40 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



in the despatch. " Were I to settle on the upper part of the 

 harbour," writes Collins, " which is full of natives, I should require 

 four times the force I have now, to guard not only the convicts, 

 but perhaps myself, from their attacks." 



The boat party made a start from the settlement on Sunday 

 morning, the 6th of November, but owing to foul winds and the 

 heavy sea in the " Rip," brought up inside the Heads for some days, 

 and did not finally clear Point Nepean until the Thursday morn- 

 ing. The log of the voyage is not extant, but they must have 

 made fair running, for when overtaken and picked up by the 

 Ocean, which left a week later, they were within sixty miles of 

 Sydney Heads. Fortunately the master of the transport thought 

 it might be worth while to call in at Port Jackson, having probably 

 a premonition that a further Government charter was possible, and 

 that it would be more profitable than his China venture. His 

 surmise proved correct, for on the second day after his arrival the 

 vessel was re-chartered for four months at the satisfactory rate of 

 432 18s. per month, and ordered to return to Port Phillip forthwith 

 to assist in the removal of the settlement. 



Meanwhile, pending receipt of instructions from Sydney, the 

 denizens of the so-called Sullivan's Bay went through their daily 

 rounds of drill and routine labour, literally spending their strength 

 for naught, for when the site came to be revisited by the white 

 men a generation later, not a sign could be found of the results of 

 those toilsome months. 



The first child born on Victorian soil saw the light of day on the 

 9th of November. He was the son of a sergeant of the marines, 

 and was baptised on Christmas Day in the name of William James 

 Hobart Thorne. The interest taken in the event may be gleaned 

 from the fact that the Governor and Lieutenant Johnson, E.N., 

 duplicated the responsibilities of godfathers, while Mrs. Powers 

 and Mrs. Whitehead stood as joint godmothers. A marriage also 

 was solemnised, on the 28th of November, between Eichard Garratt, 

 a prisoner of the Crown, and Hannah Harvey, a free settler. 

 What elements of romantic devotion may lurk in this bald an- 

 nouncement ! How easy to imagine the enduring affection that 

 outlived the disgrace of its object and the fall from its high ideal 



