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Farm, that its first excursion was held, viz., on November 24, 

 1883, under the leadership of the late Professor R. Tate, F.G.S., 

 and probably no succeeding year has passed without at least one 

 visit being paid to it. The history of the movement for securing 

 this park has been written fully and fairly by Mr. M. Symonds 

 Clark, and published in the S!A. Begister, of October 7, 1901. 

 I think, however, that such an account, together with still fur- 

 ther information that has since been acquired and embodied in the 

 ably compiled, well-printed, and admirably illustrated book- 

 let issued by the Tourist Bureau, should form part of our own re- 

 cords, by being read as a paper before us, and printed in our 

 proceedings, as was done by the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria 

 with regard to their National Park at Wilson's Promontory. In 

 the history of the park, as" given in the Tourist Bureau's publi- 

 cation, the only reference to our part in securing this reserve is 

 the following: — "The support of the Australian Natives' Associa- 

 tion, and of the Field Naturalists' Section of the Royal Society, 

 was obtained (when the proposal to cut up the Farm in 1881 

 was made), and an Act prohibiting the sale of the Government 

 Farm was passed in 1883." Historically this is inaccurate, be- 

 cause this Section was not established till the end of 1883, and 

 did not take any action in this matter until five years later 

 (1888). The Australian Natives' Association is not mentioned 

 among the ten societies to which, as then Secretary of this Sec- 

 tion, I wrote in pursuance of a resolution of August 30, 1888, 

 asking them to join us in a deputation to the Government. Later, 

 however, in 1891, the A.N. A. did organise a deputation to protest 

 against the improper destruction by the Forest Department of 

 timber on the Government Farm. In the official Bulletin No. 4 

 of the Department of Intelligence of this State, published No- 

 vember, 1908, in which brief space is devoted to the history of 

 the Park, no mention whatever is made of the part taken in it 

 by this Section. I said that Mr. Clark's account was fairly writ- 

 ten. It was written to correct misleading statements in a pre- 

 vious article in The Register as to how the Park was secured, and 

 though that (previous) article gives all the praise to Mr. Walter 

 Gooch, Mr. Clark, while very properly giving that gentleman all 

 credit for what he had done, also very properly sets forth that 

 the persistent exertions of the late Mr. Arthur F. Robin, the then 

 Secretary of the Flora and Fauna Committee, led to the Park 

 being vested in trustees — the suggestion of trustees being first 

 made by Mr. S. Dixon, the chairman (ever since its formation) of 

 the same committee. Being Secretary of the Section at the time 

 Mr. Robin was Secretary of the Flora and Fauna Committee 

 I can confirm what Mr. Clark has said. My position as a civil 

 servant prevented my taking an active and visible part in what 

 was largely a political matter, but Mr. Robin and I were in very 

 frequent consultation about the Park movement, and other ques- 

 tions connected with our native fauna and flora. When future 

 generations desire to do honour to those who secured the Park for 

 the people, the names of Mr. Walter Gooch, Mr. Samuel Dixon, 

 and Mr. A. F. Robin should certainly not be omitted. The in- 

 clusion in the deputation referred to above, composed largely of 

 learned societies, of such bodies as the Trades and Labour Council 

 and the United Friendly Societies was to strengthen our hands 

 from the recreation point of view^ but as I have already said our 

 main objective was the protection of our native fauna and flora. 

 Many of us think it a matter for regret that this has been made 



