THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SETTLEMENT 149 



of June, is full of interest, and contains the first official statistics of 

 the settlement. It has been reprinted at length by Mr. Labilliere, 

 Mr. Bonwick and others, and therefore a synopsis will serve the 

 present purpose. 



On the second day after passing through the Heads Mr. Stewart 

 fell in with Mr. John Holder Wedge, who was sojourning at Bat- 

 man's original settlement at Indented Head. From him he gleaned 

 much information about the aborigines and their treatment by the 

 settlers, a subject which occupies a considerable portion of his 

 report. It was not until the 1st of June that he reached the settle- 

 ment on the Yarra, and he made it his first business to distribute 

 copies of the Governor's proclamation for the benefit of the tres- 

 passers. He describes the town as situated " on the left hand of 

 the Yarra Yarra, about seven miles from its mouth, which at present 

 consists of thirteen buildings, viz., three weather-boarded, two 

 slab and eight turf huts," and he calls it " Bearbrass ". This un- 

 meaning name, probably an attempt to write the sound of some 

 aboriginal word, never acquired any permanent recognition, and 

 was probably used by Stewart under some misconception. The 

 place had been facetiously referred to in the Launceston papers as 

 " Batmania " and " Dutergalla," but in common parlance it was 

 called " the settlement " until the Government bestowed upon it 

 the name of the English Premier of the day. The European 

 population numbered 142 males and 35 females, of whom nine 

 were proprietors claiming under Batman's treaty with the natives, 

 twenty-four were independent settlers disregarding that treaty, and 

 the balance was made up of the families and servants of this terri- 

 torial aristocracy. The number of sheep at this date was computed 

 at 26,500, horses 57, and horned cattle about 100, the value of the 

 whole, including farming implements, etc., representing an invest- 

 ment of fully 80,000. In the twelve months that had elapsed 

 since Batman's first discovery, this energetic little body of adven- 

 turers had spread over an area of about one hundred miles of country, 

 had established many stations within that radius, and even pushed 

 their explorations some seventy miles to the north. The general 

 tenor of the report is favourable to the settlers, who are accredited 

 with humane and judicious treatment of the aborigines, and with a 



