
 evergreens, catching and retaining the whole weight of it (and the 
 weight of this heavy, moist snow being great) when well loaded, 
 they began to break off with tremendous reports. All round us in 
 the forests these crashes were heard like repeated volleys of ar- 
 tillery. Whole trees snapped off like carrots, and gigantic branches 
 of others came off with a thunder to the ground. This continued 
 
A COLONIAL SMITH AND HIS PROFITS. 219 
 
 till the snow began to melt, and decrease the load on the trees. 
 We were in great anxiety lest any of the trees or boughs should 
 fall on our horses ; and still more, lest they should fall on the tent 
 of the German and his wife, lately mentioned, who had pitched 
 under some very large ones. At length, down came one almost 
 close to them, startling them no little ; and so near was it to their 
 fire, that, as soon as their amazement was over, they used the trunk 
 for a seat. 
 
 The cold during this time was intense ; and our horses were 
 so perished with it, though always accustomed to run out in the 
 bush, and trembled so, that we were obliged to put rugs on them. 
 As for ourselves, in procuring wood to make good fires, and 
 making these arrangements for the horses, our hands were nearly 
 deprived of feeling or motion, for everything we touched was cased 
 with ice. 
 
 The next day, as it had somewhat cleared up, we set out again ; 
 but had not proceeded half a mile, when crack went our axle 
 again, and there we were fixed. We now determined to pitch our 
 tent on a picturesque mount near the road, which, as I have said, 
 we named Mount Midway, with a pleasant view of these undulating 
 lands, and of the hills in the distance, and there to leave Mr. Bate- 
 man and Charlton, while we went down to Melbourne again for 
 the rest of our stores, as we were told that our road onward was 
 tolerable, and we were anxious to have the worst over. But, first, 
 we had to carry our axle on Ben's back to Kilmore to have it 
 welded, which cost us 1/. 10^., the whole job only occupying the 
 smith one hour ! He wanted 21. Two pounds per hour per man, 
 and he had six at work smithing and wheelwrighting. Thirty 
 shillings an hour, that is, at ten hours per day, 15/. a day each 
 man, and for six men 90/. a day ! With his profit on his wood 
 and iron, for he used none in this case, he did not take less than 
 100/. a day, or 600/. a week ; out of which he paid his men 5/. a 
 week each, or 30/. A very pretty trade ! The man was always 
 full of work, being on the great road to the diggings, and a road 
 that was continually smashing drays and axles for him. It was 
 said that he has been buying a great deal of property. No wonder. 
 
 But Kilmore is at once one of the most vilely dirty towns on the 
 face of the earth, and the dearest. The street, as I mentioned 
 when we visited it in spring, was one deep quagmire, in which 
 stood up huge volcanic stones. It was marvellous to see how the 
 carts and bullock-drays waded, plunged, banged, and bounced 
 through it, and still more, to see how the people went about from 
 one year's end to another wading up to the knees in mud worked 
 
220 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 into the consistence of batter. But all the people there were 
 making rapid fortunes, and so what signified sludge. The inn- 
 keeper, who came there but a little while ago, they told me had 
 offered 10,000/. down in cash for the premises he occupied as tenant. 
 
 Having to go across the road from the wheelwright's to the 
 post-office, the man advised me to go on horseback, as there was a 
 particularly deep hole in front of the post-office. I thought it 
 prudent to adopt his advice, and did very right, for my horse 
 himself seemed as if he would disappear in the abyss of thin mud. 
 Well, we got our job done, and the next day Alfred and I drove 
 away to Melbourne. As we had only an empty cart, we did the 
 forty miles in two days and a half. Near Pretty Sally's Hill we 
 passed a Highlander, going in hot haste with his gun cocked after 
 a boy, whom he said he was taking up to the diggings with him, 
 and who had picked his pocket of 30/. 11^., and decamped. The 
 man patted the lock of his gun as he hurried on, saying, " I have 
 it all ready for him here. I shall not call twice to him to stop if 
 I once catch sight of him." 
 
 We passed numbers of wayfarers in the mornings, rising from 
 their beds of heaps of gum-leaves by the road-sides; rather different 
 from chambers and feather-beds in England. We passed no less 
 than six bullock-drays, sticking fast in one place, amongst the 
 Crab-holes, where they had been for some days, and could not tell 
 when they should get forward again. The sound of the bells of 
 all their bullocks grazing round reminded us of the bells of a city. 
 Here was a settler building himself a hut, and in reply to my in- 
 quiry as to the price of land there, he said, " Oh ! the other day it 
 was 1/. an acre, but now they have the conscience to ask 12/. and 
 15/. an acre. The people of Victoria, when they find a thing 
 moves, fly up at once, right above the gum-trees ; and in a while, 
 if things change a little, they take fright, and come down again 
 like a stone." 
 
 As we approached Melbourne on a fine afternoon we were 
 struck with the bustle and peculiarity of the scene. Around us 
 were neat enclosures, and the sun shining on green, fertile slopes, 
 while the road was full of bullock-drays, on the way to the di^ 
 gings, heavily laden with stores of all kinds. There were scores of j 
 such drays, and heavily laden carts, attended by troops of peoph 
 setting out to the diggings. The drays were loaded with flourJ 
 corn, potatoes, sugar, tea, spirits, bottled beer, and the like, ag 
 well as with spades, buckets, &c. On the road-side were stores 
 displaying plentiful assortments of tin ware of all sizes, hanging ii 
 front — tea-kettles, bales of flannel, shoes, boots, ready-mad( 
 
MISCHIEVOUS COCKATOO SETTLER. 221 
 
 clothes, &c. ; in fact, all such things as diggers are in constant 
 want of. Wherever there was a public-house, the whole road 
 was choked with carts and bullock-drajs, the drivers and attend- 
 ants of which were taking their grog. About every third man 
 outward bound was in a jovial state, and many of the men on 
 horseback had enough to do to keep their equilibrium. Strange 
 figures, too, were many of these, with huge beards, wild shocks of 
 hair, and odd cut of garments. 
 
 There were hundreds and hundreds of new-chums making their 
 first start for the diggings, and going on a few miles to make their 
 first encampment in the bush. Some of these were laden like bees 
 with bedding and provisions. One young man was actually 
 moving along under the following items. He had on his back a 
 huge swag, containing bedding and blankets. On his breast hung 
 suspended from his neck a large carpet-bag, stuifed, probably, with 
 clothes. Beside this hung on one side of the carpet-bag an extra 
 hat, a bundle tied up in a handkerchief; and on the other side of 
 the carpet-bag — of all things in the world — a heavy stoneware 
 filter! He was bound for Bendigo, one hundred miles! How far 
 he would proceed before flinging away the filter, we felt curious 
 to know. 
 
 Besides these, there were squatters, cockatoo settlers, and trades- 
 men, all hurrying out on horseback or in gigs, each class distin- 
 guishable by something in their dress or air, but all having a 
 colonial look; while under the trees were families stretching cords 
 from one tree to another, to throw a canvas over, and so make a 
 tent for their first night in the bush. Fathers and mothers were 
 busy doing this, with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, pots, 
 bedding, and children around them. But one of the things which 
 looked oddest of all to my eye, was a sign at Flemington, three 
 miles from Melbourne. It was the Bull and Mouth : a formidable 
 bull standing fiercely on a huge mouth, which looked like a great 
 oyster, and over its head an eye enclosed in a glory, meant to re- 
 present the Deity I Around it were the words, " Fear God and 
 honour the Queen !" What a sign for a pot-house ! 
 
 In Melbourne we found all well, and amongst the arrivals of 
 fresh adventurers who called on us, a grandson of Wordsworth's, 
 and very like the old poet too, who had come out to seek his fortune, 
 and was soon seen usefully employed turning a grocer's coffee mill. 
 
222 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Straggling up the Koad again. — Mischievous Cockatoo Settler. — Third 
 Break-down in the Bush. — Drunken Smiths. — The Big Hill and the Brandy 
 Bottle. — Fourth Break-down on the Sydney Road. — Boys sleep there. — 
 Author, like an old Gibeonite, reaches our Camp. — Start afresh. — Roads full 
 of broken Carriages and dead Cattle. — No Slavery like getting up to the 
 
 Diggings. — The Squatter and his Troubles Man digging his Boot out of 
 
 the Road. — Fortunes made by small Farmers. — Severe Nights, and thick 
 Ice, but warm Days. — Amusing Scenes on the Road. — Inquiry after the 
 Man in Slippers. — A Cockney Shepherd inquiring after himself. — "Wonder- 
 ful Rumours and Rushes. — Arrive at M'lvor. — Pleasant Country. — 
 Stripping Bark in the Woods for a Winter Hut. — Rumours of a Copper 
 Mine. 
 
 I MUST give you yet some further details of our journey as far as 
 M'lvor, where we arrived on the 20th of June, as it is only by a 
 complete narrative of the journey that those who follow us can 
 have any real idea of what it is : the whole distance, be it remem- 
 bered, being only seventy-five miles. 
 
 The w^eather had been fine while we were down in Melbourne 
 for a couple of days, and the north wind and sun had considerably 
 dried the roads, so that we got through the abominable road 
 between the fences better than before. Instead of finding a 
 party of good-natured Skyemen this time, we overtook a party 
 who had more the appearance of Cockneys. Their cattle did not 
 appear very likely to drag them through that six-mile quagmire, 
 and we proposed, for mutual security, to lend each other an extra 
 horse in any case of sticking fast. They declined, saying, some- 
 what haughtily, they were quite strong enough to take care of 
 themselves. In less than half an hour they were stuck fast up to ■ 
 the axles, and then came to ask us to lend them a horse. Though * 
 they did not deserve it, and though we believed they would not 
 have lent us one, had the case been ours, after the manner in 
 which they repulsed our offer, yet we stayed and helped them out ; 
 but we then went on and left them to their own sufficiency. 
 
 We were also very near being led into a dilemma by a mischievous 
 cockatoo settler. Most agricultural settlers are thus styled by the 
 squatters ; because, I suppose, they look upon them, with their 
 enclosures, as plunderers and encroachers on their wild woods, 
 settling down upon them as the cockatoos do on the ripening corn. 
 Be the origin of the name, however, what it may, they have it, 
 and this man, evidently of that class, came galloping up, as we 
 
SCENE ON APPKOACHING MELBOURNE. 223 
 
 were crossing a plain, and said if we went in that direction we 
 should speedily be involved in crab-holes and sunk past recovery ; 
 and pointed out another course which he said was as sound as a 
 pavement. As we had crossed there before, I told him that I 
 knew the way ; but he declared that he knew every inch of the 
 ground about there as well as his own house floor, and that the 
 adjoining paddock belonged to him. Alfred was impressed by the 
 man's confident assertions, and was very urgent that we should 
 follow his directions. Much against my own conviction, I at 
 length consented, and within five minutes' time, we found our- 
 selves in the midst of the most frightful crab-holes. The man 
 only waited to see this, and then cantered away over the very 
 ground that he had warned us from ! I suppose he thought it an 
 admirable practical joke. Luckily, by a daring and abrupt turn, 
 we regained our former track, and advanced over it, — as fine a 
 sound piece of land as any in the colony. 
 
 Before we reached Pretty Sally's Hill, we were again left in the 
 middle of the bush, by once more breaking our axle over a stump. 
 Alfred had to mount and gallop about till he discovered a station, 
 where they told him that he would find a smith at the Rocky 
 Water-holes, three miles off across the forest. Once more, with 
 the pieces of the unfortunate axle on Ben, Alfred set out ; and on 
 arriving found the smith and his men drunk. They would not 
 undertake to do the job at all without a nobbier, and they would 
 not finish it without another. They were both drunk to begin 
 with, and while they hammered, Alfred blew the bellows for 
 them. This consumed the whole day, and a tipsy welding did not 
 promise much endurance. But there was no alternative, so we 
 fared on to the Big Hill. Our load being this time but light, we 
 thought our horses would take it up, but having got two thirds of 
 the way, they refused to go any further. A bullock dray coming 
 up, we offered the driver a bottle of splendid cognac, to put on a 
 few bullocks and drag them to the summit. He sulkily replied, 
 that he would not do it for a cellar of brandy, for he had killed 
 one of his cattle in coming up the hill. But on hearing this, a 
 whole troop of young men who were sitting under a tree, and were 
 a party who had engaged the dray to carry their luggage down 
 from the diggings, jumped up and said he should do it. The man 
 with a very ill grace complied, and in five minutes we were on 
 the summit. We offered the man the bottle of brandy, but he 
 rudely poked it away with his elbow, saying, *' give it to the 
 other fellow," — one of the young men who had accompanied him ; 
 uud we did so. We could excuse the man's ill humour, when, 
 
224 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 directly after, we came upon his bullock lying dead in the middle 
 of the road. 
 
 Amongst the flowers which Mr. Bateman painted, were some 
 Epacrises, Australian heaths, which were drawn from some^ 
 splendid flowers that we gathered on this Pretty Sally's Hill. 
 We came at once on a magnificent patch of them in the woods, 
 both red and white ones; I never saw finer in any conservatory, 
 and most beautiful they looked growing in the wild forest. We 
 called the place Pretty Sally's Garden, and shall not soon forget 
 it, for its bullock-dray adventures and broken axles. 
 
 That day we had reached within three miles of our camp, and 
 were congratulating ourselves on our quick and successful journey, 
 spite of breaking down, when our cart struck on a stump imbedded 
 in the mud of the road, and crack went the axle, like a piece of 
 glass! The drunkards' work did not last long. This was most 
 provoking. The same axle which had carried us to the Ovens 
 and Yackandanda and back, about four hundred miles, had now 
 broken four times in as many weeks. It was evident that the 
 smiths in welding it had destroyed its temper, or, as their phrase 
 is, " burnt the iron." 
 
 Well, night was coming on : there was no time to lose. The 
 cart lay prostrate in the middle of the great muddy Sydney road, 
 and in danger of being run over, and smashed to pieces by some 
 ponderous bullock-dray. We therefore took out the horses ; 
 Alfred mounted Ben, and leading the grey, cantered away to our 
 tent, to inform them there of our fix. Meantime I made a fire 
 by the road-side, and prepared to pass the night there ; but 
 Alfred returned with Charlton, and they insisted that they should 
 stay there, and that I should go to the tent. So I set ofi^, like 
 some old Gibeonite reaching the end of his journey. In the 
 excitement of passing the bad road near Melbourne, I had blis- 
 tered my heel, and, as is the case too much in this bush life, the 
 wound was more inclined to make a sore than to heal. I was 
 therefore tolerably lame, and could only limp slowly through the 
 three miles of now dark forest. In the haste of our journey I 
 had never found time to shave since leaving Melbourne. My 
 clothes were torn by the boughs and protruding dead sticks of the 
 bush ; my boots had rent their seams, from having to drag them 
 through stiff mud to the knees, and then to clamber over rocky 
 places ; and my hands were torn miserably with the elastic wattle 
 boughs which I had cut to make props for the cart, while we got 
 the axle and wheels on again. I was right glad to get a good 
 
DEATH OF BOB, A FAVOURITE DOG. 225 
 
 night's rest, a good wash, and fresh clothes. But there was not 
 much rest to be had. 
 
 That evening it set in to rain, and rained torrents all night. 
 I could not sleep for thinking of those two poor lads lying, in such 
 a night, in the broken-down cart, all on one side, in the middle of 
 the^ great muddy Sydney thoroughfare. I expected that in that 
 position they would be deluged with water. But at the same time 
 I pondered on the quickest and most effectual remedy for our 
 disaster. With the early morning, therefore, I rose and rode back 
 with the horses, and found the boys quite jolly, with a good fire, 
 and having made a good breakfast. We had sent them on a 
 supply of bread by a poor fellow who had lain under his cart all 
 night by our fire, and they gave him his breakfast with them. 
 Alfred and I again, therefore, set out to Kilmore, each carrying 
 on his horse a fragment of the broken axle, leaving Charlton guard 
 over the cart. The smith soon gave it a temporary weld, so as to 
 make it able to take our cart to our tent, which was soon done, 
 and so glad were we to see this effected that we gave three hearty 
 hurrahs ! 
 
 We found that all had gone right at our tent in our absence, 
 except that we had lost a very fine dog. Bob, by distemper and 
 influenza, which rage here occasionally. In Melbourne they were 
 carting dead dogs out of the streets by loads, and the disease had 
 affected them throughout the whole colony. Poor Bob ! we were 
 sorry to lose him ; he was a fine shepherd dog, of the Scotch 
 breed, black and tan, and a perfect monomaniac after opossums. 
 He could find them any time, and such was his delight on the 
 sliglitest appearance of setting out on a hunt, that he used to bark 
 as if he were crazy, and jump round in the most odd way, not 
 running round, but twirling round on the spot where he stood at 
 one jump. 
 
 The smith now made our axle four times the strength it was. 
 He warranted it to carry a ton and a half over any roads in the 
 colony, and so it proved, — we had done with axle-breaking. We 
 got new bushes put into the wheels, and the whole thing made 
 complete. The axle had cost us 13/. within the last month, and 
 the cart had now cost us 60/. We were delayed by the wheel- 
 wright's men having run off to the diggings. On Saturday he had 
 six men, on Monday all but he and his foreman had vanished. 
 We also spent two days in exploring the roads. We found that 
 we had, ahead, three miles of road again between fences, there 
 having been another special survey near Kilmore inclosed, and 
 with the same entire neglect of Government to expend a farthing 
 
 Q 
 
'226 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of tlie proceeds in making the road thus fenced off. This was 
 even more infamously abominable than the six miles near Mel- 
 bourne. We therefore reconnoitred the open forest, and found a 
 direction that would bring us out beyond the fences, and to where 
 better road commenced. But oh the weather that we had ! With 
 the exception of the week in which we went down to Melbourne, 
 we had nothing but rain, incessant rain, a month's rain ! We had 
 then been five weeks out, and were only forty miles off. True, 
 we had made the journey twice. But day and night it was nothing 
 but rain, rain, rain, agreeably varied by fierce winds tearing 
 through the woods, by frost, snow, sleet, and fog. What an idea 
 new arrivers in June must have of this climate ! One morning 
 there was ice half an inch thick on the water in the vessels out- 
 side the tent, and I never felt my hands so perished with cold as 
 in handling the axe to get wood in the morning for the fire. How 
 the natives live in this country in winter without any houses, is 
 to me a puzzler. 
 
 But it is not to be supposed that our difficulties in getting up 
 the country were more than ordinary. No, every day and every 
 hour we saw similar disasters. Whilst I was writing this, a loaded 
 cart went right over just below our tent, the shafter being flung on 
 his back, and the shafts broken. The cart lay bottom upwards in 
 the road, the load under it, in the mud a foot deep at least. A 
 little farther on, a cart stood fast, up to the axles in the road, 
 where the party had abandoned it in despair. The whole road, all I 
 the way up, was full of such spectacles ; and the bullock-teams 
 went along with such a din of swearing, cracking of whips, and 
 incessant bawling as gave you a feeling of the difficulty with 
 which every yard was made through the deep mire and clay, such: 
 as nothing but the witnessing can realise. Freight to the M'lvorj 
 was 80/. a ton, or more than IZ. a mile, and this month's rail 
 doubled it, by its effects on the roads. 
 
 On the 10th of June was the anniversary of our sailing from] 
 Plymouth, and on the 12th, which was Sunday, we commemorate(' 
 it, being a rest-day, with roast beef and plum-pudding. We hac 
 neither made our fortunes nor seen others do it at the gold-fields of 
 such marvellous fame, but we had dug up a good mass of gold, andj 
 were all well and jolly, having great cause for thankfulness, aftei 
 what we had seen of the speedy ends of numbers who went out 
 with us ; those who had remained in Melbourne having, perhapsj 
 suffered the most. Mrs. A., a comparatively young woman, with 
 son and two daughters, had lost them all there in the meantime. 
 
 Seeing the state of the roads, and that it was not safe to proceedi 
 
BROKEN CARRIAGES AND DEAD CATTLE. 227 
 
 till we had pioneered ahead, we concluded to go no fartlier each 
 day than was necessary to take half our load, and then fetch up 
 the remainder. We calculated that we should not in this way make 
 more, on an average, than five miles a day. That would be a week 
 in reaching M'lvor from Kilmore ; but then we should always be 
 all of us at hand to assist in difficulties, or defend in case of attack, 
 which we should not be if we divided our party, by going right up 
 with half our stores at once. We could, on this plan, go pleasantly 
 along, and be independent of the weather. If it rained deluges, 
 we could remain quiet, and our stores would be safe under our tent, 
 on double tarpaulings on the earth, and every night we should all 
 have the tent, and comfortable beds. 
 
 But, as it will have been seen, there is no slavery to man or beast 
 like that of getting up to the diggings. Sticking fast ; loading and 
 unloading in consequence ; digging wheels out of the terrible 
 quagmires ; heaving at them with long poles for levers ; shouting, 
 flogging, swearing, straining, — that is the every-day work on the 
 roads, except on the hard hill roads. Before and behind, you hear 
 nothing but one eternal clamour of bullock-drivers, always appa- 
 rently in a fever of despair ; and at every few hundred yards lie 
 the carcases of horses and bullocks, killed in the dreadful business. 
 
 Mr. Clarke, a hospitable settler, a few miles beyond Kilmore, 
 said that he had often been tempted to put Martin's Act against 
 cruelty to animals in force, such were the scenes which he con- 
 stantly witnessed, from the road passing in front of his house. 
 But then he reflected that it would be an act of flagrant injustice 
 to the bullock-drivers, unless he could put the Act in force against 
 the Government too, who were the authors of it all. This Govern- 
 ment derived two millions a year from the gold fields and the sale of 
 lands, and ought, at least, to have spent one-half in making tolerable 
 roads for those from whom they drew so princely a revenue. They 
 expended nothing at all, but lived on comfortably in Melbourne, 
 as though no such daily scenes of cruelty and destruction of life 
 and property were passing along the whole line of every road thence 
 to the diggings ; and cooUy expended the whole upon their own 
 salaries, and on those of a crowd of young, useless, and arrogant 
 commissioners on the gold fields. By this conduct, they were fast 
 alienating the respect, and exhausting the patience, of all good 
 and thinking men. 
 
 Facts, ludicrous as well as sad, were often occurring from this 
 state of the roads. While we were at Mr. Clarke's, there came a 
 man to borrow a spade, to dig his boot out of the mud of the road. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 He was digging at it all forenoon, and had not got the boot out when 
 we went away. 
 
 From a mount above Mr. Clarke's house there is a splendid view 
 of the country, and of the mountains around, some of them very 
 distant. On one hand, you see the hills on the Goulburn, the 
 Tallarook hills, and those beyond the Campaspe. Nearer are the 
 Plenty Ranjijes — Mount Disappointment being the most conspi- 
 cuous ; the Sugar-loaf Hill peeping over other Ranges ; and on the 
 other hand. Mount Macedon. In the foreground lies a piece of 
 cultivated country, consisting of the farms on the Special Survey, 
 sold to a Sydney Company, and lately mentioned ; and which 
 reaches from very near Mr. Clarke's to Kilraore, some four miles 
 or so distant. The farmers of these small farms, of from fifty to 
 one hundred acres, before the discovery of the gold were very 
 poor ; could but just make a living, and had often to borrow money 
 to get their harvest in. Now, they were selling their produce at 
 high rates, and employed themselves in carting up stores to the 
 diggings, at from 50/. to 150/. a ton, according to the season, and 
 were grown rich. One of them had recently sold a stack of hay 
 for 1000/., and another one for 700/. They were, many of them, al- 
 ready worth their 4000/. each. Such is the effect of gold. In 
 fact, farming was most profitable, from the price of all produce, 
 and the restriction of the sale of land. But we felt that the far- 
 mers, as well as the squatters, must make hay while the sun shone; 
 for the British Government had now granted to these colonies the 
 right to make new constitutions for themselves, and as the unli- 
 mited sale of land will no doubt be the result, produce will fall 
 with the greater means of its production ; and the demand of the 
 public for many of the stations to be thrown into the market, will 
 cast a doubt on their permanent value. At that time, however, 
 such was the demand for all farm produce, that land was the truest 
 gold-mine, and such the demand for beef, mutton, and wool, that 
 the squatters were constantly taking new ground, and pushing their 
 way further into the distant wilderness beyond the Murray, the 
 Billibong, and the Edwards. 
 
 Of the little farmers just mentioned, there were 120 on the; 
 Special Survey ; and before the discovery of gold, they carted the 
 squatters' wool down to Melbourne, forty miles, for 505. per ton ;? 
 since that discovery, it was become 50/. a ton, or, as many pounds 
 as it was before shillings. Gold had been discovered in the 
 Ranges behind Mr. Clarke's, and no doubt there will be diggings 
 all round there some day. 
 
 Mr. Clarke showed us a way through the woods behind his 
 
EXTRAORDINARY WEATHER. 229 
 
 house, by which we escaped a most horrid road in front of it, along 
 the deep, black, volcanic soil. He said that he had repeatedly 
 pointed out this admirable bush road to the bullock-drivers, but in 
 vain. They imagined, as was true, as far as himself was concerned, 
 that he only wanted to prevent their passing in front of his house, 
 and ploughing all the rich, green level up into one immense black 
 limbo of mud, in which they set their drays fast, and broke their 
 axles, while all the time they might have had a hard road, and a 
 much nearer, through the forest. As for poor Mr. Clarke, they 
 kept him in a perpetual state of excitement, for as one track be- 
 came impassable, they ploughed up a new one still nearer and 
 nearer to his house. To prevent their knocking down his fences, 
 he dug two deep ditches, but they bounced over these with their 
 empty drays, and would soon level them enough for the loaded ones 
 to follow. To prevent this, and the destruction of his garden, he 
 put up a board, stating that this Avas private property, and warning 
 them to keep farther off ; but the very first bullock-drivers who 
 came by knocked down the board and kindled their fire with it. 
 Poor man ! he had to be continually on the watch ; and as you 
 were speaking with him, he would snatch up his telescope, and 
 look here and there, and would be almost sure to exclaim, — " Ex- 
 cuse me, I see a troop of fellows going across my paddock. They 
 have knocked down the fence. I must go to them." And thus 
 he was constantly darting out of his house, as a spider out of its 
 web, to stop the encroachments of the bullock-driving race. This, 
 it may be imagined, was no enviable position for a man of fortune, 
 who had lived all alone in his lordly wilds till the demon of gold 
 destroyed his rest for ever. 
 
 During the week of our progress on this road, we had the 
 most extraordinary weather, — heat, cold, wet, drought in rapid 
 alternations. The frost for several successive nights was almost 
 as severe as in England. The ice on the pools was a quarter 
 of an inch thick, and in our buckets we had sohd masses of ice 
 an inch thick in one night ; but the days w^ere as warm as 
 our summer weather, and speedily melted the ice. Tiien again 
 came heavy rain ; after hoar frost, rain there is certain ; yet after 
 the rain we often sought water in vain. It is singular that the 
 most rain falls by night, and yet the animals are mostly out by 
 night, and there is sure to be a bog on the top of a hill! 
 
 The country we passed through was very fine, the hills showing 
 themselves on all sides, though the land was much less rich as we 
 advanced farther from Melbourne ; but still it was splendid land 
 for sheep and cattle grazing, and very picturesque to the eye, 
 
 Q3 
 
230 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 with its steep hills covered with forests and gray granite rocks, 
 and with deep dells running up amongst them, where we occa- 
 sionally encamped in most secluded places, by clear, rapid brooks, 
 overlmng by the wild woodlands. 
 
 Not the least amusing things on our journey were the groups 
 that passed us, and the applications they made. I went on in 
 the morning as far as we intended to travel that day, with the 
 first load. I then remained with the goods, set up the tent, and 
 got dinner ready for the arrival of the second detachment. When 
 I had all in readiness, I sate down and read in the open air under 
 some tree by the tent, to the great wonder of all passers by. One 
 day the Government escort, with six troopers guarding the gold, 
 rode by. The officer exclaimed, — ''Look! there is a gentleman 
 reading in an easy chair ; why, it is quite luxurious ! '* Presently 
 came rapidly past a party of mounted police guarding a lot of 
 bushrangers in a spring-cart, who had been taken near M'lvor. 
 They were equally astonished at my sitting there by my fire in my 
 easy chair. " My word though," said one, " he does not seem to 
 care anything about bushrangers." Then came past four bullock- 
 teams, and the drivers, equally astonished, discussed what I could 
 be doing there all alone, and one said, — *'Why the man must 
 think of living there, surely." 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and the road was crowded with, 
 drays, carts, and pedestrians, going up and down as if it were no 
 Sunday at all; and an old Scotchman was not far wrong when he 
 one day observed to me, — "It is a fearfu' country, sir, a fearfu'i 
 country, where they pay nae respect to the Sabbath at a'." Yet] 
 what an idea it presents of the mighty impulse given to the colony, 
 to sit and see the throngs upon throngs which are going eagerly I 
 to and fro in the wilderness, where, till the other day, the natives 
 only wandered solitarily after the opossum and kangaroo. The 
 number of people who one day came up to us to ask questions waaj 
 quite amusing. One man wanted us to sell him a little sugar, 
 enough for a day or two ; another a little salt, for he had none] 
 for his damper ; a third wanted to know if ours was a coffee-shop.j 
 Another came to inquire whether we had seen a particular teai 
 of bullocks ; another certain horses ; another if we had observec 
 a couple of empty carts anywhere standing by the road-sid( 
 Then a whole troop inquired how far to the Pick and Shovel Inn^ 
 Then two Americans, asking if we had seen a young man walking 
 in slippers, and carrying his boots, which we had not, but ha( 
 seen one walking without any slippers or boots at all. " Ko, that 
 was not their chum ;" and soon they came back shouting, — " Al 
 
til 
 
 A COCKNEY SHEPHERD. 231 
 
 right, mates, we have found the prodigal son ! " and after them 
 shuffled a very foot-sore youth, while one of them carried his 
 swag, and another his boots. 
 
 At last, as it was growing dark, up came a man saying, in a 
 sharp, quick voice, — "Good evening." ^'Hiilo!" said Alfred, 
 " here comes Keeley ;" and sure enough the voice was precisely 
 Keeley's, and the man was a short, broad-set, fat man, for all the 
 world of Keeley's stamp. You might have imagined it was 
 Keeley acting some one of the strange characters which abound 
 in these woods. He was dressed in a very shabby pair of what 
 had once been very fine dark cloth trowsers, and a pair of light 
 stuff boots, with patent leather toes, such as the French and 
 Germans wear. He had on a black silk waistcoat, but no coat, 
 and " a shocking bad hat," which had once been a good beaver, 
 from beneath which streamed out the most rat-tailly and dis- 
 consolate raven-jet hair ; he appeared to have never had his 
 clothes off, or been washed for six months. And who do you 
 suppose this man was? A shepherd, of all things! What a 
 contrast to the classical shepherd, with his pipe and crook ; or to 
 the homely but wholesome Scotch shepherd, with his good warm 
 clothes, his stout staff, and his plaid over his shoulder. This man 
 had probably been a barman, or a waiter at some common inn or 
 eating-house in London. He looked like it ; and here he was a 
 shepherd ! He had lost his flock and himself, and came to inquire, 
 not after others, but after himself; literally, to learn where he 
 was. He said that the other shepherd had gone to seek his dog 
 when it was time to let the sheep out of the pen, and as he alone 
 let them out, they made a bolt and ran off into the bush, and he 
 after them till he lost sight of them, and then could not find 
 his way back. All that he could tell was, that his hut was a new 
 slab hut on Mollison's station up in the ranges, and three miles 
 
 om the Pick and Shovel. We advised him to take the road 
 ck to the station, whence, he said, he knew the way to his hut; 
 but, I suppose, he was ^afraid of the loss of his flock becoming 
 thus known at head-quarters ; and as he was here one mile from 
 the Pick and Shovel, and on the road, he thought he could hit his 
 
 ut ; and away he struck off in the supposed direction towards 
 e Ranges. I hope to heaven he found his way ; but being a 
 
 ew chum, utterly strange to the country, it is a great hazard if 
 he did. He is only one of hundreds who arrive without any 
 means, and take to shepherding till they can raise the wind to get 
 up to the diggings. That, he said, was what he was doing. He 
 
 Q 4 
 
232 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 had better have entered the liberal profession of road-making at 
 Melbourne at SI. per week. 
 
 Lastly, on this day of many Sunday visits, came some Essex 
 or Sussex clodhoppers, who had left the diggings " because," they 
 said, '* we heard some thieves in the next tent talking of cooking 
 ussens goose," that is, robbing them. 
 
 As we approached the diggings, the marvellous stories of the 
 wonders doing there, as is always the case, decreased more and 
 more. Campbell must excuse the paraphrase, but — 
 
 " 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, 
 And robes the Diggings in their golden hue." 
 
 The nearer we drew, the great numbers we saw returning 
 said a few were doing extremely well and thousands doing nothing 
 at all. This is always the case. There is a constant chase from 
 one digging to another, and the most distant one is alw^ays the 
 miraculous one. Innkeepers and storekeepers employ both their 
 abilities and their money to circulate these stories ; and the 
 farther oif, the less possibility there is of disproving them. This 
 humbug was then playing off there about the Ovens. Wondrous 
 stories were in circulation as to what was doing there. This was 
 preparatory to next summer, when the M'lvor diggings would be 
 deserted, from want of water, and numbers were nibbling at the 
 bait. " The Ovens," they said, ^^ would be certainly the richest 
 after all." But the true test, the amount of gold sent down by the 
 escort, did not support these alluring rumours. There was a report 
 of new diggings not far from the Pick and Shovel ; but no one 
 that sought them could find them. Hundreds, also, were rushing 
 away to new diggings on the Goulburn, fifty miles off. 
 
 We arrived about the middle of June, and pitched our tents 
 temporarily on an elevation just above M'lvor Creek, a mile and a 
 half short of the diggings. The situation was very pleasant. A 
 green slope, scattered with acacias and Banksias, descended to 
 the creek, a good stream, and beyond it ascended other green 
 slopes into the stringy-bark ranges. We had there quiet and 
 food for our horses. At that time of the year all the country 
 is as green as the fields of England, and the trees wear their 
 brightest verdure. The stringy-bark woods look at a distance 
 like oak woods, and the very Banksias are then handsome ; for 
 their foliage is fresh, and they are studded all over with thin, 
 bright yellow bottle-brushes. We decided that the Banksia is a 
 Pre-Raphaelite tree, and would look formally beautiful in one of 
 the pictures of that school. We had fine warm days and frosty 
 
STRIPPING BARK FOR A WINTER HUT. 233 
 
 nights, and we liked the winter season much better than the sum- 
 mer; for the country then was verdant, the air cool, and we 
 exempt from the intolerable plague of flies. All that part of the 
 country, which is a hungry sand, would be a scorched-up desert 
 in summer. 
 
 We took our first stroll through the diggings. They are like 
 any other diggings, but much more scattered than the Ovens. 
 The gold is there found on the left-hand side of the creek, and not, 
 at all events then, on its right bank. The gold-field lay along the 
 valley following the creek for about two miles, and extending up 
 the slopes to the feet of granite ranges of no very great height, at 
 about half a mile from the creek. They therefore, at that 
 time, covered a space. of about two miles long, by half a mile. 
 But they were rapidly extending in our direction, and no doubt 
 we were encamped upon gold. Nay, there is no reason why all the 
 valley we had come along, a dozen miles, and the gulleys running 
 up into the hills, especially about the Pick and Shovel Inn, should 
 not be auriferous. The gold in many places there is dug out of a 
 soft sand, in some places not more than three or four feet deep ; 
 but there are other quarters where the holes are thirty feet deep 
 and more. But more of these particulars anon. 
 
 I called on the Commissioner, Mr. Bracken bury, who seemed a 
 very gentlemanly young man, and offered to forward our inquiries 
 regarding the digging with great cordiality. He was in high 
 spirits just then at the prospect of M'lvor becoming a great cop- 
 per-field as well as gold-field. A Cornish miner, whom I saw, 
 announced the discovery of an abundant vein of copper ore, a 
 beautiful malachite, containing 75 per cent, of metal. He offered 
 to bring in three tons at once of this, provided he could have a lease 
 of a considerable piece of ground, about which he had been down 
 to the Governor. 
 
 Mr. Brackenbury said eight thousand ounces of gold were sent 
 down the preceding week by escort, besides what diggers and 
 storekeepers have in hand. He told us that the amount was in- 
 creasing, and gave us every assurance of the opportunity to pur- 
 chase gold to a large weekly amount. So far so good. We therefore 
 resolved to stay some weeks there, and make a fair trial of it. We 
 had settled to pitch our tent near the Commissioners' camp, and to 
 make a hut, both for greater warmth and security. In prepara- 
 tion, we spent three days in peeling stringy-bark trees. The hut 
 was to be the width of our tent, eleven feet, and nearly that length, 
 with a good, large fireplace built of turf and lined with stones ; so 
 that we should have two rooms : the inner one for cooking and our 
 
234 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 evening fireside ; the outer one, that is, our tent, for our gold- 
 buying bureau by day and our sleeping apartment by night. We 
 got all our bark and cut our timbers, and began to frame our hut, 
 intending to take it in complete for setting up. 
 
 It was quite a Robinson Crusoe work. The sheets of bark were 
 six feet high, and ran from four to six feet wide. When the 
 outer fuzzy bark was cleaned off with the adze, they looked like 
 great sheets of ruddy copper, and were still nearly an inch thick. 
 We calculated on being snug in the winter ; but I can say more 
 about that in my next chapter. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Aspect of Diggings? and Diggers. — Conspicuous Characters. — Mrs. Bunting. — 
 American Auctioneer. — Scene between him and a Digger, — American 
 Baker. — Grog-selling. — Euins. — Savage Dogs. — Noise of Fire-arms. — 
 Familiar Eudeness of Diggers. — A Specimen. — Corruptions of Language. 
 — What the Boys are growing into. — Account of one by himself. — How 
 they cheated the Commissioner. — Another Specimen and History. — Lesser 
 Fry. — A Bush Concert of Bullock-bells. 
 
 In perambulating the M'lvor Diggings, we found them very various 
 in the depth of sinking and in yield. The central parts near and 
 behind the Commissioners' camp were reported to have been the 
 richest, and these parts were the deepest, from thirty to forty feet. 
 The richest of all, Golden Gulley, in that quarter, it is said, was 
 discovered by a lad, the son of a blacksmith, as he was delving and 
 making a sham, boy's digging, — playing, in fact, at digging, — but 
 carrying gold in considerable quantities to his father; the black- 
 smith set to work in good earnest, and there was very soon a rush 
 there. Since then the digging has extended towards the Mel- 
 bourne side ; and Californian Gulley, German Gulley, Caledonian 
 Gulley, mere hollows, scarcely below the ordinary level of the 
 ground, were being dug up with very partial success. In and 
 along the creek others were digging, but were all complaining, 
 and saying, *' Oh ! these are only sham diggings." In the direc- 
 tion of the Ranges, the granite rocks assume some of the oddest and 
 most grotesque shapes that I have seen in this colony. They rise 
 in some places abruptly out of the ground, and stand in long ridges, 
 some like sugar-loaves, others like pyramids, and others very much 
 resemble the rocking-stones of Derbyshire and Cornwall. Farther 
 
ASPECT OF DIGGINGS AND DIGGERS. 235 
 
 up still, there are huge ridges of quartz, and the diggers were 
 poring and delving all amongst them. High up amongst the 
 woods they had sunk very deep, but apparently with very little 
 result. The land all round in the woods is most miserably barren. 
 It consists of mere stone, covered with a thin coarse scrub, some- 
 thing like broom ; and the diggers having felled every tree as far 
 as they had gone, gave the whole a very wretched, desolate look. 
 There was no feed whatever for horses on this side of the creek, 
 till you got near our encampment ; but there was very good feed 
 on the other side, where are hills of a considerable height, and a 
 perfectly solitary, unfrequented country. We hunted and rode a 
 good way round in that direction, to see what game we could see ; 
 but we could find none except kangaroo rats. We could hear the 
 wild dogs howling up in these hills; but we could not find any 
 of them, though we came upon half a dozen sheep lying killed only 
 the night before by them. 
 
 We found several parties there that we knew, but they all com- 
 plained of being greatly disappointed, and declared their intention 
 of going away again. The wonders, they said, which were re- 
 ported in Melbourne, all evaporated as they drew nearer ; and their 
 own luck had been but in conformity with this experience. The 
 diggers who were lured from Bendigo had all hurried back again, 
 declaring that that digging was worth ten of this. There all agreed 
 most was to be done, either in digging or in purchasing. We 
 concluded, therefore, not to winter at M'lvor, but to go at once to 
 Bendigo, and winter there, particularly as that field would require 
 a good while for us to make ourselves well acquainted with its real 
 character and value. A good many of our friends were there ; and 
 the more I saw of the population of M^Ivor, the less I liked it. 
 There appeared to be no gentlemen, or very few, amongst the 
 diggers. They were the most common, coarse set of fellows I saw 
 anywhere. They appeared all of the same navvie class, or made 
 up of carters, labourers, ostlers, and low fellows, the scum of 
 London, cab-drivers, and men about stables. They were a brutish, 
 vulgar set, and monstrous thieves. One day, a man walking across 
 the diggings at noon, had a pistol put to his head, and his money 
 demanded. He had 201. in his pocket, which in his sudden terror 
 he gave up ; and the thief dodged round a tent, and, before the 
 plundered man recovered his presence of mind, was quite lost sight 
 of. One Monday whilst we were there, the Commissioners de- 
 cided not less than fifty cases of offences of one kind or another. 
 In one night ten horses were stolen from the flat below our tent. 
 Luckily, ours, being on the other side, escaped ; but at noon-day 
 
236 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 some scoundrel stole a bell off the neck of one of them, worth a 
 sovereign. We saw it there an hour before. 
 
 We resolved to go without delay to Bendigo, which is only 
 thirty-five miles distant. But before quitting this place, I must 
 give a few of its popular characteristics. 
 
 Mr. Bateman was sketching some scenes in the diggings, — a 
 Sunday open-air preaching, a public auction, &c. The people soon 
 got about him, and wanted him to sketch their tents, stores, and 
 places of business, which I advised him to do, but not under 51. 
 per sketch, as this class of people have plenty of money, and are 
 all amazingly proud of their establishments. He, therefore, stated 
 his terms for a small pencil sketch, and had at once a host of 
 orders. The butcher, the baker, the auctioneer, all wanted pic- 
 tures of their places, to send home to their friends. The store- 
 keepers followed with eager demands, and Mr. Bateman might soon 
 have sketched all the diggings seriatim — a mile or two long. But 
 now for a glimpse or two of scenes and characters of digger life. 
 
 First, there was Mrs. Bunting, an enormously fat woman. Her 
 husband was a storekeeper ; but Mrs. Bunting cut the first figure 
 in the establishment. She was well known as a sly grog-seller, and 
 has been fined some dozen times or more, from 20/. to 50/. a time ; 
 but she did not care for it, she still went on, and set the law at 
 defiance. She rode on horseback about the diggings, and was 
 especially ambitious to be sketched in the equestrian character. 
 Nothing could exceed her dignity and bulk, except it were a 
 Turkish dome or a steam-boiler on horseback. She drove down 
 to Melbourne in their spring cart, in company with the escort ; for 
 she was a purchaser of gold ; and on Sundays, when other stores 
 were closed, she had a large placard up in front of hers, with 
 " Gold bought this day." Well, she drove down with a pair of 
 pistols in her belt at her capacious waist, and told the troopers of 
 the escort that she would protect them in case of attack from bush- 
 rangers. All the way she kept ahead of them, and cracked her 
 whip, and whistled to them, and called to them to come on. 
 Everybody knew Mrs. Bunting, and had anecdotes to relate of her. 
 There are some hugely fat women on the diggings ; the life seems 
 to suit them. We saw one in a cart on the road, who set fast the 
 cart and horse in a boggy place. She was the only load, and there 
 they were sticking. 
 
 Next to Mrs. Bunting, I should say that a Mr. Langley, ai 
 American auctioneer, was the most distinguished character. He' 
 was every day mounted on a cart, or something equally elevated, 
 selling all manner of things in the chief street before the auction- 
 
CONSPICUOUS CHARACTEKS. ' 237 
 
 tent. He had an auction-tent, a store-tent, and a tent to live in, 
 all in a row, which he called the St. Louis Stores, St. Louis Mart, 
 &c. He was a slight made man, with a rather effeminate style of 
 features, and somewhat sandy whiskers, but especially American, 
 and a regular go-ahead one. He had always a crowd of diggers 
 about him, and sold off their carts, horses, tents, tools, everything, 
 when they were going away. When the diggers' articles were 
 exhausted, he sold his own. He had a never-failing stock of 
 books, for instance. While Mr. Bateman was sketching here, he 
 was selling " Uncle Tom's Cabin." You might hear him puffing 
 off old dirty volumes, as "these splendid volumes;" "these works 
 that every one ought to know something of ;" " this work which 
 treats of a nation that we all ought to make ourselves acquainted 
 with ;" " this curious work in which the author has said things of 
 illustrious characters — by the bye, how could this extraordinary 
 volume get here ? Why, it is not to be had in London. That is 
 singular, how it escaped the book-hunters in Europe ; — this most 
 inquisitive, Paul Pry of a — " all this time turning over the leaves, 
 breaking out in broader and broader smiles, as if quite forgetful of 
 his audience in the piquant pleasantries and secrets of the book ; 
 but all the time listening to the five, ten, fifteen shillings of the 
 eager and rapidly advancing biddings ; when, knocking off for 
 some nineteen shillings a greasy tome not worth sixpence on a 
 London book-stall, he would say, — " Ah ! you've a prize there, my 
 friend ; that's the gem of the auction — nay, I should say of the 
 colony ; I should have liked to keep that myself." And then he 
 immediately proceeded to sell some still greater wonder. The 
 diggers fired off plenty of their rough wit at him, which he took 
 in good part, and chaffed them in return. One day we saw a 
 drunken digger stop opposite, and put up his cradle, which he was 
 carrying on his head, for sale, in opposition to Langley. There 
 was a vast deal of laughter, roars of it ever and anon, — for the 
 drunken fellow was very droll, and mimicked the auctioneer ad- 
 mirably, and often turned the laugh against him. At length 
 Langley put up the digger and his cradle together, as one lot, to 
 outjoke the fellow ; but he instantly put up the boots which 
 Langley had on, declaring that he would give the wearer in, and 
 made so much merriment that Langley confessed himself beaten. 
 
 These scenes were all grist to the Yankee auctioneer's mill ; and 
 very probably he had planned the affair with the digger. How- 
 ever, when he had done his ordinary day's sale, he mounted his 
 horse, put a fine brilliant-coloured cap on his head, and rode about 
 the streets of the diggings to attract notice, and sell the horse he 
 
£38 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 was upon. He was making several hundred pounds per week. 
 The Commissioners would not license any auctioneer at M'lvor as 
 they did at the other diggingrs; but he went on just the same. 
 One day, however, they had him up for galloping in the streets, 
 and fined him. These auctions are very useful and convenient 
 things, for you may buy or sell anything at them, which would 
 occasion you much difficulty to find or dispose of without them. 
 
 The storekeepers were all making fortunes. Green, the baker, 
 another American, was said to be worth his 20,000/., and meant, 
 he said, the next year to go home, and retire. He was an enormous 
 man, with great black mustachios and whiskers — a sort of baking 
 Hercules, but a very good-natured fellow. 
 
 Another very money-getting trade is grog -selling. Government, 
 as I am aware that I have already said, did not then allow the sale 
 of spirits on the diggings. They seized them where found, and 
 fined the vender 50/., besides burning down his tent ; but in spite 
 of this it still went on. In fact, it was well known that these peo- 
 ple paid the police extravagantly not to see them, or meddle with 
 them. Everybody knew where these grog-shops were ; and it was 
 no uncommon thing for them to be kept by bushrangers, or by 
 men in connection with them. They were well known ; yet they 
 were not taken, the police said, because it required specific facts 
 to arrest a man upon ; but the diggers said, for the reason assigned, 
 that the police were bribed. 
 
 There were a vast number of robberies on or round the diggings ; 
 and a good many bushrangers had been secured, — amongst them a 
 desperate fellow called the Black Douglas, who managed to escape 
 from the troopers, but was again taken. There was a man keeping 
 a grog-shop who seemed to be known to almost everybody as an old 
 bushranger ; and yet nobody meddled with him, and diggers were 
 so foolish as to go and drink there. The bushrangers came in 
 disguised as diggers, and heard all the news, and talked of the dig- 
 gers who had been successful, and learned, therefore, where to 
 make their attacks. 
 
 At the Pick and Shovel Inn, ten miles on the Melbourne side of 
 M^Ivor, some young friends of ours stopped all night. There was 
 a considerable number of men there, who were talking very freely, 
 and leading others to talk of gold-digging; saying what sums they 
 had made, and then putting the like questions to the other guests. 
 They pulled out lots of gold and nuggets, and challenged the dig^ 
 gers there to match the fineness of those specimens. When thej 
 went away, a person who was staying all night, asked our young 
 friends if they knew what sort of people they had been in company 
 
NOISE OF FIREAKMS FAMILIAR. 239 
 
 with ; and told them that they were a gang of notorious bush- 
 rangers. 
 
 Amongst the grog-sellers of M'lvor, we discovered our old one- 
 eyed enemy of the Yackandanda Creek, Polypheme. There, while 
 with the miller, he was a professed teetotaller ; but here he was in 
 his real character, and one of the most notorious scamps of the 
 place. 
 
 One of the things which strike you everywhere in the gold- 
 colony is the blunt, rude, independent manner of the common 
 people. These men, in England, had a score of wealthier and more 
 educated classes above them ; but there they are relieved from the 
 high pressure of such a state of society. They find themselves the 
 great majority of the country, and rarely see anybody, except on 
 the diggings, who possesses any authority over them. There they 
 come into rude collision with Commissioners and police, and, 
 therefore, hate them. They get more money than at home, possess 
 and ride on horses, carry guns, and keep dogs. On the MTvor 
 diggings there were the most huge, savage, furious dogs kept that 
 I had seen anywhere. At every tent was chained one or more of 
 these stupendous brutes ; and you must be careful how you steered 
 your way amongst the tents to keep out of the reach of their chains. 
 The diggers' guns, or rather firearms of all sorts, were an especial 
 nuisance. They were continually discharging them on the dig- 
 gings. There was a perpetual thunder of guns, pistols, and re- 
 volvers, night and morning — I verily believe for the sake of the 
 noise ; and I fancy an importation of little cannons, 6-pounders 
 or so, would vastly delight them. 
 
 At home, few of these men ever handled a gun in their lives ; 
 there they all have them ; and on Sundays are out, and firing at 
 everything they see. They are dangerous sportsmen^ these quon- 
 dam labourers and cockneys, for they rarely think of anything but 
 the bird they aim at. One young puppy, who had the look of a 
 shop-lad, actually ^one day shot straight into our tent, at only eighty 
 yards' distance, meaning to have hit a wattle-bird in a bush below 
 the tent. I went out and told him what he had done ; on which, 
 instead of expressing any regret, he assumed a very grand air, and 
 informed me that if I presumed to say another word he would 
 "double me up in a minute." I invited him to try the experiment; 
 but he only gave me a disdainful look, patted the barrel of his 
 gun, saying " Here's my bottle-holder, and Snooks is my name, if 
 you want me any time ; " with which magniloquent delivery he 
 stalked off". 
 
 In fact, it is impossible that such thousands of the coarsest, rudest, 
 
240 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and most ignorant, of the English population, well sprinkled with 
 felons from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land, should thus meet to- 
 gether without becoming anything but agreeable or polite. There 
 are, it is true, many exceptions, and much rough good-nature 
 amongst them ; but they are, as a whole, truly the Hairistocracy. 
 Their most courteous terms for anybody are, " The man there ; " 
 " The old man there ; " " The old woman there ; " "I say, old 
 fellow!" "Well, lad; "and so on. They enjoy, indeed, there a 
 new liberty, of which they never dreamed before : how different to 
 the state of the silk-stocking, crirason-plushed, livery-servants at 
 home, who stand touching their hats at every word of their em- 
 ployers. There, on the contrary, released from whatever species 
 or degree of control they were accustomed to, these men run into 
 the rudest and most impertinent license. 
 
 They make very free with you. They stop on the road at your 
 tent, and make the most unceremonious remarks. They actually 
 seem to take an inventory of your effects. Up they come, when 
 they spy your fire ; take up a firestick to light their pipes ; seat 
 themselves on the ground, or on a log, if they incline to rest, and 
 accost you in terms of the most familiar equality. Then they go on 
 talking to each other in this style : — " Look what a great big tent 
 these men have got. Why, it is as big as a Commissioner's ! A 
 good cart, and two prime horses." 
 
 " Ay," replies another, " and some capital dogs. I say, old 
 fellow, what will you take for them two dogs ; I mean th' big black 
 un and th' little yoUi un ? I'll buy 'em." 
 
 " They are not to be sold." 
 
 " No ! Why, you've Lord knows how many, and I want one 
 or two. Well, I'll buy one of those there horses. I'll have the 
 bay." ** And I the gray one," says his chum. 
 
 " They are not for sale." 
 
 *' No ? Have you got a drain, then ? " (grog). " No." " Any 
 cigars?" "No." 
 
 " See here, Sam," cries another, " what jolly loaves. I'll have 
 one of these loaves. What's the price ? " 
 
 " Not to be sold : we don't keep a store." 
 
 " You don't eh ? D — n it, you might sell a fellow something. 
 Look ! they've got iron bedsteads, axes, mallet and wedges, rugs, 
 blankets, buckets, kettles, frying-pans, tins, easy-chairs, boxes, 
 spades, shovels, and everything necessary for anything. And 
 what a heap of things under that tarpaulin there! What ever on 
 earth do they want with all these things, if they don't want to keep 
 a store ? " And so on they talk, just as if you were not present. 
 
WHAT THE BOYS ARE GROWING INTO. 241 
 
 Their attempts sometimes to use a better language than they 
 know is very amusing. The Coliban Creek they always call the 
 Columbine ; the Campaspe river the Cumpasity ; and the Tumut, 
 the Tumult. One man had a deal to say of people monoplising 
 things. Another passed us with a couple of wood-ducks, — ducks 
 that perch on trees, — the Bernicla jubata^ a species of barnacle. 
 I asked him if he had seen any turkeys out where he had been. 
 He said, *' No ; and, in fact, the turkeys here are not real turkeys, 
 they are turkey buzzards," — that is, vultures, the scavengers of 
 Constantinople. The so-called turkeys there are bustards. 
 
 It will take a century to work this miscellaneous gathering of 
 rude people out of the scum. As they get money, they will, how- 
 ever, as in America, in time give their children some education ; 
 but out of them will grow, as is plain to see, a go-ahead, self- 
 confident, Yankee sort of people. It is really amusing and 
 amazing to see what a knowing race of lads there is already 
 amongst them : lads perfectly precocious in their experiences ; 
 lads who have been wandering ever since they first got on their 
 legs — partly at home, and partly in different colonies of this 
 continent. They set up for themselves before most lads at home 
 go out apprentices, and are doing business on their own account 
 before they have a trace of beard on their chins. Their spring, 
 like that of the climate, is an almost indefinable streak between 
 winter and summer. 
 
 A boy of this class often came up to our tent. One day he 
 came to me, as I was sitting on the trunk of a tree near the tent ; 
 and, resting his back against it, began to talk. " A pretty flock 
 of sheep, that," said he, nodding his head towards a flock that he 
 was watching. " A pretty flock for a butcher at one time — about 
 200 of them." 
 
 " Yes," I observed, " a nice little flock. What does the butcher 
 give you a day, now, for looking after them ? " 
 
 " The butcher give me ! Why he gives me nothing ; they 
 belong to me and my mate." 
 
 " What ! " said I, " a boy like you in business already ?" 
 
 " Why, as to that," said he, " I have been in business a good 
 while now ;" and so he went on to tell me his story. He was a 
 slim, good-looking lad, of fourteen or fifteen. He was originally 
 from London, but so long ago that he did not know from what 
 part of it. His father, he said, was down in Melbourne, carting 
 water, and, as he expressed it, was always putting his hand into 
 his pocket, not to pull out money, but to put it in. He himself 
 went to the (Riggings, and got enough to purchase a horse and cart. 
 
 R 
 
242 TAVO TEAKS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 But he had scarcely got to work, carting washing-stuff for the 
 diggers, when the horse was claimed as a stolen one. Tliis, he 
 said, sickened him of horseflesh, so he sold his cart, and joined 
 the butcher, his present partner, in carrying stores to the 
 diggings in a bullock-dray; and next, in fetching cattle out of 
 New South Wales. The butcher, his mate, had a station at Yass, 
 in New South Wales ; it was there they went, about 300 
 miles ; and when they had sold their stores, they were going there 
 again. 
 
 It was pretty evident that, amongst their various business 
 concerns, he and his mate kept a sly grog-shop ; and it was very 
 amusing to hear him tell how they contrived to trick what he 
 called " the fools of Commissioners." 
 
 *' One day," said he, " my mate and I went to deposit some money 
 at the Commissioners'," — who act as a sort of bankers to the 
 diggers, — *' but the Commissioner on duty would not take it. * I 
 hear,' said he, * that you sell grog.' Of course," said the boy, 
 '* we denied it ; but, as we saw that the Commissioner meant to 
 make a search, my mate held him in talk, while I got off as fast 
 as I could, and sent the bullock-driver with the kegs into the 
 bush. I gave the bullock-driver a bottle of rum, to amuse him- 
 self with while he lay there. Scarcely was he gone, when the 
 Commissioner came with a policeman. ' Police,' said he, 'search 
 this store ; I hear they sell grog.' So the police began and turned 
 everything over in the store ; and, of course, ibund nothing. 
 Because why ? the bullock-driver was sitting crowner's 'quest on 
 it in the bush. Then the Commissioner ordered him to search the 
 tent. Now, we knew the policeman well enough, for many was 
 the glass of grog that we had given him to keep all close. ' So,' 
 says he, as he passes my mate, just in a low way like, ' mate,' says 
 he, ' if you have any in the bed, don't pull the clothes off, but 
 only touzle them about pretty well.' But my mate said out right 
 loud, as the Commissioner might hear him, — ' Off with the clothes, 
 policeman ! out with the bed ! dig up the floor if you like ! and 
 for every drop of grog that you find on my premises, I'll give you 
 an ounce of gold for it.' So they pulley-hawlied everything 
 about, and found nothing ; — 'case why ? The bullock-driver had 
 it snug in the wattle -scrub." 
 
 This was the point that particularly tickled the boy's fancy. 
 He seemed at one and the same moment to see the Commissioner 
 watching intently for a keg of rum coming to light, and the 
 bullock-driver, somewhere in a thick wattle-scrub, sitting, what he 
 called, crowner's 'quest on the kegs, and amusing himself with a 
 
TRICKING THE COMMISSIONER. 243 
 
 bottle to his own cheek. And the lad could not help laughing 
 outright at the double scene. 
 
 "When the Commissioner saw that there was nothing, he 
 looked as gruff as a bear at stake ; and he said in a lofty, proud 
 sort of way, ' Well, as you can find nothing, police, you can go.' 
 And with that he began to walk off in a stately fashion. 
 
 " But now it was our turn to talk ; and a pretty talk, I assure 
 you, we made of it. ' Mr. Commissioner/ we said, ' it is all very 
 well to charge us with sly grog-selling, and come and turn our 
 store and tent topsy-turvy ; but who is to set all these things 
 right again, and who is to make us recompense for this scandal on 
 respectable tradesmen ? ' 
 
 '* At that he looked mighty astonished, and turned very red, 
 ' Oh,' said he, * you can soon put all to rights again.' But my 
 mate said, * Not so, Mr. Commissioner. If we had sold grog, and 
 you had found it, you would have seized it, and fined us heavily 
 into the bargain; but, as you have falsely accused us, we shall 
 expect at least to be left as good as you found us. Pray where 
 are we to sleep to-night, everything here being sixes and sevens, 
 and our beds all pulled to pieces? Where are we to get our 
 suppers cooked in this confusion ? Where are we to breakfast, 
 I ask?' 
 
 "'Well, my man,' said the Commissioner, 'what do you want to 
 recompense you?' 
 
 "'Twenty pounds,' says my mate, boldly. 
 
 '"Twenty pounds! that is preposterous !' said the Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 "'Well, Mr. Commissioner,' said my mate, 'if you think that 
 too much, then send your own men, and let them do it ; it is all 
 one to us, so that it is done. But mark me, sir, it must be to- 
 night, and soon, as we shall be suffering from your unjust sus- 
 picion all the time.' 
 
 "'Very well,' said the Commissioner; 'I will send a couple of 
 my men ;' and he marched away, as proud as a peacock. But no 
 men came; so at night we just put a few things in order a bit, got 
 our suppers, and went to bed. In the morning we ups, gets our 
 breakfasts, throws the beds and everything into statico again, and 
 off we set to the Commissioner's. When we saw him we com- 
 plained heavily of nobody being sent, and of having to sit up 
 all night, leastwise as long as we could keep awake, and then only 
 resting our headaion the chopping-block. 
 
 " ' My good fellows,' said the Commissioner, * you make much 
 
 B 2 
 
244 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 ado about nothing. You might have put all right yourselves be- 
 fore now.' 
 
 " * About nothing ? nothing?' we broke out, both at once, * no- 
 thing ? Is having our place turned topsy-turvy, nothing ? our 
 business stopped, nothing ? for we can't do a single thing. Is the 
 slur cast on us, nothing ? Nothing, sitting up supperless all night? 
 Sir, we were all right before you came and ransacked us ; and we 
 expect to be set all right again, as you promised.' 
 
 '* * But I have got no men at liberty at present,' said the Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 '* ' And are we to wait till you have men ?' we asked. 
 
 " ' "Well, what is the least that you'll be satisfied with to put all 
 right yourselves ?' now asked his worshipful Commissionership, 
 looking a good deal posed. * If ten pounds will do, I will give you 
 that, and I will give no more.' 
 
 " ' Well,' said my mate, still pulling a long face, * that must do, 
 if you won't give us any more ; but I must say it is a hard case.' 
 
 " The Commissioner handed us a ten-pound note, and we walked 
 off, laughing consumedly in our sleeves. We had everything on 
 its legs again in an hour, and ten pounds in pocket. They have 
 never bothered us since about grog." 
 
 " But you still sell it, I suppose," said I. 
 
 " Oh ! eye-water we sell ; grog we don't pretend to know nothing 
 about. Eye-water! that's the stuff, you know. — What a fool the 
 Cooper is !" and, chuckling as he uttered this colonial phrase, — 
 used when a man thinks he has done something very knowing, — 
 our hopeful youngster went off to lead his sheep in another direc- 
 tion, profoundly happy in dwelling on the way in which they had 
 duped the Commissioner. 
 
 This is a pretty good specimen of the rising generation of this 
 colony. The reader may judge of the heap by the sample. But I will 
 give him a fellow to this, rather anticipating my narrative to place 
 it here. One night we had encamped very near the road-side, 
 about half way between M'lvor and Bendigo. We were late, and 
 could go no further, though the place had no water but a little 
 puddle between the trees on the edge of the road. But the mis- 
 chief of camping near a road is like that of stopping to look at 
 something in a shop-window in a town. Though nobody is there 
 when you stop, the moment you do that a crowd of other people 
 stop, and you are soon glad to escape from the pressure of sweeps, 
 bakers' boys, and others of garments too communicative. So, in 
 the bush, the very next people that come past, imagine that you 
 have some y^rj good reasons for camping there. They assure 
 
' A PRECOCIOUS lad's HISTORY. 245 
 
 themselves that you have found very good feed, and plenty of 
 water and wood to burn. 
 
 So, scarcely had we settled down, when up came a cart-load of 
 diggers, driving at full trot, till their horses were all in a foam. 
 " Hillo !" shouted out a lad to his companions, " see here are people 
 camping with water and feed for the horses first rate." Without 
 stopping a moment to ascertain that these good auguries were true, 
 the men turned off their cart into the bush close to us. There 
 was a famous gunyah of boughs just by, left by some party some 
 days before. This was a discovery to them. " Look here ! " again 
 vociferated the lad, — a smooth-faced fellow, of apparently fourteen, 
 — " why, here is a house ready for us. Many a fellow at theBen- 
 digo has not one so good." 
 
 The party were soon settled in their mimi ; their horses turned 
 adrift in the woods, hot and covered with mud as they were, to 
 take care of themselves. A fire was made, and the fellows were 
 soon very jolly over their suppers. These were speedily followed 
 by others and others, who all turned into the bush and joined them, 
 so that very soon there was a numerous and very noisy company. 
 Their talk and laughter were incessant, and of the loudest ; and 
 we were unfortunately near enough to hear every word of their 
 conversation, which, I need not say, was not the most refined, or 
 altogether interesting. A vast deal of it was all about horses and 
 bullocks, lost, found, stolen, and recovered. Now and then we were 
 the subject of their conjectures. Our big tent, and plates, and 
 silver spoons, and our tent set round with beautiful bedsteads, 
 covered with blankets and handsome rugs, as the lad, who had 
 taken a close survey of us, informed them, caused them not to 
 know what to make of us. 
 
 The conversation of this lad, which never ceased till about mid- 
 night, was, however, the remarkable thing. He perfectly out- 
 talked them all ; and when they cut a joke at him, he repaid it 
 with interest. He was, according to his account, — for he gave 
 the new comers, as they sat round the fire, his history, — Irish. 
 He talked of the time when he and Sammy, one of the party, were 
 knocking about in Ireland. Since then he had been in Sydney, 
 where he said his father was a blacksmith, making money as fast 
 as he could hammer. Then the father had gone up to Bathurst 
 and the Turon Diggings, and the whole family with him. " There," 
 said the lad, "he joined a doctor in digging, and lost all his 
 money." 
 
 ** He had soon done with the doctor, then, I reckon," said one of 
 the party. 
 
 r3 
 
246 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 **No," said the lad, "he is with him still; but what they are 
 doing I don't know, for I came away to do something for myself." 
 
 And then, to hear the story of his doing something for himself. 
 He had wandered all over the colony ; been at all the diggings 
 round, either helping to dig or to carry goods ; and here he was, in- 
 dependent mate of a party, which appeared to be picking up money, 
 either by digging or carrying, as chance offered. He certainly 
 was, if not actually director of the company, its chief speaker ; 
 and all the others appeared to listen to him like an oracle. He had 
 learned very little that lads in England learn at his age, but a vast 
 deal that no lad of his age ought to know. He came to our fire, 
 to ask if we could sell him a pipe ; and Alfred sold him one of his 
 French pipes, with a wreath of red roses round it, and which cost 
 in England 2^d., for Is. — the digging price for the most ordinary 
 dudeens. He was so delighted with it that he bought two, and 
 soon came again with a large order for his comrades. Some days 
 afterwards, as his party passed us again on the road, he spied out 
 our tent, and came to get some more, and inquired if we could 
 accommodate his companion, a boy of the like age, with a few 
 excellent cigars ? 
 
 This boy and his companions, however noisy, were that night 
 serviceable to us, by preventing, by their presence, an attack of 
 bushrangers, as we shall relate anon. 
 
 Besides this class of over-experienced lads, there is a lesser, more 
 juvenile race, all about in the woods and at the diggings, looking 
 after bullocks and horses. These lads, from eight to ten or twelve 
 years old, look like little frogs moving about under extinguishers. 
 They are all alike. They are dressed in a pair of moleskin or 
 corduroy trousers, yellow with the gravel or clay of the diggings, 
 and immensely wide, — being their fathers' cut shorter, and often 
 worse for wear ; a pair of strong shoes and no stockings ; a co- 
 loured shirt, that has perhaps been washed sometime ; if the wea- 
 ther be cold or wet, a coarse, short, wide coat, much too big, and 
 an old dingy wide-awake, wliich, having belonged to their Withers, 
 is also much too big, and apt to blow off, and which, therefore, from 
 constantly pulling down tight upon their heads, has got the brim 
 stretched straight down all round; that is the regular invariable 
 shape ; and that is the regular picture of these boys. Besides these, 
 there are little girls running about, looking after horses, and seeming 
 very much at home in the woods. I shall introduce a group of 
 these anon. 
 
 I may close this chapter of Australian characteristics with one 
 of the most annoying, not the least frequent. Just as we were going 
 
NIGHT INVASION OF BULLOCK-DRAYS. 247 
 
 to bed after our day's travel, came one of the comforts of the bush, 
 in the shape of a whole posse of bullock-drays, and their drivers, 
 with thirty bullocks. These fellows only could blunder along 
 those deep forest roads in the dark. They had been drinking 
 at the Pick and Shovel, or MTvor Inn, and wasting their day- 
 light, and valiant with brandy, thought they would make up for 
 it, and so drive on at the risk of both cattle and stores. To our 
 misfortune, however, they had got thus far, and our fire was the 
 signal for them to turn off the road, and give us their company, 
 by camping close to us. And now they were all shouting and 
 swearing in letting loose their bullocks. " Wo ! Wellington ! 
 Wo ! Nelson ! Wo ! wo ! wo-ho-hoy ! wo-ho-hoy ! Yallar-man ! 
 Wo, W^aterloo! Wo-ho-hoy, Lofty !" — and then clash went a heap 
 of bullock-bells out of one of the drays to the ground. And then 
 there was much noise in fixing them on the bullocks' necks, and 
 the whole herd began grazing all round our tent, with a peal of 
 sonorous bells, like half a dozen belfries all in full swing.. An- 
 other night, we had a crowd of these noisy fellows, hooting and 
 running after their bullocks in the dark right up into the woods. 
 " Halloo ! halloo ! halloo, lad ! Halloo, Redman ! Halloo, Tiger ! " 
 &c. You w^ould have thought the bullocks and the men were all 
 gone mad together. It was midnight before the din ceased, and 
 we could sleep. Whether the fellows were driving their cattle 
 away to better pasture, or whether they thought they were going 
 off too far of themselves, we could not tell. But the bush is free, 
 and you must take such neighbours as choose to come. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 On the "Way to Bendigo. — Cross the Campaspe. — Visit from a crazed Shep- 
 herd. — His strange Fancies and Conversation. — Midnight Visit from Bush- 
 'angers. — The liesult. — Another Visit from one as Scout. — Rob two 
 dies there next Morning. — Murderous Attack on the Gold Escort by 
 (Bame Party. — Jenny, Kitty, and Lizzy Ennis, a merry Group of Bush 
 hildren. — A Gentleman Shepherd. — The Story of the Frenchman and his 
 adger. 
 
 UR road from the M'lvor to Bendigo was alternately over plains 
 and barren woodland ranges, scattered with white masses of 
 quartz, and with the prickly acacia in flower. The roads, for the 
 most part, were good, excepting a few miles on approaching the 
 
 R 4 
 
248 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Campaspe. There we had several miles of the vilest crab-hole 
 road, and a descent to the river horrid with masses of rock pro- 
 jecting from the hill-side. However, we bounced and tumbled 
 over it as well as we could, and were rejoiced to find the river of 
 the classical name so low that we could drive through without 
 wetting the stores in the cart. This small river rises often tAventy 
 feet in a few hours, and in rainy seasons is utterly impassable. 
 Just above our crossing-place lay a horse, drowned only a few 
 days before, when the river was running furiously bank-full, and 
 when the rider, endeavouring to swim him across, only escaped 
 with great difficulty. The river runs from Mount Macedon, and 
 is often fullest here when there has been no rain in this neighbour- 
 hood, the rain having been at the mount. 
 
 The greater part of the way from the M'lvor to the Campaspe, 
 the country was very fine and pleasant to look at, and the weather 
 superb. We advanced over open plains, bounded on our right by 
 downs, green, flowing in their outlines, and as free from trees as 
 the downs in England. A stranger would have said it was a cul- 
 tivated sheep-farming country, like Wiltshire; but it was just 
 as nature had left it. The clear, soft swells, rising and falling 
 like the downs, or the green hills of Derbyshire, in many places 
 perfectly clear of wood, in others only thinly sprinkled, and the 
 edges of the forest showing themselves round at a distance, had 
 a most civilised look. All was as emerald green as England itself; 
 and the great, broad, level meadow^s over which we passed, were 
 traversed with a wandering stream, just like an English trout 
 stream. But all this consisted of mere sand, and in the very first 
 approach of summer would be burnt like a desert. Green as it 
 then was from the winter rains, it was delusive, for the grass was 
 so short that the horses were nearly starved upon it, and, had we 
 had no corn with us, would have been so. 
 
 The trees were nearly all of the box eucalyptus, which makes 
 no dead wood, so that we were at our wits' end for fuel. The day 
 after we left M'lvor, I might have been seen sitting on a hill, over- 
 looking this open, verdant, beautiful scene for miles round. Mount 
 M'lvor in the distance, at the boundary of the diggings, standing 
 finely aloft, in his dark garniture of woods. Here I sat, as 1 have 
 done every day on our journey, waiting for the second load coming 
 up. Beside me a pile of goods under a tarpaulin, my steak cooking 
 in the frying-pan, or a slice of bacon frizzHng on a pointed stick, 
 and my tea boiling in a quart-pot, while I was busy setting up the 
 tent, or, that done, preparing the dinner for the evening, when the 
 party would arrive, or amusing my leisure, if I had any, with 
 
VISIT FROM A CRAZED SHEPHERD. 249 
 
 "Knickerbocker's New York ;" always looking very formidable, 
 in case of any visit from bushrangers, by a revolver lying on a 
 camp-stool at hand, and a bowie knife in my belt. 
 
 Our party consisted only of myself and my two sons ; Mr. Bate- 
 man having gone back to Melbourne. 
 
 The first evening we had a visit from a strange crazed shepherd ; 
 and I could not give a more lively idea of the intellectual condition 
 of this class of unfortunate men, which I have often mentioned, 
 than by simply stating what passed. 
 
 I had seen the man go by, while it was daylight in the afternoon. 
 He was leaning forward on his stick, carrying a bundle on his 
 shoulder, and talking aloud, as I supposed, to some one below the 
 hill. But after it was dark, our dogs gave notice of the approach 
 of some one, and a voice cried out from a distance, "Any danger?" 
 We said " no ; " and soon emerged from the darkness into the light 
 of our fire this strange, insane man. He was dressed in a pair 
 of those riding-trousers which are covered on the seat and down 
 the inside of the legs with doe-skin, looking very odd and pie- 
 bald, partly coffee-colour, partly nearly white, the gift, no doubt, 
 of some hard-riding squatter. He had a short, shabby drab coat, 
 and an old greenish-gray wide-awake. His shoes were slit open, 
 as to give ease to gouty feet, and his swag consisted of an old, 
 dirty linen coat tied together by the arms, containing only ^little 
 tea in a paper, and some bread and cheese. 
 
 He said that he had been some distance onwards to reach the 
 station of Mr. Paterson, a wealthy squatter, which, indeed, was 
 conspicuous by day, on an opposite hill ; but that it had grown so 
 dark that he dared not proceed, lest he should be lost in the bush. 
 He, therefore, begged leave to lie down by our fire for the night ; 
 and though, for obvious reasons, we rarely permitted this to strange 
 men, we permitted it to him, as he appeared perfectly harmless. 
 We were just going to tea, and we made him sit down and partake 
 of some capital beef-steak, fresh bread, and tea. The old man 
 ^f^s delighted, and pronounced it beautiful ! 
 
 ^KtAs he had no rug to cover him, we made Him a mimi of 
 ^Rnvass in front of the fire, a bed of leaves, and lent him a rug 
 to protect him from the wind, which was intensely cold. The 
 account that he gave of himself was, that he had been for years a 
 shepherd, on the station of Messrs. Hamilton and Riddell, near 
 Mount Macedon. That, through being frequently wet for days 
 together while out with the sheep, he was so cramped and 
 stiffened with rheumatism, or rheumatic gout, that he was incap- 
 r<ble of following the flock. That, therefore, Mr. Maclelan, the 
 
250 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 overseer, had advised him to go up to Mr. Paterson, who, he told 
 him, could, no doubt, get him into the " Benevolent Society." 
 
 This was clearly a crazy man's story, for Messrs. Hamilton and 
 Riddell could have done for him all that Mr. Paterson could ; and 
 it would have been an absurd thing to send a poor, crippled, crazy 
 man, nearly a hundred miles on any account, much less on one 
 which was perfectly unnecessary, as it could have been done by 
 letter. But this is a common phase of shepherd lunacy ; the idea 
 of something to be done a long way off, by which they are induced 
 to wander from place to place till they frequently sink and perish 
 in the bush. This, it appeared quite likely, would be the fate of 
 this poor fellow. It was evident, from the state of his wardrobe, 
 that he had been long wandering about. He had small features, 
 dreamy eyes, such as I have often seen in old Australian shep- 
 herds ; and his beard, though not his hair, was gray. He appeared 
 sixty, but contended that he was only about forty. But his 
 memory was obviously almost gone, probably from the effect of his 
 ailment on his brain. He said that he came out from England so 
 young that he did not remember what part he came from ; yet he 
 came to Melbourne direct ; and yet Melbourne was then only about 
 eighteen years old, so that he ought not to have been much more than 
 twenty. Perhaps he did not wish it to be known where he came 
 from ; for his voice was that of an educated person, and I had a 
 strange feeling that I had seen him before, somewhere in 
 England ; a feeling much strengthened by his frequent use of thee 
 and thou in his conversation. From this and other circumstances, 
 I had a very strong impression that in early life he had been a 
 member of the Society of Friends. 
 
 This poor fellow was as visionary as any man could be. 
 He said, that when he got down to the creek that night, he could 
 see a log lying in the water, and he stepped upon it to cross, when, 
 he could not tell how it was, but the land seemed all at once to go 
 away from him, and the water to go "tinkle! tinkle !" oh, so 
 beautifully, that he really thought he could rush in, and take it 
 all round him. Then he gave a leap to get over on the other 
 side, and he was astonished to find himself again on this side. 
 So he turned back, and seeing a fire near, he went towards it. 
 The people were talking very loud all together, so he called 
 out, "What are you people making all that noise for?" And they 
 said, *' Go along, old fellow, and never do you mind." So he 
 came along to us. 
 
 He described his being first taken with his illness (insanity 
 with feeling all at once as if the world had stopped ; and " m 
 
 \ 
 
THE CRAZED SHEPHERD'S STRANGE FANCIES. 251 
 
 feet," said he, " were set fast to the ground, and they seemed as if 
 they had a couple of blacksmith's wedges in them." 
 
 I asked him if he had any wife or children. " Oh no ! " he 
 said; "a shepherd never thinks of marrying." "But," I ob- 
 served, " it must be a very dull, monotonous life in the woods, 
 always following a flock of sheep." " Oh, no ! " he said ; " it is 
 really very amusing. The nature of shepherding" — he was always 
 talking of the nature of things, and involving himself frequently 
 in strange, tangled attempts at explanation — " the nature of shep- 
 herding is to take out your sheep in a morning. You take them 
 out, play on the fife, the flute, or the fiddle ;" — I very much doubt 
 whether such a thing was ever seen in Australia — " I think sheep 
 are very fond of the flute. Some like the fife, some the fiddle, 
 but the flute is the instrument that seems to possess the highest 
 charm for them ; — take out a book or a newspaper ; take back 
 your sheep at night ; — and really it is very amusing. I never 
 could follow anything but sheep ; — I don't fancy anything else. 
 The nature of a man assimilates itself to a thing ; and that thing 
 works on the mind, and the mind works on it ; and so nothing but 
 that can please the man. It is the nature of things that it is so. 
 There came a man to the station at the mount, and he said to me 
 — ' Thee art a shepherd, and a shepherd thee must remain for 
 ever.' And I said, * What, me?' and he said, 'Yes, thee; thee 
 art a shepherd for ever.' He said this in the presence of Mr. 
 Maclelan, — and he was gone ! — and I knew that it was true. I 
 am a shepherd for ever. 
 
 *' And really it is a very amusing life. I learned a great 
 thing from Long John, the other shepherd. 'Long John,' said 
 Mr. Maclelan, ' is a much older man than thee, Harry, that is, 
 Henry; so mark and learn of him;' and really I did learn a 
 great deal in the nature of shepherding from him. Almost all 
 shepherds follow after their sheep, but I observed that Long John 
 did not follow his, but went away from them ; and I saw imme- 
 diately that it is the nature of sheep to go moving forwards if you 
 follow them, and to stop if you go away from them ; and I fol- 
 lowed Long John's plan, and it really answered beautifully : for, 
 instead of their rambling on and on, they stayed and fed quietly in 
 one place a long time together. I never could manage more than 
 3000 sheep ; some shepherds may, — Long John could, I dare say, 
 — but 3000 are my number. I could manage them, and no more. 
 Once I came into a rough fuzzy scrub, and I really thought I 
 should have gone mad, for here went leaping past 1500 sheep : 
 and then another 1500; and sometimes I could see them going! 
 
252 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 going ! going ! and sometimes I could not see them at all ! No, 
 3000 are all that I can pretend to take care of." 
 
 I asked him what books he had read. He said he had read 
 Burns's Poems and the Bible. And he had read some of Shak- 
 speare. Two of Shakspeare's dramas that he had^ read were 
 Hamilton and Macbeth. These were all he could remember. 
 But he sometimes got a map to read, which was very amusing. 
 To trace out the roads, and the places of market-towns, was very 
 interesting. He complained much of the want of fruit in this 
 country, and seemed to remember with a wonderful relish russet 
 apples. " Oh ! those russets ! They are a beautiful fruit. I re- 
 member eating them somewhere in England ; I don't remember 
 where, but they were beautiful ! A dumpling of them would fill 
 you from morning to night. And do you know, I am very fond of 
 currant cakes. As I came through MTvor Diggings I saw some, 
 at a shilling a-piece. 1 ate two of them ; two whole currant 
 cakes ! — I was astonished ; — two shillings!" 
 
 Such is the childish condition to which these poor shepherds 
 are frequently reduced by their life-long solitude. The merest 
 trifles become wonders to them ; the great events of their lives. 
 Poor old fellow ! he was singing and talking to himself most of 
 the night; and in the morning he was very ill. He stiid he 
 thought he should die, and we thought he would too, upon the 
 spot. I suppose the good supper, after much starvation, was too 
 much for him. And he must have suffered immensely these cold 
 nights from lying in the bush without fire or any rug or blanket 
 to cover him. He had no doubt lost all these on the way ; for his 
 memory was gone, so that he could not remember Black Thurs- 
 day, the 6th of February, 1851, though the great bush-fire of 
 that day had burned all round Mount Macedon, and on Messrs. 
 Hamilton and Riddell's Station. " I had a rug ; I had a blanket ; 
 I had a quilt," he said ; " but they are all gone, I don't know 
 how." 
 
 But it was easy to see how, — for that morning he was actually 
 going away w^ithout his swag. It really gives one a miserable 
 idea of shepherding, and of the little care taken of old, or insane 
 shepherds, to see them thus wandering about. I never saw a man 
 more racked with pains than he was that morning ; and I heard 
 him moaning to himself, — " What pains ! what pains ! It seems 
 as if the end .were coming, — that is my belief, and what I say is, 
 the sooner the better. O Lord, take us ! take us to thy glory, we 
 pray thee, and we are tired of praying. Take us! take us!" 
 And then again I heard him saying, — " Oh ! what a world this 
 
MIDNIGHT VISIT FROM BUSHRANGERS. 253 
 
 is ! what a world of trouble ! No father, no mother, no brother, 
 no sister, — all alone ! Oh, what a world ! " 
 
 We gave him some warm brandy and water, and urged him to 
 get to Mr. Paterson's as soon as possible, as we must move on ; 
 and we could not leave him to perish in the wilderness alone. But 
 he sat to the latest moment with Charlton by the fire, and very 
 much pitied me for thinking shepherding so dull a life. He said 
 it was my misfortune. What a strange effect it is which this 
 bush life has on these men : at once destroying their minds, and 
 yet inspiring them with such a fascination for what is so dreary in 
 itself, and which ends in such misery and desolation. 
 
 Our next encounter was with a very different class of men — 
 bushrangers. There had been so many desperate fellows taken 
 up about M'lvor that we imagined the roads were now pretty 
 clear. We therefore ventured to carry along with us nearly 
 500/., which we happened to have up with us ; and never thought 
 about bushrangers till they were upon us. A most ferocious 
 gang, however, had been haunting this very road for several 
 weeks. They had committed some daring robberies, and the 
 police from Bendigo had been constantly on the watch for them, 
 but in vain. There is no doubt but they were the very same 
 gang which soon after made the audacious attack on the escort 
 near Kyneton, and so brutally murdered the troopers. 
 
 At the place where we had the company of the talkative boy 
 and his noisy companions, we had camped in a close wood, because 
 of a water-hole there. The wood was so dense, that we were 
 obliged to camp near the road, and without a thought of bush- 
 rangers, but, to prevent any party turning suddenly off the road 
 upon our tent in the dark, we felled a large tree between the road 
 and the tent. In front burned, as was our invariable custom, a 
 large fire, so as to enable us to see any one who came near. At 
 midnight I was awoke by the barking of our dogs, and heard at 
 the same time a loud crashing and swearing in the boughs of the 
 tree we had felled. I rose and looked out on that side, and beheld 
 two ruffian-looking fellows on horseback and armed, dashing 
 furiously through the trees. A third, a tali fellow, had posted 
 himself in front, behind the fire. 
 
 I shouted to the fellows in the tree to keep back ; they paid no 
 attention, but still endeavoured to force their horses through, with 
 the most hideous oaths. I was not very well pleased to be thus 
 roused when I had scarcely got to sleep for the noise of our neigh- 
 bours ; and told them, as well as the clamour of the dogs and 
 their own boisterous menaces would let me be heard, that we had 
 
254 TWO YEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 plenty of firearms, and that if they came any nearer, we should 
 give them the benefit of them. They swore at our firearms, and 
 declared they had got plenty of those too. I had called up 
 Alfred and Charlton, and apprised them of the sort of customers 
 we had, and we could soon have given them a very effective 
 salute from under the eaves of our tent ; but at this instant, our 
 neighbours, who had also been awoke by the noise, called out 
 with an oath, — '' And we have got plenty of firearms too, and if 
 you'll wait just a second, we'll put half a dozen daylights 
 through you." 
 
 On hearing this, and perceiving that there was rather a popu- 
 lous neighbourhood, and not a solitary tent, the ruffians drew 
 back, turned their horses and fled ; the man at the front calling 
 vehemently, "Come back! come back!" But as they did not 
 think fit to come back, he quietly followed in their train. Thus, 
 noisy as our neighbours had been, they did us very good service ; 
 and had the fellows dared to attack us, I don't believe that any of 
 them would have been left alive. 
 
 Again, immediately after crossing the Campaspe, a tall, strong, 
 active-looking man, in a bright red jumper, mounted on a splendid 
 black horse, and with a handsome riding-whip in his hand, rode 
 past our tent four times^ to and fro, evidently reconnoitring ; and 
 we made no doubt that he was a bushranger ; but no attack fol- 
 lowed, for we had other parties camping near. But a day or two 
 afterwards we camped between the Exe Creek and a coffee-tent 
 by the road-side. We were a mile from the coffee-tent, and there 
 was no fire of any party to be seen anywhere round. Soon after 
 it was dark, a man called out to know if we w^ould give him a 
 warm. We said, yes, and immediately emerged from the dark- 
 ness a fellow the most like a thief that we ever saw. He was only 
 a middle-sized man, but he had a villanous look. He had no, 
 swag with him, and was merely dressed in a blue worsted shirt,] 
 cotton corduroy trousers, and a red muffler round his head, in- 
 stead of a cap. He was one of those fellows who keep their ejet 
 nearly closed, that you may not look into them, but that they maj 
 make their observations without your noticing the direction ol 
 their eyes. We gave him some tea, and, having got his warm, hi 
 very coolly stretched himself before the fire on the ground, 
 bade him get up, and get off to the coffee-tent, as he could no^ 
 sleep there. He very coolly replied that there was time enougl 
 before morning. 
 
 I then gave him a kick in the back, telling him that he was no^ 
 going to lie by our fire till morning, and that he had better mov< 
 
VISIT FROM A BUSHRANGER AS SCOUT. 255 
 
 off. He stretched out a leg, and said he had so sore a heel he 
 could not move an inch. 1 told him if he had two sore heels, or 
 no heels at all, he must move, and soon. He then said, he did 
 not know the road. " It is there, only a hundred yards to the 
 left," we said ; " so, away !" But he would not move. I now re- 
 collected the Governor's route for the road in my memorandum 
 book, and determined to try the effect of a ruse, 
 
 " My man," said I, " we are here by direction of His Excellency, 
 and cannot be trifled with. Begone, this instant, or we will make 
 free to arrest you." 
 
 These words had the most electric effect, accompanied by a 
 sight of Alfred's revolver, which he had just stuck in his belt. 
 The fellow sprung up, leapt nimbly over the trunk of a tree, 
 against which our fire burned, and disappeared in the darkness. 
 But, having just stuck a redhot cinder in his pipe, to light his to- 
 bacco, we observed, by it, that he was not going towards the 
 road, but in quite another direction into the bush, and towards 
 some hills that we had seen ere dark. We called to him that that 
 was not the way ; and he replied, " I know the way well enough." 
 
 As there was no question what the villain was, we made all 
 ready against an attack in the night, which we quite expected, as 
 we had no neighbours here to back us. We were most apprehen- 
 sive for the safety of our horses, and therefore brought them up 
 near the tent, where any person's approach would instantly alarm 
 our dogs. But no alarm came, for no doubt the rogues set us down 
 for government agents, on the look out for them; and took care to 
 keep clear of us. The dodge is a very common one of sending one 
 of the gang to lie by your fire, and watch you all asleep, when he 
 gives the sign for his comrades to advance and surprise you. That 
 they took us for something official is the more probable, for the 
 next day after we left, they stopped two ladies on that very spot, 
 and robbed them, and their servant. They were, without doubt, 
 hovering near and keeping watch on us till we were off the ground ; 
 for, on starting in the morning, I observed that the Exe Creek 
 was at a little distance along the right of our road, and I went 
 down to it, and followed its course, meantime speculating what 
 sort of a stream it would be to cross. Suddenly, I heard a clash 
 upon the gravel of the creek, a little way ahead of me, as if several 
 men had jumped down upon it from the high bank. The place 
 was bushy, and suitable for concealment, and it struck me that 
 these fellows had been on the watch behind the trees near the 
 road, and were surprised by my quitting the road, and coming 
 where I should see them, I returned to my party, told them what 
 
256 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 I had heard, and consulted whether we should go and examine the 
 spot. But, as our object was to get clear of them, and as they 
 evidently looked on us as government agents, and were willing to 
 be clear of us, we concluded to leave them alone, and proceed on 
 our way. It could not be many hours after our departure that 
 they robbed the ladies. 
 
 The morning after we arrived at Bendigo, I went up to the Go- 
 vernment Camp to get my letters ; and while speaking with the 
 Commissioner in front of his tent, we observed a troop of mounted 
 police coming up with a bushranger in custody. We went and took 
 a good survey of him. He was a great, burley, scoundrel-looking 
 fellow, in digger costume, with a longish hooked nose, black beard, 
 heavy overhanging eyebrows, and a horrid squint in both eyes. 
 He was probably one of the midnight visitors to our tent, but he 
 was not the scout of the other evening. On looking over the de- 
 scription of the three who had robbed the ladies, this fellow was 
 clearly described as one of them, and our scout in the red muffler, 
 blue shirt, and corduroys, was another. They were the same gang, 
 and this brutal wretch was one who meant to have attacked us. 
 
 Immediately on the heels of this capture, came the grand /inale 
 of this diabolical gang, through which we so providentially passed 
 in security. As the private escort was going down to Melbourne 
 with the gold, and had just crossed the Campaspe, about fourteen 
 miles from M'lvor, it was attacked by a strong party of bushrangers. 
 There were twelve at least of them, — that number was seen, — 
 while, I think, the escort consisted of eight. The robbers had 
 planned their attack well. They had selected a narrow part of the 
 road, with a high bank, covered with thick bushes on one side, so 
 that the escort could not get out of the way on that side ; and they 
 constructed a mimi, or bower of boughs, on the other, leaving 
 port-holes amongst the boughs towards the road. They could thus 
 see the approach of the escort without being seen ; and could pour 
 a deadly volley into it as it passed. This they did, when the escort 
 was exactly between the high scrubby bank and their mimi, and 
 shot down four of the men, and killed the shaft-horse. It then 
 came to a regular fight, until only two of the escort, the officer and 
 one man, were unharmed, and they defended their charge till they 
 had no ammunition left. 
 
 The officer and private then gave spurs to their horses ; the pri- 
 vate, I think, riding back, and the officer taking the way to M'lvor. 
 As soon as the villains saw that he was off, they cried, " Down 
 with him ! he is going to give the alarm!" and they sent a volley 
 of bullets after him. He had fourteen shots fired at him, but not 
 
MURDEROUS ATTACK ON THE GOLD ESCORT. 257 
 
 one touched him, though they took away a part of the under-lip of 
 his horse. 
 
 In forty-eight minutes after he reached M'lvor, and announced 
 the robbery, Mr. Brackenbury and another Commissioner, with a 
 number of troopers, were on the ground, but, of course, the scoun- 
 drels had made off with the gold, — 2200 ounces. As soon as the 
 officer was gone, a wounded man, lying on the ground, heard the 
 fellows say, ** Quick ! quick! break open the boxes, there is no 
 time to lose : the troopers will be upon us." And very rapidly 
 they broke open the boxes, and made off into the bush with the 
 gold, worth about 8250/. 
 
 The Commissioners found the wounded men lying on the ground, 
 in their blood ; and on one of them the thieves had perpetrated a 
 devil's deed. A fellow had gone up to him as he lay on the ground, 
 put his pistol to his breast, pressing it against him till ir, fairly 
 dinted his flesh, and fired it through him. The ball passed through 
 his lungs, and out at his shoulder-blade. Another was shot in the 
 hip, another across the forehead, and another had the cap of his 
 knee shot away. The bushrangers fired pistol-bullets out of their 
 guns. Two of them were shot, and it was supposed mortally ; the 
 wounded men saw their comrades carrying them off. 
 
 The robbers left four saddle-horses on the ground in their hurry, 
 and some of their panikins, with their names marked on them. 
 The moment the news reached M'lvor, the diggers ran up to the 
 camp, and desired to be sworn as special constables, in order to 
 pursue the thieves ; declaring that they would Lynch them the 
 moment they caught them. Three hundred diggers scoured the 
 woods in quest of them, and six fellow^s were soon taken on sus- 
 picion. They were unquestionably some of that class of Van Die- 
 menian convicts, who are hardened past recovery, and whom hang- 
 ing is the only means of securely dealing with. Reformation of 
 such petrified brutes is hopeless. They have no regard whatever 
 for human life, and the ordinary punishment of putting them to 
 work on the roads is considered by them as a certain means, one 
 day or other, of escape ; and it generally proves so. 
 
 I shall conclude this chapter with some little matters connected 
 with our whereabouts, and in my next give a general account of 
 the great diggings of Bendigo, which we reached early in July. 
 Vfe camped on arriving in a pleasant green valley at the foot 
 of high, wooded hills, which shut out the diggings ; so that, 
 though we were close upon them, we saw nothing of them till we 
 passed over a saddle in the ranges. We had good feed for our 
 horses ; and they were hidden in the ranges, so as not to be very 
 
 s 
 
258 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 obvious to horse-stealers, who abounded there. As we approached 
 Bendigo from M'lvor, we passed the Emu Creek, and another 
 creek soon after, called the Sheep-wash, and could see where the 
 diggers had been washing their gold in those brooks, in the sum- 
 mer, when there was no water on Bendigo. Below us we had the 
 green, open meadows of the Sheep-wash, and above us steep hills, 
 the ridges of which were all bare, rugged stones, having those long 
 chines of perpendicular strata running due north and south which 
 indicate gold. These were chiefly of quartz and iron-stone, or 
 clay-slate. The trees crowning these rocky hills, and growing out 
 of the very stones, were iron-barks. 
 
 Here were two little girls, and sometimes three, who came to 
 look up, morning and evening, their dingy, brownish, blackish, 
 rough horses, that grazed near our tent. I imagined them very 
 happy, thus ranging in the woods ; but oh ! the deceitfulness of 
 appearances and the vanity of human wishes? On getting into 
 talk with them, I said I supposed they enjoyed running about here? 
 "No." "Did they not see the squirrels flying about?" "No." 
 " Did they not see the opossums ?" " No." " Did they not like 
 to hear the birds ?" " No." " What did they like ?" " Being in 
 Hobart Town, where they came from." Yet they seemed so full 
 of fresh, young life, that one could not pity them ; and we saw so 
 much of them every day for a week, that we grew quite fond of 
 them. They were Jenny, Kitty, and Lizzy Ennis. Jenny was 
 eleven, Kitty nine, Lizzy six ; and there was an elder sister of 
 seventeen, whom we only once got a glimpse of, as she was gene- 
 rally busy at the tent at home. These little girls afforded a good 
 specimen of girls brought up in the bush. Every morning and 
 evening the two elder, Jenny and Kitty, came to hunt up the three 
 queer-looking horses. If they were not near our tent with ours, 
 where they endeavoured to keep them, they set off up the wooded 
 ranges, and soon found them. Often Charlton had seen their 
 horses, and could put them on their track ; and in a while you 
 would hear loud laughter of young voices coming along the 
 woods ; and soon appeared the two little equestrians, mounted 
 astride on one of the horses, sometimes all three of them, one be- 
 hind the other ; and they only troubled themselves to bring up this, 
 which was the old mother, and the others were sure to follow. 
 
 Up they came, often in a full trot, and sometimes crying out 
 " Wo ! wo ! " interrupted by laughter, because the horse almost 
 shook them off". Jenny, the elder one, adroitly slid off' and stopped 
 him, and the other, often Lizzy, the six-year-old one, dropped off 
 too. It was amusing to see Jenny put on the horse's hobbles again, 
 
A MERRY GROUP OF BUSH CHILDREN. 259 
 
 — for they took them off, or fastened them round one foot only, 
 while they rode, that the creature might go freely, — to hear her 
 telling it to stand over, and lift its foot, and making it do as she 
 wished, just like an experienced groom. 
 
 Jenny was a round, fresh-faced, blue-eyed, blooming little lass ; 
 and Kitty, though two years younger, was nearly as tall, which 
 Jenny said was because she ate more damper, at which they both 
 laughed heartily. With their rosy cheeks and light brown hair, 
 they were the very pictures of health. When they had seen 
 their horses, they went gold-gathering amongst the stuff thrown out 
 of the old holes; and they said they gathered on an average, nearly 
 an ounce a week, or about 3/. worth. Ihus these children did 
 better than many diggers. Their little quick eyes could see the 
 smallest particle of gold, and they often picked it out of the gravel 
 of the road as they went along. One day they had picked up in 
 going to their horses nearly a pennyweight ; and another day I 
 met them busily looking, and they showed me several pieces in 
 their hands. Their father and brother were regularly digging all 
 this time in Spring Gully, about a quarter of a mile off, and they 
 said they hoped, in two or three more years, to have enough to go 
 back and buy a farm in Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 One day it was wet, and I dare say they could not gather gold, 
 so I saw them with their frocks pinned up round their waists, 
 showing their flannel petticoats, busy with a horse dragging timber 
 home from the woods for the fire. They had a rope f^istened to 
 his harness, and drew along their great pieces of timber with as 
 much judgment and adroitness as any men could. Another day 
 they peeped into the tent, and asked me if I was going to set up a 
 school. I asked them what made them think of that. They said 
 because they often saw me writing. Such are little girls in the 
 busli — all life and usefulness ; these merry companions we were 
 
 ^^orry to leave, when we went to camp on the White Hills, three 
 
 ^■^ four miles off. 
 
 ^H But I must give another curious specimen of Australian life. 
 
 ^HL young man watching a flock of sheep came up as we were 
 
 ^^Dreakfasting ; I thought he cast loving glances at our tea and 
 mutton chops ; but he only asked if we had seen a person on 
 horseback inquiring for him and the sheep. He was ordered, he 
 said, to keep them there till a Mr. Campbell came for them. An 
 hour afterwards, as I went to cut some wood near the creek, he 
 was there with his flock, and said he wished Mr. Campbell would 
 come, for they had hurried him off without his breakfast. I told 
 him I would give him some breakfast, which I did. While he ate 
 
 s 2 
 
260 TWO TEARS IN YICTOKIA. 
 
 liis breakfast he told us that he was of a good family in Scotland, 
 
 named A r ; that his elder brother had a fine place in Fife; a 
 
 sister had married a Polish Count ; and I think another a Captain 
 
 Stark of L s. He said Captain Stark had built a house 
 
 with not a single tree near it, and that somebody had proposed to 
 call it " Stark-naked." He had lived he said, in Italy three years, 
 and spoke Italian well. He had evidently travelled in Italy and 
 France and was well acquainted with those countries. Yet here 
 he was shepherding on the diggings, for the butchers, at 31. lOs, 
 a-week. He complained dreadfully of the false accounts which 
 had taken him out to that country ; and declared that when he 
 had raised money enough he would see the last of it. He said 
 that, out of his SI. \0s. a-week, he paid 75. 6d. a-week for a 
 license, and 1/. 5s. for provisions; so that he had only 1/. 17*. 
 out of which to purchase clothes and save money to get home. 
 Digging he had tried without success ; how far the fault might lie 
 in himself I cannot say ; but you are continually stumbling on 
 scions of good families in such humble occupations. 
 
 He told a story which amused Charlton very much, and which 
 he said his brother at the time sent to Chambers' Journal, where 
 it made a very good article. It was of a Frenchman whom they 
 saw on the Austrian-Italian frontier. He hated the Austrian 
 police, and when they asked him what he had in this and the other 
 package, he told them they could look and satisfy themselves. He 
 had a bag in his hand, and the officers asked him what he had in 
 that. " Oh ! " said he, " you can feel." And he added in great 
 delight, in his broken English, — "So one of them did put his 
 hand in de bag, but he did poll it out vary moch quicker, for dere 
 was a badger in de bag, and it did bite him vary moch." 
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
261 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Bendigo Diggings. — Their Appearance. — Vast Extent. — Beauty of Golden- 
 wattle in Flower. — Bendigo's Seven Hills, like Rome. — White Hills. — 
 Gold Company a Failure. — Diggers jealous of Capital and Machinery. — 
 Strange Architecture of Diggers' Huts. — Winter Weather ; Wet, Cold, and 
 Heat. — Women and their Costume at Bendigo. — Descend a Digger's 
 Hole in the White Hills. — Wild Rushes, and picturesque Groups. — Drunken 
 Riot and Robberies. — Duty on Spirits in Victoria more than Half a Million 
 per Annum. — Suppression of Grog-shops a Sham, — Inefficient Commis- 
 sioners. — Intelligent Friends. — Scene at a Dinner Party. — Cry of " A Boy 
 in a Hole ! " — The Coroner's Ape — Our large Dog stolen. 
 
 We quitted our quiet, green retreat in the outskirts, and encamped 
 in the beginning of August, in the very heart of the diggings at the 
 foot of the fourth White Hill, and facing the Bendigo Creek. We 
 did this so as to be able to note more completely what was going 
 forward on those great diggings. Below us ran the Bendigo Creek, 
 whence the whole of the digging takes its name. The valley 
 through which it ran was all dug up for at least ten miles. But 
 this constituted but a small part of the diggings. The greatest 
 extent of these lay on the other side of the creek, in valley beyond 
 valley, — the farthest, Myer's Flat, being said to be twenty-two 
 miles from the White Hills ; so that the diggings then covered an 
 area, at the very least, often miles square ; and they were still ex- 
 tending themselves in a north-western direction. 
 
 On our side of the creek, another creek, called the Back Creek, 
 fell into it about a mile higher than where we were camped. It 
 runs several miles to the south-west ; and it was near it that we were 
 first encamped. The valley of the Back Creek, is a fine, fertile, 
 green valley, or rather was so ; but an enormous extent of it was 
 already dug up. These White Hills, of which I shall speak more 
 particularly anon, are low, round hills, rising in a succession along 
 the southern side of the valley, the last of them eastward, declin- 
 ing into a fertile plain still covered with wood, and still uninvaded 
 by the diggers. Up the creek, at two miles distance, stood the 
 Government Camp, on an elevation ; farther up still lay Golden 
 Gully, of golden fame, and beyond it Kangaroo Flat, all in Bendigo 
 Valley, and on the direct road to Melbourne. 
 
 Coming back to the White Hills, and looking across the creek, 
 you had before you the main field of the diggings. Were you to 
 go on in that direction, you would cross low, stonj ridges, covered 
 
 s 3 
 
262 TWO YEARS IN YICTORIA. 
 
 with iron-bark trees, and come into Iron-bark Gullj, a long valley 
 wholly dug up ; then a succession of such ridges, all of the same 
 character; between which lay the successive gullies of Long 
 Gully, American, Californian, the celebrated Eagle-Hawk, Peg- 
 leg, Sailor's, Adelaide, and other gullies, and so on to Myer's Flat. 
 Somewhere in that direction lay Gilbert's Gully, so named in 
 honour of the popular Commissioner, and, oddly enough, placed 
 between the Devil's Gully and Beelzebub's Flat. Thus does the 
 digger to the man whom he delighteth to honour. 
 
 The country all round these diggings, except in the flat lower 
 down the creek, and one or two green valleys, is as barren as pos- 
 sible. The ground is scattered with white quartz as with snow. 
 There are the most enormous masses of quartz on these diggings 
 that I have seen anywhere. One hill-top up the valley beyond 
 the Government Camp, and overlooking Golden Gully, had whole 
 rocks of it projecting from its summit, looking at a distance like 
 a cemetery, with a crowd of tall, white headstones. The woods 
 are all of iron-bark, which gives them a peculiarly stern look, 
 with their almost black and deeply-ploughed bark, — these trees 
 always growing in the most sterile and desolate ranges. The 
 ground on these low ranges is, for the most part, bare of grass, 
 but thinly scattered with a heathy vegetation, and in some places 
 again with dense masses of shrubs, many of them prickly, but 
 which would look beautiful in a conservatory. There are many 
 very curious shrubs about there, and many of them beautiful. 
 The golden wattle was in flower, and was magnificent. It would 
 be a splendid ornament of our gardens, if it would grow there. 
 It something resembles a Portugal laurel, but has longer and 
 slenderer leaves, and its flowers are in round balls about the size 
 of a pistol-bullet, of the richest orange, and masses of these 
 together. There is also a small prickly acacia, with round, white 
 flowers, faintly tinged with yellow, as full of flower as it can be, 
 and lighting up these barren woods wdth an incandescent radiance. 
 The iron-bark tree was then in flower too, and its flowers are like 
 white tassels an inch across ; and the backs of them — not calices, 
 for they have none — are exactly shaped like the backs of tassels, 
 and are a fine yellow. These huge trees had their heads all 
 snowy with blossom ; and the wattle-birds found honey, I suppose,] 
 in them, for they were by thousands busy in them, and filled the 
 woods with their unceasing noise. The sweet acacia, the Acacial 
 fragrans of our conservatories, was likewise full of bud, ready toj 
 burst open, though the nights were often keenly frosty. It isl 
 strange that it bears very sharp frosts there, but is killed by not' 
 
BENDIGO'S SEVEN HILLS, LIKE ROME. 263 
 
 very sharp ones with us. Our greenhouses must make them 
 tender. 
 
 Bendigo was quite the metropolis of the diggings of Victoria ; 
 for though Ballarat and Mount Alexander were prior in date, 
 Bendigo had been much more productive, and had yet a much 
 greater number of people at work on it. These valleys beyond 
 valleys which I have named are of immense extent, and all were 
 perforated and turned up by the diggers to a wonderful degree. 
 Hill also extended beyond hill, which were also bored with shafts 
 forty and sixty feet deep, and undermined in quest of gold. 
 Bendigo, like Rome, may boast of its seven hills, called the 
 White Hills, from the immense quantity of snow-white stuff 
 which has been thrown out of the mines upon them. It is a 
 white, sandy sort of stuff, apparently triturated quartz mixed 
 with pipe-clay, and makes the hills look as if covered with 
 heaps of snow. It has its yellow creek, the Bendigo, yellow^er 
 than any Tiber ; and if Rome had its Tarpeian Rock, it has its 
 Quartz Rock, huge and brilliant as the purest snow. If Rome 
 had its Capitol, Bendigo has its capital ; and instead of a Campus 
 Martins, it has a Campus Aureus, and an army in tents numerous 
 as any Caesar ever pitched in field. 
 
 But, to leave badinage, there was an appearance of a more 
 thorough mining population there than I had seen at any other 
 digging. The White Hills had shafts fifty and sixty feet deep ; 
 and you saw their windlasses standing aloft on the huge heaps of 
 stuff that had been thrown out, and huts and people all busy 
 amongst these hills, reminding you a good deal of the lead mines 
 of Derbyshire. 
 
 There was also actually a horse turning a gin, which worked a 
 water-wheel, to supply a long-tom with water from the creek, for 
 washing out what is called surface-stuff, — that is, literally, the soil 
 from the surface of some parts of these hills, which contained a 
 good deal of gold. We had been saying that we wondered they 
 had not introduced machinery, at least horse-gins, to do some of 
 their work, and there was the first commencement of this move- 
 ment. There was also a gold company there, which had leased a 
 piece of land near the creek, on which to erect a steam-engine for 
 washing out the refuse stuff. But this never could answer, as the 
 steam-power was not employed in the right direction. The earth 
 would still have to be washed out by men, the engine only supply- 
 ing a stream of water. Now, if the engine could be made to 
 work machinery, which would wash auriferous earth in much 
 larger quantities than a number of men, it might have answered ; 
 
 S 4 
 
264 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIAj 
 
 but in this case, there was the creek, at which companies of men 
 could erect toms, and work out stuff as fast as the company could 
 with its engine. The earth had to be carted from a distance, say 
 from one to two miles, at 10^. a load ; and all the labour, except 
 the mere pumping of water, to be done by the company, as well 
 as by parties of men. The company had, therefore, no advantage 
 over the ordinary parties of diggers, for it must pay 20^. a day to 
 each man, and 10^. a load for carting the stuff; and it could not 
 answer, especially as the diggers will work twice as hard on their 
 own account, as they will for any company. 
 
 Machinery, and companies employing it, will answer, w^hen the 
 Government is prepared to lease out extensive portions of old 
 gold-fields, where streams of water can be brought so as to make 
 large sluices, and thus wash out immense quantities of stuff in a 
 short time. It will be the power of putting a very large quantity 
 of auriferous earth through a sluice, and of puddhng the stiff 
 earth by machinery, that will enable companies to finish up the 
 gold-fields, when the ordinary digger has left them. When he has 
 got the large quantities, the smaller quantities left in the soil -Nvill 
 only pay for the working by some plan which will wash out 
 immense quantities in a little time, and with little manual labour. 
 But that time was not yet come. In the -first place, the digger 
 was still probing his old grounds, and hunting between the holes 
 for sound and unworked spots ; clearing out the bottoms of old 
 holes, very hastily and carelessly worked in the first eager search ; 
 and washing out such earth as was thrown out in heaps, in which he 
 could find, by testing quantities in his washing dish, enough to pay 
 him. So long as he can do that, he is jealous of any interference of 
 capital, of machinery, and of companies which would " monop- 
 lise " as one of them said, any larger claims than ordinary ; and 
 will undoubtedly resist, and successfully resist, all such move- 
 ments. Therefore, in the second place. Government had not 
 dared to grant such powers and monopolies to companies as would 
 be necessary to ensure success. The era of companies had not 
 yet arrived. 
 
 The diggers there seemed, many of them, of a more steady and 
 respectable character than at M'lvor. They had, great numbers 
 of them, their families there ; and the voices of children at play 
 were as loud and frequent as in a town. In fact, Bendigo was a 
 large city, where a population of 40,000 lived in tents and huts 
 instead of houses. Almost every tent had its large fire-place and i 
 chimney, constructed of logs, at one end of it ; and there were many ' 
 with an additional log-hut. 
 
STRANGE ARCHITECTURE OF DIGGERS* TENTS. 266 
 
 It was curious to see the various rude constructions of these huts 
 and cliimneys. Some huts were built of solid trunks of trees, laid 
 horizontally, — in fact, the log-huts of America reconstructed there. 
 The logs were notched into one another at the corners, and the 
 interstices daubed up with clay. The roofs of these were almost 
 flat, covered with sheets of bark, with logs upon the bark to keep 
 it down. Other huts were made of slabs, placed upright, and the 
 roof often covered only with canvas. Others, again, were covered 
 with bullock-hides.' The chimneys were extraordinary pieces of 
 architecture ; some built of horizontal, some of perpendicular tim- 
 bers, up to the eaves of the tent, and then tapering away to some 
 height covered with bark, or sheets of tin which had lined pack- 
 ages. Others, again, were covered with bullock-hides, and some 
 with sheepskins, and not put on in any very orderly style. A 
 considerable number were surmounted by dry casks — American 
 flour-barrels — which made the upper shaft of the chimney. You 
 might generally distinguish the abodes of the natives of Ireland, by 
 their picturesque resemblance to the cabins of the Green Isle, 
 being more remarkable for their defiance of symmetry than any 
 others. They seemed to be tossed up, rather than built, and were 
 sure to have sundry black poles sticking out of the top, and pieces 
 of sacking or old breeches hung up before them, here and there, to 
 keep the wind from driving all the smoke down into the interior. 
 I observe a female neighbour of ours, the mistress of one of these 
 abodes, coming out with a pole, and shifting such protective gar- 
 ments from one side of the hut to the other, as the wind changed. 
 
 Our tent we pitched on an open and rather elevated piece of 
 ground, totally cleared of any standing trees, but not of stumps, — 
 which were innumerable, of about a yard high, — nor of various 
 huge trunks of felled trees, which lay along here and there, and 
 which we cut up, as we wanted them, for fire-wood. If the 
 reader could conceive a considerable number of well-like holes, at 
 that season full of water, various old trees, heaps of leaves and big 
 stones lying about, with tents and huts of the character described, 
 around us, he would have a general idea of our locale. 
 
 Our tent itself was accommodated with a substantial open fire- 
 place, made of solid pieces of boughs, of about nine or ten inches 
 diameter each, fitted together at the corners, and neatly plastered 
 at the joints with clay. From this square frame sprung an obelisk- 
 like chimney of poles, covered with green bullock-hides, which, 
 altogether, displayed a degree of shapeliness and neatness that 
 might be looked for in vain far around. Behind this, we enclosed 
 a yard of post-and-rail, with boughs drawn through, full of their 
 
266 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 leaves; so that we had a green, thick fence, within which to keep 
 our cart, and fire- wood for the winter. Around the tent, also, we 
 put a rail fence, to keep off wanderinj^ horses, and wandering drunk- 
 ards in the night ; both of which species of beasts were apt to 
 stumble up against your tent lines, and threaten the demolition of 
 the whole concern. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that this was all done without some 
 trouble. We had to go and cut timber, for our chimney, and 
 fencing in the woods, and to cart that and a good large stock of 
 fire-wood home. There was not a blade of grass anywhere round, 
 for the horses ; and we sent them to a paddock, fourteen miles off. 
 But we were obliged to keep them till they had done our necessary 
 work : and Alfred and Charlton had to sleep out in the woods with 
 them where they could get feed. The weather was almost contin- 
 ually rainy. The rain and wind seemed to contend for mastery. 
 Torrents of rain and frantic winds not only pursued us in our 
 labours, but had driven the diggers from their holes, and filled them 
 with water. 
 
