62 AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



soon calms down to the ordinary seething of the cauldron, to which the shares 

 of the various mining companies bob up and down with a regularity that can 

 be almost reduced to a certainty. 



Anthony Trollope said of Ballarat : 'It struck me with more surprise 

 than any other city in Australia. It is not only its youth, for Melbourne is 

 also very young ; nor is it the population of Ballarat which amazes, for it 

 does not exceed a quarter of that of Melbourne ; but that a town so well 

 built, so well ordered, endowed with present advantages so great in the way 

 of schools, hospitals, libraries, hotels, public gardens, and the like, should have 

 sprung up so quickly with no internal advantages of its own other than that 

 of gold. The town is very pleasant to the sight.' And with these pleasant 

 words we may leave the great mining capital. 



If cities, like men, could enforce their rights by suits of equity, Geelong 

 would be the capital of the colony of Victoria, and many heartburnings, past 

 and present, would have been avoided. But as matters stand, Geelong has 

 to be content with third place in the list of Victorian extra-metropolitan cities, 

 and with a population of about 21,000. The claims of the town to greater 

 consideration lie in its situation on the shores of Corio Bay, thus nearer to the 

 sea than Melbourne, its central position as regards the first cultivated and 

 most fertile district of the colony, and its early settlement. John Bateman, the 

 pioneer, with his party of three white men and four Sydney blacks, landed 

 at Indented Head on May 29, 1835, and would have 'squatted' thereabouts 

 permanently had it not been for the proceedings of the aboriginals. As it was, 

 Geelong was really founded as far back as 1837, when its site was planned by 

 the then Surveyor-General, Robert Hoddle, and in 1849, or before the golden 

 days, it was incorporated into a town. But fine harbour, excellent geographical 

 position, and rich country at its back, were not enough to enable Geelong to 

 compete in the race with Melbourne, Ballarat, and Sandhurst. It has grown 

 truly, and the growth has been of the steady nature which gives flavour and 

 solidity ; but lacking the fertilising medium of gold, there is no luxuriance, no 

 profusion. In the glorious future — the good time coming — this may prove to 

 have been an advantage. At present it is regarded as a drawback. The 

 town is in almost hourly communication with Melbourne, both by rail and 

 steamer, and presents many other features showing it to be instinct with 

 vitality of the best sort, and ready at any time to forge its way to the front. 



Geelong exports goods, principally wool and produce, to the value of 

 three-quarters of a million sterling per annum, and sends cargoes direct to 

 London and Liverpool. To accommodate shipping three substantial jetties 

 have been built at an expenditure of nearly one hundred thousand pounds, 

 and the bar at the entrance of the harbour is kept clear to the depth of 

 twenty-two feet. Another feature which strikes the eye of the visitor as he 

 glances admiringly round the beautiful bay, on the shores of which the 

 town sits enthroned, is the number of bathing establishments. There are no 



