THE NEW COLONY 



335 



Necessarily the search for gold was not without its romantic 

 aspect, but it had none of the calm self-reliance, the solitary vigils, 

 the dependence on bush-craft and the strong right hand which carried 

 the pioneers into the unknown. It was more like the scramble of 

 an excited crowd, eager to get rich with a minimum of work, not 

 by any means associated with the idea of steady industry, hard 

 fare and severe thrift. The invasion of the gold-seekers from 1851 

 changed the character of the community altogether, for they and 

 their followers soon outnumbered the original settlers and brought 

 into prominence traits and characteristics of many nationalities, of 

 which the Port Phillippians had hitherto had little experience. It 

 was a turbid stream suddenly poured into a placid reservoir, and 

 many years elapsed before the waters were again calm and the 

 sediment satisfactorily deposited. 



But, though trial and struggle awaited the new colony, it re- 

 quired no optimism to predict eventual success, for Victoria started 

 on her career endowed with a landed estate worth untold millions, 

 little of which had been alienated ; and there was beneath its sur- 

 face gold to the value of 250,000,000 waiting to gild her destiny. 

 There was but one really important question. Had she the men 

 possessing ability, resoluteness and integrity to guide her destinies 

 aright, and would they be willing, under the spur of ambition, to 

 waive considerations of their personal interest by devoting those 

 qualities to the uplifting of the community? 