 One night Alfred and Charlton slept in the cart in the woods, 
 and thougii the awning they had over it was but a bad one, they 
 would have lain all the next day, for the rain fell in deluges all 
 forenoon ; but they could not see the horses, and, in going out to 
 seek them, they had to wade through a scrub up to the middle, 
 and were soaked through and through by it, in a very short time. 
 They, therefore, came home at noon, like drowned rats ; but as 
 there was no feed or safety near us for the horses, Charlton had to 
 take them off to our old camping-ground near the Sheep-wash, six 
 miles off. When he returned at night, he was in the most de- 
 plorable plight. It was all that we could do to get his clothes off 
 him, which seemed, in their soaking state, to stick to him like a 
 skin. But we got him into bed, and gave him a good hot supper 
 and tea, and he was nothing the worse for it the next day. We were 
 very thankful for this, for this winter rain produces extraordinary 
 chill. Both of the boys complained of the deadly chill they felt ; 
 and Charlton, for an hour or two after he was in bed, complained 
 not only of the intense cold, but that his skin was so thoroughly 
 soaked that it would not dry. Finally, however, we thought we 
 were going to be turned out into the rain altogether ; for in the 
 morning we found the tent tumbling about our ears ; the ground 
 on which it was pitched, being only quartz gravel, had dissolved 
 with the rain like sugar. Our tent-pegs, tent-cords, and poles, all 
 had lost their hold ; and the wind blowing, it was next to impos- 
 sible to keep the tent standing. The water ran in streams under 
 
WINTER KAINS. 267 
 
 our tent, having swum over the tarpaulin in the night, and soaked 
 many of our stores. There was nothing for it, but to turn out 
 and dig a deeper ditch round the tent to carry off the drainage, 
 and to drive down pegs a yard long to hold the cords. The creek 
 below was swelled into a roaring torrent, carrying away the tools 
 and toms, and filling up the holes of the diggers. 
 
 Yet the moment the rain was over, out came the sun, and nearly 
 melted us. Mark now, for a moment, this " Devonshire climate." 
 It was winter. We were keeping a daily observation of the ther- 
 mometer, — having a small portable one, of the Messrs. Bennett's, 
 chronometer-makers, of Cheapside, which we carried along with 
 us, and so had always at hand. Now it hung outside the tent, and 
 showed results different to any yet published. 
 
 On the morning of July 31st it stood at 31°, that is, one degree 
 below the freezing point. It had been much lower in the night, for 
 there was strong frost. At 7 o'clock, half an hour after sunrise, 
 it had risen in the sun to 40° ; at 9 o'clock to 75°, or wdthin one de- 
 gree of summer heat ; and at 10 o'clock to 78°, two degrees above 
 summer heat. At noon it was 81° ; and this, too, in winter : while 
 the tables kept by Government, and published by writers who 
 paint the climate and country not as they are, but as they wish 
 people to believe them, never allow the mercury to descend lower 
 than 45° ; so that there could never possibly be any frost ; and, in 
 fact, my brother, Richard Hovvitt, whose work on the colony I 
 have found the most faithful yet published, was severely attacked 
 in the colonial newspapers, for saying that he had seen ice. On 
 the other hand, they tell you that the thermometer rarely, and only 
 in hot winds, ascends above 95° in summer ! These statements 
 are really disgraceful ; for the mercury, you see, will rise in a 
 winter's morning, in a few hours, to nearly that height, paying no 
 regard whatever to Government, or to these writers. The cold 
 from the Antarctic, and the sun, in those latitudes, cause, in their 
 contest, these violent changes. To proceed, however, in our sur- 
 vey of the diggings. 
 
 The women on Bendigo were much more neatly dressed than 
 you would expect ; in fact, many of them came out in an afternoon 
 as well dressed as they need be to walk abroad in London. There 
 vv^as no lack of handsome mantillas, jackets, smart bonnets, and 
 parasols. I saw diggeresses going about there in a peculiarly 
 tasteful costume : a white wide awake hat, with broad ribbon ; a 
 neat-fitting jacket, made like the body of a lady's riding-habit, 
 and a handsome dress beneath. It is a costume which seems quite 
 made for the diggings, and which, I expect will become very 
 
268 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 popular. Yet, in a morning, you might often see these ladies, — 
 and very often, too, smart young girls, not more than fifteen, — 
 hanging out their wash, busy at their cooking, or chopping wood 
 with great axes, which they did not seem to swing, but which ra- 
 ther swung them, as they cut splinters from the stumps which 
 ornamented this digger landscape. There were numbers of cocks 
 and hens too kept there, and a considerable stock of goats. Life, 
 in fact, had assumed a more fixed and stationary aspect. The men 
 were seen going to and fro, in a regular daily routine, to work, and 
 back to their meals, and to their homes at evening ; nor did there 
 seem such a constant rotation of new arrivals and departures. 
 There were these, but there was a certain stationary substratum 
 beneath the fluctuating surface. 
 
 There were shops and stores all along the main roads. Each 
 different gully had its quota of tradesmen ; but the street of shops 
 in the Bendigo valley was at least seven miles long, — the largest 
 collection being gathered into a sort of town opposite to the Go- 
 vernment Camp. Many of the tradesmen had large wooden ware- 
 houses ; and the stores were distinguished by much larger tents 
 and huts than ordinary, by their great signs, and by flags, — these 
 not always confined to a coloured cotton handkerchief on a pole, 
 but many of them being quite dashing affairs, — large bunting flags, 
 bearing the stars and stripes of America, the insignia of Odd Fel- 
 lows and Freemasons, with other recondite and gay blazonry. 
 
 On the 9th of August, we descended the hole of a Scotch party 
 on the fifth White Hill, the next to the one above us. I say a 
 Scotch party, but it was a party of three Scotchmen and an Ame- 
 rican. Most of thenj had been in California. They were Messrs. 
 Maclaran, Duncan, Laski, and Bouvie. They were a very well- 
 informed company. Their hole was fifty-five feet deep, and you 
 were let down by a windlass. The sinking was made through a 
 hard quartz conglomerate, that is, pebbles of quartz cemented to- 
 gether by the powdered quartz which had been triturated to ex- 
 treme fineness by being rolled about some time in water, all the 
 pebbles being round. To cut through this conglomerate was an 
 inconceivable labour, for it was so hard that it defied often the 
 hardest tools, and their picks and gads, or steel chisels, were soon 
 blunted, or rendered useless, and they were compelled to blast the 
 adamantine substance. I suppose this obdurate stratum was twenty 
 or thirty feet thick ; when you came to a soft, silky kind of pipe- 
 clay, or rather clayey sand, which lay upon a bed of real pipe-clay; 
 and in this white stuff lay the gold. 
 
 They had cut tunnels through this in various directions, high 
 
diggers' holes in the white hills. 269 
 
 enough to sit upright in, leaving the gold-impregnated stratum 
 over-head ; and in it you could see the particles of gold glittering. 
 They cut these tunnels as far as they could in the direction of the 
 adjoining claims, so as to secure as much space as possible ; for 
 when two parties met under ground, each party stopped there as 
 their boundary. 
 
 This party had found a dip of the stratum in their hole, abound- 
 ing with gold, and I have no doubt they made a very good thing 
 of it. The working of this stuff, when once down, is very easy, 
 for it is quite soft ; and they say it is very comfortable under 
 ground ; for they have always an equable temperature, and knoTv 
 nothing of the weather above, however bad it may be. There had 
 been dreadful stories of these tunnellings falling in ; and, according 
 to one, seventy people were killed at once. This is all fudge ! 
 There they said it occurred at Ballarat, and at Ballarat they said it 
 occurred at Mount Alexander. But one day they had a terrible 
 fright in one of these hills. The whole hill being undermined, it 
 cracked asunder, from one side to the other, with a terrible explo- 
 sion, and the diggers came rushing out of their holes all over the 
 hill, like rabbits out of burrows in a warren when there are ferrets 
 got in. There was a busy turning of windlasses, you may be sure, 
 and mustering of parties to see who was missing. But, strange to 
 say, not a single person was hurt. However, the roof of the hole 
 that I was in, a few days after fell in at the dip just mentioned, and 
 buried Mr. Bouvie all but his head. They dug him out with all 
 speed ; but his chest w^as a good deal crushed, and he continued 
 for some time an invalid. 
 
 The product of some of these White Hill claims was said to be 
 very considerable. But it was difficult to obtain reliable informa- 
 tion. I heard 1000/. stated as a very good amount; and again, of 
 some of them realising 1000/. per man. There was one that had 
 been worked for sixteen months ; and, from the mountain of stuff 
 thrown out, the party must have undermined a very large space, 
 and to good purpose, or they vv^ould not continue it so long. I 
 heard of a heap of working stuff at the creek clearing 4000/., but 
 I am not sure that it belonged to this party, though I was told so. 
 
 Steady as the population there appeared, in comparison with 
 other diggings, there were yet continual rushes to different places 
 whence came golden rumours. There were two of these just then : 
 one to Jones's Creek, beyond the Loddon, forty miles off, to which 
 one of the Commissioners, who was just come from there, advised 
 us to go, saying that they were digging up nuggets like potatoes 
 at only a foot deep ; and that one party had brought in 900/. to the 
 
270 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 gold office. But we were not at all disposed to make another 
 journey of forty miles in winter roads, and to swim the Loddon 
 with our horses. We stayed; and the same Commissioner soon 
 after told us that he was glad we did not go, for it had proved a 
 failure. Yet many hundreds rushed off thither, and as many more 
 to Whipstick Gully, beyond Eagle-Hawk, nineteen miles off. 
 
 It was curious to see them strike their tents in a few minutes, 
 pack them up in a swag, and start, some of them leaving their 
 wives to w^ait the result. There were men going in parties, loaded 
 like bees ; some had huge packs, that they actually seemed to 
 stagger under, — enough, one would thijik, to satisfy them in a few 
 hundred yards. There were others with huge swags suspended 
 from a pole, with which they went on, like the children of Israel 
 carrying the gigantic bunches of the grapes of Canaan. Others 
 had a loaded light cart ; and w^hile one man was in the shafts, half 
 a dozen more, having a long rope fixed to the shafts, with sticks 
 tied at distances across, ran on each side of the rope, holding tlie 
 sticks, and thus hurried away at full trot. Others had nothing but 
 pick and shovel ; others nothing at all, intending, if the rush turned 
 out well, to buy what they wanted there. Those were rough fel- 
 lows, who could live any how, and who could lie out of doors in 
 winter pretty much like horses and cows. Tl^e lighter they tra- 
 vel the faster they go ; and indeed, in less time than anyone would 
 imagine them getting there, numbers were already back, saying 
 that the rush was "no go." Such movements are always taking 
 place. 
 
 Again, though I have said that there appeared a more quiets 
 settled, and decent population there than at M'lvor or Reid's Creek 
 the Ovens, yet I am sorry to say, on further observation, that thei 
 was a very large amount of a very different description too, an( 
 amongst them some of the worst scoundrels in creation. You coul< 
 not be on the diggings, indeed, without coming in contact with 
 very low, rude, vulgar, and base population, the scum of the eartl 
 the most finished of the convicted felons of Sydney and Van Diemen*i 
 Land — men who "have left their country for their country's good,i 
 —some sent at the expense of Government, and swarms of otherj 
 as thoroughly depraved, from the low purlieus of our large towns 
 There were hosts of thieves everywhere ; and not a night pass€ 
 but a robbery or a murder took place not far from our tent. On| 
 of these wretches was about our neighbourhood one night, and onj 
 of the Scotch party fired at him twice, but unluckily missed hii 
 His language was horrible ; for he paid a visit to more than oi 
 tent close to mine, where he supposed there was only a solitary ii 
 
ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 271 
 
 dividual ; for such characters are notoriously as cowardly as they 
 are base and ferocious. 
 
 Grog-shops abounded, notwithstanding the professed severity of 
 the police ; and we heard the noisy set of roysterers at them, night 
 after night, singing, fighting, and shouting, generally till near 
 morning. The police could not possibly miss them, if they only 
 walked through the diggings at night. The noise would detect 
 them at once half a mile ofi*. But the police didn't want to take 
 them, they were much better pleased to take their money as 
 bribes ; and there is no question but this was done to a frightful 
 extent. I shall give a few striking facts on this head presently. 
 But the police there disliked the night air still more than they do 
 at home. There was a special night police, who marched in file at 
 dusk through the diggings, each carrying a musket on his shoulder ; 
 but, once past, they disappeared, no doubt to comfortable quarters, 
 for the night. And how could it be expected that a Government 
 which professed to put down all drinking of fermented liquors on 
 the diggings, would be in earnest to do it, while it was calculating 
 on a large, a preposterously large, revenue from this very source ? 
 That year the duty on spirits alone was more than half a mil- 
 lion, in a colony of 250,000 people ! 
 
 Drunkenness, therefore, went on in reality on the diggings un- 
 controlled. It was carried on in the most open, palpable, public 
 manner possible. You could not avoid running your heads against 
 crowds of drunken diggers, your noses against the fumes of vile 
 rum, and your ears against the din and uproar of dozens of the 
 dens of debauch, if you would. All pretence of putting it down, 
 and of detecting sly grog-shops, was a sham, and the most impu- 
 dent of SHAMS. It may be imagined, therefore, what a hell-upon- 
 earth this was. We were now camping in the heart of a digging 
 for the purpose of buying gold ; and what we saw of it, or heard 
 of it, at an outside, where we had usually camped, was mere mur- 
 muring of bees to this. Here the discharging of all sorts of fire- 
 arms, the barking of dogs, the din of drunken squabbles in grog- 
 shops on all sides, the cries of murder, more or less every night, 
 and through the night till daybreak, made a Pandemonian hubbub 
 that has nothing like it on the wide earth. Nothing was silent, 
 but — the Police and the Commissioners ! 
 
 With very few exceptions, the Commissioners at the camp struck 
 us as the most extraordinary collection of incompetent, empty-headed 
 boys that we ever met with. They were, in fact, a burlesque of autho- 
 rity; marvellous, indeed, when we recollect that they were set to go- 
 vern 40,000 people ! How they all got there into one camp, and for 
 
272 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 such a purpose, Heaven only and Mr. La Trobe could tell ! There 
 were Captain Murray, a perfect gentleman, an unassuminor man, of 
 high family and intelligence, in a subordinate position, Mr. Wilkinson 
 at the Gold Office, Mr. Reynell, of the Adelaide Escort Office, a mere 
 resident there, and Mr. Gregory, the clergyman, an excellent man, 
 but whom I never saw amongst the Commissioners; and who were 
 the rest of the honourable exceptions, I really do not know. 
 
 Meantime, we discovered some not only kind but intelligent 
 friends there: — Dr. Roche, the Coroner, a ward of Father Ma- 
 thew, and a friend of our friends the Jenningses of Cork, a genu- 
 inely kind, warm-hearted Irishman. Dr. Bachhaus, the Catholic 
 Priest, who lived close to Dr. Roche, was a man of great liberality 
 and learning. He was a German, as his name testified, but whicii 
 you would not discover by his language. He had seen a great deal 
 of the world, both in Europe and Asia, enough, in fact, to make 
 him a man of the world, and not a bigot. We dined at Dr. Roche's 
 soon after our arrival, with this gentleman and Mr. Maclachlan, 
 the police magistrate, who by no means belonged to the lack-a- 
 daisical juvenility of the Camp ; for he had plenty of sense, how- 
 ever the public might deny him other requisites of a popular ma- 
 gistrate. 
 
 As we were at dinner, and it was quite dark, there was a cry 
 outside of "A boy in a hole! a boy in a hole!" Seizing the 
 candles from the table, out we rushed ; and there, in a digger's 
 deserted hole, close behind the Doctor's tent, was, not a boy, but a 
 girl of eleven or twelve years of age. The hole was at least ten 
 feet deep, and had water and mud enough in it to drown her. 
 Luckily she had not gone down head-foremost, or she must certainly 
 have been drowned, for she never could have extricated herself 
 from the mud ; her voice would have been choked, and she could 
 have given no alarm. 
 
 As it was she was frightened enough. A rope was run for ; but 
 before it came a man put a pole down, and she caught hold of it. 
 " There," said Dr. Roche, " you are all right now." " No ! no !" 
 cried the little girl, " I am not all right." " But you are at the 
 bottom," added the Doctor ; " you cannot sink." **No ! no ! I am 
 not on the bottom; I am sinking every minute!" cried the little 
 girl. But before the rope came, two men put down their hands as 
 far as they could ; the little girl grasped the pole firmly with both 
 hands, and she was raised till the two men could seize her, and out 
 she came. When asked how she came to fall in, she said, " Oh ! it 
 was that nasty brown goat that pulled me in." I believe she had 
 been endeavouring to put the goat into its night's quarters. 
 
 H 
 
OUR LARGE DOG STOLEN. 273 
 
 It may be asked, why did not the Doctor have the pit filled up, 
 so dangerously deep and close to his tent ? Why, these dangerously 
 deep holes were everywhere, and close to everybody's tent. The 
 diggings are, of all places, a land of pitfalls. Pitch your tent 
 where you will, there the diggers are almost sure to come, and dig 
 up the whole ground round you. You generally live in the midst 
 of a grand honeycomb of such pits and water-holes. For this rea- 
 son it was our rule not to go out to dine on the diggings ; and we 
 made very rare exceptions, for they are only safe by daylight, on 
 more accounts than one, — but the pits are enough. That very day 
 the Doctor had held an inquest on a Chinese drowned in one of 
 them ; and, in truth, they were really golden holes to him, as co- 
 roner ; for there were generally two or three men a week, mostly 
 supposed to be drunk at the time, drowned in them. The Doctor 
 had an ape, a species of creature which I have no desire to possess ; 
 and the same little girl who fell into the hole came one day run- 
 ning to Dr. Bachhaus, begging him to come, for Dr. Roche was out, 
 and the ape was aping the Doctor in burning papers. He had seen 
 the Doctor thus employed ; and in his absence he got to his 
 table, and was very gravely committing one valuable paper after 
 another to the flames. 
 
 A matter which gave us much concern was having our splen- 
 did dog Buff stolen. A young man came to us to inquire of 
 some friends of his that he knew we were acquainted with. I 
 told him that they were mentioned in some letters from home, 
 which I would look out ; and he said he would call on Sunday, to 
 learn the particulars. We let out Buff while at breakfast ; and 
 some time after breakfast I sat looking over my letters in waiting 
 for this gentleman. When I went out no Buff was visible, though 
 he had come and looked into the tent during breakfast-time. We 
 commenced a search for him on all sides, but without success. 
 Knowing that dog-thieves were as plentiful as any other sort of 
 thieves there, and that the dog had been pronounced worth 20/., 
 and would be most readily sold for 10/., we had no doubt that he 
 had been taken away, for he never strayed of himself. 
 
 As we were inquiring for him in the neighbourhood, I saw 
 Alfred suddenly set off at a quick pace along the street of tents 
 down the valley; and supposing that he had got wind of the 
 thieves, I hastened after him, but could not get sight of him any- 
 where. I supposed that he was going at full speed, and posted on 
 till 1 came to the end of the diggings. There a baker said he had 
 seen three or four men go down that way with several dogs, and 
 j one a large black dog, exactly answering Buff's description. Feel- 
 
274 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 ing now sure that Alfred was on the track, and would pursue to 
 any distance, I became alarmed on his account ; for the country 
 in that direction was, as I have stated, solitary, little-frequented 
 bush. Yet it was the way the diggers sometimes took when 
 going to the Goulburn Diggings. I went on and on, as fast as I 
 could, but could see no single person on the road. I was the more 
 alarmed as I thought if Alfred overtook three or four sturdy 
 scoundrels, and demanded the dog, they would be sure to do him 
 some mischief; and he had no arms with him. I went on for 
 three miles, and came to the tent of a fellmonger, who had seen 
 no one pass ; and the next tent was two miles farther. To make 
 all sure, I hastened on there. It was another fellmonger's, who 
 assured me no one had passed there within several hours, as their 
 dog regularly barked when any one went along the road. 
 
 I now felt that I could return; but, what was curious, feeling 
 sure that I had seen the person at the la$t tent somewhere, I asked 
 this yoimg man who it was, and found to my astonishment, that 
 it was no other than Mr. Berkeley, the father of Mrs. Andrew 
 Crosse. I now learned that Mr. Berkeley was only camping there 
 for the pleasant quietness and verdure of the woodland ; and that 
 a Mr. Duncan there was the fellmonger, as I imagined, but in 
 reality only a collector of wool from the skins. Of this singular 
 rencontre, more anon : at present I have only to say, that I found 
 Alfred at home, his search having been quite in another direction, 
 but equally unsuccessful with my own ; and not a trace of the 
 dog was ever found. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Digger Insurrection. — Digger Grievances. — Official Treatment. — A Mod 
 Police Magistrate. — Deafness of Government. -- Hermsprong, Inspector ol 
 Police, and his Doings. — Bums down Grog-shops and gets Rich. — Hi 
 Brass-knobbed Whip " Green Apples." — Burns the Widow's Tent. — Cha 
 racter of Mr. Commissioner Gilbert. — His Mode of Action. — Obviat 
 Riot. — Digger Testimonial. — Present Agitation. — Processions and Ni 
 tional Banners. — Digger Monster Meeting. — A Republican Speech. - 
 Disgusting Conduct of Foreign Red Republicans. — Spring Glorj of t 
 Woods. — Boy Shoots a Horsestealer. — Another Stabs a Bushranger. — 
 News of Riot at Ballarat. 
 
 A NEW phase now appeared In digger life, — a crisis had arrived 
 Those discontents which I spoke of some time ago, as to tht 
 amount of license for gold-digging, the mode of collecting it, the 
 
DIGGER INSURRECTION. 275 
 
 administration of justice, and the general treatment of the digger, 
 which I foresaw would produce their fruits, had been steadily 
 growing, and now stood forth to the day, in the shape of decided 
 remonstrance. There was a general agitation of these questions, 
 both at Bendigo and on the other diggings. That which was put 
 forward most prominently was the repeal of the gold license ; 
 but, besides this, there was a strong feeling against the arbitrary 
 treatment of the diggers by the Commissioners and police, and for 
 an elective franchise — the principle of the British Constitution 
 being grossly violated in the persons of the diggers, who were 
 heavily taxed, and totally unrepresented in the legislative body. 
 
 I have already stated the grievances of the diggers, as de- 
 scribed by themselves, and I have admitted that they were real, 
 substantial, and full-grown grievances, such as no Englishmen 
 should, or will long, tolerate. The diggers being far the largest 
 class of the community, — the class which were at once the 
 greatest consumers and the greatest producers of real solid 
 wealth, coining 7,000,000/. a year from the earth, and paying in 
 direct taxation more than half a million, while the great land- 
 owners and wool-producers only paid 20,000/., — nothing could be 
 clearer than that they should possess the franchise, and land also 
 on which to base it ; that they should have a voice in deciding 
 the burdens which they were to bear ; and that they should have 
 their share of the soil on which they lived, — land, and houses on 
 the land, — and should not, while enriching the whole community, 
 and enabling others to build palaces, be themselves vagabonds and 
 rootless aliens in the country. These are principles so clear and 
 unassailable, that we shall not even stop to discuss them here, but 
 confine our attention to the two first questions, the license, and 
 the treatment of the digger. 
 
 The digger could not pay the old amount of 30^. a month, 
 owing to the increase of diggers and the decrease of gold, and 
 it was the part of a wise government to reduce it to some more 
 moderate sum ; and there was every reason to believe that a more 
 moderate license-fee would have yielded even a larger aggregate 
 result. Oppressive taxation is defeated by two causes, poverty 
 and resentment : poverty cannot pay, and resentment will not. 
 Wherever a tax is unjust, it declines ; for it everywhere en- 
 counters an enemy, and every one schemes how to elude it. It 
 was well known that not more than one-half of the diggers paid 
 iiny license-fee ; it should, therefore, long before have been 
 reduced. 
 
 The mode of collecting this tax, however, had done more to 
 
 T 2 
 
276 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 make it unpopular than the amount of the tax itself. In levying 
 it, the tax-gatherer and the tax-payer were brought too violently, 
 and nakedly, as it were, face to face. In England, twice a year 
 suffices for seeing the face of the tax-gatherer. The Government 
 demands duly discharged on these two occasions, the tax-gatherer 
 becomes for the rest of the twelve months invisible ; he exists 
 still, but, except on these two days, not to you. You are not 
 liable, any day and any hour, and for any number of times on any 
 one day, to be called on by this not very fascinating character, 
 and compelled again and again, and as often as he pleases to 
 demand it, to show your last receipt. 
 
 But this was precisely the nuisance of the diggings, that you 
 were always living face to face with the tax-gatherer, and exposed 
 to his visits and peremptory demands every day and every hour. 
 You were placed in violent juxtaposition with him, and were 
 required to carry your receipt in your pocket day and night, and 
 to produce it whenever and wherever, and as frequently as 
 the policeman ordered you to produce it. You might show it to 
 one, and descend to the bottom of your hole of 50 or 100 feet ; 
 and the next minute you might be called up to show it to another 
 who might be wandering over the field. Nay, it had frequently 
 happened that one individual had been called upon to produce his 
 receipt half a dozen times in the course of one day, to as many 
 nomadic policemen. 
 
 Such being the case, it was obvious that the irritating and un- 
 gracious attributes of the tax should have rendered the authorities 
 especially gracious and conciliatory in their necessary endeavours 
 to collect it faithfully; that there should have been a spirit of 
 fairness, of forbearance, and of kindness in carrying out the law, 
 to deprive it as much as possible of its offensive features ; and 
 this the more especially, that the authorities were compelled to 
 employ numbers of men in this capacity of whom they could know 
 very little. There should have been at once a disposition in the 
 Gold Commissioners to support these inspecting police in their 
 duty, and vigorously to check and discountenance any spirit of 
 harshness or insolence in them. 
 
 But unhappily this was not the case. A set of young, insolent, 
 and imperious men were put into the Commission, who appeared 
 to have no sympathy whatever with the people over whom they 
 were set to rule. Their only animus seemed that of enforcing the 
 payment of the tax, without any regard to the personal feelings 
 of the taxed. The men employed as police to hunt after licenses 
 were too often excessively ignorant and vulgar persons, who, 
 
A MODEL POLICE MAGISTRATE. 277 
 
 never having before enjoyed the slightest shadow of power, not 
 even over a cur or a donkey, exercised this now given, over men 
 far their superiors, often men of birth and education, wfth a 
 coarse brutality which was intolerable to generous minds. I have 
 stated how men who were found without licenses on their persons, 
 but who had them at their tents, were dragged off to the Govern- 
 ment Camp, and allowed no explanation, but were fined from 3/. 
 to 5/. ; how, if they remonstrated with the police, they would 
 probably be clapped instantly into handcuffs ; how men who had 
 showed their licenses time after time were yet caught after all 
 some day, and treated thus. These were common, everyday, 
 everywhere occurring events ; and, in general, no attention was 
 given by the Commissioners to explanations of this kind, or to 
 indignant remonstrances against such treatment. No aid was 
 given to the outraged complainant by a reference to the license 
 cheque-book, which would have shown at once whether the person 
 brought up had paid or not. That was too much trouble and too 
 much courtesy. Men, again, on charges, however slight, were 
 chained all night to trees, on the plea that there was no sufficient 
 lock-up ; as if any circumstances could warrant such treatment of 
 Englishmen ! This excited universal indignation. 
 
 1 could name a police magistrate, on one of the very largest 
 gold-fields, who, when a digger was brought before him on any 
 charge, would say, " Well, man, what have you got to say for your- 
 self ? " On which the accused would say, " Why, your honour, I 
 " " Ha ! another word," would angrily interpose the magis- 
 trate, "and I will commit you for contempt of court!" Whereupon 
 he would proceed, and sentence him according to his own pleasure. 
 
 I saw it stated in the newspapers that this same magistrate, at a 
 subscription ball on the diggings, at which, of course, all classes 
 were admitted, seeing a well-dressed digger with his wife present, 
 had him seized by the police on the strange ground that he had 
 once been brought up before him on some charge, probably on 
 account of licenses. He had him sent to the lock-up, and refused 
 bail. But so arbitrary a stretch of authority created such a sensa- 
 tion even here, that at midnight he sent privately, and let him 
 out. 
 
 Such things will not be easily believed in England ; but they are 
 so well known on the diggings, that thousands on reading this 
 would instantly name the man. Nay, there are numbers who have 
 seen a dozen men at once placed before this magistrate on the charge 
 of being found without licenses. Placed in a row, he would ask 
 the first : " Have you got a license ? " '* Yes, your worship." 
 
 T 3 
 
278 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 " Where is it ? " " In my tent." ** Oh I you have not got it here." 
 " No, sir." To the second : " Have you got a license ? " " Yes, 
 sir."* ** Where is it?" "In my other trousers." "Oh! You, 
 there, have you one ? " to the third. " Yes, sir, lying in my waist- 
 coat in my hole ; but the police would not let me go down for it." 
 This Rhadamanthus would go through the whole twelve, find 
 every one pleading that he had a license, but, without giving any 
 one of them opportunity to prove it, would say, " You are all fined 
 5/. a-piece, and locked up till paid." - 
 
 This, too, is a scene so usual that I have heard a Commissioner 
 describing it as peculiarly rich and amusing. 
 
 By these means, and such as these, by a system of the most 
 arbitrary, heartless, insulting conduct on the part of the Commis- 
 sioners and police towards the general body of diggers, the "whole 
 management of the gold-fields came to be characterised, not as 
 English, but as Russian. The system of hunting up licenses was 
 styled " Man hunting," and the foot-police " Man-catchers " and 
 " Bloodhounds." It was a system that raised the indignation of 
 high-spirited freeborn men, and excited the universal hatred of the 
 people, as a cold-blooded, un-English, un-Christian despotism. 
 
 The callousness and carelessness of the Colonial Government 
 was at the bottom of this system, and to blame for it all. No cries 
 of outrage aroused it — no appeals to its justice were answered. 
 The Government of that time was, in this respect, a Government 
 of the most hopeless and invulnerable insensibility. It was its 
 practice never to entertain any communications except through an 
 official channel. Complaint, therefore, upon complaint, was made, 
 which it only noticed by calling for the weekly reports of the very 
 parties accused, and deciding by them whether there were cause 
 of dissatisfaction or not. This once perceived became a tower of 
 strength to all officials. They got up their reports as the Chinese 
 mandarins are said to/lo for the Celestial Emperor; and all was 
 right. No voice, however powerful or piercing, could touch the 
 tympanum of Government ; and official injustice and insolence be- 
 came gigantic in their proportions, and peculation and bribery 
 walked openly hand in hand. 
 
 To what a pitch this grew, and how immoveable to the cries of 
 the outraged were the nerves of Government, the career of such a 
 man as I shall here name Hermsprong will demonstrate. If I 
 name him not exactly, there are ten thousand who can do it for me. 
 
 Hermsprong was "originally a blacksmith, but he was appointed 
 to the post of Inspector of Police on one of the chief diggings. The 
 arm which used to smite iron, now smote men. Heads were now 
 
DOINGS OF HERMSPRONG. 279 
 
 his anvils, and the metal that he welded was the gold of bribery. 
 He was considered, for a long time, the most vigilant and efficient 
 officer on all the gold-fields. Why ? Because he was continually 
 hunting out and punishing the vendors of spirits. Nothing was so 
 frequent in the newspapers and police reports as the exploits of 
 Hermsprong, in discovering, fining, and burning down the tents of 
 sly grogsellers. Not a week passed without some such records 
 of the indefatigable and sagacious Hermsprong. You would natu- 
 rally suppose that all sly grogshops and sly grogsellers would 
 soon cease to exist on the field where this formidable officer exer- 
 cised his talents and his spies. Nothing of the kind. On no field 
 were more rum and brandy drunk ; and thus Hermsprong exter- 
 minated sly grogshops, and yet did not injure the Government 
 revenue from the duty on spirits. 
 
 You will say, how did he manage this ? By the simplest means 
 in the world ; and at once benefited the Government revenue, his 
 own, and that of a select body of favoured tradesmen. Herm- 
 sprong's system was to destroy relentlessly the small grogseller, 
 and to allow and even protect the large one — for a consideration. 
 
 Hermsprong not only burnt down the small grog-tents, and fined 
 the keepers of them 50/. each, besides confiscating all the liquor, 
 but he set police at the ends of the diggings, to intercept drays 
 coming up, and search them for spirits and wine. Yet, all this 
 time it was well known where plenty of spirits were to be had, and 
 where they could be drunk without fear of interruption from the 
 police. It was at those large traders' stores who paid large sums 
 by way of black-mail to Hermsprong ; and the drays of these gen- 
 tlemen were never searched at the entrance of the diggings, on the 
 plea that they were too respectable to be suspected. 
 
 Hermsprong's mode of proceeding was as energetic in one particu- 
 lar as another. He was a huge athletic fellow, and as remarkable 
 for the brutality of his disposition as for his love of a bribe. He 
 had a riding-whip, famous all over the diggings, the thick end of 
 its stock being terminated by a brass knob as large as a good-sized 
 apple. This whip he called his Green Apples ; and this knob he 
 exercised, without ceremony or remorse, on any skull that was 
 audacious enough to question the propriety of his proceedings. 
 He would knock down a man for half a word, or for a look only, 
 just as a butcher would knock down a bullock. I have heard a 
 Commissioner relate this fact amongst others. He and Herm- 
 sprong were called to settle some dispute on the diggings. While 
 engaged in this business, a drunken digger, drunk at one of 
 Hermsprong's privileged sly grogshops, came staggering up, with 
 
 T 4 
 
280 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 his hands in his breeches pocket, and said to Hermsprong, as he 
 sat on his horse, " Who are you ?" "Who am I? " said Herm- 
 sprong, *•' That's who I am," giving the man a blow on the head 
 with his Green Apples which felled him to the ground. 
 
 The unlucky digger lay there apparently dead. The Commis- 
 sioner turned to an officer who was with him, and said, " I can't see 
 this, for it will have to come before me as a magistrate. Take 
 notice of all that passes, for you must give evidence." The man, 
 however, thanks to a stout skull, was not dead. His skull was not 
 fractured, but his head was frightfully bruised and cut open, and 
 the poor fellow was carried away covered with blood to his tent. 
 
 Another incident, also related to me by a Commissioner, was 
 this. A poor Irishwoman was left a widow with several children, 
 the youngest of which was only a few days old. Hermsprong 
 had discovered that this poor woman sold grog. He appeared 
 before her tent, with his myrmidons, and, ill as she was, sum- 
 moned her out. When he charged her with the sale of grog, she 
 did not deny it, but said that her husband being killed by an acci- 
 dent, her countrymen had advised her, as her only means of sup- 
 port for herself and little children, to sell grog, promising to give 
 her their custom ; and the poor woman said, piteously, " What, 
 your honour, was I to do ? " 
 
 Without replying to her remark, Hermsprong turned to the 
 police with him, and said, " Fire that tent!" 
 
 The poor woman shrieked out, " For God's sake, sir, spare ray 
 tent ! spare my children ! " The children were all at the moment 
 in the tent ; the infant of a few weeks old fast asleep. The police, 
 accustomed as they were to execute many a barbarous deed at 
 Hermsprong's command, refused to a man to execute this diabo- 
 lical order. Swearing at them for what he called their *' d — d 
 nicety," and threatening their dismissal, Hermsprong leapt from 
 his horse, stalked up to a fire burning before the tent, seized a 
 flaming brand, and fired the tent with his own hand. 
 
 The poor woman, uttering a frantic cry, rushed into the tent, 
 snatched up her baby, and, followed by her other children, cami 
 out, and stood shrieking and tearing her hair like a maniac, whil 
 her tent, and all that she had in the world, consumed before hei 
 eyes. That sufficiently effected, Hermsprong rode away followe< 
 by his men, and by the execrations of the whole diggings in th 
 quarter, expressed in the well-known cry of "Joe! Joe!" — 
 cry which meant one of the myrmidons of Charley Joe, as the 
 familiarly styled Mr. La Trobe, — a cry which on all the digging 
 resounded on all sides on the appearance of any of the hate 
 
HERMSPRONG BURNS A WIDOW's TENT. 281 
 
 officials. The proceedings of this monster, the atrocities that he 
 was continually perpetrating, — deeds that would have disgraced 
 the emissaries of a Nero or a Caligula, and which were witnessed 
 and related by thousands of astonished and indignant men, — were, 
 from month to month, and from year to year, made known to 
 Government, accompanied by the most energetic demands for his 
 dismissal and punishment. These representations and appeals were 
 unheeded ! except in so far that he was removed from one digging 
 to another. For two years he was permitted to continue his sa- 
 vage and corrupt career ; when the public excitement against 
 him became so desperate, that it could be no longer ignored. He 
 was dismissed; and he retired with these memorable words, — his 
 official salary, be it remembered, ,being only 400/. a-year, — "I 
 don't mind being turned out ; for in these two years I have cleared 
 15,000/.!!" 
 
 It is some consolation to the outraged feelings of humanity to 
 be able to place in contrast to this Satanic portraiture, that of a 
 man who was in office on the gold-fields at the same time — Mr. 
 Commissioner Gilbert. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert was one of the first Commissioners appointed on 
 the discovery of the gold. I believe he was the first Commis- 
 sioner at Bendigo ; at all events, he was, at a very early period 
 of it, the Chief Commissioner there ; and by him the present 
 Government Camp was laid out, and the arrangements for the 
 business of the field made. Mr. Gilbert is a man of superior 
 education, of much reading, of an active and accomplished mind. 
 He is a good artist, and devoted to the enjoyment of intellectual 
 tastes. But no sooner was he in office than he displayed the great- 
 est tact for business, and an indefatigable zeal in its discharge. 
 
 He was one of those very rare men — one would not think that 
 they should be rare, but they are the rarest of all characters 
 ("rarissimae aves in terris ") — who when in office do not forget 
 that they are men ; who do not come at once to think that official 
 routine is everything, and humanity nothing ; men, to whom the 
 old hacknied sentence of the Roman, — " Homo sum," &c., — " I 
 am a man, and nothing which affects my fellow men can be in- 
 different to me," — is as fresh and vital as on the day that it was 
 written ; and not so because an ancient wrote it, but because the 
 same principle is the life-spark of their own hearts. Mr. Gilbert 
 was affable, courteous, active, looking about for himself, scorning 
 no trouble which made him acquainted with the real facts of the 
 field, and the condition of the people on it. He was always open 
 to receive any communication, to examine its truth, and to redress 
 
282 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 grievances. Though he was an officer in authority, his inter- 
 course with the people was as simple and devoid of official starch 
 and so-called dignity as possible. Yet no man was so readily and 
 effectively obeyed. His decisions in all disputed cases were 
 oracles. Every man had such an entire confidence in his judg- 
 ment, his careful examination of conflicting statements, and his 
 honest impartiality, that they acquiesced in his fiats with the 
 utmost alacrity ; and the laws never were so well obeyed. 
 
 So far from the rigorous, arbitrary, and harsh conduct, which 
 we have described as since so general, Mr. Gilbert, while he 
 would have the rules of the diggings fully enforced, and the 
 interest of Government protected, heard patiently explanations, 
 and gave opportunity for defence. In many cases where he 
 found diggers unable to pay the license at the moment, he has laid 
 it down for them ; and it is creditable to human nature, that he 
 never lost one penny of such money ; though I once heard him 
 relate the manner in which a defaulter escaped him, to his own 
 great amusement. 
 
 As he was one day walking about the digging, he found a man 
 in a hole some ten feet deep or so, whom he asked if he had a 
 license. The man said, no. "Then," said Mr. Gilbert, "you 
 must come up and get one." "But," replied the man, "1 don't 
 want one; I do very well without." "But that," said Mr. 
 Gilbert, " cannot be allowed ; and if you won't come up, I must 
 send down the police and compel you." '''And any man," con- 
 tinued the digger, " that comes into my hole, I will strike through 
 the head with my pick." 
 
 Without a moment's pause Mr. Gilbert dropped into the hole, 
 and stood face to face with the fellow. The man gazed a moment 
 at him, as in astonishment ; the next instant, placing a hand on 
 each shoulder of the Commissioner, he sprang up. The next 
 moment his feet were where his hands had been ; and the next he 
 was out of the hole and away. By the time Mr. Gilbert could 
 get out, the active fellow had vanished ; and the Commissioner 
 walked off highly diverted at the occurrence. 
 
 I could give numbers of anecdotes related to me on the gold- 
 fields of this Commissioner ; but I shall content myself with one, 
 which bears more directly on the subject of this chapter, and 
 which was told me by an official who was present on the occasion. 
 
 Mr. Panton, a very young man, and of whom w^e shall have 
 further occasion to speak, was appointed an Assistant Commis- 
 sioner on Bendigo. I believe the part of the field under his 
 surveillance was about Kangaroo Flat. But wherever it was, he 
 
MR. GILBERT OBVIATES A RIOT. 283 
 
 very soon managed to produce that state of feeling which has 
 since grown, under his administration, to actual rebellion on 
 Bendigo. The diggers, accustomed to the urbanity, tact, and 
 acumen of Mr. Gilbert, became enraged and resistant under the 
 management of Mr. Panton ; and it was not long before that 
 officer came riding in all haste to the chief camp, to inform Mr. 
 Gilbert that the diggers in his quarter were up in open opposition 
 to his authority, and in a riotous crowd defied his power ; that he 
 had determined to seize a certain number of the ringleaders, but 
 that the crowd, armed with their picks, declared they would kill 
 any one who attempted to lay hands on them. He called upon 
 Mr. Gilbert to go with him, and assist him in reducing them to 
 obedience. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert replied that he would go on one condition, — that 
 he should be allowed to deal with the mob as he thought best, 
 without any interference from other officers ; and that he would, 
 under these circumstances, undertake to bring up all the men he 
 wished, without the aid of a single policeman, so that the case 
 might be fully heard in the police court. Mr. Panton ridiculed 
 the idea of such a proceeding producing such effect ; but there 
 was no alternative, and he consented. Mr. Gilbert rode back 
 with him ; and when they came to the enraged mob, he rode up 
 to the front, and said, " What, my good fellows, is the matter ? 
 
 Ha, I see you there, Mr. ," addressing a digger. '* You are a 
 
 clear-headed, straightforward fellow ; now, tell me what is the 
 reason you are opposing the authorities in this armed and extra- 
 ordinary manner ? " 
 
 The man told his story, and Mr. Gilbert said, " Well, I see that 
 this will require a careful hearing. The Commissioner demands 
 certain of you" — naming them — "to be given up and go to the 
 Camp, where I assure you the matter shall be fully and fairly 
 heard, and justice, wherever it lies, shall be done." 
 
 In a moment the picks were flung on the ground, the men 
 named marched out and placed themselves at the disposal of Mr. 
 Gilbert, and accompanied him to the Camp, followed at a respect- 
 ful distance by the crowd, in which were many who would have 
 to be called up for evidence. The matter was heard in Court, 
 and settled to the entire satisfaction of the whole digging. 
 
 So long as Mr. Gilbert continued in the Commission, the state 
 of feeling on the diggings where he was, was of the most cordial 
 kind towards the Government. But, unfortunately for all parties, 
 Mr. Gilbert's honourable conduct had made him so much beloved, 
 that the diggers resolved upon presenting him with a testimonial, 
 
284 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 — a pint cup of solid native gold, filled with nuggets and gold- 
 dust. The ipoment that the Victoria Government heard of this 
 they interdicted it, as improper for an ofiicer to receive, and as 
 likely to bring his impartiality into suspicion. Mr. Gilbert 
 acquiesced in this decision with fullest alacrity ; but the mischief 
 was done. From that day he was placed in a false position. 
 The worst passions of his fellow-officers were excited against him. 
 Envy and jealousy assailed him on all sides; his authority was 
 undermined ; his actions misrepresented ; and, in a word, his office 
 was made too hot to hold. He resigned ; and Government thus 
 lost the services of one of the most upright, able, and accomplished 
 Commissioners that Victoria has ever possessed. From that day 
 the discontent of the diggers steadily advanced ; their story of 
 outrage and official insolence was refused a hearing ; and, having 
 sent a deputation to the Governor to detail them, the whole of 
 the gold-fields were in a state of excitement awaiting the result. 
 
 On Friday, Aug. 13th, 1853^ there was a meeting of the diggers 
 to receive the deputation on their return from Melbourne. The 
 meeting was to be held at two o'clock, on View Point, an elevated 
 spot opposite to the Government Camp. The diggers of the 
 White Hills, where we were encamped, assembled at twelve 
 o'clock, with various banners. Accordingly, about that hour, they 
 began to draw off from their work, and were seen going in troops 
 to one central place. It was announced that they were to be pre- 
 ceded by a band of music. This band turned out to consist of a 
 fife and a broken tambourine. Then came a troop of Irish, with 
 their green banner of an immense length and of a gauzy material, 
 with the harp and shamrock on it, accompanied by the pick and 
 shovel. At a distance we could see advancing across the valley 
 three or four men, carrying two banners, " schwarz-roth-und- 
 gold," — German revolutionists ! Here and there we heard loud 
 hurrahs, and we imagined that a grand demonstration was about 
 taking place. But soon we perceived that a great number of 
 diggers did not leave their work to join the procession. It was 
 evident that the enthusiasm for this cause was not yet at its 
 height. 
 
 Anon came the collected troop of the White-Hill diggers. There 
 were only a few hundreds of them. First marched the Irish, — 
 always first in every agitation. Then the Scotch ; and then, as if 
 only third, instead of first in rank, the Union Jack of Great 
 Britain. Close to it came crowding up the revolutionary flags of 
 France and Germany, accompanied by the stars and stripes of 
 America, with some other minor flags. On they marched in much 
 
A REPUBLICAN SPEECH. 285 
 
 admired disorder, loudly hurrahing themselves, because the spec- 
 tators did not raise that patriotic cry. 
 
 At two o'clock the deputation was to deliver the answer of the 
 Governor. I therefore walked up to View Point, expecting, 
 from what I had heard of the agitation, to find at least 10,000 
 diggers, out of the 40,000 of Bendigo, assembled. But to my eye, 
 pretty well accustomed to scan the surface of a public meeting, 
 there did not appear to me more than 3000 or 4000 persons at any 
 one time there ; and numbers were coming and going during the 
 whole continuance of the meeting. There did not appear to me 
 any decided evidences of high-wrought feeling in the people. 
 
 I found a tent pitched on the hill for the committee and the 
 speakers ; and around the platform in front were ranged the ban- 
 ners of the different nations ; and in the centre the digger's flag, 
 of which more anon. The scene presented a curious appearance, 
 from the prevalence of the dirty cabbage-tree hats and dirty drab 
 wide-awakes of the diggers. I could hear very little of what the 
 speakers said, from the constant talking of the people, who seemed 
 much more disposed for a gossip than for listening. One man, 
 however, I heard distinctly, — a Mr. Dexter, whose wife, I under- 
 stood, had figured in London amongst the lecturers on the Bloomer 
 costume. 
 
 This man declared that he represented the French nation. He 
 had been much amongst the French, he said, and hoped he should 
 represent them faithfully. The only portion of that nation which 
 he did faithfully represent were the Red-Republicans. He de- 
 clared that he preferred a republic to a monarchy, and hoped to 
 see Australia a republic before long. He explained the digger's 
 flag, which he said he had had the honour of painting, and never 
 enjoyed such an honour before. Poor man ! it did not seem as if 
 honours had been very thickly thrust upon him. There were, he 
 said, the pick, the shovel, and the cradle, — that represented labour. 
 There were the scales, — that meant justice. There was the Ro- 
 man bundle of sticks, — that meant union : " altogether, — all up at 
 once." There were the kangaroo and the emu, — that meant 
 Australia, &c. &c. 
 
 He then referred to the foreign flags. There were assembled, 
 he said, English, French, Germans, Italians, Americans, Chinese, 
 New Zealanders, and, he might have added native blacks, for 
 there were several. There were the Germans, always first and 
 foremost in the cause of liberty ! ! The French flag, but not that 
 which they ought to have ; they ought to have had the blood-red 
 flag which had waved over many a glorious battle at the barricades. 
 
286 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 But Lamartine had juggled them out of that; and now it was 
 trodden on again by despotism. 
 
 He then made a grand onslaught on the British flag. What 
 had it done for liberty ? Wherever any people had risen against 
 their tyrants, that flag had waved in the van of Englishmen who 
 had gone to put the people down again. He did not like England 
 better than any other country, though he was an Englishman. In 
 fact, you would have thought that he liked it a great deal less, and 
 would have been much better pleased to have been a Hottentot. 
 He was a citizen of the world, and liked all nations — he might 
 have said better than his own. He would vote for women having 
 votes as well as men ; and hoped to see the day when every man, 
 woman, and child had a vote. I expected he would include the 
 whole household, dog, cat, mice, and all. 
 
 " There now," he exclaimed, pointing to the digger's banner, 
 " that is what I call a real spaciment of what liberty his ! I have 
 seen," he continued, " men on the diggings thrashing their wives. 
 I don't call that liberty." For my part, it seemed to me taking 
 a very great liberty indeed ; and he might have added another 
 species of liberty, of which there were some splendid "spaciments" 
 going on, that is, the liberty of picking pockets. An old man 
 came up to me, and told me that while listening in the crowd he 
 had had his pocket picked of an order for 100/. on a Melbourne 
 bank, as well as 3/. in notes ; and he wanted to know whether I 
 thought a letter registered and posted directly, would be in time 
 to stop payment. I told him that it would, if the thief did not 
 steal a horse as well as his order, and gallop off to Melbourne, as 
 he most likely would, and so outstrip the post. 
 
 But to return to the meeting. I was glad to see that Mr. 
 Dexter's cosmopolitan doctrines, including the disparagement of 
 the British flag, did not receive any cordial response from the dig- 
 gers, but the contrary. For a Mr. George Thompson, one of the 
 delegates, immediately rose and gave three cheers for the British 
 flag, as the ensign which had led the way to the preeminence of 
 England over all the world, and to the liberty they were that day 
 enjo^'ing. To this there was a thundering response, in which I 
 joined with all my might. 
 
 To me it was ineffably disgusting to hear an Englishman living 
 under a system of the most entire personal freedom which the 
 world ever saw, — spite of the defects of our Government, — a 
 system which thus allows a man to stand and declaim against 
 itself, and to fling filth on the bosom of that grand old mother- 
 country which had suckled and raised him to man's estate, — a 
 
FOREIGN RED REPUBLICANS. 287 
 
 system which here was, with open hand and heart, permitting all 
 people of all nations to enter and gather its gold on terms of per- 
 fect equality with its own subjects ; — there was something, I say, 
 peculiarly revolting to hear a man reviling that noble nation, 
 which had not only given him birth, but had educated him in that 
 love of freedom which he thus outraged and abused. 
 
 Scarcely less disgusting to me was it to see foreigners of all 
 descriptions, — no not all, chiefly French and Germans, — putting 
 themselves forward to denounce and oppose the Government of a 
 nation which has shown them, on all occasions, the most un- 
 bounded hospitality ; which has been their perpetual refuge when 
 their own tyrants have sought to crush them ; and which has 
 opened its golden colonies to their picks and spades, as freely as 
 to her own sons. Why, if these men had dared to whisper in a 
 corner or a wood of their own countries a tithe of the seditious 
 language which they did on this public platform, they would have 
 been at once snapped up by the police, and thrust into a dungeon, 
 or shipped off to Algeria or Cayenne. Yet some of these men, 
 coming from countries where there is not a spark of political 
 liberty left, — from countries where they have been defeated and 
 driven out, — pointed to their red flags, and boasted that if the de- 
 mands of the diggers were not instantly conceded, they were ready 
 " to lead them on to blood and victory ! " 
 
 Contemptible wretches ! I longed to tell them to look at home ! 
 to see what they had effected there ; how they had there led their 
 forces against their own really despotic governments ; to look and 
 see how they had been beaten like hounds, and tricked out of their 
 institutions and their republics ; and had left their fellow men lying 
 under the very hoofs of despotism, slaves to the most tyrannic 
 governments in the world. And for these men to come forward 
 and tell Englishmen that they would show them how to win their 
 rights, was a sorry jest indeed. 
 
 The Americans behaved with the utmost modesty and propriety. 
 It was quite legitimate for them, as for any other nation, to join 
 the English in agitating for a reduction of the license-fee, and 
 for obtaining a redress of grievances inflicted alike on all by the 
 local authorities. But to stand forward and recommend bloodshed 
 and expulsion of the British Government, as these men did, was 
 what I am sure the enlightened public of neither France nor Ger- 
 many would have heard with less indignation than myself. But 
 these ultra-republicans, these maniacs of revolution, have some- 
 thing peculiarly repulsive about them. They are, oddly enough, 
 generally infidels, materialists, and atheists. They do not believe 
 
288 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 in spirit, and are essentially of the earth, earthy. They have no 
 feeling of honour, no generous delicacy, no sense of gratitude, 
 which would otherwise make them blush to rail at a government 
 which treats them as no other government in the world would. 
 Would any other European government, if it had discovered gold 
 in its colonies, have allowed all nations to come without restriction 
 and gather it ? Every experience is against it. The United 
 States alone outgoes Europe, and stands side by side with England 
 in this lijjerality. 
 
 The reader will perceive that I found plenty of the ludicrous 
 and of the ungenerous in this assemblage. But, after all, in such 
 a population, including a large alloy of convicts and of unprin- 
 cipled adventurers, that must be the case. The heart of the great 
 body of the diggers was sound. It was clear to me, after seeing 
 and hearing what I did, why so large a number stood aloof from 
 the procession. They wanted necessary reform and not revolution. 
 They had no thirst for blood, but rather peace and national liberty. 
 I was delighted to perceive that the delegates confined themselves 
 to the legitimate object of the agitation, reduction of the license- 
 fee to 10^. monthly, and a reform of the authorities on the dig- 
 gings. A Dr. Owen, Dr. Jones, Captain Harrison, and Mr. 
 George Thompson, were, I think, the chief leaders of the move- 
 ment here and elsewhere. But, as to the result of the deputation, 
 I could only gather that it had not been very successful. 
 
 While men had been in a state of agitation, Nature had been 
 advancing calmly on her way. The weather was delicious ; it 
 was like early spring weather in England. The air was fresh, the 
 grass was green ; the birds began again to make their lively sum- 
 mer cries ; and the diiferent kinds of acacias were kindling up the 
 bush with their masses of gold ; some of them, the larger ones, as 
 the golden and the black wattle, resembled at a distance labur- 
 nums in full flower. Then, again, there were large expanses of 
 them, mere shrubs, along the flats near the creeks, as golden as 
 the larger ones. I made a long round, and was pleased to see 
 a good many of the diggers possessing so much poetry that they 
 had planted whole trees of the golden and black wattle, and nailed 
 them up about their huts and the chimneys of their tents. There 
 were numbers of people, too, walking in the bush, and bringing 
 home large boughs of the wattles — masses of resplendent and 
 
COURAGEOUS BOYS. 289 
 
 most fragrant vegetable gold. There were also many species of 
 wild flowers already appearing. 
 
 We sent our horses to Mr. Fenton's Station, about fourteen 
 miles from Bendigo, where Mr. Gregory, the clergyman, had his, 
 and where we believed they would be well cared for and safe. 
 They were not safe there. Our large dog Buff was never heard 
 of again. Alfred saw a solitary grave in the bush^ near the station 
 where the horses were ; and on inquiring whose it was, they told 
 hira it w^as a horse-stealer's. That a boy was some time ago tail- 
 ing out the horses, that is, watching them in the bush, when this 
 fellow came up, and endeavoured to take one. The boy told him 
 that if he did not desist he would shoot him. The fellow took no 
 notice, but proceeded to catch the horse, when the boy drew a 
 pistol, and shot him dead : another proof of the boy acting the 
 man at a very early age there. They sent word from the station 
 to the Camp at Bendigo of what had occurred ; and a police officer 
 rode over with a man, and saw the horse-stealer buried. That 
 w*as all the notice taken of such an event. 
 
 Again, a boy of about fourteen, being in Melbourne from the 
 diggings, was seized by a great fellow in a solitary place at night, 
 and ordered to give up his money. The lad put his hand into his 
 pocket ; but, instead of pulling out money, he drew out a sharp 
 knife, and stabbed the fellow, who fell, crying he was killed ; and 
 the lad, in a very business-like way, went to the police office, and 
 informed them what he had done. The man was found still alive ; 
 and, to the no little astonishment of the police, they beheld in him 
 a most notorious bushranger, of whom they had long been in quest. 
 He died the next day. The coroner's inquest found it a case of 
 justifiable homicide, and the lad was discharged, but was told by 
 the police that he must pay the expenses of the man's funeral. 
 But the boy was too knowing for them. He said, " What ! pay 
 for killing a bushranger? Not I, indeed. On the contrary, I 
 want paying for the job. What's the reward?" This being a 
 question that seemed rather to embarrass them, they showed him 
 out, and he went about his business. This was told me by his 
 sister. 
 
 While the first edition of this work was passing through the 
 press, came the news by the Melbourne mail, that one of those 
 events, which had been but too frequently predicted in this work, 
 had already taken place. The diggers at Ballarat, at the close of 
 
290 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 November, 1854, rose in insurrection, burnt their licenses, de- 
 clared they would take no more, called loudly for their rights, and 
 the affair ended by the Governor marching up a body of soldiers, 
 who came to conflict with the diggers, and a number of men were 
 shot on both sides. The Government now to a certain degree 
 took warning, and endeavoured to disperse these crowds, who 
 were treading on one another's heels on the gold-fields, by the 
 only effectual, permanent, and healthy means, — that of putting 
 cheap lands, and, of course, cheap houses, within their reach. 
 Wonderful would be the healing, ameliorating, humanising in- 
 fluence of a fresh, wholesome, agricultural life on this, at present, 
 homeless and landless population. 
 
 What deserved especial notice in these accounts was, that the 
 foreigners were at the head of these disturbances. It was they 
 who were foremost in the fray, and who chiefly were shot. This 
 is as might be expected from the details given in this chapter, and 
 marks the low, Red-Republican foreigners as a very bad element on 
 the diggings, — a class of men far below the lowest English in a 
 knowledge of the principles of moral reform and progress, who 
 have no ideas but of physical force, and the demolition of any 
 existing authority. This class requires the closest attention of 
 Government. 
 
 END OY THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 
 
 NEW-STREET SQUARE. 
 
 I 
 
LAND, LABOUR AND GOLD 
 
 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 VOL. 11. 
 
lONDOX: 
 
 PHIlfTEI) BY SPOTTISWOODE AXD CO. 
 
 NSW-STBEET SQUAKK. 
 
LAND, LABOUR, AND GOLD 
 
 OE 
 
 TWO TEAES IN YICTOEIA. 
 
 WITH 
 
 TISITS TO SYDNEY AND TAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 
 
 BY WILLIAM HOWITT. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 CONTAINING THE MOST EECENT INFORMATION BJEGAKDING THE COLONY. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. 11. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS. 
 
 1858. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Triumph of the Diggers on the License Question. — Irritating Answer of 
 Government. — License Defaulters released at Waranga on Demand of 
 Diggers. — Contradictory Proclamations. — Un-English state of Things on 
 the Diggings. — Set of Officers there. — Man -hunting. — Influx of Convicts. 
 
 — Robberies, Murders, and Drunkenness. — An ingenious Barricade. — 
 Police Conduct. — " Get a License from the old Mare ! " — A modern Wat 
 Tyler. — Petty Oppressions. — Scandalous Bribery. — Unfortunate Car- 
 penter at M'lvor. — Man chained down at Seymour. — Newspapers starting 
 on the Diggings ----_...- Page 1 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Murderous Adventures of Two Convicts. — Norfolk Island Convict Depot 
 broken up. — The Convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land. — Robbers of 
 Escort executed. — Captain Melville, the Bushranger, makes a fine Speech. 
 
 — Wilson, the Escort Robber, the Scout who visited us. — Agreeable Cha- 
 racteristics of the Diggings. — Musical Diggers Good Fortune of a 
 
 Smith. — Decamping with loaded Bullock Drays. — A Fortune out of an 
 old Bucket. — Visit to Fenton's Station. — SOOL a-Year out of surplus 
 Cabbages. — 5000/. a-Year by Diggers' Horses. — Prin's Adventure with 
 the Sheep and the Brandy Keg. — Strange Names of Places on Dig- 
 gings. — Odd Advertisements on Trees. — Child's Notion of a Preacher. — 
 Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! — Joy and Sorrow over a Pig. — Mouse Nuisance. — 
 Bendigo Gaieties. — Adventures in going out to dine. — Changes of Tem- 
 perature. — " Don't believe in the Climate ! " — Beauty of the Flowering 
 Woods. — Singular Quartz Hill 16 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Tomming out White Hill Stuff. — Amazing Clearing made by the Diggers in 
 one Year. — Total Disregard of Life by the Officials. — Pits in the Highways 
 Eighty Feet deep ! — Fearful State of the Melbourne Road at Bendigo. — 
 Author gets it repaired, and what comes of it. — Drownings of Drunken 
 Men. — Liabilities of a Dinner-party. — The System of Government on the 
 
 A 3 
 
VI CONTENTS OF 
 
 Diggings a Mistake. — Practical Bailiffs better than impractical Commis- 
 sioners. — Cost of this gold-lace Commission. — Government let a whole 
 Station for 10/. a-Year, and hired out of it a single Paddock at 500/. a-Ycar. 
 
 — Oats Is. per lb., Hay 120/. a Ton for Commissioners' Horses Expen- 
 diture on permanent Buildings at the Diggings - - - Page 32 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Project another Visit to the Ovens Country. — Strange Quartz Rocks. — 
 Singular North and South Ridges. — Torment of Sand-flies. — Curlews. — 
 Native Companion. — Pleasantness of the Bush. — Meet an old Acquaint- 
 ance. — Horrible Language of Diggers. — Horse-stealing - - 48 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 On our Journey. — New Fellow-Traveller, Lignum the Irish Giant. — His 
 Costume and Character. — Banks of the Campaspe. — Passage sold by Go- 
 vernment and stopped. — Obliging Squatter. — Prairies splendid with golden 
 Flowers. — Hospitable Squatters. — Meet an old Friend. — Lakes and Wild 
 Fowl. — Native Ovens. — The Goulburn Diggings. — A Tornado. — Heat. 
 
 — Crossing the Goulburn River. — Jem the Sexton. — Ferry a Government 
 Disgrace. — Record of a Man drowned. — Luxuriant Plains. — Squatter 
 Encroachments on " Water Privileges." — Grass Trees - - - 55 
 
 CHAP. XXVIIL 
 
 Beautiful Birds and Flowers. — Battle of severed Bulldog Ant. — Australian 
 Porcupine. — Enormous Amount of Digging since the preceding Year. — 
 Diggers grown very calculating. — Summaries of Argus for England. — 
 Don't want Intellectual Men there. — Suffering of Immigrants from want of 
 Land. — United States growing on our Folly, — History of the Land 
 Question. — Grog Monopoly in Sydney, and Expulsion of Governor Bligh. 
 
 — Fresh Land Regulations from 1823 to 1847. — Squatting System com- 
 pleted by Orders in Council of 1847. — Lord John Russell's Town allot- 
 ment Regulations. — Consequent speculative Mania and general Ruin in 
 1842. — Present Position of the Land Question. — Effects of Influx of 
 200,000 People where no Land was to be had. — Draft of the new Constitu- 
 tion. — What Victoria would be with Land - - - - - 70 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Thermometer at 139°. — Description of Dust- Wind in Melbourne. — Pro- 
 specting. — Blow- flies. — Attempts to dig out a Wombat. — Rush to New 
 Diggings in the Buffalo Mountains. — Scenes on the Road. — A frightful 
 Gap in the Hills. — A Chat with some Commissioners, and their Notions,— 
 Scenery on the Buckland River. — New Features of the Buckland Diggings. 
 — Platypuses and Leatherheads --88 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Better Class of Diggers. — " Good Morning Men and Women." — Attempt to 
 turn the River. — Arduous Struggle with it. — Banks give way, — Buckland 
 
THE SECOND V0LU3IE. Vll 
 
 Fever. — Irish Giant goes. — Story of Mr. Pardo, the Discoverer of the 
 Buckland Diggings. — New Rush to Bryant's Ranges, 250 Miles off ! — 
 Decrease in the Gold. — Dangers from Diggerdom if the Gold fails. — These 
 wild Rushes betray growing Poverty. — A Crisis approaches - Page 99 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 At our old Creek. — Captain Murray, our Commissioner. — Good Neighbours. 
 
 — A Character from the Cape. — His Rat-trap. — His Escape from an 
 Alligator. — Loses his Gold-bag. — An American compares our Colonial 
 Policy with that of the United States. — Notes our Fear of Russian Invasion 
 of our Gold Colonies. — Points out a great Army of Diggers, and advises to 
 give them Land to defend the Colony as Jonathan does. — Could soon 
 populate Australia. — Arrival of Duke of Newcastle's admirable Despatch. — 
 Unrivalled Advantages of the Squatters. — Pay no more for a whole County 
 than an English Grazier for Four Acres. — Charge as much for Meat or 
 more. — Ask Compensation for growing rich on Crown Lands. — Present 
 Squatters not the original Pioneers of the Bush. — Jumping Ants. — At- 
 tempts to burn the Bush about us. — Black Thursday - - - 108 
 
 CHAP. XXXIL 
 
 Sluicing. — Mode of. — Government Impediments to profitable Undertakings. 
 
 — Coal Fields. — Approach of Winter. — Vast Flocks of Birds. — A native 
 Camp, and new Grave, — Mode of breaking in Bullocks. — Stop the Mail in 
 Putter's Ranges. — Land Sales at Benalla. — Victorian Government as 
 
 Paymasters. — Government Mode of doing Business Convey Prisoners 
 
 600 Miles for want of a Lock-up. — Mr. Robertson on the Campaspe buys 
 640 Acres of Government for 640/., and sells them 6000/. worth of Hay from 
 80 Acres of it the first Season. — Mr. Robertson's Troubles. — Story of a 
 Tyrant Overseer. — Mrs. Chisholm giving false Colouring to the Colony 
 in her Speeches in the manufacturing Districts. — Evidently ignorant of the 
 Drunkenness there. — Horrors of Spirit-drinking in the Colony. — Amount 
 of Duty on Spirits. — Mrs. Chisholm's couleur de rose Ideas of Bush Life. 
 
 — The Reality. — ]\Irs. Chisholm's Arrival in Victoria. — Sees the whole 
 great Cheat. — The Roads ! the Diggings ! the Public-houses ! and the 
 Refusal of Land ! and speaks out nobly - - - - - -121 
 
 CHAP. XXXIIL 
 
 Bendigo Races Character of Population. — Decrease of Gold and Growth 
 
 of Public-houses. — Frightful State of Roads through the Diggings. — 
 Official Neglect. — Horse-Gins at Work. — A Round amongst the Gold- 
 buyers Dine with the Clergyman, who laments the Want of Endeavours 
 
 to elevate, instead of demoralising, the Population. — Vast Reforms wanted 
 on the Diggings. — Gross Abuse of the Office of Pound-keeper. — Example ; 
 Case of a Digger's Horse. — State of the Government. — Four Millions 
 Sterling per Annum required to govern 250,000 People! List of official 
 Salaries. — Sample of Allowances for House-rent. — Propose to tax the 
 Squatters, who resist and threaten to double Prices of Meat. — Mutton, in 
 Melbourne, Is. 3d. per lb. — Present Amount of Sheep, Cattle, &c., in 
 Colony. — Squatters memorialise Home Government, claiming Right to buy 
 
Vin CONTENTS OF 
 
 all the Land at U. per acre. — These Claims and 70,000 Diggers with de- 
 creasing Gold, threaten serious Evils to the Colony. — Leading Men from 
 Victoria and N. S. Wales watching the Fate of the new Constitution sent 
 Home. — Diseases of the Flocks ------ Page 137 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 Porest Creek. — Naming of Places in Victoria. — Tarrangower Digging. — 
 State and Appearances of it. — Kumours. — Disgust of Diggers with the 
 present. — The Gold-belt of the Colony. — The Gold -belts of the World. — 
 Tom Tiddler's Ground. — Second Half Year of 1852 gave Culminating 
 Point of Gold Product. -- Then 71,000 ounces a week, now 35,000. — 
 Sharp distress in the Diggings. — Dryness of this Neighbourhood. — The 
 Springs a picturesque Spot. — Splendid Land round Township of Muckle- 
 
 ford Why not sell such Lands in Farms? — Government asleep, but 
 
 Squatters awake, fencing in the best Land. — Mr. Laski's Brewery. — The 
 old Mount Alexander Diggings nearly deserted. — Their Aspect. — Fixed 
 Government Camps and Movable Diggings. — Crowds of lazy young 
 Officers doing nothing, and New Diggings without Officers. — The Post- 
 offices at the Diggings. — Well-appointed Post-masters. — Offering great 
 Contrast to the Camp. — The Philosophy of Clothes at these Camps. — 
 Whole System wants changing - - - - - - -148 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 Serious Thoughts inspired by extent of Gold-Field already exhausted. — 
 English Policy of allowing People of all Nations to gather our Gold, com- 
 pared with that of America, which allows them also to invest it. — A Survey 
 of Forest Creek. — Bands of Lava and Quartz working in Spring Creek. — 
 Quartz Crushing. — Entertained by an Intelligent Digger near Golden 
 Point, Forest Creek. — His Observations on the Exaggerations of Rumour 
 
 — on Official Insolence — on Average Gains, and Want of Good Invest- 
 ment for Money. — The Experience of a Northumbrian Man on Campbell's 
 Creek. — Fryer's Creek. — Singular Character of the circular Quartz-pebble 
 Hills at the Red Hill here and White Hills at Bendigo. — Mr. Simpson 
 Davidson's Theory of Gold Formation. — How far agreeing with Author's 
 Experience. — Analysis of the Claims of the Gold Discoverers of Australia. 
 
 — Convicts and Stockmen. — Count Strzelecki, Sir R. Murchison, W. B. 
 Clarke, Hargraves. — Victoria Discoverers. — Why does not Government 
 work the other Minerals of Victoria ? — Ovens Tin - - - - 162 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 Journey to Ballarat. — Magnificent Downs. — The Jim Crow Ranges. — 
 Diggings there. — Hepburn's Station. — Volcanic Hills. — Sulkiness of the 
 Common People. — Aborigines' Station. — Creswick Creek Diggings. — J 
 Cheapness of Human Life. — The nameless Dead. — A BuUock-Driver'i 
 Evening. — Wonderful Consumption of Brandy. — Sulky Gully. — Countr]| 
 near Ballarat lying in Water. — A Group of Chinese Diggers. — Johi 
 Chinaman returning rich - - -17( 
 
THE SECOND VOLUME. IX 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 The great Basin of Ballarat. — Eureka and Canadian Gullies. — Gravel-Pit 
 Diggings. — Wonderful Scene of Filth and Activity. — Ballarat in Winter 
 the muddiest Place in the World. — Holes 160 feet deep. — Scene of the 
 Gravel Pits. — Extraordinarily coloured Clay thrown up. — Sixty Feet here 
 to be sunk through the Water. — The Golden Gutters. — Hawls of from 
 10,000/. to 30,000/. — System of Shepherding. — Intense Watching and 
 Manceuvring. — An eager Game of Chess. — Produce of Miller's Hole. — 
 Probable Cost of Working a Hole. — No Machinery employed. — Specimen 
 of Medical Civility. — Hosts of Quacks. — Irishwoman with her Quinsey. — 
 Fifteen Guineas for a Doctor's Visit. — Enormous Consumption of Hollo- 
 way's Pills. — Card-playing and Drinking. — Mountains of empty Bottles. — 
 Marvellous Prices for Township Allotments at the Diggings - Page 184 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 Journey through a rich Country. — Thousands of embryo Farais lying there. 
 
 — The whole South of Victoria, from End to End, splendid Land. — Line 
 of new Road to Geelong laid out. — Discouraging Experience of Buninyong 
 Township. — Half-acre Allotments and a Wooden House no Independence. 
 
 — Road-side Grog-palaces. — One hundred loaded Drays per Day on the 
 Road. — Why not a Railroad here ? — Strange Location of Muddy- Water- 
 Holes Township. — Beautiful Valley of the Moorabool. — Extreme Fertility. 
 
 . — A few attractive Homesteads. — A splendid Site for a Water-Mill. — 
 Beautiful Site for a Town. — The Barabool Hills. — English Larks let loose 
 
 upon them Town of Geelong. — Great Plains between it and Melbourne. 
 
 — Much Land monopolised there by Speculators. — Deluging Rain - 195 
 
 CHAP. XXXLX. 
 
 Wonderful Growth of Melbourne during one Year's Absence. — Vast Spread 
 of Suburbs. — Striking Improvement of Buildings in the Town. — Superior 
 Inns. — Manners of Tradesmen more courteous. — Mr. Gabrielli's clever 
 Money Transaction. — Lends Melbourne 500,000/. of its own Money, and 
 goes Home 50,000/. the better for it. — With this Half-million of Money 
 Miracles performing. — Streets draining, macadamising, and paving. — 
 Water Company and Gas Company promise great Things. — New Reservoir 
 and Water-works. — The Banks of Victoria. — Scientific and Literary 
 Institutions. — Projected University. — Botanic Gardens. — Superb Grants 
 of Money for Education. — The School System, and Account of Schools and 
 Scholars. — The Newspapers of Melbourne, &c. — The New Constitution as 
 passed and sent Home. — Imports of 1853, upwards of 17,000,000/. ; Ex- 
 ports, 14,000,000/. — TraflSc at the Wharves, and Throngs of People on the 
 Roads near the City. — The other Side of the Picture. — Symptoms of ap- 
 proaching Crisis. — Causes of this, not merly Overtrading but Gambling in 
 Town Allotments. — Wonderful Instances of Fortune. — Present Rates of 
 
 Labour. — Price of Articles of Life. — Government Expenditure. — Debt 
 
 1855: Crisis arrived. — Fighting at Ballarat. — Eight hundred People out 
 of Work at Melbourne. — Consequence of Land Speculations stated by Argus. 
 
 — Government seizes on the Land Fund. — Gold still decreasing. — People 
 leaving. — Census of 1854 -----.-- 204 
 
-^ CONTENTS OF 
 
 CHAP. XL. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE COLONY SINCE 1854. 
 
 The Crisis of 1854. — Growth and Improvement of Melbourne. — Gas, Water, 
 Paving, Railways, Telegraph, Buildings, Parks, Theatres and Institutions. — 
 Progress of the Colony. — Projected Railways. — The Diggings. — More 
 Reforms there. — Local Courts. — Municipal Towns. — Introduction of 
 Steam and Machinery. — Quartz Crushing. — Theatres and Literature. — 
 Augmented Production of Gold. — Amount and Value of it to this time. — 
 The New Constitution. — The Waste Lands. — Land-Fund and Immigra- 
 tion. — Present Wages and Prices. — General Improvement. — Introduction 
 of fine Stock. — Extension of Agriculture. — Vine Growth. — Revenue. — 
 The Banks. — Comparative Growth of Australia and America. — Federa- 
 tion and Convictism Page 220 
 
 CHAP. XLL 
 
 Sydney. — Beauty of the Bay. — View of the City. — Interior of City. — 
 
 " George Street. — Woolloomooloo. — Hyde Park. — Government House. — 
 
 Domain. — Bourke's Statue. — Botanic Gardens. — Lady Macquarie's Chair. 
 
 — List of Trees noticed. — Gigantic Nettle Tree. — Country Houses and 
 Gardens. — Ride to Botany Bay. — Beautiful Shrubs. — Inn and Pleasure 
 Gardens at Botany Bay. — Animals. — Shark-hunting Parties. — Old Ce- 
 metery of St. Andrew's.^ — Sail up the Bay to Paramatta. — Cockatoo Island. 
 
 — Orange Orchards. — Paramatta. — Ride to the South Heads. — Crossing 
 Chasms in a Gig. — Settled Tone of Society. — Case of extraordinary Libe- 
 rality. — Convictism. — Consumption of Spirits. — Land. — Scarcity of La- 
 bour. — Doctor Pomatum. — False Lord Lascelles. — A Lord importing 
 Shoes 247 
 
 CHAP, XLII. 
 
 Entrance of New Governor to Melbourne. — Passage to Launceston. — The 
 Tamar. — Launceston Coach to Campbell Town. — Views on the Way, — 
 Ben Lomond. — Western Tiers. — Campbell Town. — Country Life here. — 
 Young Lady House-painting. — Mona Vale. — The Stout Gentleman and 
 the Bushranger. — Female Factory at Ross. — Ride across the Hills to 
 Swanport. — Execrable Road. — Primitive Gates. — Lost in the Woods. — 
 Fine Views of Mountains and Southern Ocean. — Oyster Bay. — The Me- 
 rediths. — Lovely Country. — English-looking Farms. — The Schoutens. — 
 Maria Island. — Animals, Birds, and Flowers. — Tasmanian Wolf and Devil, 
 — Fine Climate of Tasmania. — Social Security. — Natives extinct. — Con- 
 victs mostly gone. — Pressing Want of Labourers. — Free Passages given by 
 Government. — Statistics of the Island pubUshed by Government. — State 
 of Wages. — Prices of Provisions. — List of all Kinds of Working People 
 wanted. — An excellent Opening for Emigrants - - - - 270 
 
THE SECOND VOLUME. XI 
 
 CHAP. XLIII. 
 
 Journey to Hobart Town. — Increasing Beauty of the Country. — Villages, 
 Villas, and Pleasure-grounds. — Scene of a strange Murder near Bagdad. — 
 Bridge. — New Town. — Orphan School. — View of Hobart Town. — Mount 
 Wellington. — Harbour. — Public Buildings. — New Market-house. — Beau- 
 tiful Estuary. — Noble Site and Aspect of Hobart Town. — The Domain. — 
 High School. — Smith O'Brien just liberated. — An Artist omitted in Royal 
 Pardon. — Wainwright. — Jorgen Jorgenson, King of Iceland. — Singular 
 Exchequer Defaulter. — Hunt, Accomplice of Thurtell. — Spitting at the 
 Inn. — Kind Friends. — Good Society. — Sir William Denison, his Eulogy 
 by West the Historian. — Monuments of Sir Eardley Wilmot and Governor 
 Collins. — Glover the Artist. — Journey back to Launceston. — Dram- 
 drinking by the Coachmen. — Cataract on the South Esk. — Visit to Mr. 
 Gunn. — Scenery of the Neighbourhood. — Spread of Sweet-briar and Gorse. 
 — Fruits in Tasmania ._..... Page 285 
 
 CHAP. XLIV. 
 
 Concluding Remarks. — Climate of Australia. — Future Amelioration of its 
 Evils. — Easy Mode of destroying its Flies. — The Land Question. — What 
 is really wanted at this Moment. — Gold or no Gold, all will be right with 
 Cheap Land. — Navigation of the Murray.— Judge Boothby's Grand Scheme 
 of a Trunk Railway. — Probable Effects of Discovery. — Inevitable future 
 Greatness of Australia. — Its Growth in the Hands of a Native Anglo- 
 Australian Population. — Their different Regard for the Country. — Con- 
 cluding Sentiment - - - - - - - - -298 
 
TWO YEAKS IN YICTOKIA, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Triumph of the Diggers on the License Question. — Irritating Answer of 
 Government. — License Defaulters released at Waranga on Demand of 
 Diggers. — Contradictory Proclamations. — Un-English state of Things on 
 the Diggings. — Set of Officers there. — Man -hunting. — Influx of Convicts. 
 — Robberies, Murders, and Drunkenness. — An ingenious Barricade. — 
 Police Conduct. — " Get a License from the old Mare ! " — A modern Wat 
 Tyler. — Petty Oppressions. — Scandalous Bribery. — Unfortunate Car- 
 penter at M'lvor. — Man chained down at Seymour. — Newspapers starting 
 on the Diggings. 
 
 The diggers triumphed, and the Government recorded against 
 itself a fresh act of folly and imbecility in its ^|fcuggle with them. 
 Perhaps in all the histories of Governments, wether imperial or 
 colonial, there is nothing more humiliating than this affair. 
 
 The meeting which I attended did not, as I stated, seem to make 
 anj great impression. I myself came away more conscious of the 
 ludicrous features, than calculating on the importance of its results. 
 But the newspapers arriving with a detailed report of the inter- 
 view of the delegates with the Governor, at once roused the indig- 
 nation of the whole body of diggers everywhere. There were in 
 that report no Red Republicans calling on Englishmen, who were 
 merely seeking redress of grievances by constitutional means, "to 
 follow them to blood and victory." There was no Mr. Dexter in 
 e foreground, lauding these fiery foreigners, and defaming his 
 
 n country. There was merely a simple but strong picture of a 
 set of gentlemen, calmly, but firmly, putting before the Governor 
 a statement of the outrages and insults suffered by the gold-dig- 
 ging public from his ill-selected authorities, and the sober reasons 
 why the license-fee should be moderated ; and in strange and 
 startling opposition, stood in the same picture the Governor, telling 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
2 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 these gentlemen, in the most blunt and uncourteous manner, that 
 he did not believe them. With the whole population of the dig- 
 gings everywhere as familiar with these outrages and arbitrary- 
 usages of the gold Commissioners and police, as they were with 
 the daily rising of the sun, the Governor flatly asserted that no 
 such maladministration existed. That he knew better, and was 
 well satisfied with the state of things, and, as to the license-fee, 
 it required no reduction, and should have none. Since the days 
 of Eehoboam, there perhaps never has been so injudicious and 
 astounding an answer to the delegates of public grievances as this. 
 But as if this were not sufficient, at the same moment a letter of 
 His Excellency's was published in the newspapers, addressed to 
 Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Governor of New South Wales. This 
 letter stated that His Excellency perceived that the Government 
 of New South Wales was proposing to abolish or reduce the 
 license-fee, and, therefore, he proceeded to state to that Govern- 
 ment the strongest possible reasons why the license-fee should 
 neither, be abolished nor reduced, and to urge the Sydney Govern- 
 ment to refrain from any such reduction, as it would compel Vic- 
 toria to follow the example. 
 
 This put the climax to the public wrath. When the Governor 
 of the colony showed himself so thoroughly ignorant of the real 
 condition of its population, it was time for that population to make 
 such a demonstration as should compel both inquiry and redress. 
 On the 27th of SAember, a meeting was again held on the same 
 spot, close to the Grovernment camp, and though the day was an 
 excessively rainy one, the spirit of the diggers now showed itself 
 heated beyond any regard to the weather, and the newspapers 
 stated the numbers assembled to be 10,000. As I was not there, 
 I cannot speak from my own knowledge, but the procession from 
 the White Hills was considerably increased and enlivened by the 
 addition of two bag-pipes. 
 
 At this meeting the diggers resolved that they would pay lOs. 
 a^month for license, and no more ; and that on the first of the 
 coming month, they would present themselves at the camp, before 
 the Commissioners, and ofier that sum ; and if that were re- 
 fused, they would pay no more, and that they might take the 
 into custody if they pleased. They also agreed to mount a re 
 ribbon in their hats, as a sign that those who wore it were pledged 
 no longer to pay the old license-fee^ and the appearance of these 
 ribbons became very general. Still further, many of the diggers 
 and storekeepers put up large placards on their tents of — "No 
 License taken here." You saw dogs going about with red rib- 
 
IRRITATING CONDUCT OP GOVERNMENT. 3 
 
 bons round their necks ; and horses with them attached to their 
 blinkers, as an ti -licensers. 
 
 The Governor was reported in the newspapers to have said gra- 
 tuitously to the delegates, that if he did not concede their demands, 
 he " supposed the cannon would roar, but that he did not mind 
 that ; he was not to be intimidated, but was prepared to do his 
 duty," &c. And in pursuance of this resolve, a number of sol- 
 diers and cannon were sent up to the camp at Bendigo. The dig- 
 gers, however, maintained a strictly constitutional demeanour. 
 They were firm and resolved, but used no idle threats, or military 
 parade. At Waranga, the Goulbourn diggings, however, the 
 Commissioners very foolishly attempted to compel the payment of 
 the old license-fee, in face of this strong popular demonstration. 
 They took up a number of men for the refusal to pay the fee ; but 
 the diggers marched up in a body, fully armed, and demanded 
 their instant liberation, declaring that if it were not accorded, 
 they would take them out of custody by force. The terrified 
 Commissioners complied with all speed, and would have shown 
 only common sense, if, with a knowledge that they had no power 
 against an armed and incensed public, they had refrained from the 
 attempt. 
 
 But what the Waranga Commissioners did in little, the Mel- 
 bourne Government did in large. No sooner did the Governor, 
 who had spoken so stoutly to the delegates, see the account of this 
 Waranga demonstration, than with his rash declarations to the 
 delegates, and his letter to Sir Charles Fitzroy, staring him in 
 the face, he hurried into the Legislative Council, and in a speech 
 replete with indications of terror, proposed at once to abandon the 
 license-fee altogether, and replace the amount thus sacrificed to 
 the revenue by some other tax ! 
 
 Still worse, and showing what was the alarm of the Govern- 
 ment, and the total want of concert in its heads, there appeared 
 placarded all over the gold-fields, two proclamations dated the 
 very same day, but ordering diametrically opposite proceedings. 
 I myself read these conflicting proclamations with inconceivable 
 wonder. Proceeding from my own tent towards the Government 
 •amp, on the great high road, and chief street of Bendigo, I came 
 to a tree, on which was affixed a large placard, bearing the royal 
 initials V. R. This proclamation was from the Governor, Mr. 
 La Trobe, stating that as a new law was before the Legislature 
 regarding the gold license-fee, the diggers need not trouble them- 
 selves to pay the fee then due for the month of September. 
 
 Scarcely had I passed a hundred yards further, than I beheld 
 
 B 2 
 
4 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 another proclamation," also headed V. R., but having something in 
 its aspect different to the last, which induced me to examine it, 
 and, to my inexpressible astonishment, I found this issued by Mr. 
 Wright, the Chief Commissioner of all the gold-fields of Victoria, 
 dated the same day, the 1st of September ; and stating that al- 
 though a new law was before the Legislative Assembly, yet the 
 last law was still in force, and that the diggers must come up and 
 pay the license-fee as usual ! ! ! 
 
 Never was there such a pitiable exhibition of Government 
 imbecility and disorganisation ! The diggers were confounded, 
 and did not know what to expect ; but the Committee of the 
 Anti-License movement went at once to the Bendigo-camp, and 
 requested to know what course the Commissioners meant to 
 pursue. Having a salutary fear of the same humiliation that the 
 Waranga Commissioners had brought down upon themselves, they 
 declared that they should not attempt to collect the fee till a new 
 law was passed. 
 
 The diggers, satisfied with this assurance, returned peaceably 
 to their labours ; and the Committee of the movement, alarmed at 
 the idea of the utter abolition of the fee, as announced by the panic- 
 stricken Government, hastened down to Melbourne, and protested 
 against the thorough repeal of it, showing the mischiefs that would 
 arise on the diggings from the want of some Government license 
 and inspection, and recommending a monthly one of lOs. 
 
 This was readily caught at by the Government, and adopted ; 
 but the quiet which this satisfactory arrangement immediately pro- 
 duced all over the diggings, immediately encouraged this pusillani- 
 mous Government, so singularly exemplifying Shelley's character of 
 
 " The tyrant to the weak, and coward to the strong," 
 
 to make an advance ; and instead of 10s. a month, or 61. a year, it 
 enacted that the fee should be 1/. a month, or 21. for three months, 
 or 8/. a year. And to regain something of what this yielded in a 
 direct form to the digger, they laid on tax in another shape, 
 namely, a 50/. license on all storekeepers, including in this butchers 
 and greengrocers, so that a cabbage cart could not traverse the 
 diggings without a license of 50/. per annum ! All this, of course, 
 v/as laid with interest on the diggers. 
 
 This, however, was near enough for the diggers for the time. 
 The gold-fields became calm again ; and the Commissioners, who 
 for a while were meek and humble, once more raising their heads, 
 proceeded by a gradual return to their old arbitrary courses. 
 
CONTRADICTORY PROCLAMATIONS. 5 
 
 Before dismissing this subject^ I shall add a few more particu- 
 lars of this un-English state of things in the .diggings, at that 
 period, which the confident denial of their existence by the Gover- 
 nor caused to come up in general conversation. 
 
 First and foremost was the wonder expressed at the character 
 of the persons selected as Commissioners of these gold-fields, and 
 the numbers of them who were crowded upon them at high salaries. 
 The greater part of those were young men who did not appear to 
 have been practically educated in any profession, and not at all in 
 any which could bear on the management of gold-fields or mining. 
 In Germany, no man can be employed as an ofl^icer of mines who 
 has not been expressly educated in the sciences requisite for that 
 department : in engineering, mineralogy, geometry, chemistry, &c. 
 None in the capacity of magistrates on them who have not had a 
 legal education ; none as managers of their financial affairs who have 
 not been regularly trained to that service. But without any specific 
 professional qualification at all, young men are sent up to fill any 
 office of any kind in any colonies ; and the only qualification in Vic- 
 toria seem to be those of being able to wear a gold-laced cap and coat, 
 to ride a horse fed on Government hay of 100/. or 1501. a ton, 
 and oats one shilling a pound, followed everywhere by a trooper 
 whose horse is fed on the same golden aliment. To be able also 
 to smoke a cigar, gamble, drink a tolerable share of wine, and 
 patronise horse-racing. 
 
 From the autobiographies with which these young "fruges con- 
 sumere nati " occasionally favour you, it appears that almost any 
 one who at home can get to the elbow of a member of Parliament, 
 manages to bore Government through that medium till it sends 
 out a lazy, gentlemanly young fellow of no particular taste or pur- 
 suit, except those I have enumerated, as a fit and proper person to 
 govern diggers, and vegetate on a few hundred pounds per annum 
 of the colonial revenue. Hence the scenes which everywhere cha- 
 racterised the Government camps at the diggings ; hence the utter 
 negligence of everything but " man-hunting " and collection of 
 revenue ; hence the almost universal absence of human sympathies 
 with the population, and the frightful disregard of human life to 
 which I shall have to call attention. If the celebrated Chancellor 
 Oxenstiern, who on his death-bed told his son how wonderfully 
 small was the quantity of brains necessary to govern a nation, 
 had been there, he would have found that a digging was evidently 
 thought by Government not to require any at all. 
 
 The awful state of demoralisation on these diggings, and inse- 
 curity of life and property, were in a great measure owing un- 
 
 b3 
 
b TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 doubtedly to the dreadful preponderance of convict felonry in the 
 population. On this head a return of the Government of Van 
 Diemen's Land throws a great light. It states that in 1852 no 
 less than 5180 felons who had been convicts had gone over to 
 Victoria ; and 2097 who had been conditionally pardoned, — 
 making a total of these vermin in one year of 7277. The latter 
 number passed over in defiance of an Act of the Victoria Legisla- 
 ture, which not only prohibited their going, but ordered them to 
 be arrested and carried back again. Within the first six months 
 of the year 1851, 1315 more freed by servitude had gone over, and 
 431 who were only conditionally pardoned, — making a total in 
 eighteen months of the arrival of 9023 Van Diemen's Land felons. 
 Well might the people of Victoria protest against the continuance 
 of Van Diemen's Land as a convict colony ; from whence, so long 
 as it continued such, it would be invaded by this awful influx of 
 felonry, attracted by its gold. 
 
 But now, to put a climax to the nuisance, there arrived an order 
 issued under the Derby and D'Israeli ministry, for all the convicts to 
 be removed from Norfolk Island to Van Diemen's Land ; so that Vic- 
 toria would get these, — the devils of devils, the most hardened and 
 diabolical wretches who curse the earth. They were the vilest of 
 the vile, the incorrigible, the refuse of the mass of convict 
 scoundrelism, who were sent thither from Sydney or Van Diemen's 
 Land to work in chains, whence Norfolk Island was styled the Ocean 
 Hell. Never, surely, was there so atrocious a piece of — not 
 statesmanship but governmental callousness. These hardened 
 villains could scarcely have perpetrated anything more infamous 
 themselves. Well might the diggings and the bush swarm with 
 ferocious scoundrels, and robbery and murder be rife as the gum- 
 tree itself. Anon I shall present a perfect picture of what these 
 Norfolk Islanders were and did : but before that I shall give a few 
 lesser traits of the same kind. 
 
 I was left alone a great deal about that time in my tent on the 
 White Hills, while Alfred and Charlton were away in one quarter 
 or another, prospecting and digging. They were only at home 
 on Sundays ; and, except on Saturday and Sunday nights I slept 
 alone there. Scarcely a night passed without the most awful cries 
 of murder ; and robberies were as certain as the night. There 
 was generally one within a few hundred yards of my tent heard of 
 every morning. The tent of a surgeon was " shook," as they style 
 it, — that is, robbed during his absence in the daytime, his money, 
 and a gold watch being taken amongst other things. 
 
 One Sunday, as I returned from the Government Camp, wher 
 
 ►f 
 
 'J 
 
ROBBERIES, MURDERS, AND DRUNKENNESS. 7 
 
 I had been for letters, I came down the green valley, beyond the 
 Creek, as most pleasant. I had not long passed there, when three 
 fellows rode up to a tent, and robbed the man of what he had. It 
 was about one o'clock in the day. The man, who was a shrewd 
 fellow, took it very quietly ; and when the villains had sacked his 
 gold, he asked them if they would not take a glass of grog. This 
 was too great a temptation. He fetched out a bottle of rum. They 
 knocked the neck off, in their way of a short cut to things, and 
 regaled themselves, the man keeping one eye on them, and another 
 up and down the valley, as they sat on horseback, in front of his 
 tent. By a stroke of good fortune, a party of mounted police 
 came riding up the valley. He hailed them ; and, though the fel- 
 lows spurred away as fast as they could, the troopers gave chase, 
 and caught two of them, though one of them fired at the trooper 
 who seized them. The third escaped ; but the money was found 
 on one of those captured. 
 
 Again, the next Sunday morning, two men, in Long Gully, 
 not far from there, were found in their tent with their throats 
 cut. Another man was found in the Back Creek a day or two 
 afterwards murdered. On September 8, an Italian, in the same 
 creek, stabbed another digger, in a dispute about a claim. He 
 did not do it at once, but the next day, having brooded over it 
 (Italian fashion) and sharpened his knife for the purpose. I saw 
 a young man who was present, and who secured the assassin, and 
 afterwards prevented the diggers from Lynching him till the police 
 came. These were every-day occurrences ; and you never went out 
 without hearing something of the kind. Certainly, coupling this 
 state of things with the terrific language that you heard, the dig- 
 gings are no place for decent people. 
 
 But the perfect apathy of the Commissioners, and the unnoticed 
 prevalence of grog-shops, were at the bottom of much of this. 
 As there were such hosts of convicts abroad on the diggings, the 
 vigilance of the police should have been, at least, as conspicuous 
 in guarding the public from their outrages as they were in col- 
 lecting licenses. But their utter inattention to these grog-shops, 
 and the grog-shop brawls that were heard every night, were some- 
 thing wonderful. A very respectable store-keeper, who lived near 
 me, came up to my tent, and calling me out to the front, directed 
 my attention to a group of men, some on horseback, others on 
 foot, collected round a hut near his store. They were in a high 
 state of intoxication, and were quarrelling with pistols in their 
 hands. Every moment they appeared on the verge of a regular 
 deadly melee. 
 
 B4 
 
8 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 " Now," said this tradesman, " the man who keeps that hut is a 
 regular grog-seller. To my knowledge, he does not sell less than 
 sixty gallons of rum and brandy per week, the well-known profits 
 of which are at least 61. per gallon. Thus he clears weekly 400/. 
 or more. The police have been repeatedly advised of this fact, 
 but take no notice of it, for the best of reasons, that they are liter- 
 ally bribed. I assure you that I live in nightly fear of the cha- 
 racters who constantly resort there, and never lie down and sleep 
 but with a revolver at my pillow. You see the men on horseback. 
 There is not one of them who is not a notorious thief; most of 
 them are old lags (convicts), and every horse they sit upon is a 
 stolen one. I have done all that I dare to get this nest of robbers 
 broken up ; I can do no more except to proceed publicly against 
 them, and the certain consequence would be a few shots fired through 
 my tent the first night, and myself or some of my family killed. 
 But you are farther off; you know the officers at the camp, and 
 your representations might be effectual." 
 
 At the risk of a bullet or two through my tent, I made this 
 representation, seeing both the Chief Commissioner and the Head 
 of the Police, and a week afterwards I asked the storekeeper what 
 had been the effect. " Precisely," he replied, " that which fol- 
 lowed my own statements. A file of police marched down, with 
 muskets on their shoulders, made a circuit round the hut, and 
 marched off again. No one entered the hut, no one spoke to the 
 keeper of it ; and the whole thing was, no doubt, a measure, not for 
 detecting or capturing the villains and the grog, but for warning 
 the parties that there had been some complaint of them, and that 
 they must be more cautious. And, in truth, they have taken the 
 hint, and are stiller in their proceedings, but are there just as 
 much as ever." 
 
 For myself, I was continually visited in the night by fellows^^ 
 either drunk or pretending to be so. They would come up, shake 
 the tent, bawling, " Hillo, there ! are you awake ? Wake up, old 
 fellow, there I " And go on thus till you gave an answer, when ! 
 they would proceed : " Well ! where am I now ? I want to know 
 where I am." I would tell them. " Now, are you looking towards' 
 me as you talk, or are you not?" " No matter," I would say ; '' ifj 
 you want such a place, go such a way." But in vain; they wouh' 
 still remain, asking questions, and all the time feeling about th( 
 tent, as if to find a way in ; and my only mode of getting rid ol 
 them was to promise them the speedy contents of a couple of re- 
 volvers, which generally proved persuasive. 
 
 I always lay with plenty of firearms within reach, and my dooi 
 
MAN-HUNTING. 9 
 
 barricaded with a heap of tins and kettles, which would make a 
 tremendous rattle on any one attempting to come in. This mode 
 of barricade 1 learnt from an old friend in the Bush, near the dig- 
 gings. I asked him how he dared to live there, while such bloody- 
 deeds were nightly doing in such isolated spots. " Look here," 
 said the stout old gentleman, and pulled out two five-barrelled re- 
 volvers. '• But," I said, " supposing they caught you asleep ? " 
 
 "Ay! " replied he, laughing, "'catch a weasel asleep, and shave 
 his eyebrows ! ' See here." And he piled a great barricade of tins, 
 kettles, and pans up in the doorway. "That would make a most 
 confounded clangour if any one got stumbling over them, and I 
 would bang at them without stopping to ask who they were. There 
 came," added he to me, "three fellows lounging about one night, and 
 I watched them off; but after I was gone to bed, the dog began to 
 bark, and I got up and went out. There were the three fellows 
 again, skulking behind the fire that I had burning outside, and 
 evidently aiming at a horse that I had tied up close by it. I 
 banged off one barrel at them, and cried out, 'Now, you scamps, 
 fire at me as hard as you like, for I have got plenty here for you,' 
 and I kept blazing away at them as fast as I could; but the rogues 
 showed as nimble heels as any vagabonds in the colony, and never 
 came again to thank me." 
 
 Amongst the things which had greatly excited the minds of the 
 diggers before the outbreak, first and foremost was that system of 
 man-hunting, as it was called, that is, daily scouring the diggings 
 to discover those who had not taken licenses. The spirit which 
 had grown up under this system, was such that every man who 
 could elude payment, did. Where a party consisted of several, 
 only part of them took licenses, and those had them for the day 
 who were exposed to the visits of police. The parties on the sur- 
 face had them, and those at work under ground dispensed with 
 them. When these came up and the others went down, they ex- 
 changed them. Police are not very fond of descending deep holes 
 after diggers, because they are soon bewildered in the subter- 
 raneous tunnels, and are exposed to the diggers above throwing a 
 mass of earth in upon them, and burying them. The surface and 
 broad daylight are safest for them. Thousands, again, working at 
 outsides, and in secluded spots, would not take licenses. If they 
 saw the police coming they hid in the scrub, and nothing was 
 more amusing than to see a policeman appear in some such rarely 
 visited quarter, and the diggers running in all directions to 
 cover. 
 
 On one occasion a digger, who was cradling, was surprised by 
 
10 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the sight of a policeman within a few yards of him ; and as it was 
 impossible to escape, and he had no license, he suddenly plunged 
 his arms up to the shoulders in his puddling tub, or tub in which 
 his washing stuiF was soaking ; and drew them out dripping with 
 yellow clay mud. " Have you a license, digger ? " asked the police. 
 " Oh, yes," replied the man, " but it is in my waistcoat pocket ; 
 would you be so good as to put in your hand and take it ? " With 
 this he held up his arms, reeking with yellow slush, and the police- 
 man, looking at him with ineffable disgust, said, " No, thank you," 
 and passed on with a clean uniform. 
 
 The foot police, who generally were the man-hunters, or blood- 
 hounds, were clad in a blue blouse with a black belt round the 
 waist, the shirt-collars turned down like school-boys, and they had 
 a schoolboy -looking cloth cap on their heads, and a wooden baton 
 in their hands. They were, as I can testify, frequently most in- 
 solent. " Here, fellow," I heard one say to a gentlemaly-looking 
 youth, " have you a license ? " I am no fellow," replied the youth, 
 reddening with anger. " What may you be then, eh ? " "A 
 gentleman, sir, and that is what you never were," retorted the 
 youth, handing the license. " Mind what you say, man," responded 
 the police, "or I '11 walk you off to camp." "Do," said the youth ; 
 " come ; here I am," beginning to throw on his coat. " The 
 Commissioner is my cousin; we'll soon see who is the fellow." 
 This was rather unexpected news : and the bloodhound walked on. 
 Presently we saw a well-dressed, though a colonial-looking man 
 ride by on horseback ; and soon after, he was coming back, in cus- 
 tody of this policeman and another. 
 
 " Eh ! " shouted the diggers, all stopping their work, " what 
 have they got you for ? " " Because," said the man, indignantly, 
 " I would not show them my license. What have they to do with 
 my license, or whether I have a license or nOt, when I am travel- 
 ling on the high road ? I am not digging ! " 
 
 " All right, mate," said the diggers ; " it is cuirsed impertinent. 
 Is nobody to travel without a license ? " 
 
 " But I happened to have one," resumed the man ; " for I am a 
 storekeeper going to Melbourne to buy goods, and I did at last 
 show it to them." 
 fy ** What do they want now, then ? " asked the diggers. 
 
 " Why, because I gave them a bit of my mind," said the man, "then 
 they wanted to see the receipt for my horse. They complimented 
 me by saying my horse looked too good to belong to me, and I 
 must show how I came by him. Now this riled me ; and I 
 bade them go to the devil, and so they are taking me to the camp." 
 
POLICE CONDUCT. 11 
 
 The diggers stood in indignant amaze. " Is this a Christian 
 country ? " asked one. " Is this an English colony ? " asked 
 another. " No," said a third ; " it's Rooshia." " But," cried out a 
 fourth, at a distance, " now, mate, if you bred that horse, I reckon 
 you '11 be obliged to go to the old mare for a receipt." 
 
 At this there was one general burst of laughter. " Bravo! " 
 cried the diggers. " Bravo ! old boy. Take the man to the old 
 mare, and ask her for a line just to certify how he came by that 
 there horse. Bravo ! to the old mare ! to the old mare ! " Far 
 and wide the jest was bandied and echoed, and followed by fresh 
 peals of laughter, which were too much even for the bloodhounds, 
 who gradually relaxed their hold of the man's rein, and told him 
 he mi^ht go. 
 
 A blacksmith close by my tent, a very busy man, whose hammer 
 was clinking from five in the morning to ten at night, and who was 
 making, I dare say, 50/. a week, was asked for his license ; for all 
 tradesmen on the diggings, as well as diggers, were bound to take 
 a license. He told them that, if they wanted to see his license, 
 they might go into the tent and his wife would show it to them. 
 This was too much for the dignity of the police ; they said their 
 time was too valuable to run after licenses. He replied that his 
 time w^as much more valuable than theirs ; that there it was, and 
 if they did not choose to go in and see it, they might let it alone. 
 On this they seized him for insolent conduct. But this modern 
 Wat Tyler knocked them down, and his wife joined in the attack, 
 and dragged away the police when attempting to fly upon him 
 again. By this time the diggers came running from the neigh- 
 bouring places, and declared that the smith should not be molested ; 
 and the police were obliged to let him alone. 
 
 But many a poor fellow has not escaped as the smith did. Many 
 a one has been seized by those officials in the act of delivering his 
 license, because he did not do it in a very humble and deferential 
 manner. It was a very common practice of a party of these man- 
 hunters to set out for a day's raid through the diggings, and seizing 
 some poor fellow who had not his license on him near the camp at 
 setting off, instead of taking him there at once before the magis- 
 trate, they have made him accompany them in their whole round, 
 thus losing a valuable day, independent of the indignity of the 
 proceeding. 
 
 . There was a case of a young man who had attended two days to 
 get his license, and had not been able on account of the crowds at 
 the license-tent, where I never saw more than one clerk engaged 
 in delivering licenses, though every man on the diggings was ex- 
 
12 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 pected to take out his license on or before the first of every month ; 
 and though there was a Commissioner, whose special duty it was 
 to dispense the licenses, and who might surely attend at the end or 
 commencement of a month, knowing that the diggers might be 
 seized for want of them on the second of each month. Well, this 
 young man, having stood two whole days in the vast crowd which 
 surrounded the license-tent in vain, was on his way the thii-d day 
 to get his license, when he was met by the police, who asked him 
 if he had got one. He stated the facts simply as I have related 
 them, but instead of any sympathy for the waste of his valuable 
 time, he was immediately taken off to the magistrate by this man, 
 who, without allowing him to utter a word of explanation, fined 
 him oL Thus he had now lost half his working week in trying to 
 get a license, and was fined SI. for not getting it. Now, whether the 
 license Commissioner, the policeman, (probably an old lag, as many 
 of them are,) or the magistrate were most to blame, I leave the 
 reader to decide. 
 
 No wonder that such things constantly occurring had made the 
 diggers very sore^ and were at the bottom of the agitation which 
 followed, far more than the rate of the license fee itself. Two 
 most respectable young men, gentlemen, one of them the cousin of 
 Mr. Palmer, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, were digging 
 at the Ovens when we were there. They had taken out their licenses 
 regularly for two months. On the third, they had just got down 
 to their washing-stuff as the month commenced. Anxious to get 
 this out, and have it safe, they did not go up to the camp on the 
 first, but were intending to go up on the second, of the month, 
 when a policeman appeared at their hole ; and though they told 
 him they were going that very day for a license, and showed him 
 their previous licenses all regularly to the day taken out, it was of 
 no avail. He took them off to the camp, where the magistrate, 
 without allowing them any word of explanation, fined them 3/. 
 each. It was in vain that they represented to him that the license 
 cheque-book would show that they had always most punctually 
 taken out their licenses — the only answer was, that if they did 
 not instantly pay the fine, he would fine them also for contempt of 
 court. That same day one hundred people were taken up and 
 fined in the same summary way. 
 
 A trifling incident occurring to myself at Bendigo, showed how 
 hopeless it was for diggers to get justice in such cases. Taking 
 out four licenses, I wanted from the clerk 10^. out of the sove- 
 reigns I laid before him. He took the whole, and said it was 
 right. It was useless endeavouring to extract the change from 
 
SCANDALOUS BRIBERY. 13 
 
 Lim. I went, therefore, directly to Mr. Barnard, the Commis- 
 sioner of that department, and stated the case. He saw it at 
 once, and said he was busy, but would take care and get it recti- 
 fied for me against I came next to the camp. Mentioning the 
 fact of the clerk's barefaced dishonesty to several people on the 
 diggings, they laughed, and said, " You will never get that half- 
 sovereign." I replied, " Oh yes ; Mr. Barnard has promised to 
 pay it me the next time I go up." " That may be," said they, 
 " but, nevertheless, you will never see the money : they never do 
 at that camp disgorge any such balances." 
 
 I could not, and would not believe it ; but it was too true. I 
 never got the money. When I mentioned it to Mr. Barnard, he 
 said, "Oh! I have sent that young man adrift — he was a great 
 rogue and drunkard." " Well," said I, " but that does not repay 
 me. I have paid that overcharge into your office, and it is to you 
 that I look." " Ah, well," said he, " I have no balance in hand 
 now ; when I have, I will pay you." 
 
 When I mentioned this on the diggings, they laughed still more, 
 and said, " Depend upon it Mr. Barnard never will have that 
 balance, — you will never see the money." And I never did. Yet 
 Mr. Barnard, afterwards meeting my nephew in Melbourne, said, 
 " I owe your uncle 10*." " You can pay it me," said my nephew. 
 Mr. Barnard very quickly turned the subject ; and I have to con- 
 gratulate myself that I was " chiselled," as the phrase there is, 
 out of only 10^., and not 10/. 
 
 The corruption and peculation on the gold-fields were declared 
 by the diggers to be as rank and rife as the summary injustice. 
 Many of the Commissioners were so totally ignorant of everything 
 relating to manual labour, that when they were called to decide 
 disputes between diggers respecting claims, they showed that they 
 did not even know the difierence between "sinking" and "driv- 
 ing," and excited the deepest contempt of the miners. But they 
 generally concluded by fining one party heavily, often as much as 
 201. ; and as they went alone over the field for these purposes, the 
 widest door possible was open to bribery and peculation. I heard 
 diggers declare that they have seen a 51. note repeatedly, and with 
 very little care for concealment, put into the hands of a Commis- 
 sioner when called to settle a dispute regarding a claim ; and the 
 dispute as certainly decided in favour of the 51. note ! 
 
 I have heard a gentleman, the son of a cavalry officer, who had 
 been reduced to the condition of a policeman, also declare that the 
 money taken in bribes before him, and taken from the pockets of 
 the persons committed to the lock-up till called up before the 
 
14 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 magistrate, or for remand, during a long time of his service, was 
 something frightful. A man would be brought in drunk, who 
 had been taken up for making a disturbance; the next day he 
 would say, " I had so much money in my pocket when I was 
 seized" — 50/., or 100/., or several hundreds; for it is amazing 
 what sums these diggers will carelessly carry about them for days 
 and weeks. The turnkey knows nothing of it, but suggests that, 
 no doubt, he had his pockets cleared out while he was drunk, be- 
 fore he was taken up. But whether before or after, it is all one 
 to the sufferer — he never hears any more of it. 
 
 Now in all cases where prisoners are brought in and searched, 
 that should not be done by a solitary turnkey, but in the presence 
 of a magistrate ; and most Commissioners are magistrates, and 
 therefore some of them always may^ or ought to be, found in the 
 camp. 
 
 On the other hand, there were few prisoners who kept posses- 
 sion of their money who did not very easily find a way to escape. 
 While the police, in numerous instances, were themselves old con- 
 victs, this was not to be wondered at, — a good bribe and " a fel- 
 low feeling made them wondrous kind." 
 
 But enough of these strange facts. They will surprise the 
 reader in England, yet they only confirm what Cobbett used to 
 say, that going out of England into a colony was like a mouse 
 running from under the cat's stomach to under her paws, H, 
 however, there wanted reform generally in the colony, there 
 wanted enormous reforms in the gold-fields. The whole of the 
 government in them was a pseudo-military system, and most re- 
 pulsive to an English eye. The Commissioners sported a semi- 
 military uniform. They had each a regular trooper riding after 
 them on all occasions. The mounted police were in reality re- 
 gular armed troopers. The magistrates were the judges, and 
 decided everything without a jury, in the style of a court-martial. 
 Numbers of horse police and foot police were constantly scouring 
 the gold-fields and the roads, man-hunting, and were constantly 
 marching poor wretches up to the camp for lack of licenses. That 
 was their great business. While they kept one eye shut to grog- 
 shops, for which they were notoriously paid, they had the other 
 always open to catch any poor devil without a license. You might 
 undermine the roads in quest of gold, sell grog, or break the laws 
 in any sortof w^ay, but you must furnish revenue; and you heard 
 every day of atrocities perpetrated in enforcement of it, w^hich, 
 were they done in Hungary or Russia, would rouse the indigna- 
 tion of all Europe. The diggings would be a strange sight at 
 
NEWSPAPERS STARTING ON THE DIGGINGS. 15 
 
 home, if they could be, by some Arabian Night's magic, suddenly 
 set down before you ; and not the diggings only, but other parts of 
 the colony. 
 
 The newspapers were full of a case which occurred at Seymour, 
 on the Goulburn. A man there was taken up on a charge of rob- 
 bery, and was kept for above five days and nights handcuffed to a 
 staple driven into a post at a short distance from the ground in a 
 room at the police station. While thus chained, he was neces- 
 sitated to lie on his back or right side only, or to sit, it being per- 
 fectly impossible for him to stand erect. And why was he thus 
 obliged to undergo this torture for upwards of five nights and 
 days ? Because, forsooth, they had no lock-up sufiicient for the 
 reception of prisoners at Seymour ; this Seymour being a town- 
 ship of considerable standing on the great mail road to Sydney, 
 and being the very same town where the Government was allow- 
 ing the publican to monopolise the ferry over the river at a profit 
 of 100/. per diem. Had the profits of this ferry been appropriated 
 by Government itself, how many public improvements they might 
 have effected, besides a proper lock-up ! After all, in this flagrant 
 case, no proof could be brought against the man, and he was dis- 
 charged. 
 
 The diggers on Bendigo, Balarat, and Forest Creek, worn out 
 by these unexampled exhibitions of tyranny and misgovernment, 
 started newspapers to publish their own grievances, and advocate 
 their own cause. They were conducted by the same parties who 
 so ably managed the late triumphant agitation, and they have, no 
 doubt, done much to put a check on the exercise of a despotism 
 perhaps amongst the most extraordinary that the world has ever 
 seen. Almost every digging has now one or more ably- conducted 
 newspaper. 
 
 I 
 
16 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Murderous Adventures of Two Convicts. — Norfolk Island Convict Depot 
 broken up. — The Convicts sent to Yan Diemen's Land. — Robbers of 
 Escort executed. — Captain Melville, the Bushranger, makes a fine Speech.. 
 — Wilson, the Escort Robber, the Scout who visited us. — Agreeable Cha- 
 racteristics of the Diggings. — Musical Diggers Good Fortune of a 
 
 Smith. — Decamping with loaded Bullock Drays. — A Fortune out of an 
 old Bucket. — Visit to Fenton's Station. — 800/. a-Year out of surplus 
 Cabbages. — 5000/. a-Year by Diggers' Horses. — Prin's Adventure with 
 the Sheep and the Brandy Keg. — Strange Names of Places on Dig- 
 gings. — Odd Advertisements on Trees. — Child's Notion of a Preacher. — 
 Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! — Joy and Sorrow over a Pig. — Mouse Nuisance. — 
 Bendigo Gaieties. — Adventures in going out to dine. — Changes of Tem- 
 perature. — " Don't believe in the Climate ! " — Beauty of , the Flowering 
 Woods. — Singular Quartz Hill. 
 
 In my last chapter I stated that by a Government return of Van 
 Diemen's Land it was shown that upwards of 9000 of the convict 
 population of that island had made their way over to Victoria, 
 largely originating those effects of robbery, murder, and demoralisa- 
 tion which I described. I promised at the same time a striking 
 example of the character and doings of escaped Norfolk Islanders 
 on this colony ; and here it is. I do little more than cut out the 
 strange narrative as it stands in the Launceston and Melbourne 
 papers : — 
 
 " The Murderers Bradley and O'Connor. — The Launceston Ex- 
 aminer gives the following detail of the dreadful doings of these murderers 
 prior to their escape from Circular Head : — ' Henry Bradley and — 
 O'Connor, pass-holders, the former in the service of Mr. George Kay, and the 
 latter in the service of James Gibson, Esq., and receiving high wages, without 
 any cause whatever left their employment on Tuesday night, the 14th Sep- 
 tember, and proceeded to the hut of Mr. Jonathan House, and having tied up 
 the two men, took a double-barelled gun. They then visited the residence of 
 Mr. John Spinks, tied up the whole family, and possesse.d themselves of another 
 double-barrelled gun. After this they left for the farni of Mr. Staines, about 
 fiive miles off in the forest, and after tying Mr. Staines and another man to- 
 gether, compelled a servant of the name of Smith to accompany them, saying 
 they were going to Mr. John House's — the adjoining farm. On arriving 
 there they took a man servant of Mr. House's with Smith, and proceeded to 
 the cottage ; a little boy, son of Mr. House, opened the door, when the 
 ruffians spoke in a sharp manner, saying they would shoot him ; this brought 
 out of his bedroom Mr. Alfred Phillips, a relative of Mr. House. The run- 
 aways demanded Mr. House, and to be shown into his bedroom. They tied 
 Mr. Phillips and the man servant together by the legs, necks, and hands, and 
 forced them into the bedroom of the daughters. Mr. House, on hearing what 
 was going on, escaped out of the window, and ran oflf to the next farm for 
 
MURDEROUS ADVENTURES OF TWO CONVICTS. 17 
 
 assistance. Bradley ran round and fired off two shots, which fortunately 
 
 neither took effect. Bradley came back again, saying the fellow had 
 
 got off. O'Connor then replied that they would not be disappointed, and 
 immediately discharged both barrels at Mr. Phillips, through the neck, causing 
 instant death ; and this dreadful deed in the bedroom, and in the presence of 
 Mr. House's daughters. It is believed these men originally went with the view 
 of taking Mr. House's life, considering they would possess themselves of a large 
 sum of money — in -which they were mistaken, only getting about 5l. : Mr. 
 House having made it a rule not to keep a large sum in the house. Shortly 
 after committing this sad act of violence on a most respectable, unoffending 
 young man, in the prime of life, and throwing a highly respectable family into 
 the greatest alarm (and which has since caused them to break up their com- 
 fortable home and to come into the township to reside), they started off and 
 called at the farm of Mr. Atkins, near the Black River. Only Mrs. Atkins 
 being at home, they ordered breakfast, and told her they had taken to the 
 bush, which she would not believe, having several times seen the man Bradley 
 — O'Connor only having been a few weeks here, and in no other service but 
 Mr. Gibson's. They then crossed the river, and called at the hut of Mr. 
 William Medwin : on this occasion only Mrs. Medwin was at home ; they took 
 another gun and a small quantity of provisions, and proceeded towards Table 
 Cape. Near this place they suddenly met a constable and another man, coming 
 from Emu Bay to Circular Head with the mail from the schooner Ariel, 
 wrecked at Emu Buy. The constable endeavoured to ascertain some parti- 
 culars of these men, when they both fired and shot the constable through the 
 arm ; the night being dark, the constable and his companion managed to get 
 off through the scrub, notwithstanding several shots were fired at them.' 
 
