THE PORT PHILLIP ASSOCIATION 197 



existed in the British Cabinet over which Lord Melbourne ruled a 

 spirit of severe financial economy that somewhat militated against 

 the dignity of the Crown. 



If, however, exception is fairly taken to the treatment of the 

 Association, it certainly may be held to apply with even greater 

 force to the manner in which the much milder claims of John 

 Batman were dealt with. He was not a great hero or a great 

 discoverer, but he was unquestionably the pioneer of the district, 

 and he cast his all in with its progress. He brought over with him 

 the proceeds of his Van Diemen's Land estate, and what was 

 perhaps of more value, he brought a wife and seven daughters to 

 help in building up the community, and a son was born to him on 

 the banks of the Yarra in the first year of his residence. Finan- 

 cially his affairs did not appear to prosper in the new colony. It 

 seems to be implied by the narrators of the early days that the 

 want of success was his own fault, was, in fact, want of steady 

 application, of temperance and of industry. His family averred 

 that his health was shattered by the hardships he underwent in the 

 preliminary exploration, and that his early death was its direct 

 result. Be this as it may, it is certain that with the capital he 

 brought with him he erected the most substantial house in the 

 place, with stores, barns and huts for his servants ; planted some 

 hundreds of fruit-trees in his garden facing the Yarra, and brought 

 under the plough some twenty acres of land which the great rail- 

 way terminus now covers. The buildings were mostly put up 

 before he was warned that he was a trespasser, and all were in 

 existence before the town was surveyed. Nor was he without a 

 proper sense of his duties as a citizen, for he entertained Captain 

 Lonsdale for a week or two after his arrival, while the primitive 

 " Government cottage " was being erected, and he headed the list 

 of subscriptions for building the first church with a donation of 

 50. 



The survey of the town of Melbourne, and the general anticipa- 

 tion of the prospective value of the allotments, probably first brought 

 him face to face with the chance of losing his home through inability 

 to provide the large sum that might be necessary for the purchase of 

 the land, if competition was keen. Therefore, on the 21st of March, 



