August, 1907.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 69 



THE ANIMAL-LIFE OF THE SUNBURY DISTRICT 



SIXTY YEARS AGO. 



By I.saac Batey. 



(Communicated by A. G. Campbell.) 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 8tJi July, 1907.) 



SuNHURY, from its proximity to Melbourne, little more than 

 twenty miles in a direct line north-west, was one of the earliest dis- 

 tricts to be settled when pastoralists began to spread out from the 

 infant settlement of Port Phillip in the thirties. The surrounding 

 country consists chiefly of basaltic plains, lying at an elevation of 

 about 750 feet above sea level, but rising quickly beyond to 

 1,200-1,500 feet. Here and there are old worn-down volcanic hills, 

 while several deep creek valleys, the principafof which is that of 

 Jackson's Creek, help to diversify the scene. 



In the early days the principal timber trees were Sheoaks 

 (Casuarinas), but these, owing to the progress of settlement, have 

 almost disappeared, though in the creek valleys some Red Gums, 

 Eucalyptus rosirata, and a few other bushes, such as Hymen- 

 anthera and Bursaria, too small for firewood, still remain. The 

 country was early devoted to sheep, and, as a consequence, the 

 first settlers left no stone unturned to rid themselves of those 

 native animals which were detrimental to pastoral pursuits ; hence 

 the extermination of the Dingoes or Native Dogs was soon taken 

 in hand, on account of the damage they wrought among the 

 sheep. Other native animals were frightened away by the 

 trampling of the flocks and herds, and on the outbreak of the 

 Bendigo and Forest Creek diggings, in 1851-4, the principal 

 route to which lay through the Sunbury district, the enormous 

 traffic along the Mount Alexander road seemed to complete the 

 disappearance of many native animals we had been accustomed 

 to meet with in our rambles. 



The centre of the area, comprising some 15,000 acres, with 

 which I propose to deal in the following notes was in the olden 

 days known as the Red Stone Hill station, situated between 

 Jackson's and Emu Creeks, about 4 miles south-east of Sunbury 

 railway station, the junction of the Sunbury, Lancefield, and Mel- 

 bourne roads being about the centre of the old station. Glencoe 

 station, occupied by the Messrs. Page, was opposite to us, on the 

 south side of Jackson's Creek, while Brodie's Forest comprised 

 the southern portion of the area between the Emu and Deep 

 Creeks, bounded by Wildwood on the north. To the north of us 

 was Jackson's Koorakoorakup station, now included in Sir R. 

 Clarke's Rupertswood estate. 



I will take the mammals in their natural sequence, and 

 briefly refer to those with which we were more or less familiar. 



The Orange-beluep Water-Rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, 