 " The Cornwall Chronicle adds to the above narrative : — ' Both these mur- 
 derers are from the Ocean Hell.' " 
 
 These devils incarnate having reached Circular Head, Van 
 Diemen's Land, we next have the account of the mate of the 
 schooner Sophia, which was lying in the river Inglis, and of the 
 manner of their taking possession of that vessel, and compelling 
 the master to carry them over to Victoria. The narrative reads 
 like some of the simple details from the log-books of vessels which 
 fell in with pirates in former days : — 
 
 " Schooner Sophia, River Inglis, Port of Circular Head, 
 "Thursday, 15th September, 1853. 
 
 " 1 P.M. — Whilst the crew were all at dinner, the schooner was hailed from 
 the other side of the river by a gentleman named Wigmore, requesting a 
 passage across. There were six other men along with him. The schooner's 
 boat had frequently given him a passage over before. The master, rather 
 than disturb the men at dinner, asked Mr, Jones, the supercargo, to go 
 in the boat with him across for Mr. Wigmore. The boat returned, bringing 
 all tbe seven men in her. By this time the crew had finished dinner, and came 
 on deck, a little astonished at the appearance of things there. One man stood 
 aft, by the entrance to the cabin, with a double-barrelled gun in his hand ; 
 another stood by the main hatch, with a rifle in his hand ; five men stood by 
 the mainmast, among whom was Mr. Wigmore, with their hands tied together 
 VOL. II. C 
 
18 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 (by way of being handcuffed). One of the sailors asked what was the mean- 
 ing of all this, and he with the rifle said, ' we should see directly.' Shortly 
 after, he with the double-barrel looked over the quarter, and gave orders for 
 the master's hands to be untied, which was done by Mr. Jones, who, with the 
 master, was still in the boat alongside. He was then told to come on deck, 
 when he with the double-barrel told him that he and his mate were two * lifers,' 
 and all that they wanted was liberty, and that they were determined to have, 
 at whatever price they bought it, as their lives were already forfeited. He also 
 told the ship's crew that on the very first appearance of treachery towards 
 them on the part of any one, the ' master's life ' was to be the first forfeit. He 
 then asked which was the master's cabin, and what fire-arms were on board : 
 on being told, he then ransacked the cabin, taking possession of a six-barrelled 
 revolver, three pocket pistols, all the ammunition, and about eighteen or twenty 
 inches of lead pipe which lay in one of the lockers. He then told the master 
 he might go where he pleased about the ship, and that the crew were to go 
 about their dnties in getting all ready to start from the river as soon as 
 possible. He also allowed Mr. Wigmore, and the other four men who were 
 handcuff'ed, to be untied and go below, the weather being bitter cold at the 
 time. About 4 p.m., whilst a boat with, three carpenters, who were employed 
 at a wreck on the other side of the river, was passing our stern, they were told 
 by him with the double-barrel (who kept sentry on the quarter-deck, whilst 
 he with the rifle performed the same duties forward), that the captain wanted 
 them. One of them replied that they had no time at present, but that they 
 would call, on their return. He levelled his gun at them, and told them that 
 they must come now. They came on board, he telling them that it was war 
 time, and that he pressed all who came in his way. Previous to this, whilst 
 the master was still in the boat alongside, handcuffed, there had come to the 
 beach, close alongside, Mr. and Mrs. King (the farmer from whom the cargo 
 was taken), and another female, who looked astonished at seeing two men on 
 board with guns in their hands, and Mr, Wigmore and the others standing by 
 the mainmast. He with the rifle tried to persuade them to come on board, 
 but they soon went away. About six, p.m., he with the double-barrel said, 
 ' he would try a bit of game,' and called Mr. Wigmore out of the cabin and 
 
 ordered him to write a note to the Rev. Mr. , who lived with Mr. King, 
 
 stating how matters stood with regard to himself ; also stating, that if there 
 was any attempt made in the morning to detain the schooner, it would be taken 
 for granted that the news had spread through Mr. and Mrs. King, and that he 
 (Mr. Wigmore) would be shot before their eyes in the morning. The note 
 was written, and despatched by the cook, who was given to understand that if 
 he did not return in half-an-hour, the master was to be shot dead at the expiry 
 of that time. The cook returned within that time, bringing a verbal answer, 
 to the effect * that there would be no measures employed against them from 
 that side the river.' Previous to those below going to sleep, they were warned 
 by him with the rifle, not to come nearer him during the night than the length 
 of his piece, in case they got the contents of it. He also told them, that if they 
 heard any firing of arms in the course of the night, they were by no means to 
 come on deck. 
 
 ''■Friday, l&th September, 1853. — The wind having changed from N.E. to 
 S.W., about 8 o'clock a..m., he with the double-barrel called the master to the 
 gangway, and told him that he now believed it was a fair wind, and that the 
 schooner would be off as soon as the tide made. The master pointed to him 
 the heavy sea that was setting in from the N.E., and the great surf on the bar. 
 
 I 
 
MURDEROUS ADVENTURES OF TWO CONVICTS. 19 
 
 and gave it as his opinion that it was ahnost impossible to start that tide at 
 least ; to which he replied, cocking his piece, that he wo^ld have no hum- 
 bugging, but that if there was the least possibility it was to be attempted, at 
 whatever risk, 'or,' said he, *I won't say what I will do.' About 10 a.m., 
 partly unmoored, making ready for starting, I, James Jarvie, told him with 
 the rifle that we must replenish our stock of water before we started ; to which 
 he replied, that all the extra hands were to be landed as soon as we got clear 
 of the river. I still reasoned with him, and told him that there was not enough 
 to start with. He asked how much was on board. I pointed to him the small 
 cask, telling him it was barely half-full, and told him, in a jocular manner, 
 that we might as well be shot beforehand as start without water, and perish 
 for want of it. He replied, he would speak to his mate about it, which he did. 
 After a good deal of ' confab ' to and fro, I proffered to go with him to a 
 small creek of fresh water almost opposite, but he and one of the seamen went, 
 and got a supply. 
 
 "About 10 a.m., he with the double barrel still insisting on the master to 
 start that tide, against all his persuasions to the contrary, unmoored, set sail, 
 got as far as the bar, got into the surf, lost steerage-way, became unmanage- 
 able, and stranded. Got out anchors to keep her in midchannel, but the heavy 
 sea setting in from N.E. dragged the anchors, and laid her almost broadside 
 on to the east shore. Shortly after, he with the double barrel called the cook 
 on deck, tied his hands behind him, and fixed him to the larboard main 
 swifter shroud. At the same time, Mr. Wigmore stood close aft on the star- 
 board side. (Whether placed there by them or not I can't say). lie with the 
 double barrel stood with his piece loaded and full-cocked by the larboard fore- 
 topmast backstay; and he with the rifle, also loaded and cocked, between the 
 main-hatch and starboard gangway. The cook was then ordered to report 
 what was said and done on his embassy on shore to Mr. King's the night 
 previous. He made the same statement, I believe, — almost word for word, — 
 that he had done when he came on board ; upon which he was unfastened. 
 Had he deviated materially from his first story he was to have been shot by 
 the double barrel, and Mr. Wigmore was to have fallen by the rifle, as he 
 with the double barrel told the master that he had been of opinion that the 
 stranding of the schooner had been a preconcerted plan between Mr. King and 
 him, through the cook carrying a private message and answer to and fro, along 
 with the note ; but that now he was partly inclined to think that nothing of the 
 kind had happened. He, however, ordered the master to get the cargo thrown 
 )verboard, and to use his own skill in getting the schooner ofl" next tide, ' or he 
 rould not say what he would do ! ' Turned to, and hove the greater part of 
 le cargo overboard, during which time people began to flock in numbers 
 ibout the beach. Towards noon (on average), there were not less than forty 
 ko sixty (including both sides of the river), who kept up pretty smart firing, 
 with little intermission, until sunset, when the tide drove them from the covert 
 of the i»cks, and a wreck which had served them all day as a battery. About 
 11 r.M., after much trouble, got the schooner into midchannel, warped out 
 abreast of Table Cape, sent Mr. Wigmore and four others on shore in the 
 carpenter's boat, one of whom was to fetch her back for the remaining three. 
 Waited two or three hours ; master proposed sending the schooner's boat on 
 shore with them, and the two sailors to bring her back. He with the double 
 barrel would not allow it, but allowed half-an-hour longer to wait the return 
 of the other boat. Half-hour expired — no return ; weighed anchor, proceeded 
 
 C2 
 
20 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 towards Port Phillip, one or other, or both, continually prowling about the 
 decks, with the remaining three pressed men on board. Monday, 19th. Sent 
 them on shore — the two bushrangers, with the two seamen belonging to the 
 schooner — near Cape Schanck, in the afternoon. Tuesday, 27th. No account 
 of the boat and the two men belonging to the schooner. 
 
 " James Jarvie, Mate, schooner Sophia." 
 
 The most amazing thing in this statement is the arrant cow- 
 ardice of the master and men, nine in number, if cowardice it were. 
 That this number of people should allow two fellows, one only- 
 armed with a double-barrelled gun, and the other with a rifle, to 
 tie them up and keep them in subjection from Thursday at noon 
 till the following Monday, is one of the most extraordinary things 
 in the whole history of rogues and dastards. 
 
 The Mayor of Melbourne, before whom the master of the 
 schooner was brought, on the charge of conveying over these fel- 
 lows into the colony contrary to law, most severely and most pro- 
 perly upbraided him with this cowardice. It appeared that on 
 one occasion one of the convicts slept a whole day, and therefore 
 there was only one for the whole crew to deal with ; yet they dared 
 not nor did attempt it. Moreover, one of them went on shore, and 
 the other was left in the hands of the whole crew, except the one 
 w^ho accompanied his comrade on shore ; yet even then they dared 
 not move. The fellow told them that he could shoot fourteen men 
 without reloading ; and they were so frightened as to believe it, or 
 pretended to be so. For, after all, one cannot avoid believing that 
 there must be something more than cowardice in the affair, and 
 that the scoundrels had bribed them with the plundered money 
 to carry them over ; for it is well known that such a trade 
 goes on. 
 
 Being put on shore, they soon made their appearance at the 
 station of Mr. Balcombe, whose family fortunately escaped injury 
 from them. • Soon after they arrived at Brighton, and went to the 
 house of a Mr. King ; tied him fast, and made his eldest boy go 
 with them to show them where their horses were, on which they 
 wanted to make their escape. They were at plough in a field near. 
 On coming up they told the ploughman to take them out. The 
 man thinking they were in joke, seeing his master's son with them, 
 told them to come again at dinner-time. Without more ceremony 
 they shot the man, leaving him, as appeared, mortally wounded. 
 When the man felt himself shot, he asked them what they had shot 
 him for. They only replied, " There 's one less ! " mounted the 
 horses and rode off". The Melbourne Argus thus continues the 
 narrative : — 
 
. MURDEROUS ADVENTURES OF TAVO CONVICTS. 21 
 
 " It is with infinite gratification and satisfaction that we announce to our 
 readers the capture, after a severe struggle, of the two rufiians who have, since 
 their escape from Van Diemen's Land, been committing murder and robbery 
 to an extent quite appalling. To proceed at once to give a history of the 
 capture of these bloodthirsty wretches, it will be necessary to state that since 
 the assassins attacked the unfortunate man at Brighton, the whole police force 
 of the city, the detectives as well as the mounted troopers, have been inde- 
 fatigable in their endeavours to bring to justice these daring and hardened 
 Vandemonians. A party of five troopers on Saturday received information 
 that two men, mounted on horseback, answering the description of the bush- 
 rangers, had travelled in the direction of the Deep Creek. They were traced 
 by this courageous band as far as Wright's public house, but had turned on 
 their steps and retraced the road, proceeding the same night as far as Jack- 
 son's Creek. On the Sunday morning they reached Gisborne, where those in 
 pursuit met Mr. Nicholson and Cadet Thompson, who joined the party and 
 went to the Black Forest Inn, having received information that the men had 
 gone in that direction. The landlord, Mr. Hunter, had observed them to pass 
 about two hours before those in pursuit arrived, and they scoured the forest 
 for some five or six miles round, but without success. They then rode on to 
 Carlsruhe, aiad reached Mr. 'Dunsford's station on the following morning. 
 Here they received more intelligence, and pushed on as far as the Five Mile 
 Creek, where they were disappointed, and discovered they had lost the track 
 of the men they were so anxious to secure. Keturning to Dunsford's Station 
 for horses, but being unable to procure any, they went to Ivilmore, to Kane's 
 Station." 
 
 Here they met with another party of police from Kilmore, 
 who had been at Mr. Clarke's station, where it will be recol- 
 lected that we called. Here the villains had been, and asked 
 him if he wanted two shepherds. He said, "No ; " and was turn- 
 ing to re-enter his house, when they fired at him in the same 
 reckless way, and put a bullet through his hat. His gardener, at 
 work, near the house, rushed up to his assistance, and the bush- 
 rangers shot him through the chest. Mr. Clarke had six shots 
 fired at him, but none actually hit him. Then they went to one 
 of the huts, " stuck-up " seven men, and cast a quantity of bullets 
 with ^me lead that they found. 
 
 " The police thus arriving at Kane's station, and going to the door, and 
 inquiring whether they had retired to rest, were answered that all the inmates 
 had been tied up by two bushrangers. The door was burst open, and eleven 
 men were found tied up. The bushrangers had been some hours accomplishing 
 this daring deed, and had slept in a shepherd's hut, which they had bored with 
 port-holes for their defence in case of being attacked. As they were being 
 unbound, one of the inmates cried out, ' There are the bushrangers ! ' and 
 immediately shots were fired by two men who were some thirty yards from the 
 door. Other shots followed, and Cadet Thompson was shot in the left breast; 
 the ball, passing through his body, lodged in the wall behind him. Trooper 
 Ostler, who was one of the most active in the pursuit, then saw a large and a 
 small man, and he immediately fired his pistol at the tall one, whose shot had 
 
 C 3 
 
22 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 taken so fatal an effect on Cadet Thompson. He then fired at the shorter 
 man, who was taking away his horse ; and the other man cried out to his 
 comrade, ' Come on, come on.' Ostler then ran out, and said, ' Let us take the 
 devils,' and the bushrangers rode off. The horses belonging to the other 
 troopers had broken away, so that they were without means of pursuit. They 
 then gave the alarm at Kdmore station ; and at twelve o'clock the same night 
 Serjeant Nolan, three constables, Dr. Pearce, and Ostler went on to Mr. 
 Cairn's, where they procured horses, and there learnt that the bushrangers had 
 robbed a tent close at hand, taking away with them all the provisions they 
 could lay their hands on. In a short time the party came upon four men, two 
 on horseback, the others being on foot. Two of these turned out to be the 
 bushrangers, one of the men being mounted on Ostler's horse. The party then 
 rode on as fast as they could, and succeeded in overtaking the two villains 
 about three miles up the road. They instantly turned, and fired. The shots 
 took the skin off Mr. Nicholson's cheek, and wounded his horse in the neck. 
 The pursuers fired a volley, but without effect ; and Serjeant Nolan struck 
 O'Connor (the bushranger) with his sword, which he adroitly managed to 
 receive on his gun. O'Connor was then knocked down, Mr. Nicholson en- 
 deavouring to secure him ; Ostler in the meantime succeeding, with the 
 assistance of his comrades, in securing Henry Bradley and another, whom he 
 did not know. This man Bradley turned out to be the other bushranger who 
 had made his escape from Van Diemen's Land with O'Connnor. In the melee, 
 before the capture was accomplished, a good deal of firing took place between 
 the parties ; and no less than four pistols were found upon Bradley, who 
 resisted with much determhiation, till Ostler threatened to blow his brains out 
 if he did not surrender. They were then taken by their captors to Cairn's 
 station, and on their way confessed that they had shot five or six persons in 
 Van Diemen's Land before they had visited this colony. On their voyage to 
 Port Phillip, they said that their schooner had run ashore, and the police had 
 attempted to board them, but they had beaten them off, and made their escape. 
 They added, that they had baled up twenty-eight men at one time, since they 
 had landed in this colony, and that Bradley had shot one of them through the 
 body ; that he had shot King's servant man at Brighton, as well as the 
 gardener at Clarke's ; and that O'Connor had shot Mr. Clarke through the 
 hat. Thus, then, ends a faint description of this courageous capture of two 
 most bloody-minded and black-hearted villains that have fallen into the hands 
 of justice. We are sorry to add, that the unfortunate Cadet Thompson lies 
 without any hopes being held out of his recovery." 
 
 Now, there I think, we have an account of as completely demo- 
 ralised a couple of scoundrels as the annals of crime can furnish ; 
 and hkving read it, what must be our opinions of the Ministers of 
 England, who, with a full knowledge of such things, not only con- 
 tinue to send over the hardened convicts of the mother country 
 to Van Diemen's Land, whence they pass over at the rate of 9000 
 in eighteen months to Victoria, but have actually ordered the 
 Ocean Hell of Norfolk Island — that place of horror, to which the 
 most diabolical and incorrigible monsters in human form, those 
 who are too villanous for the ordinary chain-gangs of Sydney and 
 Tasmania, have been sent — to be broken up, and this pestilence 
 
 1 
 
AUSTRALIAN SCOUNDRELISM. 23 
 
 of incarnate devils to be carried to Van Diemen's Land ! upwards 
 of 600 in number. 
 
 AH the murders which these malignant and blood-thirsty 
 wretches will assuredly commit in this colony will be justly charge- 
 able on those Ministers. Surely the account of these two Norfolk 
 Island marauders will startle them from the completion of this pro- 
 ject ; if not, it is to be hoped that the people of Tasmania will 
 follow the brave example of the people of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and refuse to receive them. It is high time to convey these wretches 
 to a new and more distant location, and Northern Australia, with its 
 three thousand miles of unpeopled coasts, and impassable deserts, 
 is the most eligible place for such a convict colony. 
 
 I was glad to see -that three of the bushrangers who robbed the 
 escort were hanged ; as w^ell as these two Norfolk Islanders. Since 
 going out to Australia and seeing the quality of the scoundrelism 
 which abounds there — that which has passed through the anneal- 
 ing process of home correction and transportation — I begin to 
 grow Carlylish, and to think, " once a scoundrel, scoundrel for 
 ever," and that the only thing is to squash them as we do snakes 
 and scorpions, or send them out of the reach of civilised states. As 
 for condemning these fellows, with hearts of the nether millstone, 
 to the roads, as had been the practice in Victoria, that was 
 only to make them thoroughly reckless, for they made themselves 
 certain that they should escape one day or other — and they did 
 escape too. 
 
 The so-called Captain Melville, one of this gang, escaped several 
 times. And he made a fine speech to the judge, when tried for the 
 robbery of the escort, and told him " that he died an innocent and 
 injured man," — this, too, while his own accomplice gave evidence 
 against him, and while his share of the booty was found upon 
 him ! On this third occasion he again cheated the gallows, but 
 was hanged lately for making an attempt to escape, and to murder 
 the convict guard at Williams' Town. 
 
 One of these escort robbers, named Wilson, who was identified 
 by one of the police as the man who fired at him, appears by the 
 description to be, without doubt, our friend the scout. Here he 
 turned up again, the same middle-sized fellow, in the blue shirt, 
 corduroy trowsers, and scarlet comforter round his head. We 
 don't often see people with a scarlet comforter round their heads. 
 But here is this man in the very same costume, just on the same 
 road, belonging to the same gang — visiting our tent over night, 
 and assisting to rob two ladies and their man servant the next morn- 
 ing on the same spot ; and a ^qw days afterwards figuring as on© 
 
 c 4 
 
24 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of the most daring rascals of the escort assailants. It was a great 
 comfort to know him hanged at last. From the murderous cha- 
 racter of this man, and the sight I had of the one taken and 
 brought to Bendigo — a huge desperate-looking villain — and the 
 ferocity they displayed in attacking the escort, it is to me a miracle 
 and a perfect act of Providence that we escaped a deadly contest 
 with them. 
 
 From these annals of highwaymen, let us turn to a few mis- 
 cellaneous and more agreeable characteristics of the diggings. 
 
 Amongst these should not be omitted the musical tendencies of 
 the diggers. The accordion seems their favourite instrument ; and 
 every evening as it grows dark, its sound is heard from tents more 
 or less remote. Here one tones out slow, wild, and dreary; there 
 strikes up another, brisk and joyous: one seems inspired by solitary 
 remembrances of home and past friends — the other of present 
 success. There are all sorts and degrees of skill; and occasionally 
 the flute, the fiddle, and the bagpipe vary the concert, and tell of 
 different nationalities, and even fortunes. 
 
 One instance of fortune I may state which, however, certainly 
 did not reach me through music : — 
 
 Many years ago I knew a most worthy and upright man, a 
 member of the Society of Friends in Derbyshire, named John 
 Chambers. One of the last times that I recollect seeing him, there 
 was with him a sturdy little boy, his son, and bearing the same 
 name, then about eight years of age. Being rather boisterous and 
 self-willed about something, a person present said that " naughty 
 boys would be sent to a naughty place." The answer which the 
 little fellow gave I never forgot, as it was indicative of a bold and 
 independent character : " Very well ; and if you send me there I 
 will kick the door down." 
 
 This high-spirited boy grew up, and went away to Australia. 
 How he had fared I did not know ; but he had been true to his 
 word, and had kicked down all the opposing doors and bars to 
 fortune. He had settled at Adelaide as a smith and wheelwright, 
 and married a very excellent wife. He was doing well when the 
 wonderful news of the gold discoveries of Victoria reached him. 
 At once he set out, reached Bendigo at the very commencement 
 of its golden wonders, and taking up his abode near Golden Gully, 
 had been labouring away in his vocation. I found him a substan- 
 tial man, with a shop full of work people, still retaining the pecu- 
 liarities of the Society of Friends, and highly esteemed by all who 
 knew him. After two years' business on the gold fields he talks 
 of retiring ; and it is said with at least 12,000/. as the fruit of it. 
 
"stopping a tooth." 25 
 
 He was more than satisfied, and seemed anxious to get away before 
 his children could be contaminated with the demoralising influence 
 and example of a digging. 
 
 He told me, that on one occasion he sent a man with a draj and 
 a team down to Melbourne for iron, and the man sold iron, team 
 and dray, altogether, and went away ; that he had since met with 
 the man, but had never prosecuted him. Another time, getting 
 up one morning, he found one of his men and the housemaid 
 missing, and with them a box containing his money and some 
 papers. Amongst other things were 100/. in sovereigns, and 1000/. 
 in bank notes. While he was standing in his first surprise at the 
 circumstance, a neighbour came in, and said there must have been 
 a robbery somewhere, for there was a box lying in the road, with 
 a quantity of papers and parcels lying all about it. He ran out to 
 the place, and found not only the box and papers, but the parcel 
 of bank notes, which the thieves had not discovered to be money. 
 They had only taken the 100 sovereigns. 
 
 This walking ofi* with loaded drays and teams is by no means 
 uncommon. The squatters, where our horses were, had precisely 
 such an occurrence ; and a storekeeper at Adelaide Gully lost a 
 loaded dray of goods, taken away from his door in the night, and 
 nine horses at the same time ; the store, having, moreover, been 
 broken into, and its most valuable property stolen, amounting al- 
 together to 6000/. The family must have been unrivalled for 
 sleeping, for no one of them heard anything during the trans- 
 action. In neither of these cases were the thieves ever heard of 
 again. 
 
 Amongst the many curious .modes of making money here, none 
 I think, surpasses the following : — A surgeon told me that he went 
 one day into the tent of a brother medicus, on the Bendigo, just 
 as a patient was going out. 
 
 " I have been stopping a tooth," said the surgeon. 
 
 *' Do you get good cement here ? " inquired my friend. 
 
 "Admirable!" replied the surgeon. "I saw an old gutta-percha 
 bucket selling in a lot of old tools one day at an auction. I 
 bought the lot, which cost me five shillings, for the sake of the 
 bucket. I have already stopped some hundreds of teeth with the 
 gutta-percha at a guinea each, and shall, no doubt, stop some 
 thousands with it before the old bucket is used up. It is a fortune 
 to me. My name is up for an unrivalled dentist, and they come 
 to me far and near." 
 
 Charlton and I one day had rather an amusing adventure with 
 a brandy-keg. We went to Mr. Fenton's station to see how our 
 
26 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 horaes were going on. It was a fourteen miles* walk on the Mel- S 
 bourne road. It was a fine day, and we enjoyed our walk ex- 
 tremely. For seven miles at least our way lay through the dig- 
 gings ; but once clear of them, the country was pleasant. The 
 people coming and going on the road, some walking with their 
 swags, some with carts and bullock-drays, and others camping in 
 the bush with their great fires, reminded us of our own travelling 
 days. We passed over the saddle of a steep hill some five or six 
 miles on this side of the station, and were at once in a new 
 sort of a country. Here the gravel, and quartz, and clay-slate 
 suddenly ceased, and a granite district commenced. The granite 
 rocks stood out of the ground here and there ; but the country was 
 beautiful with hills and slopes clear of rock, and as green as in an 
 English spring. The piping-crows, the laughing-jackasses, the 
 odd leatherheads, and the coach-wheel birds, all gave us their old 
 music, and brought back pleasant memories of travel. 
 
 The station at which our horses were is an agreeable one, 
 situated on a clear stream, mid these green hills and woods. It 
 is a prosperous one, too, for its vicinity to the diggings affords it 
 a fine market for all its produce. Its mutton and beef produce as 
 much as they would in England ; while the whole station is held 
 at a mere nominal sum — 10/. or 201. a year. What an odd state 
 of things — but what a very agreeable one for those who possess 
 the advantage of it, — that as fine an estate as that of an English 
 nobleman is held for that sum, while the very superfluous vege- 
 tables of the garden at that time brought in about 800/. a year, 
 have seen a man from this station going through the diggings, 
 with a horse and cart, the cart piled with cabbages, and a cabbage 
 stuck on a broomstick, as a sign that they were for sale ; while dig- 
 gers were running, as for the dear life, from all sides, to get a cab- 
 bage at the small price of Ss. 6d. 
 
 Mr. Fenton had generally at least 200 horses grazing on his 
 station, at 10s. per horse per week ; yielding 100/. a week, or up- 
 wards of 5,000/. a year, which cost him nothing but a man to 
 watch them. And all this independent of the regular profit of 
 his sheep and cattle. Truly the squatters' lines have fallen in 
 pleasant places, and they have substantial cause to endeavour ttf 
 preserve and perpetuate their unrivalled advantages. 
 
 Yet the last holder of this station, and from whom it retains the 
 name of Gibson's Station, made a miserable end. He used tc 
 drink three bottles of brandy by day, and one by night, that bein| 
 his regular quantity. He came on a visit there a few weeks before 
 he died, and ran up a bill of 251. for brandy at the Porcupine Inn 
 
A PLANT. NAMES AND SIGNS. 27 
 
 near, and so finished himself off in a very spirited manner, and 
 lies buried in the paddock. 
 
 On returning and crossing the ridge I spoke of, there were a 
 set of men at work cutting a road through the ridge. They had 
 a couple of sheep, which they had brought from a station for kill- 
 ing, tethered by a rope to a tree stump just by the roadside. At 
 the sight of Prin, the sheep gave a sudden jump, snapped the 
 rope, and began to make off. One of the men rushed up the cut- 
 ting and very nimbly seized the rope attached to one of the sheep, 
 but the other w^ent off like a wild stag up the hill. Half-a-dozen 
 men were soon in chase of it, and not very well pleased with Prin 
 for frightening the sheep. But they soon had cause to thank him, 
 for passing behind some bushes, they suddenly descried a keg of 
 brandy, of four or five gallons. They lifted it up, smelt at it, said, 
 " It's grog, and no mistake ! " and forthwith carried it off with 
 them. This was a prize which at once put them into the best 
 imaginable humour. It was, no doubt, intended for the so-called 
 coffee-shop at the bottom of the hill, which, like most of these 
 places, is in reality a sly grog-shop. And this was what they called 
 a plant, — that is, the spirit was left there by the spirit-dealer for 
 the people to fetch away when it was dark. The grog-carts — ' 
 light spring carts — travelled by night, and you could often hear 
 them passing at night when you camped near the road. The men 
 were vastly delighted, not only with the brandy, but with the idea 
 of the blank surprise of the grog-sellers when they came for the 
 keg. 
 
 In our walk through the diggings, we could not help noting 
 the names of places and signs as indications of the character of 
 mind of the people who give such names — Jackass Flat, Donkey 
 Gully, Dead-horse Gully, Sheepshead Gully, Tinpot Gully, Job's 
 Gully, Poverty Gully, and Piccaninny Gullies without end. These, 
 however, are not quite so bad as Murderer's Flat, and Chokem 
 Gully. 
 
 There is a lending library close to the camp, with this em- 
 blazonment in great letters all along its side — "Baker's gold-dig- 
 gers' Go-a-head Library and Registration Ofiice for New Chums." 
 It must be American. 
 
 The orthography of the notices which the diggers stick on trees 
 by the roadsides is often curious, as, — " if This Meets the I of 
 James Crakinton, He Will ear of His Friend Tomass fawks at 
 mistre Snars Oppossit The guvermint camp." 
 
 "this Notice — if shold met the eey of george fremland or 
 geo Terry, they WiW find there frend Hennery grovener at Mr. 
 
28 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Cordenes CofFee-Hause nere the Cammishaneres Camp, sine of the] 
 French Felag." * 
 
 Still more curious ones abound, but I neglected to copy them. 
 Dr. Roche told me that he asked a digger, who came before him 
 as coroner, what persuasion he was of. He replied, "A labourer." 
 " Yes, but what religion are you of ? " The man said he did not 
 know. *' What was your father's persuasion ? " "A labourer 
 like me." That was all he could get out of him. These are the 
 men who give such beautiful names to places, as we have just 
 quoted, and such as "New Chum's Gully," and "Fiddlers' Gully," 
 which they say is forty miles beyond Hell, where all sailors and 
 fiddlers go ; and this wit arises from the fact that "Sailors' Gully" 
 here lies beyond " Beelzebub's Gully." 
 
 A funny little boy is watching me writing. It is little Tommy 
 Fulton from Islington. He says he never heard of "Cock Robin;" 
 nor does he know what a robin is, nor a sparrow. He is, perhaps, 
 five years old. He never heard of " Little Red Riding Hood," 
 nor of the " Babes in the Wood," nor anything of that kind. He 
 told me one day that he had been to chapel. I asked him what for. 
 He said that he did not know. I asked him what they did there. 
 He said they read and sung. " Did they not preach ? " " Yes ; 
 a man got up slap at the back of the tent and preached." " What 
 did he preach about ? " " Oh ! he did'nt know — he preached to 
 God." As the schoolmaster is said to be abroad, it is to be hoped 
 that he will take a fancy to visit the diggings. 
 
 Amongst the placards which attracted our eyes on this walk was 
 one "with immense letters, " Eggs ! Eggs ! Eggs ! Immense 
 Reduction in Eggs I Eggs now only One Shilling Each ! " f 
 
 They were a few days before two shillings each ; and as I was 
 talking with a gentleman in front of his tent, he suddenly exclaim- 
 ed, " There I have lost two shillings ! " and he showed me that one 
 of his hens had just laid an Qg^, without a shell ; a very common 
 thing there, because they cannot procure lime, the whole neigh- 
 bourhood being pulverised quartz and slate. 
 
 Pork was almost as precious as eggs. The scarcity of pigs made 
 it any price that people pleased to ask. A Jew of the name of Laza- 
 rus, at the Ovens, was -tempted to begin feeding pigs ; but being 
 taunted for it by a drunken fellow, one day when Charlton was by, he 
 snatched up a whole litter of young ones, and in a rage flung them 
 without any care, and consequently with a terrific screaming, into a 
 
 * Most of these have since been freely copied by Mr. Reade in his novel 
 " Never too late to Mend." 
 f Copied by Reade. 
 
MICE. BENDIGO GAIETIES. 29 
 
 warehouse, where I suppose they would be kept close till they could 
 be snugly disposed of. An old lady near there sold two little ones for 
 8/., and was congratulating herself on her good bargain, when the 
 butcher came back and said, " Ah ! Ma'am, I 've made a very fool- 
 ish bargain — I've sold the pigs for 15/. ; and if I had kept them 
 only an hour longer I could have had 20/." The poor lady was so 
 struck by her own folly that she was very near taking to her bed, 
 and lamented to us grievously her ill luck. 
 
 One of the great nuisances at the diggings are the mice. These 
 are English mice. They swarm on the diggings ; and we found it 
 one of the most difficult things in the world to catch them. I made 
 a great round amongst the stores, to purchase a few of those old- 
 fashioned traps, consisting of a little log of wood with a hole in it, 
 and a spring-bar to hang them ; but neither these nor any other 
 traps were to be had. I therefore, tried sundry improved traps, and 
 tricks recommended, but without the slightest success. They de- 
 stroy everything you have. They tore up " Uncle Tom's Cabin," 
 and made a mouse-nest of it. I removed everything out of the tent, 
 but in vain. The few mice that I could see scampered up the can- 
 vas, and went out at the eaves. At night there they were all again 
 as merry as ever, running over my hands and face, and waking me ! 
 I made up my mind to set up a cat ; and cats there were 2/. 10^. 
 apiece ! When, lo! a lucky discovery ! — the mention of which may 
 be of service to others on the diggings — removing a bucket from 
 a corner, into which had fallen a woollen jumper, I detected 
 within it a whole tribe of mice ! The hint was sufficient. Every 
 morning we carried out the bucket, and let the dogs kill the mice 
 so long as there were any left. We were soon wholly free; and by 
 this simple remedy so may everybody be, only letting the bucket-trap 
 have something lying outside up which the mice may easily ascend. 
 
 Bendigo was very gay in October with balls and festivals. The 
 Anti-gold-license Association gave a festival in celebration of their 
 victory over the Government ; and I saw a large placard displayed 
 in front of their office, with a broad mourning border, and the 
 words " Old License is Dead ! " The diggers had two balls in 
 aid of a hospital which they had lately built there by subscription. 
 The large tent in which the ball was held was, it is said, tastefully 
 decorated with foliage of trees and native flowers, and all went off 
 very well. The tickets were two guineas, including admission for 
 a lady. They had an excellent supper, and plenty of champagne. 
 The band of the 40th regiment attended ; and there was a complete 
 medley of commissioners, doctors, storekeepers, and diggers, with 
 their ladies, the latter of whom are said to have been very well 
 
30 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 dressed. Diggers in blouses were admitted ; and their red and 
 blue jumpers contrasted curiously with the military uniforms of 
 officers and commissioners. They kept it up till six o'clock in the 
 morning ; a very prudent measure if they meant to get home without 
 disappearing in the innumerable holes with which the whole place 
 is honey-combed, as well as to escape what are called Bendigo 
 Faugh-a-ballahs, the same class of mortals as M'lvor Stickers-up 
 and Balarat All-serenes, — in plain English, thieves. These thieves 
 were the more bold from that easy escape which I mentioned just 
 now — through bribery. They had a fellow there^ about that time, 
 a notorious forger, who had committed endless frauds of that kind ; 
 but he escaped during the time he was out airing in the prison 
 yard, under the surveillance of the police. There could be but one 
 solution of the affair. And the following week four desperate 
 thieves escaped from the strong new prison at M'lvor, no doubt 
 by means of the same golden key. 
 
 Speaking of Bendigo festivities reminds me of our own adven- 
 tures, in attempting to break our own rule of not going out to dine 
 in the evening. We set out to a six o'clock dinner at the camp ; 
 but as our horses were out in the Bush, and we were obliged to 
 foot it, we soon found ourselves mid-leg in mud, and returned, and 
 sent our apology to the commissioners in the morning. But one 
 day Dr. Roche pressed us to dine with him, to celebrate Father 
 Mathew's birthday. It was two miles ; but as it was daylight at 
 the dinner hour, and we were promised a moon to return by, w< 
 went. When we set out the evening was fine ; but while there 
 began to rain, and rained furiously and incessantly till one o'clo( 
 at night. It then ceased, and we set out ; but what a walk ! Thi 
 waters were out everywhere ; and as the ground is like that ove\ 
 which Bunyan's Christian went through the Valley of the Shado'^ 
 of Death, full of pitfalls and slime-pits, many of which were noi 
 totally hidden by the water, it was a most perilous progress. Th^ 
 moon had long gone down ; it was pitch dark ; and it was impoJ 
 sible to move a step without feeling beforehand with my sticl 
 whether all was sound. Thus we threaded and stumbled our wa] 
 between deep holes, and over heaps of muddy clay and stones, ev( 
 and anon wading to the waist in water along the high road. Wheii 
 we came to a bridge over the creek, we had to climb along soml 
 posts and rails to get at it, for all the approaches to it were und( 
 water. We did not calculate on travelling by rail quite so soc 
 in that country. 
 
 After wading on thus, and losing ourselves in a wood, and thej 
 regaining our way, we arrived within five minutes' walk of oi 
 
VIOLENT CHANGES OF 'WEATHEE. 31 
 
 tent, and found ourselves cut off, beyond all hope, by the flood rush- 
 ing along in a furious torrent where, as we went, we crossed with- 
 out difficulty. So we had to retrace our steps to a bridge a mile 
 back again. Our road here was worse than ever, for we were 
 amongst pits innumerable ; and we could hear them falling in all 
 around us, their undermined sides plunging with a most ominous 
 sound down into the water. But, after all, we Reached home at 
 half-past two, safe and sound, after many a long wade, many a slip 
 and slide, many a climb and leap ; and came to the conclusion that 
 no one has a right to ask people to dine on the diggings^ unless he 
 engages to see them safe back again in a good stout dray and six- 
 teen bullocks. 
 
 We had violent changes of weather. We had sharp frosts in 
 the nights, and on the 2nd of October it froze the coffee as it stood 
 within our fireplace. The next week, on the other hand, it be- 
 came suddenly so hot that it was almost unbearable. The ther- 
 mometer one morning at half-past seven was at 92°. On another 
 day it was 98° at noon in the sun, and this in a month which is 
 the April of that latitude! All at once we had a thunderstorm, 
 and the weather again was as cold as winter, the south-west wind 
 blowing, and still continuing to blow, as cold as Christmas at 
 home. These are the changes that try people. There is a very 
 general feeling that the climate, however fine, is very trying to 
 health. A very clever doctor there said that his wife, quite a 
 young woman, had become ten years older in constitution in two 
 years ; and I met a very intelligent man limping along on two 
 sticks from the effects of rheumatism. As he. lived in a good 
 house, I was surprised, and expressed my surprise at the preva- 
 lence of rheumatism generally in that dry climate. "Oh!" said 
 he, " I don't believe in the climate. I have been here ten years, 
 and came over with a great number of people who looked far 
 likelier to live than I did — and where are they?" He pointed to 
 a cemetery near, and, with a significant nod, limped away. 
 
 I am very thankful to say that we all continued well ; and cer- 
 tainly all nature looked charming. It was spring. The woods 
 were very gay now with flowers. There were numerous species 
 of acacias, from shrubs of a few inches high (Acacia sertiformis), 
 to large trees loaded with bloom. Many of these are quite as 
 handsome as the acacias we grow in our conservatories in Eng- 
 land, and as sweet. As they come out in succession they keep 
 the woods constantly beautiful. The golden wattle and the com- 
 mon black wattle were now nearly over ; but there was a smaller 
 golden wattle with leaves like those of the oleander, just coming 
 
32 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 out "(Acacia retinoides) ; and in a few days the bushes of it along 
 tlie creek were complete masses of gold. It has a sweet but some- 
 what medicinal smell. 
 
 In the wet and most barren parts of the woods there was a 
 shrub then in blossom with white starry flowers. It had scarcely 
 any leaves, and looked like a slender sloe-tree covered with bloom, 
 and vast extents' of the woods were perfectly white with it. Be- 
 sides these, there were thousands of buttercups in the grassy 
 places, and yellow bachelor's buttons. There was a sort of heath, 
 but not a true heath. It is the Tetrathera ciliata ; yet to the eye 
 it greatly resembles our Erica tretralix, and carpets the stony 
 woods with crimson ; and various orchideous plants very delicate 
 and singular. That year we saw the whole progress of the spring, 
 and collected specimens of the plants in flower as far as we could. 
 
 While strolling through the woods, I climbed that very striking 
 quartz hill that I mentioned before. It is certainly an extraor- 
 dinary scene. The enormous mass of quartz has been heaved, by 
 some subterraneous force, out of the ground, and lies actually on 
 its surface, running along the top of the hill for about 200 yards, 
 and about 20 yards wide. It is one solid mass as of white marble, 
 and stands up in places in pillars of twelve feet high, and four 
 and five square. That it lies on the surface was shown by a hole 
 which the diggers had sunk under it into the sand rock. There 
 were more of these wonderful snowy ridges behind in the woods. 
 They all belong to those ridges which run from north to south 
 through this country. 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Tomming out White Hill Stuff. — Amazing Clearing made by the Diggers il 
 one Year. — Total Disregard of Life by the Officials. — Pits in the Highway 
 Eighty Feet deep ! — Fearful State of the Melbourne Koad at Bendigo. - 
 Author gets it repaired, and what comes of it. — Drownings of Drunker 
 Men. — Liabilities of a Dinner-party. — The System of Government on th< 
 Diggings a Mistake. — Practical Baihffs better than impractical Commifl! 
 sioners. — Cost of this gold-lace Commission. — Government let a \vhol( 
 Station for 10/. a- Year, and hired out of it a single Paddock at 500Z. a-Yeai 
 — Oats \s. per lb., Hay 120/. a Ton for Commissioners' Horses. — Expen 
 diture on permanent Buildings at the Diggings. 
 
 During the period included in my last tvv^o chapters, a new phas 
 of these diggings was showing itself, and growing into a pro 
 minent feature. There had been for some time a number o; 
 
TOMMING OUT WHITE HILL STUFF. 33 
 
 people digging the surface from some of the slopes about these 
 White Hills; for this to six inches, and in some cases to a foot 
 deep, showed considerable quantities of gold in it. Huge piles of 
 this reddish earth, chiefly a mixture of small quartz and burnt 
 slate, had been carted down to the creek; and men were busy 
 washing it through toras, races being cut from the creek, and 
 streams of water conveyed through the toms. One party had been 
 collecting their pile all the last summer, amounting to some thou- 
 sands of tons ; and this winter they were as busy washing it out. 
 It was said that their aggregate proceeds were not less than 4000Z. 
 
 Be that as it may, there is no doubt that their profit was con- 
 siderable, though they had to pay lOs. a load for its carting. The 
 surface stuff, however, was growing scarce, when suddenly the 
 attention of the diggers became turned to the mountains of white, 
 snowy-looking stufi* thrown out of the deep sinkings on the White 
 Hills. On testing it, some of it was found to yield from a quarter 
 to half an ounce a load, and that ten loads might be put through 
 in a day. It was calculated that, in parties of four or five, 51. per 
 man per diem might be made. Very soon the whole creek for 
 miles was occupied by parties washing out this stuff; and their 
 mates were very busy carting it down. 
 
 As we had both cart and horses, we therefore proposed to two 
 gentlemen of the late Maclaran party to join us at a trial of this 
 White Hill stuff. We found a capital bend of the creek unoccu- 
 pied about a mile lower down. We soon struck our tent, glad to 
 quit the bald and noisy situation where we had been so long, for a 
 quiet one in a green valley, and on the verge of the woods once more. 
 We were on the other side of the creek, and near the iron-bark 
 forest, and also near the fine, fertile, woodland plains down the 
 creek. Here we could again keep our horses, at least in the day ; 
 and we soon built a bark stable for them at night. Our tent stood 
 on a pleasant mount, with agreeable views up and down the 
 valley — the White Hills before us, and the dark iron-bark ranges 
 behind. 
 
 A woman, living in a tent near us, said, ** We were the second 
 party encamped here last year ; and all within view, including the 
 Seven White Hills, where the mines are sixty and eighty feet 
 deep, and the strata through which you dig as hard as adamant, 
 was one unbroken forest." This may give an idea of the ra- 
 pidity of operations on these diggings, and how necessary it is, if 
 a man means to get anything, to pitch head-foremost into the 
 scramble at the first movement. 
 
 Little more than a year before, the whole of this valley on the 
 
 VOL. IL D 
 
34 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Bendigo Creek, seven miles long by one and a half wide, was an 
 unbroken wood! It was now perfectly bare of trees, and the 
 whole of it riddled with holes of from ten to eighty feet deep — all 
 one huge chaos of clay, gravel, stones, and pipe-clay, thrown up 
 out of the bowels of the earth ! So much had been done on this 
 one forest in one year : and not only so much, but a dozen other 
 valleys as large. Well might His Excellency express himself as- 
 tonished, on his visit, at what had been done in twelve months. 
 I suppose there had not been less than 100,000 men at work on 
 the field ; and Golden Gully, Eagle-Hawk Gully, Iron-Bark Gully, 
 and other gullies, had been rifled of their riches. 
 
 It is thus that a few months sees the most wonderful metamor- 
 phosis of the country where gold is. It is thus that one of those 
 tremendous rushes, which takes place whenever there is the least 
 rumour of success anywhere, brings tens and tens of thousands 
 speedily together, like a flight of locusts, who tear up and leave 
 the earth desert in a few weeks. You must certainly seize Time 
 by his " padlock " in a digging, or he is gone. One glance over 
 this immense valley from our tent- door — this vast extent de- 
 nuded of bush and tree, and exhibiting only rows of tents and 
 confused heaps of yellow gravel — gave you an almost awful idea 
 of the velocity with which a whole district may be stripped of its 
 gold. 
 
 We soon made a torn, and threw a dam across the creek, sup- 
 plying ourselves with a fine rush of water, and only wondered that 
 no one had pounced on so fine a situation before us. We were 
 successfully working away there, when a circumstance occurred 
 which at once altered our plans, and deserves a detailed notice, 
 because it aflbrds a striking example of the manner in which the 
 Commissioners discharged their duty on those fields, and the 
 danger there was in disturbing by any means their apathetic neg- 
 ligence. 
 
 I have alluded, a little while ago, to the strange disregard of 
 human life exhibited by these Commissioners, almost universally. 
 On every digger's license there stood the strict prohibition of 
 sinking holes upon any road, or of cutting up the roads through 
 the diggings in any manner. This precaution was not only ne- 
 cessary for the preservation of the roads, but far more so for that 
 of human life. But the regulation was almost totally disregarded, 
 and wherever gold was to be got, the diggers cut up the roads 
 without the slightest regard to either the convenience of the 
 public, or its safety. You saw the roads through the diggings 
 entirely undermined, cut up, and obstructed, and the unfortunate 
 
STATE OF THE ROAD AT BENDIGO. 35 
 
 draymen, and all who had to travel through them, seeking in be- 
 wilderment to find a passage over the heaps and hollows. 
 
 In innumerable places, in all the diggings, there were pits along 
 the sides of the roads, and in the roads, of various depths, of 
 from 10 to 150 feet, gaping, without the slightest protection, for 
 any traveller in the dark to plunge into. And many a one, with- 
 out doubt, met a horrible fate there ; many a corpse and skeleton 
 of men lie at the bottom of these dreadful man-traps, whose ends 
 remain and will for ever remain, a mystery. 
 
 Yet all this was witnessed by the Commissioners, police, and 
 magistrates, with the most perpetual and uninterrupted serenity. 
 No effort was made to curb the deadly nuisance, no precautions 
 were used to fence off or close up these open gulfs in the most 
 public ways. The apathy appeared to pervade the whole of the 
 gold-fields, and the whole body of authorities ; human life was a 
 thing that they did not seem to attach the slightest value to ; and 
 I do not recollect a single exception to this singular insensibility, 
 save in the person of Mr. Hood, at the Nine Mile Creek, Ovens 
 Diggings. I there beheld, and beheld with wonder, stern denun- 
 ciations of the practice, and menaces of the most rigid punish- 
 ment of it, placarded everywhere by that gentleman. 
 
 The most flagrant instances of this culpable neglect, however, 
 appeared to me those at Ballarat and Creswick's Creek, because the 
 holes tliere ranged from 80 to 160 feet deep ; and numbers of 
 these holes, when deserted, stood gaping without any defence, to 
 receive any one who passed. I shall not soon forget the manner 
 in which we had to fight our way through Ballarat, amongst these 
 holes, and over monstrous heaps of clay, the main road being 
 thoroughly cut up for miles. 
 
 But still more frightful were the pits in the highway through 
 that side of Creswick's Creek leading out towards Ballarat. In 
 that highway there were numbers of holes, 80 feet deep, totally 
 unprotected even by the ordinary heap of clay and gravel round 
 them. This dirt had been shovelled to the side of the road, so 
 that along the edges of the highways, on the part where foot-pas- 
 sengers generally walk, stood these gaping gulfs, one after another, 
 with nothing in the world to give warning of them in the dark, or 
 to prevent strangers plunging into them. They were deserted, 
 and there can be no doubt, that if they were now descended into, 
 bodies would be found in them, if they do not lie there buried 
 under heaps of earth that have fallen from the sides as they caved 
 in. 
 
 The slightest thing done might have guarded against such hor- 
 
 D 2 
 
36 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 rible catastrophes as must inevitably have occurred, and may yet 
 never be heard of. If it were too much trouble to prevent their 
 being made, or, having been made, to fence them off with post 
 and rail, a huge branch, thrust into the mouths of these pits, would 
 suffice to make them palpable to approachers ; as it was, I never 
 saw in any other country on the face of the earth, such awful 
 man-traps in the public highway, nor could have supposed such 
 possible, and yet I was brought up in a country of mines and coal 
 pits. 
 
 As we came last through Creswick's Creek, it was evening as 
 we passed out, and when it was dark we met a party of diggers 
 approaching, quite strangers there. I should have felt myself 
 guilty of their blood if I had not warned them of the succession 
 of 80 feet deep pits in the road before them, which they could 
 only escape by keeping carefully in the middle of the way. 
 
 So much for the general care. I shall now select a particular 
 case, which will not only show the inconceivable neglect and 
 apathy in this respect, but the result of attempting to remedy it. 
 
 As we took our horses out to Gibson's station, within about a 
 quarter of a mile of the Government camp, we came to a portion 
 of the great road from Bendigo to Melbourne, in a state which 
 made us suddenly halt. About a furlong of it had been under- 
 mined in all directions ; the tunnels made had been ten feet deep, 
 and had now in a multitude of places fallen in, and these gulfs 
 stood half full of water. It was impossible for any carriage to pass 
 over it without tumbling into these abysses, and their horses or 
 bullocks being in danger of life and limb ; you could not look on it 
 without feeling that it menaced the most frightful accidents. The 
 road was the direct high-road from Melbourne into the diggings, 
 and though the people there knew well enough the state of the 
 road, and had made a circuitous one amongst the heaps and holes 
 of the dug-up gold-fields, from Golden Gully to near the camp, yet 
 those coming fresh from Melbourne could know nothing of this, 
 but were in daily danger of running into it in the dark, before 
 they were aware. Not a single post or rail was put across at either 
 end, to prevent the occurrence of such accidents. 
 
 We found, on inquiry, that this part of the road had lain thus for 
 six months at least. That many representations had been made to 
 the Chief Commissioner without eliciting the slightest attention. 
 That the undermining of this road in this extraordinary manner 
 had been the work of nine months. Golden Gully had been one of 
 the very richest parts of Bendigo, and the flat through which this 
 road ran thence to the camp had been found so rich too that it had 
 
DEEP PITS IN THE HIGHWAYS. 37 
 
 been dug up everywhere close to the very road itself. Now this 
 circumstance, the richness of the ground, the avidity with which 
 the field on both sides of this piece of road had been dug up, would 
 have awakened the vigilance of any set of officers fit to manage a 
 gold-field. No men regularly educated to the superintendence of 
 mining operations could have sat nine months with their hands before 
 them within a quarter of a mile of the scene, without taking, ever and 
 anon, a close survey of this road, to see that there were no sub- 
 terranean encroachments upon it. But here were some half dozen 
 Commissioners receiving their 400Z., their 500/., and 600/. a year, 
 a superintendent of police well mounted, with a set of troopers 
 well mounted, and a foot force excessively vigilant in collecting 
 license-money ; there was a surveyor of highways, and a camp sur- 
 veyor, — and yet none of these gentlemen knew anything whatever 
 of this active subterranean work, which all the world besides was 
 fully aware of! What is more, they actually, more or less of them, 
 every day rode over this very ground. Yet they could see nothing 
 suspicious going on. The numbers of men crowding about the 
 edges of the road ; the unusually large heaps of earth that were 
 thrown out along them, never attracted their attention, nor did the 
 hollow sound of their horses' hoofs on the tunnels beneath them, 
 some of which rose to within half a yard of the surface, ever strike 
 their ears ! 
 
 In gold-laced caps, and gold laced uniforms, with white riding 
 gloves and silver-mounted riding whips, and each with his trooper 
 riding behind him, did these dainty young men caracole from day to 
 day over this busy scene of subterranean labour, till the excavated 
 ground actually tumbled in beneath them ! 
 
 Can anything more strikingly demonstrate the utter inattention 
 of these young men to what was actually going on under their 
 charge in the fields ? At that period, too, the prohibition on the 
 diggers' licenses was not merely that they should not dig up or 
 undermine the roads, but that they should not dig within ten feet 
 of each side. These young men did not even perceive that the 
 tabooed ten feet on each side were gone ! Some of the diggers 
 who excavated this road told me with much fun and ridicule of 
 these butterfly Commissioners, that they for nine months worked 
 almost day and night under it, lest they should be detected and 
 stopped, but that at last they saw that they could have undermined 
 the camp where their tents stood, if necessary, and that they would 
 never have found it out till their beds tumbled into the tunnels ! 
 Would they have been able to deceive a Sop with or a Stevenson so? 
 would they ever have attempted it ? The find, they said, had been 
 
 d3 
 
38 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 wonderfully rich, and that was evident by the way they had worked 
 it, for large portions of the road were completely excavated and 
 only propped with wood ! 
 
 Feeling that it was absolutely necessary this huge man-trap 
 should be removed before some terrible accident occurred, I took the 
 first opportunity to mention it to Mr. Panton, the Chief Commis- 
 sioner there. lie said he was quite aware of it, and that it would 
 have to be dug up, entirely and re-made. I urged, the sooner 
 the better. He replied that as soon as he got the consent of 
 Government it should be done, and that the diggers, he did not 
 doubt, would undertake it, if it were divided into separate claims, 
 for the chance of what they might still find under it. I told him 
 that I certainly would take a claim for one. He replied, " Very 
 well ; there were already fourteen claims for parties of four men 
 each, applied for and promised." I desired him to put me down 
 then for the fifteenth for a party of four. He did so. 
 
 Every week when I went up to the camp, I inquired what pro- 
 gress he was making, and he continued for some time to say that 
 he was pushing the matter forward. But two months went on, and 
 there the road still lay in its frightful condition : and during these 
 months I had seen enough of Mr. Panton to regard him as a most 
 inert young man. He was represented to be only twenty-two years 
 of an;e, and as havinoj been an overseer in the Bush on the station 
 of his uncle, by whose influence as a member of the Legislative 
 Council, he was said to be placed in this most important and respon- 
 sible post of ruler of a population of 40,000 people, and manager 
 of one of the largest gold-fields in the colony. 
 
 What I had seen, therefore, induced me to believe that nothing 
 in the world was really doing in this affair. I, accordingly, urged 
 the matter in stronger terms, representing the inconvenience that 
 it was every day occasioning to the public, and the damage to per- 
 son and property that it might occasion. He now took fresh 
 ground, and said, that the obstruction did not reside with him, 
 but with a Mr. Wilks, the Surveyor of the Highways, who resided 
 at a station twenty miles off*, and whose sanction it must receive 
 before it could be done. That he had sent to him repeatedly, but 
 could not get him to move. 
 
 This continued the story for another month, and on my again 
 urging the matter, Mr. Panton very coolly said — " Ah, well ! I 
 have washed my hands of it ; and I am quite happy to have nothing 
 to do with it. I have reported it to the Chief Commissioner, and 
 there I leave it." 
 
 I then said to him, " Mr. Panton, the thing must not remain so. 
 
RESULTS OF AUTHOR'S INTERFERENCE. 39 
 
 You will have somebody killed ; and if you cannot get this little 
 matter done, I am quite sure that I can. I am certain that if Mr. 
 La Trobe knew the state of the case, he would not allow it to 
 remain thus. Shall I write to him ? " 
 
 He said, "I wish you would." 
 
 " Shall I tell him just what you say? That you have done all 
 that you can, and that it rests with the Surveyor of Highways ? 
 I would not wish to say anything that might implicate or prove 
 disagreeable to you." 
 
 He replied again, "I wish you would do just that." 
 
 Accordingly, supposing that I was acting in full unity with him, 
 I wrote a note to this effect to the Governor. By return of a few 
 posts came this reply : — 
 
 "Melbourne, Oct. 10th, 1853. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I thank you for your note of the other day. I am always 
 glad to receive a hint of any public want which I can assist in remedying. I 
 at once called for the report of the Chief Commissioner of Gold Fields, and the 
 Chief Commissioner of Roads, and believe that orders have at once been given 
 to do whatever is necessary. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 « C. J. La Trobe. 
 " William Howitt, Esq." 
 
 I received this note at Mr. Panton's tent ; showed it to him, and 
 asked when he would proceed to set out the claims. He said, 
 " To-day." I then reminded him that my claim was the 15th ; 
 and he said, " Yes, for a party of four." I remarked that that was 
 quite right, and that as he knew the particulars, I thought I need 
 not attend to see the claim marked out. He replied, to my 
 infinite astonishment, " Well, I don't know that I would favour 
 any one." 
 
 " What ! " I exclaimed, "favour, Mr. Panton ! I ask no favour! 
 I ask only to be taken in my routine ; but if it be necessary, I will 
 attend to see it done. When shall it be ? " 
 
 " This afternoon." 
 
 I and Alfred, my son, went, and waited the whole afternoon — no 
 one appeared on the ground. I then went again to Mr. Panton : he 
 excused himself on the plea of pressing business ; but said, " At 
 seven o'clock to-morrow morning, I will be on the spot with the 
 Camp Surveyor to set out the claims." 
 
 At seven o'clock, accordingly, I and my son attended ; but what 
 was our astonishment to see that already there was a large crowd 
 collected about the Commissioners, Panton and Barnard, and that 
 
 d4 
 
40 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA, 
 
 they had despatched three fourths of the business ! In fact, on 
 going up to these gentlemen, Mr. Panton turned towards us very 
 coolly, and said, " You are too late : the claims are all gone ! " 
 
 In the utmost astonishment I replied, " Mr. Panton, that is im- 
 possible. You cannot surely have given my claim away, when it 
 was engaged three months ago. If you meant to give the claims 
 away only on the spot, and to the applicants as they applied there, 
 as a gentleman you should have said so. But even now I am here 
 at your time, seven o'clock, and you must have been at work long 
 before seven." 
 
 " I can only say," he replied with cold hauteur, " that the claims 
 are all gone." 
 
 " Very well, then," I observed, '' there is something about this 
 proceeding that I do not understand ; but when you had so often 
 confessed that you could not get this business done, and I have 
 been obliged to get it done for you, I had a right to expect, if not 
 preference, at least courtesy." 
 
 Mr. Panton then assured me that the road was thrown open not 
 in consequence of anything that I had done, but that he had re- 
 solved to do it himwself. 
 
 I said, " What ! had you then the authority to do this ? And 
 have you for three months declared repeatedly that you had no 
 authority? Did you all this time wrongfully lay the neglect on 
 Mr. Wilks, the Surveyor ? Then your responsibility is far greater 
 than I thought. But, at least, it shall be made plain here who did 
 get this road done." 
 
 I took out His Excellency's letter, and read it to the assembled 
 crowd. The looks of astonishment that arose were universal ; and 
 while the Commissioner stood in speechless confusion, I added, — 
 " And now I will send an express to His Excellency, with a fair 
 statement of the matter." 
 
 On this, to my unbounded astonishment, Mr. Panton exclaimed, 
 " Oh ! you can have a claim, there are several yet ! " 
 
 Such a display of utter disregard to truth I had never at any 
 time, or in any place witnessed. But it turned out that the whole 
 piece of road was divided into forty claims, and that five yet re- 
 mained unappropriated ! I took one, though that part of the road 
 was well known to be so completely excavated, that it was but a 
 matter of form. Even here Mr. Barnard, with the coolest inso- 
 lence, endeavoured to shut me out of any of those remaining, by 
 offering them to the by-standers. However, I set my foot on the 
 38th, and said, '' This, Mr. Barnard, is mine." He said " Very 
 well," and went away. 
 
RESULTS OF AUTHOR's INTERFERENCE. 41 
 
 But the strangest disclosures yet remained behind. When 
 Messrs. Panton and Barnard were gone, an officer remaining on 
 the ground begged to look at His Excellency's letter, and said the 
 whole affair was very curious. That the obstruction had never 
 lain with Mr. Willis, the Surveyor of Roads, who had nothing to 
 do with it ; that they always transacted any affair of this kind on 
 the gold fields themselves, and that Mr. Smythe, the Camp Sur- 
 veyor, then doing the work, was the person always employed. 
 
 I learnt also that while Mr. Panton had stated to me seven 
 o'clock in the morning as the hour for giving away the claims, he 
 had ordered the surveyor to be there at five o'clock, and was him- 
 self there at that time, and began giving away the claims as fast 
 as possible. Still further, that the fourteen claims before mine 
 were promised to Polish and Hungarian officers. That Mr. Pan- 
 ton had the day before ridden over to Beesring, eight miles off, 
 where they were working, to desire them to be on the spot at five 
 o'clock, and then and there called over their names and gave them 
 excellent claims ; but that my name, the next on the list, was 
 never called over. Still further, a Mr. Baker, a young man who 
 went out in the same ship with us, informed us that that day, by 
 accident, hearing of the distribution of the claims, he went to the 
 camp at twelve o' clocks and asked Mr. Panton if they were all 
 gone. To which he replied, " Oh no ; there are several yet, there 
 is No. 3., a very good claim, you can have if you like." He took it 
 and got 8 lbs. weight of gold out of it. 
 
 We found ours, as we expected, almost wholly undermined ; but 
 the original richness of the ground was shown by one small patch 
 which was left, yielding about eight ounces. The rest being en- 
 tirely ransacked, we abandoned the claim. The claim which we 
 should have had in our due routine was calculated to be worth 
 500/., which, therefore, was the sum which we paid for endeavour- 
 ing to get this nuisance removed. This was a striking proof, if 
 any such proof had been wanting, of the truth of the universal 
 opinion on the gold fields, that no one could attempt to rouse the 
 officials to the discharge of the most urgent duty, in any case, with 
 impunity. To me it was a sufficient warning whilst I continued 
 on the diggings ; and " What," asked many of those who saw this 
 case, " can you suppose is the treatment of the unfriended digger 
 at the hands of these officials, if gentlemen who carry letters of 
 recommendation from the Governor himself meet with this recep- 
 tion ? " But these were every-day affairs ; I only give this because, 
 happening to myself, I can vouch for its truth. 
 
 Two or three drunken fellows would walk into deserted holes, 
 
42 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and get drowned, in a week. A great proportion of the sudden 
 deaths there were through drunkenness. By the estimates, the 
 Government was that year calculating on making a revenue of 
 900,000/. on the duty on import and sale of spirits! Nearly a 
 million a-year duty on spirits for a population of 250,000 people ! 
 This exceeds everything in the world ; and the Argus said truly, 
 that the population of this colony is the most drunken on the face 
 of the earth, and on such a system it was not likely to be any 
 better. You could not expect a government with such a tempta- 
 tion being really earnest in suppressing drinking, especially on 
 the diggings, the scene of the chief consumption of alcohol. A 
 storekeeper of California Gully, in the absence of his wife, who 
 was gone down to Melbourne for goods, was brought to the camp 
 in a state of delirium tremens, from drinking. His friends gave 
 him into the charge of the Commissioners for the safety of his 
 person. But his person was so little thought of, that a consider- 
 able quantity of gold and money having been taken from him, and 
 lodged in the Gold Office, he was suffered to walk away, and was 
 soon after found drowned in a digger's deserted hole. 
 
 These are not very attractive features of the camp and diggings 
 of Bendigo at that time, the autumn of 1853. In fact, in my letter 
 to Mr. La Trobe, I told him candidly that, with the exceptions 
 which I named a short time ago, and to whom we may add Dr. 
 Eoche and Dr. Macrea, the colonial surgeon there, I did not be- 
 lieve that if he put the whole official body into an hydraulic press, 
 he would be able to squeeze one tolerable soul out of them — a 
 soul having that serious moral feeling in which duty could take 
 root. Yet those who were there in Hermsprong's time said that 
 it was far superior to what it was then. Then the informer had 
 half the fine on the convictions for grog-selling, and even for the 
 possession of wine and brandy in the house ; and they were as 
 keen as Australian flies after anybody who was not paying black 
 mail. No gentleman could have a dinner party but a policeman 
 might look in at the opening of his tent, and, if he saw decanters 
 on the table, presto ! came a posse of these fellows, and carried off 
 bottles, furniture, tent,^and everything. The system of espionage, 
 insult, and official outrage, fining, and dragging off in handcuffs 
 was then in full bloom. 
 
 And, in fact, notwithstanding the mitigation which the rebellion 
 of 1853 produced, the more I saw of the machinery of the diggings 
 in these colonies, the more I became convinced that it was alto- 
 gether raised on a false basis. It was a military despotism — and 
 ^ military despotism of the very worst description, because ad- 
 
GOVERNMENT SYSTEM A MISTAKE. 43 
 
 ministered for the most part by men who knew nothing of mili- 
 tary affairs. The mounted police were, to all intents and pur- 
 poses, a body of cavalry. They were armed, dressed, and disci- 
 plined as soldiers ; and were equivalent to our yeomanry cavalry at 
 home, except that they were on permanent duty. 
 
 The whole thing was a mistake, and a very mischievous one. 
 The executive system of the gold-fields ought to have been a civil 
 one — civil in two senses. Had there never been heard at home 
 the grand sounding words — *' The Chief Commissioner of all the 
 Gold-fields," like the Autocrat of all the Russias ; "the Chief 
 Commissioner of Bendigo, of Ballarat, &c. ;" " the Commissioner 
 in Charge, &c;" but, instead of these, "the Chief Bailiff of the 
 Gold-fields," " the Bailiff of Bendigo, of Ballarat, or elsewhere," 
 there would have been a totally different class of men applying for 
 and entering the service — men accustomed to mining or coal- 
 fields, engineers and persons educated in practical business. In- 
 stead of a swarm of young popinjays in military costume, with 
 gold-laced caps and coats, and galloping about with troopers at 
 their heels — young ignorant fellows, who were much too fine and 
 delicate to do anything ; who dared not go where they ought to 
 go, and that daily, lest they should dirty their coats, their gloves, 
 or their fingers — we should have had plain men in plain clothes, 
 well instructed in their departments, ready to make themselves 
 useful amongst the holes and heaps of the diggings — to descend 
 shafts, proceed along tunnels, and see and know what was going 
 on. Those young coxcombs who made such a piece of work of it 
 there would have shrunk with horror from the names of bailiffs 
 and under-bailiffs, and would have found their way into some lazy, 
 useless, official life or other, where they could not have insulted 
 and irritated to outbreak a large, busy, and sturdy population. 
 
 One bailiff, one magistrate, a proper number of clerks, and a 
 few police, under a good civil system, would have done ten times 
 the business and produced ten times the satisfaction of all this 
 cumbrous and expensive array of people who did little except 
 dress, lounge, smoke cigars, and pocket their salaries. 
 
 Take a glance at the cost and machinery of the diggings on the 
 then plan, as published by the Government in its estimates : — 
 
44 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF THE GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 
 Salaries. 
 
 
 Allowance for 
 House Rent, &c. 
 
 
 
 & s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Chief Commissioner 
 
 1200 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 
 Assistant - - - 
 
 600 
 
 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 
 Chief Clerk - 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 
 
 
 Eight Clerks, two at 300/. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 one at 250/. four at 200/. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and one at 150/. - 
 
 800 
 
 
 
 900 
 
 
 
 
 Accountant ... 
 
 600 
 
 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 
 Three Clerks, one at 300/., 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 one at 250/., and one at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 150/. . - - - 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 350 
 
 
 
 
 Messenger . . - 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Allowance to the Chief Com- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 missioner in lieu of forage 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and travelling expenses - 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 
 House rent, &c. 
 
 - 
 
 
 3,100 
 
 Salaries 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4,600 
 
 Total, Chief Commissioner - - - 7,700 
 
 ESTABLISHIMENTS AT THE GOLD-FIELDS. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Six resident Commissioners, at 700/. - 4,200 
 
 Twenty-six senior Commissioners at 500/. 
 
 each 13,000 
 
 Twenty-five junior assistant Commis- 
 sioners, at 400/. each ... - 10,000 
 
 Sixty Clerks — six at 350/., six at 300/., 
 twelve at 250/., sixteen at 200/., and 
 
 twenty at 150/. 3,100 
 
 Six camp inspectors, at 300/. each - - 1,800 
 
 Seventy tent-keepers, at 8s. per diem - 10,220 
 
 Thirty one labourers, at 8s. per diem - 4,526 
 
 Ten pack-horse keepers, at 8s. per diem - 1,460 
 
 Fifteen drivers at 12s. per diem - - 3,285 
 
 Totals - - - I '- 51,591 
 
 Note. — All officers and servants at the Gold- Fields are allowed tentage 
 or quarters. 
 
 INSPECTORS UNDER THE SLAUGHTERING ACT. 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 Six Inspectors at the Gold-Fields, ranking 
 as sub-inspectors of police, at 300/. 
 
 each per annum 1,800 
 
 Salaries on Gold Fields as above~-r ^ - 51,591 
 
 Ditto of slaughter-house inspectors - - 1,800 
 
COST OF THE GOLD-LACE COMMISSION. 45 
 
 GOLD-FIELD POST OFFICES. 
 
 CASTLEMAINE. 
 
 £ s, d, £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 Postmaster - - . - 300 
 Three Clerks— Two at 200Z. 
 
 and one at 150/. - - 550 
 
 Tent-keeper, at 8s. per diem 148 
 
 Total - - - ~^ ~ - 998 
 
 SANDHURST. 
 
 The same as for Castlemaine - . - 998 o 
 
 BEECHWORTH. 
 
 Postmaster - - - 250 
 
 Clerk - - - - 200 
 
 Tent-keeper at 8*. per diem - 146 
 
 Total 596 
 
 BALLARAT. 
 
 The same as for Beechworth - - - 596 
 
 HEATHCOTE, 
 
 The same as for Beechworth - - - 596 
 
 WARANGA. 
 
 The same 596 00 
 
 Gold-Field Post-offices -—Total- - - 4,380 
 
 GOLD ESCORT SERVICE. 
 
 Two sub-inspectors, at 300Z. each per ann. - 600 
 Four lieutenants, at 250Z. each per ann. - 1000 
 
 Eight drivers, at 5l. each per week - - 2080 
 
 Thirty grooms, at 85. each per diem - - 4380 
 Wheelwright, at 6/. per week . - - 312 
 
 Total 8,372 
 
 Gold-Field Expenses as per Estimates, 1853 - 66,143 
 
 But this is not all, for we have, besides, a Judicial Service for 
 the Gold -Fields, as follows : — 
 
 DEPUTY SHERIFF, CASTLEMAINE. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 1,292 
 
 Deputy Sheriff - 
 Clerk 
 Bailiff 
 
 Two tent-keepers, at 8.s. 
 each per diem 
 
 £ 
 
 - 500 
 
 - 200 
 
 - 300 
 
 - 292 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 . 
 
 - 
 
 . 
 
46 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 DEPUTY SHERirr, SANDHUKST. 
 
 £ s, d. 
 
 Deputy Sheriff 
 Clerk 
 Bailiff 
 
 Two Tent-keepers, at 8s. 
 each per diem 
 
 £ 
 
 - 400 
 
 - 200 
 
 - 300 
 
 - 292 
 
 s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 L92 
 
 DEPUTY SHERIFF, HEATHCOTE. 
 
 The same as for Sandhurst - - - 1,192 
 
 DEPUTY SHERIFF, BEECHWORTH. 
 
 The same as for Sandhurst - . - 1,192 
 
 CASTLEMAINE. 
 
 Clerk of the Peace, &c. - 350 
 
 Bailiff - - - - 50 
 
 Tent-keeper, at 8s. per diem - 146 
 
 SANDHURST. 
 
 Clerk of the Peace, &c. • 350 
 
 Bailiff - - - - 150 
 
 Tent-keeper - - - 146 
 
 HEATHCOTE. 
 
 The same as for Sandhurst 646 
 
 BEECHWORTH. 
 
 The same as for Sandhurst 646 
 
 Total - - '- '- 2,484 
 Total for Judicial Service £7,352 
 
 Still, we have no mention of Ballarat or Waranga, which must 
 be charged under some other head, if set down at all. And, what 
 is more, we have no account of the charge for police, w^hich must 
 have been very heavy, the police, for the colony that year being 
 set down altogether at 327,099/. 
 
 One half of these, at least, were employed on the diggings, or 
 for them ; and still, besides these, we have no account of the 
 cost of forage for the horses employed in this service, which could 
 not be less than 20,000/. on an average for each digging. This 
 may seem a large sum ; but, from data which I shall have oc- 
 casion hereafter to give, I am quite persuaded that it is not too 
 much, when we recollect that the hay used cost from 60/. to 120/. 
 per ton, and the oats often Is. per lb., or 2o per cent, dearer than 
 sugar. In fact, I know various station-masters whose quota each 
 
COST OF GOLD-LACE COMMISSION. 47 
 
 year of hay, famished to one individual digging, was 6000/. or 
 7000/. each, being only one supplier out of many. And this, 
 again, was independent of grass, which may be thought cheap in 
 a new and unenclosed country. But one fact may show the fallacy 
 of this idea, and the extraordinary mode which the Victoria Go- 
 vernment had of doing business. A Mr. Simpson, on Charlotte 
 Plains, held a station from Government, on the usual terms of 
 from 10/. to 201. for the whole, and relet a single paddock of it to 
 Government, to turn the horses of commissioners and troopers 
 from Bendigo into, for the pretty little sum of 500/. per annum I 
 That the reader may not misunderstand the affair, I repeat that 
 the whole station was let for, at most, 20/. a year, and a single 
 paddock retaken by the same party (the Government) for 500/. 
 per annum. And all this time be it remembered, that the Govern- 
 ment could, if it pleased, take the whole station into its own hands, 
 or enclose a paddock upon it, the enclosure being only of post and 
 rail, the forest furnishing plenty of wood at hand. This, I ima- 
 gine, is a transaction which stands, sui generis, in the history 
 of the world. 
 
 But, when the day of inquiry arrived, — as it did, — when the 
 unboundedly lavish and reckless system then prevailing had 
 scotched the wheels of Government, and public debt and deficit 
 took their inevitable turn, — when committees of inquiry suc- 
 ceeded unparalleled commissions af abuse, — then did this colony 
 unfold such a tale of extravagance, outrage, insult to the people, 
 and plunder of the public, as stands unrivalled and alone. 
 
 For the present, mentioning only one other item of expense, 
 that of permanent buildings on the ever moveable diggings, 
 which were stated at from 30,000/. to 40,000/. on the average for 
 each digging, we may sum up the chief heads of expense as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Expenses of Commissioners and their Staffs, including 
 
 Post Offices and Escort 66,143 
 
 Judicial Establishment 7,352 
 
 Police, 327,099/.: say half for diggings - - - - 163,549 10 0- 
 Interest on 130,000/. for permanent buildings at four gold- 
 fields — Ballarat, Bendigo, Castleniaine, and Ovens - 6,500 
 Hay, corn, &c., on six gold-fields, at 20,000/. each - - 1 20,000 
 
 Total £363,544 10 
 
 So far from this being an exaggerated statement, I am con- 
 vinced that numbers of miscellaneous expenses in this department 
 would raise the total outlay in reality to the amount of the whole 
 
48 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 sum received from gold licenses and escort fees, namely about 
 600,000/.; and that, if a fair balance were struck, the Govern- 
 ment would find itself minus by the whole concern, as it was con- 
 ducted. 
 
 There is one item in the above accounts which particularly sur- 
 prised me: that setting forth the existence of six inspectors of 
 butchers' shops and slaughter-yards, with salaries of 300/. a year- 
 each. 
 
 I certainly never suspected the fact ; and the ofPals, garbage, 
 &c., lying about and festering in the sun, as well as whole streams 
 of putrifying gore, and mountains of bullocks' heads at the 
 slaughter-yards, which sent their foetid gases on the breeze far 
 and wide, would truly never cause you to dream of 1800/. a year 
 being paid on the gold-fields for the prevention of such nuisances. 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Project another Visit 'to the Ovens Country. — Strange Quartz Rocks. — 
 Singular North and South Ridges. — Torment of Sand-flies. — Curlews. — 
 Native Companion. — Pleasantness of the Bush. — Meet an old Acquaint- 
 ance. — Horrible Language of Diggers. — Horse-stealing. 
 
 Our curious experience of official management and noli-me-tangere 
 temperament on the old road being terminated, we held a council 
 as to our next movement. Our splendid dam on the creek was 
 now occupied by others ; and, indeed, the water was fast failing 
 on the Bendigo, so that all operations on the creek must, of ne- 
 cessity, cease in a few weeks. What was still more admonitory 
 of a move, was the warning voice of the medical men, who pre- 
 dicted the general prevalence of fever and dysentery on the Ben- 
 digo field during the summer months, and especially in November. 
 The water during the heat of this month rapidly dries up ; the 
 vast space, now cleared of every bush and tree, lies with its whole 
 surface open to the sun, which, striking on the bare heaps of 
 gravel, makes the whole like one great oven. There is scarcely 
 any water at this season, November, to be procured for household 
 use, much less for washing gold; and, therefore, the diggers, at 
 its approach, hurry away to other diggings, where water is more 
 plentiful ; and it was already curious to see that where crowds of 
 
STRANGE QUARTZ ROCKS. 49 
 
 tents had stood a few days before, there now stood only solitary 
 chimneys and the poles and blocks of trees over which the tents 
 were stretched. The place looked like a destroyed village, with 
 onlv a few fragments of the abodes remaining. 
 
 We had planned, at this season, to make an exploring expedition 
 in a north-westerly direction towards the rivers Loddon and 
 Avoca. It was clear that the country in that direction was a gold 
 country. All the new diggings and gullies at Bendigo tended 
 more and more towards that quarter. We proposed to take suf- 
 ficient provisions to make us quite independent of stores and even 
 stations, for a couple of months at least, and so to advance leisurely 
 through the bush, examining the creeks and gullies carefully as 
 we went. There is no doubt that this would have been not only 
 a very pleasant, but a very successful expedition ; but so much 
 had been said of the extension of the Ovens Diggings, and that 
 they would prove the great summer diggings, that we had the 
 curiosity to see them once more, and ascertain the truth. We 
 knew that, at all events, we should find a healthy country, and 
 abundance of cool fresh water during the summer heats. There 
 were creeks beyond that on which we had so successfully worked, 
 that we had not thoroughly prospected ; and we finally concluded 
 to make one more visit thither. 
 
 Before, however, quitting our camping ground by the old road, 
 we made a more accurate examination of the scenes around, or 
 rather behind us. We first mounted once more to the huge quartz 
 ridge on the hill above us. Afterwards we ascended the gully 
 behind us, in the direction of Iron-Bark Gully, and came to other 
 and still huger ridges of quartz. These stood up in rocks of at 
 least twenty or thirty feet high. They were overgrown with a 
 grey lichen, and, instead of the snowy lustre of the one spoken of, 
 they resembled in hue limestone rocks. These quartz rocks, 
 moreover, descended deep into the earth, and the diggers had dug 
 down by their sides to a depth of twenty feet, or more, and had 
 evidently found gold in their crevices. One party was resolved 
 to get beneath the mass, and had sunk a pit of seventy-five feet 
 deep, but had not yet reached the base of the quartz rock. 
 
 No inconsiderable quantities of gold had been found in the in- 
 terstices of these quartz rocks. Many rich specimens had been got 
 from them ; and there existed no doubt that, ere long, when good 
 quartz-crushing machines were introduced, all these vast masses of 
 quartz rock would be pulverised, and a great supply of gold extracted 
 from them. Near Eagle-Hawk we found other large quartz rocks 
 running in a ridge over a hill, thence called Specimen Hill ; so 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
50 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 much gold having been found in these rocks, that they had been 
 greatly knocked to pieces for specimens of gold in quartz. At the 
 time of our visit, however, Government had resolved to let this 
 ridge to a company, and had prohibited individual or promiscuous 
 interference with it. 
 
 As I have said, these quartz ridges form portions of those singular 
 ridges of rock which run from north to south over the hills of the 
 gold regions there. A great portion of these ridges consists of 
 clay-slate, or ferruginous sandstone, the strata being all perpen- 
 dicular. It would seem as though some subterranean force, acting 
 in this direction, had burst up the strata in these long north and 
 south lines, and left them standing edgeways. They have a most 
 singular appearance in the rocky woods, crossing the summits of 
 the hills, and extending down the slopes, but disappearing in the 
 valleys, being there buried by the alluvial soil. In the creeks, 
 ■where the bare rock appears, you again perceive these ridges. 
 They are always true to this one direction, and are nearly as good 
 as a compass where they prevail ; and you may trace them for 
 twenty or thirty miles at a stretch, and, no doubt, they extend 
 right across the colony. There are many of these ridges parallel 
 to each other, and sometimes several of them occur within a short 
 distance. 
 
 There are traces of fire, more or less, about them everywhere ; 
 but, in some places, these appearances are much more intense than 
 in others, and show the action of excessive heat. The quartz and 
 ironstone are burnt of a deep red, and much of the burnt quartz is 
 very friable. Some of the ironstone is very rich ; ^nd Mr. Cham- 
 bers, the smith, told me that he had tried some lumps of hematite, 
 so nearly pure iron that he could weld it out on his anvil. The 
 quartz, the slate, the iron, and sandstone in these ridges, are in 
 some places quite separate ; in others, running side by side : and 
 in others, again, fused and run into one another. I have specimens 
 from these spots, exhibiting them in these various states. 
 
 We observed with astonishment, as we went on, how the diggers 
 had followed the traces of gold up the very hill sides, over the hills; 
 sometimes cutting deep openings, which must have cost enormous 
 labour, and following them down again into the open valley, where 
 all was dug and thrown up in the wildest manner. Hill after hill, 
 and gully after gully, we passed over, everywhere the trees felled, 
 the ground turned topsy-turvy, deep pits and huge openwork delv- 
 ings, as if they had been making reservoirs with strange rude 
 machinery, and dams for washing out gold. Everywhere, amongst 
 the ravaged and desolated woods, tents and nondescript huts, and 
 
 1 
 
TORMENT OF SAND-FLIES. 51 
 
 people leading a rude wild sort of life, which no one can realise to 
 himself without seeing it. At length we reached Adelaide Gullj, 
 where Alfred and Charlton had worked a good while ; and most 
 admirably they behaved through the whole of our expedition, show- 
 ing themselves firm, clear-headed, and industrious. It used to be 
 quite affecting to me to see them during the winter starting off for 
 this gully, five miles from our tent, loaded like two regular dig- 
 gers with their swags, often very heavy ones. But the water there 
 was drying up, and the diggers moving off towards the Loddon. 
 
 In our ride through the Iron-Bark woods, our horses were tor- 
 mented with one of the greatest nuisances of the colony, the sand- 
 flies. These flies are a kind of midge — small filmy things like 
 the midges at home ; but they are not only extremely keen, but 
 excessively venomous. They are as numerous as the grains of 
 sand in the sterile Iron-Bark ranges. They cover the whole ground 
 in spring; and, as you advance, they rise up, and cover your horses' 
 legs and chest, and puncture them in such a manner, that their 
 legs are totally covered, in a very few minutes, with blood. The 
 horses, of course, become quite frantic with them, not being able to 
 stand still for a moment ; so that it is no trivial matter to go into 
 a wood with them at this season. As the summer proceeds, I ex- 
 pect the birds eat them up ; but in spring they are countless. 
 Their effect on men is much worse than on horses. Wherever 
 they bite the part swells excessively, and becomes a great livid boil, 
 as large as a walnut. I was bitten on the wrist the preceding 
 summer, in riding on the Sydney border, by one. The next day 
 my hand was enormously swelled ; and then the swelling settled 
 into one of these boils, which are very sluggish and difficult to 
 cure. This took more than a month, and would not heal till 
 treated with caustic. Another, this spring, had bitten the other 
 hand ; and the venomous bite had gone exactly through the same 
 process ; and they have left two livid scars, which will no doubt 
 remain for life. 
 
 But where do all the flies hide themselves in winter ? The En- 
 tomologists say they all die, and those which appear at spring are 
 hatched from the eggs they leave. This is difficult to believe, 
 especially that the great fat beef-flies, which come out on any sud- 
 denly warm day, are just hatched. Yet, if they only hide and 
 sleep, the mystery is quite as great ; for none of us have been able 
 to get a single glimpse of them in their winter retreats. We find 
 all other insects in hollow trees, and under the bark of trees, in 
 winter ; spiders, beetles, ants, centipedes, and all sorts of things, 
 but not a single fly, though there are such myriads in summer. 
 
52 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 There is a bird there which is almost as great a mystery to us, 
 and that is the Stone Curlew. These birds abound all along the 
 creeks and water sides, and during the night make the loudest and 
 most extraordinary cries. They begin solo fashion at first ; one 
 bird crying at slow and measured intervals — *•' Curlew ! curlew!" 
 then going on more rapidly — '* Curlewu ! curlewu ! curlewu ! " 
 and then the others join in, till the whole flock is clamouring 
 together, apparently in a thoroughly frantic condition. They then 
 are silent for a short time, only to renew, ever and anon, their 
 singular chorus, which they keep up all night, often close at hand, 
 but are scarcely ever to be seen. Even in the very heart of the 
 diggings, where there was neither tree nor bush, and where the 
 ground was all turned up, and the water converted to a mass of 
 yellow mud, they would come and give us these nightly serenades; 
 though in the daytime not one was ever seen there. They came 
 from the woods at night, attracted by some food or charm that was 
 invisible to us. 
 
 Another singular bird, which deserves a mention here, is the 
 Native Companion, a species of stork, standing about a yard high; 
 some, I believe, are more. It something resembles the adjutant^ has 
 a very stately walk, and seems to wear a little crimson cap at the 
 back of its head. It is very sociable, and takes strong attachments, 
 whence probably its name. There was one on the Bendigo at a 
 store, and running about on the diggings, often apparently in im- 
 minent jeopardy from the huge dogs who pursued it ; but still it 
 was there when we left. There was a very large one also at a 
 station in the neighbourhood, which had taken a very strong 
 attachment to the stockman ; it followed him about in his rounds 
 in the woods. When he came out in a morning, it began to leap 
 and flap its wings, and run round him, making the most extraordi- 
 nary cries ; it would then take great lofty leaps, as high as the 
 man's head, cutting the oddest figure with its long legs^ its flapping 
 wings, and its gaping beak. The stockman would then say — 
 " Come along, mate, let us go to the horses ; " when it would 
 leave off its capering and noise, and walk soberly along by his 
 side. When the man went up to his horse on one side, the bird 
 would go up to him on the other to stop him ; but if the horse offered 
 to come towards him, it hopped off very nimbly, and sought pro- 
 tection by the man ; wherever the man went, there it was stalking 
 along at his side. 
 
 You will recollect that, in hunting after our dog Buff, I oddly 
 enough stumbled on Mr. Berkeley, a friend of Mr. Andrew Crosse's. 
 He was camped in the bush about a couple of miles below Ben- 
 
HORRIBLE LANGUAGE OF DIGGERS. 53 
 
 digo, on the way to the Goulburn. A young man of the name of 
 Duncan, who was engaged in collecting the sheep- skins from the 
 butchers on the diggings, on account of the wool — a profitable 
 speculation, — was his only neighbour. Afterwards we saw a good 
 deal of these gentlemen, and found them good neighbours ; it was 
 an agreeable walk and visit to them occasionally in the bush. 
 They had pitched their tents near the Bendigo Creek, on the great 
 woodland plain that I have more than once mentioned, and the 
 situation was a very agreeable contrast to the bare and slovenly 
 diggings. The creek there winds about in irregular sweeps ; the 
 banks covered with the acacia, at that time in full flower, for it is 
 a late species ; the grass was of the richest green, and the trees 
 fresh, and beautifully scattered. You would not expect much of 
 the picturesque in a thoroughly level plain ; but, in truth, the 
 place was so green, and still, and flowery, that it was very pleasant ; 
 and we removed thither for a few days to prepare for our journey. 
 
 It was truly delightful to get once more out of the bald, noisy, 
 hot, and vulgar diggings, into the freshness and sweetness of na- 
 ture. There we looked out on the green champaign, tall and 
 beautiful trees, running waters, and heard again around us the 
 voices of our old friends, the warbling crow, the laughing jackass, 
 and the whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far more 
 agreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing of diggers. 
 The language of the diggings is something inconceivable in its 
 vileness, and every sentence almost is ornamented with the word 
 " bloody." That word, like their class at home, they seem to think 
 the perfection of phraseology ; it is the keystone and topstone of 
 all their eloquence ; it occurs generally in every second or third 
 sentence ; and, when they get excited, they lard every sentence 
 with it profusely. It is language not to be repeated, and, there- 
 fore, the abomination of it not to be conceived, except by those 
 who have lived amongst it. Perhaps one sentence, selected from 
 their simplest and least ornamental style, may be ventured upon. 
 Two diggeis passing our tent one day saw the thermometer hang- 
 ing on the post : — " What d — d, blasted, bloody thing is that, 
 now?" said one to the other. " Why I'm bio wed if it aint ad — d, 
 blasted, bloody old weather-glass," replied his mate. 
 
 Well, here our ears were exempt from the infliction of a lan- 
 guage which is actually measled with vileness and vulgarity. We 
 heard only the pure breathing of the wind, the call of the wattle- 
 bird, and the lively voices of parrots by day, and the lonely mono- 
 tone of the Morepork at night, succeeded by the shriek of the 
 flying squirrel and the snoring tone of the opossum. The very 
 
 E 3 
 
54 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 dogs scampered about, and showed how much they enjoyed the 
 change. Like us, I have no doubt, they again anticipated the 
 pleasures of our woodland rambling, our daily observations of 
 Nature and her wild tribes as we walked along ; our evening fire 
 blazing in the wood, and our sleep undisturbed by cries of murder 
 and by drunken brawls. 
 
 Yet, as long as we were there, our horses were not safe. Mr. 
 Berkeley had had no less than five stolen from him there; and, as the 
 diggers were moving off in great numbers to other diggings, where 
 they hoped to find water, they were constantly ranging round to 
 press any horses they could lay hands on. One morning, a fa- 
 vourite pony of Mr. Berkeley's came at six o'clock, that is, in 
 broad daylight, and put his nose in through the opening of the 
 tent ; and while Mr. Berkeley was speaking to him, he suddenly 
 drew back his head, and trotted away as if startled. He went out 
 to see what was the matter, and could no longer see the pony, and 
 never saw him afterwards. Mr. Duncan mounted his horse, and 
 scoured the bush round far and wide ; but could get no sight of 
 him. He returned, breakfasted ; and then, concluding that the 
 horse must have been caught and taken off, he went to the diggings 
 to post up bills about him there. On his way, he learned from 
 some people at a tent by the road-side, that a noted horse-stealer 
 passed the tent just before six o'clock with a halter in his hand, 
 going towards Mr. Berkeley's. This quickened Mr. Duncan's 
 motions ; and arriving at their blacksmith's, the smith said at once, 
 *' Well, I see you have sold your pony!" " Why so ?" asked Mr. 
 Duncan. "Because he went past this morning, tied to the tail of 
 a dray. I was half inclined to ask if they had bought him ; but, 
 of course, they would have said they had." 
 
 Mr. Duncan galloped on for ten miles on the Melbourne road; 
 but could see no trace of the pony, nor did they hear a word 
 further of it. 
 
 It was a rarity there to meet with any one whose mind wandered 
 a jot beyond gold or gain in some shape. I met one day a Swede, 
 who, hearing that I was there, came to talk of Miss Bremer, of 
 her works translated into English, and of literature in general. 
 To meet a man, he said, who knew and could talk of intellectual 
 subjects, was like coming on a fountain in the wilderness. He 
 declared that the country was an intellectual desert ; that he was 
 famishing for spiritual aliment, and for discourse on matters be- 
 yond mere nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold. He said 
 he had made money in California, but not there, and must be ofi" 
 home. 
 
ON OUR JOURNEY. 55 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 On our Journey. — New Fellow-Traveller, Lignum the Irish Giant. — His 
 Costume and Character. — Banks of the Campaspe. — Passage sold by Go- 
 vernment and stopped. — Obliging Squatter. — Prairies splendid with golden 
 Flowers. — Hospitable Squatters. — Meet an old Friend. — Lakes and Wild 
 Fowl. — Native Ovens. — The Goulburn Diggings. — A Tornado. — Heat. 
 — Crossing the Goulburn Eiver. — Jem the Sexton. — Ferry a Government 
 Disgrace. — Record of a Man drowned. — Luxuriant Plains. — Squatter 
 Encroachments on " Water Privileges." — Grass Trees. 
 
 We struck our tent in November, quitted the banks of the Bendigo, 
 and advanced once more on our journey to the Ovens. A huge 
 Irishman unexpectedly became the associate of our journey. This 
 gentleman we met with at the tent of a highly respected friend 
 of ours, who introduced him, stating that he was travelling in 
 the colony, was anxious to go farther up the country, and would 
 be glad to accompany us ; that he had a horse, and would arrange 
 with us for accommodation in our tent, and carriage of his trunk 
 as far as the Ovens. Though averse to admitting any stranger 
 into our tent and party, even as a mere fellow-traveller, from 
 sufficient observation of the inconveniences arising from such 
 associations in others, yet, to oblige our friend, we consented. 
 
 The new companion of our travels we shall call Lignum the 
 Irish Giant, for reasons that are sufficient, as the sequel may 
 suggest. Lignum was, in fact, a gigantic fellow. He stood 
 upwards of six feet three, and was largely and heavily built ; 
 so heavily, that he seemed to have considerable labour in lifting 
 his ponderous body along by means of his elephantine legs. He 
 was not a bad-looking fellow, though his features w^ere large, the 
 nose, chin, and cheeks of that rounded form which often belongs 
 to massive men. His huge round cannon-ball head was bristled 
 with strong black hair, kept cropped rather closely ; while a bushy 
 black beard, covering the lower half of his face, was allowed more 
 freedom of growth. He rode a white horse, powdered all over 
 with small red spots, as if it had been sprinkled with some red 
 liquid out of a sprinkling-brush; and the back-bone of this un- 
 fortunate animal excited very keenly my sympathy, as I saw the 
 giant seated for three or four hours together leisurely lolling along 
 with his heavy carcass, rather than riding. Yet, in his full 
 costume, and thus mounted, especially when he put Jack in motion, 
 
 E 4 
 
56 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and rode on at a rapid trot or canter, he presented a most for- 
 midable appearance, and added, no doubt, immensely to the security 
 of our party. 
 
 He wore a huge pair of jack-boots and formidable spurs, white 
 cord breeches, a white waistcoat, over which was buttoned across 
 the breast a scarlet jacket, with gold basket buttons. A large 
 white cabbage-tree hat, mounted with a bright blue veil, contrasted 
 strongly with the sunburnt features and black hair and beard. 
 On his back was slung a rifle, in his belt glittered a revolver, and 
 a heavy silver-mounted whip was grasped in his giant hand. 
 Certainly his whole appearance was most bandit-like, and calculated, 
 as he galloped ahead on the road, to strike terror into the hearts of 
 diggers and bullockians. 
 
 Nor was Lignum's appearance a whit less formidable at dinner- 
 time. No sooner had he dismounted and turned loose his horse, 
 than he was ready to commence operations as soon as the frying 
 pan would permit him. Already he had seated himself on the 
 grass, where the plates and other apparatus indicated the spot for 
 dining, and drew with a solemn earnestness from a leathern case, 
 which he also wore at his belt, a carving-knife and fork, as his 
 ordinary prandial weapons, and a dessert-spoon as his tea-spoon, 
 and therewith displayed a vigour and activity worthy Major Dugald 
 Dalgetty, or of the Giant King Brian Boreen himself. But, as in 
 the case of Homer's heroes after their attacks on those famous 
 chines which he delighted to set before them, — 
 
 " When now the rage of hunger was appeased," — 
 
 Lignum broke out like the sun from the cloud, and showed himself 
 a right merry fellow. He carried in his jacket pocket a wicker- 
 guarded flask of a full quart, which was always well replenished 
 with potent cognac, and which, like Sairey Gamp's gin-bottle, he 
 just touched his lips with some half a dozen times an hour as he 
 rode along. But after dinner, and before withdrawing to rest, he 
 poured himself out a good stiff nobbier, and was radiant with his 
 day's roasting, with brandy, and jest. He had a peculiarly luxu- 
 riating chuckle in his laugh, drawing his breath inwards, and 
 seeming to swallow it, in the delight which the contemplation of 
 some famous practical joke excited. 
 
 With such a preux chevalier as our advanced guard, we pro- 
 ceeded on our journey, thankful that our horses were spared us, 
 for almost every one had been stolen from around us during our 
 short stay near Mr. Berkeley's tent ; indeed, ours had been missing 
 on one occasion for nearly a whole day, occasioning us a good 
 
LIGNUM THE IRISH GIANT. 57 
 
 fright and an immense perambulation through the woods. In the 
 night, before setting out, we heard some one galloping rapidly 
 past, and said, "There goes another horse of somebody's." 
 Scarcely was it light in the morning, and while we were pre- 
 paring for our start, when a man came full canter down from a 
 tent above, and asked if we had seen any horse going that way. 
 We replied that we had heard one ; on which the man began 
 examining the dust in the road, and exclaimed, "Yes ! that is my 
 horse ; I see the mark of a broken shoe that he has." He then 
 told us that his two horses had been tied up to his tent during the 
 night for safety ; but on going out this morning he missed one, and 
 found, lying on the ground by the other, a good saddle and bridle, 
 showing that it was the intention to have taken both his horses ; 
 but, from some unaccountable cause, they had only carried oif one- 
 He then went in full chase after the thief; but being two or 
 three hours behind, and a stern chase bein^j: proverbially a long 
 chase, we had little expectation that he would overtake the rogue. 
 That night, encamping near a shepherd's hut, we learned that both 
 the pursued and pursuer had called there and got some breakfast, 
 the one being only half an hour after the other; so that the 
 thief must have got off the track in the night, and have lost some 
 time. The pursuer, swallowing hastily a mouthful of bread and 
 tea, had gone again in chase towards the Goulburn Diggings ; but 
 that was the last that we heard of him. 
 
 On Sunday, the 19th of November, we camped in the bush near 
 the Goulburn Diggings. Our way, for the most part, to the 
 Campaspe lay over level ground and through monotonous woods. 
 Our load was light, and we made easy stages for the sake of our 
 horses ; for the heat was intense, being from 100° to 126° each day 
 in the sun at noon, and sometimes as high as 105° in the shade, 
 — that is, remember, in the early part of the month equivalent 
 to our May. 
 
 It was a real pleasure to get out of the woods into the valley of 
 the Campaspe, a small river, but never dry, running through a 
 fine valley of green meadows and upland slopes, only thinly scat- 
 tered with trees, till they reached the dense mass of the forest on 
 the heights on each side. The banks of the Campaspe were clothed 
 with magnificent grass, and our horses luxuriated in it ; and not 
 less so ourselves, for we stretched ourselves in it under some large 
 trees near the river, and there dined and made a long siesta. 
 There were a number of natives fishing here, who had caught a 
 good quantity of the river cod, and had learned to ask a good price 
 for it ; another consequence of the diggings. 
 
58 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 We passed the Campaspe at a Mr. Eobertson's Station, a very 
 ugly crossing, but the best, and almost the only one, for many miles. 
 Three miles higher up the river we meant to have crossed, at Mr. 
 Linet's Station, but found that we could only do that by unloading, 
 and having our goods carried over in a little kickling boat at 
 several times, our horses swum over, and our cart also, buoyed up 
 by a raft of barrels ; the river there, instead of presenting a ford, 
 being particularly deep. Yet that was the place where the 
 diggers travelling between Bendigo and Waranga, the Goulburn 
 Diggings, were obliged to cross ; for the Government had sold 
 Mr. Robertson his square mile, the ford falling in the centre of it, 
 and the surveyor, with the usual inattention to these matters, had 
 allowed Mr. Robertson to cut off the ford by fencing in a large 
 paddock there! No one, therefore, could cross the river there, 
 except upon sufferance ; and, on approaching the place, we were 
 told that we could not possibly cross there, for Mr. Robertson 
 invariably refused, being determined to break the public of the 
 habit of going that way. 
 
 We continually found ourselves in this case on our travels. 
 The obstruction must, in the first instance, proceed from the 
 supineness or corruption of the district surveyors, who ought not 
 to suffer the right of the public thus to be thrown away. But if 
 the Government of the colony had not been equally supine, these 
 gentlemen would soon have received a reprimand, and tlie public 
 have been restored to its convenience ; for the Government reserved 
 a right to make any roads anywhere across the lands sold. We 
 had the trouble of going miles round, on different occasions, from 
 these stoppages of the squatters. 
 
 We determined to win a passage there, however, if possible ; 
 and therefore went to Mr. Robertson, and told him that we were 
 travelling to give an account of the colony, and should be glad to 
 have to record an act of courtesy on his part in allowing us to 
 cross. He not only did sO; but went and pointed out the best part 
 of the fordj regretting that we must, however, go about a mile 
 round his paddock. He did more; he gave us directions, by 
 which we could take a short cut across the bush, and save five 
 miles of the next fifteen of our journey. With due thanks for 
 this politeness, we took our way through a tract of very wild 
 woods, and at length emerged from them on a height overlooking 
 the immense plains lying between the Murray, the Goulburn, and 
 the Loddon. We had now a view which, our giant said, ex- 
 tremely resembled the prairies of America, in which he had 
 travelled. Vast plains, surrounded by the forests, clear of trees 
 
PRAIRIES SPLENDID WITH GOLDEN FLOWERS. 59 
 
 and radiant with flowers. In fact, the plains, of many miles in 
 extent, appeared vast sheets of gold, from the uniform colour of 
 the flowers, — of which anon. Over the woods, in various direc- 
 tions, soared the tops of distant mountains ; and to our left, at 
 some miles distance, we saw what we supposed must be some 
 optical delusion, for it was an appearance perfectly un-Australian. 
 There appeared to be a long line of perpendicular clifi*s, as of 
 chalk, white as snow, and of lofty caverns in them, and lofty 
 pillars by places, as if bearing on high some grand marble 
 aqueduct. We could see dark but thinly scattered trees standing 
 up before these cliff's. The whole was explained the next day. 
 
 We descended into the plain, and proceeded across towards a 
 station that we saw on the skirts of the forest, at some three miles' 
 distance. In passing this plain, we were attracted by the 
 singularity of the ground and of its vegetation. The ground was 
 thrown up in hummocks, as in all the volcanic plains of this 
 country ; and, in places, ran in ridges as if ploughed up, and 
 hence denominated here ploughed lands. On these mounds no 
 grass appea,red as though it would grow. They were clear of it 
 as if they were regular garden beds kept clear of weeds, and 
 reserved only for flowers ; the grass, however, growing freely 
 between the mounds. The flowers were almost all of three or 
 four kinds. The chief were a species of large sweet-scented 
 hawkweed {Podolepis acuminata) ; and a sort of bachelors' 
 buttons, or golden balls, different from the ordinary ones of this 
 colony. These balls were round and firm as if of solid gold, 
 and covered with little points. They terminated tall, clear, leaf- 
 less stems, of from two to three feet high — some score or so pro- 
 ceeding from one root — and resembled miniature Morgensterns of 
 gold. They are the Pycnosorus globosus, and would look 
 splendid in our conservatories. These are the two plants which 
 cover the plains with their brilliant deluge of gold ; and amongst 
 them grow two kinds of Swainsonia, or crimson vetches, of 
 delicious scent ; one of them, the Swainsonia bissextifolia, 
 having the odour of vanilla or sweet-pea. 
 
 In other places grew immense expanses of the golden ever- 
 lastings of the two kinds that we see in our gardens, and again 
 we came, near the Cornelia Creek, upon wild expanses of white 
 everlasting, which, spite of its dryness, diff'used a delicate honeyed 
 fragrance. Besides these, there was a small golden everlasting, 
 about the size of a single floret of tansy, and which might be 
 called the golden stud {^Leptorrhynchus sqaamatus). 
 
 As we descended into the plain, a gentleman rode past us, and 
 
60 TWO YEARS IN YICTORTA. 
 
 said we had better go on to their creek — that was, at the station 
 that we saw on the edge of the forest, — as we should not get any 
 good water sooner. Our giant rode on with our friendly adviser, 
 and in conversation mentioned w^ho we were ; so that on our 
 arrival at the station, who should come up to us but Mr. Bernhard 
 Smith. This was the station of a friend of his, Mr. Looker, and 
 where he had been staying a good while. Mr. Looker was not at 
 home, but Mrs. Looker most hospitably invited us to take up our 
 quarters at the house. Mrs. Looker is a very amiable woman, 
 and has several nice children. Besides these, there were two 
 intelligent young gentlemen, Mr. Reid the brother of Mrs. 
 Looker, and Mr. Braithwaite the superintendent. With this 
 amiable family we spent nearly two days. Mr. Smith took us up 
 the hills to get a more complete view of the country ; and cer- 
 tainly the prospect was immense. In one direction we saw the 
 rounded top of Swan Hill on the Murray, and the smoke of the 
 steamer, then for the first time navigating that river. 
 
 Beyond the vast forests, at hundreds of miles from each other, 
 we could discern the tops of the mountains which bound these 
 extensive plains : — Mount Korong, Mount Alexander, the Plenty 
 Ranges, and the Buffalo Mountains. On one side of the hill lay 
 the dense unbroken forest ; on the other stretched away these 
 golden prairies to other forest regions. The hill on which we 
 stood, called Purrumbeet, was only dotted here and there with a 
 few casuarinas. But the most unusual sight was that of several 
 large lakes, lying at some distance on the plains. They were the 
 first lakes that we had seen in Australia, and they were, therefore, 
 an attractive feature. We could count five or six, lying one 
 beyond another. The nearest is called Palem Boelock, and is 
 about six miles long by three wide. Beyond that, Bongubine, I 
 believe, is still larger. There are, also, Coragcorag, Carngule, 
 and others. 
 
 These lakes contain no fish except crawfish, or rather lobsters, 
 for they are liable to be dried up in seasons of long drought. Wild 
 fowl abound upon them. There are black swans, ducks and geese 
 in thousands, shags, pelicans, ibises, teal, divers, and other species 
 of water-fowl. 
 
 We went to the borders of the Palem Boelock, and found that 
 its waters were white as milk, from the suspension of pipeclay. It 
 was this white appearance, combined with the background of dry 
 white sandbanks, which, by the help of a mirage, had the evening 
 before presented us with the magnificent spectacle of white cliff's, 
 caverns, columns, and aqueducts. A thin fringe of gum-trees 
 
HOSPITABLE SQUATTERS. 61 
 
 grows along its banks, and at this time they stood in the very 
 water. 
 
 The plains around abound with wild turkeys"; but they truly 
 were wild, for a gathering of various tribes of natives had lately 
 been there, and they had been hunting them ; and though Alfred 
 and Lignum pursued them with unwearied artifice and diligence, 
 they could not succeed in killing a single one. Emus are some- 
 times seen in considerable numbers ; but they had fled before the 
 natives. The ducks flew in flocks of thousands ; but as there was 
 no cover on the banks of the lake, they would not allow you to 
 come within shot of them, and we were obliged to content our- 
 selves with a teal and diver or two. 
 
 We saw here what we have seen nowhere else in this colony, — 
 heaps of wood ashes, partly overgrown with grass, and resembling 
 the barrows of the ancient Britons. They are called native ovens ; 
 but I imagine they were the common fire-places of the tribe, so 
 long as it stayed in a particular spot. They contain many wag- 
 gon-loads of ashes, and are found all about this neighbourhood, 
 especially near the creeks. It is curious that the tribes just here- 
 abouts used to have this custom, different from the blacks in gene- 
 ral ; but have now abandoned it, and have their own separate fires 
 like the rest of their race. 
 
 After being plentifully supplied with mutton, milk, butter, and 
 vegetables by this hospitable family, we advanced over these 
 enormous plains, level as a house-floor, through a burning day. 
 We passed only two large creeks of mud, rather than water, rest- 
 ing by one of them, the Wanalta, at noon ; and at evening we 
 encamped near a shepherd's hut, where a passenger of the " Kent" 
 was hut-keeper. He said that he had been here nearly ever since 
 he landed, and that we were the first of his fellow-passengers that 
 he had seen. He professed to like this monotonous solitary life, 
 being fond of reading, and having a large stock of books with him^ 
 which he had purchased for sixpence a volume at the old bookstalls 
 in London. They were books of the last century chiefly, Dam- 
 pier's Voyages, Prior, Goldsmith, Don Quevedo's Visions, Cowley, 
 &c. The most modern were Crabbe's Borough and Knicker- 
 bocker. He congratulated himself on finding very few interruptions 
 to his studies there. 
 
 I wonder at that, for the place was certainly infested with the 
 most terrible swarms of mosquitoes, and of the very fiercest kind 
 that we ever met with. There are swamps in the neighbourhood, 
 and they are legion. In the evening they surrounded us by 
 myriads, and seemed determined to drink every drop of our blood. 
 
62 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 They bit me to such a degree through my thin summer dress, that 
 I was for some days only one congeries of lumps and bumps ; and 
 all day long the little black-devil flies were at us furiously. This 
 curse — and it is a real one — was again in full force, and we were 
 to have an incessant fight with them for the next six months. 
 
 The next day Alfred and I rode through the woods, about four 
 miles, to the Goulburn Diggings. The heat was intolerable, 115° 
 in the sun, and 105° in the shade, so that neither the giant nor 
 Charlton would move. We rode from gully to gully for a great 
 many miles, as far as Paramatta Gully, when we turned back, 
 satisfied that they were by far the most miserable diggings that we 
 had seen. 
 
 The diggers declared that there were not above 600 diggers on 
 the whole field. The diggings lay in some slight hollows, gullies 
 they were not, between some low iron-bark ranges. The whole 
 place was the driest, the hottest, and the most uncomfortable 
 that you can imagine. They had very little water there in winter, 
 and had to cart their washing-stuff six miles to a lagoon to wash 
 it. At this period they had no water fit to drink, and in a few 
 weeks the diggers must hurry away, or they would all perish of 
 drought. We have seen a thousand places, in the iron-bark ranges 
 of the colony, which appear far more likely to produce gold. The 
 valleys are covered wdth what they call the whipstick scrub ; a 
 scrub of dwarf gum-trees, which run about twelve feet high or so, 
 growing densely, side by side, and so locked together with cord- 
 like runners, that it is impossible to penetrate them. The diggers 
 have to burn this scrub down before they can sink their shafts. 
 Those that we conversed with said that they only got from two to 
 three pennyweights of gold to a tub ; and when we consider that 
 this must be carted six miles at, I dare say, 21. the load, there 
 cannot be much profit. They said, too, that everything there was 
 at such a price, that if they got a little gold it was directly 
 absorbed. 
 
 The Commissioners there wisely fixed their camp on the border 
 of the lagoon, or I do not see how they could exist. We were 
 glad to make a speedy escape out of this hot, dusty, and smothery 
 region. We were back at our tent in time to receive the full 
 benefit of the evening mosquitoes ; and while we sat at tea we saw a 
 thunder-cloud of a most extraordinary purple hue coming up along 
 the plain. 
 
 This strange purple and crimson cloud was the dwelling-place 
 of a tornado. Up it came in a moment, roaring and raging along 
 like thunder. The trees bent before it, and our tent would have 
 
THE GOULBURN DIGGINGS. TORNADO. 63 
 
 been blown away in an instant, if we had not each of us seized one 
 of the corner poles, and held on with all our might. As it was, 
 we had a regular battle with the hurricane for about a quarter of 
 an hour. It seemed determined to tear the tent out of our hands, 
 and we were as determined to hold fast. Then came heavy dashes 
 of rain and thunder. Then a lull and a close smothering heat, 
 followed by fresh peals of thunder, and these by a second tornado. 
 After that we went to bed ; but soon had to start up again and 
 hold the tent down by the poles, against a fresh hurricane. The 
 next morning it was dull, and cooler than it had been for a week. 
 
 These violent convulsions of the weather would astonish the 
 people at home. The whole day previous to the tempest, not only 
 did the mosquitoes and flies rage, but the dogs were strangely 
 affected. They were constantly sick, and could not keep any meat 
 on their stomachs if they took it. A litter of pups belonging to 
 the colly which we called Susan, or Mrs. Whitehead, yelped all day 
 till Charlton dipped them in water, when they became instantly 
 silent, and dropped asleep, and slept the day through. By the by, 
 these pups had a little cave made for them in the loading of the 
 cart, where they rode gaily along on our journey, and could be 
 taken out at once when we stopped ; and the old mother evidently 
 knew all about it, and approved of the arrangement, running and 
 hunting opossums without any care as we went on. We had now 
 07ily nine dogs ! 
 
 On Sunday, Nov. 26th, we camped in the bush near Benalla, on 
 the Broken River. We had progressed 124 miles very easily. 
 The roads, for the most part, level as a house-floor, were dry and 
 good ; and the weather fine, but intensely hot. I noted that the 
 thermometer had stood during the week in the sun, Sunday, 116° ; 
 Monday, 81°; Tuesday, 82°; Wednesday, 105°; Thursday, 125°; 
 Friday, 90° ; and Saturday, 81°. At ten o'clock on Sunday morn- 
 ing it was 90° ; and at a quarter-past seven o'clock on Thursday 
 morning it was 102°. This is only the beginning of summer ; and 
 this is the climate in which all writers on the colony have stated 
 that the thermometer rarely exceeds 95° in the hot weather, and 
 only sometimes reaches 1 10° in hot winds. 
 
 The country through which we passed is one great plain. After 
 we left the hills at Mr. Looker's Station we had not encountered 
 a single hill, though we had occasionally seen the top of one over 
 the forests. The country, therefore, could make no claims to the 
 picturesque ; but it is one of the finest pastoral countries in the 
 world. Plain after plain, of many miles in extent, opened before 
 us, clear of trees, and luxuriant with the finest grass. Much of 
 
64 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 this grass was higher than our knees, and in the swampy hollows 
 near the rivers up to the horses' shoulders. There was grass 
 enough in this extensive country to furnish hay for the whole 
 colony, if it were cut ; but it would stand till the sun or bush 
 fires scorched it up. The whole way from the Cornelia Creek, 
 Mr. Looker's Station, to this place, we had only seen two herds of 
 cattle. They told us that they got back into the woods. It may 
 be so ; but my opinion was that the country was not stocked one 
 tenth part in proportion to its capabilities, making all allowances 
 for the rapid burning up of the pasture in summer. 
 
