49 6 



A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



niche he filled in English history, than by the fact that lie had lent it to a remote and 

 then almost unknown settlement, sixteen thousand miles from the heart of the Empire. 



In 1836 the nascent township on the banks of the Yarra was known as JScargrass, 

 and comprised only thirteen buildings, namely, three weather-board, two slate and eight 

 turf huts. At that time it did not appear as if any man would gain much prestige by 

 having so insignificant a place named after him. Not even the most sanguine of 

 prophets could then have anticipated what those thirteen huts were to grow to, but there 

 arc men still living who have watched the development. From the description given 

 above, it will be seen how completely Melbourne realizes all the ideas associated with a 

 great metropolis. It is already a city of public palaces, magnificent warehouses, splendid 

 shops and private mansions. It has all the institutions of charity, of commerce, of 

 education and of art. Everything that the Old World delights in the New World has 

 imported, and the young city prides itself in being abreast of the old cities in every- 

 thing that characterizes the civilization of our epoch. Standing at the head of a great 

 bay, in a position geographically central for drawing to it the commerce of a whole 

 colony, without any possible rival in Victoria itself, and advantageously posted so as to 

 compete for the commerce of the interior of Australia, with railways extending to every 

 portion of the colony and all centring in itself, it must ever be the heart of a great 

 country, receiving the life of the community and radiating it again through all the 

 various arteries of traffic. The more Australia grows the more Melbourne grows. It 

 has sent its sons and distributed its capital over every other colony of the group. Its 

 interests are far as well as near, and it is in touch with the development of Austra- 

 lasian resources from King George's Sound to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and from 

 Dunedin to the North West Cape. The site of Melbourne admits of indefinite expansion. 

 Nothing cramps it in, and having been originally laid out with wide streets and ample 

 reserves, that type of city formation will cling to all its extensions. If the Melbourne 

 of to-day is a marvel compared with the Melbourne of 1836, the Melbourne of half a 

 century hence will be a marvel compared with the Melbourne of to-day. 







