INTRODUCTORY 19 



making experimentally the first plantation within the limits of the 

 colony of Victoria. The place selected for this initial clearing 

 was on Churchill Island, subsequently the property of Mr. Samuel 

 Amess, a well-known citizen, one time Mayor of Melbourne. The 

 area of cultivation was probably small, as the expedition did not 

 possess so needful an article as a spade, the nearest approach to 

 it being a coal shovel, " which," says Grant, " though it was thin 

 and much worn, served the purpose, the soil being exceedingly 

 light and easy to work ". He thus records the work : " The ground 

 was now prepared, and I sowed my several sorts of seeds, together 

 with wheat, Indian corn and peas, some grains of rice and some 

 coffee berries ; and I did not forget to plant potatoes. With the 

 trunks of the trees I felled, I raised a block-house of twenty-four 

 feet by twelve, which will probably remain for some years, the 

 supports being well fixed in the ground. Indeed, I was anxious 

 to mark my predilection for this spot on account of its beautiful 

 situation, insomuch that I scarcely know a place that I should 

 rather call mine than this little island. Round the skeleton of 

 a mansion house, I planted the stones and kernels of the several 

 fruits I had brought out, not forgetting that of the curious apple 

 before mentioned. I made this plantation rather late in the 

 season, but I am in hopes that some of the crops will flourish, and 

 I wait the pleasure of a good report hereafter." There is no 

 record of the anticipated report ever having reached him in Eng- 

 land, but it is certain that when Lieut. Murray revisited the place 

 some nine months later, he found the wheat and Indian corn in 

 full vigour, six feet high, and with stalks like young sugar-canes. 

 The onions had flourished, probably not being suited to marsupial 

 taste, but the potatoes had entirely disappeared. How little did 

 these simple pioneers imagine that this initial effort with the his- 

 torical coal shovel was to develop within the span of a human life 

 into a wealth of agricultural industry that could freight ships with 

 its precious productions to every part of the world. 



On Grant deciding to return to England, Lieut. Murray, who 

 had accompanied him as chief officer on the recent voyage, was 

 appointed to the command of the Lady Nelson, and under his 

 charge she acquired the distinction of being the first vessel that 



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