276 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



in their denunciation of Lord John Russell's Government, and 

 defiantly insisted on the intention of the settlers of Port Phillip to 

 keep that district at least free from the stigma attaching to a penal 

 colony. They said that, although joined for a short time to New 

 South Wales, they had never been in any sense a penal colony, 

 and that the Secretary of State had on the first settlement of the 

 district issued express instructions against the introduction of con- 

 victs. Therefore they stood for their rights, and would not submit 

 to have felons thrust upon them. There was both enthusiasm and 

 absolute unanimity, and the result was the adoption of a petition 

 to the Crown embodying six drastic resolutions which had been 

 carried. As the Legislative Council in Sydney passed resolutions 

 of a similar tenor about the same time, which were transmitted to 

 England, the Secretary of State realised at last on which side the 

 voice of the majority lay, and in a despatch to the Governor, dated 

 10th November, 1849, he stated that as the Government found that 

 convicts would be willingly received at Moreton Bay, it had been 

 decided to direct that all sent to New South Wales should be 

 landed there. 



So far as Port Phillip was concerned, the question might be 

 said to have been settled at this point. But elated with their suc- 

 cess, some prominent citizens of Melbourne, including such men as 

 Wm. Stawell, afterwards Chief Justice, Wm. Nicholson, after- 

 wards Premier, and Wm. Westgarth, extended their sympathy to 

 the other Colonies, notably to Van Diemen's Land, and about a 

 year afterwards assisted in the inauguration of the Australian 

 League. This was composed of delegates from all the centres of 

 Australian settlement, and it aimed at the absolute suppression of 

 transportation to those regions under any pretext. 



It was munificently supported by the leading merchants and 

 professional men, and with the aid of the press, by petitions of 

 public meetings, by subsidised agents in London and by the stimu- 

 lation of an intelligent interest in the Colonies in England, it did 

 much solid and useful work. And happily the times worked with 

 it. The rush of population which followed the discovery of gold 

 promised an ample provision of labour, and for a time seemed to 

 turn the punishment of transportation to such an El Dorado into 

 something very like a reward. 