 As we approached the River Goulburn the swampy scenery 
 was striking. These swamps are extensive, and continued to en- 
 large and widen as we approached the river. 
 
 You could see where they were before you reached them, by the 
 bluish-white look of the boles of the trees ; the superior size, and 
 greater density of those trees. When we came into full view of 
 them, they reminded us of what we had heard of the swamps in 
 Demerara and similar countries. The water stood glittering 
 amongst the green water-grass, and succulent water-plants. The 
 frogs made a croaking like the creaking of a thousand pairs of 
 bellows ; and the large and lofty columns of the trees, growing 
 everywhere in the water, with their bluish bark, had a solemn 
 strange look. These swamp-gums are the very largest trees in 
 the colony, and many of their stems at the root are many yards in 
 diameter, and their roots extend over a surprising space. All 
 beneath and around them was greenness and rampant vegetation. 
 Thick masses of wattles marked the course of the river ; and both 
 they and the gum-trees cast a solemnity of shade that is unusual in 
 that country. 
 
 The marks on the trees showed that the ground on which we 
 were treading was often eight feet under water. When we at 
 length came upon the river, it was running in sombre sweeps 
 twenty feet below its banks, dark and strong; and vast masses of 
 the dense green wattles obstructed the view into the swampy re- 
 gions beyond it. As usual in Australian rivers, huge trunks and 
 branches of trees encumbered the stream and the banks ; and out 
 of these precipitous and crumbly banks grew closely ranged groups 
 of gum-trees. There were a silence, a shadowiness, and a feeling 
 of the wild force of the river in flood time, induced by the pro- 
 strate, gigantic trunks in the gullies, water-holes, lagoons, and 
 grassy islands about the river, that made it very impressive. 
 
 We encamped about a mile short of Macgui^j^'s Punt, because it 
 bears rather a notorious character as the occasional rendezvous of 
 
JE:yi THE SEXTON. 65 
 
 horse-stealers. There was an old stockyard near us, where a good 
 many men appeared to have taken up their quarters, amongst a 
 dense wilderness of trees ; but we tethered our horses in a bend of 
 the river behind our tent, and did not trouble ourselves about 
 them. When it was nearly dark, a young man rode up on a good 
 horse, and said that he was glad to see us camped there, for there 
 were some well-known fellows down at the punt, who said tliey 
 meant to come hither to camp to-night, and he had ridden on, in- 
 tending to move further away ; but as our party was encamped so 
 near the stockyard where he was, he would remain. He particu- 
 larly mentioned Jem the Sexton, and another well-known charac- 
 ter, who was always inquiring after lost horses, as a means of re- 
 connoitring yours. He was scarcely gone w^ien up rode Jem the 
 Sexton, on a grey mare, with a foal running by it. We at once 
 recognised him. Jem w^as a down-looking fellow, with a black 
 ill-kept beard, and rusty-black clothes, whence possibly his plea- 
 sant cognomen. He was one of two men who had passed us at 
 noon as we were at dinner, and had ridden up, inquiring after lost 
 horses. 
 
 As we did not aspire to any nearer acquaintance with him, we 
 quietly let loose our dogs, and they rushed out fiercely towards 
 him. Pincher, a surly savage bulldog, made directly for the foal ; 
 and I shouted out, " Beware of the bulldog. If he pins the foal, 
 you will have to cut its throat before you get him off." Lignum 
 at the same time coolly observing, " That dog will eat somebody 
 yet before he has done." 
 
 This was quite enough. Jem the Sexton quickly retreated, and 
 I was quite satisfied that he would make such a report of us, with 
 our giant and our dogs, that we should have no visit during the 
 night ; though three capital horses, in full condition, and worth at 
 least a couple of hundred pounds, were rather tempting to men of 
 the Sexton's tastes. 
 
 The next morning we found the crossing-place at the punt of a 
 considerable width, and said to be eighty iathoms deep. Over 
 this stream we had to take our cart on a punt of a most rickety 
 smallness. It was so small and rickety, that it could not take a 
 loaded cart over. We had, therefore, to unload our things, and 
 have them conveyed over at several times. Our horses had to be 
 swum over, or they would have stove in the rickety punt bot- 
 tom ; and for swimming the horses over we paid 2s. 6d. each, or 
 1/. 10*. 6d. for the transit of cart and horses, besides the labour 
 and delay of this clumsy business and the loss of a valuable coil of 
 ro])e. We were sure to lose something, for there are always plenty 
 
 VOL. n. . F 
 
W TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of very adroit fellows about, who have had the most finished edu- 
 cation that England can furnish ; and in the hurry of the transit, 
 with some of your luggage lying on one bank of the river, and 
 some on another, it requires a sharp look-out to prevent disappear- 
 ance of sundries. We missed a new tether strap which had just 
 cost half a guinea ; a very tempting article to horse-dealers ; but 
 on hunting about found it snugly secreted in a thicket. Jem the 
 Sexton contrived to be at the passage. 
 
 Here we had another striking instance of the care which had 
 been taken of the digger's interest by the Government of the 
 colony. Two years had elapsed since the diggings commenced, 
 and not a single thing had been done to assist the digger, or to 
 })rotect him from extortion on this great thoroughfare, from Ben- 
 digo. Mount Alexander, and Waranga, to the Ovens. Not a 
 thought had been expended on the two difficult crossings of the 
 rivers, the Campaspe and the Goulburn, though a good profit 
 might have been made on the necessary outlay at each place. The 
 crossing of the Campaspe had been allowed to be usurped and 
 fenced off by a squatter ; and this of the Goulburn had been left 
 to the tender mercies of one of those cormorants called publicans, 
 who always squat themselves down at such spots, and prey on the 
 public at their pleasure. 
 
 When the Government was compelled, the preceding summer, 
 by the public outcry and private remonstrance, to take in hand 
 and regulate the ferries over the Ovens and the Goulburn at 
 Seymour, the same stroke of the pen, in the hand of a vigorous 
 government, would have been sufficient to settle all the punts in 
 the colony. This would have indicated that there was a govern- 
 ment, and not a mere puppetry in the country. None but the 
 merest tyros in government, or the merest barbers' blocks, would 
 do these most necessary things piecemeal, and one at a time. 
 
 But, in fact, it was the disgrace of Mr. La Trobe's government, 
 that nothing whatever was ever done for the digger community, 
 except what the rebellion forced out of its fears. The squatter 
 interest and the trading interest were attended to, because they 
 were fully, and more than fully, represented in the Legislative 
 Council, and will be heard. The diggers were, at least, with 
 wives and children, 80,000 people, and they were totally unrepre- 
 sented, though they produced an annual income of 800,000/. 
 During the excitement on the diggings, the Government insulted 
 them, by offering them one representative in the Council ! They 
 rejected the offer with proper scorn. 
 
 During the more than half year that I had now been in the 
 
RECORD OF A JIAN DROWNED. 67 
 
 colony, I had never seen any activity on the part of the Govern- 
 ment with regard to the diggers, except that displayed in extorting 
 revenue from them. That was the great, obvious, and incessant 
 idea ! That constituted the whole science of governing in the 
 country. The diggers were regarded as sponges, out of which to 
 press revenue ; and the whole business of Government was, as we 
 have seen, to hunt up, drag off, and punish, unlucky defaulters in 
 a style which has no parallel, except amongst the Austrians or 
 Russians. It is true that they were now voting large sums for 
 roads ; but these were spent on making entirely new macadamised 
 ones near Melbourne, at 6000Z. per mile ; and before they reached 
 the diggings would require years. 
 
 On a tree at the crossing of the Goulburn was nailed a little 
 tin plate, with this inscription: — "To the memory of John Stone, 
 of Plymouth, Devonshire, who accidently perished in crossing the 
 Goulburn, January 22nd, 1853." It appears that this young 
 man attempted to swim his horse over during a flood, when the 
 stream, of course, was running furiously. He did it out of bra- 
 vado, and in spite of remonstrance. Numbers of people on the 
 banks kept shouting to him to desist; but he went on till his horse 
 sank in the headlong torrent, and came up without him. Perhaps 
 his friends, from this slight memento, may learn his fate, — a cir- 
 cumstance rare as it regards those who die in the bush, or on the 
 diggings of that country. It is not once in a thousand times that 
 you see the slightest mention of the names of those who lie buried 
 there. Their graves are nameless; a score of acquaintances 
 may wander by, and never know that any one that they have 
 cognisance of lies there; and thus the relatives at home never hear 
 anything whatever of them. 
 
 Our road from the Goulburn to Benalla had run all the way 
 near the Broken River. Ever and anon, it had wound away and 
 left us ; but in awhile, again, we found ourselves at one of ^its 
 bends. The same richly- grassed plains continued; sometimes bare 
 of trees, sometimes wooded, but still full of grass. Near any sta- 
 tion, or shepherd's hut, we found the vegetation always exces- 
 sively rank, from the nightly camping of the sheep upon it, with 
 extensive patches of trefoil, mallow, and shepherd's purse. Lady 
 Franklin, in a journey across the colony, is said to have sown tre- 
 foil at every station where they stopped, and perhaps that set the 
 example ; but all across this plain it appears universal. The worst 
 of it is, that it has a bur ; but not a tenth part so bad as the re- 
 gular bur plant. 
 
 72 
 
68 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Well might Sir Thomas Mitchell, in his route across this colony 
 at this season of the year, describe it as a splendidly grassed 
 country. We crossed his track, still called the Major's Line. 
 Everything at this season of the year is fat ; and our horses, spite 
 of the heat and their work, got fatter every day, although we gave 
 them not a grain of corn. 
 
 The worst of this grassy country, however, is that it abounds 
 all the way with the abominable stench-plant {Hydrocotyle densi- 
 flora) ; and, during the heat of the day, the whole country smells 
 as if dressed with night-soil. There are people who doubt 
 whether Australian flowers have any scent. I wish they could 
 smell this. 
 
 The Broken River, as the name imports, is broken here and 
 there into a variety of channels, having also a number of channels 
 only filled at flood times, and lagoons bordering them. The river, 
 like all other rivers there, runs deep between its banks, encum- 
 bered, ever and anon, with heaps of drift-wood ; and around are 
 hollows and swells full of deep grass, and dark dense thickets of 
 acacias. Occasionally, you come on parts of the river where it is 
 running clear and bright amongst grassy islands, tall trees, and 
 dense masses of thickets ; so that you might imagine it some 
 Indian stream, and expect to see the natives skimming to and fro 
 in their light canoes. But the only things that you encounter are 
 little fleets of ducks, — some of which we managed to shoot, — 
 and herons, and Nankin birds ; or a wild mob of cattle, which 
 rush off the moment that they perceive you. 
 
 Some parts of the neighbourhood of the river are so dense with 
 mimosas, and the woods around with an undergrowth of golden 
 mimosa, like large and lofty Portugal laurels, that it gives you a 
 feeling of a country in which, once lost, you would not easily find 
 yourself again. We found, in coming along, new flowers, new 
 birds, and one new tree, a callitris, I suppose the Murray pine, but 
 large and lofty, and much handsomer than the callitris of the gra- 
 nite rocks in the Ovens country. 
 
 On going to a station to get some beef, we found, to our agreeable 
 sui-prise, that our old friends the Turnbulls, from Faithful's Creek, 
 had purchased the next station on our way, and were just come 
 there. Of course we called, and stayed the night. They were, 
 as they always are, very kind and hospitable. They seemed to 
 have here a finer station, though not so naturally picturesque as 
 their old one ; but it w^as rich land, and much larger, and more 
 calculated to exercise the energies of their active sons. It was 
 sheep-shearing time, and they were, of course, very busy ; but we 
 
GOVERNMENT NEGLECT. 69 
 
 had a deal of pleasant talk with Mrs. TuriibuU and her sister, 
 Miss Stuart, two very intelligent ladies. 
 
 On Sunday, Nov. 27th, we were once more in the pleasant 
 Yackandanda woods. We had had a splendid though very hot 
 journey, and only been bogged once. All the way up, so tar as 
 the roads, gullies, creeks, and rivers were concerned, there might 
 be no government in the country. Not a thing had been done to 
 facilitate the passage of the diggers, or the transit of their goods, 
 except the commencement of a sort of bridge over the gullies of 
 the Ovens at Wangaratta ; which, though certainly a large under- 
 taking, and must have incurred an enormous expense, appeared 
 likely to prove a large abortion. 
 
 Another instance of the strange and utter neglect of the public 
 interests by the G-overnment in the distant parts of the colony, 
 struck us in an extraordinary new inclosure made by the hospi- 
 table Dr. Mackay. He has fenced oif from two to three miles of 
 the rich land along the river Ovens, running all the way along the 
 road-side ; so that, for that distance, the numerous travellers, 
 carriers, and their cattle, on this greatly frequented road to the 
 diggings, were, in this droughty region, totally cut off from kccess 
 to water. This was bad enough, but this was not all. These 
 inclosures were but a first step towards purchase, though they were 
 made on pretence of accommodating the diggers with a safe paddock 
 for their horses. But when the purchase of part of a station is 
 made at the upset price of 1/. per acre, the squatter being entitled 
 to his square mile, a claim is always put in for including what 
 they call their improvements. The squatters near the diggings 
 alarmed at the new townships laid out in these vicinities, were 
 actively buying up their sections. Now, if Mackay had not al- 
 ready purchased this inclosure, as a matter of course he meant to 
 do it. Imagine, then, the squatters being allowed to inclose whole 
 miles each of river frontage. Why, all the rest of the country 
 would be utterly worthless ; and they might have it, and, no doubt, 
 calculated upon having it, for nothing. As there is only a limited 
 quantity of water frontage allowed by law, any surveyor who con- 
 nives at misdemeanors of this kind ought to be impeached of high 
 treason, and have his head cut off ; for there can be possibly no 
 higher treason against the state in a country so wanting of water 
 as this. 
 
 The hospitable Doctor, since we were there, had built a shop 
 before his gate for the sale of mutton, milk, and cabbages. We 
 went up and bought some milk, now reduced to one shilling a pint. 
 I there recognised the young Irish woman who last summerj on 
 
 F3 
 
70 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 occasion of my funny reception, said, " She had nothing to do with 
 it ; she was only there by the day ! " I reminded her of it, and of 
 all the family bolting from dinner, and pretending to be ill. She 
 evidently well remembered it. 
 
 Not far from there we saw the grass-trees, but only the dwarf 
 ones, splendidly in flower. The flower is on a rod of two or three 
 feet high, which rises perpendicularly from the centre of the grass- 
 tree, and surrounds some half a yard of it in the manner of the 
 flower of the club-rush, but white, and the florets resembling 
 those of the water tussilago. 
 
 Spring Creek we found nearly deserted. Yet they had built a 
 township upon it, with various stores and inns, while the diggings 
 had migrated to Nine-mile Creek and to the Buffalo. But of the 
 wonderful changes there in my next. 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 Beautiful Birds and Flowers. — Battle of severed Bulldog Ant — Australian 
 Porcupine. — Enormous Amount of Digging since the preceding Year. — 
 Diggers grown very calculating. — Summaries of Argus for England. — 
 Don't want Intellectual Men there. — Suffering of Immigrants from want of 
 Land. — United States growing on our Folly. — History of the Land 
 Question. — Grog Monopoly in Sydney, and Expulsion of Governor Bligh. 
 — Fresh Land Kegulations from 1823 to 1847. — Squatting System com- 
 pleted by Orders in Council of 1 847. — Lord John Russell's Town allot- 
 ment Regulations. — Consequent speculative Mania and general Ruin in 
 1 842. — Present Position of the Land Question. — Effects of Influx of 
 200,000 People where no Land was to be had. — Draft of the new Constitu- 
 tion. — What Victoria would be with Land. 
 
 Australia is certainly a splendid field for the naturalist. The 
 animals are most curious ; the birds are almost endless in variety, 
 singular in habits, and the notes of many of them are peculiarly 
 musical. We found fresh ones in every new part of the country 
 that we visited. The Blue Mountain parrot, a splendid bird of 
 deep red and brilliant blue, has many very musical notes. The 
 ilowers of the colony are immensely numerous in species ; and, 
 though generally small, many of them are very beautiful. There 
 grows in the woods, in the Ovens district, a clematis which we 
 have seen nowhere else ( Clematis appendiculata) ; a very beau- 
 tiful thing, with large white and very fragrant blossoms. This 
 
BULLDOG ANT FIGHT. AUSTRALIAN PORCUPINE. 71 
 
 clematis hangs on the bushes and young trees in lovely masses. 
 There was a plant of it near our tent, running over the fallen bole 
 of a huge blue gum-tree like a garland. It was worthy of a pain- 
 ter. There is also, in the wet places of the woods, a yellow- 
 flowered rush, which smells exactly like pine-apple (Xerotes 
 longifolia). 
 
 The insects, as I have often said, are countless ; swarm every- 
 where, and over everything. Their tenacity of life is most 
 amazing. I have mentioned the manner in which one half of a 
 bulldog ant fights the other if cut in two. I saw an instance of it 
 whilst at dinner. Our giant cut one in two that was annoying him. 
 The head immediately seized the body with its mandibles, and the 
 body began stinging away manfully at the head. The fight went 
 on for half an hour without any diminished sign of life; and this 
 is what they always do. Instead of dying, as they ought to do, 
 they set to and fight away for hours, if some of the other ants do 
 not come and carry them away; whether to eat them or bury 
 them we know not. But the flies immediately eat flies that are 
 crushed, and ants eat the remains of crushed ants. Mr. Swainson, 
 the eminent naturalist, was some time in Australia before his death; 
 and we may naturally expect many curious details of this kind from 
 his papers, if published. 
 
 We killed a porcupine, the first that we caught, and cooked it. 
 It is, in appearance, between the English hedgehog and the por- 
 cupine. Its quills are only about an inch long; but it has tre- 
 mendous claws, and is a truly Australian creature, having a horned 
 snout, something like the beak of a bird, and a long, small, round 
 tongue ; being, in fact, an ant-eater. It has the rudiments of a 
 pouch, but does not appear perfectly marsupial. Its skin is very 
 thick, and with the spines weighs about as much as the body. 
 The flesh resembles pork, and is excellent eating ; but we had no 
 proper stuffing for ours ; notwithstanding which it was very good. 
 
 Wonderful were the changes that had taken place on the Ovens 
 gold-fields since we were there the year before. For many miles 
 the woods between our creek and Spring Creek had been felled, 
 and the ground dug up for gold. Where we used to travel through 
 unbroken forest with the compass, extended the tents and the 
 delvings of the digger race. Nuggety Gully, New Rush, Europa 
 Gully, and a whole succession of gullies, were dug up, and all 
 their woodland scenery desolated. Nine-mile Creek had been dug 
 out again and again, and had been sluiced three times. This 
 creek, which had acquired the cognomen of Back Creek, and Snake 
 Valley had also been amazingly worked. Whole miles of its banks 
 
 f4 
 
72 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 that a year before were wild and desolate, shrouded in dense 
 thickets of tea-trees and wattles and lightwood, and thick with 
 sedge and jungle, were now but heaps of clay; the trees prostrate, 
 the whole scene laid bare ; the stream turned from its course ; the 
 bed of the stream dug out and sluiced, and its banks themselves 
 cut down and put through the sluice. Digging villages, with 
 their tents and stores, marked its course for miles, with all their 
 tumbled heaps, tree-stumps, and disorderly objects around them. 
 
 The particular spot where we again camped in the angle be- 
 tween our two old creeks had been more spared than any other part. 
 The woods had escaped the general devastation. We could still 
 look round on the old features — the same pleasant solitary forest 
 slopes, with good pasturage for our horses, — and hear the same birds 
 making the woodlands resound with their chorus at sunrise. We 
 could still bring past our tent a stream of the coolest and most de- 
 licious water ; and were there no gold even, we would there have 
 chosen to spend the next two months, — the hottest in the year. 
 
 But, singularly, the very portion of the creek which we 
 worked first remained as we left it ; and on trying parts of it 
 that we did not very completely clear, we found a considerable 
 quantity of gold. Other parts about us had been more worked 
 out. Nearer us, the creek, and the angle of land between it and 
 the lesser creek, had been worked with great care and labour by 
 some parties of Americans. They had followed the veins of gold 
 from the creek in deep cuttings like stone quarries to a consider- 
 able distance, and had been well repaid. The very spot where our 
 tent stood had been cut down. We slept and lived upon gold when 
 there before. The spot where we made our fire by the great log 
 was a golden spot. The ground on which the miller's tent stood 
 was also gone, gold having been abundant there. But the old mil- 
 ler's bullock-dray still stood where it stood v/hen we left. It seems 
 the miller lost all his eight bullocks ; and, when he went, left his 
 son behind in the winter to continue the search for them, — a 
 solitary, and, as it proved, useless sojourn. 
 
 We saw two Americans, one of them a Mormon, clearing away 
 the very part of the creek which we left on account of a bird's 
 nest with young ones ; and they assured us that under that very 
 bush they obtained seven ounces of gold ; so that our kindness to 
 the family of old Blue-beard cost us about 28/. 
 
 We had now but few neighbours, and they were chiefly Ame- 
 ricans; and very civil, obliging, neighbourly people they were. I 
 do not how know it was, but we found the diggers at the Ovens, as 
 we did the former year, a much quieter and more civilised race 
 
DIGGERS GROWN VERY CALCULATING. id 
 
 than the diggers of Bencligo, or, at all events, than a large class 
 of them there. 
 
 Everywhere, both there and at Bendigo, I found the diggers 
 grown very careful in their expenditure; — a sure sign that they 
 were not getting the same amount of gold that they did once. 
 The storekeepers complained of a great difference, and yet they 
 kept up the price of things as much as they could. Imagine 
 a pumpkin being sold for pies for 185. ; mutton and beef lOd. 
 per lb., where the year before we got a quarter of mutton for 
 3s. 6d. ; bread still 4^. the quartern loaf; fresh butter 5s. per lb. ; 
 onions and potatoes still Is. 6d. per lb. ; raisins 3s. per lb. We gave 
 a guinea one day for a bell for our horse's neck, to find him by in 
 the woods, which, in London would not be above eighteen-pence. 
 And yet, if you wanted to sell anything, you were offered the most 
 ridiculous sums. The gold watches I bad I could not get prime 
 cost for. The boots that were more than we wanted we offered 
 at the stores. We first asked the price of the different kinds that 
 were best to dispose of, and they asked 4/. per pair for the same 
 kind that they offered us ]/. for; and they asked 21. for such as 
 they offered us 7^. 6d. a pair for. This was cool, theirs being 
 only of ordinary ready-made quality, ours of the very first quality. 
 
 You hear wonderful stories of the diggers of Bendigo and Mount 
 Alexander giving anything that people please to ask. Those 
 halcyon days are long past. I have never found any class of men 
 more close bargainers than the Bendigo men. If you had anything 
 to sell they would offer the most ridiculous trifle for it. They 
 would offer you 105. for a puddling-tub — a thing in constant de- 
 mand, — for which at the second-hand stores they must pay 4/. ; 
 and 105. or 155. for a cradle that they must give at the same stores 
 4/. 105. for. In fact, they imagine that if you have anything to 
 sell you are going and must sell; but a storekeeper just lets his 
 articles wait till they are obliged to have them. The auctions are 
 the places where you can dispose of anything to any advantage ; 
 and there only can you buy at any reasonable rate. Whilst at 
 the Upper Yackandanda, we read some of the quarterly summaries 
 of the state of the colony which are regularly published in the 
 Argus for circulation in England. Making due allowance for the 
 colouring which their enthusiasm about the colony naturally gives, 
 the reader there learns the substantial facts of its progress and 
 position. For instance, they told us, in a summary of 1853, that 
 Victoria had so incurably drunken a people that nothing would 
 be of any use but excluding all spirituous liquors altogether by the 
 Maine Liquor Law. That the publicans were the richest and most 
 
74 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 worthless set of men in the colony. That the members of Govern- 
 ment were so deeply engaged in land speculations, that they would 
 not throw open the land; and that the bits of land sold near the 
 diggings did not benefit the diggers, for they were too dear for 
 them, and were snapped up by insatiable speculators. That the 
 people who landed in Melbourne found that they might just as 
 well have set down on Wimbledon Common, as to any chance they 
 had of buying land at a price that they could live upon; — the 
 game going on between the Government officials, who were con- 
 stantly dabbling in land, and a gang of the most hungry unprin- 
 cipled land-sharks that the world ever produced. That immigration, 
 latterly, had greatly decreased, and was decreasing, owing to the 
 dismal accounts sent home by disappointed people. 
 
 They added, rather inconsistently, that these accounts had been 
 transmitted by unfit people. But who are the fitting people to 
 come out to a country such as they thus themselves sketched. The 
 most drunken population in the world ! — a population refused land 
 to live on, and preyed on by the most voracious land-sharks! 
 That surely w^as not a picture likely to attract immigrants. They 
 complained that good schoolmasters and efficient clergymen did 
 not go out. But, over and above this description that they gave 
 of the drunken population, and the Government gambling in land 
 that immigrants could not get, they told us in almost every one of 
 these summaries that they did not want intellectual people. They 
 then asked for clergymen and schoolmasters, who are essentially 
 intellectual people. They wanted, they said, only workers ; phy- 
 sical power — an animal creation of Gibeonites, — " hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water." But schoolmasters and clergymen will 
 naturally, even where most impelled by a sense of duty, wish to 
 enjoy, to some extent, an intellectual environment. If they were 
 willing to associate only, or chiefly, with such a class as that of 
 navvies, jarvies, grooms, carmen, ignorant agricultural labourers, 
 and the twenty or thirty thousand exported felons, they need not 
 go thirteen thousand miles for a similar luxury ; they can have it 
 by only walking into the next mews, the gin-shop at the corner, 
 or the back-slums of any great town at home. 
 
 They should recollect, that good skilled mechanics are now very 
 generally an intellectual class, and that may account for the decrease 
 in the emigration of this order. It cannot be the rate of wages, 
 for that is unrivalled. But it appears that even that wonderful 
 scale of remuneration did not draw them. No ; they will never 
 go out freely to any country where they have no eventual prospect 
 of getting land. If they save money out of such high wages, with 
 
HISTORY OF THE LAND QUESTION. 75 
 
 what hope would they save it? That of getting land, and living 
 on their own property. A drunken population, that has no hope 
 of getting cheap land, will always remain a drunken population. 
 And who would wish himself and his children to make part and 
 parcel of such a population ? 
 
 Now, what is the cause at the bottom of all this ? Simply, and 
 again and again, and evermore — the one grand, palpable, and 
 permanent cause, — the prohibition of land sale. Never, while 
 the United States lie only 3000 miles from England, and sell 
 land, chooseable anywhere, at os. an acre, and Victoria lies 13,000 
 miles from England, and won't sell sufficient land for agricultural 
 purposes, will it get a fine, full, flowing emigration thither such 
 as America has, and Australia could have on the same fair and 
 common-sense system. Never will you have a settled population 
 there, till you give up the land fully and freely for settlement. 
 The harpy of speculation and the land-shark will continue to rake 
 up around them, and grapple in their clutches the Avealth of the 
 colony, and fly oiF with it, till land is cheap and plentiful, which 
 is the same thing. The drunkard will continue a drunkard till 
 he can buy land. Then, and not till then, will he go out from the 
 circle of his temptations, and root himself down in the healthy 
 soil, and regenerate himself, and make his family happy and his 
 country flourish. 
 
 If there were land — land everywhere, and for everybody — the 
 intellectual might go ; the more the better, for intellectual men 
 love country life, and are capable of cultivating cheap land of 
 their own ; and the more the better again, that they might 
 breathe a soul through the brute mass, shed refinement and 
 intelligence around them, and ofler points of attraction to a 
 superior class to come over and settle. 
 
 As the land question is now become the great question of the 
 Australian colonies, and especially of Victoria, we may as well 
 take a brief view of its history, so that the reader may more fully 
 and really comprehend it. 
 
 In the early times of these colonies, when Government wanted 
 to induce a population to go out and settle in them, it gave free 
 grants of land to anybody that would come and take them. In 
 Governor Phillip's time, — that is, up to 1800, — land was granted 
 in quantities of from 500 to 1000 acres to any person who applied 
 for it at home, and took out an order. In fact, it was a great 
 piece of Government patronage in the hands of Ministers : but 
 this was put a stop to in 1818, because it induced officers who 
 went out ostensibly to do Government duty, either civil or 
 
76 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 military, to be really only attending to their own aggrandisement. 
 But as convicts, on becoming emancipated, soon were able to buy 
 land, or to have grants of it, and would presently have become the 
 chief landowners, the regulation was rescinded, and the old free- 
 grant system resumed. In consequence of this, the Governors of 
 New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, up to 1823, were 
 empowered to grant lands to settlers, and also to convicts, as a 
 reward of good conduct. They could give to convicts, when 
 pardoned, 20 acres ; if married, 40 acres ; and to each child, 10 
 acres. Thus a married convict with six children was entitled to 
 100 acres of land. These lands were perfectly free of charge for 
 10 years, and then paid a quit- rent of 6d. for every 30 acres. 
 They could grant to free settlers the same quantities, and 100 
 acres more. These powers were so fully exercised, that up to 
 1810 there had been granted 177,500 acres. 
 
 This granting of small farms to emancipated convicts appears 
 in theory an admirable arrangement, calculated to stimulate those 
 still under operation of their sentence to duty and reform of cha- 
 racter ; but there were causes existing in the colony, which, in a 
 great measure, defeated this meritorious object, and converted the 
 system into one of unmitigated evil. Ever since the soldiery had 
 been sent out to Sydney, to keep in check the convict population, 
 the officers of the New South Wales' corps had contrived to 
 monopolise the sale of rum and other ardent spirits. They pur 
 chased Bengal rum, as the spirit-dealers in these colonies now do, 
 and which can at this day be bought in Bengal for one shilling 
 per gallon. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that these military grog-sellers were 
 more conscientious than the civil ones of the present day, and 
 therefoi'e we may form some idea, from recent practice, of what 
 then prevailed. This Bengal rum, in Victoria, in 1853, would 
 yield 5000 per cent, if sold pure, at the prevailing price of 10s, 
 per bottle ; but the vendors were not contented with this enor 
 mous profit, and therefore they diluted it largely with water, and 
 then gave it a factitious strength by adulteration with oil of 
 vitriol, &c. It was thus converted into one of the vilest an 
 most deleterious articles conceivable, and this poison I saw com 
 monly sold at from 10s. to 20^. per bottle. This was the stu 
 almost universally sold and drunk in the grog-shops of Victoria^ 
 for beer they had little or none, except a species of hog-wash, 
 honoured with the name of sugar-beer. 
 
 Whether the military grog-dealers of Sydney made similar 
 profits or not, they managed to drive all the other dealers out o" 
 
 i 
 
GROG MONOPOLY. 77 
 
 the market, because they could get from the Governor, who was 
 in their hands, the permits for the admission of any quantity of 
 these spirits, while the other dealers must pay a heavy duty. 
 Besides, the soldiers and the convicts were expected to purchase 
 their grog of these officers, or they would soon be made to feel 
 the consequences. 
 
 This infamous system was, at length, carried to such a pitch, 
 that rum and other spirits became the medium of exchange 
 instead of money ; workpeople received rum instead of wages ; 
 the country people received rum in exchange for their cattle and 
 their corn. The consequence, as might have been expected, was 
 a fearful increase of drunkenness, crime, and individual ruin. 
 But this did not at all trouble the military monopolists ; their cor- 
 porals were their grog-venders, and it was thus publicly sold in 
 the very barracks. 
 
 It is believed that Governor Hunter was recalled in conse- 
 quence of attempting to reform this devilish system; but the 
 whole weight of these military grog-venders fell on the next 
 Governor but one, the unfortunate Captain Bligh. 
 
 This was the same Captain Bligh who was commander of the 
 "Bounty," and who was sent out by Government to convey bread- 
 fruit trees from the South Sea Islands to the West Indies. In 
 the course of his voyage, the celebrated mutiny took place, in 
 which his crew turned him adrift, and sailed away to Pitcairn's 
 Island. Captain Bligh conducted his small boat's crew with 
 great ability along the northern coast of New Holland, to the 
 Isle of Timor, where they obtained provisions, and thus escaped. 
 
 Being appointed Governor of New South Wales, Captain 
 Bligh not only found this frightful system of grog-selling in full 
 operation, but many of the colonists suffering severely from terri- 
 ble floods, which had swept away much cattle and corn. He, 
 therefore, offered to those settlers to take as much corn and cattle 
 as would be required for the public service, and to pay them in 
 goods from the King's stores ; such as flour, tea, sugar, manufac- 
 tured articles, &c., at a very low remunerating price. This was 
 a most generous and serviceable boon, but it was a direct attack 
 upon the monopoly and extortion of the military, and they were 
 not long in visiting him with their vengeance. 
 
 Occasion was soon found. Mr. Macarthur, the great wool- 
 grower, and also great spirit-dealer, had ordered a new still from 
 England, for making brandy in the colony. This was in utter 
 defiance of the law, and the Governor seized upon it, and had it 
 shipped back again. Such, however, was the spirit which pre- 
 
78 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Tailed in this trade at that time, that Mr. Macarthur was obliged 
 to be arrested in consequence of his resisting the Governor's pro- 
 ceeding ; and the military, who considered him as working in 
 their common cause, with Colonel Johnstone at their back, came 
 to the rescue. They forcibly put an end to the trial of Mr. 
 Macarthur, and then marched upon the house of the Governor, 
 whom they seized, and compelled to quit the colony ; Colonel 
 Johnstone, the Commander-in-chief of the forces, usurping the seat 
 of the Governor, with Mr. Macarthur as his colonial secretary, 
 and the other officers filling the subordinate posts. 
 
 Grog-selling was now in glorious ascendency. The colony was 
 actually governed by grog-sellers ; and the Government exche- 
 quer was plundered to an enormous extent. The most false and 
 malignant accounts of the conduct of Captain Bligh were sent 
 home by these usurpers ; but the respectable portion of the com- 
 munity also managed to send home the true account ; and 
 Governor Macquarie was sent out with orders to reinstate 
 Governor Bligh for four and twenty hours, to show that the 
 Government did not approve of his removal by the rebels. 
 Captain Bligh, however, was on his way home, and this point 
 could not be carried out; but the military insurgents were 
 arrested, and sent to England to take their trials, where John- 
 stone was cashiered, and his confederates banished for a certain 
 number of years from the colony. The treatment which Bligh 
 received on this occasion is said to have broken the hearts of both 
 himself and his lady. 
 
 Grog-selling and grants of land went on, therefore, trium- 
 phantly. Who dared to encounter such a band of grog-dealers, 
 who were armed with Her Majesty's commission ? So far from 
 the grants to the convicts, however, being of use to them, they 
 only completed their ruin. On receiving their orders for a grant, 
 they sold them for rum ; and the rum-selling holders of these 
 orders kept them till they had a claim on some five or ten thou- 
 sand acres, when they selected a fine estate in some first-rate 
 locality ; and it is said that a great number of the most beautiful 
 and valuable estates of New South Wales were obtained in this 
 manner. 
 
 From the date of this " rum rebellion," and the forcible depo- 
 sition of poor Bligh in 1809, up to 1823, the system of political 
 grants went on swimmingly. Persons taking out letters from th( 
 Secretary of State in England had grants of 2000 acres of landj 
 except where still larger estates were expressly mentioned in th( 
 Secretary's letters. Thus, Mr. Potter Maqueen, M.P., obtained 
 
HISTORY OF THE LAND QUESTION. 79 
 
 10,000 acres, and a reserve of 10,000 more; Mr. Hart Davies 
 M.P., and Mr. Hart Davies, jun., had 15,000 acres each ; Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane, the Marquis of Sligo, and Mr. J. Browne had 
 10,000 acres each, and a reserve of 10,000 more. No condition 
 of residence was attached to these grants : they were, in fact, 
 political sops. 
 
 These monstrous political jobs, however, began to attract public 
 attention at home ; and in 1831 a stop was put to the granting 
 system. In 1824, however, the Australian Agricultural Associa- 
 tion had received a grant of no less than a million of acres, forming 
 their present magnificent territory of Port Stephen. In 1834, it 
 was ascertained that no less than 4,163,352 acres had been granted 
 away ; while, in 1843, it was stated by a committee of the Legis- 
 lative Council of New South Wales, that about 5,000,000 of acres 
 had been alienated from the Crown up to that time. 
 
 In 1836 commenced a new and fatal land system. A party of 
 speculators engaged in an attempt to colonise South Australia. 
 At the head of this party were Colonel Torrens and Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield. This party, having powerful Parliamentary 
 influence, succeeded in carrying Gibbon Wakefield's plan of selling 
 all colonial lands at a high upset price, as they said, to prevent the 
 scattering of the population. Land was then selling in New South 
 Wales and the infant colony of Port Phillip at 5s. an acre ; and 
 these crafty speculators knew that if land could be purchased at 
 5s. in Port Phillip, it was vain to hope that they could obtain 
 1/. per acre in Adelaide, the sum they wanted. Government had 
 plenty of warnings of what the effect of such a system would be. 
 Mr. Justice Thierry, who had been seventeen years in New South 
 Wales, stated before the House of Lords, that the consequence of a 
 high upset price would be the prevalence of the squatting system ; 
 and that the adoption of Mr. Wakefield's plan would be that of 
 dispersing instead of condensing the population — a fact which 
 experience has most fully demonstrated. 
 
 Sir James Stephens and Mr. Poulett Scrope also held the same 
 language. Mr. Scrope declared in Parliament that supposing Mr. 
 Wakefield's theory to be correct, that a high upset price of land 
 would check the spread of population, it was a scheme which in a 
 iew years must annihilate itself; for people would not go to 
 Australia to buy land when they could buy it in the United States 
 of America at one fourth the price ; and, therefore, instead of 
 buying they would squat, and that consequently the direct operation 
 of the Wakefield theory was not to condense but to disperse. 
 
 These truths now stand most universally verified, especially in 
 
80 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the colony of Victoria. Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Minister at 
 the time, refused to sanction the theory; but, in 1840, Lord John 
 Kussell carried it out, fixing the upset price in New South Wales 
 at 125. an acre, and in Port Phillip at 205. ! Thus, the Torrens 
 faction succeeded ; and the Adelaide land speculators impoverished 
 200,000 people to enrich 25,000, or rather a few individuals who 
 sold the land to that number. Thus had Lord John Russell the 
 unenviable distinction of establishing that system of high land sale 
 in our Australian colonies, wliich has for seventeen years gone on 
 augmenting the population of tlie United States at the rate of 
 250,000 a year at the expense of our ow^i empire. It is a measure 
 which already has sent three millions and a half of our population 
 to till the lands of our Transatlantic rivals instead of cultivating 
 our own. 
 
 The consequence of this short-sighted policy soon became fear- 
 fully apparent. Li 1847, a Committee of the Legislative Council 
 of New South Wales on Immigration reported that the Land 
 Fund, the source of expenditure for immigration, had been annihi- 
 lated in consequence of the determination to carry out the system of 
 Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield ; and that the remonstrances of the 
 colony against this ruinous system had been unheeded or misun- 
 derstood. That for a series of years, the growth of the colony was 
 uniformly progressive. From 1833 to 1840 the sum realised by 
 the sale of waste lands was upwards of one million sterling, by 
 which 80,000 souls w^ere introduced. Under this system, the 
 population became more than doubled in a period of eight years. 
 In 1839, land was raised by the policy of the Home Government 
 from 5s. to 125., and subsequently to 1/. per acre. This Act may 
 be regarded as one chiefcause of the disorders by which the colony 
 has since been visited. From 300,000Z. the land revenue fell to 
 8000Z., and immigration ceased : the sources from whence it flowed 
 had been thus suddenly arrested. 
 
 In Lord John Russell's dispatch, town land allotments were to 
 stand at an upset price of 100/. per acre. Much speculation had* 
 already been going on in Melbourne in town allotments. This 
 added fuel to the fire ; there became a rabies of speculation in town 
 allotments, followed by a general and tremendous crash, and almost 
 universal bankruptcy. 
 
 Thus Lord John Russell had again the honour of originating 
 that fatal system of gambling in town allotments to which the 
 Melbourne Government so long and firmly adhered ; creating the 
 most extravagant and ruinous spirit of speculation in such allot- 
 ments, the exclusion of cheap agricultural land from the market, 
 
THE SQUATTING SYSTEM, 81 
 
 and all the consequences now existing so mischievous to the growth 
 and prosperity of the colony. 
 
 The next great error of the land system, — to pass over several 
 minor regulations, — was that which in 1847 established the squat- 
 ting system on its present footing, and which gives Lord Grey 
 the honour of its parentage. Perhaps no ministers of England ever 
 contrived to inflict such a blow on the progress of our colonial 
 greatness as Lord John Russell and Earl Grey, except those who 
 lost America for us. It is, however, a satisfaction to record that 
 by giving the colony a representative constitution, and full power 
 to deal with the lands, they have made the best possible amende 
 for these errors. 
 
 This system, determined by an Act of Parliament of that year, 
 was carried out by an Order in Council. By this regulation the 
 lands of New South Wales were divided into three classes, accord- 
 ing to their situation : the Settled, the Intermediate, and the Un- 
 settled Districts. The regulations, of course, extended to Port 
 Phillip. 
 
 Under this Act the Governor was empowered to grant leases on 
 runs of land in the unsettled districts for any term not exceeding 
 fourteen years, for pastoral purposes, with permission to the lessee 
 to cultivate as much as may be necessary to provide grain, hay, 
 vegetables, and fruit, for the use of the family or establishment, 
 but not for trade or barter. The rent to be proportioned to the 
 number of sheep or cattle which the run may be able to support : 
 each run to be capable of carrying at least 4000 sheep, or an equi- 
 valent number of cattle, such run to pay a license of 10/. per 
 annum ; if larger, more. A Commissioner of crown lands to 
 estimate the capabilities of the run. During the lease, no person 
 but the lessee to purchase any portion of the run, but he himself 
 to be allowed to buy the whole, or any part of it, not less than 160 
 acres, at not less than 1/. per acre. 
 
 In the intermediate districts the leases were not for more than 
 eight years, but at the end of each successive year of lease these 
 runs might be offered for public sale, subject to sixty days' notice 
 to lessee. 
 
 In the settled districts the leases were only for one year, with- 
 out interference as to time of disposal of said lands by sale or lease. 
 
 Such is the system which has prevailed from 1847 to the pre- 
 sent time. The number of squatting stations in New South 
 Wales were in 1849 about 1520, held by 1019 persons. In Port 
 Phillip they were 827, held by 666 persons ; and the extent of 
 lands held by these individuals in these two colonies would astonish 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
82 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 people at home. The average of square miles held by each squat- 
 ter is 69 ; but many individuals hold immensely more. Two 
 squatters hold more than 800,000 acres each ; two 600,000 each ; 
 one 400,000 ; four, 350,000 each ; three, 300,000 each ; fourteen, 
 250,000 each; fourteen, 200,000 each; thirty, 150,000 each; 
 seventy-three, 100,000 each : and 298 squatters hold more than 
 50,000 acres each. In New South Wales the Government granted 
 the leases, restricting the pre-emptive right to one square mile, or 
 640 acres, on which conditions the squatters were glad to get them. 
 But in Victoria, the Government withheld the leases, the squatters 
 having only their receipts for their annual payments to show their 
 right to be upon the run. By this means the Government of 
 Victoria kept the whole land in its power, but by the disingenuous 
 mode of withholding the leases which the squatters assert that it 
 promised them. At the same time it dealt just as tortuously with 
 the public. Retaining the power to deal with the land as it 
 pleased by withholding the leases, still it did not avail itself of 
 this power for the benefit of the public. 
 
 It is quite clear that the settled and intermediate districts admit 
 of mere annual holdings, the intermediate ones requiring only 
 sixty days' notice before the end of each year, and the settled dis- 
 trict no notice at all. Now in these districts lie vast tracts of the 
 finest lands in the colony, and on the arrival of so extraordinary 
 a crisis as the gold discovery, and the inpouring of a population 
 at the rate of upwards of 100,000 a year, any rational person 
 must ask, why were not these lands thrown open, at once to give 
 homes to the immigrants, and to reduce the price of the articles 
 of life by the cultivation of corn, vegetables, hay, and fruit ? 
 
 The only answer which you got to this question was by the 
 Government pointing to the large income that it made out of the 
 sale of a very little land ; and by the public pointing to the town 
 and suburban allotments possessed by, or which had passed through 
 the hands of, members of the Government, and asking whether 
 those snug little properties could be worth 5000/. and 6000/., and 
 10,000/. an acre if land were plentiful in the market. The public 
 pointed at the same time to the number of squatters in the legis- 
 lative Council, who, for excellent reasons, were equally averse to 
 a large sale of lands. 
 
 The squatters having grown rich on these wild lands of the 
 nation, are come, by that process which so easily persuades a man 
 that that which is agreeable ought to be his, to imagine that they 
 are not the nation's, but their own. They are very willing to 
 forget, if the public will allow them, that they only occupy, and 
 
IMMENSE ESTATES HELD BY SQUATTERS. 83 
 
 do not possess ; that they are, by the very nature and terms of 
 their holding, the Orders in Council, but tenants at will; that they 
 are the pioneers of civilisation, and must, as a matter of course, 
 recede before civilisation itself. That, as Mr. Palmer, the Speaker 
 of the Legislative Council, in May 1853, declared, — " according 
 to an obvious rule of political philosophy, the lesser must give 
 way to the greater, — the particular to the general interests." The 
 9th clause, if there were no other, is an insurmountable notice to 
 quit at the pleasure of Government, issued by the Imperial Go- 
 vernment simultaneously with the permission to occupy. Here it 
 is — 
 
 Section 9. — " That nothing in these regulations, or in any lease to be 
 granted under the powers hereby vested in the Governor, shall prevent the said 
 Governor or officer for the time being administering the government of the said 
 colony from making grants or sales of any lands within the Hmits of the run 
 or lands comprised in such lease, for public purposes, or disposing of, in such 
 other manner as for the public interest may seem best, such lands as may be 
 required for the sites of churches, schools, or parsonages, or for the construction 
 of high roads or railways and railway stations, or other internal communica- 
 tions, whether by land or by water, or for the use or benefit of the aboriginal 
 inhabitants of the country, or for public buildings, or as places for the inter- 
 ment of the dead, or places for the recreation and amusement of the inhabit- 
 ants of any town or village, or as the sites of public quays, or landing places 
 on the sea coast or shores of navigable streams ; and for the purpose of sinking 
 shafts and digging for coals, iron, copper, lead, or other minerals; or for any 
 other purpose of public defence, safety, utility, convenience, or enjoyment, or for 
 otherwise facilitating the improvement and settlement of the colony; but so that 
 the quantity of land which may be granted or sold to any railway company 
 shall not exceed, in all, the rate of one hundred acres for every mile thereof in 
 length." 
 
 A perpetual squatterdom would be a perpetual disgrace to our 
 science of colonisation. As soon could the present condition of 
 Victoria exist in its future, as Nimrod or Hercules find room for 
 themselves and their sports in London. There is, says Solomon, 
 a time for all things ; and as there has been a time for squatting, 
 so that of itself implies that there will be a time for giving up 
 squatting : and inpouring millions, seeking soil for the scythe and 
 the plough, declare that that time is at hand. 
 
 Mr. Westgarth, in his recent work on the colony, says that he 
 was in Sydney when the idea of procuring squatting leases was 
 first started ; and it appeared so utterly ridiculous, that it was 
 treated with shouts of laughter even by the squatters themselves. 
 Yet they found a British Government so ignorant of the real 
 nature and condition of our colonial property, that they not only 
 offered them leases, but such leases, that if the Colonial Govem- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 ment had not been more prudent than the Imperial one, they 
 would have made over in perpetuity the whole of New South 
 Wales and Fort Phillip to about 2000 individuals ! 
 
 Such is the Land Question of the colonies. It is a great ques- 
 tion, which has now to be fought out between the squatters and 
 the people. The one party, though powerful in position, is weak 
 in numbers ; the other party is powerful in numbers, and in the 
 force of natural necessities ; and there requires no oracle to foretel 
 which will prevail. Let us hope that the passions excited by the 
 contest will not lead to rash measures, and the injury of the real 
 interests of the colony and of the squatters, — a body of gentle- 
 men in themselves distinguished by much intelligence and many 
 virtues, and who have been placed, by the folly of the Home Go- 
 vernment, in a position too tempting to the weak side of human 
 nature. 
 
 The system that has been pursued in South Australia since the 
 Wakefield bubble broke, compelling the colony to seek assistance 
 from the Home Government, has been far preferable to the system in 
 Victoria. The squatters have not been thrown into a false position 
 by being fed on hopes of leases and long tenures. They can take 
 squatting land at a cheap rate, but only on a pro tempore holding, 
 and to be quitted at a month's notice whenever wanted for sale. 
 Land has chiefly been sold in eighty-acre sections, so as to cut off 
 the land speculators from the chance of buying large tracts over 
 the heads of the small capitalist ; and by this means a farming po- 
 pulation has been established who have not only supplied that 
 colony with corn and vegetables, but have even been able to ex- 
 port them to Victoria. While, on the other hand, never surely 
 could the gold discovery, and its consequent rush of immigration, 
 have found a country so totally unprepared as that to support an 
 accession of population. The Orders in Council actually forbade 
 the cultivation of the country. Everything, — not merely tea and 
 sugar and manufactured goods, but all those things which a country 
 should produce for itself, as corn, hay, eggs, butter, bacon, and 
 even timber, — had to be imported from vast distances, and at 
 enormous cost. Thus the money flowed out of the country as fast 
 as it was dug up ; and the digger had to spend nearly all he got 
 for the most simple and bare necessaries. The Government of 
 Mr. La Trobe had to pay away its apparently great income, — 
 two millions a year, for salaries, labour, and everything that it 
 wanted, at ten times the real value of the thing. If you looked 
 over the estimates of the colony, you saw that the salaries of 2000/. 
 and 3000/. a year to different officers had to be accompanied by 
 
PRESENT POSITION OF THE LAND QUESTION. 85 
 
 500/. a year for house-rent besides. All the public works carried 
 on were paid for at the same ten-fold rate ; and a proportionate 
 loss would be suffered on them when land and labour descended 
 to their natural value. 
 
 I believe the estimate for the Hall of the New Legislature was 
 two millions ; the original estimate of the New Parliament Houses 
 in London ! 
 
 The policy of Victoria under Mr. La Trobe was, in fact, nothing 
 but a piece of artificial machinery for exhausting its wealth. It 
 drew the gold of the colony, as fast as it was raised, into the 
 pockets of merchants, publicans, shopkeepers, and land-jobbers, 
 whose only thought was to make off home with it as soon as they 
 had enough. Imagine the difference if this wealth, as accumulated, 
 had been invested in the soil ! And imagine the astonishment of 
 the Americans there at this suicidal policy, comparing it with what 
 they saw at home. They declared that, if this system were con- 
 tinued and the gold-fields should fail, Victoria, instead of having 
 benefited by her transient period of prosperity, would remain more 
 like an exhausted air-pump than anything else. Such of them as 
 were diggers said that there were thousands of diggers who could 
 not then purchase land if it were offered ; for, when they had 
 money, they spent it in Melbourne in folly because there was no 
 land to buy. 
 
 The colony has now its New Constitution. It is excellent, so 
 far as the Lower House, or House of Assembly, goes ; but the 
 Upper House, or Legislative Council, is an abortion, and has fallen 
 into speedy contempt. It consists of twenty-five individuals, who 
 are required to be worth not less than 10,000/. each, and are to 
 hold their seats for ten years I Wealth is the main requisite, and 
 that is in the hands of the squatters, land-jobbers, and publicans. 
 To suppose that a House of Assembly, elected by all but universal 
 suffrage, will submit to have their measures obstructed or revised 
 by an tipper House of retired grogsellers and landsharks, is too 
 preposterous altogether. 
 
 The Argus has given its estimate of the publicans ; and I 
 may just state that the very largest land-jobber of Australia is a 
 certain individual universally known by the name of Long Clark. 
 This person holds great tracts both here and in Van Diemen's 
 Land, which lie waste, or at least untilled, waiting for a rise 
 in value equal to his capacious desires. This gentleman was 
 the other day going over to Tasmania, in the steamer, with a 
 friend of mine, and observing passengers reading, he said, " I 
 wonder what pleasure people can find in thrusting their noses into 
 
 G 3 
 
86 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 books. / never read a book in my life : and I gQi on very well 
 without." 
 
 General Mundy happened to come across this extraordinary 
 character in 1850 or 1851, and gives this account of him: — "Among 
 the passengers of the * Shamrock,' my notice was particularly 
 attracted to a tall, stout, German-like man, about fifty years of 
 age, with huge reddish whiskers, attired in a dirty drab Chester- 
 field, without waistcoat, gloves, or other expletives of dress ; who 
 stood generally with hands in pockets, smoking his cigar and lean- 
 ing against the funnel. When he did draw forth a great pair of 
 freckled fists, it was either to light another cigar, or to refer to a 
 note-book. It was a note-book worth referring to ! When not 
 thus employed, he was frequently sleeping, or apparently sleeping, 
 on a bench before his cabin door. This person was Mr. S. T. Clark, 
 well known as the great landowner and land purchaser. Last year 
 he purchased from Government 28,000/. worth of land in Fort 
 Phillip district, which, at the minimum price of crown lands, would 
 give the like number of acres ; and within his cabin door, whereat 
 he keeps a sort of mastiff watch, although not an obvious one, is 
 a small portmanteau, in which, as he told me himself, he has at 
 this moment 20,000/. (5000/. in gold), which he is carrying to 
 Melbourne for the purchase of another block, or special survey, of 
 crown land. In Van Diemen's Land he has already purchased 
 50,000 acres, part from the crown, part from private persons ; 
 a good deal of it is cleared, fenced, and with more than one 
 valuable homestead. 
 
 " This season, he informed me, he had sheared in New South 
 Wales 90,000, and in Van Diemen's Land, 40,000 sheep. He had 
 sent to England this year 1500 bales of wool, which, at 20/. a bale, 
 gives 30,000/. He has no taste for luxuries, cares little even for 
 the comforts of life, so far as himself is concerned. He is bestow^- 
 ing on his children a liberal education, his sons studying with a 
 clergyman in England. They will soon be able to share his 
 labours — the labour of amassing money and property." 
 
 Mr. Clark was originally a butcher in Sydney, and made a good 
 start by buying up property in the disastrous times following the 
 great crash of 1842. General Mundy spoke of his memorandum - 
 book, but this founder of a line of Antipodean magnates boasts 
 that he can keep all his accounts in the crown of his hat ! 
 
 There is a model Australian senator of the Upper House for 
 you ! What delicious work a few such native geniuses, associated 
 with an equal or predominating number of grogsellers, must make 
 in the upper regions of a colonial legislature ! 
 
THE LAND QUESTION: THE REMEDY. 87 
 
 We found some little concessions made to the clamorous cry for 
 land. Several townships had been laid out at the diggings, in osten- 
 sible compliance with the demands of the diggers for houses and for 
 gardens to produce vegetables ; but it would have astonished any- 
 one to see where and what they had fixed on for these digger 
 villages. Both at Bendigo and at the Ovens, they were on the old 
 deserted holes of the diggers, where no mortal would think of 
 placing a house, namely, on heaps of clay and gravel, interspersed 
 with deep pits of stinking water ; in each case these delectable 
 sites having a background of bare rock for the growth of peas, 
 beans, and potatoes ! It was a cruel mockery, especially as there 
 was plenty of really good land and good sites in each place. 
 A wag said he supposed they only meant them to grow rock 
 melons ! 
 
 They had also advertised allotments of land at Benalla, Wan- 
 garatta, and other places on the road to the Ovens, in reluctant 
 compliance with the public outcry ; but what was our astonishment, 
 when passing through those places, to find that the auction was not 
 held on the spot, but at Spring Creek, six and thirty miles off! 
 whither the inhabitants of Benalla and Wangaratta had to travel 
 to purchase land at their own doors ! 
 
 But the subject provokes endless comment. The whole matter, 
 and the whole remedy, lie in four words : " Throw open the 
 Land!" Then, instead of people crowding together, and treading 
 on each other's heels, with no other visible means of support than 
 supplying the diggings with foreign articles of consumption, they 
 would flock up the country into new farms, villages, and towns, 
 abounding with all the luxuries of life. They would soon not 
 only supply their own towns, but other countries, with their pro- 
 duce. The land would not only be a land literally flowing with 
 milk and honey, but they would soon be able to carry on a vast 
 foreign trade, not only in wool and gold, but in corn, wine, fruits, 
 fresh and dry, in bark, timber, flax, gum, and sundry other articles. 
 In dried fruits, such as apples, pears, plums, peaches, and in pre- 
 serves and marmalades of melons, quinces, peaches, apricots, nec- 
 tarines, &c., there is no nation that could rival them. Instead of 
 the present unnatural and monstrous condition of things, the 
 natural pressure producing a moral tone precisely in keeping with 
 it, Australia would soon become what it will do so soon as it casts 
 off its incubus of selfish and ignorant government, a great country; 
 an assemblage of countries, which, not only from its own vast ex- 
 tent, its fine climate, and innate advantages, but from its position 
 in reference to India, China, South Africa, and the Archipelagos 
 
 G 4 
 
88 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of the Pacific and Indian oceans, must be one of the greatest and 
 most fortunate regions of the world. 
 
 Yet three years have passed on since this was written, and the 
 land question is not yet settled. The squatters have proved strong 
 enough to defeat any definite measure on that subject. We must, 
 however, defer the details to our new chapter. 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Thermometer at 139°. — Description of Dust-Wind in Melbourne. — Pro- 
 specting. — Blow- flies. — Attempts to dig out a Wombat. — Rush to New- 
 Diggings in the Buffalo Mountains. — Scenes on the Road. — A frightful 
 Gap in the Hills. — A Chat with some Commissioners, and their Notions. — 
 
 Scenery on the Buckland River New Features of the Buckland Diggings. 
 
 — Platypuses and Leatherheads. 
 
 The exposition of the Land Question in my last chapter, which I 
 wished to make clear to every one, put out a few incidents occurring 
 at the Upper Yackandanda which I shall now note, before proceed- 
 ing to fresh scenes. 
 
 Mr. Bateman arrived from Melbourne, and brought us much 
 news of heat, dust, and sickness in that city, from which we in 
 these pleasant woods were comparatively free. I had observed by 
 the newspapers, that one day when the thermometer with us only 
 stood at 115° in the sun, it was 139° at Geelong; an evidence that 
 we were much cooler near the Snowy Mountains. That the 
 reader may not think either that I have at times exaggerated the 
 dust'winds of Melbourne, I now cut out the following passages 
 of a letter from the Argus, 
 
 "CONFOUND THE DUST. 
 " To the Editor of the Argus. 
 
 « Sir, — You may have read of the evasive answer of the countryman, who, 
 when rebuked by his pastor' for swearing, and reminded that Scripture says, 
 ' Swear not at all ; ' simply, or perhaps shrewdly, replied, • I don't swear at aW, 
 I only swears at those who annoy me.' 
 
 " This is very much my case ; I endeavour to avoid the vulgar vice, but am 
 ashamed to say that I do occasionally catch myself swearing like the country- 
 man at whatever very seriously annoys me, and when I have found myself on 
 my return from a walk through Melbourne, laden, begrimed, suffocated, 
 blinded, and nauseated with dust, I have forgotten Scripture, and cursed the 
 dust most emphatically. 
 
DUST-WIND IN MELBOURNE. * 89 
 
 " I am an old colonist, but recently returned from the well- watered, cleanly 
 streets and suburbs of English cities, which I have been accustomed to traverse 
 for hours together, and still to retain the clean face and polished boots with 
 which I sallied forth. I am somewhat particular on those points ; they are 
 essential to my comfort, and, as an Englishman, I look upon comforts as my 
 birth-right. 
 
 " There is very little dust on board-ship, except what the Captain may kick 
 up, and on landing, one is therefore less than ever prepared to encounter it. 
 
 " Melbourne, when I quitted it, was certainly a dusty town. Proud as I am, 
 as a colonist of the year 1840, of most things connected with Victoria, I am 
 fain to admit that I have always been ashamed of the du&t, and the disorderly 
 streets of Melbourne, and still more so of the absence of sewerage, and the 
 commonest sanitary precautions. That we have hitherto been spared from 
 pestilence, we have little to thank the Government, the Corporation, or our- 
 selves ; if we escape it in time to come, it seems (from the little that is doing 
 in those respects), that we may still say the same. But to return to the dust ; 
 which I may immediately do in reality by opening the window, or leaving my 
 mark upon the furniture, for the dust is everywhere and on everything. 
 
 " I expected that the wealth and importance of Melbourne in these golden 
 days would have led to the suppression of this and other nuisances ; but the 
 first glance from Hobson's Bay in the well-known direction showed me, not the 
 city of Melbourne, but the dust of it, high in air as formerly: and I still have 
 to regret that the most striking peculiarities of this extraordinary city are its 
 atmosphere of dust, and the dirty faces of its inhabitants. The disadvantage 
 at which this infliction places it in the eyes of new-comers, is but too well 
 shown by their published letters in England. Dirt is thoroughly un-English. 
 I wish I could say it is equally un-Australian. Everywhere abroad an Eng- 
 lishman is recognised by the neatness of his toilette, and the cleanliness of his 
 person ; why should he be forced to extinguish his characteristic in one of the 
 purest atmospheres in the world ? 
 
 " The dust is no longer what it used to be — one of the attendant plagues of 
 a hot wind, or strong south-wester. The increase of traffic in the streets, and 
 the accumulation, here and there, of building materials, have now made it an 
 ever-constant plague. 
 
 " No man, woman, or child can walk the streets in peace for it. No stranger 
 can gratify his curiosity as to the extent and wonderful prosperity of the capital 
 of Victoria, without being disgusted, dirtied, and disheartened by the dust, and 
 being driven to the conclusion that, on that account alone, it is the vilest place 
 to live in that can be found in such a climate. The destruction of clothing it 
 occasions is beyond belief — the aggravation of temper beyond conception. No 
 man in England can have an idea of it, excepting from their experience of the 
 Epsom road on race days. 
 
 ■ " The state of wretchedness to which the community is reduced, or I ought 
 to say to which they voluntarily submit, by this new destructive element, is 
 perfectly pitiable. To see well-dressed men and elegant women writhing 
 through a whirlwind of dust, would be ludicrous, if it were not lamentable. 
 Heads and bodies slewed from side to side to escape particularly strong whifFs; 
 features distorted in disgust; eyes half shut, regardless of the risks of collision, 
 and lips rigidly closed, form a rather distressing object. Excepting when the 
 atmosphere is perfectly still, which it seldom is, each individual passer-by 
 becomes a picture of misery," &c. &c. 
 
90 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Whoever is the writer, he has not in the slightest degree exag- 
 gerated the nuisance, for, with all respect for Melbourne, it must 
 be allowed to be the dustiest town on our planet. It is lucky for 
 those who see little of it, but live cleanly and freshly sub tegmine 
 gummi. 
 
 Our party being enlarged, we left Mr. Bateman and Charlton 
 working our old claim in the creek. We had made a Tom, and 
 found that we could work out with ease a good quantity of gold. 
 Alfred, Lignum, and myself proceeded on a prospecting tour in the 
 neighbouring mountains. We visited various creeks which we 
 had seen and slightly tested the preceding summer, but though in 
 all outward appearance exactly resembling those we had found so 
 rich, and what is still more strange, though running out of the 
 very same hills, but on opposite sides, they were all too poor to 
 work. Such are the continual anomalies of the gold distribution. 
 
 In one of the deepest and most secluded valleys, into which we 
 had indeed great trouble to descend, from the steepness of the 
 hills, and the thickness of the scrub, we were surprised to find a 
 digger's cradle standing by the creek, and the creek worked to 
 some extent in that place. On examining the cradle, it had evi- 
 dently stood there from the former summer ; for its iron work was 
 rusted, and the heaps of gravel thrown out of the creek had 
 lost the look of freshness. Looking about, we discovered where 
 the digger had had his abode. It consisted of a rude hut of boughs 
 and bark, raised against a rock, and there still remained his bed 
 of leaves. The strange look of the cradle standing in that solitary 
 valley, and of the deserted hut, made us almost expect to find the 
 digger lying dead somewhere ; but on trying the creek where he 
 had been working, it turned out to be so poor that it explained the 
 mystery. The poor fellow had carried his cradle many miles into 
 this desert hidden place, no doubt believing that he had discovered 
 a profitable digging, and hoping to reap the fruits of it alone, but 
 being disappointed, he had not heart even to carry his cradle back 
 again. 
 
 The plague of flies in this shut-up glen was something terrible. 
 What do these vermin live on, where there is no living creature? 
 Having here nobody but us to prey upon, they assailed us with 
 voracious fury. The little black-devil fly all day attacked our eyes, 
 nose, and mouth ; and great blow-flies in thousands blew our 
 blankets, rugs, and everything woollen, all over with their mag- 
 gots, which were at once dried upon them by the sun. They 
 covered spaces of a foot square at once with them, all adhering 
 by a sort of glueyness. When these blankets, &c., were folded up 
 
ATTEMPTS TO DIG OUT A WOMBAT. 91 
 
 and wrapped in oilcloth to carry on the horses, they glazed every 
 end and fold that was visible with them. 
 
 These wretches have instinct enough to know that woollen is 
 animal matter, but not enough to be aware that the larvas will die 
 upon it. The only plan is, to expose the woollen to the sun, 
 which scorches them, and then brush them out in a state of white 
 dust. They blow all the blankets they can get at in the colony, 
 and in the road-side inns you find the blankets frequently glazed 
 with them, in addition to the general nuisance of bugs. 
 
 Before leaving our creek, in the woods round which wombats 
 abound, we determined to make a resolute attempt to dig one out. 
 Though there are such numbers, we were seldom able to get sight 
 of one. They appear amazingly cunning animals. They make 
 their holes where the scrub is so high and thick that you can 
 rarely get a glimpse of them during the moonlight nights, and 
 night is almost the only time that they come out. Then they dig 
 their holes so deep and to such a length that it is almost impossible 
 to come at them. They make their holes so large that a good-sized 
 boy might creep into them, but not a man, and these holes, gra- 
 dually descending to a depth of ten or twelve feet, proceed under- 
 ground for twenty or thirty yards. In the next place, they make 
 their dens often near to each other, so that there are a sort of sub- 
 terranean villages of them, and most of them have two entrances, 
 if not three, while some have holes communicating with their 
 neighbours' dens. From these causes the reader may judge of the 
 difficulty of coming at them. 
 
 I have mentioned the perpendicular circular holes which de- 
 scend into them, dug by the natives. But how they dig these 
 holes is a profound mystery to me. They are so narrow that no 
 white man can stoop in them, and are commonly from eight to ten 
 feet deep. How they manage either to dig these holes, or to throw 
 the earth out of them is amazing ; — we could not do it. The only 
 way that we can imagine is for them to crouch down and dig be- 
 tween their legs ; for they can crouch in a much less compass than 
 we can. But what a labour to dig in this manner through eight or 
 ten feet of hard gravel ! And then how they can contrive to keep 
 the beast exactly under the hole that they dig while it is doing ! 
 It is said that they set a child with a stick to hem in the animal, 
 but when it has two or three outlets it would require two or three 
 children. 
 
 As we had no black children, or white ones either, we were 
 compelled to trust to our dogs. We sent them down, one at each 
 end, and soon had them furiously barking at the creature a long 
 
\ 
 
 92 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 way under ground, while it kept up a constant low deep growl. 
 We got Prin out, and then sent him in with a string tied to hi* 
 leg, by which means we ascertained how far he was from us 
 The other end we stopped up, and then sank a hole down to where 
 he appeared to be. We sank ten feet there. There, however, he 
 was not, but had contrived to move himself a good way towards 
 the other end, spite of the dogs, one of which we had sent in each 
 way. We then sank another hole, down to w^here he then was ; 
 ten feet again ; but on getting down, he was not there either, but 
 about halfway between our two holes. The dogs were still furious 
 Pincher, the bulldog, had a regular fight with him, and Prin re- 
 peatedly came out with mouthfuls of the wombat's hair. Before 
 we could get our third hole down, night came on, and we barri- 
 caded him in, and left him. Had we left one hole open and dug a 
 pitfall at its mouth, we should have been pretty sure of him. But 
 we seemed so secure of him now, hemmed in between our two 
 holes, that we were confident of his speedy capture in the morning. 
 By that time, however, he had burrowed in a new direction, and 
 that to the extent of twelve feet. Here our dogs from some cause 
 refused to follow him, and on putting down a candle tied to a long 
 stick to ascertain the reason, we found that the burrow was filled 
 with choke-damp (carbonic-acid gas), which the dogs could not 
 breathe. 
 
 The wombat had no doubt broke a way into an old run filled 
 with this gas. From this old burrow he had made his escape, and 
 so we gave up our pursuit of him, after having dug thirty feet in 
 depth and six feet by three in length after him through hard 
 gravel. We came to the conclusion that it is useless to dig for a 
 creature which digs as fast as you do, but that the only way is to 
 trap him. 
 
 At this juncture there came a wonderful report of a rush to the 
 Buckland river, sixty miles off amongst the Snowy Mountains. 
 The accounts, as usual, were various and contradictory — full of 
 marvel, and nuggets, and negations. We resolved to see and 
 judge for ourselves, so Alfred and Lignum mounted and rode off; 
 intending, if not satisfied with the Buckland, to go ahead and ex- 
 plore some of the tributary creeks. 
 
 There is no rest for the sole of the digger's foot. Our pro- 
 spectors returned on the 20th of December 1853, post haste, to 
 say that the Buckland |vas likely to turn out well; but that there 
 was no time to be lost ; we must be off the next morning. 
 
 They found the place about sixty miles off in the Buffalo Moun- 
 tains, the roads steep and difficult for about five miles at each end. 
 
RUSH TO THE BUFFALO MOUNTAINS. 93 
 
 but all the rest, along the bottom of one long valley, good and 
 sound. It was a wild country, with steep rocks and precipices. 
 The river, a rapid mountain stream^ perhaps twice as large as 
 the New River, which required to be raced off, and turned, the 
 gold being in the bottom. But already 2000 people had arrived, 
 and had taken possession of thirty miles of the river, running from 
 the valley up into the most rugged defiles of the mountains, where 
 neither cart nor horse could approach. The road was full of peo- 
 ple hurrying thither with breathless haste. No less than two 
 hundred tents were struck in one day in one gully at Nine Mile 
 Creek, and the whole of the Ovens Diggings bade fair to be 
 speedily depopulated. 
 
 If the accounts continued good, there was sure to be a tremendous 
 rush from all the diggings in the colony, for everywhere they then 
 seemed fast wearing out, and the excessive numbers of diggers were 
 at their wits' end, and on tiptoe ready to be off in any direction 
 where rumour promised a fresh field. 
 
 The accounts which our couriers gave of the groups on the road 
 were very amusing. They saw huge files of men with swags, 
 hurrying along, and other groups coming down again much faster 
 than the others were going up, having left their tools and every- 
 thing but a blanket and some provisions behind, in order to be 
 down to their mates with the news, and get up their effects as fast 
 as possible ; drays, carts, all sorts of vehicles, were labouring along 
 with tents, tools, women, and children. There were plenty of 
 break-downs upon the roads, and things dropped in the hurry. 
 Amongst other things, they overtook a huge and very fat hen, 
 trudging along with a string to its leg ; they dismounted and 
 secured it; and seeing a dray ahead, they tied chucky up in a 
 handkerchief, and rode on. On coming up with the dray they 
 asked the people if they had lost anything; and on looking round 
 they thought they had not; but the woman going behind the dray, 
 and looking into a bucket which hung there, cried out, — "Oh! 
 my hen! my hen! I've lost my hen!" They handed it over to 
 her, and great was the rejoicing of the whole family over the re- 
 covered hen. 
 
 They saw also two boys labouring along with a heavy-laden 
 truck, drawn by a donkey. This was on their return, and the 
 lads asked them how the roads were ; they told them that about 
 five miles were very bad, and very steep. At which they pulled 
 immensely long faces, and cried out in a lamentable tone, — " Then 
 we shall never get there, for we have been«upset once already!" 
 
 All that they met were anxious for the news, and when they 
 
94 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 said it was good, they gave great shouts, swung their tools round 
 their heads, and hurried on. At the place itself all was bustle; 
 diggers, storekeepers, and doctors were already putting up their 
 tents, and getting to work. A single Commissioner was there, 
 with only one trooper, but had not even a plate, or a knife and 
 fork to eat with, they had gone up in such a hurry ; and were glad 
 that our party could leave them theirs for a few days. 
 
 We set out with all speed for this Buckland, but still we were 
 not quick enough. The mischief is that you hear so many won- 
 derful stories that prove false, that you will not listen to a first 
 rumour, and by the time that something authentic reaches you, it 
 is too late. There are thousands of men at the diggings, ready to 
 start at a moment's notice, and having neither baggage nor good 
 luck to detain them. At the first whisper, therefore, of a new 
 field, they shoulder their picks and shovels, and their swags, and 
 stalk away with all the speed they can put forth. If there be any 
 good ground they at once secure it, and by the time that those 
 who have carts and provisions to bring up arrive, there is no 
 ground left. 
 
 This was the case here ; the discoverer of the diggings, Mr. 
 Pardoe, an American, had been in the place fifteen weeks. Sepa- 
 rated by sixty miles from Spring Creek, the nearest diggings, 
 buried amongst woods and mountains, rarely if ever before tra- 
 versed by the white man, he might well calculate on spending a 
 year undiscovered. But within ten days he was discovered, and 
 there was an immediate rush ! This did not take much hold on 
 public opinion, for the river has a strong full current, and can only 
 be turned by large parties, and the bed of the river kept dry by a 
 water-wheel constantly working a belt-pump. Few diggers except 
 Californians are equal to this, and, therefore, there was a temporary 
 damp on the Buckland discovery. But news came, that though 
 there was no gold except in the stream, yet parties who had suc- 
 ceeded in turning the river were taking out of it from twelve to 
 eighteen ounces of gold per day. 
 
 This news being confirmed by the Commissioner, we made all 
 despatch ; but we found 500 people a day going up, and when we 
 arrived, thirty-five miles of the river were occupied completely, 
 leaving no interval of a single claim. Excellent claims which our 
 pioneers had noted, were all entered upon before we could get up, 
 and we were obliged to come further down the stream, where there 
 was more water, and less certainty of gold. 
 
 For twenty-five miles above the Commissioner's camp, ten miles 
 above this spot, the river ran between mountains so steep and 
 
THE BUCKLAND DIGGINGS. 95 
 
 rocky, and crowding so close upon it, that so far from carts getting 
 up, not even horses could ascend, and those who got up thither 
 were obliged to climb and scramble up through a dense scrub as 
 high as their heads, with their swags, as well as they could. But 
 I must give you some account of our journey hither. 
 
 After travelling a few miles we came to a dreadful gap in the 
 hills, through which we had to descend into the valley which runs 
 the whole way thither, sixty miles. This certainly was a formi- 
 dable place ; it was a sudden dip from the hills down into this 
 valley ; the only possible descent being by taking the cart round 
 the steep foreland of the hill, steep as a house roof, with the cart 
 hanging all on one side, and then shooting down a hollow still 
 steeper, with a pole put through both wheels to lock them fast. 
 We half unloaded our cart, and took off the other horses, for we 
 were now drawing Lignum's horse too, and left only Ben in 
 the shafts. Our business was to hang on the upper side of the 
 cart by ropes, as we rounded the head of the hill, to keep the cart 
 from toppling over ; and then to hang again behind at the shoot, 
 to keep it from carrying horse and everything before it. Plenty 
 of smashed drays, boxes, tins, tubs, and the like, attested the fate 
 of former attempts, and there were three carts at the bottom, -which 
 had been wholly unloaded to get them down, and the people very 
 busy reloading them. 
 
 At the first view of the descent, Ben ran backwards, and, spite 
 of all our efforts and floggings, jibbed most determinedly down 
 towards a frightful ravine, where both the cart and himself would 
 have been dashed to atoms. It was only by actively flinging great 
 stones behind the wheels, that we managed in time to scotch them, 
 and get Ben out ; of course there was now nothing for it, but un- 
 loading everything, and carrying our effects down the hill ; heavy 
 boxes, a bag of flour, sugar, tea, beds, blankets, a heavy Tom, a 
 good load for four people, &c. These, one by one, as packs on the 
 horses, or on our own backs, we carried down. By the time that 
 all this was done, having, as may be supposed, not only the loads 
 down, but many a still more laborious climb up the hill again, it 
 was night, and time to camp, which we did at the foot of the hill, 
 fairly worn out. The day, too, had been a remarkably close heavy 
 one, — the thermometer at 102°; and we observed that all who came 
 up the valley from towards the Buckland were covered, and their 
 horses too, with perspiration, and with flies in thousands. 
 
 This descent of the gap perfectly satisfied Mr. Bateraan. He 
 declined any further pleasures of the journey; and the next morn- 
 ing took his way down again to Melbourne. Thus, like one of 
 
96 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Bunyan's characters, " He went on his way, and we saw him 
 no more." 
 
 While engaged in our laborious descent, two of the Spring 
 Creek Commissioners came past, and stopped for a chat. I par- 
 ticularly recommended this spot to their attention, showing them 
 that a very few days' work by half a dozen men would throw out 
 a terrace road round this foreland head, and enable the diggers to 
 make the descent in safety, if not with ease. Their reply was quite 
 characteristic, and evinced the universal spirit of the Government 
 at that time. They could not, in fact, see that there was any claim 
 or duty incumbent upon them to make the roads to the diggings 
 accessible. Their only duty, they imagined, was to collect the 
 licence money when the diggers have got tliere by some means ! 
 
 " Oh ! " said they, " there is a very good road round by Dr. 
 Mackay's." Fifteen miles round ! " But see," I observed, '^ how 
 little would make this, the direct road, passable." 
 
 " Oh! " they rejoined, "all the rest of the way is very good, we 
 assure you." 
 
 " Then, there will be only this for you to do." At this they 
 smiled, but could not arrive at any idea that it in any way con- 
 cerned them. 
 
 From the gap, our journey was up a tolerably level road, 
 between lofty ranges of hills, for a long way along . the banks of 
 the Ovens River. Our only difficulties were in crossing creeks and 
 gulleys, which were pretty steep and swampy, and into which we 
 had to throw wood. The rest of the road was as good as a Maca- 
 damised one ; and we found plenty of grass for our horses. The 
 Ovens we crossed without any difficulty. As we approached the 
 place, the hills grew higher ; the roads were more sidling along 
 their spurs, and the grass and scrub w^ere nearly all burnt up by 
 the diggers, who burn up the country wherever they go, as they 
 say, to get rid of the snakes. But they are a race without a spark 
 of the picturesque or of the perception of beauty in their souls ; 
 and in a marvellously short time contrive, wherever they appear, 
 to destroy every trace of these qualities in the landscape ; setting 
 fire to the grass and bushes, knocking down the trees, and tearing 
 up the earth. Nearly all the country for thirty miles and more, 
 along this river, was thus burnt up ; and they were obliged to send 
 down their horses to the plains to keep. It would have grieved 
 a lover of rural beauty to see the ravages which they had already 
 committed along those valleys and hills. The scenery itself is fine. 
 Ranges beyond ranges of steep granite hills, of 1000 feet or more 
 in height, all in the true Australian style, running in long stretches, 
 
CHAT WITH COMMISSIONERS. ' 97 
 
 steep and sharp- edged at the top, and ascending on the summit into 
 occasional peaks and hollows, but covered from head to foot with 
 a luxuriant clothing of woods. Over them, as we approached, still 
 showed itself the huge bulk of the Buffalo Mountain, the only one 
 which had a partially bare and desolate aspect. 
 
 We encamped just under this mountain, but with a lower 
 range, thickly wooded, between it and us. Higher up the stream 
 the hills approach nearer to each other, and are excessively steep ; 
 the roads over them being dreadful, all up and down, and on one 
 side, in a manner to destroy both horses and vehicles ; and many 
 smashed drays lay on these abrupt and laborious acclivities. The 
 diggers, by pre-occupying the river, however, had spared us the 
 trouble of ascending them. 
 
 There is a peculiarity in these valleys, which we noticed along 
 the banks of the Ovens, as well as of its tributary, the Buckland ; 
 that is, of fine terraces running along them, some at one height, 
 and some at another. If such were in England, they would be 
 seized on as sites for noble mansions, and would make magnificent 
 ones. Some of these enclose basins, including the bed of the 
 river, of from fifty to two or three hundred feet deep. They 
 have, evidently, been the* banks of lakes, whose waters have since 
 burst away into the plains. That this is the case is shown, too, 
 by the rounded, water- worn pebbles that you find everywhere ; 
 and the different heights of the terraces show that the waters have 
 escaped at various successive periods. 
 
 The banks of this mountain-stream, the Buckland, before they 
 were burnt by the diggers, must have presented a scene of fine, 
 solitary woodland country. The stream rushes along over a bed 
 occasionally strewn with huge round blocks of granite, and 
 between rocks hung with masses of luxuriant shrubs and trees — 
 many of the names of the shrubs being unknown to us. I stood 
 long to admire one bank, of several hundred feet, ascending 
 steeply from the rocky margin of the river, which had escaped 
 the diggers' conflagration : and I thought, what would not many a 
 nobleman have given for such a one in his park. The whole of 
 it was draped in a rich garniture of magnificent ferns and 
 verdant shrubs, many of the latter in flower ; while here and 
 there amongst them towered up the olive-leaved lightwood trees, 
 with boughs from their very bases. Amongst these was a tall, 
 umbelliferous shrub, with white flowers (Cassinia aculeata)^ 
 which at a distance resembles the wild Guelder rose in blow ; and 
 tea-trees {Leptospermum grandiJiorum\ like hawthorn-trees, in 
 opening blossom ; while white speedwell, six or seven feet high, 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
98 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and another shrub in blossom {Lomatia longifolia), resembling in 
 general appearance the white lilac, broke up beautifully the dark 
 expanse of evergreen foliage. Above, extended high, and wide, 
 and solemn, the primeval forest, and below, the river brawled 
 along in its deep bed, with its pale yellow water discoloured by 
 the diggers. 
 
 These diggings presented an appearance perfectly different 
 to any other that I had seen, from the circumstance of the moun- 
 tain features of the scene ; the deep glens in which the diggings 
 lay being confined to the banks of the river itself. All along, as 
 you proceeded, you still found groups and whole villages of white 
 tents and bullock-drays, with cows and horses vainly seeking food 
 amongst a wilderness of ashes, black and white, and the hot 
 scorched leaves of hop-scrub, and peppermint gum-tree, which 
 had withstood the fires. 
 
 One scene was particularly striking : it was a reach of the 
 river in which Mr. Pardo, the American, was working. You 
 came suddenly to a high, precipitous bank on the road, and saw 
 below you a reach of the river, very deep between its banks, ex- 
 tending, perhaps, a couple of furlongs. In the bed of the river 
 you perceived water-wheels turning, and heard them screaming, 
 and saw numbers of men busy at work amid huge piles, and walls, 
 as it were, of stones, which they had thrown up out of the 
 bottom of the river. They were all in action, washing out the 
 gold at their long-toms, while they kept the ground dry by their 
 belt-pumps ; on each side the river banks being rocky and shaggy 
 with wood, and the whole view most striking and unique. 
 
 Where we were camped the country was somewhat opener ; but 
 the scrub was all burnt ; and bush-fires were raging in the 
 swamps and amongst the hills, to the very tops of many of which 
 they had reached. We were obliged to send our horses across 
 the river, where, fortunately, a small patch of grass had escaped, 
 and where the feet of the mountains presented an obstacle to 
 their straying. The Buffalo looked down upon us from his naked 
 and rocky summit, and seemed to stand in sublime security from 
 this fire-scattering race of rude men, who scorched the forests 
 around his base. The Commissioner said there were great 
 numbers of very rude fellows already come up thither, but they 
 were quietness and civility, nay politeness itself, compared with 
 the raff of Bendigo. 
 
 We had platypuses sporting about in the river, wild dogs 
 howling dismally in the mountainous woods at night, and our old 
 friends the leatherheads flitting about here, and as amusing as 
 
SUPEEIOR CLASS OF DIGGERS. 9^1 
 
 ever. They had a song there that we never heard before. It 
 was like the note of a fairy trumpet in the woods : " Tu 
 chahaha! haha! chahaha! chalia!" ending in a most unmusical 
 chatter, as if laughing at their own song. But nothing but such 
 a trumpet, or a violin, could imitate the tones of this strange bird, 
 which has an endless variety of notes. As to human neighbours, 
 we had only two or three parties near us, and the head of one of 
 them was an old Van Diemonian convict, but, notwithstanding 
 that, a very decent, quiet, neighbourly fellow. 
 
 k 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Better Class of Diggers. — " Good Morning Men and Women." — Attempt to 
 turn the River. — Arduous Struggle with it. — Banks give way. — Buckland 
 Fever. — Irish Giant goes. — Story of Mr. Pardo, the Discoverer of the 
 Buckland Diggings. — New Rush to Bryant's Ranges, 250 Miles off ! — 
 Decrease in the Gold. — Dangers from Diggerdom if the Gold fails. — These 
 wild Rushes betray growing Poverty. — A Crisis approaches. 
 
 The diggers at the Buckland we found a" very quiet and civil race, 
 at the same time that they were a most active and laborious one. 
 It was all wet work; and you saw them wading about to the 
 waists in water all day, as though they were amphibious crea- 
 tures. I have stated that this superior character was most 
 striking at the Ovens ; and the principal part of the diggers there 
 were from the Ovens. The men addressed you courteously, 
 though with a manly freedom that I liked ; but you had no vulgar 
 insolence. You had none of them accosting you with — " Well, 
 old fellow, how goes it ? " or, '* I say, old fellow, are you a sailor, 
 that you wear blue trowsers?" or, "I say, fellow, what's the 
 clock, eh?" It was there, "Good day, sir," and nothing more. 
 I never received a single incivility at the Ovens, except from the 
 Miller and his men ; but I received many a one at Bendigo and 
 at M'lvor. Not but that there was a large population of quiet, 
 intelligent, and respectable people at both those places ; but it was 
 their misfortune to have, or to have had a prominent admixture of 
 the ruder class. The only instance that I saw at the Buckland of^ 
 that lawlessness which was common at those other places was 
 one Sunday, as Alfred and I rode up to Camp for our letters. 
 
 A great number of diggers had made a cricket-ground of the 
 highway. They had put down their stumps in the very centre 
 
 H 2 
 
100 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of it, and would neither pause nor give way for any one. We 
 managed to avoid the flying balls as well as we could. On 
 returning, the same scene was going on, though the mounted 
 police, whose duty it was to have put a stop to this dangerous 
 play in the main road, had just ridden by. As we came up a 
 fellow flung the ball close past my horse's ear ; it was struck 
 back, with furious force, in the direction of Alfred, and it was all 
 that he could do to avoid its striking him in the face. We 
 stopped and quietly remonstrated with them on the danger of 
 their playing in the public road, observing to them, that the ball 
 striking a horse might occasion some very serious accident to the 
 rider. Instead of receiving the observation well, they began to 
 hoot and bawl, and threaten all sorts of things, saying, " Get along 
 with 5'ou ; we do as we like here. You are not in England, re- 
 member." These certainly were not Ovens men, except they 
 came from Reid's Creek. It is something, however, in a miscel- 
 laneous gathering of people who thus feel that they are very much 
 their own masters, to have only one such scene amongst 5000 or 
 6000 persons. We were very much struck with the blunt, 
 republican style of address in a young man who came up to a tent 
 by the road-side, where there were several smart young people of 
 both sexes : — " Good morning, men and women ! " There was no 
 afiectation of " ladies and gentlemen," which you hear amongst 
 the very humblest people at home, — it was plain men and women. 
 He lit his pipe at their fire, chatted awhile, and then, with " Well, 
 men and women, good luck, and good day to you," marched on. 
 
 I mentioned in my last chapter that we were marking off" a por- 
 tion of the river, and had cut a race of 120 feet long, 7 feet deep, 
 and 5 feet wide. That finished, we proceeded to make a dam 
 across the I'iver. This we did by felling a white gum-tree on the 
 banks, so as to fall in a slanting direction across the river. It 
 fell admirably, so that its upper end was exactly at the entrance of 
 our race, where we wanted it. We now cut a large quantity of 
 stout stakes, and drove them in along the front of this tree to 
 support the dam of earth. This completed, we cut large sheets 
 of bark, and with them made a wall along the front of the stakes, 
 which itself stopped the bulk of the water. We next cut a vast 
 quantity of sods and earth from the banks of the river, and threw 
 them in in front of the bark, and trod them, with the mass of 
 earth, well down. All went on very well; but as we had in 
 awhile to bring the sods and earth a good way from the banks of 
 the river, we went over, and commenced the same process on the 
 other side. We worked on from day to day, till we were within 
 
ATTEMPT TO TORN THE EIVER. 101 
 
 six feet of meeting in the middle. But now began our difficulties. 
 We went to bed that evening heartily tired ; but with the con- 
 fident feeling that the following day we should close our dam, and 
 turn oiF the river. But alas ! the first thing that we saw in the 
 morning was, that at least six feet of our dam on the farther side 
 was washed away ! We hurried across, and attempted to put a 
 stop to the damage by throwing in fresh sods and earth, and 
 treading them down with all our might. For a time the mischief 
 seemed stayed, and again we advanced with activity from this 
 side. 
 
 But now we were to experience the fortune of the diggers on 
 the Turon. The weather for two or three months had been 
 intensely hot, the thermometer at noon in the sun ranging from 
 100° to 132°. Under this blazing sun we had to pursue our 
 work, which admitted of no intermission. But this heat brought 
 on its usual consequence of storms of thunder and heavy rain. 
 We were stopped by a grand thunder-storm, followed by a day 
 and night of incessant deluging rain. Of course, the river 
 running, as it does, out of a region of precipitous mountains, 
 began to swell and roar most ominously. It rose and rose, and 
 would have risen over the head of our dam, and carried the whole 
 away at once, but that we jumped into the river, and wrenched 
 away a long row of the stakes in the centre, and let the torrent 
 go freely through it. We then paused for a day or two to let the 
 flood abate, but, at the same time, getting a fresh supply of earth 
 and sods ready. 
 
 The water having at length subsided, we again proceeded with 
 our dam. We restored the stakes and the bark, and began once 
 more to .advance our mound. But now we became fully sensible 
 of the arduousness of our undertaking. Our race, large as it was, 
 was not so deep as we could have wished, owing to the bottom 
 being solid rock, and, therefore, the water in the dam rose pro- 
 portionably. Instead of a river of thirty feet or so across, it was 
 now at least fifty feet. Instead of two feet deep, it was at our dam 
 five feet deep. It backwatered the whole river up for several 
 hundred yards ; and the vast mass of water thus thrown on our 
 dam caused it to rush and roar furiously through every crevice 
 of the bark which we had not packed with earth. 
 
 It seemed to us like a great lion who, finding himself penned in, 
 was raging against the obstacles, and determined to break through. 
 Higher and higher it rose, and was every moment about to over- 
 top our dam, and we had to run and carry earth in buckets, and 
 keep raising the bank in height, and treading it hard. But though 
 
 H 3 
 
102 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 we succeeded in preventing the water rising over the dam, we 
 were struck with its furious and determined roar, and became 
 afraid that the vast weight of water now on the dam would press 
 too heavily on the stakes and carry all away. To prevent this, we 
 hurried off, and cut down some long stout poles, with which we 
 shored-up and secured the back of the dam. This answered ad- 
 mirably, and we once more retired to rest, trusting next day, by 
 dint of hard labour, to close the dam ; but, alas ! once more, on 
 rising, we found that our race had dissolved like so much sugar or 
 salt, and the bank between it and the river had for the most part 
 disappeared. 
 
 Here was an end of all our labours, and of all chance of turn- 
 ing off the river. The whole of the soil here was crumbling 
 vegetable matter, which had been washed from the hills, or ac- 
 cumulated by the decay of the thicket and jungle, and had not 
 consistency enough to resist the action of water. We had spent 
 nearly a month's Herculean labour, under this Indian sun, in vain ! 
 It reminded us of Achilles contending with the river Scamander, 
 as described by Homer, when the watery god rose, and raved and 
 roared against him, till it chased him from its bounds. 
 
 We afterwards tried to reach the bottom of the river, and see 
 what gold there was there, by making what they call a paddock; 
 that is, enclosing a square piece of the river with a strong bank of 
 earth between two walls of stones. But we found that the water 
 oozed through the loose, gravelly drift under our banks, in such 
 quantities that we had no hope that a belt-pump and water-wheel 
 even could keep the paddock dry, while the cost of these would be 
 30/. The gold that we could collect from a quantity of drift at 
 the bottom of the paddock was not, on calculation, sufficient to pay 
 for this apparatus, and the enormous and incessant labour. This 
 was the experience of two parties just below, who had succeeded 
 in laying dry their claims, and of several parties above ; so that it 
 was clear that this lower part of the river would not answer for 
 working. We therefore concluded to wind up here, and return to 
 our old favourite camping-ground on the Yackandanda during the 
 remainder of the hot season, where we knew that gold was to be 
 got with ease and comfort. 
 
 Fever, and adulterated articles of food, as well as their excessive 
 dearness, warned us to retire. Articles such as flour, bread, sugar, 
 &c., were excessively adulterated all over the colony. At the 
 Buckland, if you bought brown sugar, the sand made a large per- 
 centage. If you bought a sack of flour, it was 20/., and full of 
 lumps, being clearly American damaged flour mixed with good 
 
BUCKLAND FEVER. 103 
 
 flour. In Melbourne they had appointed a superintendent of 
 weights and measures, who had summoned great numbers of 
 shopkeepers before the mayor, and fined them heavily. And the 
 consequence was, that they threatened to assassinate him. A 
 superintendent was still more necessary in the diggings; but who 
 dared to occupy that post there ? The swindling on some of the 
 diggings was as wholesale as that which was some time ago carried 
 on at Sydney. There a man sold a large quantity of tallow, so- 
 called, which afterwards turned out to be only casks of earth, with 
 a cylinder across the barrel from the bung-hole — where they try 
 the tallow by a probe — filled with the most excellent tallow. Of 
 course, before the fraud was discovered, the ingenious author of it 
 had vanished. 
 
 Partly, I suspect, from the bad flour sent to the Buckland, but 
 still more from causes connected with the situation, there was a 
 great deal of sickness here. Though the diggings were but of a 
 few weeks old, there was a considerable burying-ground already, 
 where you saw numbers of fresh graves surrounded with a rude 
 paling, and on the post at each corner placed a square turf, the 
 digger's monument! 
 
 Those deep valleys, inclosed between steep, wooded mountains, 
 were intensely hot, and rarely traversed by any wind. There were 
 vast jungles here and there, where the valleys opened out into 
 fiats, and everywhere the earth was of a light, porous quality, 
 which absorbed the rain like a sponge, and in the heat exhaled 
 malaria. You might smell the dry-rot of decaying roots of trees 
 as you walked over the surface. A species of low fever prevailed, 
 and attacked, more or less, almost every tent. I felt the creeping 
 approach of it in a depressing lassitude, and resolved to decamp 
 without delay. 
 
 Our Irish giant now quitted us. He had not worked amiss, 
 considering his bulk and the continued broiling heat; but stoop- 
 ing, lie said, killed him ; and he very soon rode otf to the stores, 
 and purchased a shovel with a handle about six feet long, so that 
 he could shovel as he stood erect. It looked dreadfully like a 
 lazy man's contrivance, but still he flung a great quantity of earth 
 behind him with it. But the giant did not bear close acquaint- 
 ance. In a short time he had exhausted all his fun and his anec- 
 dotes, and, as the gay surface wore off*, a coarse nature looked 
 through, that was not so agreeable. He had habits that were not 
 the most refined, and we, therefore, left him behind without any 
 severe regret. 
 
 I had some conversation with Mr. Pardo, the discoverer of the 
 
 H 4 
 
104 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Buckland Diggings, and what he told me may show what bold 
 prospecting — or, in plain English, exploring — is necessary to 
 hunt out new diggings in the wild bush and hills of this country. 
 The Americans are in this, as in all other respects, the people who 
 go ahead. I expect they will some day discover the north pole, 
 and saw it up for lumber. 
 
 Henry W. Pardo is a middle-sized, dark-complexioned man, in 
 the prime of life. His clear skin and lively eyes denote an active 
 and energetic nature, and his countenance altogether is preposses- 
 sing and intelligent. He was born in Oneida County, State of New 
 York, but has chiefly lived in British America. He went to Cali- 
 fornia on the discovery of gold there, overland from the States, 
 crossing the plains and the Missouri River. He was taken ill, and 
 was laid up nine months amongst the Mormons at the G-reat Salt 
 Lake. He was treated very kindly by them, taking care to keep 
 on good terms with them by his orderly conduct; for he observed 
 that they were not more prodigal in the appropriation of wives 
 than exclusive in their possession of them. They resented any 
 familiarity with their numerous harems; and he saw a man shot 
 for incautious attentions to one of their sultanas. 
 
 He said that the greatest difficulty that he ever experienced was 
 on this journey. The passage over the sandy plains and over the 
 Sierra Nevada was marked by a regular succession of the carcasses 
 of horses, bullocks, and men, and the fragments of demolished 
 vehicles and goods. He observed that he would desire no more 
 property than the value of that which lies destroyed on that 
 terrible track. He saw bullocks left yoked to drays that had been 
 deserted, the people having fled for their lives ; for the heats are 
 so fierce, that unless they cross the burning sands before daylight, 
 they are inevitably lost ; the very hoofs of their horses and cattle 
 being parched up and falling off". This was the desert at the head 
 of the Humboldt River. 
 
 He was five days crossing the Sierra Nevada ; but they got over 
 with only one attack from the Indians, who did no further damage 
 than carrying off" three bullocks. He continued thirteen months 
 in California, chiefly on the American River, and the Sacramento. 
 
 On arriving in Victoria, he went up to the Ovens, and, finding 
 the diggings there very much exhausted, set out with one com- 
 panion to prospect ahead. They ascended the Ovens River on 
 the 23rd of November, 1853. They had a couple of packhorses 
 and a good store of provisions. They found gold in the river 
 where it divides into two branches, about forty miles above 
 Mackay's Station. They crossed and followed the right-hand 
 
DISCOVERER OF THE BUCKLAND DIGGINGS. lOo 
 
 branch of the river, and found gold two miles onward. There the 
 road spread out into a swamp, and they found no more gold. They, 
 therefore, advanced onwards towards the Snowy Mountains. As 
 they went along the river they saw several parties digging on its 
 banks ; but the greater number of the men were looking at what 
 the lesser number were doing, and, according to the phrase, waiting 
 on Providence. That was a system which did not suit him ; so he 
 ascended the ranges of the Snowy Mountains till they came to 
 where the snow was lying deep. They followed the dividing range 
 till they came to this river, which they struck about twenty miles 
 above where the Government camp now stands. They prospected 
 down its course, finding but a pennyweight to a dish ; and when 
 they got down to where he was now located, they found half an 
 ounce to a dish. In half an hour they washed two ounces of gold 
 from the stuff out of the bed of the river, and determined to stay 
 there. 
 
 They now proceeded to Spring Creek to bring up the rest of 
 their property, the whole party consisting of nine. They were 
 watched ; but eluded their watchers by going up the Buffalo River, 
 at Johnson's Station, as if seeking the scene of a former unsuccessful 
 rush. They then crossed a high, steep range, in the direction of 
 the Buckland, and encountered a terrific hail-storm, in which the 
 ice fell in square, solid lumps, three of which would fill a pint pot. 
 The horses broke away from the frightful pelting of this storm, 
 while they themselves sheltered as well as they could under trees ; 
 but one of the party was struck on the head by one of these formi- 
 dable stones, which raised a lump as large as a hen's egg. Another 
 grew extremely frightened, declared that this evidently was a 
 country which was never intended for the abode of white men, 
 and began to pray. Mr. Pardo described this storm as rising out 
 of the Buffalo River like a waterspout, which came right on towards 
 them. 
 
 They crossed a river which lies, he says, between the Buffalo 
 and the Buckland, and falls into the Ovens — he supposes ten to 
 fifteen miles below where he is camping. He had determined to 
 work this river, which they prospected, and found gold, but that 
 the doctor told him that he had been in the water too long already, 
 — sixteen months ; and he was at this time suffering from fever. 
 He described the range of the country about there as consisting of 
 quartz and slate. 
 
 Arrived at the chosen spot, he and his party set to work and 
 sawed timber, and made a water-wheel and belt-pump. Thus 
 enclosed by steep mountains, and dense, scrubby forest, the scrub 
 
106 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and jungle of which reached in many places higher than a man's 
 head, he expected that they should scarcely be disturbed till the 
 following summer ; and, indeed, to form any idea of the obscure 
 hiding-place of the scene, it must be seen. The nearest diggings 
 were sixty miles off; the country for the most part trackless and 
 unfrequented. The hills rose everywhere high, and covered with 
 thick forests. The river ran between the hills in a deep, rocky 
 bed, concealed by a tall hop and wattle scrub, and here and there 
 shrouded in thick, rank vegetation, a chaos of brambles, speedwell, 
 coarse grass and reeds. It must have been an arduous task to 
 push a way through this thick obscurity, and continually to 
 scramble up rocks and tangled steeps between the rough acclivities. 
 What a solitary feeling such wanderers must have, especially as 
 evening came down upon them in some of these close, dim gullies, 
 filled with prostrate trunks of giant trees, and inhabited by the 
 wild dog, the wombat, and the snake. They had managed, too, 
 on their journey, to lose their pocket-compass, and could only tell 
 their locality by climbing the highest ranges and contemplating the 
 bearings of the country. 
 
 Well might they expect to enjoy for some time their profitable 
 seclusion ; but, the very week following, a party, who had contrived 
 to track them, came up to where they were at work ! The secret 
 was thus out, and could be no longer kept. To make the matter 
 worse, one of their own party, who went down to Spring Creek 
 for stores, got too much brandy, and boasted publicly that they 
 were making 5 lbs. weight of gold per man daily. There was a 
 violent rush, and in a few weeks the whole course of the Buckland 
 was taken possession of for thirty-five miles in length. 
 
 Some of the baser spirits contended with the discoverer of the 
 gold for the ground which he occupied. They protested that he 
 had got too much, and threatened to cut his race and seize on 
 the chief portion of his claim. This, however, nineteen of the 
 better class of diggers resisted ; declared that no one should touch 
 his claim, and asked the ungenerous fellows, whether they w^ere 
 not ashamed of themselves. Mr. Puckle, the young Commissioner, 
 also protected him. 
 
 But Mr. Pardo's treatment by the Government was worse than 
 that of the diggers. There was a clause in the new law for the 
 gold-fields, enacting a reward for the discovery of new diggings ; 
 Mr. Pardo sent in his claim, but never received even the courtesy 
 of an answer. This was disgraceful to the Government; but 
 Victoria is not given to rewarding its benefactors. Mr. Esmond, 
 who first discovered gold in this colony, — at least, first after its 
 
RUSH TO Bryant's ranges. 107 
 
 discovery in Sydney, for it is said to have really been discovered 
 in Victoria in 1848, — Mr. Esmond, who, acting under the stimulus 
 of a reward of 200/. offered for the discovery, made that discovery 
 in the Pyrenees in August, 1851, has never been able to obtain it. 
 
 Mr. Pardo would have proceeded to work the river just men- 
 tioned, where he had also found gold, if he could have a lease of a 
 sufficient length of time from Government; but he received no 
 encouragement. He complained that the only quantity which he 
 could get of the Buckland did not remunerate him and his party 
 for the outlay in prospecting and working the claim. These are 
 facts that neither reflect honour on the colony, nor are conducive 
 to its real interests. 
 
 The largest quantity of gold sent down by escort in one week 
 was 3000 ounces. 
 
 Then came a new rush, and a violent one, — thousands and 
 thousands of the people who had gone up from the Ovens were 
 now off again, helter-skelter, down to a place called the Porcupine, 
 from the Porcupine Inn, near which our horses were, beyond 
 Bendigo, — 250 miles! Thus, with the sixty miles from the Ovens 
 thither, these crowds , in less than a fortnight, travelled upwards 
 of 300 miles after new rushes ! 
 
 By all accounts the diggings at the Porcupine, or Bryant's 
 Ranges, were totally destitute of water: a hot, burnt-up place; and, 
 however rich it might be, would be torn up, long before these 
 people, about 5000 in number, could get there. It lies between 
 Bendigo and Forest Creek, and not more than about sixty miles 
 from Ballarat ; so that if it proved good, 80,000 people could be 
 upon it in less than a fortnight. 
 
 Mr. Khull, the gold broker, the highest authority in the colony 
 on the subject, stated that there had been a decrease in 1853 in the 
 production of gold, of 142,460 ounces. 
 
 That was a serious revelation, and was a palpable proof that 
 what the diggers said was correct, that they were, large numbers 
 of them, becoming less and less able to live. 
 
 While the gold had decreased in 1853, nearly five tons and a 
 half, according to Khull, crime had increased six per cent., accord- 
 ing to the Government return; 10,000 criminal cases that year 
 having been brought before the magistrates, the amount the pre- 
 vious year being only 4000. 
 
 It was impossible to close our eyes to these facts ; they were in 
 fearful accordance with the wnld rushes which I have described, 
 and with the comparatively deserted aspects of the old chief gold- 
 fields. The over-trading was equally appalling. Fourteen mil- 
 
108 TWO TEARS IN TICTORIA. 
 
 liojis of imports to supply a population of 250,000, — nearly that 
 of one of our second-rate towns, was, allowing for all the anoma- 
 lies of the case, evidently the result of excited speculation, and not 
 of sound transaction. Six million pairs of boots and shoes sent 
 thither in six months, for this quarter of a million of people, — or 
 at the rate of four dozep pairs per annum, for man, woman, and 
 child, — was a fair example of the insane rate at which supply was 
 out-running demand, as it regarded this colony. That a crisis miist 
 come, every sober person outside the whirling Maelstrom of ex- 
 citement clearly saw. But that was another imperative reason 
 for a wise Government to prepare for it, and to hold in readiness 
 land, for the people to fall back upon, and where the shock of com- 
 mercial revolution might be mitigated, and demoralisation might 
 purify itself. 
 
 Succeeding events justified these anticipations: the crisis came, 
 with a violence which produced extensive ruin, and wide-spread 
 distress; but, fortunately, the relaxation of the rigour of the re- 
 fusal of land by Sir Charles Hotham's government, and the dis- 
 covery of new gold-fields, and fresh wealth in the old ones, gradually 
 restored prosperity to the colony. 
 
 CHAP. XXXL 
 
 At our old Creek. — Captain Murray, our Commissioner, — Good Neighbour 
 — A Character from the Cape. — His Rat-trap. — His Escape from; 
 Alligator. — Loses his Gold-bag. — An American compares our Colonial 
 Policy with that of the United States. — Notes our Fear of Russian Invasion 
 of our Gold Colonies. — Points out a great Army of Diggers, and advises to 
 give them Land to defend the Colony as Jonathan does. — Could soon 
 populate Australia. — Arrival of Duke of Newcastle's admirable Despatch. — 
 Unrivalled Advantages of the Squatters. — Pay no more for a whole County 
 than an English Grazier for Eour Acres. — Charge as much for Meat or 
 more. — Ask Compensation for growing rich on Crown Lands. — Present 
 Squatters not the original Pioneers of the Bush. — Jumping Ants. — At- 
 tempts to burn the Bush about us. — Black Thiu-sday. 
 
 We were delighted to get back again to our old creek, on the 
 Upper Yackandanda, to cool shades, quiet, and delicious water. 
 We remained there awaiting the approach of the cooler weather, 
 at the same time that we were profitably employed. We had 
 now only about half a dozen neighbours; the great bulk of the 
 diggers from these diggings had gone down to Bryant's Ranges, 
 
I 
 
 GOOD NEIGHBOURS. 109 
 
 or as they became called, Tarrangower, so named by some High- 
 lander. We heard that great disappointments had occurred there, 
 but that the people, utterly exhausted by their rushes over such 
 immense distances, could not get back, and were obliged to do as 
 well as they could. The drought and want of water were said to 
 be unheard of, and that water for culinary purposes was 2s. 6d. a 
 bucket, having to be brought several miles. 
 
 To our great satisfaction, on our return from the Buckland, we 
 found Captain Murray located at Nine Mile Creek as the Com- 
 missioner. Mr. Hood, an excellent officer and very amiable man, 
 who was there before, being removed elsewhere. Captain Murray, 
 who found himself naturally enough bored at Bendigo, had prayed 
 to be removed, and as our good stars would have it, was sent 
 thither. His society added greatly to our attachment to this 
 neighbourhood. Like ourselves. Captain Murray was extremely 
 pleased with this part of the country ; he had a real feeling for 
 nature, which one would expect in a Highlander, born and brought 
 up amid the splendid scenery of Athol; he has served in India, 
 and seen a good deal of the world and its most intelligent classes. 
 Consequently, he was quiet and unassuming in his manners, and 
 you felt at once that he was a gentleman, and a man of intelli- 
 gence ; he was, in fact, a relative of the Duke of Athol, and 
 cousin of the Hon. Mr. Murray, who wrote an excellent book of 
 travels in America, and the "Prairie Bird," and is now ambassador 
 in Persia ; the same who sent over the hippopotamus from Egypt. 
 He had read a great deal, and therefore we had topics in common, 
 beyond horse-racing, horses, dogs, cigars, and all the nauseating 
 platitudes of snobbish assumption, which abounded so much in the 
 Government camps on the diggings. 
 
 Captain Murray, having worn the Queen's uniform, seemed to 
 have a natural contempt for the tawdry laced-coats and caps of 
 this pseudo-military Commission. I never, at least, saw him wear- 
 ing them, and I believe, he never spent his money in the purchase 
 of the trumpery. I saw him frequently in different parts of the 
 diggings seated on a log or stone talking with the diggers at their 
 work, — talking to them as to rational creatures, and that is the way 
 to make yourself really acquainted with them and their affairs ; 
 and until a man understands them, it is impossible to be a good 
 umpire amongst them, which he was daily called on to be. In 
 the rainy weather, he frequently came across from the camp to our 
 tent in his Highland kilt, dashing away the wet from the scrub, as 
 if it were nothing worth thinking of, which the generality of the 
 fine rose-water young gentlemen of the Commission would as soon 
 
110 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 think of doing as they would of doing anything else that is natural 
 and manly. You never saw him, if he had to go to the next tent, 
 mount his horse, like the majority of the young official puppies, 
 and ride as though he had a poker thrust down his back, with an 
 orderly, or, as Jonas Popkins calls it, an ordinary riding after 
 him; but he went in a gentleman's usual dress, and in a simple, 
 straight -forward way did the business. 
 
 There was a Mr. Smith, engaged in business at Nine Mile 
 Creek, from Sydney, the brother-in-law of Mr. Dight, the originator 
 of the private escort, who with Mrs. Smith were very friendly, 
 and afforded us, by their society and the loan of books and news- 
 papers, occasional relief from the solitude of the wood. 
 
 But the most amusing fellow was our nearest neighbour there. 
 It was impossible to see him without at once recognising an ori- 
 ginal. He was a Mr. Hodgkinson, from the Cape ; he wore a vast 
 bush of hair of a light colour, you might call it tawny, and a 
 sandy beard. At the top of his head was stuck a very small cap, 
 without brim or shade, but when at work that was changed for a 
 red handkerchief, tied up in much the same shape as the cap. He 
 assigned as a reason for this lion-like growth of hair, that till he 
 let it grow he was always troubled with head-aches, from which 
 he had since been wholly free, and declared that his hair might 
 grow down to his heels before any scissors should touch it again. 
 He lived alone, in a neat tent, fenced in with a light post and rail, 
 and all within his enclosure was kept exquisitely neat. He said 
 he hated a crowd, and meant to stay there alone all winter, for 
 then every one else would be gone ; he knew, he said, that there 
 he was to stay, and should build a hut with a good fire-place, and 
 make himself comfortable. 
 
 The man had the oddest light jaunty way with him imaginable; 
 his walk was a sort of dance, always quick, alert, and active. His 
 voice had a quick, half-eifeminate tone, but piquant and orio^inal. 
 When he had done his work, he came home, gave himself a liberal 
 lavation at the clear stream that ran by his tent, combed out his 
 lion's mane — mounted his little smoking cap, — took his coffee, and 
 smoked in perfect calm and meditation for some time. That was 
 the only period during the day in which he was still. The first 
 announcement of his rising in the morning was a loud, jovial, 
 huntsman-like cry of " To-ho ! Prinny ! To-ho ! you dogs there ! 
 Prinny ! Prinny!" and out dashed our dogs, and beheld Mr. 
 Hodgkinson with his regular morning sport for them. This was 
 afforded by a rat which he had imprisoned between two tin dishes, 
 and which he was carrying in great triumph to some distance from 
 
AN ORIGINAL FROM THE CAPE. Ill 
 
 his tent, before he turned it out amongst the dogs. These rats, 
 which never came near us on account of our dogs, paid him regular 
 nocturnal visits, and he caught one or more of them as regularly 
 by setting a tin dish on the floor, baited with some cheese, and 
 another tin dish secured in it, propped by a peg, to which he had 
 a string which he held in his hand as he lay in bed. So soon as 
 he heard the rats at his bait, he plucked the string — down went 
 the dish, and the contented trapper rolled on his side, and went 
 to sleep. 
 
 Having despatched his rat, and then his breakfast, he was seen 
 dancing away, with pick and shovel and tin dish, down to his tom 
 at the Creek. But the same restless erratic movements attended 
 his work. He was never more than a day in one spot — often not 
 many hours. He was always prospecting — always finding won- 
 derful new places, shifting his apparatus to them, and coming at 
 night with a long face, and some odd pennyweights of gold in his 
 dish, shaking his great mane, and saying, " Now that won't do. 
 Just a pennyweight — three and sixpence a day. A man will 
 never get rich at that." And so he was always flitting and start- 
 ing about like a Will-o'-the-wisp. He was sure that he knew of a 
 great gold-field at the Cape. He could see, as clearly as he saw 
 the sun, that it was a great gold-field, from its minerals and its 
 aspect, and that, as he had a farm in Natal, he should go there, as 
 soon as he had money enough to take him, and then start for this 
 great gold-field, and of course make an enormous fortune. The 
 only misfortune was that he had forgotten in what part of the 
 Cape territory his great gold-field lay. 
 
 Unfortunately, when he had got a great bag of gold — " a great 
 bag," he said — yet still not so big but that he carried it in his 
 trowsers' pocket — he set out for Sydney, to embark for the Cape. 
 He was "disgusted with diggings; oh! most thoroughly dis- 
 gusted ;" and went on as if on wings, though he was only on foot. 
 He was attacked by a desperate species of thieves called fleas, 
 which so assailed him in the inns at night, that though he used 
 every night to put his trowsers under his pillow for the safety of 
 his gold, yet, that he might not carry any of these vermin with 
 him, he took out his gold-bag, put that under his pillow, and his 
 trowsers on a chair. He was at Gundagai when he adopted this 
 anti-flea precaution ; and the next morning took the mail for Yass, 
 sixty-six miles off", being fatigued with his previous journey. Ar- 
 riving at Yass, he missed the usual weight of his bag in his pocket, 
 and recollected, to his horror, that he had left it under his pillow 
 at Gundagai ! Disconsolate, and yet at a desperate speed, he. 
 
112 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 trudged all the long way back again, scarcely allowing himself a 
 moment to rest or eat. He arrived in a state of exhaustion, called 
 for his bag of gold, and was told by the people of the inn that 
 they knew nothing of it ! It was in vain that he protested and 
 entreated. In vain he pleaded his utter ruin ; and finally 
 threatened to accuse the landlord to the authorities. He was 
 quickly pushed out of the house, and threatened in his turn with 
 being denounced to the magistrates as an impostor, and a libeller 
 of an honest, honourable house. 
 
 The African lion, no longer rampant, but as passant as the 
 coward dingo of the bush, turned once more his dejected steps and 
 his penniless person towards the gold-fields, which had before so 
 infinitely disgusted him. Here he had been working ever since 
 with the moderate success of about a pennyweight per day ! 
 
