33 8 MSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



In March, 1837, the first flock of sheep brought overland from New South Wales 

 reached the shores of Port Phillip, and it may be interesting to note that the first 

 sheep-shearing commenced on the gth of November, 1836, opposite the present race- 

 course. On the 4th of March the settlement received a visit from Sir Richard Bourke, 

 who occupied an encampment at the western extremity of the street which bears his 

 name. Not long after his arrival he experienced a somewhat strong shock of earthquake, 

 which occasioned some misgivings in his mind as to the expediency of laying out a 

 town in such a locality. But, as the shock was not repeated, Mr. Hoddle was instructed 

 to proceed with the survey. By some happy inspiration he gave a width of ninety-nine- 

 feet to the principal streets, but in deference to the wishes of Sir Richard Bourke he 

 made provision for some narrow lanes, to be called mews, intending them as entrances 

 to the gardens .in the rear of the houses in the main streets. Upon the town itself 

 was In-stowed the name of the English Premier of the day ; the thoroughfares running 

 east and west receiving their titles in honour of Captain Flinders, Lieutenant-Governor 

 Collins, Sir Richard Bourke and Captain Lonsdale. That the principal street in the 

 city should have been called after an officer by whom the settlement of Port Phillip 

 was so emphatically condemned is another example of the irony of fate. Williamstown 

 and Geelong were also laid out, the former bearing the name of the reigning sovereign, 

 while the latter is a corruption of the native name Jillong. On the 3<Dth of April the 

 first child born in the settlement was baptized by the name of John Melbourne Gilbert ; 

 and on the ist of June the first land sale held in Melbourne took place, Mr. Robert 

 Hoddle, the surveyor in charge of the district, performing the duties of auctioneer. The 

 average price obtained was thirty-five pounds the half-acre allotment ; but five months 

 later, when a second land sale was held, the price averaged forty-two pounds for the 

 same area. During his stay in the infant settlement Sir Richard Bourke made two 

 excursions into the interior of the country, visiting Mount Macedon and Geelong, 



4 



bestowing upon the latter the name by which the locality had previously been known 

 among the natives. In the same year the first steamer, the James H'aii, entered 

 Hobson's Bay from Sydney ; and on the 3Oth of December an overland mail was 

 established between that city and Melbourne ; an intrepid stock-rider named John Bourke 

 undertaking to carry it on horseback from Yass to Port Phillip. Some tragic incidents 

 darkened the annals of 1836. Two of the first settlers, Messrs. Gellibrand and Hesse, 

 endeavoured to explore the Cape Otway Ranges and were never again heard of ; but 

 long afterwards a skeleton was discovered which was identified as that of Mr. Gellibrand, 

 from the gold-stopping of one of the teeth in the skull. A bushranger named Cummer- 

 ford confessed to having, in concert with two accomplices, murdered six bushrangers 

 while they were asleep, on the track between Melbourne and Portland Bay. A police- 

 sergeant, two constables and a soldier were directed to accompany him to the scene of 

 the crime for the purpose of verifying his statements. On arrival there they found 

 nearly two bushels of calcined bones, besides various relics of the murdered men. On 

 their way homeward one of the constables and the soldier turned back for some tea 

 which had been left behind, and whilst the sergeant was making a fire, Cummerford 

 seized his musket, and shooting the remaining constable dead, made his escape into the 

 bush, where he baffled the ineffectual pursuit of the sergeant. Two clays afterwards, 



