140 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



entitled to any protection from the Government, being unauthorised 

 intruders, yet, from considerations of humanity, he hoped something 

 might be done in the direction indicated, and wound up by stating 

 that it would afford him great pleasure to be able to co-operate 

 with Sir Eichard Bourke for the purpose of conferring upon the 

 settlers of " Dutergalla " the indispensable advantages of a power 

 to carry laws into force, and to protect their lives and property. 

 But Governor Bourke was in no humour to be concussed into 

 taking action. He called his Executive Council together on the 

 17th of December, and laid the papers before them, together with 

 a copy of his despatch to Lord Glenelg, and the Council promptly 

 declined to take any steps until His Majesty's commands should be 

 received as to the ultimate disposal of the settlement. As the 

 course of post with the mother-country was then from eight to ten 

 months, matters had come to a temporary dead-lock, and the intrud- 

 ing settlers were left to their own devices. And even the prospect 

 of having to take the law into their own hands did not in any way 

 check the emigration fever which had seized upon the settlers of 

 Van Diemen's Land, who continued to find their way across the 

 Strait in ever-increasing numbers. Amongst the earliest to arrive 

 on the scene of action was the ex- Attorney-General, Mr. J. T. Gelli- 

 brand, one of the leading spirits of the Association, whose journal 

 of his visit is the most extended as well as the most interesting of 

 all the letters of the early pioneers. He left Launceston on the 17th 

 of January, 1836, in the Norval, accompanied by his son Thomas, 

 Messrs. Wm. Eobertson, Gardiner, Leake, Malcolm and Mudie, 

 and about 1,200 sheep, the property of Captain Swanston. The 

 passage was exceptionally stormy and disastrous. At the end of 

 a week they were off Cape Schanck, with the loss of 115 sheep 

 from suffocation, and the hay having been swept overboard, they 

 were under the necessity of keeping the others alive on the unusual 

 diet of flour and water. To save them it was necessary to cut the 

 journey short by landing in Western Port. Diligent search was 

 made for the most suitable place, but though grass was abundant 

 they could find no fresh water. Further delay was impossible, 

 and finally, under many difficulties, they succeeded in landing over 

 a thousand on the droughty shore. 