 While relating his misfortunes, he suddenly brightened up, 
 raised his person erect, his eyes sparkled with a fire that seemed to 
 announce some joyful intelligence, and throwing himself into a 
 theatrical attitude, with one hand on his breast, and another on 
 his back, he exclaimed — "This time last year I was in the jaws 
 of an alligator ! " On inquiring how and where, and by what 
 extraordinary means he still happened to be there relating this, he 
 said, that he was crossing a river in Natal. That this alligator, 
 but a few days before, but unknown to him, had eaten up one 
 black man, and taken oiF the leg of another. That, when wading 
 in mid-stream, he suddenly found himself crushing up in the jaws 
 of this monster ; and, to his surprise, as suddenly released. The 
 wretch did not like him. He was too salt for him ; but he had 
 broken three of his ribs, and torn his flesh horribly besides. That 
 his story was perfectly true as to the alligator, I have, curiously 
 enough, learned since my return to England, by hearing an officer, 
 who was at Natal at the time, relate it, and name our very man, 
 whom he well knew. 
 
 Our only other neighbours were the Mormon and an English- 
 man, his mate, who have been at work ever since the gold dis- 
 coveries in California and there. They had made, what, invested 
 in land in America, would give them a little independence ; and as 
 they could no longer get much gold, they were going oif to the 
 United States to settle, though they would rather settle there. 
 The newspapers had lately been alarming the public, or the public 
 the newspapers, with the apparition of a Russian fleet, the plunder 
 of the 8,000,000/. of gold in the banks, and the burning of Mel- 
 bourne. All sorts of schemes were broached for fortifying the har- 
 bour and the town, and planting war steamers on the coast. And the 
 
AN American's opinion of our policy. 113 
 
 newspapers had hit on a very original scheme of protection, which 
 was, to throw off their allegiance to Great Britain, and then de- 
 mand her assistance ! This most original of schemes was based 
 on this idea, that Russia would not attack the colony as a neutral 
 power, only as a British dependency ; as if Nicholas would care a 
 jot about the neutrality so that he got the eight millions of bul- 
 lion. Of course, it was a great compliment to the magnanimity 
 of old Mother England to suppose that she w^ould not resent the 
 repudiation of her sovereignty, but would rather take it as a 
 favour, and neglect her own colonies and interests to come across 
 the globe to protect this " great nation" and "young giant" in his 
 panic. 
 
 Our Mormon said, " Why don't they imitate the States ? Why 
 don't they open their hearts for once, and offer to every volunteer, 
 as the States do, 160 acres of land at the close of the war?" 
 That is really a fine, and yet a common-sense idea. The United 
 States offer to any volunteer this amount of land, and on the 
 breaking out of the Mexican war it produced such an overflow of 
 volunteers that whole troops of them could not be accepted. 
 Every soldier who serves his four years has the same claim. 
 When the time arrives, the Government sets out a district of 
 good land in the interior, and makes a road to it, and thus every 
 soldier has his farm, besides his pay during the war, and his 
 pension afterwards. Is it any wonder that by such a system as 
 this, and by the cheap sale of all lands, that the valley of the 
 Mississippi, which a few years ago was a desert, is now the home 
 of upwards of a million of free and landed men, and calculated to 
 accommodate eight millions? 
 
 Only let the Government of Victoria, on the approach of any 
 hostile fleet, announce such terms to the diggers, and in one 
 month they would have an army of 50,000 men, at least one-third 
 of them mounted, all armed, and ready to carry on such a guerilla 
 warfare, as no strange, invading force could cope with for one 
 hour. It has an army of sturdy fellows, who know the bush, who 
 are accustomed to live in the open air, and are ready with a single 
 rug and a panikin to march anywhere at a moment's notice, and 
 to live anywhere. Such an army would have something to fight 
 for ; would be composed of good practical shots, and would drive 
 any invading force into the sea in a very few days. 
 
 That would be the way to draw all the overflowing numbers of 
 British subjects to those shores, and to plant them there. I wish 
 I had a voice powerful enough to shout it to the new legislators in 
 Melbourne. If they would adopt the American land system alto- 
 
 VOL. II. I 
 
114 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 gether ; throw all waste lands open at 5s. per acre, without 
 auction, but with an imperative condition of cultivation ; having 
 the country properly surveyed, and maps at all the offices of the 
 surveyors, where any one wanting to purchase, may go and select 
 what he wants, and have it where he wants it^ — the effect would 
 be perfectly miraculous. People would flock over by hundreds of 
 thousands ; all who could scrape together a little money, would 
 go and buy a little farm and homestead. It would be they, and 
 not our cousin Jonathan, who would grow and flourish on this 
 stream of English life. Happy homes would arise ; agriculture 
 would flourish everywhere, and the brandy-bottle would be ex- 
 changed for the tea-kettle singing at the fireside. 
 
 While transcribing these pages for the press, March 12th, 1855, 
 I saw this paragraph in an American paper : " The emigrants to 
 the United States in the year 1854, amount to 460,474. From 
 Great Britain, 150,000 ; from Germany, 206,000 : and these emi- 
 grants will bring with them at least 60,000,000 of dollars : adding 
 that to the wealth and prosperity of the States. What say the 
 Know-nothings ?" 
 
 At this very moment, arrived the Duke of Newcastle's ad- 
 mirable despatch on the Squatting Question ! I read it with a 
 delight that I have not experienced for years. It was all right ; 
 and just what one ought to expect from the enlightened ministry 
 who was promising new and representative constitutions to the 
 colonies, such as would have struck their own fathers dumb with 
 astonishment. 
 
 This despatch hit the nail exactly on the head, and showed that 
 His Grace, as Colonial Minister, had well studied the subject, and 
 made himself master of it. It granted the squatters all that they 
 are justly entitled to, and left the bulk of the country open to the 
 purchase of the public. 
 
 The squatters were to have their leases as they have them in 
 Sydney, that is, conditionally. The right of preemption was to 
 be restricted to one square mile, 640 acres. The right to pur- 
 chase the whole, or any part, of their stations, as they pleased, 
 which the Order in Council proposed to give, was disallowed. 
 But that was no more than it had been by the Colonial Govern- 
 ments, both of Sydney and Victoria, from the first. It was refused 
 simply because it could not be granted without committing an 
 absolute act of felo de se. There must have been a total abne- 
 gation of common sense in any Government, to make over an 
 immense country, far larger than Great Britain, to a mere handful 
 
 
115 
 
 of men for ever : — to about 2000 in the whole of New South 
 Wales and Victoria. 
 
 But these leases, if granted, were only to date from the date of 
 the Orders in Council, 1847 ; so that the longest, those of the 
 unsettled district, fourteen years, would have only seven to run ; 
 and in the intermediate district, only one year. All land that was 
 wanted for the settlement of the country, was, according to the 
 9th clause, to be taken with due notice, as wanted, and sold. Any 
 claim for improvements was to be settled according to the judg- 
 ment of the Government. 
 
 ISow that was a plain, common sense reading of the law ; and 
 what, sooner or later, the necessities of the public will compel. 
 This, therefore, remained the law, till the new constitution came 
 into force, since when it has become the great question between 
 the squatters and the public. The duke's despatch may serve as a 
 good guide for the new Victoria Parliament. 
 
 The great questions, as it regards both the colony and the British 
 public, and which are apt to be deemed serious at home, are these. 
 Will this arrangement injure the growth of wool there ? And 
 will the squatters be injured by disallowance of their improve- 
 ments ? These two questions may soon be decided. 
 
 In the first place, the wool. In my opinion, no injury what- 
 ever is likely to occur to the produce of wool. No land will be 
 taken before it is really wanted for agriculture. Vast tracts are 
 not calculated for agriculture at all, and will, therefore, remain 
 grazing grants. It will be the part of a judicious government to 
 settle the population with all due regard to the interests of every 
 class, for those interests include the public interests. Squatters 
 will not be dispossessed of their runs a day sooner than necessary, 
 nor in quantities larger than necessary. The intermediate district 
 includes immense tracts of the finest lands in the colony, and will 
 require very many years to settle them. In the unsettled districts, 
 where agricultural land is required, it may be accommodated with 
 large back -grounds of mere barren ranges, fit for the wandering 
 over of flocks and cattle, and will, under those circumstances, be 
 more favourable to the growth of sheep and wool than the 
 present wild woods and plains, many of them very wet during 
 winter, and productive of foot-rot and catarrh, those direful de- 
 stroyers of -eheep and impoverishers of wool. As the country 
 becomes more populated and fenced, and the wet lands drained, 
 the flocks will be better tended and cared for, the fleeces heavier 
 and better washed, and the result will be like that in the enclosures, 
 of Great Britain, which, with a similar extent of country, pro- 
 
 I 2 
 
116 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 duces, 120,000,000 lbs. of wool, while Victoria only produces about 
 20,000,000 lbs. : at the same time. Great Britain maintaining 
 twenty-eight millions of people, and Victoria only a quarter of one 
 million. Why is this? It arises from the mixture of agricultural 
 and pastoral pursuits, which the squatters would denounce as 
 utterly destructive to the wool-yield. 
 
 Meantime, as agriculture advances, squatting also will advance. 
 Milton's words — 
 
 " To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new," 
 
 -will be the watchword of the squatters for ages to come. The 
 navigation of the Murray will immediately open up vast regions 
 for the squatter to enter upon, and as cultivation presses behind, 
 the fertile wilderness will open before. A squatter is a nomade 
 by his very name. He is not a proprietor ; he is not a cultivator, 
 but a king of the desert, and can reign there alone. When it 
 ceases to be a desert, he ceases to reign, and either assumes the 
 shape of a denizen of cultivated earth ; a lord of ploughs and en- 
 closures, or moves on. 
 
 All local interests must fall before the general interests and the 
 prosperity of the people ; and the effect of the settlement of the ■ 
 colony would be incalculable on both domestic and foreign trade. ■ 
 In these vast territories, a vast population would create as vast a 
 demand for manufactures. On the other hand, imagine 650 indi- 
 viduals holding the whole of this colony at a rental of 20,000/. for 
 the whole ! Imagine these individuals holding each from 60 to 100 
 square miles, for some nominal sum of 10/. or 20/., and charging, 
 for their beef and mutton from 6d. to 9c?. a lb., — as much as the 
 graziers of England get, who pay from 2/. to 51. per acre, besides 
 land-tax, county-rate.s, highway-rates, church-rates, poors'-rates, 
 property-tax, and a host of other imposts. The thing is pre- 
 posterous, and makes the condition of the Australian Squatter 
 appear a fable and a fairy-tale 1 There never was anything like 
 it, from the foundation of the world : for the ancient patriarchs, 
 with all their free-grazing flocks and herds, had no race of diggers 
 and traders to eat mutton at 9c?. a lb. 
 
 And yet these gentlemen talk, and talk loudly too, of Compen- 
 sation! Compensation! — For what? For the seri(Ris injury of 
 having grown immensely rich at the public cost ! They desire to 
 be paid for all their — Improvements! All their Improvements 
 consisting, for the most part, of a slab hut in which they live, a 
 few slab huts for shepherds and stockmen, and the posts and rails 
 
UNRIVALLED ADVANTAGES OF THE SQUATTERS. 117 
 
 of a paddock or two, — or rather the mere cost of cutting and 
 putting down, for the timber stood at hand, on the Crown lands. 
 
 Would it be believed, that when these gentlemen talk of improve- 
 ments, they are actually forbidden to make any ? That the Orders 
 in Council, by which they hold their runs, strictly prohibit their 
 cultivating any more land than what is absolutely necessary for 
 corn, vegetables, &c., for their establishments, but not to grow 
 anything for sale or barter ? Yet such is the case; and these con- 
 ditions they have very exactly fulfilled. They simply let their 
 flocks and herds feed on the waste, and grow rich upon them. 
 Government has been the first to tempt them to break their en- 
 gagements, or rather to absolve them from them, so far as it alone 
 is concerned, and to sell hay and corn to the diggings : and in these 
 cases the benefit of the squatter would appear wonderful to the ears 
 of English farmers. These squatters, wha give lOl. ayear for a 
 run equal to an English county, have sold hay at 60/. a-ton to the 
 Government from its own waste lands, I have already spoken of 
 that famous contract, by which a squatter on Charlotte Plains gave 
 10/. a-year for his station, ami let to his landlord, the Government, 
 one paddock out of it for 500/. a year ! Yet these are the gentle- 
 men who are clamorous on the score of compensation. The answer 
 lies in a nut-shell. They are allowed to purchase at 1/. per acre 
 the whole square mile on which their improvements stand, and as a 
 matter of course, thus retain all their improvements, "But," 
 say they, "our runs are grown so much more valuable in our 
 hands ; and, in proportion to their present value, we ought to be 
 compensated, if they are taken away." 
 
 The answer is : " They are grown valuable, not by your im- 
 provements, but by the influx of a public ; and it is that public 
 which demands, and has a right to enjoy, the advantage. The 
 gain has been yours ; the occasion of it has been theirs. You have 
 paid no more on that account, and you have no claim to ask more 
 now. It is the Government who may justly complain that they 
 made a very bad bargain with you. Your 10/. or 20/. a-year has 
 still been all you have paid ; while you have been benefiting tenfold. 
 You have not, till lately, even paid the head-money on your 
 stock." 
 
 "But," say they, "see what we have suffered in opening up 
 and establishing this great wool-field ; we are the pioneers of the 
 forest." • 
 
 The answer is: — "You have suffered nothing. In the words 
 of Scripture, * Others have laboured, and you have entered into 
 their labours.' The first race of squatters were great sufferers. 
 
 I 3 
 
118 TWO YEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 They penetrated the then savage wilderness. Without houses or 
 homesteads they had to encounter the elements in rude tents or 
 under the mere shade of the gum-tree. The natives attacked them 
 and their cattle, and the troops of wild dogs seconded the natives. 
 In the arduous life of watching and defending themselves against 
 their numerous enemies, they were the victims of rheumatism, 
 fevers, and dysentery. When they had conquered the blacks and 
 the dogs, and made themselves comfortable homes, they found no 
 customers for their meat ; wool was low ; and the crisis of 1842 put 
 the climax to their ruin. They were obliged to give way, and you 
 stepped in; stepped into good huts and houses; large flocks at 
 9d. or Is. a-head for sheep; 10*. or 12*. a*head for cattle, about the 
 same for horses, which, in fact, were unsaleable at any price. 
 Corn and hay were equally a drug. A friend of mine records hay 
 at 305. a-ton ; wheat, 3*. 6d. a-bushel; barley 2*. 6d.; oats, Is. 6d.; 
 butter, 6d. to 9d. per lb. ; beef and mutton, l^d. per lb. He gave 
 up farming in despair. See the Colonial newspapers of 1842. 
 In June, 1843, it was announced, that by boiling down for the 
 tallow, 8s. to 105. per head could be made of sheep, including tallow, 
 skin, and wool. From that moment your profits began to advance, 
 and have continued, till you now command, through the advent 
 of the gold, 255. per head for sheep, valuation-price on giving 
 up stations; 12/. to 15/. per head for cattle, and from 50/. to 150/. 
 for horses! Macgubbins and Macfiggins — the real pioneers — 
 retired from the field, ruined in purse and constitution ; you have 
 had nothing to do, but on their ruins to sit still, let your flocks and 
 herds graze, and grow fat with them. Is that a case for com- 
 pensation ? " 
 
 Now, I have no prejudice or ill-feeling against the squatters of 
 this colony. Quite the contrary. As a class, so far as I have 
 become acquainted with them, I have a high respect and esteem 
 for them. They are, for the most part, gentlemen of good family 
 and education. In private life they are simple and unostentatious, 
 kind, and hospitable. But private regard and public right are 
 two things. It is not these gentlemen who are to blame, but the 
 British Government. Human nature is everywhere the same. 
 Put into men's hands a good thing, and they will grasp it firmly; 
 the better it is, the tighter. 
 
 It is a considerable fall from the Land Question to insects ; but 
 there is a species of ants that we became acquainted with at the 
 Buckland which is worth a notice before we leave this part of the 
 country. These are the jumping ants. At the Buckland we were 
 dreadfully persecuted by them. They are about half an inch long, 
 and jump surprisingly. They are great fly-catchers, and so far 
 
JUMPING ANTS. 119 
 
 would be public benefactors, were it not only one fiend giving 
 place to another. The little black flies were, even in the cooler 
 and shadier spot which we occupied at the Yackandanda Creek, 
 the most pertinent persevering vermin possible. The moment 
 meat was brought upon the table they covered it black. If you 
 allowed them to settle on your hands, they sucked up blood-blisters, 
 and then sucked them till they burst. The moment the spot was 
 raw they thrust as many of their heads in as they could get, and 
 continually irritated and enlarged it. What was a mere scratch 
 became a sore under their incessant operations, and unless you de- 
 fended the sore with plaster or gloves it speedily became a wound. 
 Nay, plaster was not enough, for they will suck and envenom the 
 wound through it. 
 
 It may, therefore, be imagined, that we saw these tormentors 
 destroyed with pleasure ; and yet these ants were such vindictive 
 little wretches, that we could not regard them as friends, though they 
 killed quantities of these flies. At the Buckland they covered the 
 whole surface of the ground, and everything on it. You could 
 neither stand, sit, nor lie down without offending them. You 
 could not lay your hand on a tree, or attempt to lop off a twig 
 from a bush, but they stung you. As you stood by the fire they 
 would leap upon you, and wherever you laid your hand on your 
 dress they were there and stung it. The moment they felt them- 
 selves on any moving substance, they began stinging without 
 provocation, and their sting was nearly, if not all but, as bad as 
 that of a wasp, though not so venomous. 
 
 As I sat writing in the tent, they frequently pounced down from 
 the roof with each a fly in his mouth. They saw the white paper 
 and took it as a half-way descent. They make unerring pounces 
 upon the flies, and are most desperate in their battles with each 
 other. The moment you kill or wound one they drag him off and 
 devour him. I have seen them sting a boot so that they hung by 
 the sting and could not get away. As you have your shirt-collars 
 open in the hot weather five or six will jump down your back, and 
 be all stinging away as fast as they can. Fortunately, I never saw 
 them so numerous anywhere as at the Buckland. 
 
 I had very nearly closed my chapter without telling of the 
 narrow escape we had from one of the greatest dangers of the 
 Australian woods — bush-fires. These fires are of very frequent 
 occurrence, and especially in February and March; months of 
 autumn, equivalent to our August and September, and when the 
 whole country is dried almost to tinder by a far hotter summer 
 than we know anything of at home. While down in Melbourne 
 
 14 
 
120 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 last, I sought out, in the newspaper files of the date, the account* 
 of the great bush-fire of Feb. 6. 1851, on what is there called 
 Black Thursday; the details of which, too long for insertion here, 
 I have published in the story of Tallangetta. The terrors of that 
 strange recital made us peculiarly alive to the dangers of such a 
 catastrophe, where we were surrounded by woods full of dry 
 grass and hop-scrub, and other shrubs equally dry and combustible ; 
 and our consternation may be imagined, when, night after night, 
 •we found these fires breaking out around us, and when, though 
 beaten out energetically by us as soon as perceived, they were 
 continually renewed. There was a persistence in the attempt, and 
 a care to make the ignition to windward that showed a settled 
 purpose and a determined one. That purpose, we shrewdly sus- 
 pected, was entertained by a sluicing party who had worked out 
 the creek up to where we and others were, and could come no 
 further, by the rules of the diggings, while any one was working 
 there. They probably made themselves sure that if they got up a 
 thorough conflagration, destroying all the food for our horses, and 
 obliging us to pack up and be off hastily, we should not come back 
 again. If there had been a brisk wind, nothing could have pre- 
 vented the whole country round us being completely turned into 
 a wilderness of ashes. Those who have read the account of Black 
 Thursday will see that that fire destroyed the face of the whole 
 colony over a space of 300 miles by 150, with farms, flocks, and 
 herds, by tens of thousands, and numbers of people. So rapidly 
 did it travel, that men on horseback galloped before it till their 
 horses fell dead. Herds of cattle were seen running over the 
 country in a frantic state, and birds, in whole flocks, fell sufib- 
 cated into the flames. Yf e have since travelled over much of this 
 ground, and seen everywhere the traces of the conflagration re- 
 maining; while the people tell you how they had to run and sink 
 themselves in rivers and fords, the very hair or skin being singed 
 off if it appeared above water. The whole country, for a time, 
 was a furious furnace ; and, what was the most singular, the 
 greatest part of the mischief was done in one single day. 
 
 Luckily for us, there was no wind for many days in the attempt 
 mentioned, or we should not have been able to save anything we 
 had, so near came tlie flames one night. And one Sunday, as I 
 was returning from the camp in the broad afternoon, I perceived 
 the scrub being set on fire opposite to our tents. I ran on, and 
 heard some one crash away through the scrub. I mounted in- 
 stantly upon the gigantic bole of a tree near, to get, if possible^ a 
 view of the incendiary, who was liable to a penalty of 50/. or six 
 
SLUICING. 121 
 
 months' imprisonment for the offence, but the jungle was too tall. 
 So I beat out the fire and went on. In about a week — the winds 
 seeming determined not to favour them with our destruction — ■ 
 the party took itself off, and the fires disappeared with them. 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 Sluicing. — Mode of. — Government Impediments to profitable Undertakings. 
 
 — Coal Fields. — Approach of Winter. — Vast Flocks of Birds. — A native 
 Camp, and new Grave. — Mode of breaking in Bullocks. — Stop the Mail in 
 Futter's Ranges. — Land Sales at Benalla. — Victorian Government as 
 Paymasters. — Government Mode of doing Business. — Convey Prisoners 
 600 Miles for want of a Lock-up. — Mr. Robertson on the Campaspe buys 
 640 Acres of Government for 640/., and sells them 6000/. worth of Hay from 
 80 Acres of it the first Season. — Mr. Robertson's Troubles. — Story of a 
 Tyrant Overseer. — Mrs. Chisholm giving false Colouring to the Colony 
 in her Speeches in the manufacturing Districts. — Evidently ignorant of the 
 Drunkenness there. — Horrors of Spirit-drinking in the Colony. — Amount 
 of Duty on Spirits. — Mrs. Chisholm's couleur de rose Ideas of Bush Life. 
 
 — The Reality. — Mrs. Chisholm's Arrival in Victoria. — Sees the whole 
 great Cheat. — The Roads ! the Diggings ! the Public-houses ! and the 
 Refusal of Land ! and speaks out nobly. 
 
 Before leaving the Yackandanda Creek, we made an endeavour 
 to undertake a large sluicing concern. In the new act of Regula- 
 tions for the Gold Fields there was a clause empowering the 
 Government to grant leases of such portions of those fields as are 
 worked out and abandoned by the ordinary digger. These, when 
 they have ceased to remunerate the digger who works them in the 
 ordinary fashion with a small party, and with cradle and tom, yet 
 frequently contain sufficient gold to pay, and pay well, for working 
 on a larger and more rapid scale. Where the digger by the cradle, 
 or even by the tom, can put through a few cartloads of earth, the 
 sluice will work out hundreds. It will not pay the cradler or the 
 tommer to put through much rough earth. He must carefully 
 separate the auriferous strata from all else. This requires much 
 time and labour, and the result is comparatively small. But the 
 sluicer will come after him, and even out of the earth that he has 
 cast aside as containing little or nothing, will obtain in the aggre- 
 gate large quantities. 
 
 This is effected by bringing a strong stream of water to the 
 
122 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 spot, where he runs it through a long descent of wooden troughs 
 into a capacious torn. The sluicers can therefore dig up and throw 
 into this stream of water immense quantities of earth, which are 
 borne away by it, carried down, dissolved, and all its auriferous 
 particles separated before it reaches the torn. Ten or twenty 
 people, according to the size of the troughs and force of the stream, 
 can be employed on a sluice. They can be all busy digging up 
 and shovelling the earth on both sides into the troughs, while two 
 men with shovels at the bottom throw out as fast as they can the 
 stones which are washed clean, all the dissolved earth having 
 escaped through the grate in the torn, and left the particles of gold 
 in the ripple-box below. 
 
 It is amazing what a vast quantity of earth can thus be washed 
 out in a day ; and the result is, of course, proportionate. AVhere 
 an ordinary party with the ordinary mode would not out of this 
 earth produce many pennyweights, the sluicing party will extract 
 pounds. This, therefore, is the mode by which the abandoned 
 gold fields will be all worked out and finished up wherever a 
 stream of water can be brought to bear, which is far from being 
 always possible. 
 
 Now, there was a certain Madman's Gully at Spring Creek 
 which had been hastily and p^tially worked, and was now com- 
 pletely abandoned by the diggers. It was very well known, how- 
 ever, that it still contained great quantities of gold in places, and 
 that the earth throughout contained enough to pay for sluicing. 
 This gully, or portion of it, we were prepared to contract for. It 
 was true that we should have to bring a watercourse from the 
 main creek for a quarter of a mile, or more, and to convey it 
 in a rude sort of aqueduct across the creek itself lower down. It 
 would, therefore, require much labour and a large outlay. But 
 we were prepared to engage a sufficient number of men, readily 
 procurable at 1/. per day per man ; and two Californians, ex- 
 perienced in the process, and quite aware of the contents of the 
 gully, w^ere ready to join in the enterprise. 
 
 But the whole thing fell to the ground through the inertia of 
 the La Trobe Government. With full power to grant such leases, 
 with an especial clause in the new bill for this very purpose, and 
 with a declining yield of gold, and deficiency of remunerative em- 
 ployment in the diggings, still you could not rouse this extra- 
 ordinary Government. To all applications — and there were many 
 of this very kind — the answer was the same : " The Government 
 was not yet prepared to carry out these leases," large sums were 
 offered for small portions of abandoned ground, but without effect ; 
 
 I 
 
APPROACH OF WINTER. 123 
 
 and to attempt to do it without a guarantee of protection by Go- 
 vernment was useless. Though the diggers had totally deserted a 
 spot, such was their jealousy of the introduction of even the simplest 
 machinery, or of working by companies, that they would have 
 flocked back again in crowds at the sight of a sluice, and reoc- 
 cupied the ground, cutting off and destroying your watercourse, 
 and rendering abortive all your efforts. 
 
 It was probably this jealousy of such works by the diggers 
 which deterred the Government from granting sluicing leases, the 
 outbreak on the diggings the preceding winter not having yet lost 
 its effect on their nerves. But this does not apply to the coal 
 fields of the colony. Large beds of coal, some of them from eight 
 to fourteen feet thick and of excellent quality, were discovered in 
 the direction of Western Port and Cape Patterson, and on the 
 Barabool Hills ; but, though coal in Melbourne was selling at 
 8/. IO5. per ton, the Government could not arouse itself from its 
 lymphatic prostration to grant leases of these coal fields to com- 
 panies most anxious to work them. 
 
 Defeated, therefore, in our designs on Madman's Gully, where 
 large fortunes were no doubt lying buried in the earth, we struck 
 our tent, and took our final leave of the Ovens country, where we 
 had spent so many pleasant months, diversifying our labours by an 
 occasional chase after a kangaroo or an emu. 
 
 As some diggings had been opened at Lake Omeo, across the 
 Snowy Mountains, in Gippsland, Alfred and I proposed to take a 
 ride and see what they were likely to turn out, and also to see the 
 mountain scenery. We meant to leave Charlton at Spring Creek. 
 The journey, we calculated, w^ould occupy us about a fortnight ; 
 as, from the round we should have to take — for at this season we 
 could not cross the mountains, except over a saddle, near Omeo, — 
 it would be about 170 miles ; some of it through very steep and 
 rugged country. We should have to proceed to near Albury before 
 we could turn the high ranges, and then we should follow up the 
 course of the Mitta Mitta. But we got a warning in time : a very 
 cold wind blew out of that quarter, followed by immense flights of 
 birds. First came whole clouds of carrion-crows, congregated 
 exactly like our rooks, and making a noise very much like them, 
 having abandoned, under the circumstances, their lack-a-daisical 
 complainings. Then followed large flocks of the grey magpie; 
 then a large flock of leatlierheads ; and, last, as numerous ones of 
 noisy wattle-thrushes : all wending their way into the lower 
 country ; plainly intimating that there had been a wintry visita- 
 tion in the mountains. Immediately, and on the very morning 
 
124 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 that we bad fixed for setting off, commenced rain, heavy, drenching 
 rain, which continued five days and five nights without inter- 
 mission. We considered it now altogether too late in the season 
 for such an excursion, and set our faces homewards. 
 
 The weather was again fine, and our journey was delightful. 
 The mushrooms that were growing by the roadsides, as we went 
 along, were something wonderful in their quantities and fineness. 
 We every day had large dishes of them, and found them, in the 
 absence of other vegetables, quite luxuries. 
 
 We called on our old and kind friends, the Reids, for the last 
 time, and dined with them. Near their house on the banks of 
 the Ovens river, there was an encampment of natives. Many of 
 them were in the most wretched condition from measles and in- 
 fluenza. We observed that there were whole flocks of children, 
 but that nearly all were half-castes. On inquiring how the men 
 tolerated these, we were told, as we had been before, that, up to 
 a certain age, they were very fond of them, and after that they 
 disappeared ! A very clever half-caste lad, of twelve or fourteen, 
 was very anxious to get into some employment amongst the 
 whites. 
 
 The young men of the tribe were stationed at a distance from 
 the families, at a fire of their own. They were lazily roasting 
 portions of the entrails of a bullock which had been killed at the 
 station, without any cleaning, or without bread or vegetables. 
 Nothing more miserable than the whole scene can be imagined. 
 Yet one of these young men, we were assured, was a most admir- 
 able mimic. 
 
 A woman of the tribe was just dead and buried. Mr. John 
 Reid had desired to know at what hour the funeral would take 
 place ; but they do not like white people to witness these cere- 
 monies; and when he went at the hour named, all was over. 
 They had buried the woman sitting, their ordinary mode, and 
 piled a heap of earth over her. Mr. Reid told them that the floods 
 covered the spot they had chosen. On which they said they 
 would put down a post to tell the floods not to come there. They 
 accordingly cut a stout post, which they set upon the head of the 
 corpse, and which, when I saw it, stood some five feet high in the 
 centre of the conical heap of earth, 'iliey had also put round the 
 grave a neat, circular fence of the boughs of the native myrtle. 
 
 Here, also, we saw the method of breaking in young bullocks 
 to the yoke. Having managed to drive one of them up in a corner 
 of a paddock, behind some steady old bullocks, they get on the 
 yoke as well as they can, — very commonly a task of no ordinary 
 
I 
 
 MODE OF BREAKING IN BULLOCKS. 125 
 
 difficulty. Once on, however, they put into the same yoke a 
 stout, steady, practical bullock ; and they then tie the tails of the 
 two animals together, or the young wild ox would soon wheel 
 round, and thus turn the yoke upside down. 
 
 Thus yoked together, the pair is let loose, and the poor victim 
 of a practised bullock is dragged and pulled about by the frantic 
 young one, in a most unceremonious manner. For a day or so 
 the tyro is a most uncomfortable companion to the steady one. 
 He makes the most violent efforts to get rid of his new-fangled 
 machinery. He rears and kicks, and tries to rush, here and there. 
 He snatches and drags, and darts forward, and as suddenly hangs 
 back, as if he were trying to just pull off the other bullock's head, 
 and did not care how soon. He refuses to eat, and won't let the 
 poor wretch of a yokefellow eat either. Thus, for a day and a 
 night, and sometimes more, according to the temper of the subject, 
 the two are struggling and wrangling. The poor patient prisoner 
 to the fiery neophyte holding down his head, and silently but 
 stiffly resisting the efforts of the youngster. At length hunger 
 tames the impatient juvenile ; he begins to eat and becomes quiet ; 
 the elder is glad to avail himself of this improved circumstance, 
 and soon all is right. The young beast finds that this primitive 
 bond of unity is an indissoluble bond so long as his master pleases, 
 and the two are left to bear the yoke till the scholar is perfectly 
 tamed, and obedient, not only to the yoke itself, but to all com- 
 mands under it that the driver is pleased to impose. 
 
 In Futter's Ranges, between Wangaratta and Benalla, where 
 we camped for the night, I was struck with the very unguarded 
 manner in which the mails traverse this country, and the thorough 
 ease and impunity with which they may be robbed in the \erj soli- 
 tary places which they have to pass. As we expected a packet of 
 home letters from Melbourne by a gentleman who intended to 
 come up by the mail, and as this mail was to pass our camping 
 place at twelve o'clock at night, I sat up to wait for it. 
 
 We were encamped in a very secluded place in the ranges, some 
 miles distant from any house, and where the road passed between 
 thick bushes and trees ; unless the mail came well armed and 
 guarded, a very few men could " stick it up," without any trouble 
 or danger. There appeared as it approached only two persons 
 upon it, the driver and a passenger. The vehicle was only a mail 
 cart, in front of which they sat. Two men advancing in front, 
 and two coming out from amongst the bushes behind, would leave 
 no chance for these two solitary individuals whatever. 
 
 It occurred to me that they might suppose that there was an in-. 
 
126 TWO YEAR9 IN VICTORIA. 
 
 tention to stop them when they were hailed at such an hour in 
 such a spot; but there was no alternative. So, as they came near, 
 I called out " Hillo ! " At this call the driver instantly stopped 
 the cart, and both he and his companion looked alarmed. 
 
 "Who is that ?" called out the amazed mailman, and I hastened 
 to put him out of suspense by inquiring for my friend. The very 
 name of the gentleman inquired for seemed an instant relief to 
 the travellers. Their countenances underwent a sensible change, 
 and they informed me that my friend was staying behind at Be- 
 nalla, and w^ould not come on till morning, having his horse there. 
 I thanked them ; w^e exchanged " Good night," and they drove on. 
 But at that moment the Sydney and Ovens mail would have cer- 
 tainly had no chance, had even two sturdy bushrangers called on 
 it to surrender. Surely some greater security ought to attend the 
 mail through such a country. 
 
 At Benalla we spent a pleasant day with Dr. Carkeet and 
 family, formerly of Plymouth. There we witnessed some very 
 curious experiments in Mesmerism and table-turning. 
 
 We were delighted to see the progress of land sales in this 
 neighbourhood. Some splendid level land near the town, and also 
 near the river, had been sold in considerable lots at 11. per acre, 
 which required very little clearing, and scarcely anything but 
 fencing. Township allotments had been sold there lately at 120/. 
 per acre ; yet this land, and fine land, too, was close upon the 
 town. The people had refused to give more, and the prospect 
 of plenty of land being thrown into the market had deterred the 
 jobbers from meddling. This was as it should be, and was the 
 dawn of a new and noble day. 
 
 A Government officer there told us frankly that now the Go- 
 vernor was going, even his own officers talked freely enough of 
 the setting sun ; and every one was very liberal in his censure of 
 the management w^hich has prevailed during the last two most im- 
 portant years. He gave us a few specimens of the management 
 in this quarter. He said that a man applied to the Commissioners 
 at Spring Creek for a bill of 10^. He had to apply again and 
 again — a most common and notorious circumstance throughout 
 the whole executive of this colony. There was letter and reply, 
 letter and reply, till the man's patience was exhausted, and he 
 went to a lawyer. Being at length compelled to pay him, they 
 had to sefid a trooper with the money a day's journey, at tlie 
 usual cost of 1/. IO5. per day; thus paying 1/. IO5. and the lawyer's 
 charge, rather than disburse in due course and fashion lOs. 
 
 Observe, it was the Government at Melbourne which played 
 
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT AS PAYMASTERS. 127 
 
 this most absurd game, as much as the officers up the country ; 
 and this practice was so well known, that numbers of people would 
 not undertake a Government contract at all. 
 
 The Argus of June 20th, 1854, has this paragraph : — "Vic- 
 toria Government as Paymasters. — Several publicans, drivers 
 of coaches, and owners of steam-boats have proposed to place up 
 this placard : — * No Government officer accommodated, and no 
 Government work done, except for cash, which must be prepaid.' 
 Those who are aware of the frightful expense and anxiety attend- 
 ing payment even of the most paltry sums of money, cannot be 
 surprised at the public refusing to give credit to Government 
 officers. The escorts, the police, and the military, are all alike. 
 Accounts varying from \l. to 2000/., for accommodation at inns on 
 the road, for the transmission of escorts per steamer, and for the 
 conveyance of prisoners, — accounts which should have been paid 
 twelve months ago, — are to the present day unliquidated. 
 
 •'' One gentleman to whom the Government owed 2000Z. sent 
 seven or eight times to Melbourne, at a cost of about 50/., to get 
 payment, but all in vain ; some document was wrongly worded, or 
 mislaid, or some signature was wanting, or something or other 
 stood everlastingly in the way of the payment. When he remon- 
 strated with the proper officer, that gentleman told him he could 
 not be troubled with his business, that he had enough to do to be 
 signing his name all day." 
 
 A tradesman, in speaking to me of this disgraceful state of 
 things, gave a merry twinkle with his eyes, and said, " Oh, they 
 don't know how to deal with this Government. I have contracted 
 repeatedly to supply goods for the diggings, but I soon found that 
 I should never get the goods delivered if I did not use some 
 management. The moment the draymen heard that the Govern- 
 ment was to pay them for the carriage up, they refused to take 
 them, as they said they should never get paid, or if they did, it 
 would cost them more time and trouble to get the money than it 
 was worth. I therefore paid them myself. I never was repaid at 
 all for this carriage, but then I laid it on in the contract ; and 
 when I got 2000/. by a contract, I did not grudge 80/. or 100/. for 
 carriage ; and as to my money, I was on the spot, and I bored 
 them till I got it. I knew it must be done, and 1 did it." 
 
 While the Government had thus been so backward in paying, 
 it had left money in official hands for extraordinary lengths of 
 time, thus throwing great temptations in their way. One day a 
 pound-keeper at Bullock Creek, near Bendigo, walked off with 
 
128 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 9000/. in his hands, which had lain there instead of being paid 
 over to the proper officer quarterly. 
 
 But a still more extraordinary specimen of colonial manage- 
 ment was detailed to us by one of the very officers concerned. I 
 have already stated that they expended enormous sums, as much 
 as from 30,000/. to 60,000/., on each digging, for houses for the 
 officers, barracks, &c. Well, at Spring Creek, with all this out- 
 lay for building, they had no prison capable of keeping secure 
 any prisoners. Men, therefore, who were there brought before the 
 magistrates, and committed for trial, were sent down to Mel- 
 bourne, a distance of 200 miles, to be kept till the assizes. They 
 were then fetched up again to be tried, and, if condemned, were 
 once more sent down to Melbourne to have their sentence 
 executed. Thus they travelled 600 miles for want of a secure 
 prison, where some 30,000/. had yet been expended in buildings ; 
 and they were sent over all this ground, to and fro, with men and 
 horses at the well-known high rate of Victorian charges, and at- 
 tended by no less than two, and more frequently four troopers, at 
 30s. each per diem. 
 
 Now that, I think, will match any specimen of the burlesque, 
 either in official or unofficial life, which Dickens, Thackeray, 
 Cervantes, or Shakspeare, can furnish. Honest Dogberry, and 
 the worshipful Shallow and Slender, w^hat are they in the presence 
 of these glorious antipodes ? People there don't live with their 
 heads downwards for nothing. They are, or rather were, original 
 beyond the reach of European genius, and sublimely absurd beyond 
 the reach of all caricature. 
 
 We called and spent a pleasant day with our friends the Turn- 
 bulls, and also spent two or three very wet days at Colbinabin. 
 On again crossing the Campaspe at Mr. Robertson's station, we 
 witnessed a circumstance worth relating, both because such cir- 
 cumstances do not and cannot occur in any other part of the world, 
 and because it furnishes striking evidence of that vast charge for 
 forage at the Government camps on the diggings, w^hicli I have 
 affirmed at an earlier page. If this one individual sold so much 
 hay to one camp, how much must have been the total consumption? 
 for he was only one out of various suppliers. 
 
 It will be recollected that, on crossing as we went up, we ob- 
 served that we had to go round Mr. Robertson's paddock, because 
 he had bought his square mile, and stopped the road. Now, on 
 this purchase of 640 acres at 1/. per acre from Government, he 
 had at once fenced in this paddock of eighty acres, and sowed it 
 with oats. The land was splendid meadow-land, requiring no 
 
THE LUCRATIVE EIGHTY ACRES. 129 
 
 clearing, nothing but the fence of posts and rails, which the neigh- 
 bouring forests furnished. By the time that we had thus returned^ 
 he had grown and cut upon this eighty acres 100 tons of oaten 
 hay, which he had sold to the Government for the camp at Ben- 
 digo, fifteen miles off, at 60/. per ton. Thus, he had given 640/. 
 for a fine estate of 640 acres, and from eighty acres, the very first 
 season, sold 6000/. worth of hay to the party from whom he 
 made the purchase ; or, in other words, he had cleared in his 
 bargain with the Government, the whole estate, and 5360/. 
 besides ! 
 
 Nor is this, after all, the full extent of this extraordinary case. 
 Speaking of it, soon after, to a gentleman, he said, ^' But instead of 
 60/., Mr. Robertson might have had 120/. a ton, had he only 
 waited a little, and watched the market. I have been buying up 
 hay for the winter for this same camp at Bendigo, and I have been 
 obliged to give that price. So that Mr. Robertson, by a little 
 more delay, might have made 12,000/. instead of 6000/. ! " Have 
 the squatters no privileges ? Are not these square miles valuable ? 
 Is not this despised presumptive right of 640 acres worth some- 
 thing? I should like to know where is the spot on earth where 
 such deeds of gain can be done ? Why Aladdin and his lamp are 
 flat prose in comparison of Mr. Robertson and the poetry of his 
 paddock ! 
 
 This lucky squatter is quite a young man. I have heard that 
 his father left Scotland in the humble position of a stocksman, or, 
 at most, of an overseer ; and yet he died and left his sons, as I am 
 told, 10,000/. each, — this knight, not of the padlock, but of the 
 paddock, being one of them. The father's wealth was made on a 
 station, I believe, in the Portland Bay district ; and if he could have 
 made 10,000/. in a whole life of management, industry, and 
 economy, on the pastoral hills of Scotland, he would have been 
 looked upon as a most fortunate individual. Yet here he leaves 
 to his sons that sum each, as the product of squatting ; and this 
 son, taking a more wonderful flight still, buys a fine estate, and 
 instead of paying, at once gets a premium upon the acceptance of 
 it of upwards of 5000/. 
 
 Yet such is the vanity of human wishes, that Mr. Robertson 
 only presented another example of the fact that — 
 
 " Man never is, but always to be blest." 
 
 We found him living in a small cottage with a door and two 
 windows, suitable to the merest labourer in England. He did not 
 appear to be married, and his whole establishment presented the 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
130 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 same unexpensive aspect. He was already cutting and carting 
 his hay ; and when we congratulated him on his fine crop, what 
 did this poor man do? This poor young man, the holder of a 
 station worth probably from 20,000/. to 40,000/. ? He shook his 
 head, looked very wo-begone indeed, and said — "Ah! but see! 
 the rain has got into the hay, as we had untbatched part of it for 
 trussing, and there is ever so much spoiled ! " 
 
 We looked and saw that the rain had only wet a very little 
 along the top, and which many a 'cute trader would take care to 
 dry, and put a little of it into the middle of the other trusses, as 
 the old woman put a bit of bad tow into the centre of each rock 
 that she sold, saying — "It deceives nobody; they all expect a 
 little bad in the middle, and they iind it there." 
 
 But poor Mr. Robertson had a host of other troubles. He had 
 got the scab amongst his sheep, and he said, "they had been 
 dressing them, and it had killed ever so many," If the number 
 of his defunct sheep did not exceed in proportion the amount of 
 his damaged hay, as I dare say they did not, he was not much 
 hurt. " But, then," said he, " labour is so scarce ; no men to be 
 got for any money ; and here my shepherd has lost his dog, and 
 not a dog to be got at any price. Everything is running against 
 us poor squatters ! Everything! Everything!" And with that 
 he went off in a most disconsolate state of mind to assist in trussing 
 his hay. I say if such a man could have done the same things in 
 Scotland or England in a long laborious life, he would have been 
 considered a miracle. There he was no miracle at all, but thought 
 himself a most miserable man. 
 
 On the banks of the Broken River — I turn back on our course, 
 for the contrast^ — we saw a picture which is of another hue. We^ 
 were encamped one evening, opposite to a squatting-station, when, 
 one of the shepherds came across the river to our fire. He was. 
 in quest of a horse ; and when we showed him the horse grazing 
 with ours, he stayed awhile to talk. As I knew the gentleman to 
 whom the station belonged, but who himself resided in Melbourne, 
 I asked him if there were a garden at the head station. He replied, j 
 " Not a bit ; it is a thorough wilderness." 
 
 " And have you none ? " 
 
 " Me, sir ! why I'll tell you. For a wonder, I have my wife 
 with me ; so I thought I would make things a little comfortable, 
 and I fenced in a little plot of ground for a garden behind the hut, 
 meaning to have a few cabbages and potatoes. One day the over- 
 seer came. He drew up bis horse at the garden-fence, stared hard 
 at the enclosure, and then said, 'Well, and what may this mean? ' 
 
STORY OF A TYRANT OVERSEER. 131 
 
 ' It is for a bit of a cabbage-garden, sir.' * A cabbage-garden, eh ? 
 And what the d — 1 do you want with a cabbage-garden ? By 
 the Lord, man, if you can't be content to look after your sheep, 
 and let alone cabbage-gardening, I'll soon settle with you. Pull 
 down the fence directly.' And so saying he rode off. 
 
 " A few days after, he came to see if the fence were down ; and 
 finding that it was, he went to the hut, and said to my wife, * And 
 so you want a cabbage-garden, I reckon, eh ? ' ' Well, sir, it 
 would have been a comfort,' said my wife ; * and I don't, for my 
 part, see what harm it could have done. I could have looked after 
 it ; for time, in fact, hangs rather heavy on my hands.' 
 
 "'Oho!' said he, * that's the way the wind blows, eh ? It's 
 you who set on your husband. Well, now mark me ; if you have 
 not enough to do, I'll just give you something.' So he set to work 
 at once; and threw the bed, and the stools, and the cooking 
 vessels out of the door ; and said, * There ! there's a little job for 
 you, as you are bored for want of something to amuse you.' 
 
 " When I came home, and found my wife crying, and heard all 
 this, I was mightily angered : but I knew it was no use going and 
 complaining. It would only make matters worse. But the man 
 did not let me rest. The day after, he came riding up to where 
 I was with the flock, and said, ' Well, you're not cabbage-gar- 
 dening, I hope ?' My heart rose into my mouth with anger; but 
 I said as quickly as I could, * No, sir, I dropped all that when you 
 bade me ; and I don't see why you need have flung my few traps 
 out of my hut, and frightened my wife.' 
 
 " He gave me a look. Gad ! it might have been a pistol-shot, 
 it seemed to go through me so. * D — n you for a scoundrel,' he 
 exclaimed. ' I tell you what, let me catch you any more at any 
 such nonsense, and I'll make it my business to shift you round and 
 round from one station to another ; and we have got seven on the 
 run ; and then we shall see how you manage to cultivate cab- 
 bages.' 
 
 " With that he rode off; and there ended my notions of making 
 things comfortable. I've had enough of the bush ; in a few weeks 
 I'm off to the diggings." 
 
 Now that is a fact for Mrs. Chisholm. She has published her 
 facts respecting New South Wales, and very pleasant facts many 
 of them are ; but when I heard this man's story I had just been 
 reading, with a most painful interest, her speeches in the manu- 
 facturing districts of England. 
 
 When Mrs. Chisholm talked of New South Wales, she talked of 
 a colony and a condition of things with which she was practically 
 
 K 2 
 
132 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 acquainted ; but here she was talking of a colony and a condition 
 of things of which she evidently knew nothing. And yet her hus- 
 band had been there for some years. He has been living amid all 
 the colonial, social, and moral revolutions which the gold disco- 
 veries had produced ; and how was it that, engaged in the same 
 most important business as his wife, that of taking over large 
 numbers of emigrants, he had not taken care to make her fully 
 acquainted with the real facts? Had Captain Chisholm never 
 been up the country ? Never seen the diggings ? Never seen the 
 shepherds' huts? Never seen the unparalleled extent of drunken- 
 ness ? Never looked at the estimates, and seen the most marvel- 
 lous amount of duty on spirits alone, — more than half a million 
 sterling a year ? Never informed her of the fearful battle which 
 the magistracy, the Temperance Society, and all thinking people 
 were waging, and vainly waging, with the most frightful intem- 
 perance that the world ever knew ? Never told her that there 
 was no land for people to settle on ? Yet that this was the case, 
 we have the evidence of the Argus, one of the most eloquent ad- 
 vocates of emigration. On the 20th of April, 1854, it said, "It 
 will be a happy day for this colony when every man who has come 
 hither, in quest of a home, can have his own free homestead and 
 snug garden ; and when, in addition to his newspaper, he can em- 
 ploy his leisure time in reading. What people are chiefly disap- 
 pointed with here is, that there is nothing which they have been 
 accustomed to associate with a colony. Notwithstanding all our 
 gold, America is still preferred by thousands, because it is the 
 country of cheap land, cheap education, and cheap books. When< 
 we have these here, then will the book triumph over the bottle. 
 Then will home-sickness fade away before the sight of waving^ 
 corn-fields and smiling landscapes." 
 
 Believing that Mrs. Chisholm was what the world gives her- 
 credit for, a true-hearted and brave-hearted woman ; that she was 
 earnestly and faithfully labouring in a great cause, — that of re- 
 moving people, and especially women, from a situation of struggle 
 and discouragement to one of hope and prosperity ; that she was 
 aiming to do a noble work of humanity; and that it was from this 
 conviction that so large a portion of the public, in all classes at 
 home, have bestowed upon her its confidence and esteem, it was 
 with the deepest pain that I read her speeches just mentioned, and' 
 especially the one delivered at Leeds. In that speech, this heroic* 
 woman utters things which she herself was the first to condemn 
 on reaching the colony. She was there, in fact, falling into that 
 very system of false and distorted eulogy of Victoria, which has 
 
MRS. CHISHOLM's FALSE COLOURING. 133 
 
 occasioned such lamentable misery and disappointment, during 
 the gold mania, and which has now so severely reacted on the pro- 
 gress of emigration thither. 
 
 I have repeatedly stated the fact, that the false colouring given 
 to life there, was the cause which produced such painful and 
 miserable disappointment in the minds of thousands and tens of 
 thousands who went to the gold-fields. The shock which the 
 first perception of the reality gave them, completely overturned 
 the balance of their judgments. Hundreds and thousands made a 
 precipitate retreat ; thousands of others, who were hardy enough 
 to remain, or too poor to retreat, remained in a dogged sullenness, 
 exaggerating every inconvenience in their unhappy minds, and 
 unable, through the fogs of disappointment, to perceive the clearer 
 prospect a-head. Had these people gone out with a fair state- 
 ment of the truth of things, nine-tenths of them would have suc- 
 ceeded. It was the fallacious picture which disgusted them with 
 the plain, but good and substantial reality; as the flattering pic- 
 ture of Holbein made Henry VIII. think Anne of Cleves no 
 better than a Flanders mare. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm told the operatives of Leeds, that in leaving 
 England they leave all their hardships and privations, and in 
 Victoria, "step at once into every imaginable comfort." 
 
 The artisan's position is the bright spot of Victoria. Work- 
 men of most kinds, but still not of all, get great wages; and work- 
 ing men of the manufacturing towns are often of a class that 
 would find no employment of their own kind there. Cotton- 
 spinners and cloth-manufacturers here could only become labour- 
 ers and porters; but builders, joiners, tilers, glaziers, and many 
 others, step into ready employment at high wages. Yet, even to 
 them, comfort is not the true word. Their high wages will not 
 always purchase comforts, as comforts are estimated at home ; they 
 must learn to live with a certain degree of rudeness, and many 
 privations, for the acquirement of ultimate and great advantages. 
 That is the statement which should be made, and which would 
 equally influence, and at the same time prevent disappointment 
 with its distorting effects. 
 
 But the workman's chance is the best chance and, if fairly 
 stated, w^ould be that of ultimate success, against all sorts of present 
 discomforts, — if he keep out of the grog-shop, the grand ruin- 
 shop of this colony. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm told her audience at Leeds, that she had received 
 a letter from some gentleman, warning her against the awful re- 
 sponsibility of inducing young women to go out and marry the 
 
 k3 
 
134 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 brutal lags and drunken monsters who abound in Victoria. It 
 was a most important and most kindly warning; but Mrs. Chis- 
 holm treated it lightly, and told her fair aspirants to colonial 
 matrimony, that it is the hardships at home that render men 
 savage and brutal, but that "they become mild and refined in the 
 colonies, from the improvement of their circumstances!" 
 
 Where are these hardened wretches — these men made brutal 
 at home, who are here so softened and refined? Will universal 
 drunkenness refine them? Is the grog-shop the school of this 
 amelioration — this elevating process ? But it is in the grog-shop 
 that you find nine-tenths of the population of Victoria; that is 
 their school, their haunt, and their home ! Do you read the news- 
 papers of Victoria and Sydney? If you do, you must be aware 
 that the monstrous and all but universal drunkenness of these 
 colonies is recorded and proclaimed daily by these journals, as the 
 giant and indomitable curse of them both. Nor is Van Diemen's 
 Land far behind; and all means of checking it have proved in 
 vain. Neither the preacher, the moralist, the temperance pledge, 
 nor the terrors of the magistrate, singly or all together, can grapple 
 with this monster, which is destroying the lives and substance, 
 intellectual and physical, of the bulk of the labouring class in 
 these colonies. These papers tell you plainly, however much they 
 may eulogise these countries in other respects, that they are un- 
 questionably the most drunken regions on the face of the earth! 
 And in this statement the Government returns bear them fully 
 out; they show that the consumption of ardent spirits has kept] 
 pace, and more than kept pace, with the wonderful influx of popu- 
 lation. In 1851, the duty on spirits imported and sold in Vicioriaj 
 amounted to about 30,000/.; in 1852, to 80,000/.; in 1853 it was] 
 237,769/.; in 1854 it was 596,017/.; and the Government in i1 
 estimates for the year ending March, 1855, calculated their reach- 
 ing 900,000/. ! That, be it remembered, is merely the duty or 
 spirits, not their value, and that for the consumption of a popula- 
 tion of 250,000. 
 
 To check this moral plague there has been a vigorous agitatioi 
 for the introduction of the Maine Liquor Law, — that is, for the 
 total prohibition of the sale of spirituous liquors in these colonies 
 as a last and only remedy. But this is not likely to be carrie( 
 The whole of the working population almost are against it. Govern- 
 ment is now licensing, both in town and country, and in th< 
 diggings, as many pot-houses as people please to ask for; and ii 
 the diggings you see the result. The grog-shops are crowdec' 
 especially on a Saturday afternoon. At Bendigo, the theatre an^ 
 
MRS. CHISHOLM*S IDEAS OF BUSH LIFE. 135 
 
 Other places of entertainment were, in my time, provided with 
 taps ; and those frequenting them had to pass through the tap to 
 the body of the house ! 
 
 Already, too, the effects were visible enough. The coroners of 
 the diggings were in increased business. Sudden deaths — drown- 
 ing of drunkards, and wives knocked on the head by drunken 
 husbands — were in rapid advance. Crime, as we have already 
 shown, had increased in the ratio of from 4000 to 10,000 criminal 
 cases per annum. 
 
 Such are the men whom improved circumstances have softened 
 and refined I If women — simple and believing women — are per- 
 suaded to come out here to form matrimonial connections, let them 
 at least know the sort of men that abound amongst many better, 
 that they may be upon their guard. 
 
 But Mrs. Chisholm equally revelled in descriptions of the para- 
 dises of the bush! She described her having seen people rolling 
 on the ground in delight on having attained such rural paradises. 
 These paradises were on small farms in New South Wales. All 
 the world knows of Mrs. Chisholm's travels with young women up 
 the country there, to locate them in happy country homes, and 
 honours her for it. But alas! where are the paradises of the bush 
 in Victoria? at least any paradises into which she could introduce 
 her dowerless Eves ? The policy of the Government in making 
 land dear still kept these domestic paradises few and far between. 
 
 No; these paradises of the bush are still but partially attainable 
 by emigrants there. The land question is not yet settled. Had it 
 been so, this country would, ere this, have had hundreds of thou- 
 sands of families established upon it ; and all the rural luxuries of 
 corn, milk, butter, eggs, fruits and vegetables in abundance, where 
 they are now either unattainable or nearly so from their price. Had 
 it been so, the population would have purchased such houses and 
 lands instead of destructive spirits, and would now present a 
 picture as purified and refined as Mrs. Chisholm fondly ima- 
 gined it. 
 
 Lastly, she described the homes and lives of shepherds in the bush 
 as most delicious and Arcadian, and invited young women to go 
 out and share their felicities. If there be a desolate and comfortless 
 abode of humanity anywhere on the globe it is the shepherd's hut 
 in the Australian bush. I speak of what I know, for I have visited 
 them from one side of the colony to the other. My picture is not 
 an imaginary one but the reality, and that reality everywhere ; I 
 have seen no single exception : a little slab hut, with a mud floor, 
 and a log or two or a stool, a single bed, and the simplest cooking 
 
 K4 
 
136 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 apparatus. It does not abound in comforts, but it often abounds 
 in fleas. It has no garden or enclosure ; it stands in the unfenced, 
 unadorned bush; and the fare of the shepherd is the eternal 
 monotony of mutton-chops, damper, and tea, occasionally varied 
 by a doughboy or Norfolk dumpling. He has no milk, except 
 he be near the Home Station ; not always then. No vegetables of 
 any kind. 
 
 Truly the shepherds are lonely enough, for nine-tenths of them 
 are single men, living alone in the remote bush or with a hut- 
 keeper to prepare their meals. Good wives would be a grand 
 acquisition to them ; but then, will the squatters give their wives 
 and children rations ? Do they want the shepherds to have wives 
 and families ? I doubt it. They prefer single men, for they are 
 cheapest. Their wages, 30/. or 38/. a year and their rations, are 
 not calculated for families. Wives might serve as hut^keepers, 
 but the hut-keeper is expected to go out and sleep in the field box 
 with the flock, and wives cannot do that ; and, therefore, that duty 
 would fall on the shepherd. I believe the case of the tyrannic 
 overseer which I have given to be an exceptional case, and a rare 
 case ; but the desolate, comfortless, solitary, and unembellished 
 hut and life of the shepherd is universal. It is that which drives 
 so many mad. Let Mrs. Chisholm get this altered ; let her spread 
 wives through the bush, and light up the solitude with cheerful 
 families and children's voices, but let her candidly state to her 
 female protegees what these huts are now. Let her organise new 
 ones, and she will effect a great work, none nobler, none humaner ; 
 but the work has yet to be done — the Arcadian homes she ima- 
 gines have yet to be created. 
 
 While transcribing these pages for the press, I received the 
 Melbourne newspapers for Nov. 11th, 1854, and found Mrs. Chis- 
 holm acting as I anticipated, and candidly at a public meeting in 
 Melbourne, declaring her discoveries of the painful reality which 
 awaited her. She had boldly gone up the country, and astonished 
 herself beyond expression at the utter want of roads, and of those 
 fearful bogs and gullies in which we had so many adventures. She 
 broke her shaft, and came back having lost all hope of the Govern- 
 ment making roads, and telling the people they must make them 
 themselves ! " Talk of the want of labour !" she exclaims, "look 
 at the labour that is wasted in getting through the thick mud of 
 the Black Forest. Just where I broke my shaft I saw ten or a 
 dozen men dragging at a single wheel. It is at such places that 
 the merchant's goods are lost or destroyed." 
 
 She was horrified by the sight of " the long ranges of public- 
 houses at the diggings ; " and her practical penetrating mind 
 
BENDIGO RACES. 137 
 
 immediately detected the giant evil of this colony : — " The great 
 grievance of the diggings is, that they cannot get the land. It is 
 this great grievance that requires to be immediately remedied. . . . 
 It is a serious thing for a man who has made 200/. or 300/. to sink 
 it all in a piece of ground that will not give him a piece of bread, 
 or even a potato ! . . . The lands must be unlocked ! I nevek 
 
 COULD — I NEVER WOULD HAVE RECOMMENDED ANY MAN TO COME 
 TO THIS COUNTRY, IF I DID NOT THINK THIS POSSIBLE, AND THAT IT 
 WOULD SOON BE DONE ! " 
 
 That is the honest and noble confession of an heroic nature. 
 These letters ought to be written in gold over the doors of the 
 Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Victoria, as the 
 sentiment of every disinterested and patriotic mind, and as em- 
 bodying the great truth that to deny colonial waste lands to a 
 people pushed forth from their native country by necessity, is at 
 once suicidal and disgraceful to the intellect of any nation. But 
 thou'ih the great battle of the land question is not yet settled, 
 much land has been thrown into the market since the first edition 
 of this work was published, and good roads to the Diggings have 
 been made by the succeeding Governments. In the country or in 
 town improvement has been proceeding with giant strides ; and 
 the land once free, Victoria will present to the emigrant all the 
 charms and comforts which Mrs. Chisholm too soon imagined. ^ 
 
 CHAP. XXXIIL 
 
 Ben digo Races. — Character of Population. — Decrease of Gold and Growth 
 of Public-houses. — Frightful State of Roads through the Diggings. — 
 OflScial Neglect. — Horse-Gins at Work. — A Round amongst the Gold- 
 buyers. — Dine with the Clergyman, who laments the Want of Endeavours 
 to elevate, instead of demoralising, the Population. — Vast Reforms wanted 
 on the Diggings. — Gross Abuse of the Office of Pound-keeper. — Example; 
 Case of a Digger's Horse. — State of the Government. — Four Millions 
 Sterling per Annum required to govern 250,000 People! List of official 
 Salaries. — Sample of Allowances for House-rent. — Propose to tax the 
 Squatters, who resist and threaten to double Prices of Meat, — Mutton, in 
 Melbourne, Is. od. per lb. — Present Amount of Sheep, Cattle, &c., in 
 Colony. — Squatters memorialise Home Government, claiming Right to buy 
 all the Land at II per acre. — These Claims and 70,000 Diggers with de- 
 creasing Gold, threaten serious Evils to the Colony. — Leading Men from 
 Victoria and N. S. Wales watching the Fate of the new Constitution sent 
 Home. — Diseases of the Flocks. 
 
 We arrived at Bendigo about the middle of April, and were detained 
 by unluckily stumbling on the races. 
 
138 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 We took an occasional glance at these races, and found both 
 better horses and more order than we expected. But whether 
 holiday-making or at work, Bendigo presented to us the same 
 odious features as it did before. I do not know why it was, but I 
 saw no diggings where there appeared such a predominance of low 
 and insolent people as at that place. There were, undoubtedly, 
 a large number of decent and worthy people there, both amongst 
 them and amongst the storekeepers; but there was a very tangible 
 class, too, of the very lowest characters amongst the diggers, and 
 of clownish and quirking characters amongst the storekeepers. 
 They told us that great numbers of the worst class of both kinds 
 were gone away to Tarrangower, the Avoca, and other new 
 diggings. It might be so, but I did not miss them. There were 
 swarms of German Jews amongst the storekeepers and publicans 
 of Bendigo — and they were Jews to some purpose. At the 
 Ovens, where carriage was 60/. per ton when we left, we could 
 purchase all sorts of articles for 28 per cent, less than we could 
 there, where carriage was 30/. per ton — just half the price ! There 
 had been a little rain during the week, and on the plea of the state 
 of the roads, they at once raised carriage to 80Z. per ton, and all 
 articles in proportion. In fact, as the gold decreased there, and 
 people went away, the storekeepers appeared to raise their prices, 
 so as to obtain the same amount of profit out of the small remainder 
 as they did out of the whole. 
 
 The same monstrous drunkenness still prevailed. I was told 
 that great improvements had been made since I was here last. On 
 inquiring what these consisted in, the answer was fifteen new 
 houses of wood, — all for public-houses! It was added that the 
 Commissioners who had granted the licenses were chuckling and 
 rubbing their hands at the idea that so many could not answer, 
 and that soon they should be able to get them for an old song ; 
 that is, that they could get the Government to buy them for them 
 to live in. But in this I think they will be mistaken, for the 
 diggers will drink to the last, and will only cease to drink when 
 they cease to find anymore gold, and no Commissioners are wanted 
 to collect the license-money. 
 
 As for the public business, it was conducted in the same ad- 
 mirable style as ever. The roads under the very eye of the camp, 
 and in the very centre of the diggings, were in the most frightful 
 condition. The Commissioners had been obliged to throw down 
 the fence of the camp inclosure next to the diggings, to allow carts 
 and drays to pass through, the road itself having become utterly 
 impassable. These able Commissioners had just been patronising 
 
FRIGHTFUL STATE OF ROADS. 139 
 
 horse-racing, but close under the camp, on the way out of Bendigo 
 to the race-course, there was a piece of road of the most abomin- 
 able description. It had been dug up by the diggers on both sides 
 till there were holes so near each other, that it was impossible for 
 carriages to pass without the wheels dropping into one of them, on 
 one side or the other. The piece of road was so hollow and full 
 of mud that the holes were not perceptible till you were in them. 
 All day long, therefore, the drays, carts, gigs, dog-carts, and odd, 
 anomalous vehicles which abounded there, were seen tumbling in 
 and scrambling out of the Scylla or Charybdis of Bendigo. The 
 road during the races had been continually blocked up by such 
 disasters, and it was impossible to get any other way, for other 
 way there was none. All was one vast chaos of gravel heaps and 
 deep pits. 
 
 Well, these Commissioners, Panton and Barnard, had ridden 
 every day to the races and back, and seen all this, as a matter of 
 course, without its appearing to have struck them that they ought 
 to have had these pits filled up ; and this piece of road raised with 
 gravel which lay in millions of tons on each side. They had been 
 themselves obliged to wait while carriages got out, and they had 
 seen a sort of American waggon, and other carriages, which had 
 carried passengers to the races, oblige these passengers regularly 
 to get out at these holes, and wade over the muddy clay and gravel 
 heaps, ladies in fine dresses and silk-stockings amongst them, while 
 the vehicles managed to get through empty. Yet still, it never 
 struck them that they had anything whatever to do with this state 
 of things! But in this colony the art of government, at that time, 
 was certainly reduced to the simplest principles. These were to 
 do nothing for the public, and to scrape out of it all that they could. 
 And the officials, from the highest to the lowest, were perfect in 
 this art. 
 
 Alfred told me that he did one day see three or four prisoners, 
 under guard of police armed with muskets, shovelling mud into 
 these holes. I suppose, therefore, that these admirably accomplished 
 Commissioners held mud to be the very best thing for filling holes 
 in a road with ; and that it will require a new avatar of Commis- 
 sioners to arrive at the fact, that solid material only will make a 
 solid road. In Melbourne they actually made the footpaths in the 
 principal streets of dust, which in dry weather was tossed up, and 
 smothered everybody, and on the first rain was swept away into 
 the kennels ; whence, on the rain ceasing, it was once more flung 
 back upon the trottoir. The mud of Bendigo and the dust of 
 Helbourne were, with equal sagacity, imagined to be materials for 
 
140 TWO TEARS TS VICTORIA. 
 
 road-making. Better times and better men have appeared since, 
 and made great changes. 
 
 Bendigo exhibited few symptoms of ground yet unbroken — of 
 yet untouched expanses of gold. The diggers were all at work 
 amongst the old heaps, either searching for small unworked 
 patches between the holes, or were washing over the stuff which 
 had been thrown out. Others were pursuing the gold in a north- 
 westerly direction, towards Robinson Crusoe's Gully, and so on- 
 wards to the Loddon and Avoca. 
 
 Here you saw the first introduction of machinery, except the 
 steam-engine, at the Bendigo Gold Company's enclosure, which, as 
 I prognosticated, had not been found to answer, and the whole 
 concern was standing stiil. The machinery which we saw at work 
 consisted of a contrivance to crush and puddle the clay and other 
 refuse of the diggers. It was a roller working in a cylindric box, 
 into which the earth and water were introduced, the roller being 
 kept in motion by a horse-gin. Numbers of these gins were to be 
 seen at work in different parts of the field. -^ 
 
 But that the individual earnings of the diggers in Bendigo 
 were at that juncture very small may be inferred from this fact ; 
 — Alfred and I, to get some idea of the amounts sold there by in- 
 dividual diggers, put a small bag of gold, of a pound and a half, 
 into our pocket, and set off to sell it. We did not go to the 
 Adelaide Escort Company, because we did not consider that a fair 
 criterion. They, no doubt, would take any such amount, and a 
 great deal more, at any time. But we took the regular store- 
 keepers who are purchasers, and beginning at the new Post-office, 
 went to all places where there were placards of "gold bought in 
 any quantity," "gold bought at the highest price," or "3/. ISs, 
 for gold," or " 1000 ounces of gold wanted." Would it be 
 believed ? We could not find a single storekeeper prepared to pur- 
 chase such a trifling amount as that. On asking if they bought 
 gold, the answer was, " Oh yes, certainly." 'You give 3/. IS*.?" 
 " Oh, yes." " Well, we have only a small quantity, about a pound 
 and a half." At the words a "pound and a half," it was laughable 
 to see how their jaws fell, and what an air of blank dismay fell over 
 them. One endeavoured to get out of it by saying that he had 
 just made up his thousand ounces; another, that he was only the 
 assistant — his principal was out; but the far greater number 
 began to back out of the price ; — " Well, they could not give that- 
 price for that quantity ; only 3/. 17*. 6c?., as it might fall beforej 
 next escort day." Towards the last, we laughed in one man' 
 face, and said that we had now been nearly the length of the one 
 
DINE WITH A CLERGYMAN. 141 
 
 famous Bendigo, and could not find a man who could purchase a 
 pound and a half of gold at once. " Oh ! " replied he, with genuine 
 colonial bluster, " I could soon show you a man who could pur- 
 chase 10,000/. worth." "Pray do," we said, "for that is the 
 very man we are seeking." To which the polite storekeeper 
 replied, that we might go and look for him : it was no business 
 of his. 
 
 It is not to be supposed from this that there was very little gold 
 sent down from Bendigo. There often went down from 12,000 to 
 20,000 ounces by escort. But then, that was the product of 
 40,000 diggers, according to the popular estimate. What was 
 clear was, that the average weekly earnings of each digger was 
 extremely small. Even 20,000 ounces in a week only averages half 
 an ounce per man if there be 40,000 men. But it was quite 
 obvious that individual storekeepers were not accustomed to 
 expect large amounts at once. It was perhaps from these cir- 
 cumstances that you heard Bendigo then called the Poor Man's 
 Digging. 
 
 At the auction-room of Mr. Jones, however, we saw a magni- 
 ficent specimen of quartz containing gold. The mass of quartz 
 was about a foot square, and was richly powdered with particles 
 of gold. It had been found in Long Gully, and one of the 
 party who found it was there. They had showed it at the races, 
 and made 70/. by the exhibition, at Is. each person : and they now 
 sold it to Mr. Jones for 90/. rather than abide the result of the 
 auction. The very next day he sold it for 230/. The old digger 
 who had sold it for 90/. said, " Oh, well, Mr. Jones behaved 
 like a gentleman, and I am quite satisfied. We've got 160/. 
 by it." 
 
 On Sunday I dined with Mr. Norris, the postmaster there. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Norris had lived much in America, and were really in- 
 telligent, intellectual people. Mrs. Norris was a niece of Colonel 
 Valiant, of the 40th infantry, who were quartered at Melbourne. 
 Mr. Gregory, the clergyman, was there, an excellent young man. I 
 expressed to him my regret that horse-racing and grog-shops ap- 
 peared to be the chief objects of patronage, and that I should like to 
 see gentlemen organising reading-rooms, news-rooms, lectures, and 
 musical societies, anything which would give an intellectual tone to 
 the population ; — that the host of public-houses which were 
 opened, and in which magistrates and professional men were con- 
 cerned, were calculated to become the very focuses of drunken- 
 ness, gambling, and swindling, of which there were already too 
 much ; — that what was wanted were movements that would give a 
 
142 
 
 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 harmonising instead of a brutalising tendency to the tastes of the 
 diggers ; — and that, in my opinion, such a collection of rude, and, 
 in too great a degree, uneducated men, loosed from the restraints 
 which superior classes imposed in Europe, and left to the indulgence 
 of a new and wild freedom, could not have their worst passions 
 and appetites stimulated by drunkenness under the patronage of 
 the very authorities, without there coming, ere long, a terrible re-, 
 tribution in some shape or other. 
 
 Mr. Gregory fully accorded in both the sentiment and the pre- 
 sage, and said that he was at this very time anxiously engaged in 
 bringing into play such beneficial agencies ; but lamented the great 
 want of co-operation in the task. 
 
 All thinking men admitted that vast reforms were needed, not 
 only in the diggings but throughout the colony. The whole sys- 
 tem appeared one vast mass of corruption and mismanagement. 
 The elopement of the pound-keeper at Bullock Creek with 9000/. 
 of the Government money had turned the public attention to that 
 class of persons, and all were amazed to find what was the real 
 value of such a post there. What would be said in England to the 
 office of a pound-keeper being worth 4000/. a-year ? Yet every j 
 one declared that it was. The fact was, that too many of these 
 pound-keepers were, in truth, horse and cattle-stealers. They 
 kept a set of men who rode about the bush, and snapped up all! 
 the horses and cattle that they could slily drive off. These theyj 
 tailed out, as it is called, that is, watched them away in the bush,J 
 and in a while advertised them, as they were bound to do in th( 
 newspapers. They did this by the time that they thought thai 
 the owners of horses especially were gone away into some distant 
 part of the country. Ten to one whether the owners saw the 
 advertisement till too late, if ever. The horses were sold 
 certain fixed pound sales, and no one after that could recover them^ 
 The owner might go to the pound-keeper, and on proving anj 
 horse or bullock was his, might claim the price at which it was 
 sold ; but then, the expenses were charged for the time the anima| 
 was kept, and they often contrive to make this swallow up th< 
 whole creature. 
 
 We were told by a squatter, as we came down the country, thj 
 a digger encamped one night near the Goulburn, and not very fa 
 from one of these pounds. He bad a fine horse for which he 1 
 given ninety guineas. The next morning it was no where to hi 
 found. He hunted the whole neighbourhood over, to no purpose 
 He went to the pound-keeper. It was not there, of course, fo^ 
 that is not the plan. It was without doubt tailing out in the busl 
 
STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 143 
 
 that he might not find it. After a time, he heard that it actually 
 was in the custody of this very pound-keeper ; and he went to the 
 squatter on whose run he had that night camped, and asked if 
 it had been taken up by his orders. He said, " No ; certainly 
 not." In fact, he had no right to pound it at all. Diggers' horses 
 are entitled to graze on the waste. He then went to the pound, 
 and found that his horse was already sold, and on demanding the 
 sum that it was sold for, he was told it was seven guineas, and that 
 the expenses left a balance due to him of seven and sixpence. 
 
 Such cases were numberless ; and so long as the law converts 
 stolen property into legal property, by its being sold at a pound 
 sale, so long will this villany and horse-stealing flourish. No law 
 whatever should bar a man's right to property which has been 
 stolen from him, whenever he meets with it. This is a most 
 mischievous law, and a perfect godsend to the dishonest pound- 
 keeper, and only originates in the dislike of Government to indem- 
 nify a man for the purchase from itself of stolen property. 
 
 I saw by the newspapers, that the squatters had been called 
 upon to supply the deficiencies of the revenue to some extent. 
 The Government of 250,000 people had required in 1854 no 
 less a sum than four millions and a half. That will surprise 
 people in England, who had not had the opportunity, as we had, 
 of contemplating the wonderful establishment of this gold colony 
 at that period: — the wonderful crowd of officials, both at head- 
 quarters and in the diggings, at high salaries, and the wonderful 
 way in which business was done. I have given a few rich speci- 
 mens of these things as I have gone along. They are a sample of 
 the bulk : and the colony this year, with a revenue of 3,270,000/., 
 was declared to be, on the year, upwards of a million deficient. 
 
 But no one would longer wonder if he could glance over the long 
 list, now lying before me, of official salaries, as published in October 
 1853. Take a few specimens : — 
 
 Per Ann. 
 
 The new Governor is to have ----- £"15,000 
 
 His Private Secretary, Aide-de-camp, Clerks, &c. - 2,888 
 Legislative Council, — Speaker 2000/., other officers, 
 
 6311/.; total 8,311 
 
 Colonial Secretary, 2.'>00/., making, with his Staff - 18,335 
 
 Colonial Treasurer and his Staff - - - - 16,637 
 
 Auditor- General and Staff 15,080 
 
 Judges, and administration of justice - - - 43,230 
 
 Post-office department 64,622 
 
 Ports and harbours 42,580 
 
 Public works 800,000 
 
144^ TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Police - £317,597 
 
 Gaols 94,549 
 
 Officers in the Gold-Fields, independent of Police, 
 
 forage, buildings, &c. ---_-- 71,923 
 
 And on the same princely scale was the supply of all these de- 
 partments, with the necessary expenditure for working at the high 
 rate of colonial charge. 
 
 A very large sum of the above charges was paid, as before 
 stated, for house-rent, which the enormous price of that item ren- 
 dered necessary. The particulars of the post-office department in 
 Melbourne will show that this generally amounted to half as much 
 as the salary : — 
 
 POST-OFFICE MELBOURNE. 
 
 Salaries. House Rent. 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 Postmaster-General - - - - - 1,200 500 
 
 Secretary 600 300 
 
 Accountant 500 250 
 
 First clerk 500 250 
 
 Inspector of dead letters . - - - 500 250 
 
 Resident clerk 400 
 
 Seventy-five clerks, — eight at 300Z. each, 
 
 and sixty-seven at 200/. each ... 15,800 7,900 
 Allowances to seventy- six clerks, for extra 
 
 hours (including resident clerk), at lOOZ. 
 
 each 7,600 
 
 Four sub-sorters, — two at 1 5s. each, and 
 
 two at 135. each, per diem - - - - 1,022 , 
 
 Twenty-six letter carriers, at 12*. per diem - 5,694 
 
 It will be seen from this statement that Victoria paid, in 1854, 
 four times the real value of every item of its Government as well 
 as of everything else. And why ? Because it had created this 
 high-pressure system, by its embargo of land, and its gambling 
 town-allotment system. It was the Pelican that stabbed its own 
 bosom, and suckled its official brood with its life-blood. It is 
 true that the sudden change, inevitable on the gold-discovery, 
 must have originated a temporary high rate of prices ; but this 
 insane policy had aggravated four-fold at least, instead of abating 
 this evil. With plenty of land would have come plenty of market 
 supplies ; town allotments and house rents never could have 
 reached that scale ; and with land a-head, the tide of labour would 
 have been pouring in with double rapidity ; all tending, as these 
 manias did in California, to a more speedy return to a healthy and 
 comparatively easy state. 
 
 I 
 
MUTTON IN MELBOURNE. 145 
 
 "Well, towards defraying the whole of this magnificent outlay, 
 the squatters contributed only 20,000/. a year ; and it was proposed 
 to lay again the head-money on their stock, which had most un- 
 necessarily been dispensed with since the separation from Sydney. 
 Had an income-tax of three per cent, been laid on the public, the 
 squatters, with their noble revenues, must have contributed a 
 splendid quota to the exchequer. But though the sum required 
 of them was estimated at only 100,000/. they grew very indignant, 
 cut it down to 50,000/., and then demanded that it should be 
 expended in bridges and other improvements in the vicinity of 
 their own abodes. They declared, moreover, that this sum they 
 would take back, ten-fold, by doubling the price of meat. 
 
 Now, with all my respect for these gentlemen individually, I 
 must say that, considering the proud advantages which they enjoy 
 in the colony, this was by no means generously or moderately ex- 
 pressed. Yet I was sorry to hear that they were really carrying 
 this menace into effect ; and while we were giving 9d. per lb. for 
 beef and mutton here, at Melbourne mutton had reached the 
 astonishing price ofjifteen-pence per pound! 
 
 In consequence, however, of the decided enunciation of public 
 opinion on this conduct, the plea was shifted, and the decrease of 
 stock, owing to the increased demands of the population, and the 
 devastations of scab and catarrh, made the ground of augmented 
 price. Fortunately the returns of these gentlemen themselves to 
 Government present a very different result, as the following figures 
 from the ^Statistical Register show : — 
 
 Horses. Horned Cattle. Pigs. Sheep. 
 
 1851 - 21,219 378,806 9,260 6,032,783 
 
 1852 - 22,086 399,923 7,372 6,589,923 
 
 1853 - 34,021 431,380 8,996 6,551,506 
 
 Here, though we find about 38,000 sheep less than in the 
 
 previous year, — owing, no doubt, to the vigorous slaughter of 
 
 scabby sheep under the regulations of the new law, — yet there are 
 
 ^H|alf a million more than in 1851, the year of the gold discovery; 
 
 ^Hery nearly the same number of pigs, and an increase of 1600 
 
 ^Bnce 1852. Of cattle, the increase since 1851 is 52,574; and of 
 
 ^Horses, 12,802. That is far from an alarming statement ; and 
 
 ^Brhen we come to the item of wool, the very destruction of which 
 
 ^Hras prophesied from the want of shepherds, the discovery is still 
 
 ^Hnore animating. From 1851, the gold year, the exportation of 
 
 wool has increased, in round numbers, from 16,000,000 lbs. to 
 
 nearly 21,000,000 lbs.; and its value from 734,618/. to 1,651,871/..! 
 
 VOL. II. L 
 
146 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Quantity. 
 
 Value. 
 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 £ 
 
 1849 
 
 - 14,567,005 
 
 574,594 
 
 1850 
 
 - 18,091,207 
 
 826,190 
 
 1851 
 
 - 16,345,468 
 
 734,618 
 
 1852 
 
 - 20,047,453 
 
 1,062,787 
 
 1853 
 
 - 20,842,591 
 
 1,651,871 
 
 That our friends, the squatters, took no gloomy views of the 
 value of their stock and runs — no fears of any serious decline in 
 the amount of stock — was obvious from a memorial presented by 
 them to Lord Aberdeen in reply to the Duke of Newcastle's 
 despatch. In this they modestly told the Prime Minister that 
 they conceived that, by the sixth section of the Orders in Council 
 of 1847, no land could be sold "prior to the refusal of it at a fair 
 value by the lessee." That is, that the squatters really had the 
 pre-emptive right to the whole colony at 1/. per acre ! 
 
 This is not simply taking high ground on the question ; it is 
 taking the very mountain-tops. There is no instance, we may 
 safely assert, in any age or nation, of a parallel to such an act of 
 assumption ; namely, that 650 men should hold a great country of 
 93,000 square miles in perpetuity, and that from the mere fact of 
 Government having allowed them to graze on it. It is another 
 and most flagrant instance of a set of amiable and excellent men 
 in their private capacity, assuming the most aggressive and grasp- 
 ing character in a corporate one. A man is not the same man 
 in his family and in a council or a clique. The squatter is not the 
 same as a solitary patriarch amongst his woods, his flocks and 
 herds, and as one of the squattocracy agitating at the Port Phillij 
 Club Hotel, or haranguing in the Legislative Council. The chile 
 cries for the moon because his nurse says, " Pretty moon-penny 
 would not baby like it ! " The squatters are the spoiled childrei 
 of the colony ; they insist, in the profoundest simplicity and faitl 
 in their own reasonableness, on their right to a whole country, an( 
 to the exclusion of the millions of their fellow-countrymen who] 
 are asking from the common mother lands to settle on. TheyJ 
 contend that this fair country shall for ever remain a waste, merelyj 
 because they find it pleasant and profitable to wander there and] 
 not to be interrupted. But see what this inflated pretension por- 
 tends to the colony ! With one party resisting, on this exaggerated, 
 this monstrous ground, the natural progress of society and spread 
 of cultivation : with another and more numerous one demanding 
 houses and farms ; with the body of diggers, already upwards ol 
 100,000, arrayed against 650, — a body ever growing, but growing] 
 in discontent. — a body without lands, without homes, without] 
 
DISEASES OF THE SHEEP. 147 
 
 ties to the soil, exasperated at the unfeeling selfishness of Govern- 
 ment, which refuses them the great rights of humanity, — a body 
 armed and mounted, — and capable, by a little organisation, of 
 sweeping the squatter in a week from the face of the land; — are 
 any so blind as not to see, in an antagonism between these 
 landless regiments and the land-refusing few, the elements of a 
 future that must be fought out in anger, and too probably in 
 blood ? 
 
 But when to the diggers is added the momentum of the mass of 
 workpeople generally in the colony, and of the immigrants con- 
 stantly arrivmg, the conflict becomes more inevitable ; and every 
 lover of his country ardently desires that all parties may in time 
 perceive the peril of their position, and that the colonial Govern- 
 ment, now having the land at its disposal, may be endowed with 
 that wisdom and prudence which are most needful to guide this 
 fine colony through the approaching crisis. 
 
 I have alluded to the ravages of scab, catarrh^ and foot-rot; 
 these certainly are terrible scourges to the flocks, and which we 
 would not expect in this fine climate. But my opinion is, that it 
 is not the climate, but the fact that the flocks are now too large to 
 be well managed. When the circumstances of sheep-pasturing 
 approach nearer to those of England, these evils will rapidly di- 
 minish; that is, when the flocks are small, and therefore more 
 manageable. The foot-rot is a severe attendant of flocks that run 
 on wet ground in winter ; and this disease, which requires active 
 and rigid repression, here is often allowed to run to the most 
 fearful extent. I believe I have already stated that I saw a 
 flock of 20,000 sheep, belonging to one of the squatters of the 
 highest reputation for pastoral management, in which hardly a 
 sheep could stand on all fours ; and I was assured that the poor 
 creatures had never been dressed for the disease — ^a rapidly con- 
 tagious one — even for a year and a half I 
 
 A new remedy for foot-rot has been introduced, which is said 
 to be very efiicacious, but is certainly highly dangerous. Spacious 
 baths or troughs of wood are made, into which the sheep in suc- 
 cessive quantities are driven, and suffered to stand a certain time 
 in a strong solution of arsenic. This is so powerful, that it fre- 
 quently causes the whole hoof to come ofi*. But the danger to the 
 public is this ; the feet of the sheep burn as if on fire, with this 
 application, and the moment they get out, if possible, they will 
 run into the first pool they see. In a dry country like Vic- 
 toria, where travellers are obliged often to get water from any 
 small holes, they are very likely now to get a strong arsenic 
 solution. After having witnessed this process, we always ex^ 
 
148 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 amined carefully the margins of water-holes, to see if they were 
 imprinted with sheep's feet, before venturing to take water from 
 them. The birds will be in great jeopardy, too, on great sheep 
 stations. 
 
 The <jatarrh, a kind of influenza, is so fatal, that it speedily 
 decimates a flock; and is so contagious, that it is said even to 
 remain long on the pastures which an infected flock has cropped. 
 Squatters who have it on their stations are obliged to post notices 
 by the road sides of its existence. 
 
 The scab has of late become so dreadful a plague, that the law 
 referred to is made most stringent. Inspectors are appointed to 
 examine all sheep before coming into the market, and to destroy 
 all that are affected. Every one who is driving a flock of sheep 
 anywhere beyond the bounds of his own station is obliged to give 
 twelve hours' notice before entering any other station. The holder 
 of that station then comes and examines the sheep, and relentlessly 
 destroys all that he finds infected. Whilst I was there, Mr. 
 Darlot cut the throats of 7000 of his own sheep, and burnt their 
 carcasses, to resist the ravages of this terrible disease on his 
 station. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 Forest Creek. — Naming of Places in Victoria. — Tarrangower Digging. — 
 State and Appearances of it. — Rumours. — Disgust of Diggers with the 
 present. — The Gold-belt of the Colony. —The Gold- belts of the World. — • 
 
 Tom Tiddler's Ground Second Half Year of 1852 gave Culminating 
 
 Point of Gold Product. — Then 71,000 ounces a week, now 35,000. — 
 Sharp distress in the Diggings. — Dryness of this Neighbourhood. — The 
 Springs a picturesque Spot. — Splendid Land round Township of Muckle- 
 
 ford Why not sell such Lands in Parras? — Government asleep, but 
 
 Squatters awake, fencing in the best Land. — Mr. Laski's Brewery. — The 
 old Mount Alexander Diggings nearly deserted. — Their Aspect. — Fixed 
 Government Camps and Movable Diggings. — Crowds of lazy young 
 Officers doing nothing, and New Diggings without Officers. — The Post- 
 offices at the Diggings. — Well-appointed Post-masters. — Offering great 
 Contrast to the Camp. — The Philosophy of Clothes at these Camps. — 
 Whole System wants changing. 
 
 Another week, and we were encamped near the famous original 
 diggings of Mount Alexander, now styled by the name-changing 
 Government, Castlemaine. I do not know on what principle 
 the Government of Victoria proceeded in giving unmeaning 
 
TARRANGOWER DIGGING. 149 
 
 names to places that before had native names full of meaning and 
 often euphonious, or good rough names given by the earliest set- 
 tlers. It seems as if, on the arrival of each batch of new novels, 
 they set about and selected the names of the most Rosa Matilda 
 character for their townships. Thus, the Ovens rapidly gave way 
 to Beechworth, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, because 
 there are no beeches there ; M*Ivor into Heathcote, because there 
 is no heather ; Bendigo into Sandhurst, because there is quartz ; 
 Forest Creek into Castlemaine, in some mysterious connection with 
 the memory of one of Charles II/s sultanas ; and on the same prin- 
 ciple they have a Hawthorne near Melbourne, because the spot is 
 blest with wattles and tea-scrub. A place with the good native name 
 of Kinlocue is turned into Campbell Town — a very original con- 
 ception. And thus they go on ; so that in a while the whole 
 country will be dotted over by caricatures of English towns, 
 and every appellation that would give a character of individuality 
 will have vanished. However, that may concern the poetical 
 ideal of Australia, but it does not concern our journey. It is cer- 
 tainly rather travelling out of our way to speculate whether Wan- 
 garatta and Benalla sound better and more unique than Violet 
 Town or Muddy- Water-Holes. Perhaps they cannot make worse 
 work of it than the Americans, with Troy and Buffalo, Athens 
 and Schenectady, Jerusalem and Jobson's town, all mixed up to- 
 gether. 
 
 We went by an easy journey and good roads round by Tarran- 
 gower. The reader will recollect my account of the rush from the 
 Buckland the previous summer to those new diggings in Bryant's 
 Ranges. Numbers who made rushes amounting to 300 miles 
 within the fortnight, were dreadfully disappointed, and many went 
 back to the Ovens, thus extending their journey to 500 miles. 
 But numbers had utterly exhausted their means, and were com- 
 pelled to remain, and do as w^ell as they could on those diggings, 
 or crawl on to Bendigo, or to Forest Creek, — each about a dozen 
 miles. The fact is, that Tarrangower in summer is totally desti- 
 tute of water to drink, or to wash their auriferous earth with. 
 The distress was dreadful. To cart their washing-stuff to the 
 Loddon, eight miles or more distant, was ruinous, costing, I be- 
 lieve, 3/. per load ; and water there was a shilling a bucket. Yet 
 under all these disadvantages many remained. Some parties who 
 had tried the surface of some part of the ranges, reported that 
 they had got 31bs. weight from one cart\oad. This produced a per- 
 fect mania, and crowds began digging up surface-stuff, and carting 
 
 L 3 
 
150 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 it down to the gullies, where they hoped there would be water 
 in winter, paying 1/. a load to have it carted. 
 
 Thousands of tons were thus piled up in various places, and 
 the sanguine expectants awaited the arrival of rain ; but vast 
 was their consternation and amazement when rain came, and 
 they could fairly try their mountains of surface-stuff, to find it 
 yield not pounds nor ounces, but merely pennyweights to the load, 
 and thousands of tons not even that, but just nothing at all ! 
 
 In consequence of this, we expected to find these diggings 
 nearly deserted. But nothing of the kind : on the contrary, there 
 was the most busy throng that we had ever seen since our first 
 arrival at Spring Creek. 
 
 Our way from Bendigo was through a rather fine country, with 
 ever-succeeding swells and glades, or gullies, as they call them 
 here ; though a gully, to my mind, is a deep, narrow ravine torn 
 out by a w^atercourse. But there the broadest and smoothest 
 valleys, or any dimple amongst the hills, is a gully ; broad levels, 
 which we should call meadows or plains, are flats. 
 
 We crossed a tract of granite country quite different to the 
 auriferous regions, and then again came upon low ranges, or swells 
 scattered with small quartz stones, like a sprinkling of snow. On 
 these grew, as usual, the stringy-bark. But in no case was the 
 country so extremely sterile as about Bendigo. Again, it grew 
 green and fertile, and, emerging into a verdant vale, contrary to 
 all our notions of a gold country, behold the diggings ! 
 
 A host of tents, w^hitening all the valley as far as we could see, 
 announced a well-populated scene. When we came up to these 
 tents, we found them surrounding a part of the valley which was all 
 completely dug up, and throngs of diggers at work presented a 
 very different aspect to the old diggings at Bendigo. All there 
 seems now to move on slowly, scatteredly, and as if on the decline. 
 All here was bustle, and man thronging on man. This was, hi 
 fact, a new rush; the last of many which had taken place here. 
 We could see that thousands of holes had been put dow^n, which 
 had proved shicers — that is, blanks ; but in the middle, the heaps 
 of white pipe-clay which were thrown out, and the windlasses at 
 work, showed that there the diggers had struck the gold. 
 
 When we came to traverse the whole of the diggings, we found 
 them extending about three miles along this valley, which, at the 
 upper end, turned off to the left, and again descended in the op- 
 posite direction towards the Forest Creek road. 
 
 All the way up this valley, and again down the last-named part 
 — called, properly, Long Gully, — the ground had been turned up 
 
TOM tiddler's ground. 151 
 
 with an amazing activity, for so short a space of time — only a 
 few months. There had clearly been the same degree of success 
 and disappointment as we observed in the new rush. The ma- 
 jority of the holes had yielded little or nothing ; others had evi- 
 dently yielded well, and, as it was said, very well. We were as- 
 sured that some men had taken as much as 1000/. out of one hole: 
 but these marvels we always accepted cum granis, for we never 
 met with the actual men who had bagged these large quantities ; 
 and we kiiew too well the wonder-mongering of the diggings. 
 But I suspect that where the gold lay it proved as good as at most 
 of the other diggings now-a-days. 
 
 The mischief is, that it is evidently a lottery, with far more 
 blanks than prizes. Accordingly, while some said that a few were 
 doing well, the majority denounced the diggings as not worth the 
 name ; as having neither gold nor water to work it, if it were 
 there. Numbers we saw again on the move for another new dig- 
 ging across the Loddon, on a Mr. Mackintyre's Station. One man 
 told us that he had just seen a digger who was come thence with 
 a bag of nuggets, the least of which was as big as his thumb. 
 That the gold was all nuggets there, and that they did not trouble 
 themselves to wash the earth. The next man you met sneered at 
 this account, and said that those who had gone there were coming 
 back as fast as they could. 
 
 Such at this time was the state of the Victoria Diggings. 
 Everywhere there were the same rumours, the same excitement, the 
 same disgust with the present and the actual. The race of diggers 
 is never at rest, and, least of all men, have they any abiding city. 
 But the fact is, that gold can be found, more or less, in all the belt 
 of country abounding with quartz, clay-slate, or ferruginous sand- 
 stone, from the Australian Pyrenees to the Snowy Mountains, and 
 from the Snowy Mountains to near Sydney. Nay, the auriferous 
 tracts seem to encompass the earth with belts, including in their 
 sweep South America, New Zealand, Africa, Australia, New 
 Guinea, Borneo, and India ; and, though not so continuous in the 
 northern hemisphere, yet showing themselves in California, Bri- 
 tain, the Ural Mountains, and Asiatic Tartary. 
 
 Indeed, when Ariel boasted that he would " put a girdle round 
 the earth in forty minutes," he might have added, and at the same 
 time, "gather gold on Tom Tiddler's Ground;" for Tom Tiddler's 
 Ground, on which we all played as children, seems to be a golden 
 zone of the whole globe. 
 
 But, so far as this colony is concerned, they now found no par- 
 ticular spots so rich as the original gold-fields of Bendigo and 
 
 l4 
 
152 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 Mount Alexander. There was no field whatever which could 
 boast with Mount Alexander of sending down 1 10,000 oz. in one 
 week. And though the number of diggers had been continually 
 increasing, the aggregate produce of the gold had fallen off nearly 
 one-half. 
 
 The culminating point of the Victoria Diggings was reached 
 in the second half of the year 1852, and it was the marvels of that 
 period which produced such prodigious excitement in every region 
 of the globe. The monthly accounts of gold sent down to Mel- 
 bourne during these six months were, according to data procured 
 by Westgarth, as follows : — 
 
 Ounces. 
 
 July 320,218 
 
 August ------ 314,218 
 
 September 307,282 
 
 October 277,574 
 
 November 322,550 
 
 December - - - - - 149,581 
 
 By Private Escort from Kyneton, &c. 3,692 
 
 Total - - - 1,695,115 
 
 This yields an average of 65,196 oz. per week. Thus at the 
 best period of the diggings the produce of gold in Victoria was 
 upwards of 65,000 oz. per week, while in 1854 it only reached] 
 about 35,000 oz., or, as we have said, little more than one-half the: 
 amount. 
 
 This was enough to maintain an excitement, — to remunerate a| 
 few and to tantalise the many, and keep them poor ; for, take the 
 diggers at 70,000, it is only half an ounce per man per week, or 
 about 335. ; which — 25s. being the least sum which a single man 
 can live upon at digging-prices of food, much less a family — is not 
 very brilliant. 
 
 We ought not, therefore, to wonder at hearing of much distress 
 on the diggings, for the gold is by no means equally distributed, 
 any more than the gifts of fortune any where else. Some get 
 more than their average quota ; others, and for many weeks 
 together, get none. A surgeon who went a great deal amongst 
 the diggers at Tarrangower assured me that there was much 
 misery and destitution on that field, outwardly so active and pros- 
 perous. That it was terrible, and to an extent that no one, who 
 did not go so much behind the scenes as he did, could or would 
 believe. I have heard the same on all other diggings from the 
 same class of men, whose duties lead them among the population. 
 
 Gradually the intervals in the vast auriferous belt from Ballarat 
 
UNPRODUCTIVENESS OF NEW DIGGINGS.' 153 
 
 and the Pyrenees to Lake Omeo are filling. Waranga, or the 
 Goulburn Digging, fills up a space between Bendigo and the 
 Ovens. Between the Ovens and Lake Omeo you have now the 
 Buckland. Bendigo now stretches away to within four miles of 
 Tarrangower, and the ranges of Mount Alexander are as near to 
 Tarrangower on this side. Then there are Jones's Creek, and 
 Sandy Creek, and Moliagul, west of Bendigo and near the Loddon, 
 and beyond the Loddon new diggings are struck on the Avoca. 
 Beyond the Loddon, too, on our future way, more westward, are 
 Creswick*s Creek, and the diggings in the Jim Crow ranges, or, 
 as they are now styled officially, Mount Franklin, and then 
 Ballarat. More north-west Mount Korong, and some slight work- 
 ing in the Pyrenees ; and so patch after patch is turned up, 
 almost from the frontiers of New South Wales to those of South 
 Australia. 
 
 It will take years to work out this belt of country thoroughly, 
 and there may be for years a good aggregate yield of gold to the 
 colony ; but the now pretty well ascertained limits and yield, and 
 the patchy and irregular nature of the gold deposit, must make it 
 still, and increasingly, an occasional gain to the few, with a very 
 poor result to the many. The eccentric courses of the veins in 
 which it lies — or the lead as they call it— are such as must always 
 necessitate an enormous amount of fruitless labour and disappoint- 
 ment. Not one-tenth of the ground turned up at Tarrangower 
 had proved productive ; and we saw one instance in which a whole 
 gully had been dug up, and no gold found, the lead having com- 
 menced in one part of it, and then, instead of following the gully, 
 had abruptly broken away from it, and taken a most astonishing 
 direction, forming the segment of a large circle along the side of a 
 hill. Most of the holes sunk ranged from ten to twenty feet deep. 
 
 As we went down Long Gully on our way forward, we saw the 
 Tast heaps of stuff which had been piled up during the last summer 
 to await the rains of winter. Thousands of tons lay, and probably 
 will continue long to lie there, either from want of water to wash 
 out the gold, or the want of gold to wash out. Yet the diggers 
 had constructed many dams across the gully to catch the winter 
 rains, which must be plentiful indeed if they sufficed for all that 
 stuff. 
 
 Truly the whole district is amazingly wanting in water. In the 
 valleys, where, in England, would be actively running brooks and 
 streams, there are channels clothed with grass. Yet the valleys 
 and the uplands are finely swarded and green, and possess a deep, 
 rich soil. The scenery is very pleasant, — wooded ranges, and 
 
154 TWO YEARS m VICTORIA. ' 
 
 hills scattered with crags, bounding these fertile slopes and glades : 
 and the diggers were actually digging up, and converting into a 
 wilderness of gravel heaps, slopes of such verdure as it would make 
 an English farmer's heart ache to see destroyed. 
 
 The people on this gold-field were said to be 18,000 or 20,000; 
 the gold procured, from 1,000 to 2,000 ounces a-week. 
 
 A little beyond the then extent of the diggings, the country 
 dips rapidly down into the valley of the Loddon, and presents some 
 really delightful scenery. The hills send down long roundish 
 slopes into the valley, with dells between them, covered with rich 
 grass, and sprinkled with trees. It is like a bit of Germany ; and 
 one wonders not to see old timber-framed cottages standing at the 
 feet of these slopes, in the midst of old orchards and vineyards, 
 with their upland crofts behind them, terminated by the granite 
 heights above ; for here the granite country commences again, and 
 the gold ceases, — or at least to a considerable degree. 
 
 At the bottom of this valley, before reaching the great plain of 
 the Loddon, water-dealers had sunk wells with great success. 
 They are called the Springs ; and here, during the summer, all the 
 people congregate and pitch their tents for the sake of the water, 
 going to and fro to their work. Here would be the site of a 
 beautiful township, where the people would have the most lovely 
 situations for houses and gardens, with plentiful wells on the spot ; 
 but, as is universally the case, the surveyors had laid out the 
 township on an adjoining barren hill, where the whole ground is 
 stone or stones, and where the people would have to carry up in 
 carts, for nearly a mile, every drop of water they would require. 
 
 In this notoriously dry country surveyors seem especially careful 
 to select the driest and most sterile spots. Is this want of taste 
 and common sense, or are they, as the people generally assert, in 
 league with the squatters, and so avoid, as much as possible, 
 taking any land worth anything ? Yet the amount of rich alluvial 
 land, running amongst the ranges all the way from Bendigo to 
 Forest Creek, astonished me, and made more palpably culpable the 
 conduct of Government in keeping this land out of the market, so 
 near the diggings, where farms and farm produce were so urgently 
 needed. 
 
 There is one township which we passed a few miles from Forest 
 Creek, called Muckleford, which is an exception to the general 
 rule of surveyprs. It lies in a splendid expanse of the richest 
 meadow land imaginable, on the banks of a good creek. The soil 
 is many feet, nay many yards, deep ; a rich and black soil, which 
 centuries of crops could not exhaust. A man crossing it at the 
 
SPLENDID LAND ROUND MUCKLEFORD. 155 
 
 same time that we did said, " This is the greenest place in all 
 Australia that I have seen, and I have seen most of this colony." 
 And, in truth, it was a magnificent expanse of most verdant 
 meadow. The Government had there not only laid out a con- 
 siderable number of township allotments, but had sold a large 
 portion to Mr. Hitchcock, the auctioneer, of Castlemaine, and 
 brother to the eminent draper in St. Paul's Churchyard, who was 
 reselling it at a truly Victorian profit. No matter, so that it was 
 sold. But why does not Government sell small farms there, in 
 connection with these town allotments ? Why did it not sell farms 
 there long ago, and at the moment when the gold of Forest Creek, 
 of Fryer's Creek, and Campbell's Creek, in the Mount Alexander 
 district, proved so abundant ? Why not plenty of farms in that 
 most fertile and immense valley of the Loddon just by ? For want 
 of these the public has had so dearly to pay in corn, hay, vege- 
 tables, fruit, and in comfort, and in health. The Government of 
 the United States would have done it, and given the purchasers 
 three years to pay it in, if they required it. 
 
 One could not help, at every fresh sight of such lands as these, 
 asking, did our Government either there or at home, know that 
 there was such land there, and that there is such a country as the 
 United States, which is constantly drawing away, by a policy as 
 profound as ours is shallow or stark mad, a quarter of a million of 
 people a-year who should go to Australia? Did the Victoria 
 Government ever ask itself where the diggers with their bags of 
 gold in the good times would carry them to, as they could not 
 invest them there ? Did it never strike them how much fitter it 
 would be to let them spend that gold in good acres, in estates for 
 themselves and their families after them, instead of spending it in 
 the growth of the publican and their own destruction ? 
 
 When I saw such glorious prairies as these, green as emeralds, 
 rich as the primeval paradise, and remembered that there were 
 tens of thousands crowding thither, and hundreds of thousands at 
 home, that would crowd thither, and this teeming, abundant soil 
 denied to them, I could not help standing in amazement, and ask- 
 ing myself whether these were not the signs of the decline and fall 
 of an empire ? Whether, as a nation, we are not really verging 
 on superannuation? Whether such contempt of God's bounty, 
 such a withholding of his blessings, such a perversion of intellect, 
 can arise from anything but fatuity and decay ? Certainly there 
 never was a nation, which professed to be a colonising nation, 
 which colonised on so lunatic a system. Since then the Imperial 
 Government has done its duty by making over the land to the 
 
156 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Colonial Government ; it now remains for the Colonial Govern- 
 ment to show itself equally wise by giving it over to the people. 
 
 We had a view, from the hills near Tarrangower, of the country 
 along the Loddon, and it was amongst the very finest we had seen 
 in this colony. A noble valley, containing in itself immense 
 plains of most fertile lands, was bounded by hills more picturesque 
 than Victoria usually presents, and across the valley lay range 
 beyond range of hills, some dark with dense forests, others green 
 and merely dotted with timber, terminated by blue mountain 
 ranges, altogether truly beautiful. 
 
 It is somewhere in this valley that those Charlotte Plains 
 lie, where the Government, after letting Mr. Simpson some 
 scores of miles of fine land, at 10/. or 20Z. a-year, gave him 
 500/. a-year for a single paddock of it. But we found the 
 people there not less discontented at the huge extent of fencing 
 which Mr. Bryant, the squatter, was putting up along the front- 
 age of the Loddon. In fact, the despatch of the Duke of New- 
 castle had rung the tocsin of their system in the squatters' ears ; 
 they knew that the doom of their monopoly was at hand ; and 
 they were in haste to secure at least their square mile, and as 
 much more as they could, especially of water- frontage. These 
 encroachments they coolly called improvements^ and put in a claim 
 for them, or for compensation for them ! Truly, if the Govern- 
 ment be asleep, or imbecile, the squatters are not. They are wide 
 awake, and in the full blossom of their intellect. 
 
 In the pleasant valley of Tarrangower we met with an old Ben- 
 digo acquaintance, Mr. Thompson Laski, from London, a frank, 
 warm-hearted young man, who had established a brewery there, 
 and was supplying almost the whole of the Tarrangower Diggings 
 with a wholesome beer, instead of the deleterious grog. We were 
 surprised, however, to learn that by the singular regulations o£ 
 that most singular Government, he was not allowed to use mali 
 for his beer, as if a fermented liquor from malt was more injuriouj 
 than from sugar. Who shall fathom the wisdom of those anti- 
 podean sages ? However, Mr. Laski had made a great moral am 
 sanitary innovation, in introducing even sugar-beer in preferenc 
 to rum and brandy ; and no one better deserved, both from that 
 cause and his many genuine qualities, the large fortune which h( 
 was amassing. 
 
 At the camp, too, we found another friend, Mr. Bernhar^ 
 Smith, installed in the full honours of a Gold Commissioner 
 Mr. Smith and Mr. Lowther, with some half dozen police, I be* 
 lieve, were all the ofiicials on whom rested the whole business anc 
 responsibility of a population of 20,000. 
 
FIXED CAMPS AND MOVABLE DIGGINGS. 157 
 
 We reached Fryer's Creek on May 4th, and made a general 
 survey of the Old Mount Alexander Diggings, of which our first 
 impression was confirmed ; they appeared as nearly as possible 
 deserted. Long stretches of valley, each of several miles in ex- 
 tent, and forming a sort of large square, including miles in their 
 area, were all dug up, and the great army of diggers who once 
 attacked its gold, sending the wondrous rumour of their discovered 
 wealth over the world, had again, for the most part, vanished. 
 Only here and there a solitary man or two was left, sinking holes 
 between the old deserted ones, as at Bendigo. The grand feast 
 has been devoured ; those who lingered behind did it only to pick 
 up the fragments. The great mass of the diggers was gone, or 
 was still moving off; they were bound for new and distant rushes, 
 Tarrangower, Kingower, or the Avoca, the last fifty miles off. It 
 was from these places that the chief amount of gold which went 
 down by escort under the head of Castlemaine, was made up. 
 
 Castlemaine is the name given to the camp, and to a new town- 
 ship laid out adjoining it. Thus the head-quarters remain there, 
 while the real diggings are moving quite away. It was one of 
 the original ideas of the La Trobe Government to suppose that 
 they could fix down diggings to a particular spot, by laying out 
 enormous sums in permanent camps, and by selling allotments for 
 townships adjoining them ; but the diggings themselves pay no 
 regard whatever to Government measures; they start up just 
 where God laid the gold, and they cease to exist when their pur- 
 pose is served ; that is, when the gold is transferred from the 
 earth to men's coffers. 
 
 But Government, giving no heed to these inevitable laws of 
 change and removal, not only built large solid stone houses for a 
 permanent camp, but laid out townships, and the people were 
 foolish enough to give most extravagant prices for those allot- 
 ments, where everything indicated that in a very short time there 
 would be no town at all, for there would be nothing to support it. 
 New stores, new bakeries and butcheries, new breweries and 
 doctors' shops, and all other shops, accompany every new rush, 
 and supply the new diggings. Who and what are to support the 
 old ones when they are deserted ? They can, in general, have no 
 support, except the land round them be sold, and they become 
 farming villages. Perhaps Castlemaine, as on the road from Mel- 
 bourne to new diggings beyond it, may stand a better chance as a 
 wholesale depot, and from the trafiic of the road. But this is an 
 exceptional case. 
 
 The mischief attending these permanent camps we found still 
 
158 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 greater. At these resided swarms of commissioners, police officers, 
 soldiers, grooms, constables, and the like, who were supposed to be 
 attending to the business of the diggings. But this business, ex- 
 cept the general posting of the accounts from the new and actual 
 diggings, was all transacted at those new diggings. The licenses 
 were issued there ; the gold for transmission by the escort was 
 taken in there ; and there the commissioners, police, and soldiers 
 ought to have been, if anywhere, for there the people were who 
 wanted keeping in order. 
 
 At those branch stations there was one or two commissioners, 
 often only one, who was worked nearly to death, and the police 
 were so few that a commissioner at one of them assured me, show- 
 ing me his book in proof, that they could get very few licenses in ; 
 that the police were so few that nobody paid any attention to 
 them, and he had himself to ride about and threaten, if they did 
 not come in and pay. Every w^here at these branch stations, which 
 are the chief stations in fact, there was the same complaint of 
 the want of the proper number of officers and of police. 
 
 But arrive at the chief camp, standing in the midst of desertion 
 and solitude, and you found a whole army of officials, doing 
 nothing in the world, but assembling from morning till night in 
 groups in the area of the camp, gossiping and lounging, smoking, 
 and calling on each other to admire the beautiful colour which 
 their short pipes were taking. Any other remarks that escaped 
 them were in quizzing the passers-by. It was clear that these 
 lazy young fellows, receiving their three, four, and five hundred 
 pounds a-year each, either had nothing in the world to do, or that 
 they did not do it. The camp appeared on the face of it an exact 
 counterpart of that of Bendigo ; a great, not Lazar-house, but 
 Lazy-house, of young gentlemen, who rode about with gold lace, 
 and smoked cigars or cutty-pipes in the service of their country. 
 
 Captain Bull, the chief Commissioner, appeared almost the onl] 
 person who was really busy ; and I must do him the justice to saj 
 that he was at once active and courteous. He had an office full 
 of clerks, who seemed full of employ, and the police magistrate 
 was pretty well occupied in dealing with the thieves and rogues.^ 
 But the multitude of officers appeared to be of the genuine 
 fruges consumere nati class. This struck the eye the more, per- 
 haps, because the most active officers were sent out to the busj 
 out-stations. Captain Bull, in this respect, did not imitate th( 
 example of the Colonial Government. He put active men int< 
 the posts that needed them. The Government system was so well 
 known, that I once heard a witty squatter, whose name is familial 
 all over the colony, say, " If I were a Government officer here, " 
 
POST-OFFICES AT THE DIGGINGS. 159 
 
 would take care to get well promoted." " How would you effect 
 that ? " "I would do nothing myself, but order others to do it. 
 Those are the men that get on." A great truth. 
 
 I found the post office the exception, however, to this state of 
 things at every camp. That you always found busy, and sur- 
 rounded by people waiting to post or receive letters. These offices 
 were everywhere notoriously short-handed. The post-office had 
 not been a paying concern in that dear colony, and therefore it 
 had always been most defectively manned. It had become much 
 better in Melbourne than it was ; but the General Post-Office 
 there had had a world-wide notoriety for non-transmittance of 
 letters, and that from the same cause, a most misapplied economy 
 of clerks. 
 
 In the diggings, especially, the post-offices require absolutely a 
 great number of hands, for, owing to the unsettled and ever-moving 
 population, there can possibly be no general domiciliary delivery 
 of letters. Every man must attend and inquire for his letters. 
 This necessitates a continual reference to the masses of letters 
 in the office, and as inevitably augments the labour of the post- 
 office officials, and the enormously protracted waiting of the people 
 at the windows. In London, except at the last moment in an 
 evening, you can post a letter at the General Post-Office in an in- 
 stant ; but at any one of these camp post-offices you could rarely 
 get near the window for many hours, and sometimes not for whole 
 days. As to waiting to inquire for letters, that was a most for- 
 midable affair. You had to stand and jostle in a rude crowd for 
 many hours before you could get up to the window. Nay, on 
 particular occasions, for days ; and you may suppose what was the 
 sacrifice made by the diggers in loss of time. They were thus 
 made to pay out of their own pockets the value which the Govern- 
 ment refused to spend in necessary servants, and which it ex- 
 pended so lavishly in unnecessary servants. For all this time, 
 these industrious diggers, while they were compelled to waste 
 their valuable time, saw close at hand, and in full view, crowds 
 of young men who were doing nothing in the world ; but ruining 
 in themselves every principle of energy and industry, and con- 
 sequently of moral worth. 
 
 If some of these gold- and silver-laced youths could have been 
 set to sort and deliver letters, it would have been a vast public 
 improvement. 
 
 But, oh, horror ! The very thought of these genteel young 
 goldfinches being set to sort letters and make themselves useful ! 
 Why, sacrilege would be nothing to it. To set them to anything 
 
160 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 practical and useful would be to degrade them in their own eyes ; 
 their real dignity being about on a par with that of so many- 
 figures of gilt gingerbread, which used to be set in the windows of 
 village shops for show. 
 
 Nothing could demonstrate so clearly the thoroughly false basis 
 of the system of the gold-fields, as this contrast between the camp 
 and the post-ofiice. The post-office was organised as a business 
 establishment. It gave no gentlemanly standing ; its officers had 
 no laced uniforms, no horses, and no troopers riding after them. 
 They were men of business, and to descend from a commissionership 
 however petty, to that of a post-master, would have been to lose 
 caste. The one department was really for business, the other was 
 for show ; and it was for the maintenance of this and similar follies 
 that this Victoria Government, the income of which had jumped 
 up from about 250,000/. annually to 3,270,000/., was deeply in debt, 
 and obliged to raise the price of inland letters from twopence to six- 
 pence each, and of those to the out-going colonies to eighteen 
 pence each. A most Gothic and retrograde piece of legislation ! 
 and that at the very time that the newspapers were earnestly 
 calling for cheap ocean postage and cheap literature, — the Argus 
 even advocating the free admission of the American piratical re- 
 prints of English works. 
 
