THE FOUNDING OF MELBOURNE 125 



7th of August the little vessel hove in sight, having on board Mr. 

 Wedge and Henry Batman, who was accompanied by his wife and 

 four young children. 



When the story of the absconding convict came to be narrated, 

 and the services which he could render to the party by his know- 

 ledge of the aborigines were fully realised, Wedge at once kindly 

 undertook to make intercession for him with the Government, and 

 to obtain his pardon in consideration of his giving his services in 

 the meantime as interpreter. A petition setting forth the circum- 

 stances of his escape, and the good services he was now ready to 

 perform, was accordingly signed by Buckley, having been prepared 

 by Mr. Wedge, and, being transmitted to Launceston by the return 

 trip of the vessel in which the Surveyor had arrived, was favour- 

 ably entertained by Governor Arthur. As a matter of policy he 

 deemed it judicious to cheaply conciliate a man who, if still out- 

 lawed, might, by throwing in his lot with the natives, greatly 

 harass the intending settlers ; but who, on the other hand, could 

 be of great service to them if his interests lay in that direction. 

 The Governor expressed a doubt whether he had the power to 

 grant a free pardon to one who was constructively a prisoner of 

 the Crown, but was beyond the limits of his jurisdiction. How- 

 ever, he eventually gave the prisoner the benefit of the doubt, and 

 issued a formal pardon, which on his recommendation was subse- 

 quently confirmed by the Secretary of State. As soon as Wedge 

 had forwarded his despatch to Launceston and seen Henry Batman 

 and his family temporarily housed, he set forth on the surveying 

 expedition which eventually resulted, as already shown, in discov- 

 ering the party of the Enterprise on the Yarra. After leaving 

 them he extended his investigations in the direction of Mount 

 Macedon, and bearing away to the west he worked round towards 

 the upper reaches of the Werribee, which he crossed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bacchus Marsh, passed over the plains to Geelong, 

 and so reached his camp at the end of a week's arduous marching, 

 with his party half starved and thoroughly knocked up. Here he 

 recruited for a while, and on the third day after his return the Mary 

 Ann arrived from Launceston, bringing letters from his associates 

 and the Governor's pardon for Buckley. 



