242 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



press generally, and the Argus especially, five years later, it is 

 difficult to realise that they are dealing with the same man. 



It was but four years since the first hut had been erected on 

 the banks of the Yarra by Fawkner's advance party, and less than 

 three since the New South Wales Government had authorised the 

 legal occupation of the place in which Mr. Latrobe now found him- 

 self. A population of nearly 3,000 persons had in that short time 

 taken possession of the town that had been planned by Messrs. 

 Hoddle and Eussell. The density of the population, if such a term 

 can be allowed, was in the block bounded on the east and west 

 respectively by Swanston and William Streets. Even in Collins 

 Street, between those points, there were many vacant allotments, 

 and of the houses barely a hundred were built of brick, a few of 

 them having a second storey. The remainder varied from neat 

 weather-board structures to the roughest kind of log-shanties with 

 bark roofs, which demanded a liberal interpretation of the Govern- 

 ment's stipulation for "a habitable dwelling worth 20!" This 

 street had been cleared of trees and stumps within the area named, 

 and a rough centre roadway formed by convict labour, but there 

 were no footpaths, and where the shopkeeper had not personally 

 made provision for access, pedestrians had to take their chance over 

 very rough material. The crossing of Elizabeth Street, which was 

 practically a gully, was always a matter of very careful driving, and 

 after heavy rain it was commonly necessary to go as far north as 

 Lonsdale Street to pass over it with safety. To the east of Swanston 

 Street there were not more than half a dozen dwellings, the road- 

 way was unformed, and the gaunt gum-trees made a ragged avenue. 

 Flinders Street, from King Street eastward to where the punt crossed 

 the river, near the site of the present Princes Bridge, had some 

 twenty buildings, looking out upon a waste, swampy space between 

 them, and the thick ti-tree scrub which fringed the river's bank. 

 The landing-place at the foot of William Street was wharfless, though 

 a few poles and planks enabled moderately active passengers to dis- 

 embark without plunging into the all-surrounding mud and slush. 

 The alignment of Bourke Street as a whole was somewhat indistinct 

 from the quantity of timber at its eastern end, but a post at the 

 corner now occupied by Menzies' Hotel bore the legend " This is 