 But so far as concerns the post-offices, I must do the post-masters 
 the justice to say that I always found them men every way 
 superior to the people at the digging-camps. The post-office 
 appointments, wherever I went, did the utmost honour to Captain 
 Macrae, the Post-Master General. It is curious how the spirit 
 at head-quarters invariably finds its way through the whole of a 
 country and a system. Captain Macrae was at once a gentleman 
 and a man of business ; and his own application and courtesy 
 were reflected faithfully in his appointments. I always found the 
 local post- masters not only obliging, but almost invariably in- 
 tellectual men. A punster would say, of course, their taste for 
 letters made them so. But the fact is undeniable. How different 
 the spirit of the camp ! There, from the highest to the lowest 
 official, it was generally difficult, without assuming an air and 
 style equal to their own, to get common civility, or even atten- 
 tion. 
 
 It was one of my amusements at these camps to go up in a dress 
 very much approaching that of a digger, namely, a simple grey 
 blouse and straw hat. A decent digger who came about business 
 ought to have been attended to ; but in such a costume, I always 
 found it difficult to get any of the common officials to attend to 
 
OFFICIAL INSOLENCE. 161 
 
 me, or to give me a direction where I should find any particular 
 commissioner. After witnessing the cool insolence and nonchalant 
 inattention of these orderlies for some time, I had recourse to 
 peremptory language, on which some pert underling has gone to the 
 commissioner whom I sought, and said, " Here's a man wants you." 
 When the answer has commonly been, *' Then let the fellow wait." 
 Instead of doing which, I always made it my practice to march at 
 once into the august presence, and produce my letter, or state 
 my business. Another day I would go up in the ordinary dress 
 of a gentleman, when, especially if on horseback, the attention and 
 touching of hats by the subordinates were equally amusing, or 
 rather, disgusting ; and the announcement has been, " Sir, here is 
 a gentleman wishes to see you." 
 
 Enormous were the reforms which were demanded in the camps. 
 What need of all this empty parade, and assumption of grandeur 
 in diggings? What need of this gold-lace and holiday state? 
 What they want there is business^ and business men. They were 
 paying vast sums for mere laziness and nothing, when they might 
 have had their business really done by a few real business men 
 for a little. How ridiculous at home would appear a mounted 
 aristocracy in gold-lace, followed by troopers, in our coal-fields ! 
 And it was not a whit less ridiculous there. The bush did not 
 call for all this finery, nor the digger either. It did not impose 
 on the digger, it only excited his contempt ; and it was high time, 
 on every account, that it was done with. I flatter myself that my 
 plain representations on this head to His Excellency had some 
 effect, for, after I made them, I saw that none but the Chief 
 Commissioner in each camp was allowed to sport an orderly in his 
 rides. But it was not merely the tinsel that wanted stripping 
 off; the whole of this tomfoolery wanted throwing overboard 
 at once, and a plain, sober, effective business machinery sub- 
 stituting. 
 
 I 
 
162 TWO YEAKS IN VICTOKIA. 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 Serious Thoughts inspired by extent of Gold-Field already exhausted. — 
 English Policy of allowing People of all Nations to gather our Gold, com- 
 pared with that of America, which allows them also to invest it. — A Survey 
 of Forest Creek. — Bands of Lava and Quartz working in Spring Creek. 
 Quartz Crushing. — Entertained by an Intelligent Digger near Golden 
 Point, Forest Creek. — His Observations on the Exaggerations of Rumour 
 
 — on Official Insolence — on Average Gains, and Want of Good Invest- 
 ment for Money. — The Experience of a Northumbrian Man on Campbell's 
 Creek. — Fryer's Creek. — Singular Character of the circular Quartz-pebble 
 Hills at the Red Hill here and White Hills at Bendigo. — Mr. Simpson 
 Davidson's Theory of Gold Formation. — How far agreeing with Author's 
 Experience. — Analysis of the Claims of the Gold Discoverers of Australia. 
 
 — Convicts and Stockmen. — Count Strzelecki, Sir R. Murchison, W. B. 
 Clarke, Hargraves. — Victoria Discoverers. — Why does not Government 
 work the other Minerals of Victoria ? — Ovens Tin. 
 
 The immense extent of diggings already worked out in Victoria 
 gave one some serious thoughts regarding this colony, and the 
 policy which had been pursued in it since the gold discoveries. 
 
 About the time of my visit to Forest Creek, I noticed a very 
 scarifying article in the Times, on the conduct of Mr. La Trobe^ 
 in this great crisis. In this article it recurred to a favourite topic; 
 of its own, that of the impropriety of allowing anybody and every- 
 body to go and dig up, and carry away the wealth of the crownj 
 there. Substitute the word nation for crown, and I agree perfectly! 
 with the leading journal. That the British people should bei 
 allowed to go and dig up the treasure of the British people, underi 
 proper conditions, certainly cannot be wrong. But I confess that. 
 I cannot see the soundness of that policy by which foreigners of: 
 all other nations are allowed to go and take this wealth fromi 
 the crown and people of England, and carry it away to their own, 
 countries. 
 
 No doubt it was done in imitation of the policy of America,; 
 which allows all nations to enter and dig gold in California, butj 
 there, it was under very different views and conditions. Tha 
 United States made and still make it an inducement for these 
 foreigners to settle in America — to invest what they take froi 
 the earth in the earth again. This is a good and a profound policy. 
 Here, one half of this policy has been adopted, the other, and 
 most essential half, has been totally abandoned. Instead of using, 
 any inducement to foreigners to settle in Australia, the Govern- 
 
ENGLISH POLICY. 163 
 
 ment has done all that it possibly could, and it has done it effec- 
 tually, to drive these strangers out again. They have been lite- 
 rally compelled to carry their gold away with them. It refused to 
 sell them any land, except on such terms as only madmen would 
 comply with: and, therefore, Americans, Germans, Dutch, Swedes, 
 Danes, Italians, Poles, Hungarians, Chinese, Malays, New Zea- 
 landers, and Russians, have marched off with their booty, as soon 
 as they got it, thus depriving both Englishmen and the colony of 
 it. The German, if he can collect a couple of thousand thalers, 
 can become an independent landed proprietor at home. The 
 Chinese says he can live well in China on a dollar a month, and 
 have change out of it ; so that 100/. dug up in Victoria makes a 
 very great man of him in the Flowery Land. An American land- 
 ing with 100/. in the States can purchase 400 acres of excellent 
 land with it, and have three years to pay it in ; while here till 
 lately he could not get so many yards for that sum ! 
 
 Now, what is the object of this policy ? Has it any object ? Or 
 is it only an idle, bragging feint of pseudo-liberality ? The Ameri- 
 can liberality I can understand. It is a sound liberality with a 
 politic object. Ours is a fungus liberality, with no object at all, 
 except to invite plunder, and to show John Bull drunk, scattering 
 his money amongst a mob, and when they have picked it up driving 
 them away with his cudgel. Yet, to such a length has this fungus 
 liberality been carried, that, as we have seen. Red Republican 
 Germans and Frenchmen have been suffered, wholly unrepressed, 
 to march in Revolutionary processions, bearing revolutionary flags, 
 resisting the payment of the fee required for the license to dig our 
 gold. And if it be argued that it is unjustifiable for our English 
 diggers to possess themselves at will of the property of the crown, 
 how is it more justifiable for squatters to do it ? Yet this also is our 
 policy and was Mr. La Trobe's policy, for the Ojders in Council 
 clearly authorised him and his successors to sell land as fast as 
 it was wanted. And out of this side of our policy arises the mischief 
 of the other. We allow anybody to take our gold, but refuse them 
 land, and, therefore, they are obliged to take away the gold to get 
 land from our wiser rivals. Truly, we English have comical ideas 
 of business and of policy. 
 
 I rode down Forest Creek ; it was on the 5th of May, and see- 
 ing what had been done in extirpating the gold in two years, I 
 asked myself with serious thoughts, what will be done in a few 
 years more ? And should the gold be exhausted, or come hardly 
 and sparingly into the washing-dish of the digger, what will be 
 the condition of the vast mass of landless, homeless, and rude, 
 
 M 2 
 
164 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Sturdy men who are in the gold-fields ? It would certainly require 
 a wise and strong government to turn aside the menaces frowning 
 from the past, and convert this heterogeneous mass of vigorous and 
 chaotic materials, which have been repelled and irritated instead of 
 conciliated and domesticated, into the orderly elements of a loyal 
 community. 
 
 I rode along the scene of the original rush there, and of all those 
 marvellous stories of the diggings of Mount Alexander, which 
 brought such headlong torrents of men from all quarters of the 
 globe. The creek winds through a broad valley between low 
 woody ranges, and the diggings extend from where they abruptly 
 commenced, a little above Golden Point, to Castlemaine, about four 
 miles. The extent of ground in the valley all turned up bore tes- 
 timony to the numbers who must have been at work on it. And, 
 be it remembered, this valley is only one of three of equal extent, 
 lying in a large square, at one point of which lies Castlemaine, 
 the point where Barker's Creek and Forest Creek unite, and form 
 Campbell's Creek, of which more anon. Besides the three chief 
 diggings on Forest Creek, Campbell's Creek, and Fryer's Creek, 
 including Spring Creek, there were numerous flats and gullies, both I 
 within the quadrangular area and without it, which had been du^ 
 up ; and the extent altogether of ground which had been workec 
 at the Mount Alexander Diggings was something which struci 
 the observer with astonishment. To return, however, to Forest 
 Creek. 
 
 The whole of the level on both sides of the creek ; the flats an< 
 gullies running oflf right and left ; a low range of hills running 
 alon^^ the middle of the valley, and a broad gully constituting th< 
 other side of this great valley, on the other side of these low hills, wer^ 
 all more or less turned topsy-turvy. In many places you saw when 
 the vein of gold had deserted the valley, and run in circular lines 
 along the hill sides, and even over their tops. These the diggers hac 
 managed to hit, but whether they had managed to hit all, so ecn 
 centric as they are, is very questionable. All along this creel 
 still stood stores and doctors' shops, but there were only here an( 
 there a few groups of diggers left grubbing amongst the chaos oJ| 
 the old heaps; and I met numbers with loaded carts, or with swags 
 inquiring tlieir way to the Avoca, then the great attraction. Store- 
 keeping must every day become a worse business on these old 
 rifled diggings ; yet, as there were a number of men at work 
 up and down amongst the hills, in little patches of diggings, the 
 population was greater than it appeared. I expect for years there 
 will continue a certain number poking about amongst the old 
 
A SURVEY OF FOREST CREEK. 165 
 
 ground, or. turning up new ; yet what is worked seems pretty 
 thoroughly worked already. 
 
 The clerk of the bench at Benalla told us that he had dug there, 
 and that Spring Gully in Fryer's Creek was worked in such a 
 hurry, and only for the nuggets, that the washing stuff was never 
 washed, and was lying still a fortune to any one who would go and 
 torn it out. That on a visit a short time ago, he and a friend with 
 a tin dish washed out an ounce and a half in a morning. We 
 thought it very strange that, in the present state of the diggings, 
 there should be any such amazing carelessness, and when we went 
 up this gully we found the whole of it most carefully dug out and 
 tommed. We tried the stuff in various places, and so clean was 
 it cleared out that we could not see a single trace of gold. 
 
 There were still a few diggers in Cobler's Gully, near Spring 
 Gully ; but they were nearly drowned out by water, and went 
 thirty feet deep. Higher up Spring Creek itself, a few more were 
 following the smaller gullies up amongst the hills. They said they 
 got a little. I staid and saw some washed out, and it appeared 
 very little. At the head of these small gullies lies Specimen Hill. 
 This is a hill with one of those north and south ridges, or dykes, 
 wiiich run across the whole gold district. It had an enormous belt 
 of quartz, which they were breaking up and smashing with ham- 
 mers for the gold, which appeared small in quantity. Burdon's 
 quartz-crushing machines would be the only profitable things 
 there ; but the diggers appeared too poor to afford them. I saw 
 only one in the whole range of hills. 
 
 On the lower side of the quartz ridge ran a band of lava, clearly 
 showing volcanic action. It came to the surface, or near it, and 
 was about four feet thick. It was of a greenish colour. The 
 diggers were breaking it up with picks and gads where they could; 
 and where it was too hard, blasting it, and then crushing it with 
 hammers. It contained gold, but apparently not much. Two men 
 told me they had been at work on it for nearly a month, and had 
 not yet got quite an ounce. Yet they went on in hope, saying, it 
 must be somewhere ; and that they might happen to come upon it. 
 The greatest quantity got by any party on the hill, they said, was 
 a pound weight. 
 
 Near Golden Point, on Forest Creek, I fell in with a very intel- 
 ligent digger from Dorsetshire, one of the few gentlemen left on 
 the gold-fields as diggers. He was a young man of reading and 
 observation. On learning my name, he would have me go into 
 his tent and see his wife, and take some refreshment. He had a 
 very young, pretty-looking wife ; and on my saying that he was 
 
 h3 
 
166 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 happy to have a wife on the diggings, for it was a desolate life, he 
 said, "Yes, I feel that; and such a wife! " — an expression that 
 greatly pleased me. His table was soon spread with a luncheon 
 that would have done credit to a country-house in England, and a 
 bottle of excellent port ; and I sate, I suppose, for two hours, very 
 much enjoying my conversation with this amiable couple. The 
 young digger told me that he had come out here almost at the very 
 commencement of the diggings, and had remained here steadily all 
 the time. He confirmed what all my observations had tended to 
 strengthen, namely, that the accounts of the amounts secured by 
 individual diggers had been grossly exaggerated. That he had 
 known one or two persons who could retire, with some three or 
 four thousand pounds, but that a certain number had only made a 
 few hundreds, and the multitudes but a bare living. He said that 
 he himself had made some hundreds, and had kept a large-refresh- 
 ment tent ; but that suddenly the new rushes had carried off all 
 his customers when he was making at the rate of 2000/. a year. 
 He had then had drays on the roads, bringing up stores from 
 Melbourne, but that it did not answer, and that he had taken to 
 digging again ; but that his earnings did not average more than 
 IO5. a day, which was very little, considering the price of pro- 
 visions : flour 10/. a bag ; bread 4^. the quartern loaf ; and meat 
 9d. per lb. 
 
 He complained of the want of the means of safe and profitable 
 investment of savings, which, he said, made what little capital 
 he had almost useless, and was the cause that the majority ofi 
 those who got money spent it in the grog-shop. Both he and 
 an intelligent storekeeper, with whom I had a conversation, as- 
 sured me that there was extensive and severe distress on these 
 diggings. 
 
 My friend, the digger, said, that what he felt as one of the. 
 greatest evils of the digging life was the constant and close contact! 
 into which they were brought with the police. "At home," he truly! 
 observed, "you know that such things as laws, magistrates, and! 
 police exist, and you find the benefit of them, though they seem! 
 to pass at a distance from you ; but here the man-hunters are out! 
 every day, and you are constantly favoured with their visits." Hel 
 said, as many had said to me before, " Three and four times a day] 
 I have been summoned to show my licence, and threatened withj 
 handcuffs if I murmured. It is," he added " a common saying, 
 * A man has no home in this country. His only chance is to get 
 money, and spend it elsewhere.' " 
 
 This state of things must be now much ameliorated by thej 
 
EXPERIENCES ON CAMPBELLS CREEK. 167 
 
 abolition of the licence, that source of perpetual annoyance, op- 
 pression, and irritation. 
 
 Both this gentleman and the diggers generally there spoke 
 extremely well of Captain Bull, Mr. Dufton, Lieutenant Smith, 
 and one or two others of the Commissioners, — a fact which it is 
 pleasant to record. 
 
 After that, I had a long conversation with a Northumbrian man, 
 who was at work on Campbell's Creek. He was strong and 
 hopeful ; said he had been working there eighteen months; and that 
 if he could raise 1500/. he would go home. He hoped to do it in 
 four or five years. He said that Campbell's Creek was now the 
 best Creek in the Castlemaine diggings. That if a man worked 
 hard and steadily he could earn on an average 1/. per day, or 61. 
 per week ; and that it cost him from 305. to 21. a week to live as 
 well as a man who worked hard should. He said that a number 
 of diggers were in the habit of clubbing together, and employing 
 a man to shop and cook for them, which they found most convenient 
 and economical of time. This rate of labour is a good exchange 
 for that of an English labourer; and if such an amount were 
 pretty certain on the diggings, it would be a sufficiently attractive 
 life to working men. How few working men at home can clear 
 200/., not in a year, but in a life ! But, on the other hand, if you 
 take this as the best rate of remuneration at the diggings, what a 
 fall from the original romance of Mount Alexander ! 
 
 The diggings on Campbell's Creek extend three or four miles ; 
 and a few miles below, both it and Fryer's Creek run into the 
 Loddon. But, as I have said, beside these Creeks, go where you 
 will, you come upon flats and gullies amongst the hills, where a 
 few men are working, — often very rough, hang-dog looking 
 fellows, as if they did not care to be much seen. Thus between 
 Barker's Creek, where there never had been much digging, and 
 Forest Creek, lie Sailor's Gully, Moonlight Flat, &c. Between 
 Forest Creek and Fryer's Creek, over a large extent of hill and 
 wood, lie Poverty Gully, Red Hill, Morepork Gully, German Flat, 
 Murdering Flat, &c. On every creek they have their Golden 
 Point, Wattle Flat, and the like, and they are sure to have their 
 Growler's Gully, Poor Man's Gully, and Sulky Gully, designating 
 unsuccessful spots. 
 
 Fryer's Creek, with its offshoot of German Flat, presented a 
 more active scene than Forest or Spring Creek. The ground 
 which had been turned up there was immense, and still they were 
 turning up some new ground, with a degree of success which ap- 
 peared to satisfy the men. I saw there what I never saw any- 
 
 m4 
 
168 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 where else. At what they called Golden Gully, one of the 
 sandstone ridges running from north to south had been broken 
 up at the surface for gold, which from all appearance must have 
 been pretty plentiful. That is the only instance that I witnessed 
 of the sandstone of these dykes yielding gold at the surface. 
 
 There is a class of hills, both there and at other diggings, which 
 puzzle me, and which I think would puzzle the geologists. The 
 White Hills of Bendigo and the Red Hill there are of this kind. 
 They are composed to a great depth of a quartz conglomerate, that 
 is, pebbles of quartz set in a cement of the detritus of these stones, 
 ground to a very fine powder, and now grown as hard as the 
 pebbles themselves, — so hnrd, that neither picks nor gads, that is, 
 steel chisels, have much effect on this substance, nor, indeed, any- 
 thing but blasting. When you get down perhaps forty or fifty 
 feet, you come to as many feet of a soft, white pipeclay, or pul- 
 verised schist, as white as snow, and with a satiny brilliancy. In 
 this lies a stratum of quartz gravel and gold, and below these 
 pipeclay again. 
 
 Now it is evident that all these substances have at some time 
 been under water, and been subjected to a long and violent aquatic 
 action, both from the worn roundness of the pebbles, and the 
 trituration of the parts worn off into the finest powder, now 
 hardened into cement. The gold found in the subjacent pipeclay 
 is small and water-worn. But all round the base of these hills, 
 the strata, be they what they may — granite, sandstone, or slate — 
 do not appear to have been acted on by water at all. They are clear, 
 sharp, and solid, and any gold found amongst them is generally 
 unworn by water, and frequently nuggetty. 
 
 It appears clear that these which are now hills were once basins 
 of water; but by what peculiar phenomenon have just these basins 
 been lifted up and made convex instead of concave, while all 
 around them remains as it was ? Why should what were hollows 
 — just these places and no others — have become hills or rounded 
 mounts? It seems to me that it will still require a considerable 
 series of observations, and much further reflection, on the part of] 
 geologists, before this mjstery can be cleared up. 
 
 Mr. Simpson Davidson, of Sydney, — in two letters to Mr. E. H. 
 Hargraves, with whom he was associated in California, whichj 
 letters have appeared in the Sydney Empire and the Melbourne! 
 Argus, and which he has done me the honour to forward to me, — | 
 considers these quartz pebbles to have become rounded by rolling] 
 as they cooled. But to my mind there are many circumstances! 
 opposed to this idea. In the first place, it is not usual for things! 
 
MR. Davidson's theory. 169 
 
 to roll up hill. But here these rounded silicious pebbleS; or 
 nodules, exist in isolated masses, which are heaved up by some 
 subterranean force above the level of the plain on all sides of them. 
 
 There is no slope down which, or plain along which, they could 
 have rolled, for they are considerably above the plain on every 
 side. It is not to be supposed for a moment that in the act 
 of projection from below they would cool into spherical forms. 
 They would under these circumstances have cooled into one solid 
 mass, as the quartz on the ridges or dykes mentioned have done. 
 
 In the second place, if they had been formed thus by rolling in 
 a semi-fluid state, they would have exhibited a surface as bright 
 as their interior. But their surface is opaque like ground glass, 
 while their internal fracture is bright like that of quartz in general. 
 Moreover, whence comes the cement in which they are set? This, 
 no doubt, is the detritus from watery friction. It is contrary to 
 all known laws of crystallisation that a huge mass of quartz or 
 other stone should arrange itself in different forms under the same 
 influencing agency. In fact, the rounded pebbles must have be- 
 come rounded and set before they were thus piled into a mass, or 
 they would by their own weight have been compressed into a solid 
 compact body. They were clearly set hard before the interstices 
 were filled up. • 
 
 Of Mr. Davidson's theory of the gold formation in general, I may 
 here state that I think he has approached nearer to the truth than 
 any other geologist hitherto. He has ably combated the doctrine 
 of quartz or schist being the matrix of gold. We have long, from 
 our own observations, arrived at the conclusion that these sub- 
 stances are merely contemporaneous, and were thrown up at the 
 same period, and by the same subterranean force, with the gold. 
 The only particular on which I cannot bring myself to agree with 
 Mr. Davidson is that of the gold, or any portion of it, having been 
 held in chemical solution, and deposited in a perishable lava by 
 the action of alkalies. 
 
 "VVe know of no agency, except that of the old aqua regia, nitro- 
 muriatic acid, whicli is capable of dissolving gold ; but supposing 
 some sufficient solvent to have existed in the interior of a volcano, 
 we do know that gold precipitated from this solvent by alkalies 
 would have been deposited in the form of an impalpable powder, 
 and probably of a protoxide. But gold in Australia, clearly 
 the exhibition of a volcanic agency, is not so found. It is 
 everywhere in a pure metallic state, and frequently in ex- 
 traordinary masses, as the 28 lb., the 60 lb., and 136 lb. nuggets 
 of Ballarat. 
 
170 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 That lavas as well as quartz were thrown out by the volcanic 
 action, and that gold was diffused through them both, is not only 
 true, but the most familiar of truths on the diggings. I have 
 just instanced a case of lava. But that all the gold found should 
 be merely such as has been liberated from perishable lavas, as Mr. 
 Davidson supposes, is opposed to all facts. As Mr. Davidson 
 himself observes, " The gold in Victoria is nearly all found richly 
 and thickly imbedded on the bare rock ; " the heaviest masses are 
 usually there, and must have been laid there while the rock was 
 quite bare, and, therefore, before decomposition had taken place 
 on the surface, so as to furnish drift matter. That the gold has 
 been molten, and not chemically dissolved, every appearance of it 
 from the largest to the smallest grain demonstrates ; and in no 
 shape more than in one to which Mr. Davidson again alludes. 
 " The nuggets from M'lvor Diggings appear as if one side was yet 
 in a state of fusion, with the other side indented as if just cooled 
 upon a sandy or gritty floor." Exactly so. I have seen nuggets 
 resembling a piece of paste dabbed down on a table, or pieces of lead 
 run molten on a stone floor. You could not be more convinced 
 that they were thus thrown up in fusion from some lower region of 
 the earth, and thus cooled, if you had seen it done. 
 
 If, therefore, we leave out Mr. Davidson's theory of a perishable 
 lava, and accept it only as a partial adjunct, and suppose, instead, 
 that when the gold and quartz were thrown up from below by 
 volcanic agency in a state of fusion, the same agency broke and 
 threw up extensive strata of clay slate, sandstone, and other 
 perishable substances, and through which good quantities of the 
 molten gold were diffused, we seem to have every recognised ele- 
 ment necessary to the production of the existing phenomena. 
 
 These slates, sandstones, and other perishable substances holding 
 gold being thus brought to the surface, where they are by places 
 so conspicuous in those perpendicular dykes lately described, have 
 gradually undergone decomposition from the action of the atmo- 
 sphere and of rains, and thus by degrees liberated the gold which 
 has been washed into the streams and valleys. This action is 
 still going on ; and therefore, after fresh rains, you will often 
 And gold deposited in the roots of the weeds and shrubs in the 
 • creeks. 
 
 A most striking proof of the result of the gradual decomposition 
 of the surface we found in the creek which we worked at the 
 Upper Yackandanda. The gold was found in the mud of the creek, 
 resting on a stratum of clay, at about a depth of two feet. But on 
 digging through this clay we found fresh drift of three feet deep, 
 
PRECEDENCE OF GOLD DISCOVERERS. 171 
 
 which must have been the accumulation of centuries. Neither in 
 that, however, nor on the rock beneath, was there the slightest de- 
 posit of gold. It was quite evident that the gold had only begun to 
 wash into the creek from the surrounding slopes at a comparatively 
 recent period, because these slopes had only then begun to undergo 
 decomposition. 
 
 Two facts in Mr. Davidson's letters do not accord with my own 
 experience. I have never seen much gold in trap formations ; 
 though it is an important question whether gold may not yet be 
 found beneath surface traps. That " very hard quartz veins are 
 usually level with the surface, and are rarely found a few feet 
 high," is singularly in opposition to the gigantic quartz rocks 
 which I have described at Bendigo. These assertions, however, 
 do not affect his main theory ; which, with the exception of the 
 precipitation of the gold by alkalies, and ''the perishable lava," as 
 a universal medium, approaches nearer to a solution of the gold 
 mystery than any yet proposed. 
 
 Another question, the precedence of the gold discoveries in 
 Australia, and the fitting distribution of reward, has been agi- 
 tated by the Government, and the Committee of Inquiry of the 
 Legislative Council has published a rather curious report on the 
 subject. The whole question has been the subject already of 
 much controversy, and of many claims both in Victoria and in 
 Sydney. In Sydney, when Mr. Hargraves's claim to reward as 
 " the first discoverer of the gold-fields" was brought before the Le- 
 gislative Council, a number of very curious facts were cited in the 
 debate. It appeared that the very first man who announced the 
 discovery of gold in New South Wales was a convict. Since then, 
 a letter in the Times has referred the public to an account of this 
 singular afi^air, as given in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1798, 
 pp. 325, 326, in a passage quoted from "An Account of the 
 English Colony of New South Wales, by David Collins." In or 
 about the year 1788, which was, in fact, the very year in which 
 the colony was founded, a convict professed to have found gold 
 some distance down the bay, and offered to take an officer to the 
 spot. One was sent, but he soon gave him the slip, and got into 
 the woods. He came back, however, next day ; and the Governor 
 ordered him fifty lashes for his conduct. He still persisted in his • 
 I assertion of discovery of gold, and showed the Governor gold 
 j which he said he had found. The Governor ordered another 
 \ officer to go with him, and to shoot him if he attempted to escape. 
 I On their way he told the officer that he knew of no gold ; that he 
 had invented the story, and showed him the remains of a guinea 
 
172 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and a brass button out of which he had manufactured his nugget. 
 For this he was ordered 100 lashes more ; total, 150 lashes ! 
 
 Now this is a very curious case. Did the man merely hoax the 
 Government, or did he really know of gold, as his comrades always 
 persisted that he did, and would not disclose, hoping some day to 
 secure it to himself ? As the colony has turned out so strangely 
 prolific of gold, there is, at least, a strong probability that 150 
 lashes were the reward of the first Australian discoverer of gold. 
 There seems, in fact, no doubt, that gold was found by the convicts 
 who, in Governor Macquarie's time, cut the road over the Blue 
 Mountains, soon after the discovery of the route in 1813. They 
 are said to have picked up many pieces of this metal, but were 
 threatened with severe punishment if they said anything about it. 
 Again, in 1830, it is asserted that a nugget of several ounces 
 was found by a man employed by Mr. Lowe, near the Fish 
 River. 
 
 The next claimant for the discovery was Count Strzelecki, the 
 traveller. It was stated by Sir James Macarthur, during the 
 debate at Sydney, in the Legislative Council, in 1853, that, in 1839, 
 the Count liad communicated his discovery to the then Governor, 
 Sir George Gipps, " of an extensive gold-field in the Bathurst 
 district ;" but that Sir George Gipps had required him to keep it 
 secret, as, from the penal condition of the colony, such a disclosure 
 might be attended with serious consequences. Sir James stated 
 that the Count had not only communicated this information to Sir 
 George Gipps, but had frequently at the time also spoken of it to 
 himself; and he moreover produced a letter from the Count, dated 
 October 26th, 1839, mentioning his discovery of gold in specks in 
 silicate. 
 
 The evidence of a man of Sir James Macarthur's standing and 
 character, therefore, places Count Strzelecki the next in the list 
 of undoubted discoverers of gold in Australia, to those unfortunate 
 convicts and tlie man on the Fish River. Next to him stands the 
 Rev. W. B. Clarke, of Sydney, who discovered gold in quartz in 
 1841, but whose discovery, announced to Sir George Gipps in 
 1844, was concealed for the same reasons as those of Count 
 Strzelecki. 
 
 Next comes Sir Roderick Murchison, who, in 1844, having 
 compared geologic specimens furnished him by Count Strzelecki, 
 from New South Wales, with others procured by himself in the 
 Ural Mountains, declared that extensive gold-fields would be found 
 in Australia. Confident in his deductions, he published his opi- 
 nions in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1844. 
 
CLAIMS OF GOLD DISCOVERERS. 173 
 
 Again, in 1846, he repeated his convictions at a meeting of the 
 Eoyal Geological Society of Cornwall, held at Penzance, and 
 urged the sending out of Cornish miners to search for the gold in 
 Australia. 
 
 Sir Roderick, in a letter in the " Times," declares that he not 
 only thus positively asserted that there were gold-fields in Aus- 
 tralia, but that his assurances led directly to its discovery : and 
 he gives the names of two persons who wrote to him, stating that, 
 in consequence of his announcement, they had gone out and found 
 gold, one of them in New South Wales, and one in Adelaide. In 
 consequence, on receiving actual specimens of gold ore, he ad- 
 dressed a letter to Earl Grey, Colonial Secretary, on the 5th of 
 November, 1846, repeating his assurances of such gold-fields in 
 Australia. 
 
 From that time, 1846, — when a Mr. Smith, also of Sydney, pre- 
 sented a large specimen of gold to the governor,, and claimed a 
 reward, — to 1851, specimens of native gold were exhibited in the 
 windows of the jewellers in Sydney, where a general impression 
 was gaining ground that there was plenty of gold in the interior, 
 if it were regularly sought for. There wanted only some fresh 
 impulse to occasion this search, and that was supplied by the dis- 
 covery of gold in California towards the close of J 848. 
 
 In 1849 tens of thousands of adventurers were flocking to this 
 new Eldorado ; amongst them Mr. Har graves. Returning thence, 
 he commenced in January, 1851, to search for gold in the creeks 
 of the JMacquarie river, and his party on the Turon, and in April 
 he announced to the colonial government that he had discovered 
 extensive gold-fields. These discoveries were disclosed to the 
 Government, and the gold-mania broke out in full force. 
 
 Such, amid all the conflicting claims which have been raised, 
 appears as nearly as possible the historical outline of these dis- 
 coveries. First the convicts, then a labourer of Mr. Lowe's, then 
 Count Strzelecki, and finally the Rev. W. B. Clarke, found gold 
 by accident or actual inspection. After Sir Roderick Murchison 
 published statements on the subject, the Rev. W. B. Clarke 
 appears, on the announcement of Sir Roderick Murchison's opi- 
 nions, to have exerted himself in Sydney, through the newspapers, 
 to move the public to an active search for the colonial riches. For 
 this he deserves well of the colony, and of the country at large. 
 But it appears to me, that the scientific deductions of Sir Roderick 
 Murchison constitute the most honourable fact in the history of 
 this discovery. It is a scientific triumph, of which science may 
 well be proud. 
 
174 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 It was, therefore, with regret that I read, whilst in Australia, a 
 letter of Mr. Hargraves, in the Sydney papers, sneering at the 
 claims of Sir Roderick and Mr. Clarke. *' Nothing," he there 
 says, " is so easy as to prophesy, and that he will now prophesy 
 that gold will be found in various parts of the world ; and when- 
 ever and wherever it is found, let the world remember tliat he 
 foretold it." 
 
 Mr. Hargraves has received his reward, — 10,000/. voted by the 
 New South Wales Government, — and no one will begrudo;e him 
 its enjoyment, as the practical link between the vaticinations of 
 science, and the spade of the digger. He is the undoubted opener 
 up of the gold-fields, and the immediate evoker.of the wealth 
 whicli has poured into these colonies. But there can be little 
 question that the repeated announcements and arguments of Sir 
 Roderick and W. B. Clarke, acted upon by the grand event of the 
 Californian discovery, produced that state of the public mind which 
 made it quick to answer his call, when it had been torpid to theirs. 
 A generous man, therefore, would give all honour to whom honour 
 is due, — especially as in this case the profit is his own, the empty 
 honour alone is theirs. 
 
 As it regards Victoria, a nameless discoverer, so early as 1848, 
 brought gold into Melbourne. At that time, however, it was 
 treated as a hoax. The gold was admitted to be genuine, but was 
 believed to be brought from some other country. Afterwards, 
 various quantities were brought in by shepherds, and sold ; yet 
 the fact, precisely as in Sydney, excited no attention till the 
 Californian discovery awoke the whole public with a start ; and 
 when gold-fields next appeared in New South Wales, the people 
 of Victoria rushed off thither, in such precipitation, that, lest the 
 colony should be totally deserted, a resolution was passed, at a 
 public meeting in Melbourne, offering 200/. to any one who dis- 
 covered gold in Victoria. Gold was immediately found ; but the 
 reward has never yet been paid, on the ground that the true first 
 discoverer could not be decided upon. 
 
 When Mr. Hargraves went over to Melbourne, to urge his 
 claims also on that Government, a committee was appointed by the 
 Legislative Council to ascertain the merits of various claimants, 
 and it came to this conclusion : that 5000/. should be given to 
 Mr. Hargraves, and 1000/. to the Rev. W. B. Clarke. That, of 
 Victoria claimants, a Mr. Michel and party should have 1000/. for 
 the discovery of a gold-field at Anderson's Creek, in the Yarra 
 ranges ; to Mr. Hiscock, as the substantial discoverer of the 
 Ballarat deposits, to Mr. Esmonds as the first actual producer of 
 
IRON, COPPER, Sn.VER, OVENS TIN, ETC. 175 
 
 alluvial gold for the market, 1000/. ; to Dr. Bruhn 500/. for ex- 
 ploring the country, and diffusing information, and to Mr. Camp- 
 bell, squatter, of Strath Loddon, and member of the Legislative 
 Council, 1000/., as the original discoverer of the Clune Diggings. 
 
 The singularity of this last claim is, that Mr. Campbell candidly 
 avowed before the Committee that he had kept the discovery con- 
 cealed for a whole year, lest it should hurt the station of his friend, 
 Mr. Cameron, and in fact, never disclosed the valuable secret at 
 all, till he actually found Esmonds and his party digging for gold 
 upon the very spot. Thus, it appears that, so far as he was con- 
 cerned, the public would never have been the wiser or the better 
 for his discovery, and that he only made it known to set up a 
 claim to the reward, when it could no longer be concealed. To 
 award him 1000/., therefore, was actually giving him a premium 
 for doing his best to injure the colony ! ; 
 
 However, the whole ended by the Colonial Secretary saying that 
 the Government had no money for anybody ; and thus even the 
 offered reward of 200/., which led to the immediate enjoyment of 
 the colony's unrivalled gold-fields, remains still unpaid. 
 
 We may here ask, Why does not the Government encourage the 
 working of its other metals ? There are said to be large quan- 
 tities of iron, copper, silver, tin, &c. ; but, except at the Ovens, 
 where the tin was mixed with the gold in the shape of a black 
 sand, resembling emery, and very troublesome to us in separating 
 it, I never saw any attempt made to procure any metal, except 
 gold. Twelve months after the alleged discovery of the rich 
 copper ore at MTvor, the discoverer was complaining in the news- 
 papers that the Government had taken no step whatever towards 
 authorising him to get it. 
 
 We may here observe that gold was discovered in 1846 in South 
 Australia. This discovery was made while sinking for copper on 
 the purchased section of Mr. Wickstead, in the county of Adelaide, 
 by a miner named Tyrell. The vein was about two inches wide, 
 and yielded about a quarter of an ounce of gold to an inch. The 
 metal was examined amongst others by Captain Sturt, Mr. Burr, 
 the Deputy Surveyor General, and Dr. Davy, who analysed it, 
 and found an unwashed specimen to contain ninety-four parts of 
 gold, three of silver, and three of oxide of iron and earthy matter 
 accidentally adhering. The discovery was proved beyond any 
 doubt, but has not yet been followed by the results which might 
 have been expected. There has been great search for gold since 
 the splendid discoveries in Sydney and Victoria, and with only 
 moderate success. 
 
176 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 The country round Castlemain^ is much pleasanter than that 
 about Bendigo. It is on the whole much more fertile. The hills 
 are not lofty, but finely undulated, and present, not only well- 
 wooded summits, but beautifully verdant slopes. The valleys, es- 
 pecially that of Campbell's Creek, are wide, and. where not turned 
 topsy-turvy by the diggers, are green and pleasant. The town- 
 ship of Castlemaine, at the junction of the creeks, is much better 
 laid out than most of these new townships, has a fine, large market 
 square, and already, at the time of my visit, a considerable number 
 of shops and houses. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVL 
 
 i 
 
 Journey to Ballarat. — Magnificent Downs. — The Jim Crow Ranges. — 
 Diggings there. — Hepburn's Station. — Volcanic Hills. — Sulkiness of the 
 Common People. — Aborigines' Station. — Creswick Creek Diggings. — 
 Cheapness of Human Life. — The nameless Dead. — A Bullock-Driver's 
 Evening. — Wonderful Consumption of Brandy. — Sulky Gully. — Country 
 near Ballarat lying in Water. — A Group of Chinese Diggers. — John 
 Chinaman returning rich. 
 
 Soon after leaving the Mount Alexander Diggings on our way to 
 Ballarat, we came out upon open, green downs, with a fine turf, 
 and scarcely a tree upon them, and, at seven miles' distance, crossed 
 the Loddon, there a stream so small that in some places I could 
 jump over it. The ford that we crossed I suppose some Notting- 
 ham man must have named, for it was Wilford. 
 
 Between the Loddon and Ballarat we alternately travelled 
 through woody ranges and over wide extents of these high, green 
 downs, as finely turfed as the Southdowns themselves, and, of 
 course, grazed by immense flocks of sheep. Most of these lie 
 higher than the wooded ranges, and show themselves afar oif. 
 We had actually to descend into the wooded hills. These downs 
 are all of volcanic origin, and covered with the black rich soil 
 which is always found on the volcanic plains. Here and there 
 rises upon them a lofty conical hill, evidently an extinct volcano. 
 These hills are smooth, and very green, and only thinly clothed 
 with trees. At the feet of most of them lies a lake, or a great 
 reedy swamp, as if the ground had sunk in the place from which 
 the hill had been heaved up. 
 
THE JIM CROW RANGES. 177 
 
 These downs are remarkably pleasant, and must in summer be 
 fine, fresh places to live upon. They are splendid pastoral regions. 
 It is curious that the gum-trees, the usual trees of the country, 
 and which cover all the ranges around them, rarely or ever will 
 grow on this soil. If you find a few, it is in some gully, or 
 swampy part, and they are almost always stunted and dwarfish. 
 On the contrary, the acacias, the Banksias, and the casuarinas 
 flourish there. The lightwood, a species of acacia, grows finely ; 
 but they are principally the Banksias, and the casuarinas or 
 shiacks, which prevail, and, in the moist parts, wattles. The 
 shiacks are thinly scattered over these verdant plains, downs, and 
 high table lands, and present a very pleasing aspect ; their broom- 
 like and flowing tresses giving a great relief to the eye from the 
 eternal sameness of the eucalyptic forests. Fine clear streams, 
 too, traverse these magnificent downs, like those of the green, 
 pastoral hills of the south of Scotland. 
 
 Many of the valleys, also, amongst the wooded ranges, consist 
 of very good land, and would make excellent agricultural farms, 
 with good backgrounds of the ranges for grazing. 
 
 At some fifteen or twenty miles from Forest Creek, we passed 
 through the Jim Crow ranges. These ranges are rough, steep, 
 and barren. In the most secluded and solitary parts of them, 
 at some miles from each other, there were two so-called coffee- 
 tents, but, in fact, grog-shops, and, to judge by the sort of fellows 
 who kept them, none of the most respectable places. At the 
 first we inquired of the man where a road, that went off to 
 the left, led to. He answered short and surlily, " To th' Jimcra," 
 that is, the Jim Crow Diggings, and, without deigning another 
 word, disappeared into his tent. 
 
 The next, some miles on, in one of the deepest and most obscure 
 glens, was kept by a tall, dirty, unshaven, gallows-looking fellow, 
 who appeared at his door with a basin of broth, or some liquid of 
 the sort in his hand, and answered our inquiries in the same 
 favourite style of surliness. We were surprised to see a number 
 of natives haunting about this grogshop in European costume ; 
 but learned that they were from the Aborigines' station ahead of us, 
 called Parker's Station, from the protector. The place in which 
 they were found did not argue much for their progress in civili- 
 sation ; but we found that Mr. Parker was resident at a station of 
 his own, some ten miles off, at Mount Franklin. 
 
 Farther on, we emerged once more upon a fine table-land with 
 a lofty conical hill, called Mount Smeaton. Near this mount we 
 observed the house of the squatter. Captain Hepburn, some distance 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
178 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 from the road, standing on a commanding elevation, and large 
 enough for a Manchester manufacturer or Staffordshire potter. 
 It is, in fact, one of the largest squatters' houses that I have seen, 
 and has a good garden on the slope in front, with a slovenly 
 potato-ground oddly enough interposing between it and the house. 
 On the plain below are scattered a number of wooden huts tumbling 
 to decay. 
 
 Supposing that some of the shepherds lived in some of these 
 huts, I went up to one to inquire if we could procure meat there 
 or at the station, when three fierce dogs, who appeared to be the 
 sole inhabitants of the hut, rushed out, with a tremendous mastiff 
 at their head, and made a furious assault upon me. I thought 
 that then, if ever in my life, I was in for a laceration by these 
 savage brutes ; but by active use of a good heavy stick,, which I 
 always carried for the benefit of such assailants, I managed to 
 keep them at bay till I could plant a telling blow on the sconce of 
 the mastiff, which quite satisfied him ; and he and his allies re- 
 treated to the hut. Had I not thus rather unexpectedly remained 
 victor in the fight, I should next have treated the captain of this 
 canine band to a pistol bullet ; but as the whole inhospitable crew 
 retired to their own fortress, I left them, and pursued my way 
 towards the next hut. 
 
 There I found a young woman, who, as soon as she saw me 
 approach, began to move off round the hut ; and I was obliged to 
 move round after her to get the requisite information. By dint 
 of activity, I came within earshot of her, as, having completed her 
 gyration round one hut, she was making off to a second. In answer 
 to my inquiry about meat, she gave me a sulky " Up at the big 
 house," and moved on. 
 
 The common people who have gone out there seem to delight 
 in this churlish sort of conduct. I verily believe they take it tor 
 a sign of independence ; but whatever they take it for, they cer- 
 tainly indulge themselves in it most thoroughly. Courtesy is a 
 thing which you might suppose cost something ; but I dare say it 
 is, in many cases, only taking their change out of the servility 
 they have been compelled to practise at home. Every man is 
 there his own master ; but it will require some time to enable him 
 to become master of himself. This most unattractive and un- 
 lovable manner has a very extensive prevalence there, both in 
 town and country, in stores and inns, as well as in huts and on 
 the road-side. 1 hate servility, but I just as much dislike churl- 
 ishness ; but it requires some refinement of mind to practise and 
 to take a pleasure in courtesy ; and a vast mass of the poor devils, 
 
creswick's creek diggings. 179 
 
 male and female, who have gone out, knew no better at home, 
 though they were held in more restraint there. 
 
 Captain Hepburn, who was originally master of a merchant- 
 vessel, certainly made a happy exchange from ploughing the sea 
 to grazing the Crown lands of Victoria. He has not only a noble 
 house there, but it stands in as fine a situation as man could 
 desire. Backed by the woods, with scores of miles of those 
 beautiful downs spreading around him, and, in full view from his 
 windows, the noble, verdant height of Mount Smeaton, — few more 
 delightful places of residence could be found. We were informed 
 that he had bought great quantities of land. Happy man to be a 
 squatter, and enjoy "pre-emptive right!" When will a digger 
 find a nugget so large that he will be able to buy large tracts at 
 II. per acre ? 
 
 We again passed over fine downs, capable of making scores 
 and scores of splendid agricultural and sheep farms. On these we 
 passed Parker's Station, the station of the Aborigines, and should 
 have liked to have had some conversation with the protector, had 
 he been there, as to the condition and prospects of the natives. 
 We saw several about, in European dresses, and we were glad to 
 hear that some of them, not satisfied with having this station as a 
 home to which they might, at will, resort, had requested to have 
 pieces of land for their own exclusive cultivation. 
 
 This station commands a grand prospect of these green downs ; 
 another lofty conical hill at a few miles distance in front ; a beau- 
 tiful stream, like an English mountain stream, below ; and to the 
 left, mountainous hills, densely wooded, with Mount Franklin 
 towering above them far beyond. 
 
 Soon after we again entered the ranges, and, in a few miles 
 further, found ourselves at Creswick's Creek Diggings. These 
 are of considerable importance, and in their general aspect re- 
 minded us strongly of the Ovens Diggings. There was a Spring 
 Creek, in fact, on which we came first ; the ranges consisted of 
 ferruginous sandstone and quartz, and were overgrown with the 
 peppermint gum-tree, just as at the Ovens. The gully down 
 which Spring Creek ran, at our right hand, was dug up, bottom 
 and sides, and the diggers were at work on the ridge down which 
 we went. 
 
 We found the main diggings at the confluence of Spring Creek 
 and Creswick's Creek, where a considerable flat lay. The hills 
 round this flat, rather than the flat itself, were the scene of the 
 diggings, being all turned up, or in the act of it. I suppose there 
 must have been 5000 or 6000 people there ; the sinkings were 
 
180 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 generally from ten to eighty feet deep, and the stuff thrown out 
 very much like that at Tarrangower, especially heaps of a rose- 
 pink looking clay. 
 
 The hill over which we passed on leaving the diggings was very 
 much dug up ; the holes sixty feet deep, and numbers of them, as 
 I have already stated, sunk in the very road, without any protec- 
 tion whatever around them. 
 
 But really, human life in this chaos of strangers of all nations, 
 rushing frantically from every quarter of the earth to enrich them- 
 selves, is, as may be supposed, held wonderfully cheap. Who is 
 likely to care for any one but himself? The number of un- 
 recorded dead, who are found and put into a hasty grave, with- 
 out anything frequently being known about them, is something 
 frightful. 
 
 There have been instances of people entering a tent, and finding 
 a solitary man in the last stage of illness, without a friend, or any 
 means of help, where he has lain for days, or perhaps weeks, amid 
 a busy multitude, all eager in the quest of gold, neither able to 
 raise hand nor foot, nor cry for help, though there were people all 
 round him. Others have been found dead in such a situation, with 
 every sign of destitution about them, and not the slightest clue to 
 whom they were, or whence they came. 
 
 Out of hundreds of thousands of adventurers, English and 
 foreign, how many have friends who would give almost their own 
 lives to learn news of them ! But they never will ; for they either 
 lie in those nameless graves, or in these sixty and eighty feet deep 
 shafts, now deserted, and their sides fallen in, burying their victims 
 under many tons of clay. 
 
 The Creswick's Creek Diggings looked active, and on the in- 
 crease ; though, as usual, the accounts that diggers gave were 
 various. Some represented themselves as doing well, others as 
 badly, and others as doing nothing at all. Numbers were on the 
 move for the Avoca, and, on the other hand, numbers were coming 
 in from Ballarat, ai>d new stores were erecting in confidence of 
 success and permanence. Bread was 5s. per quartern loaf, and 
 other provisions in proportion. 
 
 Soon after leaving Creswick's Creek, we found ourselves in the 
 midst of very barren and stony ranges, and we went on and on in 
 the vain hope of finding some pasturage for our horses. Night 
 overtook us in these desolate and inhospitable hills, and still we 
 had no place where we could expect grass or water. Both our 
 horses and ourselves began to be weary, and we had every prospect 
 of stopping where we could neither refresh ourselves nor them. 
 
A bullock-driver's evening. ISl 
 
 when suddenly, down to our right, at some distance, we descried a 
 fire. Well assured that it was the fire of some travelling party, 
 we made our way towards it, and found three bullock-drivers, with 
 their drays and bullock-teams, who had camped there for the night. 
 They soon showed us plenty of excellent grass and water. 
 
 This group presented a good picture of the life of these rude 
 men. They had piled one upon the other a number of the boles of 
 trees, and set fire to them, so that they had a fire large enough to 
 roast an ox. At this, suspended by a string from a stake, was 
 roasting a leg of good mutton. Opposite to the fire they had made 
 a bed of a number of young trees, which they had cut down with 
 all their leaves on. That was to be their bed for the night, and 
 over them they would merely throw their blankets. 
 
 Before them on the grass, lay half a dozen bottles of rum or 
 brandy — their quota for the night. They invited us to take a 
 nobbier a-piece ; but we declined, saying that we must have some 
 tea. 
 
 "Tea! stuflf! here is something better than tea." And one 
 of them, seizing a bottle, began to pour out a panikin of it. We 
 still, however, begged to decline. "Fiddlesticks!" said they, 
 " why there's plenty more ; don't you see ? Look ! we have not 
 quite emptied one bottle yet, and we must drain the half dozen. 
 What siornifies talkinfii;, mates ? — down with it! " 
 
 We, however, left them to their half-dozen, and proceeded to 
 some distance, where we encamped. All evening, and all night, 
 till three o'clock in the morning, these fire-proof fellows were 
 vociferously singing, hallooing, and laughing outrageously at their 
 own rude jokes. Then all was still ; and when we rose at six they 
 had already woke up again, collected their cattle, and were gone ! 
 
 That was but the ordinary jollification of the evening. On the 
 road, they would stop at any public-house that there happened to 
 be, and take a nobbier ; at noon they would get a good long sleep 
 under their drays, and again at night roast their mutton, drink 
 their tea, and then finish off with a carouse of rum, that would 
 kill a score of ordinary mortals. How these fellows manage to 
 endure this unexampled drinking of spirits, can only be imagined 
 from their rude, rough exercise, continually in the open air. But 
 sooner or later it must kill them. Delirium tremens will overtake 
 them, and they will terminate their career by leaping from a 
 window, or into a pool. 
 
 From Creswick's Creek to Ballarat was but twelve miles ; and 
 less than half way, we passed a small digging, called Sulky Gully, 
 from the looks of the diggers who did not find it very productive.. 
 
 N 3 
 
182 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 The country as we approached Ballarat became leveller, and a 
 great deal of the land was of a fine agricultural quality. To our 
 great pleasure, we came upon a party of surveyors, within three 
 miles of Ballarat, measuring out the whole of Waldy's squatting 
 station for sale, in farms of from 30 to 100 acres. Hurrah ! that 
 was a good beginning ! The public outcry was beginning to tell I 
 Let there be plenty of these sold, and all will be right. The sur- 
 veyors were amused at our enthusiasm at the sight, and said they 
 hoped there would be plenty for sale too, for then the wages of 
 surveyors would rise. "At present," said they, " Government at- 
 tributes its not selling land to the want of surveyors to set it out ; 
 and yet we find ourselves at a discount." 
 
 The country there, however, was nearly all under water, from 
 great rains of late ; and yet, though it was green on the surface, 
 it was a hungry sand beneath, which in summer must rapidly burn 
 up. Very inferior it was to the land farther back. We found at 
 length, a rather higher piece of ground, where we encamped, as 
 the surveyors said we should find no grass nearer the diggings. 
 
 The country on that side of Ballarat is the least like a gold 
 country of any that I had seen. Instead of barren quartz ranges, 
 the land is nearly flat, and grassy. To the right of the diggings 
 lies a huge swamp, called the Great Swamp, a mile or more across 
 in every direction. It is a constant resource for water for the 
 people, numbers of whom camp on its banks in summer, though 
 to all appearance, except one slight expanse, it is one wide mass 
 of reeds and bog-grass. Beyond it lie the new diggings of 
 Winter's Flat, and farther out, twelve miles off, that of Wardy- 
 Yallock. 
 
 Near Ballarat, we met a company of Chinese removing to Cres- 
 wick's Creek. It was quite a picture, and a curious one. The 
 Chinese who had lately flocked over to the colony in crowds, still 
 continue their national costume in a great measure, and their 
 national custom of carrying everything on their necks on a long 
 pole. This, to us, apparently most uncomfortable plan, they ad- 
 here to pertinaciously, as the only easy one. At each end of a 
 pole of some two inches thick, and six or eight feet long, they 
 suspend weights astonishing, considering their slight physical 
 structure. You would think the pole would cut their bare necks,, 
 if not their heads off. But, only now and then shifting the pole a| 
 little, more or less inclined to one shoulder or the other, they go 
 for scores of miles with ponderous burthens, keeping up a shuffling 
 kind of trot, their very legs seeming to stagger, and their bodies 
 to waver under their loads. 
 
A GROUP OF CHIXKSE DIGGERS. 183 
 
 There were ten or a dozen of these Chinamen, all apparently of 
 recent arrival. They were chiefly dressed in loose blue blouses, 
 or shirts, with a belt round the waist ; short, wide, blue trousers, 
 and light boots. On their heads they had flat straw-hats, of 
 nearly a yard wide, lying flat on the head, and not enclosing it at 
 all, and in the centre above, running up into a point like the top 
 of a parasol. They were, in fact, more like umbrellas, with the 
 Chinamen for handles, than anything else.* 
 
 Most of these men are very short, as well as slight, but there 
 was one extremely tall man amongst them, as there every now and 
 then is. This man waved and wagged about in a most extra- 
 ordinary manner. But the strangest things were the loads they 
 were carrying to Creswick's Creek, twelve miles, or probably to 
 Forest Creek, forty miles farther. 
 
 One man had at one end of his pole a working cradle, and at 
 the other end a puddling-tub. These must have weighed at least 
 a hundred-weight. Others had shovels, picks, tin-dishes, pro- 
 visions, boots, and the like. Others had huge bundles, done up in 
 Indian-matting — I suppose their bedding — with occasionally one 
 of these huge, flat, straw-hats hung to the bundle. One man had 
 a blue cloth cap on his head, of the true Chinese shape, but the 
 quantity of their bedding and stuff* for tents, if they had any, must 
 have been amazingly small ; indeed, they often seem to travel 
 without one or the other. We observed one John Chinaman 
 going alone the other way. I suppose he had made a little fortune, 
 out of which he could live splendidly in the Celestial Empire at 
 the rate of a dollar a month, and change out of it. He was dressed 
 in a thoroughly English costume, and carried a carpet-bag. 
 
 • Idea bonx)wed by Beade in " Never too late to Mend.* — See Prefswe. 
 
 H 4 
 
ly^ TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 The great Basin of Ballarat. — Eureka and Canadian Gullies. — Gravel-Pit 
 Diggings. — Wonderful Scene of Filth and Activity. — Ballarat in Winter 
 the muddiest Place in the World. — Holes 160 feet deep. — Scene of the 
 Gravel Pits. — Extraordinarily coloured Clay thrown up. — Sixty Feet here 
 to be sunk through the Water. — The Golden Gutters. — Hawls of from 
 10,000/. to 30,000/. _ System of Shepherding. — Intense Watching and 
 Manoeuvring. — An eager Game of Chess. — Produce of Miller's Hole. — 
 Probable Cost of Working a Hole. — No Machinery employed. — Specimen 
 of Medical Civility. — Hosts of Quacks. — Irishwoman with her Quinsey. — 
 Fifteen Guineas for a Doctor's Visit. — Enormous Consumption of Hollo- 
 way's Pills. — Card-playing and Drinking. — Mountains of empty Bottles. — 
 Marvellous Prices for Township Allotments at the Diggings. 
 
 After all the accounts which I had seen of the Ballarat Diggings, 
 I had no idea of what sort of place it really was. On approaching 
 it, instead of traversing, as usual, long gullies filled with great 
 heaps of gravel, and quantities of tents, I found myself standing 
 on a green bank near the Commissioner's camp, and before me 
 lying a deep basin, which had evidently been some time a great 
 lake. This basin, the main field of the diggings, is some mile and 
 half wide or so each way. In the bottom of it rises up a chain of 
 low, rounded hills, something like the White Hills of Bendigo, 
 and these hills and the slopes all round this great basin were dug 
 up, and presented the usual chaos of clay and gravel-heaps. 
 
 On the right hand lay, as usual, a Golden Point, and before me, 
 more centrally, a Red Hill. A creek, now strong and rapid from 
 the rains, for it w^as the middle of May, the rainy month, traversed 
 the bottom of the basin in the foreground, coming from the left, 
 and running across a little below the camp. On the left the hills 
 rose higher than on the right, and well wooded ; and up and over 
 the top of the nearest and loftiest of these hills had been diggings. 
 This hill was called the Black Hill, for no reason that I could dis- 
 cover, but that it was green, and the gravel turned up whitish- 
 3^ellow. 
 
 The gold had evidently flowed, or rather been washed down from 
 its summit, through various gullies to the basin, and the diggers 
 had turned up the whole^of its different courses. It had lain only 
 about two feet below the service, and, I was told, had been one of 
 the richest parts of the digging. Still farther along the same side 
 I could see that flats, gullies, and summits of other hills had been 
 
MUDDY STATE OP BALLAKAT. 185 
 
 turned up in the same way ; and the diggers having exhausted 
 these hills, were following the track of the gold from the feet of 
 the hills across the bottom of the basin ; and there the sinkings are 
 deep,— I understood eighty feet or more. 
 
 To the left-hand side of this great basin runs up towards the 
 woodland country beyond, .the celebrated Eureka Gully; and to 
 the right hand, and hidden by a point of land, the equally celebrated 
 Canadian Gully. Out of these gullies have been taken the monster 
 nuggets which have made so much sensation, the largest being 
 found in deserted holes in the Canadian Gully. 
 
 No diggings that I had seen — and I had now seen all of any 
 importance at the time — lie so compact as these of Ballarat. They 
 are all comprised in this one basin under your eye, and the two 
 arms, as it were, of Eureka and Canadian Gully. Beyond extends 
 the belt of unbroken forest, with the two conspicuous hills of 
 Warrneepe on the left, and Mount Buninyong on the right, look- 
 ing out of it, as you stand with your back to the Commissioner's 
 camp. 
 
 On exploring the diggings, we found Canadian Gully running 
 two miles, or more, away to the right on the Geelong road. The 
 greater part of this gully now lay deserted — worked out; being 
 obviously the scene of the first great rush to Ballarat. The greater 
 part of these excavations had been shallow ones, though here and 
 there a wooden windlass or two showed that the diggers were now 
 turning up a deeper bottom. 
 
 But the deep leads of gold evidently tended towards the main 
 basin ; and it was there, at the foot and on the sides of the Red 
 Hill, that the diggers of Canadian Gully were busily at work, 
 putting down shafts at from 130 to 160 feet. In the Eureka 
 Gully the scene was the same. The rush was towards the great 
 basin, and occupied chiefly the gully just behind the chain of low 
 hills which runs across the middle of the basin. Still nearer to 
 the camp, a vein of gold had been traced from a hill on which the 
 Catholic chapel stood, and had run down into the bottom near the 
 right-hand corner of the basin, below the camp, whither the dig- 
 gers were rushing like a swarm of bees. This was called the 
 Gravel Pit Lead, but might with more propriety have been called 
 the Mud Hole: for a more astounding scene of mud, muddy water, 
 muddy diggers, muddy tools, and clay trodden into the most vilely 
 adhesive filth, it is impossible to conceive. 
 
 In fact, Ballarat in winter is unquestionably the most dirty 
 place, the most perfect Serbonian Bog, on the face of the earth. 
 Melbourne, in its worst days, at its most sludgy moment, was a 
 
186 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 paradise to it : Kilraore a clean-swept floor in comparison with it. 
 From all the hills round, the water is perpetually running down 
 into it ; and everywhere along the bottom of the basin it is one 
 deep slough of black mud and water. It is impossible to wade 
 about in it except in jack-boots. 
 
 But when you came to where the diggers were at work, the 
 scene defied all description. The whole surface was thrown into 
 heaps of clay from six to ten feet high — for it appeared to be all 
 clay which they threw out there. Here, indeed, had accumulated 
 all the mud and clay which for thousands of years had been 
 flowing from the hills around. It was this which had thus buried 
 the gold 160 feet deep, and through which the diggers had to sink 
 for it. 
 
 Between these muddy mountains thrown up by the diggers, the 
 water accumulated in deep pools, which they avail themselves of 
 to wash their gold out with : and the heaps of clay were trodden 
 by hundreds of men constantly crossing them in all directions 
 into a slippery, adhesive limbo of bird-lime and filth, which re- 
 quired not only much nerve, but much muscular power to traverse ; 
 for your jack-boots sunk deep into it, and refused to come out 
 again. In other places, where there was a harder substance under, 
 and the surface only was slippery, it required as much dexterity 
 as courage to prevent your pitching headlong — heaven knows 
 where ! For right and left, at the same time, you were menaced by 
 yawning gulfs and what once were diggers' holes, but which had 
 tumbled in, and presented clay pits of some score of feet deep, the 
 bottom and the sides of which were all one tumbling, crumbling, 
 toppling, treacherous mass. 
 
 The deep sinkings were the scene of such eager excitement, 
 that the holes were put down as close to each other as possible. 
 Twelve feet square were the usual allowance, and only twenty- 
 four feet square were allowed to any party, so that the heaps 
 of dirt and the pools of water were as thick together as possible ; 
 and nothing could be more astonishing than the sight of hundreds 
 of men bustling about, all eagerness, all hurry, working away in 
 the midst of mud up to the hips, and pools of puddle thick as 
 batter for a pudding ; tubs, cradles, windlasses, and wee-gees, or 
 long poles balanced by a stone at one end and a bucket at the 
 other, to raise water for their washing, all — all in motion — a 
 perfectly confounding phantasmagoria of impetuous action and of 
 sludge. 
 
 The scene at the Gravel Pits was especially animated, and 
 would have made a capital sketch. The crowded assemblage of 
 
SCENES AT THE GRAVEL PITS. 187 
 
 white awnings on those clay heaps, which the diggers had raised 
 to protect them at their work in rainy weather, these standing at 
 different elevations ; the diggers turning their windlasses ; and 
 others, in rows of half-a-dozen along the sides of the muddy 
 pools, working away at their puddling-tubs with their shovels, 
 chopping and stirring them about ; others cradling ; others wash- 
 ing out. Numbers of stores scattered about, with their gay flags ; 
 and numbers of new holes put down and waiting the result of 
 those in progress, with their windlasses standing on square frame- 
 works of logs, some live or six feet above the ground. The 
 crowds ; the heaps of clay thrown up, of all colours — every heap 
 different — bright yellow, dazzling white, mottled black and white, 
 and brilliant rose-pink; the dirt and the noises were altogether 
 something extraordinary. Similar scenes presented themselves in 
 Eureka and Canadian Gullies. 
 
 All was bustle and activity ; for these are the great lotteries of 
 the Victoria Diggings, where there are really heavy prizes, and to 
 each a — thousand blanks. The gold there runs in veins, or 
 gutters as they call them, — that is, it appears to lie in the channels 
 of the ancient watercourses, which now are buried from 80 to 160 
 feet in clay. These watercourses are very changeable in their 
 direction ; so that no one can calculate long beforehand what turn 
 they may take. They may pursue a pretty straight line for a fur- 
 long or two, and then as suddenly turn aside, and pursue a lateral 
 and devious course. This renders the pursuit of the heavy deposit 
 of gold so exciting. 
 
 If a party comes down upon it, it may yield in a claim of 24 
 feet from 10,000/. to 20,000/., — a great prize! But it may also 
 be missed by a few feet, and the sanguine party find themselves 
 some 1000/. minus by their labours. 
 
 One party was so near to the gold, that they could see the next 
 party getting it within a foot of them. There had been a dip in 
 the strata, and all the gold in the claim of the one party had been 
 shot down into that of the other. Tantalus himself was not in a 
 more tantalising position. 
 
 Scores of parties are on the watch to determine, if possible, the 
 exact tendency of these golden gutters. As parties are sinking 
 holes on the apparent line of the veins, others have marked out claims 
 in the same direction for half a mile or more ahead ; but they do 
 not work these claims till they see that there is a probability that 
 they are on the line. This camiot be perfectly known till the 
 vein has been pursued close to where the new claims are marked 
 out ; and, therefore, there are scores of parties constantly *' shep- 
 
188 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 herding " claims ahead, as the phrase is. They do a little at them 
 every day, in order to retain the right to them ; for if they do 
 nothing at a claim for twenty-four hours it lapses, and every one 
 that can may jump into it. But they merely build up a square 
 framework of logs, high enough to admit of the earth thrown 
 out being ranged round it, and set their windlass upon it. They 
 then only throw out a single bucket of earth every day, till they 
 know the result. 
 
 Thus there is an intense watching of the parties at work. Every 
 day deeply interested numbers are waiting round to learn whether 
 they hit the gutter or not ; and, if they do, the next three or four 
 claims lying in the same direction are begun working in good 
 earnest. If the lead is found to have changed its course, all the 
 shepherded claims ahead are abandoned in a moment, and there is 
 a rush in the direction now indicated, where, again, as many claims 
 are marked out and commenced. Thus you see whole lines of 
 abandoned holes, just commenced, and in other places a number 
 where the operations are suspended, but the framework and the 
 windlasses left, because the diggers think that, after all, the lead 
 may run that way. 
 
 It is thus very apparent that the gold-digging of these deep 
 sinkings at Ballarat is a very serious affair, and a very anxious, 
 exciting, and uncertain lottery. The large amounts taken out of 
 some of these holes, as in what were called the '^Jewellers' Shops" 
 in Canadian Gully, the monster nuggets found there, or in the 
 Eureka, have naturally turned the heads of thousands ; and you 
 met numbers of new chums going up to Ballarat, whom the fame 
 of the great nugget had fetched out, and who were hoping to 
 secure similar ones. 
 
 Accounts of the sums taken out of the deep sinkings, like all 
 such golden accounts, have been greatly exaggerated. It has been 
 said that 36,000Z. was taken out of one hole by twelve men, being 
 3000/. each. But from what I could learn on the spot from the 
 diggers themselves, a hole called the Italian's, or Miller's Hole, in 
 the Gravel Pits, was the richest yet known : and a highly respect- 
 able digger assured me that he had full proof that the party, which 
 consisted of eleven, netted 42 lbs. of gold each, the total weight of 
 gold for the eleven being 502 lbs. This, at 41. per ounce, would 
 amount to 24,096/., or nearly 2,200/. per man. The Gum-Tree 
 claim in the Gravel Pits also was a very rich claim. A most 
 respectable gold-buyer confirmed this statement, by saying that 
 the highest dividend which had been made by a party was about 
 2,000/. per man. And that, indeed, is a grand prize, and enough 
 
GREAT PRIZES. 189 
 
 to excite wonderfully the minds of men who have in England been 
 probably working for 125. or 20s. per week. 
 
 After my visit to Ballarat, the Melbourne newspaper announced 
 that a party of eight men, in December, 1854, exhibited there a 
 nugget of quartz and gold of 98 lbs. That they had cleared, after 
 all expenses, 20,700/., or about 2,587/. each. They had put down 
 their hole of 150 feet in the wonderfully short time of thirty-five 
 days, with the help of six hired labourers ; but had been shepherd- 
 ing and working altogether for two years there. 
 
 But then, for one party which gets this, five hundred get little 
 or nothing. A few feet on one side or other of the gutter, and it 
 may be a blank. Perhaps no one party ever gets two prizes. 
 And we must next take into the account the time, the expenses, 
 and the wear and tear of life, as well as of power and material. 
 First, there is shepherding, and six or twelve months may be 
 wasted in that, as the lead may change its course many times, and 
 occasion many delays and flittings to and fro. All this time, in- 
 dependent of the anxiety and tension of mind, expenditure for 
 living is going on. 
 
 After this, if you seem to have a chance sufficient to justify 
 your proceeding with your sinking, there is the direct expense of 
 working the claim. I was assured by the diggers themselves, that 
 a hole of 160 feet might be put down in six weeks; for the stuff 
 through which they dig is by no means hard. It is all soft clay 
 or gravel ; yet still the average time is six months, or more. The 
 first 100 feet can be put down easily, and without interruption, for 
 it is dry ; but, after that, they come into the subterranean water- 
 course, and the water pours in upon them in such torrents, that no 
 single party can work a sinking independent of their neighbours. 
 There must be various sinkings at work in one spot simultaneously, 
 to enable them, by consentaneously drawing the water, to keep it 
 down. When one or two parties cease, all are compelled to cease. 
 They said they could tell in a moment when their neighbours, 
 according to their phrase, "knocked olF:"and they added, that 
 when a party has been a few days soaking in the torrents of gelid 
 subterranean water, they are glad of a pause — nay, must have it ; 
 and either go into the woods to split slabs, for lining the sides of 
 their shafts, or roofing the tunnels under, or to the grog-shops to 
 '^ comfort their souls," as their notion is. 
 
 During all this time, every sinking in that immediate vicinity 
 must stop ; and as one party or another is, ever and anon, taking 
 such an interval of relaxation, and of drying their skins in the 
 warm upper air, the delay to the whole is altogether great. Six 
 
190 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 months, therefore, is a moderate allowance for putting down one 
 of these deep claims ; and during the whole time, a whole host of 
 shepherds are waiting, watching the result, and, of course, living 
 at digging expenses, which was no trifle at that period, when flour 
 was from 121. to 20/. a bag; meat Is. a pound ; onions and po- 
 tatoes. Is. 6d. per lb. ; brandy 1/. per bottle, and beer 105. Many, 
 having shepherded for six months, there are nine chances to one 
 that the lead may make a bend, and they are off to shepherd six 
 months more, and quite as likely six months after that ; and, 
 finally, to put down a hole of 160 feet, through 60 feet of water, 
 and miss the prize by a few feet ! 
 
 Such are the formidable antecedents to the working of a claim. 
 So formidably are the good claims hedged in by crushing and ve- 
 hement competition ; and the working itself is equally serious. 
 The moment that a party has struck the gutter, down go a dozen 
 claims a-head, and others around as close as they can be edged in 
 by the rules of the diggings. Day and night they work with 
 might and main. One party takes the work by day, and is relieved 
 by another for the night ; the labour never ceases till they 
 descend below the 100 feet, and come into the water. The w^hole 
 of the shafts, from top to bottom, in most cases, — and, I believe, 
 in winter, all, — have to be lined with slabs to prevent the sides 
 falling in and burying the diggers. In summer, thirty or forty 
 feet can sometimes be left unslabbed ; but the general rule for 
 safety is, to slab the whole. The shafts are, therefore, made about 
 four feet square ; the slabs, of a couple of inches thick, and eiglit 
 or ten inches wide, are secured at the corners by strong pins, to 
 prevent them possibly being forced inwards by the weight of 
 earth ; so that the shaft is, in fact, a wooden box of 150 feet or 
 more deep. This is, of course, a considerable expense, as these 
 slabs cannot be bought, even second-hand, for less than 4/. 105. or 
 51. per hundred ; and it will require 700 or 800 to case a-shaft. 
 These slabs, however, maybe taken out when the claim is finished, 
 and again used or sold : but, besides this, they have to roof the 
 whole of the excavation below with similar slabs, and support 
 them on props, none of which can be taken away again. 
 
 When we add to the expense, the unavoidable delays mentioned 
 in getting down, and the previous loss of time in shepherding, 
 with the many chances against striking the gutter, it becomes 
 obvious what a serious undertaking is a Ballarat deep digging. In 
 fact, it is one in which only stout men, and that in parties of not 
 less than eight, have any chance at all. It is the place of all 
 others where the gold is least generally distributed amongst the 
 
I 
 
 NO MACHINERY EMPLOYED. 191 
 
 diggers as a body. There are a few lucky, and a vast many un- 
 lucky ones, while a large number of others are only moderately 
 successful. We were assured that, out of the large number of 
 people, hundreds of them, in fact, actively and anxiously at work 
 at the Gravel Pits, only four parties had hit the vein. Great 
 numbers of men ruin themselves there, and then go away to other 
 diggings, which are shallow, and give a better chance of getting a 
 moderate quantity. 
 
 Some of the diggers in Eureka Gully, and other parts of the 
 field, told me, that they expected to get, when down, 1500/. a man, 
 others 500/., others 300/., — if they hit the lead ! And I was 
 assured too, that there was much destitution on the field. Still, 
 Ballarat is one of those fields which displays an active and busy 
 air, very different to Bendigo, Castlemaine, or the Ovens ; and new 
 ground is always breaking up. 
 
 It was no easy matter to get about these diggings. The roads, 
 as usual, were all dug up ; and we had to go floundering over 
 mountains of miry clay, and amongst stumps and holes, as well as 
 we could. The only comfortable walking was on the hills, where 
 no digging had been done. These hills were overgrown by grass- 
 trees, from one to three feet high, which the people use for fuel, 
 and which in burning diffused their balsamic fragrance far and 
 wide. 
 
 One thing greatly surprised us here. We expected to find 
 machinery introduced at these deep sinkings of Ballarat ; but, on 
 the contrary, there was none whatever. I expected that with 160 
 feet of depth, they would at least have horse-gins to turn up their 
 earth and water ; but nothing of the kind. They still stuck to the 
 simple windlass, which was turned by two, and sometimes three 
 men. One reason might be, that there was scarcely room for a 
 gin, as there was such crowding to be, if possible, in the gutter ; 
 so that each party only got room enough to throw out their earth. 
 Another reason, no doubt, was the price of oats and hay. Oats at 
 1/. 15^. and 21. a bushel, and hay at from 60/. to 160/. a ton, as the 
 carriage happened to be, were dreadful diminishers of profit. 
 
 If steam-engines were introduced, they would speedily drain the 
 whole flat for them. But their introduction implies a degree of 
 combination which did not and could not exist here, where there was 
 so much uncertainty, and where Government gave only twenty-four 
 feet claims. If companies could have been formed, steam-engines 
 could have been introduced: but all the prejudices of the diggers were 
 opposed to companies and combinations, from an idea, and a very 
 natural one too, that capital would soon, in that case usurp the 
 
192 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 monopoly of the gold-fields. They preferred, therefore, to struggle 
 on, each party independent of the other ; and thus at Ballarat 
 there was the least advance in artificial means of gold-mining, where 
 one would have expected the most. At Bendigo, we have shown 
 that, within the last six months, a considerable quantity of machinery 
 had been introduced in the shape of puddling-troughs, worked by 
 horses. But there the competition was less : the field was much 
 deserted ; and these puddling machines, which consist of a cj^lin- 
 drical bore laid horizontally in the earth, with a cylinder set with 
 iron spikes revolving in it, v/ere admirably adapted to tear to pieces 
 the stifi" clay which there abounds, water being admitted to the 
 box, so as to dissolve the clay into a pulp, which is afterwards 
 easily washed out by the common cradle. Yet even at Bendigo 
 there was no advance towards a wider combination than that of ordi- 
 nary parties, from the very same causes — the hostility of the 
 diggers to companies, and the fear of Government to encounter 
 this hostility. 
 
 I had occasion to go into a druggist's at Ballarat to procure a 
 little opodeldoc for a bruise. It was only Zs. per ounce ; being 
 about as many pence at home. Twelve times the English price 
 appeared to be the cost of drugs on the diggings ; and perhaps 
 from the quantity consumed it could not be less. But a man who 
 had Dr. over his door asked 5s. an ounce, which I told him I 
 thought a little too much. On hearing this, the man flew into a 
 violent rage, crying, " Go along, go along to the druggist. I am 
 no druggist. I am a physician." I begged him to keep his 
 temper, as courtesy was cheap enough if physic were not, and that 
 I would oblige him by going to the druggist. On this he grew 
 more furious than ever, starting up with a face scarlet with pas- 
 sion: "Say that again! just say that again, and I'll pitch you 
 under the ear ! " I only smiled and withdrew. 
 
 Such is a specimen of a large class of men calling themselves 
 doctors, who have gone out to prey upon the diggers. Numbers 
 of these men possess no diplomas whatever, but are arrant and 
 impudent quacks, who fleece the poor, ignorant digger enormously. 
 I believe I have related the story of a poor Irishwoman that we 
 met with, who had come with a very large family all the way from 
 Sydney, and who had fallen under the hands of one of these quacks, 
 with a quinsey. As he did her no good, her husband determined 
 to go to Dr. Craw^ford, the colonial surgeon at the Ovens. But on 
 asking the quack his charge, he said, " Twelve days' attendance — 
 twelve pounds." On hearing which, the poor woman was so 
 indignant, that she burst her quinsey in her wrath, but was in- 
 
FIFTEEN GUINEAS FOR A DOCTOR. 193 
 
 consolable at the escape of the quack with the twelve pounds 
 before she could get her throat cleared to " ase her heart upon 
 him." 
 
 By the colonial law, all medical men are required to submit 
 their diplomas and surgeons' certificates to certain medical in- 
 spectors appointed for the purpose ; and a list of these qualified 
 persons is published annually. Without such registry, no prac- 
 titioner is legally qualified ; but the law at the diggings appears 
 to be quite neglected. 
 
 The calling in of a real medical man, even, at once qualified 
 and a gentleman, is a serious infliction. They do nothing under a 
 pound a visit, and a pound a mile, which on illness of any length 
 is certain ruin to many a poor digger. At some of the diggings 
 they have now combined, and erected hospitals. But in the bush, 
 where they can have no hospitals, this charge falls heavy on all 
 but the wealthy squatter. An overseer at a station, who had a 
 small salary, told me that he had occasion to send for a medical 
 man ; the nearest being twelve miles. His charge was fifteen 
 guineas, — three guineas the visit, and a guinea a mile. He said 
 he could not afibrd to have him a second time. When I was re- 
 marking on this subject, and saying that a doctor on the diggings 
 would soon exhaust any one's purse, a surgeon present, one of the 
 very best men of his profession, said, laughing, " Oh ! well, when 
 a man can pay no longer, he can take the benefit of the act." 
 
 I imagine that it is the excessive cost of regular medical treat- 
 ment which causes the diggers to take Holloway's pills so univer- 
 sally, and in such amazing quantities. They are the digger's 
 established nostrum. He takes them by handfuls ; and when his 
 dog is ill, he gives him a few dozen as a dose. Holloway's oint- 
 ment is in scarcely less repute. If Professor HoUoway had only 
 the diggers for purchasers he must make a fortune. 
 
 Card-playing on the diggings is as universal as the taking of 
 Holloway's pUls. Cards are the diggers' grand resource, next to 
 drinking and pills. In the fine weather you see them seated by 
 their holes at all leisure hours, or by their tents, deeply intent on 
 these magical bits of pasteboard. 
 
 But oh ! what evidences lie about everywhere of the diggers' 
 greatest propensity. All over Ballarat bottles broken and whole 
 lay about in such quantities, that it is wonderful how horses went 
 anywhere on the field without getting lamed. There was a pool 
 down in the basin, not very far from the camp, into which literally 
 thousands of bottles were thrown. Before all the public houses on 
 the road, there lay heaps, sometimes of many waggon-loads ; and 
 
 VOL. II. O • 
 
194 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 all along the bush you still found them, some dashed against the 
 trees, and others still whole. No one need have desired a larger 
 fortune, during my visit, than the value of all the bottles, broken or 
 whole, which were sown broad-cast over this colony. At Geelong, 
 the bay was floored with them. 
 
 At Ballarat we bade adieu to the diggings for ever, and the 
 only difficulty was to get out of them. If it had been a labour to 
 wade about in our jack-boots, it was a twofold one to get our team 
 safe and well through them. Koad there was literally none, unless 
 the most indescribable chaos of clay-heaps, sludge-holes, stumps, 
 pits, and huge trunks of trees, lying exactly in your way, con- 
 stitute a road. We were constantly, in danger of falling into 
 Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis ; but there was nothing for 
 it but to flounder on, and sink, and plunge, and bounce forward 
 for two or three miles, till we got clear of the diggings. 
 
 Town allotments, I saw by the newspapers, had been selling at, 
 the Government sales at Ballarat from 3000/. to 7000Z. per acre !| 
 and at Castlemaine for 3000/. ; the purchasers of which dear bits! 
 were petitioning the Government that there should be no stores! 
 allowed within two miles of the townships. Thus all parties 
 there. Government, squatters, and store-keepers, were striving 
 hard for high prices and monopolies to support them. None oi 
 these things could eventually answer ; the diggers already said, 
 *' These storekeepers, who give such great sums for their ground,! 
 will, of course, want to lay it upon us ; but we shall go to teni 
 stores on the diggings ; and, as to the squatters, if they cannot 
 aflbrd cheap meat, what is the use of their having all the land foi 
 nothing ? " 
 
 True ; and the land speculators in Victoria were already calling 
 out to Government, " Stop your sales ; there is land enough in tin 
 market; " a clear sign that plenty of land in th,e market will swamj 
 this mischievous class. 
 
 Before a free circulation of advantages and a genuine prosperitj 
 can pervade the colony, all this obstruction and monopoly, th( 
 result of the wide speculation, and spirit of sudden fortune-makin< 
 Avhich came with the gold, will have to run their career, and fa" 
 to pieces at the fiat of public need. 
 
 At Ballarat now, as at other diggings, the consequence of th( 
 attempt at exclusion and monopoly of trade, by forbidding anj 
 stores within a certain distance of the privileged digging town, hi 
 led the diggers to set these local laws at defiance, and to establisl 
 suburbs outside of the prescribed bounds, where stores, inns, and dX\ 
 accommodations have sprung up. This must always be the case ii 
 a new and independent community. 
 
JOURNEY TO MELBOURNE. 195 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIIL 
 
 Journey through a rich Country. — Thousands of embryo Farms lying there. 
 
 — The whole South of Victoria, from End to End, splendid Land. — Line 
 of new Road to Geelong laid out. — Discouraging JExperience of Buninyong 
 Township. — Half-acre Allotments and a Wooden House no Independence. 
 
 — Road-side Grog-palaces. — One- hundred loaded Drays per Day on the 
 Road. — Why not a Railroad here ? — Strange Location of Muddy- Water- 
 Ploles Township. — Beautiful Valley of the Moorabool Extreme Fertility. 
 
 — A few attractive Homesteads A splendid Site for a Water- Mill. — 
 
 Beautiful Site for a Town. — The Barabool Hills. — English Larks let loose 
 upon them. — Town of Geelong Great Plains between it and Melbourne. 
 
 — Much Land monopolised there by Speculators. — Deluging Rain. 
 
 Turning our backs on the diggings, we made an easy and pleasant 
 journey to Geelong, and thence to Melbourne. We made this 
 detour to see as much of the country as we could, and also to visit 
 the thriving town of Geelong, the second in the colony. 
 
 Once out of the awful quagmire of Ballarat, we hoped to get 
 into tolerable road ; but the whole country, for about half the way 
 to Geelong lay full of wet, and the roads in consequence were 
 execrable. However, at Ballarat we had sold our large tent, and 
 every tiling except what was absolutely necessary for our journey 
 down, and, therefore, we had no difficulty in wading through. I 
 may say generally of our journey, that it was all through a volcanic 
 country, in many places abounding with large trap boulders, 
 scattered on the surface ; in others clear and green ; but always 
 exhibiting the rich, black, volcanic earth. 
 
 Thousands of farms may be laid out along this part of the coun- 
 try, capable of yielding the richest harvest, as well as of pasturing 
 any amount of cattle and sheep ; and by universal testimony, the 
 whole of the colony westward, at least a very broad tract of it from 
 the coast inwards, is still more fertile, and is, indeed, the very 
 richest land in the colony. The neighbourhood of the lakes Colac 
 and Corangamite, and all westward to the Glenelg near the 
 borders of South Australia, and south of the Pyrenees and the 
 Grampians, is reported to be one of the finest grazing and agricul- 
 tural countries in the world. 
 
 So fiir as we went, the whole country was beautifully green ; but 
 we could see that in the autumn the grass was all burnt up by the 
 sun and the bush-fires, for the shiacks and light woods which pre- 
 vail in all volcanic lands were cut down in great quantities for the 
 
 o 2 
 
196 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 sheep and cattle to browze upon, when the grass had failed. Tliis 
 will be a circumstance which the farmers of Australia will have to 
 provide for each year, growing sufficient oaten hay, or turnips and 
 mangel-wurzel, to carry them through what may be called their 
 hot winter, or time during which the grass fails from the great 
 heats of summer. 
 
 We were glad to see that the Government was beginning to 
 bestir itself in laying out roads and preparing to sell land along 
 this district. As yet, however, they had only marked out the line 
 of a great road from Ballarat to Geelong, by stubbing up the trees, 
 and removing the trap boulders, and arranging them along each 
 side of the road. But till it was regularly metalled the drays could 
 not travel on it ; it would become one long bog immediately : and, 
 accordingly, the carriers still followed their own routes through 
 the bush. There the grass formed a resisting surface ; but wliere 
 this had been removed on the new line, the wheels sunk in at 
 once. 
 
 The diggers and bullock-drivers appeared still to doubt whether 
 there would be any made road in their time ; their want of faith in 
 the Government being extreme. On expressing my satisfaction 
 to some of them that Government was at length beginning to 
 make a road, they replied, " A road, sir ! no, it's no road, it's a 
 sham. It is no road, nor can be till it is metalled. Perhaps in 
 twenty years' time there may be a road." But to me the prO' 
 sped of a road even was something. It showed a degree of life ; 
 not that deathly torpor which has hitherto so universally pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 One would have been glad to have seen something more decided 
 as to the sale of lands. The Government had laid out several 
 townships on this line of road, as Buninyong, Meredith, Muddy- 
 Water-Holes, &c. But it had only sold town allotments ; and how 
 were tliese towns to exist without farms? The township of 
 Buninyong, the first we came to, was a striking example of what 
 must result from such a system. It is only seven miles from 
 Ballarat, and lies at the divergence of the road to Winter's Flat 
 and Wardy-Yallock Diggings. The land is rich, and the country 
 beautiful. 
 
 Such were the expectations from these circumstances, that the 
 acre and half-acre allotments in this township were eagerly bought 
 up, at the rate of 300/. "per acre. Houses, stores, &c., were 
 speedily built, and the most sanguine anticipations of going ahead 
 were entertained. Storekeepers, auctioneers, doctors, innkeepers, 
 wheelwrights, smiths, &c., flocked thither, all expecting to grow 
 
 i 
 
NUMBER OF DRAYS. 197 
 
 ricli " by living on one another," they said, " as people of other 
 towns do." 
 
 They very soon, however, found to their astonishment, that 
 people could not live very well on one another, when " one an- 
 other " had not incomes independent of a half-acre allotment and 
 a wooden house. They must have independent incomes, or farms 
 attached to their locations yielding marketable produce. So, very 
 soon the storekeepers found they had no customers ; the wheel- 
 wrights and smiths that there were no carts to build, or horses to 
 shoe ; the doctors found that there was nobody to physic, and the 
 auctioneers that though there were speedily plenty of empty houses 
 to sell, there was nobody to buy them : so they all fled away again 
 to Ballarat, where there were people and income. And there 
 stood the empty wooden houses and shops, cutting a most desolate 
 figure. — an infant Auburn, a deserted village, almost before it had 
 become a village at all. A post office and two or three inns were 
 almost the only inhabited places. 
 
 On all these roads the inns are the only things that flourish in 
 the new townships. At every township there are at least three, 
 some built in the same style as the London gin-palaces, and in- 
 finitely larger. Several of these public-houses could not have cost 
 less than 10,000/. each. But all these, I dare say, pay. They are 
 a significant sign of the great propensity of the colony. We have 
 demonstrated the rum-swallowing capacities of bullock-drivers, 
 and the traffic up this road conducted by these men is something 
 enormous. 
 
 We counted the loaded drays going up on various occasions, and 
 found that they amounted at least to 100 per day ; each carrying 
 on an average upwards of a ton of goods. The bullock drays 
 carry two tons ; the horse-drays from half a ton to three-quarters 
 each. But the majority are bullock-drays. Say, then, that these 
 100 drays carried a ton each at 80/. per ton. — the then rate from 
 Geelong to Ballarat, — that would amount to 8,000/ per day for 
 carriage alone — a charge to be added to the prime cost of the 
 goods sent up from Geelong to be consumed by the diggers of 
 Ballarat. The same, but on a still larger scale, was the case on 
 the other roads from Melbourne to Forest Creek, Bendigo, Wa- 
 ranga, and the Ovens ; carriage to the Ovens in winter being fre- 
 quently 150/. per ton. 
 
 No wonder, then, that the draymen could aiFord to drink oceans 
 of brandy ; and they did it, for many of them had 21, per day. 
 These men were paid much higher than the hard-working digger, 
 who lived amid all kinds of privations. But wherever digger or . 
 
 o 3 
 
198 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 bullock-driver sees an inn, there lie must go. Bottles of brandy, 
 wliich cost from 10^. to 205. each, drained dry, and lying in moun- 
 tains before these inns, attest the mighty powers of suction in this 
 tribe of men. Such is the rude, riotous life they lead along these 
 roads. All day the bullock-drivers are shouting and swearing at 
 their teams, and all night they are drinking, singing, and rollick- 
 ing. I fancy that there is not an amount of swearing and blas- 
 phemy perpetrated in the whole world equal to that which is daily 
 concentrated on the road to the diggings of Victoria. 
 
 But next to the subject of drinking, there is another which 
 strikes one greatly on considering the statistics of tlie roads : and 
 that is, how it happens that there have been no railroads long ago 
 laid down upon them. I do not mean any very expensively finished 
 railroads, but such as the Americans would have laid rapidly along 
 these forest-lands, plain wooden tram-roads, the materials for which 
 exist all along the roads. How enormously would they have re- 
 duced the expenses of living to the diggers, w^iile they might have 
 yielded a most splendid dividend to the projectors. From Gee- 
 long to Ballarat, three-fourths of the road would have required no 
 levelling at all. 
 
 Well, it has not been done, though railroads are projected ; the 
 bullock -drivers labour, and swear along; and the publicans flourish 
 everywhere on the lines of road. But as to the townships, we' 
 found the same infatuated ideas prevailing all the way down. The 
 people on them were buying up the little modicums of land, at 
 almost any price, and expecting to live upon one another, spite of 
 the experiment at Buninyong. About half-way between Ballarat 
 and Geelong, they were laying out one at the ominous locality of 
 "The Muddy Water- Holes." It was on a flat, level plain of good 
 land, but bare of trees, and totally destitute of water, except at 
 certain muddy water-holes. These water-holes appeared to have 
 been the cause which determined the surveyors to lay out a town- 
 ship here, while two miles off flowed the beautiful river Moora- 
 bool, through a most lovely valley, and with fine table-lands over- 
 looking this charming valley, capable of locating a town, surrounded 
 by fertile farms to any extent, and with easy access to the delicious 
 and unfailing water of the river. Nay, at this two miles' distance 
 the river comes within a quarter of a mile of this very line of road : 
 so that it is impossible to conceive the motives for such a gross 
 neglect of most rare advantages. 
 
 On asking the people at the new township whether the water of 
 these muddy holes was wholesome, they said. No ; on the contrary, 
 it was unwholesome, giving everybody who drank it the dysentery; 
 
VALLEY OF THE MOORABOOL. 199 
 
 and a road would have to be cut to the Moorabool, of two miles, 
 and a cutting down to the river to be made, where the descent 
 into the valley was very precipitous. Truly, these Victoria sur- 
 veyors are a very comical set of fellows ! 
 
 Never did I see in this country a more delightful valley than 
 that of the Moorabool. It has all the amenity of feature of the 
 most soft and cultivated valley of the south of Europe. On either 
 side of it, the plains for about a mile are free, or nearly free, of 
 wood. Only here and there a few shiacks, or lightwood, or Aus- 
 tralian myrtles, break the uniformity of the green and singularly 
 level plain, — level as any bowling-green. Then the sombre forest 
 stretches on either hand its pleasant line, while along the centre of 
 the deep valley itself the river runs in many a beautiful curve and 
 winding, fringed thickly with large and vigorous red-gum trees. 
 
 So sudden are the curves in some places, the point of one curve 
 fitting the hollow of the opposite one like teeth meeting, that the 
 trees there assumed the appearance of dense woods. Here and 
 there the river divided, and left large level islands of some scores 
 of acres of the most fertile land imaginable. But the bottom of 
 the valley, and its gentle sloping sides of the most fertile soil, were, 
 for the most part, without tree or stone, perfectly ready for the 
 plough ; and I was glad to see, here and there, already a farm with 
 'its cultivated fields. Most pleasantly they looked, with their ricks, 
 their waggons, their poultry and cattle about them ; and their 
 great corn-fields, either already green with springing crops, 
 or under the plough, turning up dark and rich, lying over the 
 swelling and sinking slopes in beautiful softness. The single 
 fence of post and rail, here and there, scarcely seemed to break up 
 or disturb the unity of the scene. 
 
 These fortunate people had truly located themselves in goodly 
 places, and gave me a delightful foretaste of what Australia will 
 one day be, when a wise Government has made land cheap, and 
 the people, weaned from exciting and demoralising pursuits, lite- 
 rally sit down, every man under his own vine and his own fig-tree. 
 
 It was by a pleasing surprise that I first came upon the Moora- 
 bool. I had endeavoured to make a short cut over some hills, 
 right away through the bush. The road was evidently taking a 
 great sweep to keep the level land, and I left my party, and steered 
 my course alone, in the expectation of meeting them again some 
 miles ahead. I had wandered over various hills and descended 
 again into several deep valleys, crossing two or three creeks, or 
 the devious windings of the same, when at once, amid the profound 
 silence and solitude of the scene, 1 caught the low murmur of 
 
 o 4 
 
200 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 water. The sound gave me an idea of a greater volume of vrater 
 than these creeks contained, and I proceeded towards it. Arriving 
 at the summit of a woodland hill, I was met by the full roar of a 
 cataract, and beheld the water in the valley below like a deep-lying 
 forest lake. 
 
 It was the Moorabool, which here, running through deep glens, 
 inclosed by places with lofty precipices, and surmounted with fine, 
 steep, and moderately wooded land, struck boldly on the imagina- 
 tion in its wild and secluded scene. The river here ran through 
 a channel of solid sandstone, with the rocks rising 800 feet or 
 more, and hung with fine forests. A creek came running down 
 from the left hand, under cliffs of sandstone, at nearly a right 
 angle, and discharged its waters into the river at the feet of these 
 cliffs, and before it passed over a bar of this sandstone, forming a 
 substantial weir. 
 
 Above the bar the river presented the appearance of a long and 
 deep dam, overhung with rocks and bushes, and swarming with 
 wild-fowl. Below the bar, the waters roared over a rapid of the 
 detached sandstones, hidden by masses of tea-trees. Wild grass 
 up to the knees covered the lands on the river banks, and the 
 whole scene presented a picture of bold, solitary beauty rarely 
 found in this country. 
 
 Here was a magnificent natural mill-seat, which probably ere 
 long will be discovered and appropriated by some lucky miller, 
 for, independent of its natural advantages, it possesses that of being 
 situated in a most fertile country midway between Geelong and 
 the diggings, — two great markets. All around, both upwards and 
 downwards, the banks of the river displayed the same bold beauty ; 
 winding about amid noble promontories, scattered with giant trees, 
 and high hollow combes, as impressive in their loneliness as they 
 were rich in soil. I could not help imagining that here lay the 
 spot of some future town, which would spring up from the force 
 of its own advantages, and soon outstrip the bizarre selections of 
 the surveyors. 
 
 It was drawing towards evening as we came upon the brow of 
 the hill overlooking this enchanting valley, some miles lower down, 
 and two beyond the Muddy Water-Holes. The lights and shades 
 had a magical effect. Long dark stretches of shadow lay amid a 
 sunlight of the softest character, and gave a wonderful beauty to 
 the scene. The whole valley was clothed as with the greenest and 
 softest velvet ; and the forms of the hills were so rounded, so 
 shining, and so lovely, that no reality of the kind could exceed it. 
 There were, here and there, mounds rising out of the bottom of 
 
BEAUTIFUL SITE FOR A TOWN. 201 
 
 the valley, so rounded and beautiful that you wondered not to see 
 them already seized upon, and crowned with some picturesque 
 mansion. Others ran in low lines across the valley, as if they 
 had been thrown up by the hand of some landscape artist to give 
 effect to the grounds of some prince, but were so draped in delicate 
 verdure as nature only could drape them. 
 
 In full view of this exquisite valley, with the easiest access to 
 its waters, and yet with all the advantages of the level and fer- 
 tile lands on the plain, might the unaccountable surveyor of the 
 Government have planted his township. It is^ site worthy of an 
 imperial city: but for him, muddy water-holes had superior 
 charms — and people had really purchased in his muddy« water-hole 
 village allotments at 100/., and corner situations at 150/. an acre. 
 
 They must have been people of similar taste who had named 
 most places as we came along. At one station I asked two men 
 who were resting with their cart by the road-side whose station 
 that was ?-^" Hungry Scott's," was the reply. 
 
 "Why that name?" 
 
 " I don't know ; but that's what they call it. But I never found 
 it a hungry place ; but quite the contrary." 
 
 Farther on, I saw a shepherd with his flock by the road, and 
 asked him whose station that was, " Gentleman Reid's." On 
 asking him why " Gentleman Reid's ? " he pointed across the 
 plain, and said, " Because another Mr. Reid lives there, and they 
 call him * Poor Man Reid ; ' but now," he added, " * Gentleman 
 Reid' is dead, and this is Mr. Macleod's." 
 
 This shepherd had a great number of lambs with his flock ; 
 and said that they contrive to have one flock of ewes with lambs 
 in the autumn, and one in the spring, so as to have more time 
 to attend to them than if they all came at once ; but he said the 
 spring lambs were generally the strongest, because the ewes had 
 better pastures. In autumn the grass was often burnt up and 
 scarce. 
 
 About half-way to Geelong we came upon good sound roads, 
 the land being sound and dry, but still fertile ; and on the distant 
 hills, right and left, quite out to the sea-coast, we could see signs 
 of pretty extensive cultivation. On the Barrabool Hills, in that 
 direction, a patriotic, and I may add, truly poetical settler, turned 
 out the year before fifteen larks which he had brought from England: 
 may they flourish, and awake in the heart of many a listener to 
 their aerial music many, many pleasant memories of the old 
 mother-land! All this part of the country is capable of being 
 immediately converted into agricultural farms, scarcely requiring 
 
202 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 a stone or a tree removing ; in fact, as you approach Geelong, tree 
 become much too scarce. 
 
 Geelong lies well for a seaport ; the bay comes quite to the foe 
 of the town, admitting vessels of several hundred tons close u\ 
 and, on the removal of a bar now in progress, will admit vessel: 
 of heavy burden. The ground on three sides of the town rises in 
 a fine, easy slope, affording a site for a large town at a good, 
 pleasant, and healthy elevation. The town has all the air of an 
 active and rising place. It is a sort of little Melbourne, presenting 
 the same medley o^ newly erected houses, some of wood and some 
 of stone or brick; but there is plenty of fine freestone in this 
 neighbourhood, so that hereafter the whole town will probably be 
 built of this material. 
 
 The want of fresh water is its greatest disadvantage, the nearest 
 being the river Barwon, several miles from the town. It is also 
 dreadfully destitute of wood, the shiacks which formerly adorned 
 the neiglibourhood having been ruthlessly destroyed for firewood, 
 leaving the landscape utterly bald and naked. 
 
 Between Geelong and Melbourne, the country is one great plain, 
 all of the volcanic character, fertile, but naked up to the foot of 
 the ranges, some miles distant on our left hand as we travelled 
 towards Melbourne. 
 
 We saw the railroad between Geelong and Melbourne in pro- 
 gress, but wondered where the traffic was to come from, for the 
 high road between these two chief towns of the colony was so 
 little tracked that we were several times very near losing it 
 altogether. It is evident that it must rob the sea-coast of its 
 traffic, if it is to have much ; for we met only seven persons in the 
 whole fifty miles, and the greater number of these were near 
 Melbourne, going to places by the way. How immensely more 
 profitable must be a railroad from Geelong to Ballarat, or from 
 Melbourne thither! In fact, Geelong, as well as Melbourne, is 
 supplied with what it wants direct from sea, and its great traffic is 
 not with Melbourne, or that of Melbourne with it, but that of each 
 of them is away up to the diggings. 
 
 We were glad also to see land was sold, or in progress of survey 
 and sale, to a considerable extent. But the quantity of land 
 thrown into the market must be large, before men with only a few 
 hundred pounds can get any of it. Already the speculators are 
 pouncing upon it — buying it all up as fast as it is sold, and letting 
 it lie in hope of an augmented price. Here, again, we are re- 
 minded of the remedy, — that of a glutted market, and a law en- 
 forcing cultivation. The true growth of the colony must depend 
 
DELUGING RAIN. 203 
 
 on the number of families ofmoderate capital who are settled on the 
 lands, and who must necessarily become consumers as well as pro- 
 ducers. These are the living sinews which are at once to knit up 
 a powerful antipodean England, and to extend their elastic vital- 
 ising vigour to the mother-country. 
 
 It is useless telling us that there is already near a million acres 
 sold in the colony, making four acres for each individual. The 
 fact is, that the individuals have not got it ; the largest proportion 
 is in the hands of the speculators, and of the square-mile purchas- 
 ing squatters. If the squatters purchase one square mile on each 
 station, that for the 1000 stations, will, of itself, make 640,000 
 acres. This very plain would furnish hundreds of excellent farms ; 
 at present large flocks of sheep, and of native companions, ducks 
 and geese in the swamps, and a considerable quantity of turkeys 
 inhabit it. 
 
 The last day but one that we were on these plains we had a 
 parting salute from the weather. It began to rain soon after noon, 
 and continued a cold and driving deluge till night. Intensely 
 cold it was, and there was no shelter whatever, nothing to break 
 the wind or oiFer an asylum from the rain ; the sky was thick, and 
 threatened a permanent descent of v/et ; the plain under foot was 
 soon one universal pool. There .was nothing for it but buttoning 
 ourselves well up, and wading steadily along. As it was about to 
 get dark, we descried a few trees some couple of miles oif to the 
 right ; we went across to them in the hope of finding some shelter 
 and firewood. To our consternation we found, on arriving at 
 them, that these trees grew in a deep swamp, and the ground was 
 all around one deluge of water. 
 
 There was nothing for it but giving up all hope of fire or ten, 
 and exerting ourselves to drain a piece of ground by making a 
 picket round it, and another from it to the swamp, to carry the 
 water away. This eifected, we raised our blanket tent upon it, 
 laid down our tarpaulin and our mattresses, and got to bed. There 
 we were perfectly dry and comfortable. In the night the rain 
 cleared up, and in the morning we managed to get a fire and some 
 breakfast. A very light breakfast it was, for we were told at 
 Geelong that we should be able to procure bread and meat at the 
 half-way inn on the Werribee. Not a bit of either, however, 
 could we procure, either at the inn or at any cottage, so we marched 
 on as well as we could to Melbourne, nineteen miles, where we ar- 
 rived quite ready for dinner just as the day closed. 
 
 We arrived in Melbourne at the end of May, 1854. And thus 
 terminated our travels in this colony of Victoria. Our horses we 
 
204 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 sold — poor Ben and Gray — and were sorry to part with them 
 after all our adventures together for two years. Our dogs we dis- 
 persed ; Susan, the colly, going with a squatter to the banks of 
 Lake Colac, beyond Geelong, and Prin only remaining to make 
 the voyage home again; when, having destroyed immense numbers 
 of opossums, wild eats, bandicoots, kangaroo rats, and other crea- 
 tures — swum many a river and lagoon to recover the water-fowls 
 we shot — and having circumnavigated the globe, it has been his 
 fate to be stolen by one of those London scoundrels, who are al- 
 ways prowling about the houses of the suburbs for such purposes ; 
 the sentimental humanity-mongers in our legislature having of late 
 years carefully preserved them from the gallows or the convict 
 colony to prey upon us under shelter of tickets- of-leave. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 "Wonderful Growth of Melbourne during one Year's Absence. — Vast Spread 
 of Suburbs. — Striking Improvement of Buildings in the Town. — Superior 
 Inns. — Manners of Tx-adesmen more courteous. — Mr. Gabrielli's clever 
 Money Transaction. — Lends Melbourne 500,000/. of its own Money, and 
 goes Home 50,000/. the better for it. — With this Half-million of Money 
 Miracles performing — Streets draining, macadamising, and paving. — 
 Water Company and Gas Company promise great Things. — New Reservoir 
 and Water-works. — The Banks of Victoria. — Scientific and Literary 
 Institutions. — Projected University. — Botanic Gardens. — Superb Grants 
 of Money for Education. — The School System, and Account of Schools and 
 Scholars. — The Newspapers of Melbourne, &c. — The New Constitution as 
 passed and sent Home. — Imports of 1853, upwards of 17,000,000/.; Exports, 
 14,000,000/. — Traffic at the Wharves, and Throngs of People on the Roads 
 near the City. — The other Side of the Picture. — Symptoms of approach- 
 ing Crisis. — Causes of this, not merely Overtrading but Gambling in Town 
 Allotments. — Wonderful Instances of Fortune. — Present Rates of Labour. 
 — Price of Articles of Life. — Government Expenditure. — Debt. — 1 855: 
 Crisis ari'ived. — Fighting at Ballarat. — Eight hundred People out of Work 
 at Melbourne. — Consequence of Land Speculations stated by Argus. — Go- 
 vernment seizes on the Land Fund. — Gold still decreasing. — People 
 leaving. — Census of 1854. 
 
 The growth of Melbourne during the twelve months that we had 
 been up the country was something absolutely marvellous. Here 
 was a town which in 1851 counted only 23,000 inhabitants, which 
 now counted nearly 80,000. And this was only in accordance 
 with the general growth of the colony, the whole population at 
 
RAPID GROWTH OF MELBOURNE. 205 
 
 that period being only 90,000, and now being calculated at 
 250,000. 
 
 On whatever side of Melbourne we took our walks, we were met 
 by the same evidences of rapid and unparalleled growth. Where 
 two years ago Liardet's Beach and the lands between it and the 
 town showed an odd house or a few straggling tents, Sandridge 
 and Emerald Hill now presented populous towns, with good 
 houses, excellent inns and stores, a fine macadamised road traversed 
 by numbers of omnibuses, and other carriages. 
 
 It was the same if we extended our excursion to Prahran, 
 Windsor, St. Kilda, and Brighton. There we found ourselves 
 amid miles and miles of houses. To the north of Melbourne, 
 there was the same wonderful extension of human habitations 
 where we left bare ground. Collingwood and Richmond, populous 
 then, were doubly populous now. 
 
 Entering the town, there we found innumerable open spaces, no 
 longer open, but occupied by good houses, and the town swelling 
 out on all sides. What was more, there was not only a vastly 
 increased number of houses, but an equally rapid process of eleva- 
 tion of character in the buildings going on. Poor, wooden, one- 
 storied houses were, as in the changes of a pantomime, turning 
 into most substantial and capacious stone ones. The trap-stone of 
 the neighbourhood, worked, as it must be, at a most formidable 
 expense, was liberally used for building that may last for ever. 
 A substantial town- hall of this stone had arisen at the corner of 
 Collins and Swanston Streets. The shops had equally advanced 
 in an air of elegance, with their plate-glass windows, and their 
 tasteful display of all kinds of articles of use or ornament. 
 
 The number of inns, which would do credit even to London, 
 was very striking. The Criterion, in Collins Street, was a hotel 
 which, by its long and elegant frontage, its ample tahle-d^hote 
 rooms and saloons fitted up with singular splendour, reminded 
 one of the gayest establishments of this sort in Paris and Vienna. 
 The style and usage there, however, was more American, the 
 landlord, I believe, being a United States man. The Duke of 
 York, The Prince of Wales, a German hotel. The Port Phillip 
 Club Elotel, Bignell's Family Hotel, and TattersaFs — to which, of 
 course, was attached a large horse bazaar, — these and others 
 marked the progress of Melbourne in hotel accommodation. 
 Billiard-tables, baths, and every requisite for private enjoyment 
 or public display were to be found in these establishments at a 
 cost which would delight the most liberal lover of expense. 
 
 A very agreeable improvement also was obvious in the manner 
 
206 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of the tradespeople. The first paroxysm of success and excite- 
 ment had gone olF. The diggers had ceased to have handfuls of 
 money to throw away; and competition and the already percep- 
 tible decline of prices had had their taming and civilising effect. 
 The increased attention and courtesy in the shops struck us 
 forcibly. 
 
 The work of improvement was wonderful in the streets. Hun- 
 dreds of men were employed in getting stone on the banks of the 
 river, in breaking it, and macadamising the streets ; nay, they 
 were actually at length flagging the causeways! This and other 
 prominent metamorphoses had been effected by a circumstance 
 which I must state. It is one which again exemplifies the truth 
 of the old saw, that the lookers-on see more of the game than the 
 players. 
 
 Now the people of Melbourne, for the last two years, had been 
 making enormous sums of money, and the Argus, in its summaries 
 for England, had been continually boasting of the wonderful wealth 
 of the colony ; of the 8,000,000 of money which lay in the banks, 
 &c. &c. ; and yet nobody ever was struck with the idea that some 
 of this idle capital might be very usefully and most profitably 
 employed in making the town clean, comfortable, and healthy. 
 They went on wading up to the knees in mud, or choking with 
 dust, having bad water, and worse drainage, and no light. Like 
 the eels in the frying-pan, they were used to all this ; and so it 
 might have remained till doomsday; but the oddity of the thing 
 struck the minds of those wide-awake fellows in London called 
 capitalists, who are said to be as sharp as a needle with two points. 
 At once they saw that there was an opening for a great hit. This 
 capital wanted using, and this work wanted doing : they deter- 
 mined to be the medium, and to reap the benefit. 
 
 Therefore, a certain Mr. Gabrieili, armed with proper powers 
 and authorities, quietly transferred himself to the capital of gold ; 
 examined on the spot all the points which appeared so salient at 
 home ; found all right, and, therefore, lent to the Corporation of 
 Melbourne 500,000/., and to that of Geelong 200,000/. — total, the 
 pretty sum of 700,000/., that they might mend their ways. 
 
 This sum he lent at a discount of 5 per cent., that is, he paid 
 95/. as 100/., and every numerical hundred was chargeable with 
 interest at six per cent, and this secured by a Government 
 guarantee, and on the town rates. This was a good and notable 
 business transaction, but Mr. Gabrieili had a yet higher aim, and 
 that was to sell this scrip at a premium to the very merchants who 
 
STREETS OF MELBOURNE. 207 
 
 should have done all this themselves, and secured all the advantage 
 of it, instead of letting their money lie, as gratuitous deposits, in 
 the banks. He effected this sale readily at a premium of three per 
 cent. ; and, putting near 50,000/. in his pocket, as quietly returned 
 home. Nay, more ; he returned home with the grateful acknow- 
 ledgments of the Melbourne public for easing them of this sum, 
 and pronounced by the newspapers as a public benefactor. Mr. 
 Gabrielli had his eye, too, on further capabilities. He threw out 
 hints of doing the same by the projected railways ; and it will be 
 curious to see whether the merchants of Melbourne will arrive at 
 the idea that they may just as well do this thing themselves at 
 lirst hand, or whether they will have to thank Mr. Gabrielli for 
 easing them of another fifty or hundred thousand pounds, by 
 selling them scrip which they have not the wit to create for them- 
 selves. 
 
 " Our merchants and others," says the Argus^ *' are very fully 
 employed in private pursuits. Even when rich, they find ample 
 employment for their spare attention and spare means, in the land 
 speculations consequent upon an odious land-monopoly system. 
 The classes, therefore, who principally attend to the promotion of 
 such works at home, here care little or nothing about them." 
 
 However, Mr. Gabrielli's money had done miracles. Hundreds 
 of men were in full employ, actively blasting stone along the river, 
 carting it into town, breaking it, and laying the streets. Others 
 were laying down flags ; others cutting drains, and laying down 
 water-pipes and kerb-stones ; so that we are not like again to 
 have such amusing accounts of mud, as Dr. Embling gave in 
 1853: — 
 
 " Mrs. Embling was to have been at the soiree last evening, and 
 with her I chaperoned Miss Flint, lantern in hand ; with many a 
 detour, we made some 300 yards through mud, bog, and quagmire, 
 in our streets. This we accomplished with much labour and dex- 
 terity ; when, horribile dictu, as I crossed the last gulf, and thought 
 we were safe, Mrs. Embling stepped into a quagmire ; it required 
 desperate efforts to extricate her without her goloshes ; for these 
 I liad to navigate the slosh with my stick, and then to turn home- 
 wards, after half an hour's absence, having traversed nearly 600 
 yards. I doubt not many will think this an absurd, overdrawn 
 picture. Well, then, in Gertrude Street, within 400 yards of my 
 house, the day before yesterday, a horse and dray got stuck, and 
 the horse all but suffocated ; it required great etfbrt to save the 
 wretched animal. Yet Gertrude Street is a noble street, in which 
 
208 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 C. H. Ebden, Esq., the late Auditor-General, and other colonial 
 aristocrats, reside. So much for a roadway in this great city." 
 
 New water-works and gas-works were in progress, new railways 
 and electric telegraphs. 
 
 The water of the Yarra, saturated with the filth of the town, 
 was to cease to poison the people. Pure and excellent water from 
 the river Plenty was being brought a distance of twenty-five miles, 
 a gigantic reservoir being formed there for securing a regular 
 supply. 
 
 The Gas Company promised to light up the streets of Mel- 
 bourne in another six months, as well as those of any English 
 town ; and coal of excellent quality is ready for the getting, both 
 at Cape Pattison and on the Barrabool Hills. 
 
 The electric telegraph, already working between Melbourne and 
 Williams Town, was soon to be extended to the Heads. The rail- 
 way from Melbourne to Liardet's Beach was completed, and only 
 awaited the arrival of engineers and carriages from England. 
 Melbourne boasted its half-a-dozen banks, all most flourishing 
 concerns; namely, — the Bank of Australasia; the Union Bank 
 of Australia ; Bank of New South Wales ; Bank of Victoria ; 
 London Chartered Bank ; and English, Scottish, and Australian 
 Bank. Some of these banks paid a dividend of 40 per cent. ; 
 and, by a statement published just then, they had an aggregate 
 circulation and deposits of 8,876,166/. 
 
 Amongst the public institutions of this rising capital were, — 
 the Botanic Gardens, the Mechanics' Institution, the Philosophical 
 Society, its Educational System, and, in connection with that, its 
 projected University. 
 
 The Botanic Gardens I have already spoken of ; but it ought to 
 be mentioned, in connection with them and the botanical science 
 of the colony, that Victoria was most fortunate, at that time, in 
 the services of Dr. Miiller, as the official colonial botanist. Dr. 
 Miiller is not only a gentleman of profound acquirement in his 
 department of science, but of indefatigable energy and enthusiasm. 
 Already he had made wide explorations ; and under his hands the ex- 
 tensive and curious fiora of Victoria would have been made more 
 completely known than that of any equally remote region ; but, 
 soon after, the spirit of retrenchment in the colony caused the loss 
 of his services. And here I may say, that whatever were the de- 
 fects of Mr. La Trobe as a Colonial Governor — defects unquestion- 
 ably originating in timidity, — he was ever ready to promote the 
 moral and intellectual progress of the colony. The appointment of 
 a State botanist and State geologist evidenced not only this fact, 
 
LIBERAL ENCOURAGEMENT OP EDUCATION. 209 
 
 and that of his Excellency's own tastes, but the whole official pro- 
 vision for science, education, and religion did the highest honour 
 to his administration. 
 
