287 



and public meetings, letters to the press, etc. At one influen- 

 tial meeting in the Athanaeum no less a personage than the 

 Lieutenant-Governor (Sir John Madden) presided. More depu- 

 tations, mostly of scientific associations, followed, till at last, 

 in December, 1904, Cabinet decided on making a permanent re- 

 servation, amounting to about 75,000 acres. This Avas not quite 

 satisfactory, because a strip of land, half a mile wide, from the 

 coast line, was only temporarily reserved. Neither was the park 

 vested in trustees. Without this half-a-mile strip, extending 

 along the shore line, the park would have been robbed of the 

 necessary protection. To secure these tAvo desiderata, as Avell 

 as the appointment of a ranger, meant further agitation, and 

 so Professor Spencer again came to the front. A conference 

 of all societies and institutions interested Avas arranged, and 

 another deputation waited on the Minister of Lands (Mr. Mackey) 

 on December 18, 1907. He agreed as to the trustees and ranger, 

 but AA r ould not consent to the half-mile strip. Another confer- 

 ence was held and submitted nominations for trustees, AA 7 hich 

 names the Minister approved, but constituted them a Board of 

 Management, instead of Trustees, as was AA-anted. I presume in 

 this Avay the Government still retains the control, and that it is 

 not so satisfactory as being vested in trustees, as in the case 

 of our own park. The board consists of a representative of each 

 of the eight societies and institutions taking part in the move- 

 ment, and Professor A. J. Ewart (a Vice-President) represents the 

 Victorian Field Naturalists' Club. A feAv months later it was re- 

 ported at the Field Naturalists' Club meeting on September 14, 

 1908, that Professor Bakhvin Spencer had been elected chairman 

 of the Board of Management of the Wilson's Promontory National 

 Park, and that at length as a result of further representations the 

 Minister of Lands had decided to add almost the AA'hole of the halt- 

 mile strip along the coast line, reserving a feAv small areas at cer- 

 tain bays as landing places for fishermen and others. Also a sum 

 of money had been granted for expenses of management. And 

 thus practically all that Avas Avanted has been granted only (in 

 its final stage) a year ago. The latest map s1ioaa~s that the area 

 is 101,000 acres. Our advocates for the Kangaroo Island Re- 

 serve should take courage from this successful result of perse- 

 verance. 



This park differs very much from our own. Though it has 

 dense fern gullies, some Avell-Avooded hills, and much beautiful 

 scenery, it is too distant from the metropolis to be a place for a 

 day's holiday outing for the people. It has, hoAA<ever, some 

 60 miles of coast line, and later on may become a holiday resort 

 for those Avho can spend a week or tAvo, or even a feAv days, from 

 their daily occupation. MeanAA^hile, from the point of vieAv of 

 the preservation of the native fauna and flora, it is an ideal 

 place. In 1908 the National Herbarium undertook to make 

 a complete botanical survey of Wilson's Promontory, and in Octo- 

 ber of that year the first excursion for that purpose Avas made, 

 and did a lot of useful work. The total number of plants re- 

 corded for the park now amounts to 364, probably nearly a fourth 

 of the flora of Victoria. (Before it is too late, could not AA r e 

 make a similar census for our park?) Other departments of 

 Natural History are well represented, no feAver than 83 species of 

 birds being noted, more than 20 native bears, some bandicoots, 

 and a fair number of AA'allabies. Both deer (introduced many 

 years ago) and lyre birds Avere heard, but not seen. 



