210 A HISTOEY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



bringing this golden opportunity into the very camp of the intend- 

 ing settlers, despite the fact that the greater abundance of capital in 

 Sydney would have ensured higher prices, proceeded to read the 

 conditions of sale. They were very simple : A deposit of 2 2s. on 

 the fall of the hammer, and the balance within a month. For the 

 first time in a Government land sale in Australia, a condition was 

 inserted binding the purchaser to erect, within two years, on each 

 allotment a " substantial building," costing not less than 20. This 

 would seem to indicate that in 1837 20 was expected to do what 

 200 would have been inadequate to accomplish ten years later. 



Of the twenty-four ten-acre blocks which had been provisionally 

 marked off as the area of the future town, five, comprising what is 

 still the most active business centre of Melbourne, had been sub- 

 divided each into twenty allotments, approximating to half an acre 

 each. Except for a few special corners the competition was not 

 very keen. That the buyers were soon satisfied is shown by the 

 fact that the 100 lots were distributed amongst sixty-six competi- 

 tors. Only one man, Mr. Thomas Browne, purchased five ; three 

 others got four each, six got three each, seven secured two each, 

 and the remaining fifty-one fell to single purchasers. 



Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner strengthened his claim to pose as 

 the father of the settlement by buying the first lot offered for 32. 

 It was the eastern corner of King and Flinders Streets, about the 

 nearest lot to the landing-place in the Yarra basin. His rival, 

 John Batman, secured the corners of William and Flinders Streets 

 and William and Collins Streets, at the enhanced price of 75 and 

 60 respectively. Another of the discoverers, Mr. John Helder 

 Wedge, the Surveyor, secured three valuable corner lots in the 

 centre of the town at about the same figure. 



The highest price given for a single lot was 95 for the half- 

 acre at the north-east corner of Collins and William Streets. The 

 competition in this case was probably due to the fact that it was 

 about the highest point in the surveyed area, commanding a fine 

 prospect of the Yarra, and, with Collins Street falling away from it 

 on the east and on the west, a general view of the whole settle- 

 ment. The lowest prices were received for the lots on the north 

 side of Collins Street, between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets, 