 The Mechanics' Institution is also a literary society. It in- 
 cludes an extensive library, and lectures are frequently given 
 there. The Philosophical Society was intended to be the Royal 
 Society of Victoria, to be established by royal charter. It was 
 yet quite in its infancy, but enumerated some of the most distin- 
 guished men of the colony amongst its supporters, and has already 
 had very valuable papers read before it by Dr. Miiller, by its Pre- 
 sident, and other gentlemen. As a proof of the attention to 
 strangers by those Institutions, I may mention that they both did 
 me the honour to elect me an honorary member. 
 
 The colony has set a splendid example to the mother country tn 
 the item of support to education. While I believe the amount 
 of direct grants for educational purposes in the United Kingdom 
 do not exceed 250,000/., this colony, of only 250,000 persons, 
 voted, in 1853, 79,000/, and in 1854, 155,000/. The schools to 
 which support was given were divided into Denominational 
 Schools and National, each under a Board. The National some- 
 thing resemble the Home Government schools in Ireland; the 
 Denominational include those of every sect and church in the 
 colony. 
 
 The National Schools, at the close of the year 1853, amounted 
 to 35, with 3000 pupils ; and the Inspectors were, Mr. A. B. 
 Orlebas, M.A., of Oxford, and Mr. Maxwell Miller, of the same 
 University. 
 
 The Denominational Schools were. Church of England 52, with 
 2,436 pupils, costing 26,373/. ; Presbyterians of various kinds 19, 
 with 803 pupils, costing 8,738/. ; Wesleyans 14, with 813 pupils, 
 costing 4,410/. ; Independents 3, with 115 pupils, costing 2,994/.; 
 and Catholics 37, with 1,824 pupils, costing 13,951/. This made a 
 total of 125 schools, and 5,781 pupils ; and a cost of 56,468/. 
 
 At the close of the first half year of 1854 ending June 30th, 
 the number of schools were 167, of pupils 12,000, and of cost 
 58,000/. 
 
 Forty acres are appropriated to the site of a University north of 
 Melbourne ; 30,000/. voted for the erection of the building, and 
 9000/. a-year for its endowment. In 1850, 10,000/. was voted for 
 the erection of a Public Library, and 3000/. for books. In 1854, 
 as much more was granted for both these purposes, making 20,000/. 
 for the building, and 6000/. for books. Access to the library is to 
 be perfectly gratuitous ; but all means used for the protection of. 
 
 VOL. II. p 
 
210 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the books. The foundation stones of these two important buildings 
 were laid on the same day by Sir Charles Hotham, immediately 
 after his arrival. 
 
 Seventeen years ago, Mr. Fawkner. now member of the Legis- 
 lative Council, published in manuscript the first and only news- 
 paper of the colony. In 1854 Melbourne published four news- 
 papers, the Argus, Herald, Banner, and Express. The two first 
 daily, the Banner twice a-week, and the Express weekly. Sand- 
 ridge had also its paper; and I heard of others projected. Besides 
 these, Geelong and other towns, as well as the diggings, have their 
 newspapers. 
 
 The Herald and Ai'gus are newspapers which would maintain a 
 high rank anywhere. The Herald is a journal which abounds with 
 information ; and in its selection of European topics, especially of 
 literary interest, has no rival. The Argvs, however, the property 
 of Messrs. Wilson and Mackinnon, from its bold spirit, enterprise, 
 and popular, democratic tone, carries all before it. The Argus is 
 the Times of the colony ; and one of the most striking scenes in 
 Melbourne is the issue of one of its Extraordinaries on the arrival 
 of a mail from England. On approaching the office, you may see 
 that the mail is in. There is a dense crowd of hundreds of people, 
 all struggling and crushing to get in for a copy. The press is its 
 own obstruction ; nobody can get in, or once in can get out, except 
 a swarm of boys, who, creeping between the legs of the adults, 
 possess themselves of armfuls of papers, at threepence each, for 
 which, on emerging with them, they boldly ask half-a-crown ! 
 And][I have seen them get it too, as fast as they could deliv 
 them. The Argus is the undaunted and unwearied champion oi 
 the public right to the lands. It has never ceased, from the tim( 
 of its passing into its present hands, to make war on the fata 
 monopoly and insane system, by which, if it could be perpetuated 
 the colony would be strangled in its infancy. It has demandec 
 the "unlocking of the lands" with an ability and patriotism whichi 
 when it has accomplished its object, may justify the boast of having 
 achieved the salvation of the colony, and will have well earnec 
 ^ore than statuary honours — those of perpetual remembrance bj 
 a grateful people. 
 
 How soon this grand victory shall be won depends now on th( 
 public spirit of the colony, the imperial government having com 
 ferred on it a thoroughly representative constitution, with ful 
 power to deal with this great question. For its working, however 
 I must refer to the succeeding new chapter. 
 
 In the fact of the framers of the Conititution reserving larg( 
 
WONDERFUL GROWTH OF MELBOURNE. 211 
 
 retiring allowances for government officers, we see the leaven of 
 our own Government operating in singular contrast to that of the 
 United States; but this is a minor matter, — the land question is 
 the grand cardinal point. Set that right, and all will soon adjust 
 itself. So long as that is wrong, the whole community will be 
 wrong, — in colonial phrase, "bailed up" at the mercy of its own 
 tenants. 
 
 Nothing can show the wonderful growth of this city, and the 
 mercantile excitement in England, the consequence of that growth, 
 more tlian the fact that, while in 1850, the year before the gold dis- 
 covery, the imports of the whole colony amounted to only 744,925/., 
 for the year ending 5th April, 1854, the declared value of imports, 
 at the Port of Melbourne alone, had reached the enormous sum of 
 17,675,472/. as follows: — 
 
 Quarters ending "Value. 
 
 5th July, 1853 . - - . £4,115,233 
 
 10th October, 1853 - - - 4,336,291 
 
 5th January, 1854 - - - 4,153,527 
 
 5th April 5,070,421 
 
 £17,675,472 
 Meanwhile the exports had grown within th's short period of 
 four years, from 1,041,796/. to 4,672,000/., in native produce, 
 wool and gold ; and if we include specie to pay for goods, to 
 14,000,000/. 
 
 The throng and traffic that we found everywhere were on a 
 scale proportionate to these exhibited results. The ships lying in 
 the bay; the crowded forest of smaller craft blocking up the river 
 for miles ; and the bustle of loading and unloading at the quays ; 
 the piles of goods of all sorts ; the clamour, and stir of hundreds 
 of porters and wharf-labourers, mark the seat of an astonishing 
 commerce. The streets were thronged with a busy press of 
 people ; and carriages, and omnibuses, and cabs were plying as 
 actively as in London ; and in all the great highways leading to 
 the city, long trains of loaded drays, smart equipages, pt^ople 
 hastening along on horseback and on foot, announced a numerous 
 and a prosperous population. 
 
 If the singular fortunes of the people that you meet were written 
 down, it would form one of the strangest volumes in the world. 
 "Mark this dashing equipage approaching," said a friend, as we 
 drove out; "that gentleman occupying the carriage was some years 
 ago so unsuccessful here, that he resolved to leave ; he engaged to 
 I work his passage home, for he was too poor to pay it. He went 
 I down to the bay to go on board, when, luckily for him, he found 
 
 L. 
 
212 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the ship gone without him. The moment that he returned into 
 Melbourne, he found there had been an inquiry after him : it was 
 from a person who wanted to olTer him employment, and now he 
 counts his hundreds of thousands." 
 
 If, morning or evening, we went out into the great roads in the 
 vicinity, especially that leading to Prahran, St. Kilda. and Brighton, 
 we found a continuous chain of drays, omnibuses, carriages, and 
 people, reaching for miles ; on all sides hundreds and thousands of 
 clerks and men of business were marching in in the morning, or out 
 in the evening in groups, and knots of acquaintances and neigh- 
 bours, bound for the numberless rural dwellings which stud the 
 vicinity for miles round. All seem to cling to their English habits 
 of getting out of the city as soon as the counting-house stoM is aban- 
 doned, and breathing the air, and enjoying the quiet of the country. 
 Therefore Melbourne has its great living tide, night and morning, 
 flowing towards it, and again ebbing from it, as regularly as Lon- 
 don has. 
 
 To account for this marvellous and sudden congregation of busy 
 people here, it requires us to remember, that through this city had 
 passed down from the mines, and out into the world, nine-tenths 
 of the gold dug up since 1851, being at that time no less an amount 
 than nearly 10,000,000 of ounces, upwards of 362 tons, and of a 
 value exceeding 38,000,000/. 
 
 Yet over this miraculous city and its thronging people hung a 
 dim and menacing shadow. There was a presage of coming evil 
 which haunted its throngs ; the penalty had yet to be paid of that 
 wild speculation and excitement, which its golden prodigies had 
 called forth, and which, instead of being as much as possible 
 neutralised and abated by a w^ise Government, had been greatly 
 aggravated by one that refused its land, except to stimulate gam- 
 bling. The whole place was in an artificial status, which no 
 human wisdom or concurrence of circumstances could possibly 
 maintain, and in the transition to a natural one there must be a 
 grievous and extensive suffering. 
 
 Every man felt that a crisis was at hand, and each prognosti- 
 cated that it would be more or less severe, according to his tempera- 
 ment, his knowledge or his hopes. That all must suffer, more or 
 less, — that a vast depreciation of the then nominal value of pro- 
 perty, especially of merchandise, houses and suburban land, must 
 take place, — was very certain. 
 
 The tradesman who was paying his 1000/. or his 2000/. a-year 
 for a shop, and who had, besides, bought a suburban allotment at 
 the rate of from 2000/. to 6000/. per acre, and had built upon it a, 
 
MENACED DOOM OF ARTIFICIAL PROSPERITY. 213 
 
 house which in London would cost him 1000/., but there had cost 
 him 10,000/., might maintain that scale of expenditure, if he could 
 ward off competition and the decline of profits. But, already, 
 there was a determined tendency to a fall of prices. The city was 
 crowded with goods of all kinds to repletion ; the warehouses were 
 choked with them ; the shelves of the shops were groaning, and 
 you might see piles of goods, bales, and packages, standing in the 
 back streets, before warehouses which were unable to take in 
 more, and were there merely protected by a tarpaulin, and some- 
 times not even by that. I have seen loads and loads of such goods 
 standing nearly a foot deep in mud, and exposed awfully to the 
 weather, while the owners at home, perhaps, fondly imagined them 
 sold, or at least well housed. 
 
 These goods, the product of 17,000,000/. of importation in one 
 year, must be sold. In vain did the retailer struggle to maintain 
 his old gigantic prices, for around him opened a host of auction 
 rooms, where these goods were, and must be, sold for what they 
 would fetch. If, therefore, the retailer upheld his price, he cur- 
 tailed the extent of his sales ; for his customers would find their 
 way to the infinitely cheaper auctions. If he reduced his prices 
 he could not pay his huge rent, and maintain his dear-bought 
 villa in the old style ; in either case, rents and profits must fall 
 together. 
 
 But it was not merely overtrading, the cause to which it was 
 generally attributed, which had prepared the impending crisis ; the 
 unparalleled rage for gambling in town allotments, which had been 
 fostered by the Government, had gone hand-in-hand withit. There 
 were great numbers of merchants or commission-agents, as I was 
 assured by men perfectly acquainted with the business and sta- 
 tistics of the place, who had been employing the proceeds of the 
 goods consigned to them on these enticing ventures, and at one 
 time they could not have been made without a superb return. I 
 have already stated that land at Sandridge, a mere waste of sand, 
 sold at 12,000/. an acre. I was shown a lot there, for which a 
 gentleman gave 150/. and immediately let it on a lease for six 
 years at 700/. a-year, on the strength of which he set out to enjoy 
 himself in England. Another man purchased a lot at the same 
 place for 70/., and forfeited the deposit, because he thought it a 
 bad bargain. Within a month it sold for 5000/. Another gave 
 1,500/. for a lot or lots, and sold the same quantity fur 15,000/. 
 
 A man came out with one of the bubble gold companies, and 
 soon perceiving the prospect of any advantage from that quarter 
 hopeless, he recollected that in the crisis of 1842, he had left the 
 
 p3 
 
214 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 colony, and some building land in Bourke Street, for which at 
 that time he could get no price whatever. He, therefore, went to 
 a solicitor, and asked him whether enough could be made of it 
 now to carry him home. The solicitor smiled, and said, yes, he 
 thought he could make him rather more than that : and receiving 
 his authority to sell, iu a few days handed him over 12,000/, with 
 which the astonished man joyfully hastened home. 
 
 I have been assured that a certain well-known firm retired with 
 an income, derived from trading and landjobbing, of 80,000/. per 
 annum ! In fact, up to a certain point, as in the railway mania 
 in England, a man could not possibly do wrong. But the climax 
 had been reached; the scale had turned; and those commission- 
 agents who had ventured the money of their correspondents found 
 themselves in a cleft stick. If they sold their urban or suburban 
 bargains, they must do it at an awful sacrifice ; if they did not 
 sell, they could not remit the balances due. 
 
 There were those who confidently asserted that the crisis would 
 not be severe, but all experience and the laws of cause and effect 
 asserted inexorably that the reaction must succeed the action 
 which produced it in its just proportion. One of the first persons 
 whom I encountered in England, assured me that he had 46,000/. 
 worth of property in the hands of agents in Melbourne ; and the 
 news which he received the same day was of the failure of these 
 agents. Even the Argus, one of the most encouraging advocates 
 of the soundness of mercantile aff"airs in that city, soon gave a 
 list of no fewer than 295 persons summoned before the court of 
 requests. 
 
 The failures speedily amounted to upwards of one million 
 sterling. In fact, the extraordinary romance of the past pointed 
 inevitably to a deep baptism in the future. The extravagance of 
 the past three years, beyond anything in the history of wild 
 speculation except those of the tulip mania and the South Sea 
 bubble, would have stood alone in the affairs of this world if it 
 had no adequate retribution. It would be an isolated fact, de- 
 tached from all the laws of time and space, of physics and morals. 
 The height at which property then stood above all really inherent 
 value, above all that could be made of, or derived from it, was as 
 sure to bring it down to the natural level as if it were subject to 
 specific gravity. This state of things could no more perpetuate 
 itself than pyramids could stand on their points. 
 
 But the grand and interesting question was, how will the colony 
 pass through the crisis, and what is the colour of its future } On 
 these essential points there could be no doubt, and there was no 
 
RATES OF LABOUR. 215 
 
 fear. A colony which produced from its own wild surface an 
 annual income of 1,650,000/. in wool, and which dug from its 
 bosom 10,000,000/. worth of gold, — a colony which had many 
 millions of acres of fertile, virgin soil, could neither sink nor suffer 
 long, if she had only fair play given her. She has within herself 
 the elements of an invincible vitality, and under the energetic 
 hands of Englishmen will march on towards a great future, un- 
 daunted and victorious, and all the more so, because the errors of 
 the past will, we may trust, be the beacons of that which has to 
 come. 
 
 For a time the price of labour exhibited no decline ; in some 
 respects it was higher than it had been twelve months before. 
 Wood was still charged from 21, to 3/. a cart-load ; and English 
 coals were selling at 8/. 10*. per ton ! 
 
 The following are the rates of labour as paid in September, 
 1853, and May, 1854. 
 
 September, 1853. May, 1854. 
 
 £ s. £ s. £ s. £ s. 
 Married couples (without family), 
 
 with rations - per annum 70 to 100 80 to 100 
 
 Ditto, with family - „ 60 „ 90 70 „ 75 
 
 Shepherds - - „ 35 „ 40 40 „ 45 
 
 Sheep-shearers - per hundred 2 10 
 
 Hutkeepers - - per annum 32 to 35 80 to 35 
 General useful servants, with 
 
 rations - - per annum 70 „ 75 70 „ 75 
 Bullock-drivers, with rations (on 
 
 farms) - - per week 2 10 „ 3 1 10 „ 2 
 
 Bullock drivers, for the roads „ 210„310 20„30 
 
 Gardeners, with rations per annum 70 „ 80 75 „ 100 
 
 Cooks (male) - per week 20„40 110,, 30 
 
 Waiters - - - „ 1 „ 1 10 1 10 „ 1 15 
 
 Grooms - - per annum 60 „ 70 60 „ 70 
 Carpenters (good house), town 
 
 work - _ . per day 1 5 „ 1 10 1 „ 1 5 
 Masons - - - „ 1 10 „ 1 15 1 „ 1 5 
 Plasterers - - ' - „ 1 5 „ 1 10 
 Bricklayers - - - „ 1 „ 1 5 
 Compositors (2*. 6c?. per thou- 
 sand) - - per week 7 7 
 Wood splitters and fencers, with 
 
 rations - - - per day 15 15 
 Stockkeepers, with rations, per ann. 55 „ 75 50 „ 75 
 Blacksmiths, accustomed to coun- 
 try work, and to horse-shoe- 
 ing - - . per day 1 „ 1 5 10 
 Good farm labourers, with ra- 
 tions - - per week 1 5 „ 1 15 1 „ 1 5 
 
 P4 
 
i 
 
 216 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 September, 1853. May, 1854. 
 
 £ s. £ s. £ s. £ s. 
 Ploughmen, with rations „ 110„20 110 
 Labourers on the roads, with wood, 
 water, and tent accommoda- 
 tion - - - per day 8 10 
 Seamen for London, for the run 
 
 home 45 „ 50 25 „ 30 
 
 Seamen for Calcutta, for the run - 40 „ 45 20 „ 25 
 
 Seamen for Callao - - - 40 20 „ 25 
 
 Coasting - - per month 90„100 60 
 
 FEMALE SERVANTS. 
 
 Thorough servants - per annum 25 „ 35 30 „ 35 
 
 Housemaids - - „ 20 „ 30 20 „ 25 
 
 Laundresses - - „ 30 „ 40 40 „ 52 
 
 Nursemaids - - „ 20 0„260 200 
 
 Cooks - - - „ 35 „ 50 45 „ 100 
 
 Thus it will be seen, that while seamen's wages had consider- 
 ably declined, showing that the mania in that class for running off 
 to the diggings was over, most other employments had preserved a 
 rate of remuneration little affected by the downward tendency of 
 other things, and in some cases, as those of cooks, laundresses, and 
 gardeners, had advanced. But this could not last. In the shock 
 which prostrates commerce, labour also must go down. The 
 rations mentioned are, IGlbs. of flour, lOlbs. of beef or mutton, 
 21bs. of sugar, and ^\h. of tea per week. 
 
 Gold had long reached a price most favourable to the diggers, 
 and was now quoted at 3/. 195. 6d. per ounce ; and the amount of 
 this metal exported by this colony was as follows : — 
 
 From 1851 to 1852 3,538,422 ounces. 
 
 In 1853 3,193,059 ditto. 
 
 In 1854 3,022,596 ditto. 
 
 Total - - - 9,754,077 
 
 Value at £4 per ounce - . - - £38,016,308 
 
 Such was Melbourne in May, ISS^, altogether exhibiting 
 wonderful spectacle, especially when we look back a little. In 
 1838, Melbourne consisted of a nucleus of huts embowered in the 
 forest, and had much the appearance of an Indian village. Tw< 
 wooden houses served the purposes of inns, one kept by Mr^ 
 Fawkner, for the settlers who frequented the place. A small, 
 square, wooden building, with an old ship's bell suspended from a 
 tree, was used as a chapel by the various religious denominations. 
 Two or three so-called shops of miscellaneous articles supplied the 
 
AKRIVAL OF THE CRISIS. 217 
 
 inhabitants; and Mr. Fawkner's MS. newspaper was the only 
 journal of the colony. Take another look at it in 1842 and 1843, 
 when sheep sold at 1*. Qd. each ; cattle, not at 12/., but 125. each, 
 and Melbourne had 282 insolvencies. 
 
 There is no such instance elsewhere of rapid growth, and of a 
 vigour not usually attending rapid growth. Spite of the want of 
 land, it still seemed as if there were so far room and high remune- 
 ration for the labouring classes ; and the crisis through which the 
 trading class was passing might be regarded as one of our spring 
 frosts at home, which strengthen the crops by checking momen- 
 tarily their too active development. This crisis rendered, too, 
 an essential service to the Government, by checking its luxuriant 
 extravagance, through which, with an income of upwards of 
 3,000,000/., it was annually running 1,500,000/. into debt. The 
 debt incurred within the two years, 1853 and 1854, by the Go- 
 vernment of Victoria, including the 400,000/. of the land-fund 
 surreptitiously seized, amounted to 3,271,005/. The actual ex- 
 penditure of 1854 was 4,801,292/. ! The colony, like a young heir, 
 was sowing its wild oats — anon it had to reap them; and then 
 came, as a natural consequence, reflection, a healthier tone, wisdom, 
 and eventual strength. 
 
 The newspapers, up to December, 1854, brought from Melbourne 
 the news of more mercantile failures, riots, and fighting at Ballarat; 
 and something like a glut of workmen in Melbourne. 
 
 The unhappy circumstances at Ballarat only too gravely con- 
 firmed my own strictures on the state of things there. The cor- 
 respondent of the Argus thus remarked : — 
 
 " The Ballarat outrage bears with it a mark of unanimity on the part of 
 the people, that is almost without a precedent in the history of riots in any 
 civilised country. The fact that such an infamous outrage as the burning down 
 of Bentley's house could be committed in a British colony, and that not one in 
 a hundred of the vast population of Ballarat can be found who sympathises 
 with the injured man, proves most unmistakably that there is something 
 radically wrong in the government of such a people. When the riot occurred, 
 some of the commissioners issued notices calling upon all the well-disposed 
 people to assist in maintaining law and order, by enrolling themselves at once 
 as special constables. Two gentlemen who arrived last night assured me that 
 up to the time of their leaving they had not heard of one individual otFering 
 his support to the Government. Now there must be some cause for this, as for 
 the riot ; and it may be as well to say at once what rumour assigns that cause 
 to be. As my information is derived from the statements of others, I do not 
 feel justified in giving names (these will, perhaps, be given up at the proper 
 time and place), but shall confine myself to a narrative of what are reported to 
 me as ' facts of easy proof.' The first great fact is, that the diggers and other 
 people at Ballarat hare long since lost all confidence in, or respect for, the 
 Government oflScers of that district (allowing that there may be an exception ' 
 
218 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 or two, however). The second is, that the Government Camp at Ballarat is 
 a perfect hotbed of corruption ; and that officers connected with other services 
 are alike guilty of the most glaring malpractices. Among these, the follow- 
 ing have been mentioned to me as being easily established. Bribery of the 
 most direct and barefaced description has been unblushingly resorted to, par- 
 ticularly among the higher officials, in matters connected with publicans' 
 licenses. Magistrates are said to be bound in unholy compact with many of 
 the publicans. Horses, the property of private individuals, are said to be fed 
 at the Government expense in no small numbers. Contracts are entered into, 
 annulled, or altered in a most suspicious manner, a system of * commission ' 
 being established by the Government officials. 
 
 " The system of ' man-hunting ' to find out the unlicensed diggers has been 
 carried out more in the style of English fox-hunting than in that which should 
 distinguish officers of the law apprehending law-breakers ; and were it not 
 that their necks might pay the penalty, some of these ' hunters ' would as 
 readily indulge in a day's ' man-shooting ' as in a snipe-shooting excursion. 
 The majesty of the law has been entrusted to the care of a most incompetent 
 set of men ; and the plunder of the Government, which pays and feeds them, 
 seems in too many cases to be their sole object." 
 
 A complaint of want of employment in Victoria, bj carpenters, 
 masons, joiners, bricklayers, &c., was a new feature, and betrayed 
 a more severe shock to trade there than the journals were willing 
 to admit. From a statement of the Argus, it appeared that 800 
 men, at least, had been thrown out of work, and that the skilled 
 labourers were obliged to seek work on the roads, railroads, &c. 
 
 " From an analysis of the signatures to a petition to the Legislative Council 
 on this subject, adopted at a public meeting, and extensively circulated for 
 signature, it appeared that 537 men had been unemployed for an average of 
 five weeks each ; that of them 217 were labourers, U2 carpenters, 42 masons, 
 30 joiners, and 21 bricklayers : the remaining numbers were distributed over 
 about twenty other trades." 
 
 This was surely a crisis, and ought to convince all parties that 
 it is time to cease penning up its mass of immigrants in one or 
 two towns, and on the diggings. Why should dangerous crowds 
 of people be compelled to exhibit themselves in the character 
 of insurgents and paupers, when they might not only be living in 
 peace in the country, but sending thence luxuries for the whole 
 community? 
 
 The Geelong correspondent of the Argus argued well on this 
 subject. After stating that, in consequence of land speculations, 
 of 240,000 acres sold in the county of Grant, nearly 230,000 were 
 lying wild, he observed, — 
 
 *' It is a well-known fact that emigrants of small means arriving among us 
 cannot find a place to make a home of. They cannot buy a piece of land, nor 
 rent a piece of land except at rates altogether unsuitable for their means. Work 
 
GOLD STILL DECREASING. 219 
 
 they must, and when they have wrought hard and long and earned a purseful, 
 they more generally prefer leaving a country which offers them so little en- 
 couragement, and proceed to New Zealand, South Australia, or some favoured 
 land, where such abominable land systems as ours do not retard the progress of 
 the country. At present the only inducement we can hold out to emigrants of 
 small capital — the yeomen of Britain, say, — to improve their condition here, is 
 hard work, at daily wages, and that doubtful. If instead of this these people 
 could select a farm for themselves, within reasonable distance of any market, they 
 would gladly avail themselves of the opportunity. They would be rendered 
 happy by being able to settle down with their families to work for themselves, 
 and to be able to be independent of a master. But no ; there is no such prospect 
 as this for them here under our present system ; and nothing but disappoint- 
 ment, and in many cases misery, stares them in the face. Instead of diffusing 
 happiness through the country, and setting good examples to others, these 
 unfortunate people shed a feeling of discontent over all with whom they asso- 
 ciate. Their hopes were blighted on arrival, and they see no probability of 
 anything turning up to warrant them to hope for better times. To increase 
 their dismay further, the small amount of land under cultivation tends of course 
 to increase the value of provisions, and hungry stomachs are not easily recon- 
 ciled to dear victuals. IJnder such circumstances, immigration must be forced, 
 and we must pay for it. Reverse the picture, and immigration will flow in 
 upon us to our hearts' content. Let the people of Britain know that they can 
 get a home here if they wish to avail themselves of it ; let them know that there 
 is plenty of land to be had at a cheap rate, and another pound need not be 
 spent in inducing them to come to a country from which so many hundreds 
 have already been turned away with disgust. I do not believe that there is a 
 country on the face of the earth possessing such splendid tracts of the richest 
 soil that produces so little from that soil as Victoria does, considering her 
 population and the inducements she has to encourage agriculture. But not- 
 withstanding this, year after year we find ourselves dependent upon foreign 
 countries, or upon our colonial neighbours, for those supplies that we could 
 produce ourselves. The direct cause of this is the difficulty experienced by 
 industrious men of small capital in obtaining land. It is to be hoped that the 
 Home Government will ere long see the necessity that exists for an immediate 
 alteration of the present land system." 
 
 I need scarcely remark that the Home Government since has 
 done its duty bravely, by the grant of an admirable constitution to 
 the colony. 
 
 The mails up to January 5th, 1855, brought news of still in- 
 creased distress and embarrassment. The papers contained a list 
 of nearly 200 insolvencies, amounting to two millions sterling. 
 The gold was steadily decrea^^ing, and the Government increasing 
 in expenditure; and, to make up its serious deficiencies, had seized 
 upon the proceeds of the sale of Crown lands, guaranteed by act 
 of Parliament, for the importation of la'bour, to the amount of 
 400,000/., a fact likely to add an additional check to the colony, 
 as it would cut off the supply of Government emigrants. Great 
 numbers, owing to the embarrassments of trade, the decrease of 
 
220 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 gold, and the embargo on land, had left the colony, and the census 
 of April, 1854, did not give the amount of population expected. 
 The total population of the colony, instead of 280,000, proved only 
 230,000 ; of Melbourne, instead of 97,000, only 71,000 ; and of the 
 diggings, instead of 100,000, only 67,000. 
 
 CHAP. XL. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE COLONY SINCE 1854. 
 
 The Crisis of 1854. — Growth and Improvement of Melbourne. — Gas, 
 Water, Paving, Railways, Telegraph, Buildings, Parks, Theatres and Insti- 
 tutions. — Progress of the Colony. — Projected Railways. — The Diggings. 
 — More Reforms there. — Local Courts. — Municipal Towns. — Introduction 
 of Steam and Machinery. — Quartz Crushing. — Theatres and Literature. — 
 Augmented Production of Gold. — Amount and Value of it to this time. — 
 The New Constitution. — The Waste Lands. — Land-Fund and Immigra- 
 tion. — Present Wages and Prices. — General Improvement. — Introduction 
 of fine Stock. — Extension of Agriculture. — Vine Growth. — Revenue. — 
 The Banks. — Comparative Growth of Australia and America. — Federation 
 and Convictism. 
 
 At the period which terminates the last chapter, and which ter- 
 minated my account of the colony in the former edition, affairs 
 were wearing a downward look. There was great distress on the 
 diggings from various causes. The diggers had increased in 
 number, and the gold had decreased in quantity produced. There 
 was a growing opinion amongst the diggers that the best fields 
 had been found and were exhausted ; the rushes were wild and 
 frequent, and the new fields proved at first but little encouraging. 
 If we turn to the proceeds of the different years, we shall observe 
 that those of the year 1854 are the least of any. Whilst the value 
 of the gold obtained in the first year of the diggings, 1852, was 
 nearly 15,000,000/., and in 1853, 11,588,782/., in 1854, it was only 
 8,770,796/. ; but the very next year, 1855, it rose again to nearly 
 12,000,000/., in amount, 32 tons more than in 1854. 
 
 In 1854 a crisis was hanging over the colony from over-trading, 
 which burst upon it before my work went to press, and in the 
 preceding chapter we fir^d some details of it. This paralysed the 
 colony for awhile, and for the first time since the gold discovery 
 there was a cry of a surplus of labour in it. But as my readers 
 will have seen, in common with all who knew the colony, I pre- 
 dicted that the depression, though it would be severe, could not 
 
GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT OF MELBOURNE. 221 
 
 last long. The revulsion did not originate from any defect of 
 energy in it, but rather from an excess of it ; not from any want of 
 the substantial material of prosperity, but from the very riot of 
 spirits and extravagant speculation which its wondrous opportuni- 
 ties occasioned. These once checked by their inevitable results, a 
 healthier tone was induced, and a new spring and cause of growth 
 became evident. Singularly enough, the return of the gold produce 
 accompanied the return of prosperity in the mercantile world. 
 No doubt the distress in Melbourne, and the sudden stoppage of 
 building and of employment generally, had thrown a great number 
 of additional hands, with an additional accession of energy, upon 
 the gold fields, which led to their extension into new quarters, 
 and to the more diligent working of the old. The increase has 
 steadily continued. Besides this, the system of gold-field tyranny 
 which I have so fully depicted reached its climax about the same 
 time, and the bloodshed which I had anticipated having arrived, 
 the executive, under a more energetic governor, inaugurated a 
 milder and better system. From this period a new era of progress 
 and improvement in the colony dates, which, though it has not 
 realised all the advantages which might have been expected, es- 
 pecially after the receipt of its new and liberal constitution, has, 
 on the whole, presented a most cheering aspect of progress and 
 development. From the colonial statistics we will proceed to note 
 this progress under the various heads of its advance. 
 
 GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT OP MELBOURNE. 
 
 Any one who left Victoria in 1854, landing again in Melbourne 
 in 1857, must feel astonishment at the expansion and augmented 
 bustle of this new capital. He would on every side of the town 
 discover an amazing expansion of brick and mortar, of new houses, 
 new streets, new public buildings ; and this growth extending it- 
 self over the whole district on the other side of the river, — Prahran, 
 Windsor, St. Kilda, Brighton, Emerald Hill, and Sandridge, — 
 places which then were isolated villages, mostly of wooden or 
 inferior houses, have stretched their outskirts towards each other, 
 till they impress on the mind the lively idea of one great nascent 
 capital. Nor is it merely the multiplication of houses which 
 would strike the returned visitant, but their increased size and 
 quality. Numbers of the one-story houses have given way to 
 first-rate mansions, and the streets which 'displayed a disconnected, 
 straggling, and unfinished character, now present continuity and 
 substantial elegance. He would note at landing, quays, docks, 
 and jetties, busy with commerce, and in wonderful contrast to the 
 
222 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 almost total want of such conveniences three years ago. Instead 
 of having to follow the windings of the river in a crowded steamer, 
 a railway from Hobson's Bay whirls him to the city in a few 
 minutes, or if he be so bound, carries him out to St. Kilda. 
 Arrived in the thronged streets of the gold metropohs, the hurry- 
 ing crowds denote augmented population and expanded commerce. 
 Macadamized streets and paved trottoirs testify to the beneficial 
 effects of Gabrielli's loan, and the goodly display of plate-glass 
 windows, filled with all manner of goods, equally testify to the 
 well-doing of the shop-keepers. All tliis implies a rapid increase 
 of population, and, referring to the statistical returns, we find that 
 whilst by the census of 1854 the population of the colony was 
 only 230,000, it now counts upwards of 360,000, or, in other 
 words, in the short space of three years it has increased 130,000. 
 He will find the shops lit up with gas, which was introduced on 
 the 1st of January, 1856, though the lamps in the streets still 
 display their old oil lights, owing to the corporation refusing to' 
 pay the exorbitant price demanded by the gas company. The 
 contest between the gas company and the civic authorities on this" 
 head has been strong and determined, — the company demanding 
 19/. 4*. 2d. per lamp per annum, the corporation offering 17/. 
 
 If the visitor wished to send a message to Geelong or to any of 
 the diggings, he would find the telegraph ready to accommodate 
 him ; and by a short omnibus drive to the Saltwater Kiver, he 
 might reach Geelong in a couple of hours by railway. But con- 
 fining himself to the city and its immediate vicinity, he is not the 
 less struck by the number of noble public buildings which have 
 sprung up since. To the heavy trap-stone Town Hall and Bishop's 
 Palace which then existed, the Gaol, Infirmary, Benevolent Asylum, 
 Orphan Asylum, and Government Offices, he now beholds various 
 new churches and chapels, elevating their towers and steeples 
 especially in the direction of Collingwood. The Catholic Churchj 
 which so long exhibited walls of about a yard high, has arisen, 
 and not far distant the Legislative Chambers or Parliament 
 Houses are fast advancing towards completion, and already ar< 
 occupied by the new representative bodies. The new Universitj 
 shows its stately building, though it does not seem to abound with 
 students, some twenty or so being the last reported number. A 
 new Public Library, opened February 5th, 1856, a new Countj 
 Court, and the Exhibition Building, besides many fine structures foi 
 the banks, inns, theatres, merchants' warehouses, and suburban 
 villas, demonstrate a liberal outlay of wealth and advance of tast< 
 for public embellishment. Cabs, omnibuses, and droschkies abounc 
 
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS AND PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 223 
 
 in the streets, and leave no want of speedy conveyance to every 
 quarter of this busy scene. 
 
 When we proceed to inquire into the progress of social im- 
 provement, we immediately discover a variety of institutions and 
 associations for the advance of science, the relief of pain and 
 disease, and the ministry of refined pleasure. By a large and 
 tasteful building of wood on an elevated site westward, we are 
 reminded that Victoria, as well as London, Paris, and Manchester, 
 has had her Great Exhibition. This building is no less than 
 257 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 50 in extreme height. The super- 
 ficial space available for the exhibition of articles is upwards of 
 23,300 square feet. The great staples of the colony, gold and 
 wool, presented a remarkable feature of this exhibition, which was 
 opened by Sir Charles Hotham on the 17th of October, 1854. 
 The brilliant cabinet of specimens of gold was valued at 10,000/. 
 It was afterwards transmitted to the Exhibition at Paris. The 
 specimens were ranged on shelves, forming a grand and glittering 
 pyramid, and a mass of quartz and gold crowned its summit, in 
 weight 410 ounces. The contributions illustrating the botany, 
 zoology, and mineralogy of the colony were intensely interesting 
 and unique. The Exhibition still serves for similar displays, and 
 still oftener for the holding of the governor's levees, balls, concerts, 
 and public dinners. 
 
 Of institutions we may name the Melbourne Hospital, the 
 Benevolent Asylum, the Orphan Asylum, the Philosophical In- 
 stitute (a flourishing society), the Philharmonic Society, the 
 Museum of Natural History, the Humane Society, the Society of 
 Fine Arts, the Garrick Club, the Farmers' Port Phillip Society, &c. 
 Of places of public amusement there are the Theatre Royal, the 
 Queen's Theatre, Astley's — now styled the Princess's Theatre 
 and Opera, Colman's Lyceum, Coppin's Olympic, now called, we 
 believe, the Argyle Rooms, and used as a salle de da?ise, and the 
 Cremorne Gardens, where not only the people but, on certain days, 
 the colonial ministers seek relaxation. At these different houses 
 the Melbourne public have enjoyed the musical and theatrical 
 talents of Catherine Hayes, Lola Montes, G. V. Brooke, Miss 
 Fanny Cathcart, Madame Cailly, formerly of the Operas of Brus- 
 sells, Lima, and Valparaiso, Madame Carandine, Sara Flower, and 
 Messrs. Coulon and Barre, besides other stars of greater or less 
 brilliancy. 
 
 To that large portion of the public which seeks its refreshment 
 in these entertainments, this is surely a liberal supply for a new 
 colony, but for the more domestic enjoyment of intellectual taste, 
 
224 TWO YEARS IN VICTORU. 
 
 there is by no means a less provision. It is not*to be expected 
 that, in so recent a community, drawn together and agitated by 
 all the temptations of sudden fortune, there should be much native 
 general literature, but there is a fast rising periodical literature. 
 The newspapers, the Argus, the Herald^ the Age, the Democrat, 
 and others, both in Melbourne, in all the other towns, and at all 
 the diggings, enliven their broad sheets with the most piquant 
 extracts from the English press. And besides this, there exists a 
 very respectable list of indigenous periodicals, namely: — the 3fel- 
 bourne Monthly Magazine, the Melbourne Punch, the Australian 
 Messenger (a religious journal), the Church of England Record, 
 the Australian Medical Journal, the Commercial Journal, the 
 Gardeners^ Magazine, the Annual Register, the Weekly T^eader, 
 the Monthly Journal of Australasia (illustrated), the Australian 
 Builder, My Note Book, &c. The Note Book seems to devote 
 itself especially to political criticism, and contains some very smart 
 and trenchant pen-and-ink limning of public men. 
 
 But the grand intellectual supply, of course, is from home, as 
 the colonists term England ; and the purchase of books is one of 
 the most honourable distinctions of Australia. Of 445,000/. worth 
 of printed books exported by us in 1854, Australia took one-third, 
 the United States less than one-third, and the rest were absorbed 
 by various colonies and countries. Two booksellers in Melbourne 
 subscribed for 300 copies of Macaulay's History of England ; and 
 in Hobart Town, the capital of little Tasmania, one second-hand 
 book shop generally has in stock 14,000 volumes. 
 
 I must not conclude the view of the growth and improvement of 
 Melbourne, without noticing the splendid preparations for supply- 
 ing the town with pure water from the Plenty river, some fifteen 
 or twenty miles from the city, where a vast reservoir has been con- 
 structed for regulating the quantity, at Yan-Yean. Nor the care 
 which is now evinced by the public to keep open different free 
 spaces for parks. It is to me satisfactory that my remarks on the 
 subject have not been lost, and that the colonial newspapers have 
 from time to time reminded the Government and the municipality 
 of my notion of the gridiron plan of the Victorian capital. In the 
 Argus of Feb. 8th, 1856, 1 find the following open spaces recom- 
 mended to be reserved chiefly for parks and promenades ; — 
 
 Eoyal Park 690 acres. 
 
 Prince's Park 195 „ 
 
 The Cemetery - - - ^ - - - 40 „ 
 
 The University Ground ----- 40 „ 
 
 The University Reserve ----- 62 „ 
 
 i 
 
PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. 225 
 
 South Melbourne Park ----- 800 acres 
 
 Botanic Garden and Eeserve - - - - 109 „ 
 
 Batman's Hill >.--„- 50 „ 
 Eeserve between Prince's Bridge and 
 
 Lonsdale's Paddock ----- 85 „ 
 
 Carlton Gardens - 60 „ 
 
 Fitzroy Square ------ 64 „ 
 
 Eeserve adjoining Government Offices 
 
 near the Gaol - - - - - - 10 „ 
 
 Total . . - - 2,205 acres. 
 
 If the Melbourne public can preserve this extent of park and 
 garden from the encroachment of the brick and raortar deluge, it will 
 etifectually establish a metropolitan character for the city, and free 
 it from that of which it was in danger, — a tasteless desert of 
 streets and lanes. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. 
 
 Extending our survey from the city to the whole colony, we 
 observe with pleasure the same substantial progress. Roads and 
 railroads, those veins and arteries of the social and commercial 
 system, and which were so totally neglected previous to 1853, have 
 occupied the active attention of both legislature and executive. 
 We have great roads marked out to all the principal diggings, and 
 in part completed. No longer do those dismal tracks of seventy 
 miles of almost bottomless bogs and quagmires arrest the aston- 
 ished glance, along which carts, and drays, and swearing drivers, 
 were in our time struggling, plunging, and floundering in sludge 
 and rain from day to day. Three great lines of roads have been 
 surveyed, marked out, and partly finished. One leads from Mel- 
 bourne to Castlemaine and Bendigo, which is said to be finished, or 
 rather macadamized, for the first time to Castlemaine, the old 
 Forest Creek digging. The second is the old Sydney road, which 
 not only leads to the frontier of New South Wales, on the Murray, 
 but takes in its way M'lvor and the Ovens diggings ; this, by the 
 last accounts, has already passed the far mud-famed Kilmore. The 
 third is from Geelong to Ballarat, which we noticed in our descent 
 that way as already marked out ; and of this about two-thirds, I 
 believe, are finished. 
 
 The construction of these invaluable roads has been going on at 
 a princely cost of from 2,000/. to 3,000/. per mile ! In the time of 
 our sojourn, the portions of those executed near Melbourne were at 
 a cost of 8,000/. per mile. Such is the wonderful change already, 
 that the transit of goods from Melbourne and Geelong to the dig- 
 gings, has been in a great measure transferred from the ponderous 
 
 VOL. H. Q 
 
226 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 but slow bullock -drays, to the lighter and fleeter horse-carts and 
 waggons. Instead of taking a month or two to get up to the dig- 
 gings, you see express coaches, or rather omnibuses, daily leaving 
 Melbourne with their five or six-horse teams, and in fine weather 
 bowling you along to Bendigo or Castlemaine in a day, at the rate 
 of ten miles an hour ! As I have observed, the present governor 
 assures me that he went up in the autumn to the Ovens on a 
 macadamized road. What would our friend La Trobe, and the 
 renowned road-maker, Foote, of hill-climbing memory, think of 
 that? The carriage of goods has in consequence considerably 
 fallen. The estimated cost of the freight of goods to the diggings in 
 1853-4 was about 4,000,000?. It is now estimated at 2,000,000/. 
 
 Yet we are not to imagine the road-making of Victoria has 
 done more than at present removed the worst condition of the 
 old frightful sloughs of despond, which the laissez faire of the La 
 Trobian regime called highways. Newly macadamized roads over 
 boggy land are but a first instalment of improvement. The enor- 
 mous traffic to the diggings sinks the broken stone often deep in 
 the underlying mud, where neither the faggots of Chat Moss nor 
 the hard bottoms of Thomas Telford have been supplied. Time 
 and frequent renewal can only give solidity ; and accordingly, we 
 learn that though at least a million of money has been expended 
 on these roads, so late as October 8th, 1856, a great meeting was 
 held in Melbourne, announcing that these roads, especially to 
 Castlemaine, were in many places impassable; that the Plenty road 
 remained exactly as it was when I last went up it in 1853 ; and 
 demanding from government an immediate advance of half a 
 million sterling for their completion. 
 
 The great mistake of the colonial legislature has been, that it 
 did not at once set about two or three main lines of railroad to the 
 diggings, the great marts of traffic. The cost of two great trunk 
 lines, one from Melbourne to Castlemaine and Bendigo, and one 
 from Geelong to Ballarat, was estimated at 6,000,000/. But these 
 lines would have rendered almost useless the roads now construct- 
 ing, which will cost, in the end, not less than 2,000,000/. ; and 
 though they could not altogether have superseded the highways, 
 they would so materially have reduced the weight and wear and 
 tear of traffic upon them, as to have wonderfully reduced the 
 necessity of expense upon them. 
 
 Geel6ng appears to have erred in judgment far more than 
 Melbourne, however. Whilst the enormous traffic noticed in this 
 work, betwixt Geelong and Ballarat, pointed out the immense 
 advantage of a rail or tramroad, thus securing the commerce of 
 
PROJECTED RAILWAYS. 227 
 
 the chief gold-field almost wholly to itself, it has been beguiled 
 into the consent to the construction of a railway betwixt itself and 
 Melbourne, — a direction so destitute of traffic that, as related in 
 1854, we found the track betwixt the towns, in many places, im- 
 perceptible, and only saw seven persons on the way betwixt one 
 town and the other. As Geelong had its own sea-port, and im- 
 ported its own goods, it was obviously its interest to guard as 
 much as possible against enabling Melbourne to insinuate itself 
 into its market, and bringing itself into the very midst of the 
 district which surrounded it. Many and warm have been the 
 discussions in the Legislative Council and Assembly, in commit- 
 tees, both parliamentary and others, on the best lines for the 
 colony; and the conclusion arrived at was, — one from Melbourne 
 to Castlemaine and Bendigo, thence branching or extending to 
 M'lvor and the Ovens ; the other, from Geelong to Ballarat. 
 
 But the railway once constructed from Melbourne to Geelong, 
 which could only obtain traffic by drawing it from the steamers 
 already running along the bay betwixt the two towns, or by 
 carrying on the customers of Geelong to Melbourne, the Legis- 
 lative Council appeared strongly tempted to throw out the bill for 
 the two lines already passed by the Assembly, and to carry a 
 branch from the Castlemaine line to Ballarat. Fortunately this 
 tendency has been overruled; the original line from Geelong to 
 Ballarat has passed both chambers, and Geelong has thus been 
 saved from the fatal injury of seeing the traffic of Ballarat carried, 
 by the facility and cheapness of the railway transit, to Melbourne 
 instead of that town. 
 
 Yet the contending interests on this question, and the discussions 
 on the best mode of raising the funds, may retard these great 
 works for years : meantime the lines already completed, or on the 
 verge of completion, are the Geelong and Melbourne line, that 
 from Williams' Town to Melbourne, and that already at work 
 from Melbourne to Hobson's Bay and St. Kilda. 
 
 THE DIGGINGS. 
 
 Perhaps more remarkable changes have taken place on the dig- 
 gings since 1 854, than in Melbourne itself. With a new governor, a 
 new spirit and energy arrived ; and the old tyrannic system which 
 I have so fully described, was speedily sent to the Gehenna of evil 
 memories. Perhaps under no man so truly humane and well- 
 disposed as Mr. La Trobe, did a despotism so terrible and revolting 
 ever spring up. With the fatal fiicihty of yielding to the pressure 
 
 Q2 
 
228 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of nepotism from home, by which the most unexampled swarms of 
 Barnacles and Stillstalkers were sent out to fix their silly and 
 useless persons upon the gold-fields of the colony; and with the 
 equally fatal fancy of receiving no reports of what passed on those 
 dreadful fields except through these official incubi, that amiable 
 but nervous governor allowed the terrible system of man-hunting 
 to become everywhere an intolerable abomination, a system of 
 personal insult and outrage on liberty, unexampled folly and idle- 
 ness, incredible waste and extravagance, a system of licence to 
 petty official villany, and of restraint to every useful plan and 
 suggestion, to grow to a head and acquire a virus of popular hatred 
 which portended only anarchy and blood. For my own part, I have 
 the satisfaction to reflect, that I did not wait to denounce the atroci- 
 ties of this system in these volumes, but did it plainly by letter to 
 the governor himself: but to the last moment he refused to believe 
 either private or public remonstrance. The bloodshed came. — On 
 the 3rd of December, 1854, the outbreak took place at Ballarat, 
 and soldiers were despatched post haste to shoot down the exas- 
 perated diggers. It has ever been one of the great mistakes of our 
 home government to appoint naval and military officers to the rule 
 of colonies. Those gentlemen, brave, able, excellent, and wise in 
 other respects, labour under the unconquerable disadvantage for 
 such an office, of having been educated, moulded, and dried into 
 form by a system of essential despotism. From the head of the 
 regiment, or the quarterdeck of the man-of-war, proceed only fiats 
 which admit of no question. Implicit obedience is the law, and 
 speedy punishment the result of any demur to obey. 
 
 Acting under this influence, Sir Charles Hotham used soldiery 
 and bullets, where an experienced colonial governor would have 
 used candid inquiry and prompt redress. The deplorable cata- 
 strophe still rankles in the mind of the diggers. But Sir Charles 
 Hotham displayed the same prompt energy in redress as in quell- 
 ing riot. He immediately appointed a commission to proceed to 
 the scene of action, and take full and impartial evidence, both of 
 the immediate facts of the case, and of the grievances which led to 
 the emeute. These were too palpable for honourable men to 
 ignore. They were at once acknowledged, and the governor in- 
 troduced to the legislature, and carried into effect, a set of new 
 laws for the regulation of the gold-fields, which completely revo- 
 lutionised the system, and restored tranquillity and content. The 
 old offensive monthly licence, the source of so much mischief and 
 heart-burning, was done away ; and in its stead an export duty on 
 the gold was imposed. The right of the digger to search for gold 
 
REFORMS ON THE DIGGINGS. 229 
 
 was to be testified by an annual certificate, called the Miner's 
 Right, for which IZ. per annum was to be paid ; and as this was 
 not necessary even to be carried on the person, its small value and 
 this freedom took away all temptation to the accursed man-hunt- 
 ing, which till then disgraced the gold-fields of Victoria. Since 
 the arrival of the new constitution, the elective franchise has been 
 attached to this certificate, another cession of right to the digger ; 
 and the new electoral districts have enabled the diggers to send 
 their own representatives to the colonial parliament. 
 
 Besides this, local courts were at once established on every dig- 
 ging, for the settlement of all mining disputes, the diggers electing 
 their representatives in it, with a chairman at their head. These ra- 
 tional regulations at once terminated all complaints and misunder- 
 standings, except the one of right to dig on private property, 
 which still agitates the colony. The precious metals being re- 
 served by the crown on all sale of lands, there comes the ques- 
 tion of compensation for digging on such lands which is not yet 
 settled, the purchasers being eager to establish a claim to the gold 
 as well as the land. 
 
 Another regulation which the new governor carried into effect, 
 was one which existed in the last regulations enacted under the 
 government of Mr. La Trobe, but which it was too timid to carry 
 out, that of allowing co-partneries in digging claims, and leases of 
 extents of auriferous lands in proportion to the cost of necessary 
 machinery, or as necessarily widely spread operations. Under these 
 encouraging auspices, this wonderful change from the old practice, 
 a new energy seized the diggers. They ranged boldly along the 
 auriferous belt of the colony, and opened up one fresh gold-field 
 after another. The gold-fields now stretch from the Omeo to 
 the Pyrenees; and names little or not at all heard of in 1854, 
 now stand prominent in the escort lists, as Fiery Creek, Dunolly, 
 Maryborough, Amherst, Ararat, Steiglitz, Anderson's Creek, &c. 
 Amongst these Maryborough, lying west of Castleraaine, and 
 Steiglitz, in the neighbourhood of the Anakie Hills westward of 
 Geelong, appear the most prolific. 
 
 But the chief acquisition of gold has resulted from the enlarged 
 freedom of action under the new regulations. The diggers in 
 Ballarat immediately combined their claims in the deep sinkings, 
 or bought ample quantities of land, and introduced steam-engines 
 to pump out the water. On that and other diggings, but especially 
 on Bendigo, puddling-machines were erected in hundreds, to work 
 up all the earth thrown out of the holes. Others brought up 
 quartz-crushing machines, and a new and wonderful source of 
 
 Q 3 
 
230 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 wealth was opened in crushing the interminable quartz reefs of the 
 colony. 
 
 In my last visit to Bendigo, I observed a few puddling ma- 
 chines at work ; let us now see what was the number of those on 
 Bendigo alone, in July, 1856, and the value of property attached 
 to them: — 
 
 2000 PuddHng Machines, valued at - - - :g60,000 
 
 and maintaining a population, including men, 
 
 women, and children, of 10,000, 
 
 With 4,800 Horses worth £30 each - - - - 1 44,000 
 
 Houses and stabling - - - _ _ - 78,000 
 
 Drays and other apparatus . - - _ 86,000 
 
 Working capital 65,000 
 
 Total £432,000 
 
 At a great meeting of puddlers at Bendigo, on the 24th of 
 March, 1857, it was reported that there were then between two 
 and three thousand of these machines, representing a capital of a 
 million sterling, and yielding about 8000 ounces per week, worth, 
 at 4/. an ounce, 32,000/. a week. By sluicing, and these machines, 
 all the excavated earth, much of the surface, and probably a great 
 extent of old remains of sinkings themselves, will be entirely 
 worked up. 
 
 The process of quartz-crushing, though already extremely pro- 
 ductive, may be considered yet in its infancy. The machines ex- 
 hibit, according to the reports of those who have lately visited 
 the gold-fields, a great rudeness and inefficiency, compared with 
 what may be confidently expected from the present perfection of 
 mechanical science. The quartz is first burnt like lime, then 
 crushed in the machine, and treated with mercury to amalgamate 
 with the gold. By this process, from fifty to seventy ounces have 
 been extracted from a ton ; but in general, owing to the hasty and 
 imperfect manner in which this is performed, the majority of the 
 diggers being wholly ignorant of chemical science, a large and 
 often the largest portion of the gold is left in the coarsely pul- 
 verized quartz. We have heard of an instance in which the first 
 treatment only yielded about three ounces to a load ; but the quartz 
 thrown away, being afresh ground and manipulated, yielded five ' 
 ounces; and this refuse, being again operated upon by a still more 
 skilful hand, yielded eleven ounces to the load. The quantity of 
 quartz in this colony being immense, from this source alone, a 
 large product may be calculated upon for many years. 
 
 But the working of a second bottom at Ballarat, and the use of, 
 steam there, opens up still more surprising prospects. The slaty i 
 
INTRODUCTION OF STEAII AND MACHINERY. 231 
 
 "bottom at wliich the diggers stopped, at the time of my visit in 
 1854, has been perforated, and that through hard trap rock, for 
 upwards of 100 feet, and a fresh and richer bottom arrived at. 
 The Ballarat mines now sink to the depth of 180 and sometimes 
 to 220 feet. The torrents of water are drawn off by steam en- 
 gines : and, therefore, by this revelation of new bottoms, and the 
 appliance of steam, it is difficult to say where the discovery of gold 
 shall end. 
 
 Mr. Charles Kinnear was the first to obtain a lease of five acres 
 on Ballarat Flat, and introduced steam-engines to raise the water. 
 He and his company also diverted the creek by a canal of 1,300 
 feet long. Their example was soon followed, and, in 1856, there 
 were no less than nine steam-engines at work, their possessors 
 enjoying like privileges, where, in 1854, I wondered to see no 
 machinery whatever. Of the proceeds of such claims the Ballarat 
 Times gives the following examples: — Twenty-seven claims, worked 
 by 324 men in 332 days, and which were, on an average, 177 feet 
 deep, and 103 feet being through the trap rock, cost, in labour and 
 machinery, 10,764/., whilst the proceeds were 93,819/., leaving a 
 profit of 83,055/. This appears enormous, and may be taken as 
 the highest rate of success at the diggings ; but when divided, it 
 amounts to only 15^. 6d. per day per man, or 41. I3s, per week, or 
 about 241/. per annum. Good wages, certainly, for labourers, and 
 just what carpenters and bricklayers in the colony get ; but not 
 fortune-inaking profits. 
 
 The vast change in the management of the diggings is shown by 
 some remarks of a writer in the Argus, who paid a visit to the 
 Goulburn diggings in the June of 1856. " I stood," he says, " at 
 the base of that hill from whence, in days gone by, sham gentle- 
 men in sham positions, and attired in showy trappings, used to 
 stand, except when solacing themselves with cribbage and pale 
 brandy, twirling the ragged moustache, often sham too, I think ; 
 smiling with half-pitying contempt on vastly better men below. 
 Passed away now the sham gentlemen in sham positions. Passed 
 away now the goading digger hunt. Passed away now all but the 
 shade of that silly but infernal tyranny, which, driving good 
 fellows mad, led to the spilling of good men's blood at slab-built 
 Eureka." 
 
 On these Goulburn diggings a visitor, in 1856, noticed upw^ards 
 of forty puddling machines. 
 
 The new life given to the diggings by these wise regulations, 
 and the depression of trade in Melbourne in 1855, augmented 
 extremely the population of the gold-fields. From the rigid, 
 
 Q 4 
 
232 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 squatter-bound land system being also partially released in their 
 favour, and portions of land sold in the outskirts of the mining 
 towns, but chiefly in house-plots and garden-grounds, men could 
 more comfortably locate their families there. They could have 
 liouses beyond the ragged tent, vegetables, eggs, and milk : and 
 could many of them dig when it suited them, and enjoy their 
 homes, and cultivate their little properties when the digging 
 season was unpropitious. The land in cultivation near Bendigo 
 in 1856, was 5,052 acres ; near the town 4,045 acres. Accordingly, 
 in 1856 and 1857, it was calculated that the population of the gold 
 fields amounted to 150,000 (instead of a total of 67,000 in 1854), 
 leaving, when women, children, storekeepers, and officials, are 
 deducted, a good round 100,000 of diggers. 
 
 Such a population operating on the new fields, on the quartz 
 reefs, and on the debris of the old fields, by puddling and steam- 
 machinery, sinking companies, and sluicing companies, have raised 
 the production of gold beyond any former years, except those of 
 1852 and 1853. The products of the various years since the com- 
 mencement are, according to KhuU's reports: — 
 
 1852 4,247,658 
 
 ounces of 
 
 gold 
 
 at 70*. 
 
 - £14,866,799 
 
 1853 3,090,342 
 
 »> 
 
 >» 
 
 75s. 
 
 11,588,782 
 
 1854 2,192,696 
 
 j> 
 
 )) 
 
 80s. 
 
 8,770,796 
 
 1855 2,964,073 
 
 „ 
 
 5» 
 
 80s. 
 
 11,856,292 
 
 1856 3,537,527 
 
 »» 
 
 5> 
 
 80s. 
 
 14,134,108 
 
 1857 say 3,500.000 
 
 ounces 
 
 » 
 
 80s. 
 
 14,000,000 
 
 19,532,296 
 
 - £75,216,777 
 
 We have made up the presumed amount of 1857, from taking 
 the average of the nine months of which we have returns, namely, 
 to September inclusive, and adding the three remaining months a1 
 that rate. Thus, according to this statement, the diggings o1 
 Victoria have produced 19,532,296 ounces of gold in six years 
 valued at 75,216,777/., or upwards of twelve millions and a hall 
 sterling annually. The weight of this in tons is 726 tons, 1 2 cwts, 
 and 107 lbs., or, on the average, upwards of 121 tons of gold pel 
 
 annum 
 
 With this influx of wealth, and the more genial nature of theii 
 management, the diggings have assumed a more prosperous, settled 
 and business-like tone. Instead of the pompous titles abounding 
 there, the chief commissioner of each digging bears generally th< 
 more modest style of Warden. Numbers of the useless dandier 
 employed to play, and tipple, and gamble, and ride about at theil 
 country's expense, are cashiered, and consequently the annuj' 
 
THE CHINESE ON THE GOLD FIELDS. 233 
 
 charge for the gold-fields, instead of 363,544/. in 1854, now figures 
 at about 40,000/. 
 
 Many of the diggers have got good timber or brick houses ; the 
 stores and camps are greatly improved. The chief diggings, as 
 the Ovens, Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, are erected into town- 
 ships with — besides their local courts for settling mining aflfairs — 
 their municipal governments; as are various other new settlements, 
 as Emerald Hill, Sandridge, CoUingwood, and Richmond at Mel- 
 bourne. The diggings have their settled episcopalian and dis- 
 senting churches, their libraries, theatres, and daily newspapers. 
 Ballarat has no less than three theatres, the Montezuma, Charlie 
 Napier, and Victoria ; the smallest of which will accommodate 
 1500 people, and all are well attended. We hear of a Dramatic 
 Society at Ballarat, and of a new play by a Mr. W. M. Brown, 
 acted at the Montezuma. Amongst the leading newspapers of the 
 diggings are the Mount Alexander Mail, Bendigo Advertiser, 
 Bendigo Courier of the Mines, Ballarat Star, Ovens Constitution, 
 and Ovens Mining Advertiser ; most of them daily ones, and very 
 ably conducted. 
 
 Such is the present condition of the Victoria diggings. Yet, 
 amid this enormous production of gold and these improved political 
 circumstances, we should give a very false idea of these communities 
 if we did not state at the same time that there is much poverty, 
 drunkenness, and crime in them. In a miscellaneous collection of 
 180,000 people, engaged in the most exciting and capricious of 
 pursuits, there will always be numbers who will present examples 
 of striking non-success, and consequent suffering, in the midst of 
 such aflluence hourly springing from the ground. Accordingly, a 
 correspondent of the Argus of March, 1857, complains of the great 
 poverty and distress on Bendigo; asserting that the "generality of 
 the mining population on Bendigo, with the exception of 1854, 
 were never placed in a similar situation." 
 
 The number of licensed and unlicensed public-houses strikes the 
 stranger with astonishment, and their sale contributes largely to 
 the general revenue of the colony, which, from the duty on spirits 
 alone, derived in 1856 the sum of 775,000/. But the chief cloud 
 hanging over the diggings is the rapid increase of the Chinese on 
 them, who are said to amount to not less than 35,000. From 
 causes stated in the earlier part of these volumes, from their filthy 
 habits and low moral condition, the miners look upon them as mere 
 plunderers of the colonial wealth. All the measures of government 
 for the purpose — the restriction to numbers in each ship according 
 to tonnage, the charge of 10/. on every Chinaman landing — have* 
 
 r 
 
234 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 failed to check their influx ; they now enter by New South Wales 
 and Adelaide, and walk overland to the mines. Mr. Haines, the 
 Victoria premier, has lately proposed to tax them in the diggings 
 by a monthly licence of 1/., that is, 12/. per annum per head. The 
 ill-feeling between the diggers and these unrepellable Asiatics is 
 constantly growing. Already there has been a conflict with them 
 at the Buckland, and a more serious one is every day appre- 
 hended. 
 
 THE NEW CONSTITUTION AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 The bill granting a new constitution to Victoria, and therein 
 conferring on the colony a thoroughly representative system, was 
 passed by the British Parliament May 10, 1855, and arrived iai 
 Melbourne in the autumn, and was proclaimed by the Governor, ^ 
 Sir Charles Hotham, in the Legislative Council, on the 23rd No- 
 vember. This important bill diflered very little from the one 
 adopted by the Colonial Council itself. In some respects it was 
 more liberal, permitting the new Legislative Government to alter 
 the constitution, not by a unanimous consent of all the members, as 
 proposed, but by an absolute majority, — that is, not a majority of 
 any number of members present on any occasion, but a majority of 
 all the existing members. 
 
 By this Bill of the 18th of Victoria, the Colonial Legislature, 
 was divided into two chambers, or houses ; the upper house to be 
 called the Legislative Council ; the lower, the Legislative Assem- 
 bly. The Council was to consist of thirty members ; the qualifi- 
 cation of every such member requiring him to be thirty years of 
 age, a natural-born subject of Her Majesty, and to have possessed 
 for a year previously, in Victoria, freehold lands and tenements oi 
 the value of 5000/., or of the annual value of 500/. The elector 
 of such members must be natural-born subjects, or naturalised ii 
 the colony three years, and resident in it for a year previously t^ 
 naturalisation, and who possess a freehold estate of the value cy 
 1000/., or rental of 100/. per annum, orfa leasehold estate of lOOf 
 per annum for a term not less than five years ; or properly quali« 
 fied barristers, solicitors, medical practitioners, ministers of reli- 
 gion, or otiicers of the army or navy, in active service or retired, wh( 
 shall respectively be residing in the district in which they vote 
 The Legislative Assembly was to consist of sixty members, anc 
 the qualification of its members required any candidate to be i 
 natural-born subject, resident in the colony two years, or to hav( 
 been naturalised five years ; to be twenty-one years of age, and t( 
 possess a freehold estate in lands and tenements of the value ol 
 2000/. or the annual value of 200/. 
 
THE WASTE LANDS AND IMMIGRATION. 235 
 
 The country was divided by the Bill into six provinces and 
 thirty-seven electoral districts. One member of the Council for 
 each province to retire every two years, and the term of the As- 
 sembly to be for five years, subject to earlier dissolution by the 
 Governor. All waste lands and minerals were placed at the dis- 
 posal of this new Legislature, every former Act affecting these 
 lands and proceeds being previously repealed. 
 
 Under this new constitution the great question of the disposal 
 of the waste lands, the most vital question as it regards the pro- 
 gress and prosperity of the colony, as was foreseen, has been agi- 
 tated up to the present moment without result. The squatters 
 have shown themselves in possession of a power capable ot defeat- 
 ing the urgent demands of the community. On the 31st January, 
 1856, they threw out a motion to assess them somewhat higher, as 
 head-money on their stock. It was then shown that they possessed 
 6,000,000 sheep, 450,000 cattle, 40,000 horses; and exported 
 24,000,000 pounds of w^ool annually, at Is. Sd. per pound. Their 
 property was valued at 10,000,000/., and as giving an annual pro- 
 fit of 121 per cent. 
 
 The average increase of immigration is shown by the official 
 returns to be about 33,000 to 40,000 persons annually. About 
 1000 per week enter, but many go out, leaving about that balance 
 of increase. Nothing but cheap land can enable the colony to ab- 
 sorb la,bour freely. Yet, this very year, the Land Bill which had 
 passed the Assembly was thrown out by the Council, according to 
 the latest account, on a motion by Mr. Fawkner. This Bill was 
 a fair-seeming bill on the surface. It was to put an end to the 
 squatters' leases in five years, and so appeared decidedly against 
 the squatters ; but, as they all supported it, it was evident that 
 there was something about it which suited their views, and this 
 something was, that the power to call in lands for purchase was 
 placed in the hands of the executive, which, containing a good num- 
 ber of squatters, was pretty sure not to exercise this power too 
 freely. 
 
 The debates on the rights of the squatters may yet be carried 
 on for years, though a very simple fact shows that they have no 
 rights beyond tlie will of tlie Colonial Legislature.^ The Orders 
 in Council of 1847 did not compel the governor for the time being 
 to issue leases, but gave him a power to grant leases. He had, 
 therefore, clearly the option to grant them or not. In New South 
 Wales the governor granted them conditionally ; in Victoria, the 
 governor did not grant them at all. He exercised his option, and 
 by that exercise extinguished any right which the Orders other- 
 
236 TWO YEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 wise would have conferred. The Duke of Newcastle's dispatch 
 confirmed this decision, authorising leases only for the portion of 
 the term which would have been unexpired liad the leases been 
 issued, and that on the clear stipulation that all lands required for 
 sale should be surrendered at once when called for, reserving to 
 the squatters the privilege of a pre-emptive right of 640 acres. 
 This places the whole matter, which has occupied so many de- 
 bates of the Victoria Council, in a nutshell. 
 
 LAND FUND AND IMMIGRATION. 
 
 A question immediately connected with the foregoing is that of 
 supplying labour to the colony by the proceeds of the sales of 
 waste lands. By an Act of Parliament, the 5th and 6th of 
 Victoria, half the proceeds of the sale of these lands were appro- 
 priated to the importation of labour. Commissioners were ap- 
 pointed by the Crown in England to receive this annual moiety of 
 the proceeds of the land sales, and send out therewith the requisite 
 emigrants. 
 
 From colonial returns, it appears that the following have been 
 the proceeds from 1850, when Victoria became independent of 
 New South Wales : — 
 
 1851 £74,246 
 
 1852 730,986 
 
 1853 1,496,714 
 
 1854 1,358,078 
 
 1855 795,362 
 
 1856 755,000 
 
 There had been sent from the colony previously 100,000 
 
 £5,310,386 
 
 Though there have been several recent parliamentary returns 
 on the subject, it is not clear how many emigrants have been sent 
 to Victoria, the returns being general for Australia. But one 
 great check to this emigration arose from the La Trobe govern- 
 ment detaining the moiety of the land sale proceeds due for this 
 purpose in 1853, amounting to no less than 748,357/. This dis- 
 honest practice appears to have been imitated by the succeeding 
 governor pro tern, for 1854, Mr. Forster, for no sum for immigra- 
 tion graces the disbursements for that year. The breach once 
 made, the system remained a ruin; for in 1855 only 151,135/. were 
 remitted for labour, for which Victoria received 9245 emigrants, 
 male and female. In 1856 only 118,215/. appears to have been 
 sent. This, with the reluctance of the Crown Commissioners to 
 raise the price of labour at home, and render the supply of sol- 
 
PRESENT WAGES AND PRICES. 
 
 237 
 
 diers difficult, at length determined the Legislative Assembly to 
 establish a commission of their own in London, to select and send 
 over the proper kind and quantity of labour. Accordingly, notice 
 was given to the Imperial Government that the services of the 
 Crown Commissioners would cease on the 30th of June, 1856, and 
 Mr. Childers was appointed Colonial Emigration Commissioner, 
 and arrived in London with his staff ; 270,000/. being voted by 
 the Assembly for the emigration fund for the year. 
 
 But here a new and singular phasis of the emigration and labour 
 question presented itself. On the 9th of April, 1 857, a large meeting 
 was held in the Protestant Hall, condemning the scheme in toto. 
 It was urged by the speakers that there was plenty of labour in 
 the colony, that there were numbers of men on the gold fields who 
 were able and willing to undertake the labour of constructing 
 railways, if the government would give them employment, and that 
 it was unjust to the working classes of Victoria to relieve the 
 pressure of the labour market at home by glutting that of the 
 colony, at the expense of the colonial revenue. And this was as- 
 serted in the face of the fact that — 
 Married couples with families were receiving from 
 
 Ditto, ditto, without families _ _ _ 
 
 Gardeners 
 
 Grooms ------- 
 
 Stockmen ------- 
 
 Hut-keepers ------ 
 
 Shepherds ------ 
 
 General Farm Servants - - 
 
 Ploughmen ------ 
 
 Bullock-drivers on the roads _ _ - 
 Ditto on stations - . . . , 
 
 Men Cooks ------ 
 
 Female Cooks - - . - - 
 Thorough Female Servants 
 
 Housemaids 
 
 Laundresses - - - - - 
 
 Nursemaids . - - - - 
 
 Pressmen - . - - _ 
 
 Compositors, \s. 6d per thousand, or - 
 Carpenters . - - - - 
 
 Masons ------ 
 
 Plasterers - - _ - _ 
 
 Bricklayers - - - - 
 
 Blacksmiths . - . - - 
 
 Quarrymen 
 
 Labourers on the roads - - - 
 
 £70 to £80 
 
 per annum and 
 
 
 their keep. 
 
 £70 to £85 
 
 
 £55 to £60 
 
 
 £40 to £50 
 
 )) 
 
 £45 to £55 
 
 
 £25 to £30 
 
 ;; 
 
 £35 to £40 
 
 j» 
 
 205. to 30^. 
 
 per week 
 
 
 and keep. 
 
 25s. to 30*. 
 
 «« 
 
 305. a week and keep. ' 
 
 255. 
 
 
 £90 to £100 per annum 
 
 
 and ditto. 
 
 £35 to £45 
 
 
 £30 
 
 
 £30 to £35 
 
 7) 
 
 £35 
 
 ,) 
 
 £25 to £30 
 
 n 
 
 £4 4*. to £4 1 Os. per week. 
 
 £4 4*. 
 
 „ 
 
 125. to 155. 
 
 per day. 
 
 155. 
 
 ,j 
 
 155. 
 
 »» 
 
 145. to 155. 
 
 )> 
 
 125. to 155. 
 
 j> 
 
 105. 
 
 »> 
 
 85. to 95. 
 
 with wood. 
 
 water, 
 
 and tent found. 
 
238 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 And tbis in the face of the additional fact, that the artisans Lad 
 recently succeeded in reducing their hours of labour from ten to 
 eight per day, and had succeeded in advancing their wages 2s. 
 per day. 
 
 If the reader turns to page 215, where a similar list of wages is 
 given for 1854, he will see how little labour has been reduced, 
 though the prices of all articles of living have fallen greatly. House 
 rent is represented at two hundred per cent, less ; beef, 4^d. to 
 6^d. a pound ; mutton, 5d. to 7d. ; veal, 8d. to lOd. ; bread, 41b. 
 loaf, 9d. ; butter. Is. 6d. to 2*. 6d. per pound (I have given in the 
 colony 5^. per pound); milk, 1^. a quart; eggs, 5s. per dozen, 
 which used to be 2s. each ; carrots and turnips, Sd. to 4d. a 
 bunch ; cabbages, 4c?. to 6d. each ; green onions. Is. 6d. a dozen ; 
 dried ones, 3c?. a pound, (I have given 25. a pound for them there); 
 radishes, 2d. a bunch ; mustard and cress, 3c?. ; parsneps, ditto ; 
 tomatoes, 3c?. a pound ; water melons, 9c?. and Is. each ; vegetable 
 marrows, 6d. to 1^. each ; melons, from 4c?. to 1^. 6d. each, &c. 
 
 Now with such wages, four times as much as in England, and 
 such market prices, in many instances much lower than in 
 England, there needs no further demonstration of the scarcity of 
 labour in the colony. But we have here a curious specimen of the 
 strange bed-fellows which wealth as well as poverty brings to- 
 gether. Who would have dreamed of the squatters, who would 
 monopolize the land, and the people, who want it, combining to keep 
 out immigration ? Yet here we have a coalition of this very kind. 
 The people at large had long been crying vehemently for the in- 
 crease of population to develope the resources of the land, and thus 
 eventually reduce all articles of life to a reasonable and natural 
 rate. It is the steady influx of people and the cultivation of 
 the land w^hich must make all agricultural produce plentiful and 
 cheap. These would remove the necessity for importing such pro- 
 duce, and thus retain its wealth in the country. 
 
 But the sale of land, the direct result of a large immigration, is 
 precisely that thing which the squatters abhor, and the reduction 
 of the price of labour is precisely what the labourers abhor. There- 
 fore, the two otherwise antagonist classes, squatters and artisans, 
 suddenly discover their kinship, shake hands, put their united 
 shoulders to the wheel of opposition, and use their combined force 
 to stultify the colony and dwarf its progress. Without increase 
 of population and the cultivation of the land, the colony must 
 remain a mere colony, instead of expanding into a great nation. 
 The inhabitants must consent to crouch under the yoke of the 
 squatter, who loves a profitable and pleasant wilderness, and of the 
 
UNSOUND AND SELFISH POLICY. 239 
 
 exorbitantly paid artisan, wlio has four times the wages of England 
 for eight hours a day, and would rather see the country checked 
 and stunted than that his fellow-workman from home should share 
 it and its advantages with him. 
 
 The cry of these selfish men, however, succeeded. Though the 
 bill for the immigration scheme had passed the Assembly, it was 
 thrown out of the Council, and Mr. Childers and his staff found 
 themselves in England without funds or power to act. Meanwhile, 
 the Crown Emigration Commission has surrendered its office, 
 and all but voluntary emigration is at a stand. The railways 
 require thousands of hands to make them ; the farmers and other 
 employers require more and cheaper labour, and the united squat- 
 ters and artisans say they shall not have it. Is such a state of 
 things reasonable ? Can it last in a public-spirited country ? 
 
 At such a crisis I strongly recommend to the attention of the 
 Victoria legislators the words of Mr. Buchanan, the president of 
 the United States in his recent Message. With what a feeling of 
 triumphant exultation does this acute statesman refer to the 
 American system of aggrandizing their country by the liberal 
 disposal of the public lands. " Our land-system," he says, '' has 
 worked well in practice. Already thirteen States and seven terri- 
 tories have been carved out of these lands, and still more than a 
 thousand millions of acres remain unsold. What a boundless pro- 
 spect this presents to our country of future prosperity and power ! 
 We have heretofore disposed of 363,862,464 acres of the public 
 land. 
 
 "While the public lands as a source of revenue are of great im- 
 portance, their importance is far greater as furnishing homes for a 
 hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, who 
 desire to' subdue and cultivate the soil. They ought to be ad- 
 ministered mainly with a view of promoting this wise and bene- 
 volent policy. In appropriating them for any other purpose we 
 ought to use even greater economy than if they had been con- 
 verted into money, and the proceeds were already in the public 
 treasury. To squander away this richest and noblest inheritance 
 which any people have ever enjoyed upon objects of doubtful 
 constitutionality or expediency, would be to violate one of the 
 most important trusts ever committed to any people." 
 
 Let the senators of Victoria lay these sentiments well to heart. 
 England, in a generous confidence, has entrusted this great national 
 property to their management, and England and posterity will 
 hold them responsible for its worthy administration. The squatter 
 and the artisan, too, will find their truest advantages in,the multi- 
 
240 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 plication of consumers and employers. The best way to leave the 
 land in the hand of the squatters for the longest possible period, 
 is to force the enormous tracts out of the hands of land-sharks, by 
 smartly taxing all that is uncultivated by the proprietors, and 
 selling none without a condition of cultivation. 
 
 GENERAL IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 Meantime, all parties appear to march on vigorously and hope- 
 fully in the career of improvement. Besides that progress wliich 
 we have noted in the towns, and on the diggings, the agriculturist, 
 the senator, and the squatter, in the very foremost rank, display 
 the same laudable spirit in advancing the condition of the country. 
 The Victorian squatters are, in fact, buying up the most valu- 
 able stock in England to improve their herds at home. This does 
 not look as though they entertained any serious fears of very ex- 
 tensive encroachment on their lordly pasturages. Whilst they 
 culled all the finest specimens at the cattle exhibition at Paris, 
 and did not hesitate to purchase bulls at 1000/. and 500/. each, 
 they undoubtedly see their way in the future pretty comfortably. 
 
 In a recent Argus we note the following paragraphs : — 
 
 " There has been a considerable increase of the live stock of the colony 
 during the year 1856." 
 
 "Just now the farmers round Melbourne are looking forward with interest 
 to, and making preparations for, the Pert Pliillip Farmers' Society's annual 
 exhibition of stock, implements, and produce, which is to exceed anything of 
 the kind ever held in Victoria. The entries are much more numerous than on 
 any former occasion, and the character of our stock of all kinds is improving 
 rapidly. Scarcely a week passes without the importation from England of 
 thoroughbred horses, cattle, or sheep, which are purchased readily by our 
 breeders at high prices. Within the last few days, two imported Clydesdale 
 horses have been sold at 700/. and 705/. respectively, and a lot of yearling 
 Durham bulls from 180/. to 200/. each. One heifer, ' Lady Mary,' fetched 300/." 
 
 "Australia. — Plymouth, Monday — ' The Copenhagen,' Captain Godfrey, 
 from London, arrived in the Sound on Saturday afternoon to embark passen- 
 gers for Melbourne, and sailed this morning at three o'clock. This ship last 
 year carried out the famous prize bull ' Master Butterfly,' and has now on 
 freight, independently of a valuable general cargo, thirteen horses, seventeen 
 head of cattle, and sixty-seven sheep. Of the former, six are shipped by Mr. 
 Rawdon Green, an old "Vesident of Victoria (who is a passenger). Among 
 them is the famous racing stallion ' Indian Warrior,' four thoroughbred fillies, 
 and one cart stallion. Mr. T. Learmonth, one of the pioneers of that colony, 
 also a passenger, has a cart stallion and mare of the Clydesdale breed. Mr. 
 James Austin ships two cart stallions, two Devon bulls, and twenty-seven 
 rams from Germany, much esteemed for the quality of their wool. The re- 
 mainder of tlie cattle are short-honis, including the first and second prize 
 yearling bulls at the Dublin show, and the prize heifer from Lord Monk's 
 famed cow." 
 
IMPROVED STATE OF AGRICULTURE. 241 
 
 Whilst the squatter thus laudably and spiritedly leads the way 
 in a thoroughly princely track of improvement. Dr. Embling in 
 the Assembly has been long and earnestly advocating the intro- 
 duction of a new kind of stock, — the Alpaca, from South 
 America, which to us appears highly adapted to the climate of 
 Victoria, and to promise a very valuable new article of commerce in 
 its wool ; and Mr. Wilson of the Argus has been introducing into 
 the Yarra the cod of the Murray, — a fish which, while it is excellent 
 eating, reaches the enormous weight of from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. and 
 even 260 lbs. weight, if we are to believe the Murray fishermen. 
 
 The agriculturists are equally active and sanguine of progress. 
 The bill regarding the sale of Crown lands, passed by the Assembly, 
 but rejected by the Council, would have sanctioned the legislature 
 in letting portions of the Crown lands for agriculture as well as fo^ 
 squatting, in lots of from 50 to 100 acres, and also to allow tht 
 agriculturist who purchased at least 160 acres, to hold on a rental 
 at the rate of 6 per cent, as much more waste for pastoral pur- 
 poses, with power to purchase within three years if he had 
 brought into cultivation in the meantime two-thirds of his pur- 
 chased allotment. It is to be hoped that some reasonable regu- 
 lations will yet be enacted, for there is an evident desire on the 
 part of farmers to avail themselves of them. The reports of the 
 present year testify to the extension of cultivation. It is stated 
 that the increase of wheat grown last year and the year before, 
 was upwards of 700,000 bushels ; of oats, 30,000 bushels ; of 
 barley, 2 1,000 bushels. That much more land was mown for hay ; 
 that the growth of mangel-wurzel was fourfold ; of turnips, double. 
 In 1855 the occupiers of purchased land was 4,326, in 1856 they 
 were 7,523. The number of acres under crop in 1855 were 
 115,135; in 1856 they were 179,982. Live stock had increased 
 in proportion. The price of produce was remunerative, and the 
 only difficulty of the agriculturists was the want of labour, a very 
 different cry to that of the anti-immigrant workmen of Melbourne. 
 This difficulty they are trying to surmount by the use of machinery. 
 
 The population of the colony, it was calculated, would prove by 
 the census of March of this year at least 400,000. These would 
 require 76,277 tons of wheat, of which only 12,489 tons were 
 grown in the colony ; and, with 15,000 on hand, would still require 
 the importation of 48,788 bushels. 
 
 Government appears to be selling about 400,000 acres of land 
 per annum. In 1856 the number of acres sold was 463,525, 
 realizing 738,493/., a decided improvement on the La-Trobean 
 lock, — yet an improvement resting on no secure basis, — but 
 
 VOL. II. R 
 
24-2 TWO TEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 rather on the caprice of the executive, till the land-question if 
 permanently decided by the legislature. In the first quarter oi 
 1856, 32,593 acres were sold at an average of 1/. 2s. 6d. an acrej 
 in the following proportions : — . 
 
 227 lots of 100 acres or under. 
 62 lots over 100 acres and under 200. 
 19 lots over 200 and 300 acres. 
 8 lots over 300 acres. 
 
 Yet, that a sound, liberal and definite legislative system is still 
 needed, the following paragraph from the Banner of Belfast 
 shows : — " The Great Land Sale came off on the 1 st of August 
 (1856). The necessary surveys were completed, and the weary 
 staff of professionals had consummated the gigantic task. No less 
 than three acres and twenty perches were surveyed and divided 
 with the utmost precision, into thirty-two valuable town allot- 
 ments, in the short space of two years ! ! Nine were sold for 
 354Z. ! Considerable competition was expected from the washer- 
 women, — but the allotments were found insufficient for bleaching 
 more than one counterpane at a time ! " This is a jocose proof 
 that the old spirit of peddling in homoeopathic doses of land is still 
 alive in the Government. 
 
 Wine-growing is another object which has of late seized on the 
 attention of the Victorian public. The Times, some time ago, said 
 that Australia was a country which contented itself with making 
 samples of wine. When we consider that Australia possesses 
 millions of acres capable of becoming the finest vine-lands in the 
 world, this is quite true. But the samples produced at the " Paris 
 Exhibition " astonished the connoisseurs by their lexcellence. 
 I recollect Sir William M'Arthur saying that, after a specimen 
 of their wines, grown at Camden, had been sent to the Queen, 
 they could have five guineas a dozen for all they had. Though I 
 never tasted any very good Australian wine whilst in that country, 
 I have since, in London, tasted some at once peculiar and superb, 
 seeming to combine the flavours of port and claret. The stimulus 
 given by the discovery of the excellence of its wines has exhausted 
 the whole stock of New South Wales, and there are large standing 
 orders for the wine yet unmade. The possession of a vineyard is 
 now a valuable one ; and numbers are hastening to plant the vine 
 freely. As yet, though there are some vineyards in New South 
 Wales that produce their 15,000 and 30,000, and several yielding 
 10,000, and still more that yield from 500 to 5000 gallons, there 
 is no cliance of meeting the demand for the new European luxury 
 
IMPROVED ADMINISTRATION. 243 
 
 of Australian wine. Adelaide also produces some, but Victoria, 
 with hundreds of thousands of acres of the most promising land 
 for the wine growth, — as I pointed out in the former edition of 
 this work, — has till now displayed great apathy towards this 
 branch of industry. I find that in 1854 there were only 1801 
 acres of vineyard in Victoria, which produced 9,000 gallons of 
 wine, 100 gallons of brandy, and 186,502 lbs. of grapes for the 
 market. 
 
 REVENUE. 
 
 The prodigal expenditure of the La-Trobean Government of 
 about four millions annually, for the management of a community 
 of about a quarter of a million, a population not equal to that of one 
 of our first-rate manufacturing cities, and the incurment of a debt 
 of about a million a year, was rapidly disposed of on his retire- 
 ment. The original estimates of 1855 amounted to 4,801,290/.; 
 but Mr. Haines, the minister, found it necessary to reduce this 
 amount to 3,308,716/. But this did not satisfy the Council. Mr. 
 O'Shanassy moved an amendment to cut them down to his estimate 
 of the actual revenue, 2,400,000/., and, after much fighting, "the 
 executive was obliged to come to this. Such a sweeping reduction 
 of income necessitated as sweeping a clearance of the Government 
 vessel of the useless Barnacles which hung on it. It is not my 
 business to detail the struggles and changes of the Melbourne mi- 
 nistry, Mr. O'Shanassy and Mr. Gavan Duffy appearing in office 
 for a short time ; the statement of the accounts of the colony for 
 1856 will show its present healthy condition : — 
 
 The total revenue of the colony during 1856 was 3,346,671/., 
 or about 10/. per head, according to the estimated number of the 
 population — an enormous ratio, and all the more astonishing be- 
 cause raised without the slightest pressure upon the people. Of 
 
 " is amount about 1,600.000/. was raised by the Customs, 90,000/. 
 om the gold duty, &c., and 750,000/. from the sale of Crown 
 
 ands. The entire debt of the colony was 1,962,385/., all of which 
 has been raised solely for the execution of public works, which, 
 
 18 necessary and permanent improvements to the colony, are most 
 lirly made a charge upon future generations as well as the present, 
 ['he net increase of the revenue over 1855 was 317,447/., which 
 ras entirely derived from the Customs; from all the others there 
 was a decline, more or less. The increase in the Customs, which 
 is most equally distributed over every article included in the tariff, 
 was 432,280/. The increase in the quantity of land brought into 
 cultivation was very great, and so much attention has recently 
 
 R 2 
 
 m 
 
 ^lar 
 
244 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 been paid to agriculture, that the colony will soon be, if it is not 
 already, entirely self-supporting, so far as the great staples of 
 subsistence are concerned. 
 
 The import duty of the colony up to the 9th of May, 1857, 
 amounted to 5,383,946/. ; and the export duty for the same period, 
 to 5,166,092/. This would give for the year: — 
 
 Imports £16,151,838 
 
 Exports £15,498,276 
 
 The banks of Melbourne exhibited an amount of capital, of de- 
 posits, of high profits, and of circulation of notes, which more re- 
 sembles the banking system of a great nation than of a colony 
 only twenty-two years old. These banks are eight in number — 
 
 The Bank of Australasia. Notes in circulation £564,295 Last dividend, 
 
 20 per cent. 
 
 The Bank of Victoria Ditto £581,432 10 per cent. 
 
 Bank of New South Wales „ £450,919 20 „ 
 
 Union Bank of Australia „ £184,451 21 „ 
 
 London Chartered Bank of Australia „ £242,383 5 „ 
 
 Oriental Bank Corporation „ £175,770 10 „ 
 
 English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered Bank £ 59,799 4 „ 
 
 Colonial Bank of Australia „ £178,318 
 
 But the aggregate of the averages of these banks for the first 
 quarter of 1857, will give the most striking idea of them : — 
 
 Notes in Circulation ----- £2,437,277 
 
 Bills ditto 60,999 
 
 Deposits not bearing Interest - - - 5,762,660 
 
 Ditto bearing Interest _ _ . - 926,303 
 
 Total Liabilities - - - - - 9,622,476 
 
 Coin 2,595,066 
 
 Bullion 579,666 
 
 Landed Property 256,253 
 
 Debts due to the Banks - - . . 6,994,662 
 
 Total Assets 11,951,458 
 
 Paid-up Capital 5,311,865 
 
 Amount of last Dividend - . - - 328,475 
 
 Reserved Profits 1,285,745 
 
 Government Securities - - - _ 412,529 
 
 After this review of the growth and present condition of this 
 still juvenile colony, scarcely passed man's majority of twenty-one 
 years, it is little to say that it is wonderful. It is the most won- 
 derful fact in the history of nations. It is only by comparing it, 
 however, with some other astonishing growth of a young nation, 
 that we become fully impressed with the most marvellous develop- 
 ment of Victoria. Such an object of comparison are the United 
 
COMPARISON BETWEEN VICTORIA AND THE UNITED STATES. 245 
 
 States of America, in tlieir present status, the most extraordinary 
 creation of a great nation, from the same little swarming hive of 
 England, which has yet arisen. But what are the facts of the 
 parallel at similar dates ? Why, they are these,— that Victoria has 
 sprung into its present dimensions, substance, and population in 
 less time than was spent in effecting a permanent settlement on 
 the American continent. 
 
 Virginia, our first settlement on the Continent of America, was 
 taken possession of by Raleigh, in Elizabeth's time, 1584. The 
 next year an attempt was made to plant a colony ; but all the 
 arduous and persevering efforts of Raleigh's half-brother. Sir Gilbert 
 Heathcote, of Smith, &c., failed, and a permanent settlement could 
 only be accomplished by Lord ^e la Warr, in 1609. In fiict, it 
 could not be said to be fairly established till 1626. If we take 
 the shorter period, however, from 1585 to 1609, we have twenty- 
 four years, actually two years longer, spent in desperate endeavours 
 to found the first colony in North America, than Victoria has 
 taken in arriving at a population of 400,000, an amount of agri- 
 cultural stock valued at 10,000,000/. ; at an annual production of 
 gold of 12,000,000/. ; and a commerce, export and import, of 
 30,000,000/. ! 
 
 Again, the thirteen colonies of North America, at the date of 
 the Declaration of Independence, possessed a population, white and 
 black, of about 2,500,000, and an import trade of about 2,000,000/., 
 with an export trade considerably less ; whilst Victoria alone, in 
 only twenty-two years, has reached a population nearly one-sixth 
 of the amount of the whole United States at the Declaration of 
 Independence, then ninety-one years old; and, in less than one 
 fourth of the period, possesses an export and import trade eight 
 times as large as all those states at that time, put together ! 
 
 So aspiring are the Australian colonies in their robust growth, 
 that already they are agitating for a Federal government. A com- 
 mittee of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria has decided, in 
 common with most of the other colonial governments, to ask from 
 the Crown this privilege, and, on the 23rd of April of the present 
 year, the following imposing deputation of leading men from the 
 General Association for the Australian Colonies had an interview 
 with Mr. Secretary Labouchere at the Colonial- office, to present a 
 memorial requesting him to bring a bill into Parliament giving 
 the Australian colonies power to form a Federal Assembly. The 
 deputation comprised Messrs. W. C. Wentworth (late Member of 
 Council for the city of Sydney, Chairman of the association), James 
 A. Youl (Honorary Secretary) Sir W. M'Arthur, Dr. Dobicj 
 
 B 3 
 
246 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 R.N., and Messrs. G. F. Leslie (late Members of Council for New- 
 South Wales), W. Nicholson (late M. L. C. for Victoria), John 
 Dunn (late M. L. C. for Tasmania), Edward Stephens, and A. L. 
 Elder (late M. L. C.'s, for South Australia), H. G. Ashurst, 
 Robert Brooks, D. Benjamin, S. Benjamin, J. Gilchrist, G. R. 
 Griffiths, Dr. Learmouth, D. Larnach, F. A. Ducroz, R. Dry (late 
 Speaker of Council, Tasmania), and A. R. Cruikshank (Member 
 of House of Assembly, Victoria.) 
 
 Federation ! a startling word to the mother country, for to all 
 minds which have read colonial history, it means simply — Independ- 
 ence ! A federal government in Australia must rapidly accelerate 
 the day of that declaration, whilst, meantime, it must impose a 
 yoke upon the far-a-head -shooting Victoria, fraught with plentiful 
 heart-burnings and discontents. That the rest of the Australian 
 colonies, which gaze with unfeigned wonder, and ill-concealed 
 envy, on her superb advance, should desire to establish a hold 
 upon her, and a control over her, we can well conceive : but it is 
 not so easy to conceive her going open-eyed into the snare. It is 
 not here the place to discuss this nice question, but we cannot 
 imagine but that an Inter-Colonial Commission could settle all the 
 questions of tariffs, railways, coast defences, &c., without the 
 hazard of a political and indissoluble federation. 
 
 Already the Australians feel their " life in every limb," and a 
 proud consciousness of this life extending to every remotest nook 
 and boundary of the continent. Already in this gigantic expan- 
 sion of an imperial sensation, they tremble at the good old mother, 
 who planted them originally as penal colonies, planting another in 
 the farthest north. For my part, well understanding the grounds 
 of this alarm, I believe that alarm, from the vast distance, the im- 
 passable deserts, and the non-necessity of intercourse with such a 
 colony, to be wholly unnecessary. To the mother country, how- 
 ever, with such a demonstration of sensitive feeling in the Aus- 
 tralians, the word. Federation, must be doubly unpalatable, and we 
 may, therefore, certainly calculate that she will* rather incline to 
 an inter-colonial or federal committee for all necessary general pur- 
 poses. But however, or wherever, these great questions may be 
 decided, we feel persuaded that they will be discussed in an amic- 
 able spirit by both the imperial and the colonial governments, and 
 that all parties are too wisely disposed to act towards each other 
 in any manner which should weaken the kindred feelings which 
 unite the great British race, or damage the unexampled auspices 
 of the young Australian empire. 
 
A STEAM TRIP TO SYDNEY. 247 
 
 CHAP. XLL 
 
 Sydney. ■— Beauty of the Bay View of the City. — Interior of City 
 
 George Street — Woolloomooloo. — Hyde Park. — Government House. — 
 Domain. — Bourke's Statue. —Botanic Gardens. — Lady Macquarie's Chair. 
 
 — List of Trees noticed. — Gigantic Nettle Tree. — Country Houses and 
 Gardens. — Ride to Botany Bay. — Beautiful Shrubs. — Inn and Pleasure 
 Gardens at Botany Bay. — Animals. — Shark-hunting Parties. — Old Ce- 
 metery of St. Andrews. — Sail up the Bay to Paramatta. — Cockatoo Island. 
 
 — Orange Orcl^ards. — Paramatta. — Ride to the South Heads. — Crossing 
 Chasms in a Gig. — Settled Tone of Society. — Case of extraordinary Libe- 
 rality. — Convictism. — Consumption of Spirits. — Land. — Scarcity of La- 
 bour. — Doctor Pomatum. — False Lord Lascelles. — A Lord importing Shoes. 
 
 Steam-vessels ply between Sydney and Melbourne twice or three 
 times a week. Of these, the "City of London" and the " Waratah" 
 are excellent vessels, with good accommodations, and well-sup- 
 plied tables. They should be so, for, compared with the charges 
 of such vessels at home, their rate is high. Seven pounds ten 
 shillings for a voyage, frequently done in fifty hours, is a round 
 sum — yet such was the fare when I went to Sydney in June, 1854 
 — and these vessels were generally well filled, and the charge only 
 on a par with the usual prices of Australia, including provisions 
 and coals, of which latter article, I think, Captain Bell, of the 
 " Waratah," said they burnt about thirty tons on a trip, at 6/. 105. 
 per ton. My lot, however, was to get, in going, into a small 
 steamer, called the '' Fettercairn," which had an engine, apparently, 
 of one- donkey power. The wind was dead in our teeth nearly all 
 the way, and it was almost more than this one-donkey engine could 
 do to make head against it. In fact, once or twice the captain 
 despaired of getting there, and was on the point of putting about, 
 and running back to Melbourne. 
 
 The character of this steamer was, no doubt, pretty well known 
 to the public trafficking between these cities, for there were only 
 two cabin passengers besides myself, and about a dozen steerage 
 ones. Well, in about five days we had managed to plough our 
 way thither. There was nothing on the voyage to record. The 
 views we had of the shores were not very striking, Wilson's Pro- 
 montory being the boldest, for it is the termination in this direction 
 of the great Australian Alpine range. We passed a remarkable 
 circular rock, called the Rodonda, with a huge cavern in it, and 
 saw a number of other rocks stretching across the straits, towards 
 Van Diemen's Land, as if marking the line of some former isth- 
 mus, uniting that island to the continent. 
 
 R 4 
 
248 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 The Bay of Sydney, or Port Jackson, is the first fine object ; 
 and that is really fine. You enter it between bold rocky head- 
 lands, and it then extends for five miles before you, surrounded 
 by wooded hills, of a great variety of forms, and into which run 
 deep coves right and left ; their shores being beautifully overhung 
 with woods. On your left hand as you enter, you catch a view 
 of the lofty tower of the lighthouse, and as you advance, you 
 see handsome country-houses, beautifully located amid the forest 
 hills. 
 
 As you draw near Sydney, you are struck with its noble ap- 
 pearance, running on your left hand along a ridge of hills, from a 
 point of land on which stands a battery, between the inlets of the 
 bay and beyond it, into the country. 
 
 The Government House, a fine castellated building, with a bold 
 tower, stands finely above Fort Macquarie on the swell of the hill, 
 commanding splendid views of the bay, of the town, and of the 
 shipping in Sydney Cove, close under the town. On the left of 
 the Government House, you have a fine scene from this part of 
 the bay spread before you. The Park, surrounding the house 
 itself, richly wooded with native trees ; the Domain, or public 
 grounds to the left ; and the Botanic Garden, covering the slope 
 of a lovely little cove, called Farm Cove. Still further to the 
 left you observe a finely-wooded island, called Garden Island, 
 suppose from its vicinity to the garden ; and beyond it, and the 
 cove in which it lies, Woolloomooloo Bay, the new suburbs of 
 Woolloomooloo stretching up a long steep. 
 
 The vessel bears you on past a very striking and busy scene of 
 the town on its bold height, and shipping nestling at its feet ; and 
 rounding Miller's Point, you find yourself in what is called Dar- 
 ling Harbour, but to all appearance shut into a large lake. The 
 scene is at once beautiful and animated. There is a mixture of 
 the charms of nature and of the works and abodes of men that 
 strikes you with both delight and astonishment, when you con- 
 sider in how short a time all this great city, with its shipping and 
 commerce, has sprung up in this new world. 
 
 On your left runs along a steep slope the oldest portion of Syd 
 ney. The houses rise one above another thickly, and with an 
 aspect of age upon them which seems to express considerably 
 more than seventy years' existence. In fact, this part of the 
 town reminded me strongly of the old town of Scarborough, as 
 seen from the harbour. There were warehouses, wharves, cranes, 
 piles of goods, yards full of timber, and of other materials crowd 
 ing the water-side, stairs and jetties thronged with busy people 
 
INTERIOR OP THE CITY. 249 
 
 and steamers coming in and going out, with all the rushing roar 
 of steam, and the clamour of human voices from ships beyond 
 ships, and boats plying across to the other side, on whose hills 
 around rose other towns, or, at least, populous villages, amongst 
 them Pyrmont and Balmain, standing conspicuous, with their 
 rocky terraces, and churches, chapels, and picturesque houses. A 
 more striking and enlivening scene than this you shall rarely see 
 in any part of the world. Wide waters alive with commerce and 
 human life, the overhanging town, and, all around, villages, woods, 
 hills, rocky slopes, and delicious hollows, retreating from the bay 
 into woodland wildernesses, out of which peep the white wails and 
 roofs of delightful country houses. 
 
 All at the same time is so English. They are English towns, 
 English villas, English quays, warehouses, shipping, and people. 
 Advancing into the town, you are still more struck with this 
 English character, and with the actual growth and splendour of 
 the place. You advance through streets and squares of new and 
 first-rate houses, all worthy of London, and superior to London in 
 this respect, that they are built of a beautiful freestone, and not of 
 wretched perishable bricks and stucco. You arrive in George 
 Street, which may be said to be the great back-bone of the city, 
 running from the very point of the land called Dawes Point, on 
 which stands the battery, up parallel with the bay, but only now 
 and then in sight of it, away into the country towards Paramatta. 
 George Street is the great thoroughfare and centre of retail busi- 
 ness. It must, with Paramatta Street, in continuation of it, be at 
 least three miles long. The main part of the street is extremely 
 fine. It would suffer little from a comparison with Regent Street, 
 and in its material, that fine freestone, is much superior. It is wide, 
 paved with the solid rock on which it stands, and, therefore, never 
 exhibiting bottomless sloughs like Melbourne ; its causeways are 
 broad and beautifully paved ; its shops are extremely handsome, 
 and display to the eye rich stores of all kinds of goods. Draperies, 
 books*, prints, jewellery, glitter and attract you on all sides in 
 plate-glass windows, as in one of London's best streets. Banks, 
 inns, offices, and public buildings claim their share of admiration ; 
 a gay and well-dressed and active throng is passing along on each 
 side. Splendid equipages flash by, the heavy laden drays and 
 carriages of commerce toil on, and cabs and omnibuses are as 
 
 * In Sydney you find many evidences of literary taste. I read a volume of 
 poems of considerable merit, " The Australian Bee," by Mr. Harpur ; and a very 
 promising periodical has been recently issued there, called, " The Month, a 
 Literary and Critical Journal," edited by Frank Fowler. 
 
250 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 regularly pursuing their different ways as those of our own me- 
 tropolis. In fact, all is stirring, wealthy, and brilliant ; and it is' 
 much easier to imagine yourselves in a substantial English city, 
 than in this comparatively new creation of the antipodes. 
 
 The farther you proceed along this street in the direction of 
 Paramatta, the more the delusion of an English town pursues you. 
 It changes gradually from Regent Street to Holborn, from Hol- 
 born to Whitechapel or Ratcliffe Highway. The houses dwindle 
 down from first to second-rate, and even to third and fourth. The 
 grog-shop at the corner loses the swell and outside swagger of the 
 gin-palace, and assumes the character of the haunt of coaches ; and 
 the movers of the coach and cab world — -jarvies^ coachies, ostlers, 
 hangers-on, are for ever assembled around it, and the fumes of its 
 rum and brandy are diffused liberally over the street by the breath 
 of this peculiar race. Then follow at intervals oyster-shops, coal 
 and wood and potato-shops, always in some mysteriously-linked 
 union, the green-grocer's, the hay and straw warehouse, the cheap 
 shoe and boot shop, and the barber and the old-boot-stall. You 
 rub your eyes and say, " This never can be Sydney : it is Shore- 
 ditch." 
 
 But you have only to take some one of the streets which cross 
 at right angles, and proceed a little way, to convince yourself that 
 you are far enough from England. The gardens which there 
 mingle with the houses in the outskirts and the better parts of the 
 town, are rich with a tropical verdure that leaves no mistake 
 about the matter. The cabbage-palm and the banana, the tall 
 clumps of bamboo fluttering their streamer-summits in the air, the 
 orange and lemon, the tall formality of the Norfolk Island pine, 
 and the dark rich evergreen foliage of the Moreton Bay fig and 
 India-rubber tree, tell you that you are in a warmer climate than 
 even Melbourne, and far more so than Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 The best part of Sydney consists of three or four streets running 
 in parallels with George Street, and of others which cross them 
 at right angles, as Pitt Street, Castlereagh Street, Elizabeth, 
 Philip, and Macquarie Streets. Taking one of these cross streets, 
 Market, Park, or Bathurst Street, you soon find yourselves in 
 Hyde Park, of all places : but a very different place to the ori- 
 ginal Hyde Park, for it has not a single tree in it. No doubt it 
 had once trees enow ; but they shared the fate of all trees which 
 come in the way of new colonists, for where they settle, they settle 
 also every individual tree, and leave the ground as bald as a slate* 
 Such is Hyde Park at present. It rather resembles a spacious 
 square, railed oS with a drive round it, and enclosed by terracei 
 
HYDE-PARK. — WOOLLOOMOOLOO. 251 
 
 of very much such houses as you would find surrounding a 
 park or square at home. On the eastern side stand the new- 
 University, the Museum, and a conspicuous Catholic Church. 
 The University is but in its infancy ; and, indeed, is to be re- 
 moved, or rather established, further out of town, I believe on 
 the Paramatta side. But here at present you observe a troop of 
 young collegians going to and fro, in orthodox gown and tile ; 
 and my friend Dr. Woolley is at the head of this first university of 
 Australia. 
 
 From this elevated situation of Hyde Park you have a good 
 view of a considerable part of the neighbourhood. Westward 
 lies the town ; eastward the singular hill side of WooUoomooloo, 
 crowned with sundry windmills, extensive barracks, prisons, and 
 other buildings, with the Surrey hills to the south of it. Wool- 
 loomooloo, like all the neighbourhood of Sydney, is built on the 
 sand rock ; and the number of new houses, based on this bare 
 rock, and built of it, presents a strange stony aspect, at present 
 little relieved by the verdure of trees or gardens. Indeed, it seems 
 an entire town of stone, both buildings and base. 
 
 Southward from Hyde Park you have a view of the Sand Hills, 
 at about a mile distant, now covered with cemeteries, thickly 
 studded with their white monumental stones. Around and above 
 them the bare, loose sandhills still show themselves, intermingled 
 with green downs and occasional patches of wood. Northward 
 lies what may be called the aristocratic part of Sydney. Streets 
 of superior houses, with their ample gardens, the Club House, the 
 Public Library, Macquarie's Hospital, the Chamber of the Legis- 
 lative Council, and the Government House, with the Public Park 
 or Domain, and the Botanic Garden. 
 
 At the north-west corner of Hyde Park rises the lofty spire of 
 the Church of St. James ; and, taking your way past it, you soon 
 arrive at the Club, a good building, where you find all the de- 
 partments of an English club. This building stands on a slope 
 looking down towards the harbour. A little above it stands the 
 Public Library, a substantial, rather heavy building, of the native 
 stone, but containing one of the finest and largest rooms that you 
 will find in any library anywhere. A reading room is attached to 
 it. The amount of books is large ; and there, also, I observed ex- 
 hibited a number of paintings by Mr. Marshal Claxton, who was 
 very successfully practising his art there, while Mr. Woolner had 
 also modelled various clever medallion profiles of leading people, 
 which were duly appreciated. In fact, art is beginning to be pa- 
 tronised in Sydney. Nearly opposite to the library is the entrance 
 
252 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 i 
 
 to the Domain, having at its right hand the extensive buildings of 
 Macquarie's Hospital, including the Council Chamber. 
 
 Here you have one of the noblest prospects that any city can 
 present. Close on your left is the Government Park and House, 
 standing finely overlooking the Bay on one hand, and the town on 
 the other, as well as the opposite slopes of the north shore. The 
 Domain, a beautiful park, beautifully wooded, descends at your 
 feet to the Botanic Gardens which skirt the Bay ; while the eye, 
 ranging over these, traverses a most extensive and Elysian scene 
 of waters, Avoods, promontories, and retreating coves, made still 
 more attractive by occasional glimpses of those country mansions 
 which are inimitably located in this Australian fairy-land. 
 
 The Bay of Sydney reminds me extremely of the Havel, near 
 Potsdam. It has the same broad expanse of water, surrounded by 
 hanging woods, and enlivened by pleasant islands, especially as 
 you see it from the Phauen Insel. 
 
 On this beautiful height, soon after entering the gate, you arrive 
 at a colossal statue of Sir Kichard Bourke, the Governor at the time 
 of the settlement of Port Phillip, and one of the best Governors 
 that the colony has had. The statue is by Baily, and does him 
 great credit. 
 
 Descending through the Domain to the Botanic Gardens, we 
 find them possessing one of the most enchanting situations imagin- 
 able. They occupy a considerable extent of land sloping down 
 to the bay, and following its windings of cove and promontory. 
 They are divided into two parts, a carriage-way running between 
 them. The upper one is more expressly laid out as a botanic 
 garden, and contains a very comprehensive collection of plants 
 and trees, all ticketed. The lower portion is more in the fashion 
 of a pleasure-ground. The ground is retained in grassed lawns, 
 with seats under the trees, and is, naturally, the grand resort of 
 the Sydney public. The gardens enclose in a fine circular sweep 
 Farm Cove. Walks are cut along the beach, and wind amongst 
 the trees; the native rock jutting out here and there. These 
 walks extend along the beach of the Domain, over rock and steep, 
 under the shade of wild foreign-looking trees and shrubs ; cedar 
 scrub and tea scrub, with huge masses of rock starting from the 
 earth under their shadow, and splendid piles of cliff overhanging 
 the clear, smooth water. 
 
 Following this walk round the next point, you arrive at what 
 is called Lady Macquarie's Chair. This is a long seat cut out of 
 the native rock, reached by several steps also hewn out of the 
 solid rock, and overhung by a canopy of the same. In front, at 
 
BOTANIC GARDENS. 253 
 
 some distance, lies the beautiful object of Garden Island, and 
 glimpses of the bay right and left, with Woolloomooloo to the 
 right, showing its bare, rockj, lofty slope, its stony, drab wilder* 
 ness of houses and crowning windmills. 
 
 All about Lady Macquarie's Chair there are other seats cut in 
 the rocks, some of them most curiously canopied by the overhang- 
 ing crags, worn into the strangest tracery by the action of wind 
 and water, as if actually carved out by the chisel. There is abun- 
 dance of fine wood about these walks, or along the margin of the 
 bay, making the place perfect as a scene of human enjoyment of 
 nature, and that so immediately near to a large city, and in the 
 full reach of its inhabitants. Darling Point opposite, with its 
 gardens and villas, the wooded, hilly island. Garden Island, and 
 the retreating sw^eep of Rushcutters' Bay, with the views over the 
 main breadth of the bay, all lend their charms to this delicious 
 spot. Garden Island has been preserved carefully by the Govern- 
 ment for the free enjoyment of the public, in spite of most seducing 
 offers of heavy sums by private individuals for the purchase of it. 
 It is, of course, a grand resort of pic-nic parties. 
 
 Following the beach from the Botanic Gardens the other way, 
 you find a walk leading close along the edge of the water under 
 the Government House, round by the fort, and so to the town. 
 Fine oysters are gathered here, in the shallow pellucid water ; and. 
 you see numbers of boys, and also of adults, generally busily look- 
 ing after the " natives." From the fort the view over the bay, 
 with the ships lying at anchor — the Calliope, a man-of-war, and a 
 small war steamer amongst them — is very attractive. 
 
 But we must return to the gardens. The lower gardens con- 
 tain a large reservoir, which is filled with sea-water by the tide, 
 and which was constructed by Governor Macquarie for a turtle 
 pond. The trees, which lend shade and beauty to these gardens, 
 are of the most splendid tropical kinds. There are some of the 
 largest Norfolk Island pines known out of Norfolk Island itself. 
 East India pines ; noble fig trees, — one venerable old fellow 
 growing on the rock overhanging the walk by the water, in such 
 a manner that it is obliged to be propped up by a stout tree stem. 
 There are oleanders ten or twelve feet high, and proportionally 
 large ; large Moreton Bay figs, more resembling magnolias than 
 the ordinary fig; large India-rubber trees, with their ample glossy 
 leaves ; the two last species of trees in ample masses, and large as 
 many of our forest trees, giving, as I have said, a peculiar cha- 
 racter to the gardens and shrubberies all about Sydney. Besides 
 these, the native gum trees present here varieties which I had not 
 
254 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 before seen, especially one kind planted along the sides of the 
 carriage road, between the two gardens, the bark of which re- 
 sembled sponge, and when pressed with your finger poured out 
 water freely. The weather had been rainy lately, and the whole 
 of the bark of these trees was charged with water. 
 
 In rambling about the upper, or more exclusively Botanic 
 Garden, I noted down a few of the trees, which may give a little 
 idea of the rich variety which it contains. The Opuntia tuna, 
 from South America, 15 feet high, with a stem 7 or 8 inches in 
 diameter ; I have seen this gigantic cactus growing wild in the 
 neighbourhood of Rio, of equal size. The Cedrela Australis, the 
 red cedar of New South Wales, more resembling a walnut tree 
 than an ordinary cedar ; Doryanihus excelsa, or giant lily of New 
 South Wales ; Bologhia lucida, the blagd w^ood of Norfolk Island ; 
 Phcenix farinifera^ the wild date tree, East Indies ; Eriobotrya 
 Japonica, the Loquot, Mangifera Indica, the Mango, East Indies ; 
 Thea viridis, green tea, China ; Melia Azedarack, the white cedar, 
 Syria; Psidium poniferum, the red guava, West Indies; Circissili- 
 quastrum, the Judas tree. South of Europe; Urtica photrinophylla, 
 shining nettle, Moreton Bay. This is a genuine nettle, but a 
 large tree, with bright glossy leaves, something resembling mul- 
 berry leaves in shape, and bunches of white flowers, something 
 like small bunches of white lilac flowers, but pendant. The most 
 remarkable nettle, however, of this country is, the Urtica gigas, 
 or rough nettle tree. This tree has a large leaf something like a 
 sun-flower leaf, hirsute beneath, and every bristle has a most 
 painful sting. Some gentlemen who had been in lUawara collect- 
 ing specimens of trees for the Paris Exhibition told me, that they 
 had measured one of these wonderful trees, which was 32 feet 
 round, and, I think, 140 feet high. 
 
 Such is the potency of the virus of this tree, that horses which 
 are driven rapidly through the forests where they abound, if they 
 come in contact with their leaves, die in convulsions. I have 
 seen a statement of the actual death in convulsions of his horse by 
 a traveller through these parts ; and one of the gentlemen of the 
 Exhibition Committee told me, that as they were riding in the 
 Illawara forest, a young man who had lately arrived, and was 
 ignorant of the nature of the tree, breaking off a twig as he rode 
 along, had his hand instantly paralysed by it. His fingers were 
 pressed firmly together, and were as rigid as stone. Fortunately, 
 a stockman who was near, observing it, came up and said, " I see 
 what is amiss, and will soon set all right." He gathered a species 
 of arum, which grew near, for nature has planted the bane and 
 
LIST OF TREES NOTICED. 255 
 
 antidote together, in the low grounds, and rubbing the hand with 
 it, it very soon relaxed, and resumed its natural pliancy. 
 
 This is precisely the process used by the children in England. 
 When nettled, they rub the place with a bruised dock-leaf, saying 
 all the while, " Nettle go out, dock go in." But to return to 
 our list. 
 
 Draccena nutans, New Holland ; Brugmantia suaveolens, Peru ; 
 Corynocarpus levigatus; Kraka of New Zealand ; Ficus syringifolia, 
 the Moreton Bay fig ; Ficus macrophylla, also from Moreton 
 Bay ; Ficus elastica, the India-rubber tree, East Indies ; Dimo- 
 carpus Lichij the Lee Chee, China ; Castanospermum Australe, 
 Moreton Bay chestnut ; Catalpa syringifolia, Catalpa, North 
 America ; Platycerium grande. Great Staghorn Fern, New 
 South Wales. This prince of ferns, with leaves some feet large 
 every way, in unbroken sheets, was growing on pieces of wood in 
 the garden walls, having a perfect architectural look. They 
 seemed calculated to suggest the ornature of the capital of some 
 new Australian column, as peculiar to it as the acanthus to that of 
 Corinth. Olea Americana, North American Olive ; Eucalyptus 
 glauca, glaucous gumtree. New South Wales, with blue perfoliate 
 leaves ; Sterculia heterophylla, the Kooromin of New South Wales. 
 
