THE NEW COLONY 311 



much more highly appreciated by shipmasters than all the facilities 

 even now offered on the river of the Metropolis. 



By the end of 1837 some five and twenty stations had been 

 formed on the Barwon, the Leigh and the Moorabool Eivers, and 

 for some of these the sheep had been landed at Point Henry, just 

 below the bar in Corio Bay. In passing to and fro the advantages 

 of the neighbouring site for a town could not be overlooked, and 

 an attempt was made by the settlers to persuade Sir Richard 

 Bourke, when he visited the district, to proclaim a town site at 

 Geelong. He was, however, unwilling to take the responsibility 

 of going so far afield, until it was seen how the newly born 

 Melbourne and Williamstown answered expectations. To soften 

 his refusal he promised them the protection of a police magistrate 

 and a few troopers, who should make their headquarters in the 

 neighbourhood. 



Mr. Fisher, manager of the Derwent Company's Station on the 

 Bellarine Peninsula, was the first unauthorised occupant of the 

 town site; but he built his house on the extreme south of its 

 limit, near to the Barwon. This was early in 1837, and when 

 Captain Foster Fyans was appointed to take magisterial charge of 

 the district, he too fixed his quarters on the Barwon. Dr. Thomson, 

 the pioneer " catechist," had also made his home on the river, 

 and christened his unpretending cottage " Kardinia," the native 

 word for sunrise. Gradually during 1838 a few rude erections 

 found place on the, as yet, unsurveyed land, despite the Sydney 

 proclamation warning off trespassers. One or two, near the shore 

 of the bay, were stores for the supply of the surrounding settlers, 

 their stock of goods being water-borne from Van Diemen's Land 

 and Melbourne. Others were public-houses, or, more correctly 

 speaking, grog shanties, where the shepherds and stockmen fore- 

 gathered to carouse when they drew their wages. Towards the 

 end of 1838 the Sydney Council authorised the laying out of a 

 town, which was duly surveyed and divided into North and South 

 Geelong. At the first sale of allotments, held on 14th February, 

 1839, fifty-three lots were disposed of, thirty-six on the Barwon 

 side and seventeen facing the bay. The latter commanded the 

 highest price, averaging 95 each, while those in South Geelong 



