THE ROUTE OF THE PASTOBALIST 87 



merit. Not till 1844, in Victoria, were stations taken 

 up in the back country. Then a party took possession 

 of the Mount Talbot country. In 1847 a tract of 

 pastoral country, forming a bay on the edge of the large 

 sandy desert through which the boundary-hne of 

 South Australia and Victoria runs, was taken up as a 

 run.* 



Only the richer portions of each colony were at first 

 settled by graziers. When melting down began to be 

 practised, and gave a value to lean stock (which were 

 wanted to replace the " fats " taken from the richer 

 runs and boiled down), " country till then despised 

 was greedily taken up." The northern plains of Vic- 

 toria, and the parts watered by the Wimmera and its 

 tributaries, were then settled. Tracts that were barren 

 in summer from lack of water had a pecuUar value in 

 winter, says a good observer. " In fact, it gradually 

 became apparent that they were second to no district 

 in their cajDacity for producing fat stock, the fattening 

 seasons, however, being different." Stations thus 

 formed, for a temporary purpose, remained permanent. 

 A general rush, in fact, was made to the plains lying 

 to the north, f 



Another pioneering wave was that which flowed over 

 Gippsland in 1842. Mr. McMillan, overseer to Mr. 

 Macalister, in 1839, discovered the new province and 

 returned to form a station, as did also others. Then it 

 was rediscovered by Count Strzelecki, and the pamphlet 

 he published, with his map of the route to the new land, 

 came into the hands of squatters in different parts of 

 New South Wales that were scourged with drought. 

 Some 15 licensed, and 7 unhcens^, squatters soon 

 occupied the fertile country. J 



In the following years settlement advanced, less like 

 the waves of the sea, than hke a tidal wave, which 

 rises insensibly. The pastoral advance was continuous, 



* Victorian Pioneers, pp. 162, 164, 177, 108-9. 

 t Ibid., pp. 213-4, 185. 

 ; Ibid., pp. 254-9, 130-4. 