 These are but a mere sample of the host of trees collected in 
 these gardens, and which, all growing in the open air, are a suffi- 
 cient indication of the climate there. 
 
 These gardens are conducted on the most liberal principles ; the 
 Dublic has the freest admission, and seeds and plants are supplied 
 gratuitously to all parts of the world on application. I brought 
 away myself nearly a hundred kinds of seeds. 
 
 A debt of perpetual gratitude is due to Lady Macquarie, by 
 whose liberal energies these parks and public grounds were se- 
 cured to the public. A most well-merited inscription cut in the 
 rock, over what is called her chair, records her having procured 
 the laying out of these beautiful and extensive reserves. By this 
 means she has conferred on Sydney an enduring boon. She has 
 saved these lovely features of the neighbourhood from the havoc 
 and desecration of speculation and private cupidity. What a pity 
 that Melbourne has not had an Elizabeth Macquarie to preserve 
 the natural features, which its inhabitants are so much tempted 
 to destroy ! It is the feeling of grateful remembrance which has, no 
 doubt, caused the Australians, in every town which they erect, to 
 name one of the principal streets, Elizabeth Street. 
 
 Here, indeed, the name of Macquarie seems impressed on every- 
 thing. Governor Macquarie was one of the most energetic and 
 
256 TWO TEARS m VICTORIA. 
 
 public-spirited governors that the colony ever possessed. Mr. 
 Sidney, a recent writer on Australia, has pronounced this just 
 eulogy on him : — " He found New South Wales a gaol, and he 
 left it a colony. He found Sydney a village, and he left it a 
 city. He found a population of idle pensioners, paupers, and 
 paid officials, and he left it a large, free community, thriving 
 on the produce of flocks and the labour of convicts." He wonder- 
 fully improved and enlarged Sydney. He erected the splendid 
 hospital and all the accompanying buildings. He made new streets 
 in the town, and roads in the country, especially the great one 
 through the passes of the Blue Mountains. His hand seemed 
 everywhere, and, accordingly, his name seems now equally ubiqui- 
 tous. Macquarie Hospital, Macquarie Street, Macquarie Light- 
 house, Fort Macquarie, &c., meet you on all hands. The name of 
 Macquarie is stamped for ever on Sydney, and is found, more or 
 less, in every quarter of Australia. 
 
 My visit to my old friends, the Sraythes, at Darling Point, gave 
 me opportunity of observing the bay from that point. From their 
 pleasant villa you see the wooded shores of the opposite side of 
 Rushcutters' Bay, and Garden Island, with the point of Lady 
 Macquarie's Chair, and across the main bay to what is called the 
 North Shore. Here the changes of light and shade on the water, 
 and on these surrounding hills and woods, are often exquisitely 
 beautiful. Sometimes the water, one clear, glassy expanse, is only 
 stirred by little boats that are slowly gliding to and fro with what 
 little air they can catch, or a pleasant breeze gives them life and 
 speed, and sends the waves to the pebbled beach, with an inspiring 
 sound. 
 
 Every part of this neighbourhood is beautiful. It is a succession 
 of earthly paradises. The wealthy inhabitants of Sydney have 
 shown true taste in locating their country-houses in every direc- 
 tion upon these rocky, woodland shores, slopes, and promontories, 
 which give them every element of natural beauty, freshness, and 
 rural seclusion, within sufficiently near proximity to the city. 
 
 Nearly on the summit of Darling Point, another friend, Mr. 
 Skinner, has fixed his abode, enjoying the most extensive and 
 varied views over still different scenes of ocean and romantic land ; 
 and close below him on the strand lies nestled the villa of the late 
 Sir Thomas Mitchell. While Mr. Skinner might almost drop a 
 stone down Sir Thomas's chimney, the Surveyor-General seemed 
 as though he could conveniently angle in the bay from his draw- 
 ing-room windows. 
 
 At this same Darling Point, but on the farther side from Sydney, 
 
RIDE TO BOTANY BAY. 257 
 
 I had an opportunity of seeing-, in the house and grounds of Mr. 
 Mort, what pre-eminent advantages for suburban residence these 
 inlets and forelands of the bay present. Mr. Mort's grounds ran 
 along a steep side of a hill, and gave you every variety of garden, 
 lawn, wood, and wilderness that can be conceived. Here you find 
 in his conservatories, or in the open ground, a splendid variety of 
 trees and flowers, from almost every region ; his views across the 
 next cove of the bay, and to the forest hills beyond, are superb ; 
 and he was erecting a perfect palace on the summit of a rock, in a 
 position of natural magnificence rarely to be met with. The still 
 more extensive grounds and woodland walks of Mr. William 
 Maclea, I was prevented by my short stay from visiting. 
 
 In all these gardens you find the vine, the fig, the peach, the 
 nectarine, the loquot, the banana, and indeed almost every fruit of 
 every climate, flourishing in the greatest luxuriance and excellence 
 in the proper season. The soil on the hills is often, to all appear- 
 ance, a mere sand, yet vegetation thrives wonderfully on it ; and 
 in the hollows between the hills, the market-gardeners have found 
 a deep, rich, alluvial soil, and appear to raise crops of vegetables 
 which Battersea and Fulham could scarcely surpass. 
 
 I rode with Mr. Smythe across the bush to Botany Bay, a dis- 
 tance of about five miles. The whole of the country which, after 
 ascending the downs near Darlinghurst Prison, is nearly flat, is a 
 pure sand ; a pure white sand, as clean and white as Calais sand. 
 There did not, over the greater part of the tract, appear any soil 
 to discolour it ; yet, in this fine, silicious sand, excellent, I fancy, 
 for glass making, which in summer must be almost red hot, an 
 assemblage of curious and beautiful shrubs v/as growing, and in 
 spring, especially in September, they tell me, as wonderful a 
 growth of flowering plants appear. Now, in winter, the whole 
 ground is clothed with a thick mass of shrubs, each of which is 
 worthy of a conservatory. 
 
 At every step your eye falls on some new or beautiful thing. 
 There the Zamia, like a young date palm, spreads out its rigid 
 bushes ; there the prickly Solanum SodomcBum, or Dead Sea 
 apple, shows its light yellow fruit on its low difl'used stems. There 
 half-a-dozen species of Banksia present themselves, every one 
 difl*erent from those of Victoria. In our ride we collected speci- 
 mens of Banksia cemula, marginata, spinulosay and latifolia. Two 
 of these were extremely elegant, their branches and foliage much 
 slenderer than in the Banksias of Victoria and Van Diemen's 
 Land, and their singular bottle-brush shaped flowers in one were 
 of a brilliant, pale gold, and in another its flowers, a foot long, 
 
 VOL. II. S 
 
258 TWO TEAES IN VICTORIA. 
 
 were of a rich red gold. The other two, the cemula and latifolia, 
 were shrubs, having leaves very different to their tribe generally ; 
 in one they were hke the leaves of the Spanish chestnut, and as 
 large ; in the other, they were narrower, but boldly serrated. 
 
 Besides these, the Lambertia formosa displayed everywhere its 
 rosemary-like bushes, and rich crimson flowers ; and we recognised 
 the Crowea saligna^ with its pink flowers, the Hakea dactyloides, 
 and a most elegant fern, Gleichenia dicarpa. Besides these, 
 brilliant crimson flowers, formed of fine long filaments radiating 
 from their common stem, and a variety of others, were continually 
 tempting us to dismount and gather. 
 
 Nothing can more admirably display the all- disposing and 
 accommodating power of the Creator, than the clothing such an 
 apparently sterile sand, and, in summer, burning desert, as this 
 must be, with so luxuriant and superb a vegetation. One does 
 not wonder at the astonishment and enthusiasm of Sir Joseph 
 Banks, when he stepped ashore here, and found himself in the 
 midst of so entirely new and singular a family of plants, shrubs, and 
 trees. Well might he name it Botany Bay. 
 
 The bay itself, when we reached it, was not so striking, except 
 for its solitude. It is a large expanse of water, opening only by a 
 rather narrow outlet to the sea. The country all round it is flat, 
 consisting of this sand, and covered with a dark and monotonous- 
 looking forest. Its waters are, to a great extent, very shallow, and 
 a moment's view shows you that it never was calculated for a 
 settlement. How such a navigator as Captain Cook could have 
 left the magnificent bay of Sydney unexplored, just at hand as it 
 was, is wonderful, and equally wonderful that the botanists ranging 
 around in search of new plants, did not come within sight of its 
 waters, and its very striking environs. 
 
 The bay, however, is a great resort of the Sydney people in 
 summer ; close to it stands an inn, the Sir Joseph Banks, which 
 has pleasure gardens, and walks, and baths in the bay, and boats 
 for the amusement of the visitors. It has, in fact, a sort of 
 Zoological Garden, in which are various animals and birds, native 
 and foreign. There, besides an elephant, Bengal tigers, &c., you 
 see kangaroos, emus, wombats, and wild dogs ; the finest pair of 
 native dogs that I have seen are there. The inn-keeper informed 
 us that he had a lion on its way from the Cape, and in front of his 
 house he had a splendid collection of living birds, and in his house 
 numerous others stuffed. It may be imagined that a ride or drive 
 over the blossoming and aromatic heath, and the attractions of 
 these objects, with the, perhaps, in their estimation, superior ones, 
 
 \ 
 
OLD CEMETERY OP ST. ANDREW'S. 259 
 
 of good viands and wines, draw great throngs here occasionally ; 
 and one of the great amusements is shark-hunting in the bay. 
 These monsters abound in all the waters both of Botany Bay and 
 Port Jackson ; and parties in boats go out and angle for them. 
 On hooking one, he is bawled up as quickly as possible to the side 
 of the boat, and struck upon the nose with the boat-iiook, which 
 stuns him, or he would speedily upset the craft, and his friends 
 would as speedily lop off the limbs and make short work of his 
 captors. 
 
 We saw at a distance the monument of the unfortunate La 
 Perouse on the shore near the entrance of the bay. 
 
 I paid a visit to the Sand Hills, lying south of the town. I had 
 read some accounts of burials of convicts there in the early times 
 of the colony, under circumstances which interested the imagination, 
 and I expected to see it a spot of desolation and neglect ; but, on 
 the contrary, these hills were occupied by two extensive and 
 thickly-populated private cemeteries, one of them belonging to the 
 Catholics, and abounding with crosses and Irish names. I also 
 visited the old burial-ground in George Street, near St. Andrew's 
 Cathedral. The people here very wisely seem to have commenced 
 from the first with the cemetery system, instead of crowding their 
 churches and churchyards with corpses. But the town has long 
 engulfed this old cemetery, and therefore it is disused as such, and 
 the interments made farther out. 
 
 But here you find traces of the earliest inhabitants of Sydney, 
 and, indeed, there is a certain air of antiquity about this inclosure. 
 It is surrounded by brick walls, and clothed with a thick English- 
 looking turf. There is an old school, looking very like an English 
 grammar-school, on one side of it ; and behind that is rising the 
 new cathedral of St. Andrew. Schoolboys are playing about as 
 in some old school-ground or churchyard at home ; and the memorial 
 stones, which are laid flat on the ground, are many of them 
 broken, and others sunk sideways, their inscriptions being too 
 frequently effaced by the restless feet of children. I could scarcely 
 persuade myself that I was not in an old burial-ground in England, 
 all looked so little in keeping with a comparatively new land. 
 
 The first tomb on the right hand of the gate bore the name of 
 Shelley ; that on the left hand, " Captain Gavin Hamilton, com- 
 mander of the ship Sidney Cove. Died, 1798." Most of the dates 
 are from 1796, within eight years of the founding of the colony, 
 to 1814, when it seems to have been disused. It abounds with 
 the names of the officers of the New South Wales regiment. A 
 new cemetery is now opened at Camperdown. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 Steamers run every few hours to Paramatta, distant sixteen 
 miles. I took one of these, and found the trip a very interesting 
 one. The part of the bay called Paramatta River, entering between 
 Goat's Island and the promontory on which Balmain stands, is for 
 about three parts of the way very picturesque and attractive. The 
 sand-hills rise from the water in fine variety of form. Here are 
 green slopes dipping down into the bay, smooth and smiling ; there 
 stout, bold pieces of rock; and here, again, swell up the hills, 
 covered with large, square masses of crag in splendid disorder, but 
 everywhere covered with forest or with shrubbery. There is the 
 same running forward of promontory and retreating of woodland 
 cove as in the great area of the bay, but on a smaller scale ; and 
 country-houses, vineyards, and orange orchards, perpetually vary 
 and enliven the scene. 
 
 The whole of the banks and hills around, in the whole neigh- 
 bourhood of Sydney, are sandstone rock ; and the cliffs near the 
 water are frequently carved out by the tides in very picturesque 
 style. And on the sloping surfaces of the hills, great blocks of 
 stone are thrown about in all directions, producing a fine effect as 
 seen amongst the woods. 
 
 We passed on our left the well-known Cockatoo Island, the depot 
 of the convicts ; a naked, yellow sand rock, witii houses built along 
 its ridges, and its glaring baldness but little relieved by a few 
 gardens. Sentinels were pacing to and fro below, and convicts 
 were working in groups above, at getting and hewing stone for a 
 dry dock near the place, an advantage which Sydney has not 
 hitherto possessed. 
 
 Mangrove trees, with a thick shining foliage, grow in the salt 
 water along each side of the bay for the greater part of the way ; 
 and very extensive orange-orchards showed themselves as we ad 
 vanced. These orcliards were splendidly studded with thei 
 golden-hued fruit, which showed beautifully on the dark gree 
 ground of the foliage. The trees grow with great freedom an 
 luxuriance. They are not trimmed, as we see them in conser 
 vatories in England, into a round head on a naked stem, but the; 
 grow more in the style of Portugal laurels, putting out branchei 
 from near the ground, and forming magnificent masses of foliag 
 and of fruit. At Kissing Point, where the boat puts out pas 
 sengers, there is an orchard which extends nearly three miles u 
 the country from the water-side, and walking in it amongst the 
 fine, fresh, unconstrained trees, hung all over with the riches 
 fruit, you might imagine yourself in the real Hesperian groves 
 
 Paramatta is a long straggling village. Originally it was th 
 
RIDE TO THE SOUTH HEADS. 261 
 
 seat of Government, and liere is a Government House, old 
 barracks, an orphan school. King's school, and other public 
 buildings. It has also some manufactories of the fabric called after 
 the place, Paramatta, and also of Tweeds. But the place looked 
 anything but thriving. I walked up its straight road, between 
 very quiet houses in large quiet gardens, till I came to the park in 
 which stands the Government House, resembling a group of 
 cottages standing on a rising ground backed by stables. The 
 park was rather naked of trees, and the country monotonous. At 
 the entrance of this park the late governor. Sir Charles Fitzroy, 
 had the misfortune to lose his lady by the upsetting of the carriage, 
 and since then Paramatta has not been a very favourite residence ; 
 but a railway now opened from Sydney has no doubt given a new 
 life to this village, making it, in fact, a suburb of Sydney. 
 
 Paramatta reminded me of England by the number of English 
 trees, — oaks, willows, &c., — which had been planted, and I 
 walked amongst withered leaves rustling on the ground as in an 
 autumnal forest in England. Yet ever and anon, orange and 
 lemon trees, loaded with fruit, recalled me from these delusive 
 impressions. There were lemon hedges^ with their fruit all gone 
 next the lane, but hanging very thickly within, demonstrating that 
 the boys here are not deterred by the sourness of lemons, as the 
 American boys in Sam Slick's story were by the sour apples, which 
 the old gentleman by grafting took care should hang outside his 
 orchard. 
 
 A ride to the South Heads, — a most delightful ride through the 
 hills and woods above the bay, with some of my friends, and a 
 splendid view over the rocky portals of the bay, over wide shores, 
 and broad ocean, from the light -house, completed my peregri- 
 nations around Sydney. Near the lighthouse, I observed to my 
 surprise an Independent chapel ; certainly I should think the most 
 independent chapel in the world, for it was quite independent of 
 any congregation, and they were already wisely turning it into a 
 couple of dwelling-houses. 
 
 The weather setting in wet cut off a very charming project of a 
 journey on horseback into lUawara, about seventy miles distant. 
 The splendid vegetation and gigantic trees of this quite tropical 
 region, its palms, its stupendous nettles, its parasites, and lianas, 
 hanging and streaming in the wind from the summits of its lofty 
 trees, its amiable bushes furnished with hooks to seize you as you 
 traverse the forests, and other delights, strongly attracted us, and 
 not the least of them the recommendations of the journey, which 
 was said to be through the most steep and rugged defiles of the 
 
 S 3 
 
262 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. ' 
 
 mountains, with, I think, only one halting-place on the way, — 
 Liverpool. Then there were grand chasms many fathoms deep in 
 the road, that you had to leap, and yet over which a gentleman said 
 he had driven in his gig. This, he said, he accomplished by taking 
 a strong rope with him, and, on approaching one of these chasms, 
 flinging the rope over the branch of a tree on the other side, and 
 then bawling the gig over, letting it swing in the air till it could 
 be lowered safely on the right side I A second Munchausen ; but, 
 of Australians, the first ! 
 
 My visit in Sydney, from its necessarily short duration, did 
 not allow me to see so much as I could have wished of the interior 
 life of the place ; yet, what I did see gave me a high impression 
 of the intelligence and refinement of its society. 1 was thrown 
 into contact with various of the leading men of the different parties 
 and denominations there ; and everywhere I found as high a 
 stamp of education, intellectual activity, and social culture as in 
 the best cities of Europe. There was nothing to remind you that 
 you were in a place founded only sixty-six years ago on a founda- 
 tion of felonry ; nothing that you were not in London itself. 
 Many of its wealthier people have been educated at the English 
 universities ; many others have come hither in the years of their 
 manhood. There is a tone of liberality, a spirit of progression, 
 and a most cordial feeling of hospitality, which extremely charmed 
 me in the people of Sydney. And yet, how much more quiet and 
 steady seemed the spirit of the place than that of Melbourne. 
 There^ all was in an exotic and feverish condition. The eager, 
 hurrying, unsettled tone of men who lived only to speculate, and 
 grasp at vast fortunes to be accomplished to-morrow — nay, to- 
 day, this instant — is the spirit of Melbourne. Before that, art, 
 literature, science, the philosophy of government, of religion, and 
 of the social economy, fall flat, as dust or dross, and are only 
 accepted and admired by the few. Here you could come near 
 very i'ew people of any standing who would not be pronounced 
 accomplished men at home, or who had not a genial and active 
 taste for the advancement of knowledge and religious enlighten- 
 ment. 
 
 A very striking proof of this occurred to me very oddly. I was 
 riding towards the South Heads with some friends, when two gen- 
 tlemen drove past in a carriage, and immediately turning back, 
 asked if I were not of the party. Though somewhat surprised by 
 this odd rencontre, I announced myself; and one of the gentlemen 
 said he was the Rev. Mr. Poer, from England ; that he had seen 
 some of my friends just before leaving, and gave me news from 
 
SETTLED TONE OF SOCIETY. 263 
 
 them. They drove on, and we rode forward considerably amused 
 by the scene. 
 
 A few days after I met Mr. Poer ; and he told me that he was 
 sent out with the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, to raise subscriptions for the 
 building of chapels, and establishing ministers of the Independent 
 Church in these colonies ; and asked me what I supposed he had 
 obtained at one meeting ? I guessed in vain ; and so would the 
 reader. It was 20,000/. ! In proof of the fact, he produced his 
 subscription list, and allowed me to examine it. It contained 
 items of individual subscriptions of 2500/., 2000/., 1000/., and 
 500/., put down with a promptitude which has scarcely any, if 
 any, parallel. In Melbourne he had obtained, but as the fruit of 
 various efforts, I believe, about 7000/. This, with the wonderful 
 golden harvest, the vast influx of people, and the then apparently 
 unapproachable prosperity of Melbourne, formed a curious con- 
 trast. We must, however, recollect the comparatively short 
 career of Melbourne, and that revolutions so sudden and exciting 
 as the gold mania of Victoria are not favourable to the growth of 
 literature, art, or religion. They will come anon. I only wished 
 to point out the more natural tone of Sydney. In Melbourne we 
 seem to be in a hot-bed, a forcing-house ; in Sydney, in the 
 natural atmosphere. 
 
 And yet Sydney participates in the same class of social and 
 political evils as Victoria. It has an ingrained taint of convictism, 
 that will take years entirely to work out ; it has the same ten- 
 dency to excessive intoxication in its lower classes ; and it has the 
 same obstructions to the sale of land. 
 
 Under the fair and pleasing exterior of Sydney life, there is a 
 horrid line of demarcation running through society which be- 
 comes more and more apparent, as people become more acquainted 
 with it. The emancipist class cannot overpass it ; and a tliorough 
 amalgamation of the two discordant elements will require a long 
 period yet. Perhaps the love of show and splendour iniierent in 
 the emancipist class, tends to keep open the gulf which they thus 
 by ostentation strive to hide. The houses, furniture, and equi- 
 pages of these people have a dash and outre display about them, 
 which naturally attracts attention, and leads to inquiry. 
 
 It would appear to be an hereditary quality. Mr. M* Arthur, 
 in his account of New South Wales, speaking of the arrivals of 
 female convicts, says : — " The madams on board occupy the few 
 days which elapse before landing, in preparing for the most dazzling 
 eifect on their descent on the Australian shore. With rich silk 
 dresses, bonnets a la modej ear pendants, brooches, long gorgeous 
 
 S4 
 
264 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 shawls, and splendid veils, silk stockings, kid gloves, and parasols 
 in hand, dispensing most sweet odours from their profusely per- 
 fumed forms, they are assigned as servants. The settler expected 
 a servant, but receives a princess." 
 
 Victoria has reduced the evil of convictism, by drawing off its 
 latest convict class ; but the old wound remains deep in the bosom 
 of society, and will not cicatrize at present. As, however, I may 
 have to speak of this elsewhere, here I will only remark, that 
 the population of the colony is estimated at 230,000, and it costs 
 130,000/. annually in police. 
 
 The consumption of spirits, though large, bears no proportion 
 to that of Victoria. In 1853, the duty amounted to 193,239/., 
 while that of Victoria, for about the same population, amounted to 
 upwards of 600,000/.! The duty on wine in New South Wales for 
 1853, was 32,296/.; and of ale and beer, 8,915/. : total, 234,440/. ! 
 — which is estimated to make, though so far inferior to the 
 quantity drank in Victoria, upwards of 3^ gallons of spirits, of 6 
 gallons malt liquor, and 2J gallons of wine, to every man, woman, 
 and child, in the colony. There is wide room for reform even here, 
 and the soberer classes are extremely anxious to effect it, if they 
 knew how. 
 
 With respect to the sale of lands, the same laws and impediments 
 operate as in Victoria, but then, the pressure of immigration has 
 not been so overwhelming, and the mischief has not been so keenly 
 felt. The land owners and land-holders, the old grantees and pur- 
 chasers, together with the squatters, constitute a much more 
 powerful body than the isolated squatters in Victoria, and they 
 are equally resolute to resist encroachment on their present privi- 
 leges and monopoly. But the mischief contains its own remedy. 
 When the land embargo is taken off in Victoria, as it assuredly will 
 be from the force of circumstances, its doom is sealed. Unless 
 this colony can offer the same attractions to immigrants as its 
 neighbours, immigration will cease, and the progress of the colony 
 will cease with it, for those without land will walk over the borders 
 and get it in the next colony. It will become stunted, and instead 
 of the leading colony, will sink into the lowest and weakest. But 
 this is a condition which, with the present population, enterprise, 
 and public spirit of New South Wales, is an impossibility. 
 
 Labour, in all the Australian colonies, is extremely scarce, and 
 the colonial Government has been called upon to give free pas- 
 sages, as that of Van Diemen's Land does, exclusive of the Go- 
 vernment immigrants furnL-^hed by the land-fund. 
 
 While wandering about this fair city, I have often thought what 
 
THE SWINDLER " LORD LASCELLES." 265 
 
 a strange record could be furnished by ** the oldest inhabitant," of 
 the singular characters who have been sent hither during half-a- 
 century ; from Barrington, the celebrated pick-pocket, who became 
 a first-rate police magistrate, down to Margaret Catchpole, who 
 became a highly respectable and wealthy woman, and to Tawell, 
 who made a fortune here, while under sentence of transportation, 
 and went home to finish his destiny, by hanging. I shall close 
 this chapter with an amusing anecdote and a piece of convict 
 romance, which were related to me. 
 
 An old female servant accosted my informant, on coming home 
 one day, with the assurance that Dr. Pomatum had called, and 
 wanted to see him. " What Dr. Pomatum ? " asked the gentle- 
 man, "I know nobody of that name!" "What!" exclaimed the 
 woman, "not know Dr. Pomatum, who was sent out for trigo- 
 nometry ! " 
 
 My friend then recognised, through the disguise of the old 
 woman's language, Dr. Parmenter, who was transported for 
 bigamy. 
 
 Some years ago, a clever and impudent convict gave himself 
 out to be Lord Lascelles, the son of the Earl of Harewood, and 
 ran a most amazing career of successful imposition. I have heard 
 the story related by different persons, with considerable varia- 
 tions, but this is very much as told me by a gentleman who was 
 at the time in the colony. 
 
 This man professed to be sent out by the Home Government to 
 ascertain the real condition of the colony, and the administration 
 of its affairs. He represented that it was necessary to the success- 
 ful execution of his mission that he should be perfectly incognito, 
 and that as little as possible should transpire as to the fact of a 
 Government commissioner being in the colony on such an errand. 
 He made a tour up the country, and prudently began his opera- 
 tions at a distance from the capital. The victims whom he 
 selected he flattered by taking them aside, on arriving at their 
 places of abode, communicating to •them in secresy his rank, 
 title, and object, and stating that he had been recommended to 
 them as the especially able, well-informed, and trustworthy 
 persons of that particular district. The twig was well limed ; 
 the tickled vanity of the individual almost invariably won the 
 impostor his confidence ; and as the parties thus addressed were 
 generally country gentlemen, living in the simplicity of the remote 
 bush, he was received and treated as a live lord — a rarissima avis 
 there, was pretty sure to be. 
 
 The man was feasted, feted, and caressed ; all that he pretended 
 
266 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 to wish to know was freely communicated to him, and as it was 
 received in strict confidence, so he solicited in return that no 
 breath of who he was should escape them. 
 
 But my Lord Lascelles had lordly tastes.* He was very fond 
 of good horses, and always made particular inquiries whether such 
 were in possession of the host whom he honoured with his com- 
 pany, and purchased the very finest, paying by cheques on his 
 banker in Sydney. One would have thought that these cheques, 
 on being presented and disallowed, with the ominous words " no 
 effects," would have speedily checked his lordship's career. But, 
 somehow or other, they did not for a long time. Probably the 
 able actor had so impressed these rural victims with his being a 
 real nobleman, that they might suppose there was some mistake at 
 the bank : that the cheque had been presented when his lordship's 
 remittances had failed to arrive ; and that by making any public 
 stir about the matter they might damage the business of Govern- 
 ment. However, the illustrious stranger had gone away : they 
 had to find him ; and his course was so still and secret that this 
 was no easy matter, across the thousands of miles of a wilderness 
 and thinly peopled country. Be that as it may, they did not find 
 him, and they did not expose him, till he had had ample time to 
 make a very extensive tour through the colony, doing astonished 
 squatters the honour of an aristocratic visit, flattering them by 
 his confidence, and purchasing their very finest horses. At some 
 of their houses he had stayed for weeks together, enchanting his 
 entertainers with his affability and abandonment of all lordly 
 pride. At one place he had done a most generous action in a 
 most unostentatious manner. The daughter of the house where 
 he was staying attracted his attention by her evident pleasure in 
 the society of so great a man, and finding that the circumstances 
 of her parents were not very flourishing, he told her one day as 
 they were alone together, that he understood that she was engaged 
 to a neighbouring settler, but that the young man not being rich, 
 and her father not being able to give her a fortune, the marriage 
 was delayed. " Now," said he, " 1 have such a regard for you ; I 
 see that you are so thoroughly good and amiable a creature, that 
 I am anxious to do what I can to remove this obstacle to your 
 happiness. Here, then," he continued, *ms a cheque for 1000/., 
 take care of it ; keep it to yourself; do not say anything to your 
 father about it ; only communicate the circumstance to your lover. 
 That is your dowry ; as soon as you are married present it for 
 payment, but not before." 
 
 * Introduced as the Hon. Tom Lascelles in " Never too late to Mend." 
 
THE SWINDLER " LORD LASCELLES." 267 
 
 Of course the astonished girl was overwhelmed with gratitude 
 for this unexpected generosity. She kissed his hand, bathing it 
 with floods of tears, — finding no words strong enough to express 
 her emotion. His lordship took his leave; and the happy girl 
 secured her treasure in the most secret place of her chamber, and 
 lived in the full felicity of her good fortune and briglit future, till 
 she was awakened from her dream by the eventual exposure of 
 the impostor. 
 
 In another case he had gone further than this, and was on the 
 point of marrying the daughter of a wealthy squatter, when the 
 frightful discovery of his real character was made public. 
 
 During this time he had been down in Sydney, ever and anon, 
 probably to dispose of his valuable horses ; and during one of these 
 visits, it having oozed out that Lord Lascelles was actually in the 
 colony, and in the city, the Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, who 
 knew Lord Lascelles very well, wondered that he did not even 
 privately call upon him, and sent him an invitation to dine with 
 him. His lordship took care, of course, to stay away, and to take 
 his departure from the city with as little delay as possible. 
 
 In many cases this bold adventurer had not only purchased 
 horses, but had got his cheques to large amounts cashed. One of 
 his last visits was to a gentleman whom one of my informants well 
 knew. He had stayed with him for some time, and finding that he 
 was not prosperous, — only too common a case with the squatter 
 and agriculturist at that period, — he had generously presented him 
 with a cheque for 1000/. as a loan, to be free of interest, and to be 
 repaid at the perfect convenience of the receiver. 
 
 This gentleman, who had pressing debts, which he was anxious 
 to discharge, lost no time in travelling down to Sydney ; but was 
 struck dumb by the clerk at the bank handing him back his cheque, 
 saying that no such person had any account there. 
 
 The poor man, dreadfully cut down, rode back home, where he 
 found his lordship still very quietly and comfortably sojourning, 
 and told him of the disagreeable discovery he had made. The soi- 
 disant Lord Lascelles affected a well-assumed surprise, and begged 
 that he would not distress himself, for that it must originate in 
 the fact of his remittances having been longer on the voyage than 
 he had anticipated. That it was true that this was a bank that 
 hitherto had had no transactions with him, but that his agent had 
 advised him that to that bank his remittance was sent. The 
 money could not possibly be long before it arrived ; and he ad- 
 vised the poor man to retain the cheque, and present it again 
 shortly. 
 
268 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 In a fortnight, during which time the unhappy man, devoured 
 with anxiety, and dunned by his creditors, had restrained his im- 
 patienccj he again rode down to Sydney, once more with trembling 
 nerves presented the cheque, and this time received the prostrat- 
 ing answer, that not only had the so-called lord no money there, 
 but that he was now known to be a most arrant swindler, and that 
 there were sharp inquiries after him, both by Government and a 
 host of his dupes in every quarter of the colony. The wretched 
 man hastened to his inn, mounted his horse, and rode up home- 
 wards, frantic with rage and mortification, and vowing to murder 
 the villain the moment he set eyes on him. 
 
 He rode with such rapidity, thinking only of his own villanous 
 treatment, and not of his horse, that he could scarcely make the 
 poor brute hold out to the end of his journey. Covered Avith dirt 
 and perspiration, haggard with excitement and the fatigue of his 
 desperate ride, he at length saw his own home, — flung the reins 
 on the staggering horse's neck, sprung down, and rushed into the 
 house, exclaiming wildly, "Where is the villain?" 
 
 His wife, alarmed at this frightful apparition of her usually 
 quiet husband, asked what villain? "Why," he replied, "that 
 villain who has been here so long ; who gave me that cheque, that 
 base " 
 
 " What !" exclaimed the wife, "Lord Lascelles ?" 
 
 " Lord Lascelles ! Lord Devil," shouted the infuriated husband, 
 " he is no lord ! He is a swindler! a thief! a convict! a murderer! 
 a devil ! Where is he ? for I'll kill him. He shall not live to play 
 his games on honest men again. Where is he?" — snatching 
 down his gun with the air of a maniac. 
 
 The wife thought he was one. She was greatly alarmed, and 
 with tears and agitation, begged him to calm himself. 
 
 " Where is the monster?" again fiercely shouted the husband. 
 
 " Where is he ? " replied the wife, " why, he is only gone to 
 
 , about twenty miles off; he has been gone these three days, 
 
 and said he should be back to-day. Do, for heaven's sake, my 
 dear, calm yourself, he will soon be here." 
 
 " Gone! gone !" said the gentleman, "how did he go?" 
 
 "Why," replied his wife, " in the gig, as he has always done." 
 
 " In the gig!" again shouted the poor man, trembling from head 
 to foot, " in the gig ! O Lord ! and that's gone, too ! the villain ! 
 the villain ! " 
 
 " But he'll soon be back," said the wife ; " he always has done 
 so, and why shouldn't he now?" 
 
 The distracted husband stood as if he were about to go into a fit. 
 
THE SWINDLER " LORD LASCELLES." 269 
 
 His mouth was open to speak, his eyes rolled wildly, every muscle 
 of his face twitched convulsively ; and the poor wife, more than 
 ever alarmed, exclaimed, " Gracious God! speak! speak! what is 
 amiss?" 
 
 The poor fellow gasped for breath, seemed actually suiFocating, 
 but a moment afterwards, said faintly, as his spasm seemed to 
 relax, *' He's gone ! he'll never come back ; he's no lord, but a real 
 devil ; his cheque is a cursed cheat, and now he's got my horse 
 and gig, — O Lord ! O Lord ! " 
 
 " No, no," now cried the wife as frantically as her husband, 
 " he will come back, he must come back, for he had no money to 
 travel with, and was obliged to get 30/. of me to make some 
 purchases at ." 
 
 On hearing this, the husband gave a short outcry, half shriek, 
 half groan, and sunk speechless into his chair, perfectly over- 
 whelmed by this finish to his misfortunes. 
 
 The shameless impostor was taken and brought to trial at 
 Sydney. He was there readily identified by the police as a well- 
 known convict, but he still persisted that he was what he assumed 
 to be — Lord Lascelles — and refused to plead, because he neither 
 was nor could be, in the colony, tried by his peers. Spite of his 
 assertions, and his unabashed and dogged persistence in this de- 
 claration, he was convicted and condemned to the chain-gangs of 
 Norfolk Island. 
 
 The last phasis of life here had been, not that of convicts 
 enacting nobility, but nobility enacting the merchant. Lord 
 Charles Churchill, a son of the Duke of Marlborough, came out 
 hither in his yacht, with a cargo of boots and shoes, but too late 
 for a profitable market ; the real merchants having long ago glutted 
 the market to extremest repletion. Lord Charles therefore set 
 sail for Hobart Town, whither, as a desperate punster observed, 
 he would at all events, not make a bootless errand. 
 
272 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. J 
 
 CHAP. XLII. 
 
 VAN DIEMEN'S land. 
 
 Entrance of new Governor to Melbourne. — Passage to Launceston. — The 
 Tamar. — Launceston Coach to Campbell Town. — Views on the Way. — 
 
 Ben Lomond Western Tiers. — Campbell Town. — Country Life here. — 
 
 Young Lady House-painting. — Mona Vale. — The Stout Gentleman and 
 the Bushranger. — Female Factory at Koss. — Kide across the Hills to 
 Swanport. — Execrable Road. — Primitive Gates. — Lost in the Woods. — 
 Fine Views of Mountains and Southern Ocean. — Oyster Bay. — The Me- 
 rediths. — Lovely Country. — English-looking Farms. — ■ The Schoutens. — 
 Maria Island. — Animals, Birds, and Flowers. — Tasmanian Wolf and Devil. 
 — Fine Climate of Tasmania. — Social Security. — Natives extinct. — Con- 
 victs mostly gone. — Pressing Want of Labourers. — Free Passages given 
 by Government. — Statistics of the Island published by Government. — 
 State of Wages. — Prices of Provisions. — List of all Kinds of Working 
 People wanted. — An excellent Opening for Emigrants. 
 
 I RETURNED to Melbourne in good time to witness the arrival of 
 the new Governor, Sir Charles Hotham. A triumphal arch was 
 erected on the bridge over which he had to pass into the town, 
 where, of course, the kangaroo and emu cut a prominent figure 
 with the Hotham arms, and the union-jack, indicative of Sir 
 Charles being an admiral, and over all a grand motto " Victoria^ 
 welcomes Victoria's choice ;" on which the Argus put forth a mis- 
 chievous paraphrase, *' Victoria welcomes Hobson's choice;" having 
 a double allusion to Hobson's Bay, in which the new ruler lay at 
 anchor, and to the colony having no choice but Hobson's in the 
 matter. A clerk in a Government office^ also, being requested to 
 sketch a design adapted to the embellishment of this arch, humor- 
 ously sent in a hot ham smoking on a dish. 
 
 But these were only the jocose ebullitions of fun and good 
 humour. The whole population was most cordially disposed to 
 welcome their new viceroy, and to hope all sorts of benefits from 
 his administration. The train which attended his entrance seemed 
 endless. Liardet's Beach, where he landed, is about three miles 
 from the town, and the throng of carriages, horsemen, and people 
 appeared to fill the whole way. There was no lack of banners and 
 evergreen garlands, showy rugs, and lengths of carpet hung out 
 of windows in continental style ; and the streets and house-tops 
 exhibited thronging thousands. 
 
 I posted myself on a rising ground near the town-hall to wait 
 the advance of the procession, and had the interval amusingly 
 filled up by two young people close behind me, who, unconscious 
 
ENTRANCE OP THE NEW GOVERNOR. 271 
 
 of their next neighbour, were discussing my own visit to the 
 colony. The young gentleman informed his chere amie^ that I had 
 been all over the colony learning all about it ; been at all the 
 diggings, and if I had not been actually digging, I had been 
 " doing as the diggers do," — going amongst tliem, talking with 
 them, and learning all about them ; and he did me the honour of 
 assuring her that now we sliould soon know all about the colony. 
 The young lady asked if Mary Howitt had come too, which, to my 
 great surprise, he assured her she had, saying, "That is quite cha- 
 racteristic of the woman, you know." 
 
 What further characteristics I might have learned,, the sound of 
 a brass band and a great stir and hurrahing of the people put an 
 end to. The band sounded on, all necks were stretched from 
 upper windows, roof gutters and parapets ; everybody below was 
 literally standing on tip-toe, and every one endeavouring to catch 
 a peep at the expense of his neighbour behind, when suddenly off 
 went all hats, round they swung in a thousand hands, white hand- 
 kerchiefs were also fluttering and flapping most vigorously, like 
 the wings of a legion of pelicans ; out burst a stunning hurrah, 
 and up galloped — not Sir Charles — but a merry digger in regular 
 digger costume, acting the new Governor, bowing right and left, 
 as he galloped up the street, waving his old wide-awake most 
 gracefully, and grinning from ear to ear, at the grand take-in that 
 he had accomplished, by coming briskly up immediately after the 
 band. Everybody fell at once into the jest, and renewed cheering, 
 mingled with peals of laughter, accompanied the wag all the way 
 up the street. 
 
 The band by some means had got half a mile at least a-head of 
 the real procession, so that a long time elapsed before the genuine 
 Simon Pure rode up, accompanied by a number of the colonial 
 officials on horseback. Then succeeded about a mile of carriages 
 before that of Lady Hotham arrived ; and as a faithful historian I 
 must say honestly, lest I lead some painter or historian on this 
 side of the globe into an error, that nine-tenths of these carriages 
 were carts. Good honest carts they were, crammed with loads of 
 honest, hearty people, some of them to the amount of a baker's 
 dozen ; and as joyously loyal as they could have been in the most 
 elegant carriages that could be constructed. I suppose every vehicle 
 that boasted as many as two wheels had been pressed into the 
 great occasion, for I waited till I began to think the procession 
 was like the Irishman's rope, and had the other end cut off, for no 
 end came. The cannon began to thunder forth the announcement 
 
272 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 of his Excellency's arrival at the Government House, and I took 
 my way down to the steamer, and embarked for Tasmania. 
 
 The passage from Melbourne to Launceston is about sixteen 
 hours on an average ; and the charge for this in the first cabin, 
 was 61. lO^., only a pound less than to Sydney, averaging a three 
 days' voyage. This, compared with the passage from London to 
 Ostend, which I have made for lO^., showed the difference between 
 European and Australian cost of travel. 
 
 The "Ladybird" was soon steaming up the river Tamar to 
 Launceston, Captain Robertson, the commander, beguiling the 
 tedium of the passage with alternate performances on the guitar, 
 the accordion, and his own voice, so that no syrens on any saline 
 rocks would have had any chance with him ; and as all was smooth, 
 and the track as beaten as that between your dining and your 
 drawing-room, we were well satisfied to leave the vessel's course 
 to the trusty mate. 
 
 The view of the coast as we approached it was fine, consisting 
 of hilly ranges, well wooded ; the more distant mountain heights of 
 Ben Lomond, and the Western Tiers peeping over them. The 
 town lies forty miles up the winding Tamar ; the banks of which 
 are very pleasing, with woods, rocks, and patches of cultivation. 
 
 Launceston is enclosed in a sort of amphitheatre of hills of some 
 elevation. The population is about 10,000 ; and the buildings are 
 a good deal spread over the flats near the river and the slopes of 
 the hills. A few ships were lying at the quay ; but the river here 
 is shallow and muddy, with a wide stretch of marshy land on its 
 banks, which cannot, one would think, be very healthy for the 
 town thus shut in. One consequence is, that during the winter 
 season, dense fogs settle every night on the town, and frequently 
 hang there through the day. They have beautiful water, however, 
 supplied by the South Eske, which, on the west side of the town, 
 breaks through the mountain ranges from a fine cataract in its 
 escape from the gorge of these hills. 
 
 The mail for Hobart Town starting at five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, I set out with it, leaving my chance of a more particular 
 survey of Launceston to the future. At this early hour of depar- 
 ture, I was vividly reminded of the old coach times of England. 
 At the inn door stood a well-appointed and well-horsed stage- 
 coach, w^ith coachee and guard all in orthodox costume, and with 
 the genuine old smack about them. Crack went the whip, and off 
 we went along as finely a macadamised road as England can 
 present, and which runs with the directness of a Roman road all 
 the way across the island to Hobart Town, 120 miles, the product 
 
COACH TO CAMPBELL TOWN. 273 
 
 of convict-labour. Victoria, with all its gold, has nothing of the 
 kind to show. 
 
 The old feeling of coach-travelling was heightened by the fact 
 of a severe frost, which the sun during the whole day had not 
 power to disperse. We had a steep pull up the hills, and then 
 came out into a pleasant country, with large tracts of cultivation, 
 farms, and gentlemen's houses. As we advanced, the richness of 
 the land and the extent of cultivation decreased considerably. 
 The country was flat, for a sort of valley runs all the way across 
 the island, dividing the mountains of the east from those of the 
 west. The woodlands near the road were covered with a rank 
 sedgy grass ; and a good deal of the land at this season, the end of 
 June, was lying soaked with wet. This portion of the road, how- 
 ever, exhibits the worst part of the country bordering it ; for not 
 only is the country round Launceston very fertile, but as you 
 advance, the land seems to improve in richness and pictorial beauty 
 all the way to Hobart Town. 
 
 On either hand, east and west, towered lofty ranges of moun- 
 tains at some distance from the road. On our left, Ben Lomond 
 showed his huge bulk, rivalling his namesake in Scotland, but of 
 very different shape. Instead of the conical form of that, this 
 mountain displayed a long range, terminated at the southern ex- 
 tremity abruptly, and in the most extraordinary fashion that I 
 ever saw in any mountain. It appeared rounded off in a rather 
 quick bend, and the outer edge of the circle deeply ploughed out 
 into very regularly-shaped bead-work, as if done by art. It is 
 basaltic, and took that form in passing from a molten to a solid 
 state. 
 
 On our right, what are called the "Western Tiers rose with equal 
 boldness and greater variety of form. They are heavily wooded, 
 and the woods upon and amongst them are far denser than any- 
 thing which can be found in Victoria. A gentleman assured me 
 that he had traversed fifteen miles of forest, at no great distance 
 from Launceston, where not a blade of grass was to be seen. This 
 is a rare case in Australia. 
 
 In a statement presented to me by his Excellency Sir William 
 Denison, and of which more anon, this character of these hills is 
 given : — " About forty miles from the west, and the same distance 
 from the north coast, a table-land of about one and a tialf million 
 acres in extent rises about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
 On this elevated land are numerous lakes, which form the heads 
 of the principal streams flowing to the south, the west, and the 
 north ; and from it a spur or mountain range runs in a direction a 
 
 VOL. n. T 
 
 k 
 
274 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 little to the east of south, and, separating the valley of the Derwent 
 from that of the Gordon and Huon rivers, has hitherto proved an 
 almost impassable barrier to the progress of the population towards 
 the west coast. 
 
 "A mountainous range of less decided character, and broken 
 through at one point by the valley of the South Esk, separates the 
 central and more settled districts from those on the east coasts. 
 The principal portion of the population of the island is thus, at 
 present, confined to a narrow strip of land between those two 
 ranges of hills." 
 
 This is the tract that we were now travelling. In about forty 
 miles we reached Campbell Town, standing in an extensive plain 
 surrounded by distant hills. Campbell Town is a village of about 
 600 inhabitants, with two or three good inns, and the houses in 
 general good substantial residences, scattered about in their 
 gardens. Opposite to Morrison's excellent inn, where I got down, 
 I observed over a little shop the following inscription, giving 
 evidence of the abode of an eccentric : — " Napoleon and Liberty's 
 Little Emporium. By the Old Squire. Dieu et mon Droit." 
 
 By the kindness of an old friend, long established here. Dr. 
 Valentine, I was enabled to see a good deal of this fine neighbour- 
 hood. With him I drove over to Mona Vale, a good stage further 
 on the way towards Hobart Town ; and saw, with much pleasure, 
 the many fine country houses, and fertile farms in this rich and 
 agreeable valley. Here the proprietors reside in all the comfort 
 and elegance of English country life. Grants and purchases of 
 tracts of excellent land made at the commencement of this century, 
 are now become valuable enclosed estates, on which good houses, 
 with gardens, conservatories, and every requisite of rural luxury 
 and abundance, display the old English aspect and character in a 
 finer climate. Labour is the one great desideratum, however,, 
 required to crown the good fortune of these enviable proprietors. 
 The irresistible attractions of the Victoria gold-fields, and the ces- 
 sation of the transportation of convicts hither, have made labourers 
 and workmen of all kinds pressingly scarce. "We found the 
 daughter of one house, a young lady with all the accomplishments 
 and acquirements of her station, actually finishing, in despair, the 
 work of the house-painters, which they had left in the middle, si: 
 months before, and could by no possibility be lured back to. This 
 spirited damsel, reminding one of the independent life of America,! 
 was going through her task with great success, with her step-ij 
 ladder, her brushes, her pots of paint, and bottles of oil, all about 
 her, in a most workmanlike style, and was only puzzled a little toj 
 
 i 
 
FEMALE FACTORY AT ROSS. 275 
 
 make lier paint dry, a difficultj of which we readily suggested the 
 solution. 
 
 At Mr. Kermode's, one of the most liberal and able members of 
 the Legislative Council, where we dined, we saw the portrait of 
 his father, the original settler, a Manxman. This gentleman, as 
 his portrait showed, was a very powerful man, and he displayed 
 his vigour in a singular manner. At that time the island was 
 infested by swarms of felons of the most desperate character, who 
 had escaped from their masters into the bush, and become the 
 terror and scourge of the country. Kobberies, burglaries, and 
 murders of the most frightful description were their daily or nightly 
 work. 
 
 As Mr. Kermode was driving along the road in his carriage, a 
 fellow ordered it to stop, opened the door, presented a pistol to 
 Mr. Kermode's head, and demanded his money. Mr. Kermode, 
 observing that he was alone, seized the pistol, wrenched it from 
 the fellow's grasp with one hand, while with the other he dragged 
 him into the carriage, gave him a good pummelling with the stock of 
 his own pistol, and flinging him down into the bottom of the 
 carriage before him, told him to lie there, and to lie still, or he 
 would blow his brains out. In this manner he drove on to Hobart 
 Town, and delivered him up to the authorities. 
 
 This same stalwart gentleman purchased Battery Point, in 
 Hobart Town, as I have been told, for 800/., now one of the most 
 valuable properties in the island, and a few acres of which his son, 
 the present Mr. Kermode, informed us he had recently sold for 
 20,000/., with which he had bought 40,000 acres of land in New- 
 Zealand, which he expected ere long would realise three or four 
 pounds per acre. He is said to possess also on this paternal estate 
 upwards of 50,000 acres. Such are the opportunities which did 
 and still do, especially to the capitalist, present themselves in this 
 austral region. 
 
 On our way to Mona Vale, we paid a visit to what is called the 
 Female Factory at Ross, a neat village on the banks on the Mac- 
 quarie River. This female factory is a depot of the female convicts 
 who are not consigned to particular persons, or who are sent hither 
 by an order from the magistrate for one cause or other. It is at 
 once a house of asylum and correction. 
 
 We found a considerable number of women, chiefly young, in 
 this place, which has all the discipline of a prison. The women 
 have separate wards and separate cells, according to the causes or 
 offences for which they are confined. There are solitary cells to 
 which the refractory are consigned, and the strictest discipline is 
 
 T 2 
 
276 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 maintained. They have a chaplain, and a chapel is included within 
 the walls, and the inmates are kept as much as possible employed 
 on one thing or another. The greatest part of the women seemed 
 to have been sent there to be confined in more senses than one, 
 for nearly every one of them had a child in her arms, or by the 
 hand. No part of the island, rich as its valleys are, certainly 
 showed more fertility than this factory at Ross. The morals of 
 the inmates were not so apparent as their fruitfulness. For the 
 rest, everything was maintained with a neatness and extreme 
 cleanliness, which did the utmost credit to the magistrates and 
 managers, and the deportment of these prisoners was quiet and 
 modest. I was glad to hear that owing to the cessation of trans- 
 portation, the necessity for these factories was diminishing, and 
 that this was soon to be given up, and the inmates removed to 
 Hobart Town. 
 
 At Campbell Town I procured a horse, and having the good 
 fortune to meet with a gentleman going thither, I proceeded across 
 the country to the east coast, to pay a visit to my old friends, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Charles Meredith. The distance was about forty-five 
 miles across the ranges, and certainly presented such a road or 
 rather track as I had never yet, for the same continuous distance, 
 attempted in one day. Soon after leaving the plain on which 
 Campbell Town stands, we ascended into the hills, which are 2000 
 feet above the level of the sea. The frost was so strong here that 
 the ice in many places would not break under the horse's feet. 
 Every night, indeed, while in this neighbourhood, the frost was 
 very severe, the thermometer standing occasionally eighteen degrees 
 below the freezing point, and not thawing at all in the daytime for 
 a week. 
 
 The woods extended nearly the whole way, presenting a con- 
 tinued succession of stony ranges and swamps, so that it was im- 
 possible for the greater part of the way to go more than a foot 
 pace. Over the loose stones of the road you were obliged to let 
 your horse stumWe along and pick his way as well as he could. 
 Once off these, you were wading in black boggy mud up to the 
 mid-leg of the horse, and at every step breaking the ice. Out of 
 the bog you were on the loose stones again, and then again into the 
 bog, and then into a mixture of both, bog with stones at the bottom, 
 some loose, some standing up in points and knobs, which required 
 all the care that both you and your horse were possessed of to keep 
 him on his legs. 
 
 My companion, who had traversed these "Delectable Moun- 
 tains " before, at every expression of wonder on my part at the 
 
 
PRIMITIVE GATES. 277 
 
 dreadful state of the roads, kept comforting me with the cheering 
 information, that "this was nothing yet; there was far worse 
 ahead. Why, we were neither come to the tea-scrub swamp nor 
 the peppermint scrub." 
 
 With these animating assurances, we thus crawled forward, like 
 a couple of Job's own snails, through scenery precisely like hun- 
 dreds of miles which I have seen " on the other side," as they call 
 Victoria, and as the Victorians call Van Dieraen's Land. Endless 
 extents of tall gum trees, and especially gigantic stringy-barks, 
 now diversified by swamps, through which we had to ride with the 
 ice crashing below, and the thick bushes of the tea- scrub raking 
 our sides. The woods were heavily strewn with fallen, dead 
 timber. In some places the desolation of the scene was inde- 
 scribable. Hugh wildernesses of rocks and great stones thrown 
 one upon another in melancholy disorder, and all overgrown with 
 grey lichens. Vast quantities of dead timber lay tumbled and 
 decaying upon these crags. Shrubs sprang up out of the crevices 
 of the stones ; and, in other places, the ground was bare and damp. 
 Then, again, we came to places where millions of young trees, like 
 poles, had grown up in closest array, and had been killed by the 
 wet and frost of winter. There they stood, a forest of death, or 
 half dead, half alive, and burnt black with bush fires. The deep, 
 boggy mud, the huge prostrate trunks of trees rotting in it, the 
 excessive sensation of cold and damp, so rare in Australia, and the 
 silence of these unbroken forests, were all made the more gloomily 
 sensible by our slow progress. 
 
 To add to this slowness, we were ever and anon stopped by a 
 gate ; for, unlike the country " on the other side," all these bleak, 
 and often most barren mountainous roads, were fenced off in im- 
 mense enclosures ; and everybody seemed to have contrived to run 
 their fences, not along the sides, but right across the road ; so that 
 you had continually to dismount to open a gate that would not 
 consent to be pulled open by any person on horseback, and which 
 had generally a pool of mud under it, into which you had to wade 
 mid-leg deep. Yet upon every one of these obstructions there 
 was written the request to " shut the gate after you ; " sometimes 
 politely, "Please to shut the gate!" but more often brusquely, 
 ^'^ Shut the gate ! " And these gates, that neither liked opening 
 nor shutting, had the most original hinges ! I never regretted so 
 much not being an artist as I did on seeing these Anakim hinges, 
 which consisted each of a slab about three inches thick, ten wide, 
 and five feet long, which was laid horizontally over the gate-post 
 
 T 3 
 
278 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and the back of the gate, with a hole for the top of the gate-back 
 to work in. 
 
 For the first twenty miles we saw only one house ; but then we 
 came to two : one the hut of a stockman, and the other of a con- 
 stable. Here we refreshed ourselves and our horses as well as we 
 could, and then went on. But very soon we came to what is par 
 excellence called the Bogs on this road, but which are really no 
 bogs at all. They are merely low marshes, overflowed at this 
 time of the year with water, but perfectly sound and covered with 
 turf; affording, as I understand, in summer, the most luxuriant 
 pasturage, and where the flocks and herds are chiefly brought for 
 the season. Nay, so w^ell do the creatures know these fat pastures, 
 that, if they are missing out of any other part of the run — that 
 of our friends the Merediths — there they are sought for, and are 
 almost sure to be found. 
 
 Here, however, occurred a considerable difficulty. All through 
 the woods the track was plain and unmistakable ; but here, where 
 for the greater part of the year extend only grassy plains, every 
 one is accustomed to take his own way, and there is no track at all. 
 To add to the uncertainty, there are long lines of posts and rails 
 running about alongside and across these swamps, and the least 
 mistake of a turning through a gateway, or getting on this or 
 that side of the fence, may thoroughly perplex and mislead you. 
 
 My companion, who professed to know the way well, on ap- 
 proaching this place became evidently nervous and anxious, and at 
 the huts engaged the constable to go and point out the right direc- 
 tion across the water, which was about two feet deep and half-a- 
 mile wide. Spite of his directions, we missed the true defile 
 through the opposite hills, and rode on for some miles along the 
 foot of the ranges without any prospect of a track. Numbers of 
 people before us have missed their way here, and galloped round 
 and round these intricate swamps, which occur one after another, 
 with belts of wood between them, till they are completely con- 
 founded and bushed. 
 
 As I perceived that we were totally wrong, and as the sun was 
 already sinking behind the hills, I refused to advance any farther, 
 and told my guide that we must return to the stockman's hut for 
 the night. To this he readily consented, and our horses, as well 
 pleased, cantered back in very little time. We obtained, to our 
 great surprise, good beds and excellent entertainment ; and the 
 next morning made the attempt to thread the swamps under 
 better directions from the people here, with complete success. 
 
ENGLISH-LOOKING FARMS. 279 
 
 When I saw through what woods and stony ranges we had yet 
 to travel for upwards of twenty miles, I was right glad that we 
 gave up the idea of proceeding in the evening. The low boughs 
 of the forest would soon have swept us off our horses in the dark, 
 and the descent from the hills was so steep and so stony, that we 
 found it quite enough to get down them leading our horses in the 
 daytime, much more in the night. Besides, we should have lost 
 the view of much magnificent scenery, which the nearer we drew 
 to the coast of the Pacific burst upon us. 
 
 Fine descents of solemn forests stretched from our feet to the 
 plain below, — deep ravines near us, and noble heights and fore- 
 lands of the hills at various distances right and left, all grandly 
 wooded, stood up in a solitary majesty ; and out before us shone 
 the glorious Pacific, leading on the imagination to many an Indian 
 isle, and to the giant rivers and mountains, and myriad peoples of 
 Eastern Asia itself. 
 
 Oyster Bay, enclosed by bold rocky mountains, the Schoutens, 
 and Schouten Island, a magnificent bay, washed a region of level 
 fertility at our feet, in which lay Swanport, the place we were 
 seeking, — the residence of the Merediths. The moment we 
 began to descend the hills on this side, we seemed to have reached 
 a more genial climate. Great quantities of the beautiful epacris 
 were in flower in the woods, and shiacks in abundance, mingling 
 with the native myrtle and beech, gave a new character to the 
 foliage. 
 
 The whole of this delicious neighbourhood has been so livingly 
 described by my friend Mrs. Meredith, that I need only touch its 
 scenery passingly. I found my friends in a charming retirement, — 
 the bold, forest hills behind them, and the broad expanse of Oyster 
 Bay (some ten miles wide, I believe, and hemmed in by its 
 boldly varied barrier of sea-washed rocks) before them ; while 
 all round lay farms of a most English aspect, and the Swan and 
 Cygnet rivers giving their life to the fertile lands around Swan- 
 port. 
 
 Splendid hedges of English furze enclosed the approach to Mr. 
 Charles Meredith's house, in blossom even at this winter season, 
 and diffusing in the sun its familiar odour. I found my friends, 
 whom I had last seen at the time of their marriage in England, 
 surrounded by a flourishing family of fine boys, and enjoying all 
 the pleasures and amenities of English country life in a more 
 genial climate. Of the flowery beauty of these scenes in summer, 
 Mrs. Meredith's " Home in Tasmania " tells us amply ; and I can 
 
 T 4 
 
280 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 conceive that, at that season, this part of Van Diemen's Land must 
 be a perfect paradise. 
 
 I accompanied my friends in various rides into the woods, and 
 amongst the farms. On one occasion we climbed up the forest hills 
 till we reached a pile of stones, commenced by the unfortunate Sir 
 John Franklin, when Governor of this island, and upon which 
 every visitor of course deposits his tributary stone. I laid mine 
 there with a sorrowful inward conviction that the worthy origi- 
 nator of this modern cairn was sleeping where the snow of the 
 north, and not the flowery turf or the grey stones of the south, 
 would be his monument. 
 
 On the farms we found a whole colony of the Amos family men- 
 tioned in Mrs. Meredith's work as excellent neighbours. Their 
 fields were enclosed with hedges of blooming furze or sweet-briar, 
 and to their capital houses were attached ample farmyards, barns, 
 and buildings, with all the wealth of cattle, pigs, poultry, and 
 pigeons that you are accustomed to see about the richest farms of 
 England. It might have been a favoured nook of England, and 
 the clear streams that wind through the fields added force and 
 pleasure to that impression. 
 
 Farther ofi", we visited the abode of the Rev. Mr. Dove, who 
 now occupies a pleasant residence, once the home of the Merediths, 
 and whose name I recognised as having met with in West's History 
 of the island as prominent amongst those who exerted themselves, 
 but in vain, to civilise the natives previous to their deportation to 
 Flinder's Island. 
 
 In another direction we followed the coast down till we got a 
 good view of Maria Island, so named by Tasman after his beloved 
 Maria Van Diemen, and which has been used as a stronghold for 
 the detention of convicts, or political exiles, being at one time the 
 appointed residence of Mr. Smith O'Brien. 
 
 Mrs. Meredith, whose " Wild Flowers of England," under her 
 maiden name of Twamley, are well known, has painted beautifully 
 the principal wild flowers of this island, which resemble those of 
 Victoria for the most part, but present some species which I had 
 not seen there. The birds and animals of Van Diemen's Land 
 also vary in some degree from those of the opposite shores of the 
 mainland. They are said to have here no leatherheads, no grey 
 magpies, no wild turkeys, and only the smaller laughing jackass. 
 The warbling crows, came and fed at the very door like so many 
 pigeons, and enormous flocks of green parrots everywhere were 
 committing wholesale depredations on the springing corn. The dingo 
 does not seem to have ever prevailed on this island ; but, on the 
 
FINE CLIMATE OF TASMANIA. 281 
 
 other hand, they have an animal peculiar to it — the Tasmanian 
 wolf, or hyena, as they call it here. It is a long, smooth-haired 
 animal, of a greyish-brown, with black stripes across its back. A 
 specimen may be seen in the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens. 
 It rarely, I believe, attacks men, but is as destructive to the flocks 
 as the dingo. Another animal peculiar to the island, and a ter- 
 rible destroyer of lambs, is called the Van Diemen's Land Devil. 
 It is of the size of a small dog, nearly black, with a white stripe 
 across its rump, and another on its chest. It has a thick ugly 
 head, great goggle eyes, and is of a most ferocious nature. It 
 burrows in the ground, and preys on small animals ; and is of 
 that brutal nature, that, like the wolf, if one of its own species is 
 wounded or killed, the others will come and devour it. I believe 
 there is no specimen of this creature in England, but a portrait of 
 it may be seen in Gould's Australian animals. 
 
 The climate of Tasmania is much cooler than that of Victoria : 
 the severe and continued frost which I found here of more than a 
 week's continuance is a convincing proof of it ; but the gentler 
 heat of summer is a recompense for that; and the moister atmo- 
 sphere gives the climate a greater resemblance to that of England. 
 Perhaps no climate could be found more agreeable to English con- 
 stitutions ; and the beauty of a great deal of the scenery, the 
 abundance of flowers, and the quietness prevailing here, so dif- 
 ferent to the present state of things in Victoria, render the island 
 extremely agreeable to those who enjoy country life in its most 
 tranquil and favoured condition. 
 
 There was a time when the state of the island was far different, 
 and when the most terrible atrocities were everywhere taking 
 place. At one period the hostile spirit of the natives, a much 
 more vigorous race than that of Victoria, and the numbers of 
 desperate convicts who had escaped to the bush, made the whole 
 country a pandemonium. The natives resented the injuries which 
 they were constantly receiving from these banditti, and also from 
 a low class of settlers ; and, led on by Mosquito, a Sydney native, 
 banished hither, made indiscriminate raids on the country people 
 who lived at a distance from neighbours. In 1830 seven weeks of 
 destructive war on the natives were made. The convicts pursued 
 alike black and white with a wild and licentious ferocity. The 
 names of their leader, Michael Howe, and his associates, "White- 
 head and Watts, will long remain words of terror in Tasmania. 
 Outrages and murders of the most frightful description were 
 everywhere occurring ; and in vain the Government endeavoured 
 to suppress them. But at length, by the exertions of Mr. Robin- 
 
282 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 son, since Chief Aborigines Protector in Victoria, the natives 
 were persuaded to exchange Tasmania for Flinder's Island ; and 
 the gold of Victoria has been equally persuasive with the convict 
 race. They made their way over thither to the amount of 9000 
 in eighteen months ; and the island now is as quiet and secure as 
 any country in the w^orld. Numbers of people in the most isolated 
 parts of the island never fasten their doors at night ; and you 
 may travel alone in any direction with the most perfect security. 
 Such is Tasmania; and perhaps it is never likely to be very 
 populous, the good land being comparatively small in quantity, 
 and the bulk of that already in the hands of old grantees or pur- 
 chasers, — unless gold should be found in any considerable quan- 
 tity, of which, however, there is no great prospect. A reward 
 has been offered for the discovery of an available gold-field ; and 
 numbers of prospectors have been traversing the island. But 
 though they have found gold, it is in quantities too small to pay. 
 A few diggers are at present at w^ork at Fingal, on the coast, but 
 only with indifferent success. I saw no traces of quartz in the 
 ranges I passed. 
 
 The pamphlet already referred to, issued by order of his Ex- 
 cellency Sir William Denison, says, "A large portion of the Island 
 is owned by or rented by persons of established character, many 
 of whom are retired officers. The great majority of these persons 
 have been long settled on the land which they occupy. Their 
 possessions are of various extent, from, perhaps, 70,000 acres 
 downwards. The settlers are engaged in agriculture, in sheep and 
 cattle farming, and the cultivation of hops, &c. The country is 
 studded with their mansions, houses, and farm buildings, which, 
 in many instances, are of the most substantial description." 
 
 Therefore, the statement continues, "Those who desire to fix 
 themselves on the populous and improved parts of the colony, 
 must purchase land from the present owners at the current price ; 
 for in such situations all that is valuable is private property. To 
 do this to any considerable extent, it will be necessary to wait for 
 favourable opportunities; but persons possessed of various amounts 
 of capital may thus obtain farms on which improvements, more or 
 less extensive, have been made ; and there is nothing to prevent 
 an industrious and careful mechanic, or working man, from be- 
 coming in a few years the proprietor of a cottage and garden." 
 
 Moreover, for those who may desire to become squatters, 
 Government pubhshes the following statement: "Any person, by 
 the Regulations of July, 1848, whose respectability is certified by 
 the police magistrate of the district, can rent any of the unoccupied 
 
RATE OF WAGES, 283 
 
 lands of the Crown, from 500 to 5000 acres, at 1/. per annum for 
 every 100 acres ; but solely for grazing, not for cultivation." 
 
 For labour there is, owing to the vast draught of the working 
 population to the gold-fields, a universal and pressing demand; 
 but unless there was a more alluring prospect of ultimate settle- 
 ment on land, there can be no great inducement for the working 
 classes who wish to settle on land to emigrate hither, if Victoria, 
 as it is to be expected, should " unlock its lands," which are both 
 extensive and rich. 
 
 The Government pamphlet states that the island contains 16 
 millions of acres only, that 3 millions of these are private property, 
 and that of the 13 remaining millions of Crown lands, two are oc- 
 cupied by squatters under grazing licences, so that only 1 1 are yet 
 unoccupied, and of these a very large proportion are barren stony 
 ranges, which the same authority admits " will not for many years 
 be susceptible of cultivation or improvement." 
 
 I have been assured that the most promising portion of the 
 island for fresh settlement is on the western coast, particularly 
 on the banks of the river Mersey ; and this official pamphlet seems 
 to confirm that idea : — " The larger portion of the land to the 
 west of the Tamar, and between the lofty plateau before alluded to 
 and the sea, is covered with a forest of heavy timber ; but the 
 land is of the best quality ; and the timber, in consequence of the 
 demand which exists in Victoria for building and other purposes, 
 is most valuable, and repays, by its sale, not only the whole cost of 
 clearing the land, but the land itself. There is a similar district, 
 though not, perhaps, so extensive, on the west shore of D'Entre- 
 casteaux's Channel, at the south side of the island," &c. 
 
 To supply the urgent demand for labour the Government had 
 engaged to pay for the passage of emigrants of the working class, 
 for every adult from the United Kingdom 20/., from other parts of 
 Europe 16/. ; for every child from three to fourteen years of age 
 10/., and for every child under three years 8/. Besides this, the 
 different denominations had formed associations for bringing over 
 labour ; and Mr. Bonney, the agent of the St. Andrew Immigra- 
 tion Society, had sailed for Scotland previous to my visit with 
 3500/. to bring over 5000 people. The following is then, as 
 given by the Government statement, the 
 
 " KATE OF WAGES. 
 
 " Good carpenters, 186". to 20^. per /lay. 
 
 " Bricklayers, stonemasons, stonecutters, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, and 
 brass-finishers, moulders, good hands, 14s. to 20*. per day. 
 " Wheelwrights and millwrights, 14*., 16s., and 18s. per day. 
 
284 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 "Engineers and fitters-up, 12s. per daj and upwards. Good engineers, 
 almost any wages. 
 
 "Cabinet-makers and upholsterers, 11*. per day. Some of these can make 
 51 to 6/. per week by piece work. 
 
 "Sawyers can earn in Hobart Town 7L per week. Sawyers at the Huon 
 River, where sawing is largely carried on for home consumption and ex- 
 portation to Victoria, receive from employers at least half the market price of 
 the sawn stuff, which at present sells on the spot for fully 14s. per 100 feet. 
 It is considered that a pair of good sawyers can thus earn, with ease, 10/. per 
 week. In general sawyers prefer sawing on their own account, paying 2s. 6<f. 
 a week for liberty to cut timber on Crown land, or making agreements with 
 owners of land for the same purpose. In this manner they are able to earn 
 much more than the amount above stated; and, in whatever mode they are 
 employed, many of those who work steadily accumulate large sums of money. 
 Persons employed in splitting shingles and paling also realise large amounts in 
 similar manner. 
 
 " Shoemakers work by the piece, and are paid about the following rates : — 
 For making and closing strong boots, 7s. 6d. ; for making and closing Wel- 
 lington boots, 21s.; women's shoes, for bottoming, 4s. 6d.; women's boots, for 
 bottoming, 5s. Light blucher boots, closing and making, 10s. Good hands 
 may earn 5/. per week. 
 
 " Tailors are also paid by the piece, and a fair workman can earn 4l. 10s. 
 per week. From 3/. to 5l. per week is made, according to abilities. 
 
 "Painters and glaziers, ordinary, 8s. to 12s. per day. — Good ornamental 
 painters are so scarce that no rate can be named for them. In this trade there 
 is not so great a demand for labour as in others, as painting is very generally 
 deferred till a cheaper time. 
 
 " Seamen receive for short Colonial voyages, 8/. per month and provisions. 
 For longer voyages they receive even more, and no certain rate can be men- 
 tioned. 
 
 " Married agricultural labourers obtain from 35/. to 70/., or upwards, 
 according to the qualifications of both persons. 
 
 " Single agricultural labourers, 30/. to 40/. 
 
 " Men servants, domestic, receive from 30/. to 40/., according to ability. 
 
 "Female domestic servants, from 18/. to 30/., according to qualifications. 
 Ordinary and useful domestic servants, 20/. to 25/. Good cooks, 25/. to 30/. 
 Good needlewomen, who will be otherwise useful, 20/. to 25/." 
 
 With these prices, and with provisions, though much dearer 
 than they used to be, through the all-absorbing market of Victoria, 
 yet still more reasonable than in that colony, and with a delicious 
 climate, most congenial to the English constitution, it is clear no 
 workers of any of the following classes can make a mistake in 
 coming hither ; on the contrary — 
 
 " There is ample and most profitable employment for labouring people of 
 all kinds. Agricultural labourers, shepherds, stock-keepers, gardeners, car- 
 penters, joiners, cabinet-makers, sawyers (of whom almost any number might, 
 at present, realise enormous profits), blafcksmiths, farriers, quarrymen, stone- 
 cutters, stonemasons, brickmakers, lime-burners, bricklayers, shoemakers, 
 tanners, saddle and harness-makers, painters and glaziers, ship and boat- 
 builders, sailors, boatmen, fishermen, coach -builders, tin-workers, basket- 
 
EXCELLENT OPENING FOR EMIGRANTS. 285 
 
 makers, iron and brass- founders, grooms, compositors and pressmen, brewers, 
 maltsters, coopers, rope-makers, sail-makers, paper-hangers, gilders, working- 
 jewellers, colliers (there being excellent coal-beds on the island), soap and 
 candle-makers, butchers, bakers, a moderate number of working engmeers and 
 engine-fitters — and, in fact, all kinds of labouring persons and mechanics. 
 
 " The pressing occasion for domestic servants, coachmen, grooms, and ser- 
 vants of all kinds, both male and female, must be particularly adverted to. 
 Large numbers of these persons would obtain immediate and very advantageous 
 employment in every part of the Colony. 
 
 " Ic'is scarcely possible to express too strongly the great want which exists 
 of female servants and needlewomen. Some families cannot obtain any 
 female servants ; others, which would employ several, have only one ; many 
 ladies of property are obliged to do the work of servants. There is a most 
 urgent demand for housemaids, cooks, nursery-maids, needle-women, laun- 
 dresses, and general servants ; and large numbers of such women could at once 
 find employment at high wages, and in situations at least as comfortable as 
 those usually obtained in England." 
 
 Firmly believing from all that I saw, that this is a true state- 
 ment, it is satisfactory to know that our surplus population at 
 home have thus extensive fields of enterprise in our southern 
 colonies — for all our colonies out here are equally urgent in their 
 demands for labourers — where, by steady conduct, they can not 
 only live, but save ample funds to invest in lands, when the day of 
 free and abundant land comes, as come it must. 
 
 With much regret, I quitted the hospitable and intellectual 
 abode of my friends at Swanport, and retraced my course over the 
 forest ranges to Campbell Town, whence I pursued my journey to 
 Hobart Town. 
 
 CHAP. XLIIL 
 
 Journey to Hobart Town, — Increasing Beauty of the Country. — Villages, 
 Villas, and Pleasure-grounds. — Scene of a strange Murder near Bagdad. — 
 Bridge. — New Town. — Orphan School. — View of Hobart Town. — Mount 
 Wellington. — Harbour. — Public Buildings. — New Market-house. — Beau- 
 tiful Estuary. — Noble Site and Aspect of Hobart Town. — The Domain. — 
 
 High School. — Smith O'Brien just liberated An artist omitted in Royal 
 
 Pardon. — Wainwright. — Jorgen Jorgenson, King of Iceland. — Singular 
 Exchequer Defaulter. — Hunt, Accomplice of Thurtell. — Spitting at the 
 Inn. — Kind Friends. — Good Society. — Sir William Denison, his Eulogy 
 by West the Historian. — Monuments of Sir Eardley Wilmot and Go\ ernor 
 Collins. — Glover the Artist. — Journey back to Launceston. — Dram- 
 drinking by the Coachmen. — Cataract on the South Esk. — Visit to Mr. 
 Gunn. — Scenery of the Neighbourhood. — Spread of Sweet-briar and 
 Gorse. — Fruits in Tasmania. 
 
 The country, the farther we advanced towards Hobart Town, in- 
 creased in keauty. The valley along which we drove became 
 
286 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 narrower, the hills more lofty, and much more varied in their out- 
 lines than any Australian scenery which I had yet seen. The 
 valleys were rich and, for the most part, as well cultivated as in 
 England. Owing to the difference of tenure here and in Victoria, 
 a very different state of things had been the result. Here the oc- 
 cupiers of the land are the owners, not mere squatters, who have 
 no sure tenure of the land, and, therefore, do nothing to it. Here, 
 then, instead of mere isolated wooden huts, standing in the unap- 
 propriated forest, we have a constant succession of towns and 
 villages, bearing the singular medley of names which colonists 
 delight in, Ross, Oatlands, Green Ponds, Brighton, Bagdad, Je- 
 richo, Jerusalem, and, of course, the river Jordan. 
 
 All round these villages, which consist of substantial and even 
 elegant houses, extend the richest fields all enclosed, with hedges 
 generally of sweet-briar, or furze, or broom, but also a good many 
 of honest English hawthorn. There you see cattle, sheep, pigs 
 enormously fat, and abundance of poultry of all kinds, feeding and 
 flourishing in their several resorts, the meadows, the w^oodland 
 slopes, or the farm-yards. It is England all over. Everywhere 
 you descry lovely country houses, with all the earthly blessings 
 of fine gardens, well walled in, with their conservatories and 
 forcing-houses, their extensive shrubberies, verdant parks and 
 lawns, fields in pasture or under the plough, and woods sloping 
 down solemnly from the hills with a very tempting aspect. 
 
 Many of the hills are remarkably steep, and even conical, yet 
 so rich and smooth are they that the farmers have ploughed them 
 to their very summits, and grow splendid crops of corn where 
 you would hardly have supposed that a team could maintain its 
 standing. 
 
 The coachman pointed out a very steep wooded hill near Bagdad, 
 where, some years ago, a most revolting murder was committed. 
 It seems that a number of convicts, who had taken to the bush, 
 bad conceived a suspicion of a sawyer, who lived at the foot of the 
 hill. They suspected that he had got an idea of their haunts by 
 coming into the woods to look out timber, and they determined to 
 destroy him. They set about this with every aggravation of 
 cruelty that they could think of. They came to his hut one 
 evening, and seizing on a bag of flour that he had, of about half a 
 hundred-weight, they first compelled him to carry this upon his 
 back up to the very top of this lofty and steep hill. When he had 
 accomplished this by severe exertion, and under the fellest threats 
 if he failed to do it, they then made him sit down on a log, and 
 ordered a boy that they had with them to shoot him. 
 
APPROACH TO HOB ART TOWN. 287 
 
 The poor fellow begged piteously for his life, asking them what 
 he had ever done to injure them. They replied, that he had done 
 nothing, they only wanted to put it out of his power to do any- 
 thing. In vain he protested that he contemplated no injury to 
 them, and never would do anything of the kind. They bade tlie 
 boy fire. He pulled the trigger, but the powder only flashed in 
 the pan. Again the poor fellow entreated in the most moving 
 tones for his life. He might just as well have addressed the trees 
 or rocks around him. They poked the touch-hole of the gun with 
 a pin, coolly reprimed it, and bade the boy fire. Again he drew 
 the trigger, and again the piece refused to go off. This scene is 
 said to have continued at least a quarter of an hour ; the villains 
 in ruthless immobility endeavouring to make the gun go off, and 
 the poor victim all the time continuing his pleadings. At length 
 the gun went off, and the man fell dead. 
 
 Some of the ruffians were afterwards taken and brought to trial, 
 amongst them the boy who had fired the gun ; and when he was 
 asked why he did that, he seemed astonished, and replied, " Why, 
 the men told me if I did not shoot the man they would shoot 
 me ; and rather than be shot myself, I would have shot my own 
 father.'^ 
 
 At Oatlands, where the coach stopped to dine, the inn and inn- 
 keepers presented a singular contrast to those at Campbell Town, 
 where Mr. Morrison maintains a most comfortable establishment. 
 Here everything was cold — the day was bitterly cold, the room 
 was cold — there was no fire in it, — the dinner was cold, and 
 the people were cold. Chilled through, I marched into the bar 
 where the host and hostess sat basking before a blazing fire ; but 
 at my entrance, as a great intrusion, they both gave me a freezing 
 stare, got up, and without a word vacated the apartment. 
 
 On approaching Hobart Town, we passed over an immensely 
 long bridge and causeway, more than half a mile in length, erected 
 across the head of the estuary of the Derwent, on which Hobart 
 Tow^n stands. Still as we advanced, the scenery right and left 
 augmented in grandeur and beauty. Hills of every varied form 
 I'ose lofty and splendidly wooded, with smiling villages and cultured 
 fields at their feet, Mount Direction lifting its singularly abrupt 
 and isolated head on our left, and Mount Wellington swelling ever 
 more in his splendid mountain mass, on our right. The mountains 
 on the other side of the estuary appeared finely broken up. New 
 Town, on a beautiful slope running down to the estuary on this 
 side, where the villa and grounds of Bishop Nixon immediately 
 overlook the water — the splendid building, the Orphan School, oh 
 
288 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 a lovely elevation at the foot of Mount Wellington on our right — 
 and the view altogether of hills, woods, and verdant fields, and the 
 flashing waters of the broad Derwent, presented an unrivalled 
 spectacle. 
 
 Passing over an ascent beyond New Town, a still nobler view 
 burst upon us. It was Hobart Town, situated on the margin of 
 the bay, with hills beyond hills rising round it. The mass of the 
 town lay on the plain, or rather in the hollow formed by the hills, 
 with the river or estuary of the Derwent at its feet ; and beyond 
 the estuary extended a region of low hills, partly wooded and 
 partly cultivated, called oddly the Clarence Plains. 
 
 Perhaps no town can boast a more superb situation than Hobart 
 Town, — not even Sydney. The Derwent is no way inferior to 
 the bay of Sydney in appearance, though it is greatly so in the 
 depth of water near the town ; but the surrounding scenery is on 
 a grander scale here than that around Sydney. The environs of 
 Sydney are lovely and varied in the extreme, but there is a want 
 of elevation in its hills. They are too uniform, and too incon- 
 siderable in height, to give a feeling of majesty and greatness. 
 There is nothing there like the magnificent mountain mass of 
 Mount Wellington, which looks down upon the town here in cloudy 
 or in clear grandeur, of which you never grow w^eary. For ever 
 as you turn that way, it falls upon you with a feeling of a sublime, 
 vast, and solemn presence. 
 
 The height of Mount Wellington is 4500 feet, and beyond it, 
 and, in fact, a portion of it — Mount Nelson — overlooks the 
 estuary on the right at a lower elevation, and has a signal station 
 upon it. 
 
 The main mass of the town'stands on finely swelling ground, 
 on the right bank of the estuary, and contains 23,000 inhabi- 
 tants. It is well built of a fine freestone, which abounds here as 
 at Sydney. The streets are wide and well paved, abounding in 
 excellent shops, and good churches, chapels, banks, and other public 
 buildings. 
 
 Ships of 1200 tons can come up, close under the town, to a good 
 quay. This harbour was made by the late Governor, Sir William 
 Denison ; and where, some years ago, people used to wash their 
 horses' legs from the convenient shallowness, vessels of the burden 
 mentioned now lie. Had not the Anti-Convict League cut short 
 his operations by depriving him of the labour he employed. Sir 
 William said he should by that time have constructed as much more 
 extent of dock. 
 
 Everything that we saw around us — the docks, the custom- 
 
PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 289 
 
 house (including the council-chamber), the Government-offices 
 and courts of justice, the barracks, the prisons, the town, the 
 streets, the very road we had travelled hither— all are the result 
 of convict-labour. 
 
 Near the estuary Sir William had erected a handsome market- 
 house, which I was assured that he not only erected, but planned 
 himself. The market- house is an excellent one; but has one great 
 defect — a splendid fountain is locked up in a small apartment in 
 front. It looks cramped and quite out of place, the ample centre 
 of the area of the house being obviously the position which it 
 ought to have occupied. On expressing this impression, I was 
 informed that it was intended to belong to the fish-market, and was 
 obliged to be enclosed with iron gates, for fear of mutilation ; a 
 poor compliment to a certain class of the population. 
 
 The Government House occupies a commanding ground, just 
 above the harbour and close upon the town. It is only of wood, 
 and principally of one story ; but contains some spacious and ex- 
 cellent rooms, and beautiful views across the river towards Clarence 
 Plains, and of the fine slopes and woodlands to the left, belonging 
 to the Domain. 
 
 Just above the Government House stand the Government-oflices, 
 police-offices, &c., included in a fine block of building; and a little 
 below stands, facing the wharfs and the high ground of Battery 
 Point, the noble range of building, including the Custom-house 
 and chamber of the Legislative Council. 
 
 Standing in any elevated part of the town, you behold it ex- 
 tending its ramifications far around, occupying the various valleys, 
 and extensive, and sometimes steep slopes, which run up to the 
 foot of the mountains. The tout ensemble is extremely striking ; 
 and is a noble evidence, taken in connexion with the general 
 cultivation of the island, of what Englishmen can accomplish in 
 half a century, even where there exist none of those stimulating 
 and hurrying causes which have affected Victoria. All here has 
 been quiet, but steady progress, presenting you already with a 
 miniature England, which you cannot contemplate without a proud 
 pleasure. 
 
 In my peregrinations to call on Mr. Dry, then Speaker of the 
 Legislative Council, Captain Smith, the Postmaster General, and 
 to inquire after my old friend. Bishop Willson, at the house of the 
 Catholic Fathers, I ascended long streets up towards the foot of 
 Mount Wellington, which presented many pleasant villas and gar- 
 dens finely situated. I observed in the kitchen -gardens peas in 
 blossom, potatoes, and other vegetables, as well as trees in blos- 
 
 VOL. II, u 
 
290 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 sora, none of which appeared in the least touched with the frost, 
 though it had been so keen in the places I had been travelling 
 through ; a proof of the mild and sheltered position of Hobart 
 Town. 
 
 In the Domain to the east of the town, a new battery was erect- 
 ing, overlooking the river, the alarm of the Russians having com- 
 municated itself even here. This Domain is like a fine English 
 park, and is a great recreative advantage to the city. At the 
 top of it stands a singular piece of architecture — the High 
 School — resembling a huge square mass of building, with three 
 church towers reared against its front ; one at each end, and one 
 in the centre. It is certainly a style quite unique : and may, 
 without fear of any other country putting in a prior claim to the 
 title, be styled the Tasmanian. The interior, however, I was as- 
 sured, is extremely commodious. 
 
 As at Launceston, so here, I observed various bands of convicts 
 in their close dresses of yellow flannel and leathern caps, working 
 in different places about the streets, some of them wearing chains, 
 some dragging trucks, and others helping to throw up the new 
 battery, under the care of a keeper. The worst of these fellows 
 are confined to Tasman's Peninsula, where they are guarded by 
 sentinels and savage dogs ; and there are, or were, also depots for 
 the more desperate characters at Port Arthur, the Cascades at 
 the foot of Mount Wellington, and other places. 
 
 Just at this moment came the Queen's conditional pardon 
 to several of the exiled heads of the last Irish rebellion. Mr. 
 O'Meagher of the Sword had broken his parole, and escaped to 
 America ; but Mr. Smith O'Brien, who had once or twice unsuc- 
 cessfully attempted to escape, was now set at liberty, and his Irish 
 friends were in high glee at the circumstance. Mr. O'Brien ap- 
 peared to have conducted himself in a very quiet and gentlemanly 
 manner during his banishment, and had condescended to dissipate 
 the ennui of his sojourn by giving private tuition. There was 
 much wonder and sympathy excited by the fact, that one of the 
 conspirators, against whom no 'exclusive charge existed, had been 
 overlooked in the royal pardon, and left here alone. This gentle- 
 man was an excellent artist, as is evinced by his portrait of Bishop 
 Willson, in full canonicals, at the Catholic House. 
 
 Amongst the convicts for life who died here within these few 
 years, was that Mr. Wainwright, so celebrated many years ago for 
 taking off his relatives and others with strychnine, and whose 
 case Bulwer, in the " Children of the Night," and Talfourd, in 
 the "Life and Letters of Charles Lamb," have made so well 
 
REMARKABLE CONVICTS. 291 
 
 known. Till Talfourd's book arrived here, very little appeared 
 to be knov^^n of this man's past career and the intensity of his 
 crimes ; and Janus Weathercock of the London Magazine, who 
 was in his day the familiar associate and co-litterateur of Charles 
 Lamb, Bowring, Procter, Hazlitt, &c., and who, on subjects of 
 art, used to talk over the head of Hazlitt as over that of a school- 
 boy, had practised as a portrait painter, and given lessons in 
 drawing in the highest families of Hobart Town. 
 
 This book excited a great sensation, and must have done this 
 miscreant substantial damage, for any person of the least feeling 
 and regard to the moral security and purity of domestic life must, 
 thenceforward, have carefully sliut their doors against him. He ap- 
 pears to have sunk into the lowest grade of degradation ; took great 
 Quantities of opium to deaden the whispers of his uneasy bosom ; 
 and the man who attended him on his death-bed in the convict 
 hospital, declared that his end was the most horrible thing that he 
 could possibly conceive, and infinitely beyond anything that he 
 had ever witnessed. He declared, without knowing his history, 
 that he must have a score of murders on his soul. 
 
 Another singular convict who used to figure here, was Jorgen 
 Jorgenson, the King of Iceland. The man who bore this title 
 was a Dane, who, in the old Viking spirit, made a voyage to Ice- 
 land ; and finding it quite defenceless, made a descent upon it, 
 took possession of it, and declared himself King and the island 
 independent. A Danish fleet being sent to seize this modern 
 Viking and restore order in the island, he made a timely escape, 
 and came to England, whence for some offence or other, he was 
 banished hither, and appears to have been a strange, bold, specu- 
 lative character. 
 
 Another remarkable prisoner here was a Mr. Smith, a brother or 
 nephew of Sir Sydney Smith, who had been a clerk in the Ex- 
 chequer, and who made a voluntary confession of having robbed it 
 of 500,000/. It does not appear that he was detected ; but that his 
 conscience, or sense of public duty, would not allow him to go 
 further than he had gone, — certainly to a most extraordinary 
 length, and one which speaks volumes for the opportunities of 
 peculation in Government offices of that day. 
 
 He declared that he had never touched a farthing of the money 
 himself;, but had managed the embezzlement for various members 
 of the nobility, whose names he would never consent to disclose, 
 though he was offered his pardon or a great mitigation of his 
 sentence. He might often be seen here attending and carrying 
 the luggage of those who had formerly been his intimate friends. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 A gentleman also told me, but I am not certain whether it was 
 here or in New South Wales, that dining one day at a gentleman's 
 house, he heard some one singing very merrily in the kitchen ; and 
 on looking in, saw a jolly-looking fellow sitting in a very easy 
 attitude, and there carolling in great self-enjoyment. It was the 
 cook ; and this cook was Hunt, the crony of Thurtell, and coadjutor 
 in the celebrated murder of Wear. 
 
 Steamers are constantly plying to and fro on the river, and 
 carry you to various points of interest, perhaps the most so to the 
 new and flourishing settlement of New Norfolk, up the water, and 
 to the Huon downwards ; the latter place celebrated for its mag- 
 nificent timber and for the forests of the beautiful and peculiar 
 pine, which grows on the banks of the Huon river, and which is 
 thence called the Huon pine ; a wood very much resembling the 
 American maple in appearance, and which, like it, is used for 
 various articles of furniture, picture frames, fronts^of cupboards 
 and cabinets, and the covering of beams, as well as doors, merely 
 varnished. 
 
 But if the wood resembled American wood, I thought the 
 people at my inn, the Ship, very much resembled a certain class of 
 Americans. In the common news and smoking-room where I 
 used occasionally to go to read the papers, I found the company, 
 especially in an evening, all smoking, talking, and spitting all over 
 the carpet, or rather oilcloth, in a style which no part of America 
 can exceed. 
 
 Hobart Town, however, commands a very different class of 
 society. Amongst the members of the Government, the officers of 
 the army, and the trading inhabitants, you find no lack of in- 
 telligent people, who have seen much of the world and are possessed 
 of no less refinement than hospitality. I could only regret that my 
 limited visit would not permit me to enjoy to a greater extent the 
 courtesies offered me. Especially am 1 indebted to the kindness 
 of Captain Smith, the Postmaster-General, and his family, for 
 their cordial endeavours to put me in possession of a good know- 
 ledge of the place and its people ; and to the cordiality with which 
 His Excellency, the Governor, and Lieut.-Col. Last, his private 
 secretary, not only extended their hospitality, but in the frankest 
 manner gave me every information regarding the island and its 
 status quo. 
 
 Having been accustomed to hear Sir William, now Governor of 
 New South Wales, bitterly denounced in Victoria, for his leaning 
 to the continuance of transportation, I was agreeably surprised to 
 find in him so candid, unprejudiced, and evidently patriotic a 
 
SIR WILLIAM DENISON. 293 
 
 person. He struck me as by far the most able man that I had 
 come in contact with, amongst the official gentlemen of these 
 colonies ; and his ability was not the less remarkable than the 
 frankness, and the evidently sincere spirit, with which he dis- 
 cussed the condition of the island, and what he was endeavouring 
 to do in the promotion of its interests. On the subject of trans- 
 portation, which had made him so unpopular with the people of 
 Victoria, he observed, that he no more admired a convict popula- 
 tion than they did, and was ready to admit that the straying over 
 of those men, who were, or had been under sentence of transporta- 
 tion, to that colony since the diggings commenced, must be a 
 great nuisance. But the question with him was, Was Tasmania 
 to have any labour at all ? Though the anti-transportation agita- 
 tion was of old standing, and though Sydney had got rid of it in 
 1840, yet the great Anti-Transportation League here was formed 
 almost contemporaneously with the discovery of the gold ; and as 
 every soul that possibly could was rushing over to Victoria, for 
 his part, he had not been able to see how the colony was to be 
 supplied with any labour at all except through this channel. And 
 what had been the result of this cessation of transportation ? 
 While whatever we saw done in Tasmania — roads, bridges, 
 docks, public buildings, drainage, fencing, and the general cultiva- 
 tion of the country — was the work of convict hands, since the 
 discontinuance of that species of labour all these works had ceased; 
 the new harbour, which he had projected, remained a mere idea ; 
 and every one, the whole country over, was at his wits' end for 
 labour. He did not deny the moral objection to that class of 
 labour ; he fully admitted it ; but this had appeared to him a 
 question which involved the entire stoppage of the life's business 
 of the island, and on that ground he had acted. 
 
 It is not my intention to descend into the fiery vortex of this 
 fiercely agitated question. Still it is but justice to Sir William 
 Denison to give his view of the case, in which I believe him to be 
 thoroughly sincere. And nothing can more strongly support this 
 opinion than the testimony of many of his most zealous opponents. 
 Mr. West, the able historian of the island, and one of the most 
 active and efficient founders and agitators of the League, states 
 how strongly, till a very late period, were the bulk of the in- 
 habitants inclined to the continuance of the system. In 1830, a 
 rumour having reached Van Diemen's Land that transportation 
 was to be discontinued, the papers broke out into wild lamenta- 
 tions, declaring that the country would be ruined, and threatening 
 to quit the colony. This view, however, had greatly changed ; 
 
 u 3 
 
294 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 and Mr. "West notices Sir William's resistance to this change, but, 
 at the same time, pays a most handsome tribute of justice to his 
 general merits. 
 
 " The opposition of Sir William Denison to the colonial will on 
 this subject ; his injustice to the Judges; and his sarcastic delinea- 
 tions of colonial character, have narrowed the circle of his friends. 
 In future times an opinion more favourable to his reputation may 
 be expected to prevail. It will be remembered that he promoted 
 the advancement of science, fostered liberal education, increased 
 the facilities of commerce, abated the practical evils of the convict 
 department, advocated the principles of legislative freedom, and 
 by a respectable private character, sustained the moral dignity of 
 Government." 
 
 As is my wont, I wandered into the cemeteries to catch some 
 records of the past, which you do not always find elsewhere. In 
 one, I think that of St. David, I came upon several curious monu- 
 ments. The one to the memory of the unfortunate Sir Eardley 
 Wilmot, was the finest and in the best taste. It was in the form 
 of an ancient cuspated cross, much in the style of one of Queen 
 Eleanor's crosses. A large heavy monument to Lieutenant- 
 Governor Collins, bore this inscription : — " Sacred to the memory 
 of David Collins, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of this colony, and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Marine forces. 
 
 " On the first establishment of the colony of New South Wales, 
 he was employed as Deputy-Judge Advocate, and in the year 
 1803, he was entrusted by His Majesty's Government with the 
 command of an expedition destined to form a settlement at Port 
 Phillip, on the south coast of New Holland, but which was subse- 
 quently removed to Van Diemen's Land. Under his direction, as 
 Lieutenant-Governor, the site of this town was chosen, and the 
 foundation of its first building laid in 1804. He died here on the 
 18th of March, 1810, aged fifty-six years; and this monument, 
 long projected, was erected to his memory in 1838, by Sir John 
 Franklin, K.C.H., K.R." 
 
 The good Sir John, after eight-and-twenty years' neglect of the 
 founder of the colony, had thus cared for his memory. 
 
 Close to these monuments was one which asked "who had 
 not heard of the immortal fame" of one Gideon Lewis and his 
 family, ending in the illustrious name of Thomas Stump, his 
 grandson ! 
 
 Mr. Glover, the well-known landscape painter, I believe, died 
 here, but I did not discover his tomb. Possibly it was cast into the 
 shade by such overwhelming splendours as Gideon Lewis, or the 
 
THE CATARACT OF THE SOUTH ESK. 295 
 
 illustrious Stump ; but in most good houses of Hobart Town, you 
 encounter Glover's drawings and water-coloured landscapes. 
 
 In travelling back by coach to Launceston, I was struck by a 
 strange exhibition of the besetting sin of all these colonies, — the 
 enormous drinking of spirits. The distance of 120 miles is divided 
 into twelve stages. In each of these stages there are, on the 
 average, three public houses, at which the coach regularly pulls 
 up, and the coachman and guard as regularly go into the bar, and 
 take their "nip of brandy;" that is, half a glass. So that about 
 thirty-six times in the day they took off, without any apparent 
 effect, a considerable dose of brandy, generally neat ; that is, equal 
 to eighteen strong tumblers of brandy and water, or the brandy 
 itself used for that quantity, or a glass and half every hour ! A 
 considerable number of the passengers, too, drunk quite as much 
 of the same fiery liquor. 
 
 Well may the better classes here be at their wits* end on this 
 subject, as in all the colonies, and agitating the introduction of the 
 Maine Liquor Law ; nay, one party going further, and agitating 
 for a complete interdiction of the importation of all fermented 
 liquors whatever into this island ; the population of which, I pre- 
 sume, is about 50,000, and the annual duty on spirits 90,000/. 
 
 At Launceston I climbed to the cataract of the South Esk, to 
 the westward of the town. I found it, not a cascade, but what 
 the Americans call a rapid. The river has broken its way through 
 the hills of trap rock of 700 or 800 feet high ; and a rapid shows 
 itself bursting from the gorge of these cliffs, and descending a 
 fine, stony glen into a large pool. It then cuts through other 
 intervening rocks, sweeping to the left, and thence descending a 
 more precipitous declination, foaming and roaring down towards 
 the level plain, when it falls into the Tamar. 
 
 The hills around these rapids are boldly and finely thrown up, 
 with various wooded glens running up between them, the trees 
 striking their roots amongst the rude crags that everywhere 
 project. If you climb a ridge of rocks close upon the cata- 
 ract, you have it directly under your feet, and the scene there is 
 truly fine, especially of the steep, craggy hill opposite, and the 
 deep defile through which the river escapes to the harbour below. 
 Some cottages are scattered in the glens near the falls, apparently 
 the abodes of washerwomen, whose linen is plentifully hanging 
 out ; and their gardens and enclosures run along the steep hill- 
 sides. A quiet spot ! 
 
 There was a fine view of the town from the hill near the cata- 
 ract. The town, lying in light, was of the usual hurdle pattern ; 
 
 D 4 
 
296 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 the low green hills over which it spreads also lit up, its few ships 
 showing themselves along the quay, and the still river winding 
 away to the left. All beyond were ridges of hills as far as you 
 could see, lying in deep purple shadow, and the clouds hanging on 
 tiie sombre blue ranges of the distant mountains. Many good 
 houses, interspersed with pleasant gardens, filled up the map of 
 the outskirts of Launceston, and the great swampy flats below the 
 town reminded you whence come the prevailing fogs of this place. 
 
 The only day I had to spend here I devoted to a visit to Mr. 
 Ronald Gunn, who lives a little way out of town. Mr. Gunn is 
 a distinguished naturalist, — a correspondent of Sir William Hooker 
 and Professor Owen, — and has furnished various specimens of 
 birds and animals to Mr. Gould for his great zoological work on 
 Australia. 
 
 Mr. Gunn's house lies in a fine park merely enclosed from the 
 native forest, and exhibiting not only fine native timber, but 
 splendid steeps and most picturesque glens. The country round 
 is extremely beautiful. We made a long ramble during the after- 
 noon, getting some rich views of cultivated valley on the North 
 Esk, and of a peculiarly fine glen, where the perpendicular masses 
 of basaltic rock, relieved by noble trees, presented a specimen of 
 bold beauty rare on the other side of the Straits. 
 
 In our ramble Mr. Gunn said that the apples here are better 
 flavoured than those of England, but not such good keepers ; that 
 their pears are excellent, and the plums grown from stones un- 
 rivalled in flavour. That the peaches and nectarines are good, 
 but apt to be shaken off with the winds. Their grapes he con- 
 sidered suffered from the want of thorough rest in winter, the cold 
 not being sufldcient at that season completely to check the circula- 
 tion of the vines, and that they were also affected by summer 
 frosts. That gooseberries, currants, and raspberries were excellent 
 and abundant, but that the climate was too dry for strawberries. 
 I understood him that by sowing the seeds of various fruits, and 
 selecting the best trees that grow from them, they had obtained 
 new and splendid varieties, especially of apples and plums. In 
 our walk, Mr. Gunn drew my attention to a particularly rough and 
 scrubby shrub, with short sturdy boughs striking out on every 
 side, and said that the botanists had classed it amongst the violets. 
 In the glades of the woods, and even in the cultivated fields, I ob- 
 served enormous thickets of sweet-briar, covering in some places 
 whole acres of land. The sweet-briar, the furze, and the thistle — 
 the two first introduced for fences, and the latter coming over with 
 the seed-corn, — have propagated in this climate to such an extent, 
 
COMPANIONS ON MY RETURN HOME. 297 
 
 that not only the thistles but the sweet-briar and furze are begin- 
 ning to be regarded as real nuisances. The birds disperse the seeds of 
 these plants everywhere, the winds assist to disseminate the thistles 
 all over the island, and the cattle, which are very fond of the hips 
 of the sweet-briar, spread that shrub in the woods and pastures. 
 The Government has called upon the settlers to destroy the thistle 
 diligently on all their lands ; but it is a hopeless case now ; it has 
 established itself almost everywhere on the open forest and waste. 
 After spending a most agreeable evening at Mr. Gunn's with a 
 party of friends, early the next morning T went on board the 
 steamer, and found amongst my fellow-passengers Mr. Smith 
 O'Brien, and once more, the Rev. Mr. Poer, who had been making , 
 a very successful campaign in Tasmania in favour of the Indepen- 
 dent Church, having, as I understand, collected 9000/., with funds 
 for the establishment of nine scholarships for the education of as 
 many young men as ministers to come out here. He told me that 
 he has already sent home for thirteen ministers for Australia. 
 
 And thus on the 8th of July, 1854, we bade adieu to Tasmania, 
 but not without a reminder that we had been in a land of convicts. 
 Both here and at Sydney, we were not allowed to put to sea before 
 a thorough search had been made through the ship, to ascertain 
 whether any convict had secreted himself or herself in it, or was 
 attempting to pass under a false name or disguise. The names of 
 all persons taking passages from the ports of these colonies, are 
 obliged to be exhibited in public for at least twelve hours before 
 the vessel can be cleared. Officers, therefore, came on board, who 
 called all our names over, and made very free examinations of the 
 steerage passengers, — in each case taking away one or two with 
 them. At George Town, a little port at the mouth of the Tamar, 
 where this operation took place, a young woman, who had been 
 very gay and talkative, was thrown into great consternation by 
 the officer doubting her clearness, and her husband having gone on 
 shore with their clearance in his pocket, she continued in an agony 
 of tears and excitement till he came back, when all was found right. 
 It is singular that while the Victorians were complaining of 
 the facility of convicts escaping over from this island to them, and 
 even of the Government favouring such transit, these apparently 
 strict measures were daily in operation to prevent it. One thing, 
 however, is certain, — that immense numbers do get over; and 
 probably manage it by getting on board small vessels at solitary 
 parts of the coast — being in fact smuggled away. The passage of 
 the Straits at the nearest points is only about 140 miles, and there- 
 fore easily effected. 
 
29^ TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 CHAP. XLIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Concluding Remarks. — Climate of Australia. — Future Amelioration of its 
 Evils. — Easy Mode of destroying its Flies. — The Land Question. — What 
 is really wanted at this Moment. — Gold or no Gold, all will be right with 
 Cheap Land. — Navigation of the Murray. — Judge Boothby's grand Scheme 
 of a Trunk Railway. — Probable Effects of Discovery. — Inevitable future 
 Greatness of Australia. — Its Growth in the Hands of a native Anglo- 
 Australian Population. — Their different Regard for the Country. — Con- 
 cluding Sentiment. 
 
 On the 16th of August, 1854, I once more passed the heads of the 
 bay of Port Phillip, and pushed out into the great ocean, on board 
 the ship " John Banks," for England ; leaving Australia with the 
 fullest conviction that it is destined to become one of the greatest and 
 most flourishing countries in the world. God has done his part. 
 He has planted her amid the southern seas in genial latitudes, and 
 in a position calculated to develop all her resources through un- 
 limited commerce. He has given rich lands for the plough and 
 the pasture ; mountains and prairies for the flocks and herds ; 
 forests and minerals for her arts ; a bosom ample enough and rich 
 enough to nourish myriads of inhabitants ; and it depends alone on 
 man whether her progress shall be slow or rapid. 
 
 In the course of these volumes I have so fully and so frequently 
 discussed all the chief topics connected with the colony more par- 
 ticularly under notice, that but little remains to be said here, and 
 that rather concerning the general interest and prospects of Aus- 
 tralia at large. 
 
 The climate, which is a point of great importance to the intend- 
 ing settler in a new country, varies, of course, according to latitude 
 in different parts of the continent, but may be pronounced, spite 
 of all that has been said in interested eulogy, or in the depreciation 
 of disappointment, a fine and genial climate. Van Diemen's Land 
 is the coolest ; New South Wales and South Australia are gene- 
 rally warmer than Victoria; but Victoria during the summer 
 months gives you rather the climate of Spain than the promised 
 one of Devonshire. That is what the emigrant should bear in 
 mind. For those who shrink from the winters at home, the winters 
 of Australia will be a delightful change : for those who luxuriate 
 in heat, its summer will prove no oppression. But to numbers the 
 
* CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. 299 
 
 summer heats ought to be well expected, to be cheerfully borne, 
 especially by those who have to labour in the sun. 
 
 No doubt, as people grow up in the country, the climate will 
 become a natural fact, which will agree admirably with the native 
 constitution. It is probable that a climate which excuses its 
 inhabitants the rigorous hardening of English winters, may also 
 refuse that remarkable longevity which is found in England. 
 There appears already an obvious tendency in the Anglo-Austra- 
 lian to run up into height, and with a slightness of frame like the 
 Anglo-American ; and it is observed that the bloom of youth, as 
 in the United States, more rapidly fades : but if the term of life 
 should prove a little shorter, its general current will run under a 
 pure and a cheering sky. I do not mean to insinuate the nonsense 
 which has been so widely propagated, that in breathing Australian 
 air you seem to be breathing oxygen or drinking champagne. If 
 such effects are ever felt, they were never felt by me, nor by any 
 one that I ever came in contact with. But there is, without ques- 
 tion, a wonderful continuance of fine genial weather in these 
 colonies ; and when they shall be more settled, the woods reduced 
 in extent, the marshes drained, the land cultivated, and the insect 
 tribes banished to the mere wastes, or destroyed ; when good 
 houses shall offer all the comforts, defences, and ameliorations of 
 life as in the old countries ; when the earth shall yield its abund- 
 ance of food and the refreshment of its fruits ; when the variations 
 of temperature during the day, and especially the cold of the nights, 
 shall be familiar and prepared-for things ; and when the exciting 
 causes of disease shall have unveiled themselves to the searching 
 eye of the physiologist, — Australia, as a whole, will become one of 
 the most enviable homes of the human race. 
 
 Its dust-winds and its hot-winds, understood and guarded 
 against, will be but very brief and trivial evils. In the country 
 the dust-winds are scarcely ever known ; and towns have it in 
 their power to extinguish them by economical measures, by water- 
 ing streets and roads, and keeping in pasture any dusty and sandy 
 spaces north of towns from which the nuisance blows. Lastly, 
 those little black flies — that present, real, and intolerable curse 
 — may, as population advances^ be, if not utterly annihilated, yet 
 greatly reduced. 
 
 There are peculiar states of the atmosphere, electric ones, and 
 generally just preceding thunder-storms, when these vermin pour 
 down in legions, and with blind desperation, upon any animal 
 matter. They are then careless of attack or death ; and a boy 
 with a good large fly-flap, or even a leafy branch, may knock any 
 
300 TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 amount of them down by merely rubbing a little grease on a table 
 or a bench. He has nothing to do but to keep striking all day 
 long, and all day they will continue darting down upon the same 
 place. A boy set at every door in a tolerably populous state of a 
 colony, or Mr. Bowering's powder, would soon rid the whole 
 country of this pest. 
 
 But the land is the great question. On this topic I have never 
 €eased throughout this work to depict the prevailing mischief, — 
 to utter, with every energy that is within me, remonstrance and 
 appeal. On this greatest of all topics as it affects this New 
 England of the South, I now say one more parting word. God has 
 given us plenty of land, and fine land ; man only, in his perverse 
 folly, can withhold it, and paralyse the grand career of a great 
 nation. 
 
 And what is wanted at this moment ? Nothing more than for 
 the Australian Government to carry into effect the constitutions 
 which they have framed for themselves, and which the Home 
 Government has conceded to them, leaving only the land question 
 on the basis which the Duke of Newcastle's despatch has placed it. 
 We may assure ourselves that, spite of present difficulties, the colo- 
 nists will discharge their duty faithfully to themselves and their 
 posterity in it. We may safely leave it to the sense and interests 
 of the public at large to guide the colonial policy into the right 
 channel. We are not to suppose that the body of the community 
 will surrender their birthright to a little guild of shepherds and 
 herdsmen, or that a legislature including a fair share of these 
 bucolic patriarchs will madly injure one of the greatest sources of 
 colonial commerce, comfort, and revenue by any rash or unjust 
 attack on the real rights and claims of the squatters. 
 
 Land for the public as fast as it wants it, and their runs for the 
 squatters as long as they are not wanted for the settlement of the 
 people, must be the two rules and maxims of Australian policy, 
 too self-evident in their justice and benefit to all parties to be 
 mistaken or misused. This knot once cut, land once free and 
 plentiful as God and nature made it, then will the colonies run 
 side by side a glorious race. Van Diemen's Land will flourish 
 throughout its Lilliputian domain with the prosperity of its more 
 gigantic sisters. Adelaide has already made vigorous progress by 
 a wise policy. By sale of land at reasonable rates to its small 
 capitalists, and by furnishing a good escort for the gold of the 
 diggers who went thence to Victoria, she has secured them as 
 cultivators on her soil ; and while Victoria could furnish no pro- 
 duce from her own bosom for her fast accumulating people, she 
 
JUDGE BOOTHBT'S GRAND SCHEME. 301 
 
 lias been able not only to supply herself, but to send a surplus 
 thither. 
 
 Gold or no gold, give but Australia the free use of her own 
 lands, and nothing can resist her progress. And yet gold un- 
 questionably will still be found over thousands of square miles 
 which hitherto are unknown or untouched. Travellers beyond the 
 Murray report enormous stretches of country where quartz, and 
 schist, and sandstone proclaim the existence of gold. The very 
 desert of Sturt, exhibiting the same features^ proclaims itself a 
 desert of gold. 
 
 New discoveries will open up immense regions where the 
 grazier, the agriculturist, and the miner will alike find fresh trea- 
 sures and fresh homes. The navigation of the Murray opens up 
 at once, as it were, a whole kingdom of territory, and bids the 
 squatter boldly advance into the wilderness, promising to carry 
 down his wool and his cattle, and to carry up all that he needs. 
 Nay, wonderful visions, thereupon, of mighty railroads stretching 
 from Adelaide, through Victoria and New South Wales, to Sydney 
 itself, rise before the imagination of my old friend Judge Boothby, 
 and he bravely asks no less than twenty-one millions sterling to 
 construct these magnificent works, with all their necessary docks 
 and stations ; to be refunded out of the sale of lands and the 
 profits of its traffic. He sees no less than 100,000 tons of timber 
 and building materials trotting down this highway of nations 
 annually ; 50,000 tons of hay and straw ; 3,000,000 quarters of 
 corn ; 200,000 bales of wool, tallow, &c. ; 50,000 horses and fat 
 cattle ; 40,000 sheep and pigs, very fat ; 10,000 tons of copper ; 
 2,400,000 ounces of gold — that is, all the gold got in Victoria, for 
 not more than that is now getting ; saddle-horses and carriages 
 travelling with passengers, at the charge of 18,000/. per annum ; 
 and a million and a half of people. He sees wine and dairy pro- 
 duce, poultry and fish, and all that man can create or desire, 
 rushing along with a velocity to the cities, as if they were going 
 to eat and not to be eaten. A most magnificent scene, yielding a 
 return of 800,000/. yearly. A magnificent scene ! but rather of 
 the future than of to-day. Some day such august machinery will 
 be in motion, resounding through the wilderness — - a wilderness 
 no longer, — from Lake Alexandrina to Sydney Cove ; but at 
 present neither Sydney nor Melbourne will be very anxious to see 
 Adelaide armed with the advantages of a railroad in addition to 
 that of the Murray stream. Already they see with alarm that the 
 great river draws naturally every thing downwards — wool, fat 
 cattle, and whatever the squatter has to send, — to its terminus 
 
302 TWO TEARS IN VICTORIA. 
 
 near Adelaide. That is the natural, and, as concerns them, fatal 
 tendency of the stream. Sydney and Victoria will, therefore, 
 hasten to construct counteracting railways to draw the ftitness of 
 the interior also towards them. But Adelaide will also hasten to 
 increase the attraction towards herself by rail as well as steamer, 
 and thus the great scheme will be eventually realised by the 
 rivalry rather than the co-operation of these colonies. 
 
 Discovery will generate discovery. The expedition which has 
 recently explored a part of the West has tended to define the 
 boundaries of Sturt's Desert, and show that it is of no great ex- 
 tent. Leichhardt, by drawing a diagonal line across the continent 
 from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, has shown that no desert 
 reaches that line. River after river, washing vast and fertile lands, 
 — the Burdikin, the Clarke, the Lynd, the Nicholson, the Calvert, 
 the Robinson, and the two Alligators, crossed his track. Already 
 there is a strong tendency of population from Sydney northward, 
 and the projection of a " Northern Australia." And thus, from 
 without and within, encompassing the coast and advancing from 
 all sides towards the centre, a vast career of centuries of planting 
 and peopling is before us on this island-continent. 
 
 England, in fact, is here re- producing herself on a larger scale ; 
 but the immigrants of to-day only feel the tumblings and rushings 
 together of the yet unexplicated chaos. To us this is a strange 
 land, to the next generation it will be the native land. Born, 
 therefore, to love it, they will push on its growth to greatness. 
 The sons and daughters of the soil will grow up amid all the en- 
 dearing associations of a mother country. To them the inverted 
 seasons will possess no inversion. To them the gum-tree and the 
 wattle will assume the place of the oak and the elm. The warbling 
 crow and the laughing jackass will be their blackbird and here- 
 ditary rook. To them the smooth outlines of the Australian land- 
 scape will appear as charming as to us the more abrupt and pic- 
 turesque scenery of the northern hemisphere. New interests, new 
 histories, and new hopes will surround them with the genuine 
 charms of existence. They are the after generations who will feel 
 the comforts and enjoy the glories of the advancing creation of an 
 austral world. In their hands, and by the vigour of their genius, 
 Australia in its totality will rapidly, and by the clear design of 
 Providence, advance into one more august section of that race 
 which from England — the ancient heart of Christianity, freedom, 
 and civilisation, — is encompassing the earth. Westward, America ; 
 eastward, India ; southward, Africa ; and in this scheme far greater 
 than Africa, Australia, these vast regions are organising the grand 
 
CONCLUDING SENTIMENT. 303 
 
 future of humanity, whose ultimate triumph of religion, liberty, 
 science, brotherly unity and happiness, will blend themselves into 
 the broad day of, the distant millennium. 
 
 Therefore, while gazing down this glorious vista of progressing 
 certainties, let us cordially cry, "Advance Australia!" and so 
 treat her in her infancy that she shall remember us with grateful 
 aflfection in the power and splendour of her maturity. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED B\ SHOTTISWOODE AND CO. 
 
 NEW-STKEET SQUARE. 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 • 1 -year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 • Renewals and recharges may be made 
 4 days prior to due date . 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 MAY G 5 mi; 
 
514530 
 
 OO^'? 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY