(Note that being a historical account the language of the day is repeated which may not reflect today’s views.)
by Paul Wise, November 2022, revised April 2023.
In the Beginning
The coast of what was to become the State of Victoria was reportedly first sighted by Lieutenant Zachary Hicks (1737–1771) on board the HM Bark Endeavour under the command of Lieutenant James Cook (1728-1779). After the First Fleet, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), had founded Sydney in 1788, George Bass (1771-1803), in an open whaleboat in 1797, sailed south and westwards, along the then New South Wales eastern coast, as far as today's Western Port. On 4 January 1802, Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1807) commanding HMS Lady Nelson, more fully His Majesty's Armed Survey Vessel Lady Nelson, sailed to within 1½ miles of the entrance to, as Murray observed from the masthead, a sheet of smooth water…and is apparently a fine harbour of large extent. With unfavourable winds, Murray deferred any closer survey. Anchoring back in Western Port, Murray then sent Lieutenant John Bowen (1780-1827) in a launch to gain entry to the fine harbour he had just seen. Murray then entered the now named Port King, after the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), and took possession on 8 March 1802. So began Port Phillip and its subsequent settlements.
Locations around Port Phillip were named by various people and also evolved over time. For clarity the following table lists applicable location names and provides details of their derivation.
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Selected Port Phillip Nomenclature |
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Date |
Name today |
Earlier name(s) |
Derivation |
|
1798 |
Western Port |
N/A |
Named by George Bass (1771-1803), when in an open whaleboat he sailed along the coast south and westwards from Sydney. |
|
1802 |
Arthurs Seat |
N/A |
Named by Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1807) for an apparent resemblance to the hill in Edinburgh, which was his home city. |
|
1802-1805 |
Port Phillip |
Port King |
Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1807) commanding HMS Lady Nelson, sent Lieutenant John Bowen (1780-1827) in a launch to gain entry to the fine harbour he had just seen and on later entering named it Port King, after the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King (1758-1808); later on 4 September 1805, King himself formally renamed Port King as Port Phillip, in honour of his predecessor, Arthur Phillip (1738-1814). |
|
1802 |
Indented Head |
N/A |
Named by Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), commanding HMS Investigator, when exploring Port Phillip. |
|
1802 |
Flinders Peak |
High then Station Peak |
Named by Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) commanding HMS Investigator, High Peak, later Station Peak, in the woody hills, later the You Yangs, on 1 May 1802; later renamed Flinders Peak in 1912 in his honour. |
|
1803 |
Sullivan Bay |
N/A |
Named after the Under Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, John Sullivan, by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins (1758-1810). |
|
1835 |
Yarra River |
The Yarra |
Acting Lieutenant Charles Robbins (1782-1805), commander of His Majesty’s (Armed) Colonial Schooner Cumberland along with acting Surveyor General Charles Grimes (1772-1858) surveyed and mapped a river emptying into Port Phillip in 1803; in 1835, John Batman (1801-1839) reported his boat as going up a large river and later that same year John Helder Wedge, a member of the Port Phillip Association, sailed to Port Phillip on the Rebecca and gave the name Yarra to the river up which Batman had sailed the previous June. |
|
1835-1837 |
Melbourne |
Batmania and other variations |
On 30 August 1835, the party of free settlers led by John Batman (1801-1839) came ashore on the banks of the Yarra River; their settlement briefly known as Batmania although Bearbrass, Bareport, Bareheep, and Bareberp were possibilities, was named Melbourne on 10 April 1837 by Governor Richard Bourke (1777-1855) after the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose seat was Melbourne Hall in the market town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. |
|
1835 |
Williamstown |
Port Harwood and Port Gellibrand |
Named by John Batman after the captain of the schooner Rebecca, Captain AB Harwood; the town was renamed William after the reigning monarch King William IV; Williams Town hence Williamstown was proclaimed a town in 1886. |
|
1835 |
Point Gellibrand |
N/A |
Named by John Batman in honour of his close friend, London barrister, Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1792-1837). Page 2 of the Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser newspaper of Thursday 28 October 1841, reported : POINT DRAKE. – The land-spit hitherto known as Gellibrand's Point has been re-named Point Drake, in honor of the celebrated Admiral Drake. While the name Point Drake was after English Admiral Sir Francis Drake (circa 1540–1596) the names Point Drake or Fort Drake for this location were fleeting and never official. |
|
1836 |
Hobsons Bay |
N/A |
A bay in the northernmost part of Port Phillip into which flowed the Yarra River was named, by direction of Governor Sir Richard Bourke (1777-1855), after Captain William Hobson (1792-1842), who led the survey party of officers from HMS Rattlesnake during a three month survey of Port Phillip in 1836. |
|
1839 |
Port Melbourne (the Suburb) |
Sandridge |
Named Sandridge by Surveyor William Darke (1810–1890), after the ridge of sand dunes along the beach, he also marked a track so that new arrivals could find their way to the emerging settlement of Melbourne. |
Exploration, Mapping and First Settlement
Only ten weeks later, with Murray's discovery unknown to him, Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) commanding HMS Investigator, explored the southern reaches of then Port King. Flinders described the area from a bluff mount from whence Western Port is visible, today Arthurs Seat named by Murray, the highest point near the shores of the southernmost part of the Port. On the western side of the Port, Flinders named Indented Head and on High Peak, later Station Peak, in the woody hills later the You Yangs on 1 May 1802, he left a scroll of paper with the ship's name in a small stone cairn (Station Peak was renamed Flinders Peak in 1912 in his honour). On his 1802 Sketch of Port Phillip, Flinders noted the Sketch has been completed from the Survey made of Port Phillip by C Grimes Esq, Deputy Surveyor-gen of NSW. The double lines and soundings written at rightangles, shew what is borrowed (as described below Grimes did not survey the area until 1803).
Sketch of Port Phillip by M Flinders, 1802, noting The Sketch has been completed from the Survey made of Port Phillip by C Grimes Esq, Deputy Surveyor-gen of NS Wales (sic).
To forestall any French territorial claims the then Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, decided to establish a convict settlement at the port named in his honour. Subsequently acting Lieutenant Charles Robbins (1782-1805), commander of His Majesty’s (Armed) Colonial Schooner Cumberland along with acting New South Wales Surveyor General Charles Grimes (1772-1858) and convict gardener and botanist James Fleming, were sent to survey the area. 20 January 1803 saw the party start their exploration around the shores of Port King finding the mouth of the later named Yarra river. The party explored the Yarra up to a set of falls known today as Dights Falls arriving there on 8 February 1803. (Dights Falls, after John Dight (1808-1867) who established a mill there) were further upstream in the Yarra than the falls below which the Fawkner party later landed in 1835. These lower falls created such a problem for the developing settlement that the falls were eliminated with dynamite in 1883 and the Queens Bridge was built in that location in 1889. Dights Falls remain today and are the nominal boundary between the fresh and salt water of the Yarra River).
From their January and February 1803 survey, Grimes produced a map, simply titled Port Phillip, on which he referenced Robbins for acquiring the depth soundings and Flemming for assessing the quality of the soil. Although named Port King, as described above, Grimes’ use of the name Port Phillip in circa 1803 seemingly indicates that the name must have been entering common use as it was not until 4 September 1805, that King himself formally renamed Port King as Port Phillip, in honour of his predecessor, Arthur Phillip (1738-1814).
For seven months between 1803 and 1804, a site at Sullivan Bay, named after the Under Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, John Sullivan, near today's bayside Sorrento, was occupied. HMS Calcutta and the supply ship Ocean had sailed from England in April 1803 with the personnel. On site, Lieutenant Colonel David Collins (1758-1810) was responsible for over 450 people, including marines, free settlers and almost 300 convicts. Lack of a fresh water and a suitable wood supply, however, finally saw the site of the first Port Phillip settlement abandoned. It was unfortunate that Grimes’ report, indicating the then unnamed Yarra river as a continuous source of fresh water, failed to reach England before Collins’ departure. (It was from the Sullivan Bay settlement, that then convict William Buckley (1780-1856), absconded and after following the coastline found himself opposite the settlement, which he had left, on the other side of Port Phillip. Buckley survived for 32 years in a hut that he built near the mouth of Bream Creek on the coast of southern Victoria. In July 1835 he surrendered to the party under John Helder Wedge at Indented Head, please see below. It is suggested that Buckley’s unbelievable survival led to the saying, You’ve got Buckley’s (chance), although there is a probability that it was a pun on the name of a now defunct Melbourne department store chain, Buckley & Nunn.)
It was to be another 30 years before John Batman (1801-1839) and John Pascoe Fawkner (1792-1869), who had been at the Sullivan Bay settlement as a child, took leadership roles in a permanent settlement.
Permanent Settlement, Port Phillip
Notable colonists of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) sought to take advantage of this new and unsettled land to their north across Bass Strait. John Batman, a farmer, Joseph Tice Gellibrand, a lawyer and former Attorney General, Charles Swanston, banker and member of the Legislative Council, John Helder Wedge, surveyor and farmer, Henry Arthur, nephew of Lieutenant Governor George Arthur of Van Diemen’s Land, William Sams, Under Sheriff and Public Notary for Launceston, Anthony Cottrell, Superintendent of Roads and Bridges, John Collicott, Postmaster General, James Simpson, Commissioner of the Land Board and Police Magistrate, John Sinclair, Superintendent of Convicts plus Michael Connolly, Thomas Bannister, John and William Robertson and the English based George Mercer, initially formed the Geelong and Dutigalla Association; later known as the Port Phillip Association. Their aim was to purchase large tracts of land around Port Phillip from the first nation’s people for settlement. Gellibrand prepared deeds for the transfer of an interest in the land which also provided for the payment of an annual tribute to the tribal owners.
John Batman together with copies of the deed prepared by Gellibrand, was landed at Indented Head on Port Phillip on 29 May 1835. He had travelled on the chartered schooner Rebecca, under Captain AB Harwood, which due to delays did not sail until 16 May 1835. Batman’s party consisted of James Gumm, Alexander Thompson and William Todd along with seven aboriginals whom had been with him for years and had originally come from Sydney.
From Station Peak, Batman surveyed the country on 1 June 1835, travelling the following day in the Rebecca to the mouth of the then unnamed Yarra river. During his exploration of the region Batman reported that the treaty with the Kulin Nations peoples was proclaimed on 6 June 1835. His party had exchanged gifts in return for 500 000 acres north of later Melbourne and Corio Bay and 100 000 acres around later Geelong and Indented Head. This article from page 2 of the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate newspaper of Wednesday 1 July 1908, titled A Distinguished Parramattan : John Batman, the Discoverer of Melbourne, not only describes Batman’s encounter with the natives but gives the full text of the treaties signed with them.
During his exploration, Batman’s party apparently stumbled out of the scrub onto a river. Subsequently, on 8 June 1835, Batman reported the boat went up a large river which comes from the east and I am glad to state that about 6 miles up found the river all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village. Returning to Indented Head, Batman and the Rebecca returned to Van Diemen’s Land. Gumm, Todd, and Thompson along with aboriginals Bullet, Bungett and Old Bull remained with three month's supply to establish a settlement at Indented Head. As will be seen further on, in September 1835 Surveyor John Helder Wedge, a member of the Port Phillip Association, sailed to Port Phillip on the Rebecca and gave the name Yarra to the river up which Batman had sailed the previous June.
Back in Launceston, Batman showed Wedge where he had explored and, from these details, Wedge prepared the first map of Melbourne in June 1835 (published in 1836, please see maps below), showing the location Batman had chosen as the site for the village, on the south side of the river, and the division of land between association members.
Map of Port Phillip from the survey of Mr Wedge and others, undated; note the land parcel boundaries and list of owners (right).
Commons Reports of Committee Vol.11, 1836.
A question now arose as to how, between 29 May and 10 June 1835, Batman was able to have explored an area, including : today’s Bellarine Peninsula, the eastern part of the Surf Coast, the coastal areas of Geelong to Port Melbourne, northeast from Geelong to either Mount Tramoo near Sunbury or Mount Kororoit north east of Melton, and easterly (his journal suggests he made it only to either Merri Creek or Edgars Creek near Fawkner, or perhaps the Darebin River or Plenty River, but the subsequent maps by Wedge suggested a far greater easterly point), and southwest to Melbourne and Port Melbourne. All this conjecture was negated when on 26 August 1835, New South Wales Governor, Sir Richard Bourke (1777-1855), declared Batman's treaty invalid and the settlers at Port Phillip to be trespassers.
Meanwhile, John Pascoe Fawkner (1792-1869) who had been at the Sullivan Bay settlement as a child, saw the settlement opportunities the new Port Phillip region offered. As transport for his party of free settlers from Van Diemen’s Land he purchased the topsail schooner Enterprize, as spelt by Fawkner in his advertisement below. In April 1835. Fawkner’s party comprised Captain John Lancey, master mariner, leader of the settlers and Fawkner’s representative, Enterprize’s Captain Peter Hunter, George Evans, plasterer/builder, Evan Evans, George Evans’ servant, William Jackson and Robert Hay Marr, carpenters, Charles Wyse (sometimes Wise) Fawkner’s servant and ploughman, Thomas Morgan, Fawkner's general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary, and not to be forgotten Mary's cat.
Advertisement showing Fawkner’s own spelling of his schooner’s name ENTERPRIZE.
Landing from the Yarra Basin, August 29th 1835, showing in this section John Pascoe Fawkner's ship the Enterprize [note the name on the ship's stern is spelt incorrectly] unloading at the Yarra Basin.
The figures depicted on the bank of the river are from left to right: Captain Lancey, George Evans, Robert Hay Marr and William Jackson. Captain Peter Hunter is in the stern of the Enterprize.
The woman cooking over a fire depicts Mary Gilbert, the only female on that voyage; courtesy State Library Victoria (https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE526596&mode=browse).
The Enterprize with its party departed on 4 August 1835. Fawkner’s creditors, however, had prevented him from departing so he was not aboard. Captain John Lancey was thus in command of the party, and after rejecting settling at Western Port looked to the east coast of Port Phillip. Finally, they entered the lower Yarra, and warped the Enterprize along its course until it was able to sail the brackish waters upstream until it reached the, later dynamited, river falls above which fresh water was then available. The north bank was chosen as it presented more stable, suitable ground for shelter and construction. The location today is in the vicinity of the corner of William and Flinders Street near where the later Customs House was built and remains today as the Immigration Museum. This site was opposite the area where Batman had had Wedge indicate on his 1836 map where he proposed his village be built. (Note that in the mid 1800s the lower Yarra was still a great delta, formed of river sediment forming wetlands and mudflats in the areas of today’s Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. These lower reaches of the river had shallow waters meaning vessels of any significant draft could not use wind power and had to rely on man power to get through these zones. Known as warping, the vessel was man hauled using ropes attached to a fixed object like a tree or anchor.) Hoddle (1840) stated : Vessels above 100 tons burden must remain in Hobson's Bay, opposite Williams Town, where the anchorage is secure. If a dredging vessel were employed for a short period on the bar at the entrance of the Yarra Yarra river, vessels of a much larger tonnage might go up the river to the centre of the town, the depth of water on the bar being just sufficient for a vessel drawing eight feet six inches.
Robert Russell’s 30 June 1837 sketch, Melbourne from the falls; the falls are far right below the two horsemen (courtesy National Library of Australia).
Thus Fawkner’s party of free settlers and cat, established what was to become Melbourne on 30 August 1835. The Enterprize then left to return to Launceston on 3 September to collect Fawkner and further supplies and livestock. Fawkner thus arrived in Melbourne on 16 October 1835 and the settlement started to develop and thrive.
In November 1836, Fawkner takes exception to an article in the Hobart Town Courier newspaper which indicated that Yarra-yarra, now Glenelg, was first settled by Mr. John Batman. In his letter to the Editor published on Friday 25 November 1836, Fawkner stated : If any credit is due to an individual for selecting the site mentioned, I am the person.
As mentioned above, Batman’s colleague and member of the Port Phillip Association Surveyor John Helder Wedge sailed to Port Phillip on the Rebecca. On arrival at Batman’s Indented Head settlement his role was to then undertake a detailed survey. Following his landing on 7 August 1835, Wedge arrived at Melbourne on 2 September 1935 in a whale boat from Indented Head. Wedge realised that, unlike Indented Head, the place on the Yarra, the river which he is credited for naming, had a constant supply of good fresh water. When Batman arrived back in Port Phillip on the Norval on 9 November 1835, he was naturally disappointed to discover the settlers of the Enterprize had established a settlement in the area. Since the arrival of Wedge there had been arguments as to whom was on whose land. Under the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, however, both the parties were in fact trespassing on Crown land. Eventually the parties negotiated an equitable distribution of the plentiful land.
On 9 August 1836, Bourke issued a proclamation authorising settlement of Port Phillip. Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) was appointed Police Magistrate of the District on 14 September 1836. He proceeded to Port Phillip in HMS Rattlesnake, commanded by Captain William Hobson, arriving on 26 September 1836. On 6 October 1836 the Stirlingshire arrived from Sydney with Surveyor Robert Russell (1808-1900), Robert S Webb and his customs’ officers, a head constable, a detachment of soldiers, and a gang of labour convicts on board. Russell’s party included draughtsman Frederick Robert D'Arcy (1811-1875) and chainman William Wedge Darke (1810–1890) and at Port Phillip Russell was also to be Commissioner of Crown Lands.
A tongue-in-cheek view of the events above, from 1835 to 1837, was presented by the Australian illustrated magazine Melbourne Punch in April 1857. Titled THE HISTORY OF MELBOURNE : FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE LATEST DATES : Carefully cut short, and adapted for the use of Schools. Chapters III and IV may be read via this link. From 1 October 1880 until 30 April 1881, the Melbourne International Exhibition was staged at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building, which stands today. This section of an article on the Exhibition provided another overview of events in the colonisation of Victoria.
Sketch by Robert Russell Settlement Melbourne…;
looking north across the Yarra River [probably from Russell’s camp site], with handwritten notations (horizontal left to right) : Tea Tree Scrub, Present Williams Street and below that Mr Hall’s tents, Present Market Street and below that The Falls;
(vertical left to right) : Mr James Smith JP, Huts of the Settlement, JP Fawkner, Rob S Webb / Customs, Fred Rob D’Arcy [Frederick Robert D’Arcy, draughtsman], Survey Department (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
In March 1837, Governor Bourke along with Surveyor Robert Hoddle (1794-1881) arrived to inspect the Port Phillip Settlement. They found that Robert Russell had made a small triangulation survey, by means of which he had been able to prepare a plan, as shown below, showing illegal occupations. Bourke was dissatisfied with Russell’s progress and appointed Hoddle Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (note also Hoddle’s 1840 comments below). Disgusted with Hoddle’s appointment, soon thereafter, Russell resigned his position in the Colonial Service. Bourke confirmed Lonsdale's choice of a site for the new town, naming it Melbourne after Lord Melbourne, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose seat was Melbourne Hall in the market town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. The Melbourne site with its fresh water supply was considered superior to the other contenders. Additionally, he formally recognised the settlement around Port Gellibrand naming it William after King William IV, hence Williams/William’s Town and later Williamstown, and a bay in the northernmost part of Port Phillip, into which flowed the Yarra river, was named after the commander of HMS Rattlesnake, Captain William Hobson. Bourke determined that the main port and defensive structures be sited at William and rode to Geelong to site it on the banks of the river Barwon. Bourke directed navigation buoys be located in Port Phillip and that a customs post be located at Point Nepean. It was recorded that Bourke decided upon location and layout for the streets of two towns, Melbourne and William, and it then appears that Hoddle superimposed the standard town grid plan over Russell’s survey work and with the assistance of Darke, marked the street alignments and about a hundred half-acre allotments in the two new Town Reserves. Hoddle was thus credited with the design and layout of Melbourne and a copy of his signed plan of 25 March 1837 is shown below.
Melbourne’s east west laneways were designed as access routes to service properties fronting the major thoroughfares. By the 1850s gold rush, Melbourne, however, had over one hundred lanes, many of these emerging from continuous practical use for servicing neighbouring businesses in the growing town.
Section of Russell’s Map shewing the site of Melbourne and the position of the huts & building previous to the foundation of the township by Sir Richard Bourke in 1837.
In his publication, Surveying for Land Settlement in Victoria, 1836-1960, a former Assistant Surveyor General of Victoria, Keith Lytton Chappel (1966) reiterated some of the details of the earliest surveys of Melbourne contained in the evidence of Robert Russell to a Royal Commission nearly fifty years later. Describing Robert Hoddle's first Melbourne survey, at which he himself was a spectator and not an assistant, Robert Russell stated that : Hoddle chained from the corner of Flinders and Spencer Streets along Flinders Street to Spring Street, thence three blocks up, something like thirty chains off to the north, then returned westward to Spencer Street and back southward to where he started from. According to Russell no special design had been made for the town of Melbourne, there was a plan for the towns, cut and dried, and they just make it fit Melbourne…Hoddle made the first survey, the boundaries of Spencer, Flinders, Spring and Bourke Streets, in about two hours; he went from the work and lunched with the Governor, Sir Richard Bourke. Chappel, however, wrote that it was : difficult to envisage Hoddle's first survey of nearly three miles of boundary being done in two hours, maintaining a straight line, driving stakes or pegs, and laying down the surveying chain at least two hundred and twenty times, in undulating, uneven and probably to some extent scrubby country.
Hoddle’s Town of Melbourne plan of 25 March 1837.
By March 1839, Surveyor James Williamson had completed his survey of Melbourne, and had his work printed, as shown below in his Plan of Melbourne Port Phillip from actual survey. Comparing his plan to that of Hoddle it can be seen that allotment sizes have been modified, where required, to accommodate existing buildings. An eminently practical solution to imposing a green fields plan onto an existing occupied configuration. Page 10 of the newspaper Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser of Monday 28 October 1839, as shown in Annex A, contained an advertisement for the public sale of Williamson’s plan which reads in part, Plans of Melbourne, Port Phillip, up to the 30th of March last, with all the buildings to that period, accurately delineated and colored, as designed by Mr Williamson, Surveyor of this place. Price 7s 6d [7 shillings and 6 pence] each copy.
Williamson’s 1839, A Plan of Melbourne Port Phillip from actual survey by J. Williamson, Surveyor.
In January 1839, Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801-1875) was appointed Superintendent of the Port Phillip District; arriving at Melbourne on 30 September with his wife and daughter, two servants and a prefabricated house. La Trobe was not an administrator in his own right. As Superintendent all his decisions had to be approved by Governor Sir George Gipps in Sydney. Governance of Port Phillip including control of land sales, plans of public buildings, appointment of officers and revenue, was by New South Wales. Along with separation from New South Wales and convict transportation, the Port Phillip colonists wanted these issues to be resolved by La Trobe/Gipps. As reported on page 3 of the newspaper Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser of Monday 7 October 1839, on the previous Thursday 3 October 1839, La Trobe received an Address from Captain William Lonsdale, Police Magistrate, with a committee of Messrs. McRae, Welsh and Rucker, and many gentlemen. Hoddle (1840), in describing this event, said : His Honor [La Trobe] was dressed in uniform much like that of a Lord Lieutenant in the mother country… [he, La Trobe] held a levee [an afternoon assembly at which the British sovereign or his or her representative receives only men] at the club room, where anyone who might accidentally have heard that such an affair was going on, could be presented by the Police Magistrate [Lonsdale]. The Address, at Annex A, began : We, the inhabitants of Melbourne, and the country adjacent welcomed La Trobe and his family to Australia Felix, remembering that Melbourne was then part of colonial New South Wales. (Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792-1855), on his third expedition in 1836 travelling up the Murray River reached the junction of the Loddon where the country seemed so promising that he turned south west into what is now Victoria and was so enchanted by the area he called it Australia Felix, Latin for fortunate or happy Australia). In using this term for the region the inhabitants of Melbourne were pointedly saying that they saw themselves as separate from the New South Wales Port Phillip District, and wanted a change to the current administrative arrangements. The Address continued : Already Melbourne, which eighteen months ago possessed only three brick houses, is a flourishing Town, with a population of between two and three thousand souls, and containing most of the appendages of an advanced civilization. It has five places of Worship of different denominations of Christians, a Court of Justice, two Schools, two Banks, one Club with sixty Members, a Fire and Marine Assurance Company, and two Newspapers are efficiently supported. Of the learned professions there are, six Clergy-men, twelve Medical Men, and five lawyers. The wealth of the region was also detailed. The Address was signed by 235 Melburnians amongst which are the names W Lonsdale, J.P., JP Fawkner, J Williamson and R Russell. Surveyor Williamson thus appeared to be of a significant social status to then be included among the top 235 gentlemen of Melbourne. A couple of years later, as also shown at Annex A, Surveyor Williamson was in an elite party of nine that accompanied La Trobe in a visit to Geelong. Among the other party members was another J Williamson.
Details of J Williamson, Surveyor, are otherwise scant. His name does not appear in the 1836 or 1838 Census Returns for Port Phillip and by the 1841 Census there is another J Williamson in the district also with the given name James. James Williamson was born in 1816 in Scotland and attended Edinburgh University. After working in India he arrived in Sydney about 1837. He and his cousin brought stock overland, establishing themselves at Seymour. On a subsequent trip overland in 1839 he brought horses down to Melbourne where he was surprised to learn that his mother and sisters had also emigrated. This was highly likely the other J Williamson in La Trobe’s party above, which visited Geelong. Information regarding J Williamson, Surveyor, in that he became a Land Agent and advertised allotments for sale, extracted from the print media of the day, is at Annex A.
In his 1840 pamphlet, A Chapter on Port Phillip : Account of the Settlement from its Formation, Hoddle stated :
I have only to observe that I have been seventeen years in the Surveyor-General's Department…and that I have been employed on duty in most parts of the colony. I have had the direction of the Survey Department for upwards of three years at Port Phillip; on my arrival at which place, with the late states-man-like Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, I found it a wilderness - upon it a few huts and tents - and it is now a rising and flourishing City.
An individual, of the name of Batman, first settled near Geelong in March, 1835, but subsequently removed to the present site of the Town of Melbourne. He was manager for the following individuals :- Messrs. C. Swanston, T. Bannister, J. Simpson, JT. Gellibrand, J. and W. Robertson, HT. Arthur, H. Wedge, John Sinclair, JT. Collicott, A. Cottrel, WG. Sams, M. Connolly, and George Mercer; and appears to have been a shrewd, active, and intelligent man. He possessed the happy art of conciliating the aboriginal natives… .
The Government of New South Wales, finding that a considerable population from Van Diemen's Land and several individuals from New South Wales had located there [Port Phillip], were forced to form some kind of establishment in the beginning of 1837; and a police magistrate, with a detachment of soldiers, an officer of customs, and three assistant surveyors, were despatched, with a few prisoners of the Crown, the requisite stores, etc. In March, 1837, I was directed to accompany Sir Richard Bourke and staff on board HMS Rattlesnake, Captain Hobson, to enquire into the state and progress of the survey, and as nothing satisfactory could be shown, I was ordered to take charge of the department. It was truly amusing to hear of the panic caused amongst the assistant surveyors by the unexpected appearance of the Governor; these gentlemen had principally been amusing themselves kangarooing [chasing kangaroos], and one produced some excellent caricatures of their flight into the bush, seemingly employed at their duty.
His Excellency having approved of the site, and my plan of the town, which was named Melbourne in honor of the present Whig Minister, I commenced to mark out the allotments and streets, on the spot where a few mud huts (called wattle and daub) and tents denoted that our enterprising countrymen had already taken possession…Melbourne is rapidly progressing, containing several hundred houses, many stone, and substantial brick buildings, stores, with all the evidences of a busy thriving trade, and valuable commerce. The town is supplied with a club house, hotels, inns, and houses of accommodation; it has three newspapers published twice a week, a small circulating library, and among the mechanics a union benefit society. Among the institutions which have sprung out of the industry and success of the inhabitants should be noted, a fire and marine insurance company, and local bank branches of the banks of Australasia, of Sydney, of the Union Bank of Australia in Van Diemen's Land, with an agent of the Commercial Banking Company in Sydney, are flourishing in their discounts and circulation. A Mechanics Institution is also progressing, and many excellent lectures have been delivered to a crowded and intelligent audience; a Steam Navigation Company is also commenced…Melbourne must eventually become the capital of Australia Felix, from the superior port and other natural advantages.
In Batman’s and Fawkner’s eyes they were each clearly responsible for the founding of Melbourne. Batman through his treaty and settlement at Indented Head and Fawkner accidentally arriving on the uninhabited banks of the Yarra. In an 1869 article in the publication the Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers the arguments are made. The main article is titled THE LATE JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER, from which the relevant information has been extracted. A link is provided therein, allowing the whole article to be read.
William, Williams/William’s Town and Williamstown
At the mouth of the Yarra on its western bank the land formed a peninsula jutting into Port Phillip. John Batman named the tip of the peninsula Point Gellibrand after his colleague and member of the Port Phillip Association, barrister Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1792-1837). The Port Phillip Association established an outpost here. Inland on the peninsula’s eastern side he also named Port Harwood, after the captain of the schooner Rebecca, Captain AB Harwood. Later it was renamed Port Gellibrand.
Thus when the bark Norval, commanded by Captain Robson Coltish (1809-1876), arrived in Port Phillip on 26 October 1835, 500 sheep and 50 pure Hereford cows were landed at Port Gellibrand. The Norval had been chartered by the Port Phillip Association and completed many journeys between Launceston and Port Phillip. Captain Coltish reportedly chose this sheltered harbour as a suitable place to unload his cargo. Soon a stream of vessels were unloading there with many of the new settlers they carried deciding to reside in the vicinity. The many livestock shipments to the Port Phillip region between late 1835 and the late 1836, along with settlers compelled the bureaucracy to send in a contingent to be locally based. Thus, as mentioned above, on its arrival at Port Phillip, HMS Rattlesnake anchored off Point Gellibrand. Lonsdale, now in full uniform, was formally rowed up the Yarra by the Rattlesnake's crew and Marines, on 1 October 1836. Lonsdale then remained on board HMS Rattlesnake until a prefabricated house, sent from Sydney, was erected on shore for him on the banks of the Yarra.
Hobson and his officers then turned their attention to undertaking a detailed nautical survey of Port Phillip to provide safe sailing instructions for the stream of vessels starting to mostly arrive from Van Diemen’s Land. Of importance were the navigable channels and the smaller harbours or anchorages near Geelong and at the head of the bay, particularly that from Port Gellibrand to the eastern shore at Point Ormond. Their work would also update that of Grimes in 1803, especially around the perimeter of Port Phillip. Hobson chose Lieutenants TM Symonds and HR Henry and Mr Frederick Shortland from the ship’s company to lead the work which was done in stages over about ten weeks. Some of the features named during this survey were Point Lonsdale after the police magistrate, Point Cook after ship’s mate John Cook(e) and Mount Eliza after Hobson’s wife and Mount Martha after Hobson’s mother (less authoritatively it can be found that Mount Eliza was named after Batman’s wife Eliza and Mount Martha after Lonsdale’s wife Martha and even the Victorian authority is not entirely explicit as to what was named after whom!).
The first map to include the results of the Rattlesnake’s survey was Port Phillip Surveyed by Lieutenants T.M. Symonds and H.R. Henry of the H.M.S Rattlesnake 1836 with additions by Commander L.C. Wickham and Captain Stokes in 1842 , published by British Admiralty in 1838.
Section of 1837, Plan of Allotments, at Williams Town, with the location of Point Gellibrand and the Landing Place marked (courtesy Public Record Office Victoria).
After returning to Sydney, Hobson and the Rattlesnake then again sailed for Port Phillip on 21 February 1837, with Governor Bourke’s party, arriving on 1 March 1837, as described above. After its naming by Bourke, the town of William had its first streets designed and laid out in 1837. Its first land sales also took place in this same era. In the following years a 33 metre stone jetty was built by convict labour and was the first substantial wharf built in Port Phillip. This pier was later replaced by the Gem Pier. The jetty allowed a ferry service between the then towns of Melbourne and William to be established on 28 October 1838, using the steamer Fire Fly. The steamer Fire Fly conveyed passengers, as well as sheep and cattle from Tasmania, up the Yarra. Passengers disembarking at Williams Town could also use the services of one of the Ferrymen, rowing smaller craft across Hobsons Bay between Williams Town and then Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). From Sandridge it was then only a walk of a couple of miles to Melbourne, please refer to link to Christie’s plan of 1853, below.
Sandridge, Williams Town, from railway pier, from an engraving published in 1857 (courtesy National Library of Australia).
By 1840, a lighthouse consisting of a wooden tower with an oil burning light had been erected at Point Gellibrand and a Port Phillip Harbour Master was stationed at Williams Town. Along with the first lighthouse, in 1840 a flagstaff was erected just to its west which could be sighted from Flagstaff Hill in Melbourne. Flags flown from the flagstaff at Williams Town signalled or telegraphed shipping arrivals in the port to Flagstaff Hill in Melbourne. In turn, Melburnians by the flags flying on Flagstaff Hill and shipping lists posted on a nearby bulletin board, could remain informed of shipping events as they happened. It was recorded that many Melburnians instantly knew the meaning of some of the twenty different flags that were flown.
Melbourne Flagstaff and Timeball
Section of Samuel Jackson’s Panoramic Sketch of Melbourne Port Phillip from the walls of Scots Church on the Eastern Hill July 30th 1841 (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser newspaper of Monday 1 June 1840, reported (please refer Annex B) on page 3 : The Flag, Staff.- The site of the signal station is fixed upon the hill formerly the burial ground [Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne]. The foundation of the beacon is already laid, and the building, which is to be of stone, will now be rapidly proceeded with. Further information was provided on Thursday 23 July 1840 on page 2 : The Flag Staff:- We are informed that the flag-staff which is to be erected at the signal station, on the old burial ground, is to be forty-eight feet in height. This must render it a conspicuous object from Williams Town, or to vessels in the Bay. A few weeks later, on Monday 14 September 1840 on page 3 : The Flag Staff:- We perceive the flag staff, is at last erected on the old burial ground, and the beacon is nearly completed. The necessary flags and other gear have also arrived from Sydney, so we may fairly anticipate the whole machine will be in full work before long. After a few weeks of operation the flagstaff’s proved to be too short as reported on page 2 of The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser newspaper of 26 October 1840 : The Flag Staffs:- The flag staff at William's Town, as well as the one erected here [Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne], is not near high enough. The yard arm to which the signals are hoisted, ought at least, to be as high as the present topmast head. As a proof of this, we ourselves saw a signal made from William's Town on Friday last, and though we were assisted by powerful telescopes, we were unable to make out the flag nearest the ground, above which, we should imagine, it was only raised a few feet. Surely this ought to be, and might be most easily, remedied. The problem was to be resolved as reported on page 2 on Thursday 26 November 1840 : The Flag Staff:- Workmen are employed in felling the large trees around the signal station, in order, by throwing it more open, to afford a clearer view of the signals here to the lookout man at Williams' Town. This may somewhat remedy the difficulty experienced in deciphering the various flags, but it will never be entirely got over, until the new flag staff, which we learn is to be fifty feet higher than the present one, is erected. The white foam of the waves in Hobsons' Bay, when the wind is fresh, renders it difficult at times to distinguish the different signals hoisted there.
Enhanced, Edward Gilks’ lithograph, Melbourne, 1854, from Emerald Hill, which, as can be seen, has sketches of significant features between the image and its title (courtesy State Library of Victoria); the sketch of the flagstaff and a section from the image have been enlarged an inset for clarity.
The new 48 feet high flagstaff at Flagstaff Hill was apparently in operation by 1841 and can be seen in the 1854 lithograph above, on the right in the section of Henry Burn’s 1855, Melbourne from the North near the road to Mount Alexander, and on the horizon in the lithograph Canvas Town circa 1855, below. Annex C shows images of the Melbourne flagstaff as depicted in a range of images from 1841 to 1855.
The Melbourne flagstaff also served another purpose. From Sunday 11 October 1840 a timeball was dropped from the yard arm, indicating 12PM or Noon. The official notice, see Annex B, of this service in the print media of the day stated :
GOVERNMENT NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that, for the public convenience, the following signals, indicating the time, will be made from the Flag Staff, from and after Sunday next the 11th instant. At ten minutes before noon mean time, a black ball will be hoisted half way to the yard arm. At five minutes before noon it will be hoisted to the yard arm, and at noon precisely, mean time, it will be dropped.
C.J LA TROBE.
Melbourne, 7th October 1840
This action appears to be the beginning of a local time service for the occupants of Melbourne Town, some 13 years before Ellery was given the job. It is unclear, however, whether this was just an attempt to try to help people to coordinate their daily activities or the result of a rigorous, accepted observation methodology. Given the tone of the article further on, published on page 9 of The Argus of Friday 27 May 1853, stating : Never was a city so doomed as to having great varieties of or variations in time as Melbourne, the truth being, that there is no true or recognised, or proper standard of time in the place, It was likely to have been the former. Also unclear is, if and when observed, who undertook the noon observations. Again, given the time variations mentioned above, it seems noon may have been observed only periodically so as to set a clock and then the clock’s time used to coordinate the timeball drop, in the intervening days. Hoddle and/or his men probably had the equipment and ability but their duties lay elsewhere, and this fact supports the seemingly sporadic pattern of noon observations; someone was not always available for this task. An ex-mariner would also have had the necessary skills, but this possibility is unsupported. Nevertheless, there was a naval establishment at Williamstown and a noon signal could have originated from there. The apparently complete lack of information as to how noon was determined seems to point to the flagstaff operator(s) being tasked with obtaining noon, to the best of their abilities, the tacit agreement being that at this point in the day the signal said its noon and the populace accepting that fact!
Section of Henry Burn’s 1855, Melbourne from the North near the road to Mount Alexander (courtesy State Library of Victoria);
note the electric telegraph line between the flagstaff right and Melbourne Electric Telegraph Station left.
Williams Town Lighthouse and Timeball flagstaff at Point Gellibrand, 1853, by Edmund Thomas (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
Map of Melbourne & Suburbs by Frederick Proeschel, Geographer, published between 1851 and 1869, showing line of sight between Flagstaff Hill and the Williamstown flagstaff (courtesy National Library of Australia).
Within the years of 1850 and 1851, Colonial Victoria came into being after separation from New South Wales on 1 July 1851 but previously in 1850 gold had been discovered. By 1852 it was reported that Victoria had welcomed 90 000 new arrivals mostly attracted by gold fever. Almost overnight the Williams Town and Hobsons Bay region became inundated with ships not only full of immigrants but the necessary goods to supply the colony. The downside was that a proportion of those new arrivals were lawbreakers or when their luck ran out turned to crime. In addition, once the ships had arrived in port they were abandoned by their crews to search for gold. As can be seen in the background of the 1857 engraving above, the bay around Williams Town was just a mass of ships.
The early years of the goldrush saw the demand for accommodation in Melbourne rapidly outstrip supply. A tent settlement, known as Canvas Town was set up. It was south of the Yarra, to the west side of St Kilda Road, where buildings such as the National Gallery of Victoria now stand. This section (the condition of the original plan was difficult to read so this inverted version has significantly overcome that limitation) of an 1853 plan of Melbourne by British Government Surveyor, FC Christie, shows Canvaʃ Town (to the right written at an angle with the old long style of the letter “S” ). Also of note is the location of the Falls on the River Yarra between William and Queen Streets, top left what was colloquially the North Melbourne Swamp, and the track between Sandridge and the town passing to the west of Emerald Hill, today’s South Melbourne. The track started near todays Lagoon Pier, sited south of Bay Street, Port Melbourne, and named after the salt water lagoon that once extended inland from the beach. Today’s Lagoon Reserve occupies some of that once swampy area. The track ran to the west of the lagoon and reached the Yarra River in the region of today’s Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, across from the south west corner of then Melbourne Town. This northern end of the track can be seen in the section of Russell’s Map of 1837, above. The indicative location of this track, running between the salt lagoon to the south and swamp to the north is shown on this integrated image from Google Earth.
Canvas Town between Princess Bridge and South Melbourne in 1850s,
by De Gruchy & Leigh, Lithographers, circa 1855 (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
In a dark period of Victorian history, several of the abandoned ships were bought by the government to house the now excess of lawbreakers. Five hulks had their masts removed and were fitted out with cells and moored off Point Gellibrand. Their inmates were then rowed to shore to form work parties. The initial acquisition of ships was for the Deborah, the Sacramento and the Success with later the Lysander and the President. Each hulk housed a specific group of prisoners; Deborah was for insubordinate seamen and deserters, Lysander for Aboriginal inmates, Sacramento for less troublesome inmates and Success for more hardened offenders. The President was designed for maximum security in which the conditions were appalling. This era continued until 1885 when all vessels were scrapped.
Meanwhile Williams Town and Sandridge, today’s suburb of Port Melbourne, continued to develop to meet the influx of shipping. Over time the new piers at Sandridge gradually became the major disembarkation and embarkation point for overseas passengers; the new and upgraded piers at Williams Town remained in use for the despatch of rural exports such as wheat and wool. The later remodelling of the Yarra and its facilities saw most arriving cargo being unloaded closer to the city.
William, was proclaimed a town in 1886, and a city in 1919, hence Williamstown today. For clarity, that spelling will now be used for the remainder of this article.
Time and Williamstown
The Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser newspaper of Monday 20 July 1840, printed on page 5 a Government Notice (please refer Annex D). It stated in part : To Mariners : After the 1st of August, 1840, a plain stationary light will be shown from sunset to sunrise from a Light-house erected on the extremity of Gellibrand's Point, William's Town, Hobsons Bay, visible five leagues in clear weather from any safe position to the southward. Arrangements for a new bluestone lighthouse, to replace the original timber structure, commenced around November 1848 and by May 1849 it had four lamps shining; a larger lamp was installed in August 1849. The bluestone section of the tower had battered lower stories featuring rusticated masonry with smooth string courses and a castellated parapet. The masonry was quarried and worked by convict labour. When La Trobe inspected the facility he recommended a much stronger light be installed.
At that time Hobson's Bay became rapidly crowded with shipping [due to the Victorian Gold Rush]. So crowded, indeed, did it become that the masters of vessels could not even "get a horizon." Thus, navigation was hampered in the fact that proper provision had not been made for the precise determination of time. So stated Captain Watson, the veteran ex-skipper of Williamstown's premier passenger boat Gem, in an interview with a reporter from the Williamstown Chronicle newspaper (Anonymous, 1908). The reference to "get a horizon" was that to determine local noon mariners observed the movement of the sun in relation to the sea horizon with a sextant. Without a sea horizon any observation was flawed.
To negate the problem of not being able to see the horizon, in May 1853, Pownall Pellow Cotter, a ship sailing master, was appointed to organise and supervise a time signal service. Cotter had settled in Melbourne and was in charge of the naval depot at Williamstown. Conveniently, the time signal facility was established at the existing naval depot and signal station using the existing flagstaff. The lightweight timeball of timber and canvas (the ball, able to move up and down a central column/rope, was dropped at a predetermined and publicised time), arrived in 1853 along with a stronger nine element light for the lighthouse. The issues with Time and a Time Service was also the subject of two articles published in the Melbourne Argus newspaper. Robert Lewis John Ellery (1827-1908) in his letter to the Editor (please refer Annex D) of 3 May 1853 wrote :
I am induced to offer a few remarks from being intimately acquainted with the benefit derived, where any such signal has been erected, more especially at the Greenwich Observatory, for during much time spent there I have had ample opportunity of witnessing, I might almost say necessity, of such a signal in a large commercial port. A time ball, such as at Greenwich or at St. Helena, well conducted, becomes an easy and certain method for mariners to rate and test their chronometers,- a most important point in a port like this, from which crowds of vessels are daily sailing.
The safety of every vessel on voyages depends in a great measure on the accuracy of its chronometers, and no master of a vessel ever lets slip an opportunity of testing their truth. A time ball gives them an opportunity of doing this daily, as long as in port, and to do so with great accuracy. The use of such a signal to the inhabitants of the city itself, cannot be disputed, especially when we see the irregularity of public clocks.
A time ball, on the same principle as at Greenwich, might be erected at a cost which, compared to the advantages to be derived, would be very trifling. The simple though beautiful contrivance by which the rise and accurate instantaneous descent of the ball is insured, would be inexpensive even in this colony, and the observatory which would be necessary, either a transit instrument or a good sextant, and artificial horizon and an astronomical clock or good chronometer, and with a careful observer. Surely so great a benefit at so small an undertaking is worthy of public attention.
A Standard of Time - Never was a city so doomed as to having great varieties of or variations in time as Melbourne, the truth being, that there is no true or recognised, or proper standard of time in the place. The Post Office time, which should be, par excellence, the best and always right, is rarely right, except twice in the twenty-four hours by accident. Ten minutes too slow one day, and the same number too fast the next day, is perfectly common with the only one recognised public clock in Melbourne, the writer having once seen the hands moved on fifteen minutes at one stretch. 'Tis true there is Walsh's public clock in Swanston Street, which is said to be regulated by the sun, whenever an observation can be taken. Then again there is Thomas's time, which by some is said to be the best; and also Drew's time, opposite the office of this paper. Each of their respective customers placing most faith in the accuracy of the time of the watchmaker he employs. But the truth is, there is no true standard of time in the place; and the truth also is, that there ought to be one; and especially when it is considered that there is now quite science enough among us to have such a thing properly attended to; and when it is also considered that our beautiful Government is ready enough to find employment of some kind or other for all its attaches and hangers-on. The Americans are coming among us rapidly; they are a punctual race of men. One of our judges is known to be punctual to the minute, and to strike out causes by the dozen if lawyers are not there to the minute. Merchants and business men do not want to lose time through being uncertain what the true time is; therefore let us have a public, well conducted establishment for ascertaining true time.
[Note that in the above Walsh's public clock in Swanston Street, referred to Henry Walsh who arrived in Melbourne in 1849 and by 1851 was listed in the Port Phillip Directory as a maker of watches, clocks, and thermometers, as well as being a jeweller at 26 Swanston Street; Thomas's time referred to Thomas Gaunt (1829-1890) a jeweller, clockmaker, and manufacturer of scientific instruments, who had arrived in Melbourne in 1852 and by 1858 had established his business at 14 Bourke Street. Around 1869 he moved to new premises in Bourke Street on the corner of Royal Arcade; Gaunt's shop quickly became a Melbourne institution (see image of plaque below). Gaunt proudly advertised that he was 'The only watch manufacturer in the Australian colonies'. While many watches and clocks may have had Gaunt's name on the dial, few would have been made locally; Drew's time, opposite the office of this paper was Henry Drew, listed in the 1851 Port Phillip Directory as watchmaker of 73 Collins Street and thus opposite The Argus offices at 74-76 Collins Street.]
Around July-August 1853, Governor La Trobe appointed Robert Ellery in Cotter’s place, Cotter resigned and the first public timeball drop from the Williamstown flagstaff was accomplished. The following notices, to Mariners and the Public, appeared on page 4 of The Argus of Thursday 4 August 1853 :
NOTICE TO COMMANDERS OF VESSELS IN HOBSON’S BAY.
Commanders of vessels are requested to take notice, that for the purpose of enabling them to rate their Chronometers, a Time Ball, painted black, will be dropped daily (Sundays excepted) from the top or the flagstaff at Gellibrand’s Point, at the instant of one o'clock mean solar time, there corresponding to 9h. 39m. 41.8s. Greenwich time.
As a preparatory signal, a blue pennant will be hoisted at the mast-head at half-past twelve, and hauled down at ten minutes to one o'clock, when the Ball will be run up to the mast-head and dropped as above.
In the event of its being necessary at any time to suspend the dropping or the Time Ball, either from strength of wind or any casualty occurring to the apparatus, this will be Indicated by a white pennant being hoisted instead of the blue preparatory pennant.
Assigned position of the Time Ball, lat. 37d. 52m. 42.8s., long. 144d. 58m. 30s. E.
CHARLES FERGUSON, Port and Harbor Master, Port and Harbor Officer,
Williamstown, 30th July, 1853.
________________
PUBLIC NOTICE
A Ball (painted red) will be dropped from a gaff attached to the top of the Melbourne flagstaff daily (Sundays excepted) at one o'clock mean solar time.
As a preparatory signal, the Ball will be hoisted half mast height at half-past twelve, and close to the gaff end ten minutes before one.
In the event of its being necessary to suspend the dropping of the Time Ball, either from strength of wind or any casualty occurring to the apparatus, this will be indicated by a white pennant hoisted at the gaff end.
It is understood that the timeball operator at Flagstaff Hill would release the timeball there when the timeball dropped by Ellery at Williamstown, was observed.
Any problems with the timeball’s operations were usually identified in the print media the following day an example of which is this notice on page 4 of The Argus of Tuesday 13 September 1853 : TIME BALL, WILLIAMSTOWN:- An accident occurred to the apparatus yesterday (Monday), which prevented the descent of the ball for more than a minute after its discharge. Robert Ellery, Time Ball Attendant.
The timeball tower at Williamstown and what were accompanying timber keepers quarters, post 1861 after the timeball was installed (courtesy Museums Victoria).
Ellery had a small two roomed wooden cottage at Point Gellibrand, close to the timeball flagstaff. Attached to the cottage was a small room for an observatory. The astronomical instruments included two sextants of indifferent quality, a small artificial horizon and two sufficiently reliable chronometers. With these basic instruments Ellery would have been able to record local noon and latitude, adjust the local chronometer so that at 1PM the timeball could be dropped providing an instantaneous signal of that being the local time; if the drop failed at 1PM it was usually repeated 15 minutes later. In addition, day after day the observation of latitude would have meant that a reliable value for his location would have been able to be determined. At sea, sun altitudes for noon, were observed with a sextant using the sea horizon. On land, however, even if a sea horizon was visible, noon observations were taken using a sextant and artificial horizon. An explanation of the use of an artificial horizon is at Annex E. More equipment was purchased in August 1853. A sextant by Potter arrived in February 1854, along with a transit instrument also by Potter, and regulator clock by Frodsham. These new instruments allowed time to be determined more accurately (JD Potter of London appears to have made and/or marketed a range of optical and other nautical instruments, sextants, octants, transits, artificial horizons etc as well as publishing nautical literature of the day). Unfortunately, these new instruments where housed in less than an ideal environment with the observatory comprising an 8 foot by 8 foot timber structure and the transit room of canvas.
An additional time service was added towards the end of 1854. In response to ship’s masters complaining about the visibility of the timeball the keeper at the lighthouse would obscure the light at 2 minutes to 8PM then show the light at exactly 8PM to indicate local time, as can be seen in the newspaper notices below. Timeball and light signals for time ran in parallel until 1861.
The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List, Monday 12 June 1854, page 107 : A time ball is dropped daily at Williamstown at one o'clock, mean solar time; a similar time ball is about to be constructed at Geelong, and experiments are now being made to give the time also at eight (8) PM, by means of a metal cylinder passing over and partially obscuring the light on Gellibrand’s Point for two minutes and then dropped instantaneously. The true time of the re-appearing of the light being notified the following day in the newspapers, see an example of this notification in the next notice.
The Argus, Friday 1 December 1854, page 4 (see copy of notice below), showing that the timeballs at Williamstown and Melbourne were dropped at 1PM on 29 November and on the same night the light re-appeared at 7h 59m 59.5s.
The Illustrated Sydney News of Saturday 19 November 1853, advised the following on page 4 : Mr. JW. McGowan has contracted to erect an electric telegraph between Melbourne and Williams Town, at a cost £195 10s per mile. The telegraphic stations at Melbourne and Williams Town will cost £5,500. Page 3 of the Empire newspaper of Monday 19 December 1853, contained more detail : Plans for the buildings required for the intended line of telegraph from Melbourne to Hobson's Bay are now completed… . The station for Melbourne is to be a brick and stone building, containing offices, battery, acid and store rooms, a strong room for valuable documents, and quarters for an officer in charge. A tower nearly forty feet high, surmounted by a flagstaff, on which a time-ball will traverse, forms part of the building. The establishment for Williamstown is of similar character, but on a slightly more limited scale; it is, however, very complete.
Section of map of 5 July 1858 of Williamstown with more detail in the vicinity of the Flagstaff, Electric Telegraph Office and at the Lighthouse (courtesy Public Record Office Victoria).
April 1863 illustration with timeball tower just visible far right; courtesy http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197289986
Australia's first telegraph line began operating between Melbourne and a station under the timeball flagstaff at Williamstown on 3 March 1854. The main function of the telegraph line being to transmit the time signal to (and later from) Melbourne more reliably. The timeball was moved to the tower of the new telegraph office in Morris Street, Williamstown and operated from there from 1855. A timeball had by now also been erected at the telegraph office in William Street, Melbourne and had been operating from there since October 1854, activated by the telegraph signal from Williamstown. Page 5 of the Argus newspaper of Saturday 14 October 1854, told its readers : The Signal.- The superintendent of the electric telegraph announces that on and after Monday next the timeball on the tower of the new electric telegraph station will be dropped daily, Sundays excepted, at one o'clock, mean time. Some of the other early history of the electric telegraph around the Melbourne CBD may be viewed via this link.
Newspapers after the 17 March 1854 reported the first communication received in Melbourne by the electric telegraph as : Williamstown, March 17, 1854 - The compliments of the Chief Harbour Master to the Editors of The Argus and Morning Herald, and would feel obliged by their giving publicity to the following notice to commanders of vessels in Hobson's Bay. – Notice to Mariners. - It being necessary to suspend the dropping of the time ball, Williamstown, for a short time, in order to effect some necessary repairs, notice is hereby given, that commanders about to proceed to sea can have the errors and rates of their chronometers by applying to the Observatory, Gellibrand’s Point. Due notice will be given in the daily papers of the resuming the time signal. Charles Fergusson, Chief Harbour Master.
On 27 December 1857, Ellery reported to both Houses of the Victorian Parliament (Ellery, 1857). His report covered the period from 1853 to 1856 and described a number of the issues related to the dissemination of time from Williamstown and the results of his associated astronomical observations.
Williamstown Observatory (right) in 1862 by Charles Frederick Somerton (courtesy State Library of Victoria)
Williamstown Observatory (right) in 1862 (courtesy Wayne Orchiston Collection)
Section of 1855 map of Melbourne showing the location (red) of the Electric Telegraph Office at the north-east corner of William and Little Bourke Streets (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
In readiness for the arrival of a new transit instrument with 5 inch aperture by Troughton & Simms in 1861, a new transit room was erected at Williamstown. A new regulator clock by Frodsham (No.961) arrived in 1860, along with a Zenith sector by Troughton & Simms. Ellery also implemented electrical circuits between the transit instrument, chronograph and clocks, which enabled the time signals to be sent by telegraph.
Meanwhile, the Melbourne-Williamstown Railway had commenced operations in 1859. By 1860 it had become clear that Williamstown was no longer a suitable site for the observatory. Dust from nearby quarrying, the increasing population in the area, the lowness and humidity of the site, and increased vibrations from the nearby railways all meant a move to another site was essential. In 1860 the government appointed a Board of Visitors to oversee Ellery's astronomical work at Williamstown and Georg Neumayer's magnetic and meteorological researches at the Flagstaff Observatory. With the approval of both Ellery and Neumayer, the Board recommended that the observatories should be merged at a new site. The new Melbourne Observatory was to be located in the Botanical Gardens within sight of the Melbourne CBD but it would not be fully operational until June 1863.
From 25 July 1859 the former barque New Constitution became the first lightship to mark the reef off Gellibrand’s Point. This vessel was replaced in 1861 by a purpose built lightship, which in turn was replaced in 1895. The 1859 installation of a light ship made the bluestone lighthouse redundant so the light was removed in January 1960. After Ship’s Masters complained that the timeball on the Telegraph Office was now becoming obscured by developments at Williamstown, the lighthouse became the new site of the Williamstown timeball when Ellery had it moved there in 1861. New machinery along with a metal mast and two metre diameter copper ball were installed on the tower in September 1880. The timeball service operated there until 1926 until the advent of a radio time service. The bluestone tower reverted to a lighthouse again, having a ten metre extension of brick added in 1934 to carry a new light.
Australasian newspaper photograph of Saturday 20 February 1909, page 34, showing (right) Timeball on lighthouse at Point Gellibrand, Williamstown, 1909;
(left) Tide gauge recording facility.
Ellery proclaimed to the Board of Visitors in May 1861 that our labours are now so far recognized by the older established Observatories of Europe and America as to have their regular place in most of the astronomical periodicals of the day. While the valuable time service was important the other observations acquired of the southern skies added to the advancement of astronomical knowledge.
The end of the Light, Flag, and Timeball Signals
The first half of the twentieth century saw the end of the light, flag, and timeball signals, at and between, Melbourne and Williamstown. The bluestone Gellibrand lighthouse became obsolete but exists today as a historical site as shown in the image below.
The Melbourne Observatory in the Domain formally commenced operations on 9 June 1863, which included the maintenance of Victoria’s time service. The General Post Office clock as well as a clock at Thomas Gaunt's shop in Bourke Street were being controlled by telegraphic signals from the Observatory by 1870, and later again clocks at the railway stations at Spencer Street and Flinders Street, Parliament, Customs House and several banks, were telegraphically controlled. The Observatory would use the telegraph to drop the timeballs at Williamstown and Melbourne until 1926.
The development of radio technology provided a new means to disseminate time. From September 1913, the Melbourne Observatory joined the Wireless Time Service established by the International Time Association, and a series of time signals were transmitted at noon and midnight from a radio station in the Domain. At first this time service was primarily used by ships at sea. With the development of commercial radio in the 1920s, however, the hourly time signals became a familiar sound to the whole community and became available to anyone who could receive them. In 1944 it was decided that the national time service, by radio, should be disseminated from Mount Stromlo in the national capital and the applicable equipment was moved from Melbourne to Mount Stromlo to be operated by the Commonwealth Observatory. The broadcasting of a time service from the Melbourne Observatory ceased in June 1945.
Today at Williamstown the original stone lighthouse with timeball and replica flagstaff.
Sources
Anonymous (1853), Domestic Intelligence : A Standard of Time, The Argus (Melbourne newspaper), Friday 27 May 1853, Page 9, accessed at : https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4792979?searchTerm=standard%20time
Anonymous (1908), Astronomer RLJ Ellery : A Man of Many Parts : Interred at Williamstown, Williamstown Chronicle, Saturday 18 January 1908, Page 2, accessed at : https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69699734#
Bonwick, James & Westgarth, William (1857), Discovery and settlement of Port Phillip : being a history of the country now called Victoria, up to the arrival of Mr. Superintendent Latrobe, in October, 1839, by Bonwick & revised, at request, by Westgarth, printer Goodall & Demaine; publisher George Robertson.
Chappel, Keith Lytton (1966), Surveying for Land Settlement in Victoria, 1836-1960, Department of Lands and Surveys Victoria.
Department of Lands and Survey (or equivalent) (1837), Williams Town, VPRS 8168/P0002, SYDNEY W14, WILLIAMSTOWN, Public Record Office Victoria, accessed at : https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/0FC58C75-F844-11E9-AE98-3913BD27743F?image=1
Department of Lands and Survey (or equivalent) (1858), Williamstown, VPRS 8168/P0002, MELB RL34, WILLIAMSTOWN, WINDSOR G.A., CUTPAWPAW, Public Record Office Victoria, accessed at : https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/840B4872-F843-11E9-AE98-130FA73013BD?image=1
Eastwood, Jill (1967), La Trobe, Charles Joseph (1801–1875), Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed at : https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/la-trobe-charles-joseph-2334#:~:text=Charles%20Joseph%20La%20Trobe%20(1801,family%20was%20of%20Huguenot%20origin .
Ellery, Robert Lewis John (1857), Electric Telegraph : Report of the Superintendent of the Electric Telegraph of the Proceedings In connection with the Establishment of Lines of Electric Telegraph, to 31st December, 1856, Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency's Command, No.46-a, John Ferres, Government Printer, Melbourne, accessed at : https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1856-57No46.pdf
Hall, Alan Ross (1968), The Stock Exchange of Melbourne and the Victorian Economy 1852-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra.
Hoddle, Robert (1837), Town of Melbourne, Plan of 25 March 1837, accessed at : https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/town-of-melbourne-1837-map-by-robert-hoddle-1837/WwFRhJzdjDKvow?ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5%2C%22y%22%3A0.5%2C%22z%22%3A9.658168074830058%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.7230980489756167%2C%22height%22%3A1.2374999999999996%7D%7D
Hoddle, Robert (1840), A Chapter on Port Phillip : Account of the Settlement from its Formation, by Robert Hoddle, Surveyor, Late In Charge of the Survey Department -1840, and now Resumed the Charge of the Survey Department, Port Phillip Gazette, Saturday 31 July 1841, Page 4, accessed at : https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article225010998.txt
Russel, Robert (1837), Map shewing the site of Melbourne and the position of the huts & building previous to the foundation of the township by Sir Richard Bourke in 1837, Surveyed & drawn by Robert Russell, Day & Haghe, lithographers to the Queen, accessed at : https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/items/e61bafe5-e072-58c5-98e0-e025955f8512
Williamson, James (circa 1839), A Plan of Melbourne Port Phillip from actual survey by J. Williamson, Surveyor, Government Printer, 1937, accessed at : https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/items/ff611c1d-a905-5308-a4ce-ea7d1a4b4f93
Wise, Paul Joseph (2020), Robert Lewis John Ellery and the Geodetic Survey of Victoria from the Print Media, XNATMAP website <a href=http://xnatmap.org/ahist/docs/ELLERY_RLJ/ELLERY%20Robert%20Lewis%20John.htm>article</a>.
J Williamson, Surveyor : Selected Information from the Print Media of the Day
Sale of Williamson’s 1839 Plan
Copy of an advertisement for the public sale of Williamson’s plan which reads in part Plans of Melbourne, Port Phillip, up to the 30th of March last, with all the buildings to that period, accurately delineated and colored, as designed by Mr Williamson, Surveyor of this place. Price 7s 6d [7 shillings and 6 pence] each copy.
Williamson, Surveyor and Land Agent
Surveying, Land, and House Agency
The Subscriber begs to intimate to the Public that he proposes entering upon the business of a Surveyor and Agent for the Sale, Purchase, and Leasing of Lands and Allotments. Farms, Sections of Land, and Town Allotments, measured, laid out, and subdivided.
J. WILLIAMSON,
At Mr. Brodie's, Bourke Street
March 14, 1839.
From :
Port Phillip Gazette, Saturday 16 March 1839, Page 2
Port Phillip Gazette, Saturday 23 March 1839, Page 1
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Wednesday 3 April 1839, Page 8
Melburnians Address to La Trobe on his arrival as Superintendent of the District of Port Phillip
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser (Vic. : 1839 - 1845),
Monday 7 October 1839, page 3
Above page repeated for clarity with some significant names highlighted
TO HIS HONOR
CHARLES JOSEPH LA TROBE, ESQ.
Superintendent of the District of Port Phillip.
Sir. - We, the inhabitants of Melbourne, and the country adjacent, beg leave respectfully to offer to Mrs La Trobe and yourself, our hearty congratulations on your arrival in Australia Felix. Your coming, Sir, has been earnestly looked for by the whole community here, for we regard you as the harbinger of our increased prosperity.
Situated as we are, at so great a distance from the seat of Government, the appointment of a person of even ordinary intelligence, to whom our wants and wishes at this particular time, might be made known, would have been considered as a boon. We therefore hail, with the proudest satisfaction, the arrival among us as our Chief Magistrate, of a gentleman of whose high intellectual powers, right-mindedness, firmness, courtesy and talents for business, report speaks so favourably. We hope also that you are likely long to remain among us, to superintend the execution of those wise measures for the development of the resources of this fine country, and for our social advancement, which your knowledge of our circumstances may induce you to recommend to the attention of the Government.
The present position of Australia Felix is a very peculiar one, her career of prosperity having been hitherto quite unparalleled in the annals of British Colonisation; and this not only without any efficient aid from the Mother Country but we might even add, without her knowledge. It now scarcely exceeds four years since a few enterprising individuals from Van Diemen's Land first landed in this district. These at once discovered the advantages of the country, and as soon as those became known settlers from all the neighbouring Colonies crowded to it. Already Melbourne, which eighteen months ago possessed only three brick houses, is a flourishing Town, with a population of between two and three thousand souls, and containing most of the appendages of an advanced civilization. It has five places of Worship of different denominations of Christians, a Court of Justice, two Schools, two Banks, one Club with sixty Members, a Fire and Marine Assurance Company, and two Newspapers are efficiently supported. Of the learned professions there are, six Clergymen, twelve Medical Men, and five lawyers. Such is the present state of Melbourne, and with reference to the back country of Australia Felix, it may be said, that this, for upwards of one hundred and eighty miles is covered with flocks and herds, and there are now stations along the whole line of road to Sydney. Of Wool, our staple commodity, there was exported in 1837, sixty thousand five hundred and twelve pounds; in 1838, two hundred and thirteen thousand two hundred and thirty-three pounds; in 1839, eight hundred and six thousand eight hundred and seventy seven pounds, independently of large quantities shipped coastwise to Sydney; and it is estimated that the clip about to be made will amount in value to upwards of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. With such evidences of progressive prosperity, it is quite certain that Australia Felix must soon have become one of the most important possessions of Britain, had she been merely suffered to remain on a footing of equality with the other Crown Colonies of Australasia; we regret, however to say, that this has not been the case; and that certain Regulations have recently been put in operation here, which, in our opinion, can produce no other effect, when they are fully known in Britain, than to direct the stream of emigration to other quarters. Feeling that to enter on such a subject in an Address of this nature, would be ill-timed, we therefore refrain from doing so, but as soon as you shall have become settled, and are enabled to attend to business, a deputation of gentlemen, to be appointed by the inhabitants, will, with your permission, do themselves the honor of waiting on you regarding it. Meanwhile we beg to state, that we view your arrival here at this crisis as a most important event, and being convinced that the Government has legislated for us without sufficient information of our state, we therefore confidently entertain the hope, that as you will have to communicate with a Governor so enlightened as Sir George Gipps, the injurious regulations before referred to must be soon altered, and Australia Felix put on a footing of equality with the other Crown Colonies of Australasia. If this were the case, who could doubt that a boundless career of prosperity was before her for, placed as she is, neutrally, between New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and South Australia - having the great Pacific on one side, and the Indian Ocean on the other, her commercial advantages are truly inestimable. In addition to these she has one of the most delightful and healthful climates in the world, a soil of remarkable fertility, and a capital, of which the site is admirably selected, being situated in a picturesque, productive country, and abundantly supplied with excellent water from a navigable river communicating with one of the finest bays of which the vast Continent of Australia can boast. We cannot, in conclusion refrain from again offering you our congratulations on the pleasing and noble task which lies before you, of contributing to the development of the resources of this the beautiful country of our adoption; and, looking far into the distant vista of futurity, we most fervently entertain the hope, that when the acts of her early Chief Magistrate shall become a subject of discussion among our descendants, the name of LA TROBE will then ever be mentioned with respect, as having belonged to a man who, by the wisdom of his suggestions, and the powerful influence of his own character, contributed most to the political, religious, and social, advancement of AUSTRALIA FELIX.
We have the honor to be, Sir, with the utmost respect, your most obedient humble Servants :
W. Lonsdale, J.P. | H. F. Gisbourne, CC. | G. B. Smyth, C.M.P. | W.H. Yaldwyn, J.P. | F. McCrae, M.D. | B. Baxter | D. J. Thomas | R. S. Webb, S.C.U. | P. W. Welsh | J. S. Ryrie | W. Meek | S. Craig Wm. | F. A. Rucker | H. White, Lt. Col. 96th Rt. | B. Cotter | J. Patterson, S.R.N. | H.W. Bowerman | E. R. White | T. H. Power | J. P. Fawkner | D.S. Campbell | J. Graham | J.R. Murphy | J.T. Smith | D. Patrick, M.D. | H.N. Carrington | F. U. Von Bibra | F. W. Owen | W. Pyke | C. H. Le Souef, S.C. | T. Rully | G. O'Brien | A. M. McCrae | J. Smith | J. Branch | F. Pittman | C. Belcher | C. Scott, C.R.M. | J. W. Salmon | W. C. Yuille | J. Price | R. Ewing | J. J. Peers | G. Newsom | F. S. Jameson | W. Waterfield | W. Watkins | W. Landsdown | W. E. Young | T. Howell | J. Brophy | J. B. Pain | K. S. Clarke | W. G. Sams | W. H. Bunn | J. Adamson | J. Tulloch | Terrance O'Connor | J. Fitzpatrick | T. Amott | G. Sinclair Brodie | W. Fulton | H. Kettle | R. T. Clarke | J. Purves | J. Brock | A. Thompson | T. Graham | J. Aitken | C. Hutton | J. Grub | H. G. Arrowsmith | J. Wallace | J. D. Baillie | J. Highett | W. Willoughby | G. James | T. Hood | W. B. Ingram | W. W. Abbotts | A. Sutherland | T. L. Gibson | J. Dunbar | E. Dryden | W. Thomas, J.P. | J. S. Griffin | G. Lilly | J. O. Denny | T. Glass | G. W. Elmes | J. Cropper | P. Feone | S. Benjamin | H. B. Foot | A. Cottrell | G. Eagle | W. Overton | C. G. Burchett | H. B. W. Allan | R. I. Allan | J. Solomon | I. Hind | A. S. Martin | D. McArthur | T. Jennings | W. Murray | A. H. Knight | S. J. Brown | J. Macdonald | E. Leadbeatter | E. J. Brewster, J.P. | J. Gardiner | A. Neill | P. Hunter | R. Snowden | A. Murray | W. H. Bacchus | J. W. Shaw | J. Williamson | O. Gourlay |J. M. Woolley | W. Robertson | W. Wright | A. Woolley | R. Campbell | G. Porter | D. Barker | J. Wood | J. McLure | P. Cussen, M.D. | J. Templeton | A. Wrighte | H. Fowler | R. Russell | J. Rattenbury | T. W. Bulger | H. Goode | D. G. McArthur | J. Levien | F. W. Cobb | R. Tulloch | H. Gerrand | T. Napier | C. H. S. Wentworth | J. Alison | J. Berwick | D. Fisher | G. Langhorne | E. Parker | R. Reeves | J. Cotter | W. Langhorne | D. McLachlan | W. Shapter | R. Walton | A. Langhorne | J. Stafford | W. Dods | J. Lobb | G. Goulstock | Adam Pullar | J. Baskerville | D. Dole | J. Sproat, M.D. | Geo. Peck | N. Campbell | S. Holland | H. Leigh | W.C. Burn | P.M.B. Geoghegan, O.S.P. | G. G. Warwick | T. Burn | H. C. Blackney | R. Walsh, R.C.C. | C. Chappell | J. Mckenny | A. Forlonge, J.P. | D. Kelsh | G. Marshall | J. M. Chisholm | A. McDonald | J. Dunbar | E. Cockayne | W. D. G. Wood | J. Tucker | J. York | J. McNall | W. Headlam | A. Mollison | T. A. Robins | E. Bullivant | C. Wedge | R. Whitehead | W. Morrison | J. W. Hooson | R. Wedge | A. Whitehead | F. W. Desailly | H. Munro | H. Wedge | A. Thomson, A.M. | J. Harrison | E. Coghlan | A. Barton | R. Walker | R. Sutherland | T. Jackson | P. C. Aylward | J. Lee | G. Shaw | D. Morley | J. Green | T. Wayth | Thomas O'Connor | A. Lingham | T. Thornloe | J. Hodgkinson | E. Heriot | T. Maher | J. Moss | J. Clow, Chaplain | D.C. McArthur | E. B. Addis, Lt. R.N. | M. Steel W. Highett | F. Fyans, P.M. | R. W. Murdoch | T. Clerke, M.D. | A. Birch | J.M. Matson | G. I. Keon, jun. | T. Wills, J.P. | C. Birch | H. Matson | J. S. Brodie | J. C. Grylls
Melbourne, Oct. 3, 1839.
On Tuesday, the 1st of October, His Honor the Governor landed privately and proceeded to the residence of Captain Lonsdale, after which he examined the Town and neighbourhood, and again returned on board. On Wednesday the weather proved too rainy and boisterous to land, but on Thursday the Lieut. Governor and family landed, in presence of a large concourse of persons. At one o'clock His Honor attended at Mr. C. Williams' Rooms, where the public were assembled to attend the Government Land Sale. Notice was given that the Lieut. Governor's Commission would be read, which was done by R. S. Webb, Esq., Collector of Customs. The Land Sale then commenced, and His Honor expressed his surprise at the very high prices which were given for plots of land. We herewith tell His Honor the whole secret :-
The miserable policy of the Government, by dealing out retail portions of land, has raised its price to the present enormous pitch. Open up sufficient quantities of land, and allow every new settler to select one piece on his arrival, at a fixed upset price, and then land will he, as it should be, in the possession of every settler, and without so crippling his means of cultivation as to prevent him improving his property. On Tuesday and Thursday nights the illuminations and the fireworks, with the constant roll of musquetry, gave loud demonstration of the people's joy on the happy arrival at Australia Felix of its Ruler. After the land sale on Thursday last, it was notified that His Honor would receive the Address, and Capt. Lonsdale, with Messrs. McRae, Welsh and Rucker, the Committee appointed; together with many gentlemen, proceeded to the Club House, and presented the Address, which was most graciously received the Address, and also the answer, were read by Captain Lonsdale. We auger well from this answer - the humble and pious feeling therein expressed, promises well, and although this unostentatious reply stamps at once the character of the Government, under the pious and orderly, but (we are confident) firm conduct of our new ruler, the rapid advance of Australia Felix will astound the neighbouring Colonies.
His Honor answered as follows :-
Capt. Lonsdale and Gentlemen, I beg leave to return you my acknowledgements, for the welcome you have given me and my family. I have great pleasure in persuading myself, gentlemen, that it is a general one. You will, I trust, at this time pardon me, if my thanks for the flattering address which I have had the honor of receiving are hastily expressed, and you will not undervalue their sincerity, because they are couched in few and simple words.
God grant that your favourable anticipations of the general results of my appointment to the station I shall have the honor to occupy among you, may be fully verified. I should however fear that, the wishes of the inhabitants of the district may have led them to over rate both my official and my personal powers; I can assure you, that I am impressed with a sense of the responsibility which attaches itself to the discharge of the duties imposed upon me by Her Majesty's Government, and by His Excellency the Governor of these Territories; and I pray God, to whom I look for strength and power, that whether my stay among you as chief organ of the Government, be long or short, that I may be enabled through His grace, to know my duty, and to do my duty, diligently, temperately, and fearlessly. In common with every new comer who lands on these shores, I cannot but be struck with the beauty of the district, and by the signs of rapidly increasing prosperity to this Township. Three short years have effected great changes in this portion of Australia; and Captain Lonsdale will allow me to congratulate him, that the past period has been so sunny and so unclouded. The sky is still bright before us and if appearances may be trusted, we may reasonably hope that increasing prosperity may still continue to mark the career of both individuals, and of the community at large. I am persuaded from the Address which I have just now received, that the gentlemen present will agree with me in considering, that the particular epoch in which we now are, is an exceedingly important one, in its bearing upon the future character of the country. It will not be by individual aggrandizement, by the possession of numerous flocks and herds, or of costly acres, that we shall secure for the country enduring prosperity and happiness, but by the acquisition and maintenance of sound religious and moral institutions, without which the country can become truly great. Let us remember, that religion is the only great preventive of crime, and contributes more, in a far more endurable manner, to the peace and good order of society, than the Judge and the sheriff, the gaol and the gibbet united. Our harmony and energy, as a people, must make up for our want of means. My individual position among you, gentlemen, must be, both of necessity and from personal habits, humble and unostentatious; but however recluse, I am now one of you, and I hope to prove to you, that the public interests are mine, and that I can both feel with and for you.
I have the honor to be, Captain Lonsdale and Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant; CHARLES JOSEPH LA TROBE.
Sale of Land by Williamson
Advertisement on page 8 of the newspaper Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser of Monday 23 December 1839
(https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/228130038?searchTerm=j%20williamson%20melbourne ).
In the above notice the parcel of land, section 141 as shown in the plan below, was in the region of Bell Street and Sydney Road, Coburg. The Moonee Creek, today the Moonee Ponds Creek, formed a series of ponds in the drier weather, hence it also being known as Chain of Ponds.
Section of 1879 plan of Parish of Jika Jika, County of Bourke, showing location of Section 141
(courtesy National Library of Australia https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232489602/view ).
Notice to the Purchasers of Portions of Suburbans 54 and 55, sold by the Auction Company.
Mr. WILLIAMSON, the Surveyor, will be in readiness at ten o'clock this morning, at the Company's Rooms, in order to accompany those purchasers desirous of having their respective Allotments pointed out.
From :
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Thursday 19 Nov 1840, Page 3
Surveyor Williamson a member of La Trobe’s party
OVERLAND VISITORS.
His Honor C. J. La Trobe, Lieutenant Governor; J. Williamson, Esq. Surveyor; J. Brown. Esq. of Hobart Town ; J. Tetley Esq. of Launceston; W. Wright, Esq ; J. Downey, Esq,; -- Smith, Esq.; J. Williamson, Esq. , D. S. Campbell, Esq.; Captain Cole.
From :
Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 30 January 1841, Page 2
Williamstown and Melbourne Flagstaffs : Newspaper extracts
The Flag, Staff.- The site of the signal station is fixed upon the hill formerly the burial ground [Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne]. The foundation of the beacon is already laid, and the building, which is to be of stone, will now be rapidly proceeded with.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Monday 1 June 1840, Page 3
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228129714.txt
THE FLAG-STAFF.- We are informed that the flag-staff which is to be erected at the signal station, on the old burial ground, is to be forty-eight feet in height. This must render it a conspicuous object from Williams Town, or to vessels in the Bay.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Thursday 23 July 1840, Page 2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228129135.txt
THE FLAG STAFF.- We perceive the flag staff, is at last erected on the old burial ground, and the beacon is nearly completed. The necessary flags and other gear have also arrived from Sydney, so we may fairly anticipate the whole machine will be in full work before long.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Monday 14 September 1840, Page 3
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228129518.txt
GOVERNMENT NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that, for the public convenience, the following signals, indicating the time, will be made from the Flag Staff, from and after Sunday next the 11th instant.
At ten minutes before noon mean time, a black ball will be hoisted half way to the yard arm.
At five minutes before noon it will be hoisted to the yard arm, and
At noon precisely, mean time, it will be dropped.
C.J LA TROBE.
Melbourne, 7th October 1840
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Monday 12 October 1840, Page 6
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228130304.txt
THE FLAG STAFFS.- The flag staff at William's Town, as well as the one erected here, is not near high enough. The yard arm to which the signals are hoisted, ought at least, to be as high as the present topmast head. As a proof of this, we ourselves saw a signal made from William's Town on Friday last, and though we were assisted by powerful telescopes, we were unable to make out the flag nearest the ground, above which, we should imagine, it was only raised a few feet. Surely this ought to be, and might be most easily, remedied.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, 26 October 1840, Page 2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228129591.txt
THE FLAG-STAFF.- Workmen are employed in felling the large trees around the signal station, in order, by throwing it more open, to afford a clearer view of the signals here to the lookout man at Williams' Town. This may somewhat remedy the difficulty experienced in deciphering the various flags, but it will never be entirely got over, until the new flag staff, which we learn is to be fifty feet higher than the present one, is erected. The white foam of the waves in Hobsons' Bay, when the wind is fresh, renders it difficult at times to distinguish the different signals hoisted there. One thing, however, is certain, that the station is but ill supplied with telescopes.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Thursday 26 November 1840, Page 2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228129490.txt
Melbourne Flagstaff, 1841-1855
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1841 : Panoramic Sketch of Melbourne Port Phillip from the walls of Scots Church on the Eastern Hill July 30th 1841, Samuel Jackson (SLV). |
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1934(*) : Signal Station, Melbourne, Henry Gilbert Jones (SLV). (*) The Library’s date of 1934 for this work cannot be correct as Melbourne was not founded until 1835, moreover the man is clearly raising/lowering the timeball and pennant, meaning the date of the work cannot be before October 1840; the man by the building is supporting a (long) object in his left hand at head height and given the direction he is looking it is concluded he has a telescope and is observing the Williams Town flagstaff; if the observer is preparing to note the drop of the timeball at Williams Town, the man by the flagstaff is raising the timeball in preparation for the simultaneous 1PM drop at Melbourne, accordingly the work can be no earlier than August 1853. |
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1846 : View of Melbourne, Port Phillip, Joseph Wilson Lowry (NLA). |
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1848(?) : Telegraphic Station, Melbourne, GA Gilbert(?). Date uncertain but of that era. |
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1854 : Melbourne, 1854, from Emerald Hill, Edward Gilks (SLV). |
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1850s(*) : Flagstaff Gardens Signal Station West Melbourne, Unattributed. (*) Fence around facility means that date of image is of 1850s vintage.
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1855 : Melbourne and Canvas-Town, Edmund Thomas (SLV). |
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1855 : City of Melbourne from base of Emerald Hill, Samuel Thomas Gill (NLA). |
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1856 : Melbourne, 1856, George Strafford (SLV). |
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1855 : Melbourne from the North near the road to Mount Alexander, Henry Burn (SLV). |
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(SLV) : Courtesy State Library of Victoria (NLA) : Courtesy National Library of Australia |
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Williamstown and Melbourne Timeballs and Time : Newspaper extracts
PORT PHILLIP, GOVERNMENT NOTICE.
TO MARINERS. After the 1st of August, 1840, a plain stationary light will be shown from sunset to sunrise from a Light-house erected on the extremity of Gellibrand's Point, William's Town, Hobsons Bay, visible five leagues in clear weather from any safe position to the southward. All Masters of Vessels entering the port, are requested to notice the following bearings by compass : - From the North end of the Western Channel, the anchorage at William's Town, bears N. 14° E. From the North end of Symond's Channel, the anchorage at William's Town bears N. 6° E. From the N. end of Pinnace Channel, the anchorage at William's Town bears N. 5° E. From the North end of the South Channel, the anchorage at William's Town, bears N. 6° W. The course indicated will give vessels a fair berth from the shoal off Gellibrand's Point. Care must be taken after bringing the light-house to bear N. 67' 30' W by compass, not to stand into less than four fathom water on the western shore, and also to guard against a bank which lies off the eastern beach, bearing from the Light-house from about N 22° E to 67° E 1½ mile. After rounding the light and bringing it to bear about S 14° W 1' the anchor may be dropped in four fathom water, in good holding ground of stiff clay and mud. (Signed) E. M. LEWIS, Harbour Master. N.B.- The South Channel is unnavigable, its north end being filled up, having but 2½ fathoms of water at half flood, and extremely narrow.
Harbour Master's Office, Port Phillip June 26.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Monday 20 July 1840, Page 5
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article228128918.txt
TIME
To the Editor of The Argus.
Melbourne, 3rd May.
Sir,- Having seen in your Journal some days back, a letter speaking of a "time ball" for the better regulation of the City of Melbourne, &c., I am induced to offer a few remarks from being intimately acquainted with the benefit derived, where any such signal has been erected, more especially at the Greenwich Observatory, for during much time spent there I have had ample opportunity of witnessing, I might almost say necessity, of such a signal in a large commercial port. A time ball, such as at Greenwich or at St. Helena, well conducted, becomes an easy and certain method for mariners to rate and test their chronometers,- a most important point in a port like this, from which crowds of vessels are daily sailing.
The safety of every vessel on voyages depends in a great measure on the accuracy of its chronometers, and no master of a vessel ever lets slip an opportunity of testing their truth. A time ball gives them an opportunity of doing this daily, as long as in port, and to do so with great accuracy. The use of such a signal to the inhabitants of the city itself, cannot be disputed, especially when we see the irregularity of public clocks.
A time ball, on the same principle as at Greenwich, might be erected at a cost which, compared to the advantages to be derived, would be very trifling. The simple though beautiful contrivance by which the rise and accurate instantaneous descent of the ball is insured, would be inexpensive even in this colony, and the observatory which would be necessary, either a transit instrument or a good sextant, and artificial horizon and an astronomical clock or good chronometer, and withal, a careful observer. Surely so great a benefit at so small an undertaking is worthy of public attention.
I have the honor to remain,
Your most obedient servant,
ROBERT L.J. ELLERY.
149 Little Lonsdale Street, west.
The Argus, Saturday 7 May 1853, Page 9
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4792379?searchTerm=time
POINT DRAKE. – The land-spit hitherto known as Gellibrand's Point has been re-named Point Drake, in honor of the celebrated Admiral Drake.
Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, Thursday 28 October 1841, Page 2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article226510209.txt
[ IMPORTANT NOTE : The name Point Drake was after English Admiral Sir Francis Drake (circa 1540–1596). The names Point Drake or Fort Drake were fleeting and never official.]
Text is in the main article above.
The Argus, Friday 27 May 1853, Page 9
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article4792979.txt
NOTICE TO COMMANDERS OF VESSELS IN HOBSON’S BAY.
Commanders of vessels are requested to take notice, that for the purpose of enabling them to rate their Chronometers, a Time Ball, painted black, will be dropped dally (Sundays excepted) from the top or the flagstaff at Gellibrand’s Point, at the instant of one o'clock mean solar time, there corresponding to 9h. 39m. 41.8s. Greenwich time.
As a preparatory signal, a blue pennant will be hoisted at the mast-head at half-past twelve, and hauled down at ten minutes to one o'clock, when the Ball will be run up to the mast-head and dropped as above.
In the event of its being necessary at any time to suspend the dropping or the Time Ball, either from strength of wind or any casualty occurring to the apparatus, this will be Indicated by a white pennant being hoisted instead of the blue preparatory pennant.
Assigned position of the Time Ball, lat. 37d. 52m. 42.8s., long. 144d. 58m. 30s. E.
CHARLES FERGUSON,
Port and Harbor Master.
Port and Harbor Officer,
Williamstown, 30th July, 1853.
________________
PUBLIC NOTICE
A Ball (painted red) will be dropped from a gaff attached to the top of the Melbourne flagstaff daily (Sundays excepted) at one o'clock mean solar time.
As a preparatory signal, the Ball will be hoisted half mast height at half-past twelve, and close to the gaff end ten minutes before one.
In the event of its being necessary to suspend the dropping of the Time Ball, either from strength of wind or any casualty occurring to the apparatus, this will be indicated by a white pennant hoisted at the gaff end.
The Argus, Thursday 4 August 1853, Page 4
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article4795342.txt
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For information : Picture of a flagstaff with the Australian flag being flown from the gaff
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TIME BALL, WILLIAMSTOWN.- An accident occurred to the apparatus yesterday (Monday), which prevented the descent of the ball for more than a minute after its discharge.
Robert Ellery,
Time Ball Attendant.
The Argus, Tuesday 13 September 1853, Page 4
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article4796926.txt
VICTORIA
Mr. JW. McGowan has contracted to erect an electric telegraph between Melbourne and Williams Town, at a cost £195 10s. per mile. The telegraphic stations at Melbourne and William's Town will cost £5,500.
Illustrated Sydney News, Saturday 19 November 1853, Page 4
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63613691?searchTerm=telegraph%20time%20ball
It appears that Melbourne, among the other great works which are being undertaken throughout the colony, is to have an electric telegraph. The journal previously quoted has the following:- “Plans for the buildings required for the intended line of telegraph from Melbourne to Hobson's Bay are now completed, and are laid open for the competition of contractors. The station for Melbourne is to be a brick and stone building, containing offices, battery, acid and store rooms, a strong room for valuable documents, and quarters for an officer in charge. A tower nearly forty feet high, surmounted by a flagstaff, on which a time-ball will traverse, forms part of the building. The establishment for Williamstown is of similar character, but on a slightly more limited scale; it is, however, very complete.”
Empire, Monday 19 December 1853, Page 3
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60147498?searchTerm=telegraph%20time%20ball
The following is the first communication received in Melbourne by the electric telegraph : “Williamstown, March 17, 1854. - The compliments of the Chief Harbour Master to the Editors of the Argus and Morning Herald, and would feel obliged by their giving publicity to the following notice to commanders of vessels in Hobson's Bay. – Notice to Mariners. - It being necessary to suspend the dropping of the time ball, Williamstown, for a short time, in order to effect some necessary repairs, notice is hereby given, that commanders about to proceed to sea can have the errors and rates of their chronometers by applying to the Observatory, Gellibrand’s Point. Due notice will be given in the daily papers of the resuming the time signal.”
Charles Fergusson,
Chief Harbour Master.
South Australian Register, Friday 24 March 1854, Page 2
The Hobart Town Advertiser, Saturday 25 March 1854, Page 2
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48554024?searchTerm=telegraph%20time%20ball
A time ball is dropped daily at Williamstown at one o'clock, mean solar time; a similar time ball is about to be constructed at Geelong, and experiments are now being made to give the time also at eight (8) PM, by means of a metal cylinder passing over and partially obscuring the light on Gellibrand’s Point for two minutes and then dropped instantaneously. The true time of the re-appearing of the light being notified the following day in the newspapers.
The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List, Monday 12 June 1854, Page 107
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article161107385.txt
The Argus, Friday 1 December 1854, Page 4
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4801106?searchTerm=ship%20time%20ball
Using an Artificial Horizon
At sea, sun altitudes for noon, were observed with a sextant using the sea horizon. On land, however, even if a sea horizon was visible, noon observations were taken using a sextant and artificial horizon. As can be seen in the figure above, the artificial horizon allowed the observer to sight the celestial object with great precision, while negating the effects of refraction and dip of the horizon (dip of the horizon is the angle below the horizontal plane at which the horizon appears; for example an observer looking out to sea and standing with his feet just in the water and with his eye level 1.5 metres from the ground and taking a nominal radius of the earth at 6 400 000 metres would have his sea horizon about 2’ 20” below the horizontal plane of his eye sight; the angle for any altitude of any celestial object measured above his sea horizon would thus have to be reduced by 2’ 20” to get the objects true altitude angle).
(Left) Type of artificial horizon; (Right) Diagrams showing the use of an artificial horizon;
(top) at sea the altitude of the celestial body with reference to the sea/sky horizon must be corrected for the dip of the horizon;
(bottom) the observer views the celestial body both directly and reflected from the artificial horizon removing the need to account for dip and being able to determine the sea/sky horizon.
The best artificial or mercurial horizon comprised a shallow trough filled with mercury, and screened from the wind when necessary, by a glass cover. The mercury was stored in a bottle and decanted into the trough for use and then poured back into the bottle when the observations were completed. While it was best to avoid using the glass cover, if its use was unavoidable, error due to imperfection in, or non-parallelism of, the surface of the glass had to be minimised. This was achieved by marking the glass cover and trough so that the cover could always be placed over the trough in exactly the same position. Any errors introduced by the cover would then be equal for all observations. Alternatively, the cover could be reversed during the observations; half the observations being made with the cover in one position, and half in the other position, thus neutralising any errors.
Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate (Parramatta, NSW : 1888 - 1950), Wednesday 1 July 1908, page 2
A Distinguished Parramattan.
John Batman, the Discoverer of Melbourne.
Friday, May 29 [1908], was the 73rd anniversary of the arrival of John Batman at the Yarra to inspect, in the interests of a Van Diemen’s Land syndicate, the grazing capabilities of Port Phillip. Exactly a year afterwards, Governor Bourke sent George Stewart, police magistrate at Campbelltown, to see what Batman and Fawkner were about. Four months after that, Captain Lonsdale, of the 4th Foot, was sent down as Resident Magistrate. And in March, 1837, Governor Bourke himself dropped in, approved of the plan of the town, and named it Melbourne, after the then British Prime Minister. In June following, surveyor Henry Hoddle, from a [tree] stump, held the first land sale, and sent the proceeds to the Treasury at Sydney. John Batman, the discoverer of Melbourne, was a native of Parramatta, and was born in a small cottage opposite the Methodist Church, in Macquarie Street. The following account of his life appears in Men of the Time : -
John Batman, the founder of Victoria, was born in 1800, at Parramatta, Now South Wales. In 1820 he wont to Van Dieman's Land to settle there. Active warfare was going on between, the natives and the colonists; many acts of cruelty were committed, but the object of the Government was not to destroy but to capture, and his services at the head of a party in 1829 drew attention to him. He married, and had one son and a several daughters. At this time he resided on a flourishing farm at Kingston. In 1835 an association was formed in Van Dieman's Land consisting of Messrs. John Batman, Joseph Tice Gellibrand, James and William Robertson, Henry Arthur John Sinclair, Charles Swanston, James Simpson, John Thomas Collicott, Anthony Connolly, Thomas: Bannister, and John Helder Wedge, to colonise Port Phillip. It was determined by the association that Batman should at once cross over to Port Phillip with a view, as Batman states in his journal, of secretly ascertaining the general character and capabilities of Port Phillip as a grazing arid agricultural district. Ho embarked at Launceston in his craft the Rebecca, 15 tons, Captain Harwood, on Sunday, May 10, 1835, to examine the shores of Port Phillip. He was accompanied by his own servants and some Sydney blacks, Pigeon, Crook, and others, but, through contrary winds, did not sail until the 18th. He ultimately reached Port Phillip Heads on Friday, May 29th.
On Tuesday, June 2nd, he approached what from its description may be supposed to be the site of Williamstown, and prepared for a run up the salt water river. The next day he went off on his expedition with some Sydney blacks. Walking many miles and wanting fresh water, one of the party, Gumm, managed to find some by digging a little well with a stick. On Thursday morning named Mounts Wede and Sams, after two others of the association. He traversed the Keilor Plains and the Deep Creek, and calculated he had been thirty miles that day. On Friday he took a west north west direction, crossing more creeks, one of which he called after his wife, Eliza. Smoke was seen to the eastward, and he travelled round to it.
On June 6th they started with the expectation of coming up with the natives; they were alongside Merri Creek, called Lucy after one of Batman's daughters. It was here, on the banks of the Merri or Lucy Creek - about the site of Northcote, and overlooking the adjoining sands of Collingwood Flat – that he made his memorable treaty with the aborigines, the history of which he relates as follows :-
After some time, and full explanation, I found eight chiefs amongst then, who possessed the whole of the territory near Port Phillip. Three brothers, all of the same name, were the principal chiefs, and two of them men of six feet high, and very good looking; the other not so tall, but stouter. The other five chiefs were fine men. After a full explanation of what my object was, I purchased two large tracts of land from them - about 600,000 acres, more or less, and delivered over to them blankets, knives, looking glasses, tomahawks, beads, scissors, flour, etc., etc., as payment for the land; and also agreed to give them a tribute or rent yearly. The parchment the eight chiefs signed this afternoon, delivering to me some of the soil, each of them, as giving me full possession of the tracts of land.
The Sunday journal relates : -
Detained this morning some time drawing up triplicates of the deeds of the land I purchased, and delivering over to them more property. Just before leaving the two principal chiefs came and brought their two cloaks, or royal mantles, and laid them at my feet, wishing me to accept same. On my consenting to take them, they placed them round my neck and over my shoulders, and seemed quite pleased to see me walk about with them on. I had no trouble to find out their secret marks. One of my natives (Bungett) went to a tree, out of sight of the women, and made the Sydney natives' mark. After this was done I took with me two or three of my natives to the principal chief, and showed him the mark on the tree. This he knew immediately, and pointed to the knocking out of the teeth. The mark is always made when the ceremony of knocking out the teeth in the front is done. However, after this, I desired, though my natives, for him to make his mark; which, after looking about some time, and hesitating some few minutes, he took the tomahawk and cut out in the bark of the tree his mark, which is attached to the deed, and is the signature, of the country and tribe.
Only those who are acquainted with native habits in the wild state can appreciate the action of Mr. Batman. He was so popular with them that not a few secrets would be imparted to him. His daughters informed me that he had been once admitted into some of their mysteries, and made a chief. Then, in Tasmania, his long residence amongst the blacks there, his agreeable manners along with them, and his curiosity and enterprise, with many years' experience, his knowledge was beyond, perhaps, any man in the country. Though, therefore, his critics may not appreciate these apparently absurd rites, and many regard him as a self deluded enthusiast, or something worse, it is clear that there was a meaning in all that satisfied himself. The deed drawn up by Mr. Gellibrand was intended, by its formal language, primarily to satisfy the scruples of the civilised.
This was the treaty : -
Know all persons that we, three brothers, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, being the three principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, Monmarmalar, being the chiefs of a certain native tribe, called Dutigallar, situate at and near Port Phillip, called by us, the above mentioned chiefs, Tramoo and Geelong, being possessed of the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, for and in consideration of twenty pair of blankets, thirty knives, twelve tomahawks, ten looking glasses, twelve pair of scissors, fifty handkerchiefs, twelve red shirts, four flannel jackets, four suits of clothes, and 50lbs of flour, delivered to us by John Batman, residing in Van Dieman's Land, Esquire, but at present sojourning with us and our tribe, do, for ourselves, our heirs, and successors, give, grant, enfeoff, and confirm unto the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of country situate and being in the bay of Port Phillip; known by the name of Indented Head, but called by us Geelong, extending across from Geelong Harbour about due south for 10 miles, more or less, to the head of Port Phillip, taking in the whole neck or tract of land containing about 100,000 acres, as the same hath been before the execution of these presents delineated and marked out by us, according to the custom of our tribe, by certain marks made upon the trees growing along the boundaries of the said tract of land, with all advantages belonging thereto, unto and to the use of the said John Batman, his heirs, said tract of land, and place thereon sheep and cattle, yielding and delivering to us and assigns, to the meaning and intent that the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, may occupy and possess the same, and our heirs and successors the yearly rent or tribute of fifty pair of blankets, fifty knives, fifty tomahawks, fifty pair of scissors, fifty looking glasses, twenty suits of slops [cheap] or clothing, and two tons of flour. In witness thereof, we, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, the three principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Monmarmalar, the chiefs of the said tribe have hereunto affixed our seals to these presents, and have signed the same. Dated, according to the Christian era, this 6th day of June, 1835. - Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of us, the same having been fully and properly interpreted and explained to the said chiefs.
(Signed) –
JAGAJAGA, his x mark.
JAGAJAGA, his x mark.
COOLOOLOCK, his x mark.
BUNGARIE, his x mark.
YANYAN, his x mark.
MONMARMALAR, his x mark.
JAMES GUMM.
WM. TODD.
JOHN BATMAN.
Be it remembered that on the day and year within written, possession and delivery of the tract of land within mentioned was made by the within named Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Cooloolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Monmarmala, chiefs of the tribes of natives called Dutigallar-Geelong, to the within named John Batman, by the said chiefs, taking up part of the soil, and delivering the same to the said John Batman, in the name of the whole.
JAGAJAGA
JAGAJAGA
JAGAJAGA
COOLOOLOCK
BUNGARIE
YANYAN
MONMARMALAR
In the presence of JAMES GUMM.
(Signed) ALEXANDER THOMSON
WM. TODD
[The other deed was almost precisely similar, and it is only necessary to give the first paragraph of it.]
Know all persons, that we, three brothers, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, being the principal chiefs, and also Coolcolock, Bungarie, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Monmarmalar, also being the chiefs of a certain native tribe called Dutigallar, situate at and near Port Phillip, called by us the above mentioned chiefs Irausnoo, being possessed of the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, for, and in consideration of twenty pair blankets, thirty tomahawks, one hundred knives, fifty pair of scissors, thirty looking glasses, two hundred handkerchiefs, and one hundred pounds of flour, and six shirts, delivered to us by John Batman, residing in Van Dieman’s Land, Esquire, but at present sojourning with us and our tribe, do, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, give, grant, enfeoff, and confirm unto the said John Batman, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of country situate and being in Port Phillip, running from the branch of the river at the top of the port, about 7 miles from the mouth of the river, 40 miles north east, and from thence west 40 miles across Tramoo downs or plains, and from thence south west across Mount Vilumarnatar to Geelong Harbour, at the bend of the same, and containing about 500,000, more or less, acres. (Signed, as above.)
The territory thus purchased included all the western side of Port Phillip Bay. Leaving Batman's Creek, named after my own good self, and the chiefs with whom he had made his treaty, he passed along Maria’s Valley named after his oldest daughter, and reached a forest. This, from the description, must be what is now called the Royal Park, by the University of Melbourne. Anxious to get to his vessel, lying at the mouth of the Salt Water River, he found, as he descended from the highland, that he would have to cross what is now known as Batman's Swamp. On Sunday June 7th, he walked along the Yarra. He determined to leave three white men, Gumm. Dodd, and Thompson, with three Sydney natives, Bullett, Bungett and Old Bull upon Indented Head, with three months' supply, whilst he returned to Van Dieman's Land. Taking with him, therefore, on board, the Port Phillip presents of spears, wommeras, boomerangs, and stone tomahawks, he tried to get from Williamstown waters. But the winds were as unwilling for him to quit the land as they had been for him to visit it. Too active to lose time he took a row up the Yarra. This is the story :-
The boat went up the large river, which comes from the east, and I am glad to state about six miles up found the river all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village.
Hastening back from the future Melbourne Wharf, he landed at Indented Head on the Tuesday. All his Sydney men wanted him to stay, so he permitted Pigeon and Joe, the marine, to remain with the rest eight in all. They were directed to plant garden seeds, fruits and potatoes. He left apples and oranges with them and also six dogs, and gave Gumm written authority to put off any person or persons that, might trespass on the land he purchased from the natives. Shaking hands all round, the sea party got through the heads on Sunday evening, ran 80 miles that night, and entered Georgetown at 6 on the Thursday morning, with a fair wind up to Launceston, June 18, 1835.
Batman returned to Victoria and spent the rest of his days there; he died, May, 1840.
Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 - 1839), Friday 25 November 1836, page 4
TO THE EDITOR.
Here he left the Company's men, and to this spot he afterwards sent his brother as overseer for the Company - at this chosen point he planted an orchard. Now, Mr. Editor, I contend that this planting clearly defined Mr. John Batman's approval of Indented Head as the best place to fix on. Thus much for that side of the picture.
In July, I fitted and sent out the Enterprize to survey Western Port and Port Phillip, at an expense to me of upwards of £200; part of July and nearly all August was occupied in this survey, which extended to 20 miles inland in many places. September 1st, landed my horses and goods at the landing place on the Yarra-yarra, where the present settlement is. No European was then there, - I began ploughing and gardening. Mr. J. H. Wedge, who was then out travelling from Indented Head, came to the new formed township, and was delighted with it.
Not only did I land the first people, stock and goods there, but I had the whole of the bar at the entrance of the river for more than two miles beaconed at my own expense, and I do think that I am entitled to some credit for thus paving the way for others to follow with less danger. I also planned out two streets, each 100 feet wide, at right angles in the said township. This I did because many persons were about to build without paying any regard to order- I then and yet conceive that the buildings would be less likely to obstruct the future government by being in line, than irregular.
JOHN P. FAWKNER.
[** The article in the Hobart Town Courier newspaper on page 4 of Friday 4 November 1836 to which Fawkner refers above is titled SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINES OF PORT PHILLIP, with the opening paragraph reading in part : When Mr. Wedge first landed at Port Phillip… . It may be accessed in full at : https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/645051 ]
Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 16 April 1857, page 2
THE HISTORY OF MELBOURNE.
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE LATEST DATES.
Carefully cut short, and adapted for the use of Schools.
CHAPTER III.
ON the 29th of May, 1835, arrived at Port Phillip Heads the Rebecca, 30 tons, Captain Harwood. Passengers, saloon, Mr. John Batman, and ten in the intermediate and steerage. J. B. was a bold bushman from Tasmania, and, like the J. B. in "Dombey and Son," was "tough and devilish sly." J. B. had come over with an idea of coming over the natives, and had brought some tomahawks, pewter spoons, and shaving glasses, to sell the aborigines, and take it out in territory. J. B. was accompanied by seven Sydney blacks and three white men, with whom he had agreements in black and white, to assist his enterprise; and the grand ambition that bubbled under Batman's waistcoat was to buy a sort of little freehold kingdom direct from the natives.
On the 31st of May the party landed at the mouth of a river, but as they could not learn its name from the river's own mouth they christened it with a bottle of porter, and called it treble X - a title subsequently corrupted into simple river Exe. From this they travelled inland as far as Mount Blackwood, where they established a store of provisions, and called it Blackwood's Magazine, making various trips into the bush around them, but in all their trips never stumbling on any particular discovery. On one occasion a Tasmanian came in with a wild account of having seen a lump of gold basking in the sunshine; which Batman said was all moonshine. The man, however, stuck to his story and declared that it was gold, and red hot, and that it burned his fingers when he touched it, and that he remembered burning his fingers in England by touching a quantity of gold. He also stated that just as he was making off with it, he heard a loud laughing and saw a number of birds with enormous beaks, and he had always possessed a horror of beaks, and became so frightened that he dropped his prey and ran for it, the birds actually screaming with laughter. This very absurd account led Batman to suppose that the poor Tasmanian had been affected by the sun so he shaved the sick man's head and fed him on Epsom salts till he became better. In a week or so the party returned to the craft and by crafty manoeuvring brought the Rebecca to the entrance of the Yarra.
Here J. B. made a mistake and instead of ascending the Yarra went up the Salt Water River till they found themselves in a pickle, being short of food and fresh water, and the natives beginning to look black. In short 'twas a case of mixed pickles, and assorted predicaments, for the gallant J. B., but the Sydney blacks brought about a good understanding with the Port Phillip chiefs by presenting them with a red pocket-handkerchief equitably torn up amongst them, and all the brass buttons that Batman could spare from his trousers. The head of the tribe in return for this politeness hunted out a fat white grub from a stringy bark tree, but not being the sort of grub that Batman preferred, J. B. didn't much care about swallowing it, but expressed his astonishment at these poor savages subsisting by grubbing trees. After sundry passages of friendship between J. B. and the chiefs, the former explained his desire to purchase an estate, thinking that if he bought from the head of the tribe, that a grant from the head was as good as a grant from the Crown. Eventually, the chiefs accompanied J. B. back to the river's mouth, and there the bargain was completed. Batman stood on Batman's Hill to fix his boundary, which he declared was all "my eye," meaning, as far as his eye could reach; and for a certain amount, represented in blankets and glass beads, tomahawks, brown sugar, and the remainder of his buttons, did the bold bushman become proprietor of about 600,000 acres of fine freehold property. Batman had a regular conveyance from the chiefs, who could not write, but made their marks with a tomahawk, giving three distinct chops, significant of their having chopped away the estate; after which he returned to Launceston, leaving a man in possession.
Now it happened that while J. B. was busy with his Port Phillip land speculations, one John Pascoe Fawkner was possessed with a similar idea, and had laid in a stock of blankets and tomahawks and red pocket handkerchiefs for the very same purpose. And J. P. F., with a chosen vessel and some ardent spirits like himself, crossed the Straits immediately after Batman's return. By the way, J. P. F. denies the ardent spirits. However, on entering Port Phillip they were met by boat-load of Batman's people, who explained that all the country was J. B.'s private property, and warned them off the grass. Fawkner's men took no notice of this, but pushed on to the Yarra, and stuck fast on the bar, but J. P. F., who had kept an hotel and knew something of bars, got over the difficulty and brought his vessel to the wharf. Here J. P. F. and Co. settled down as though they meant it - drew lots for the site of the present city of Melbourne - erected their houses wherever they looked best - ploughed up a few acres of the Queen's Wharf, and planted mealy potatoes in Elizabeth-street. And this was the commencement of Melbourne. Fawkner opened a store; Batman did the same; and two of a trade couldn't agree; so they applied to Sir Richard Bourke at Sydney for a sort of small Governor to keep them in order. Thereupon came Captain Lonsdale as commandant, with five pounds a week and a cocked hat; and the new settlement prospered gloriously.
Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 30 April 1857, page 2
THE HISTORY OF MELBOURNE.
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE LATEST DATES.
Carefully cut short, and adapted for the use of Schools.
CHAPTER IV.
IN 1836, Captain Lonsdale was appointed by the Sydney Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, to conduct the new branch establishment at Port Phillip, and was sent round in the Rattlesnake, Captain Hobson, with a power of attorney to see what the settlers were up to. Now, the gallant Hobson arrived in Port Phillip in the October of the above year, with instructions to explore the Bay, and drop in at all the likely places, to drop anchor as often as he thought proper, but carefully to avoid a drop too much. Ultimately the gallant Hobson reached the Yarra's mouth, and anchored his ship in that choice locality long known as Hobson's Choice, but lately called Hobson's Bay. The new commandant ascended the river in a boat, and came down on Messrs. Batman and Fawkner like a load of bricks, explaining that the whole country belonged to William the Fourth, on whose behalf he took possession. It was in vain that Batman pleaded his purchase from the blacks, and exhibited his celebrated deed commencing "Know all men by these presents," and explained to Captain Lonsdale what handsome presents they were. It was vain that Fawkner pleaded right of occupation by agreement, and showed his boundary marks in the gum trees, the notches that he called his indentures. The Captain didn't believe in the black deeds of John Batman, or the legal possession of J. P. F.; they had collared a portion of his Majesty's dominions without the slightest authority; they appeared to have followed the good old rule, the simple plan - "The maxim sound and stable, That he may take who has the cheek, And he may keep who's able."
The new commandant now took a furnished apartment in Mr. Batman's house, hung out his flag at the window, and held his first levee at the front door, announcing his intention to send for Governor Bourke to come round with a stock of pegs and garden line, to mark out a little township. And the new settlement went ahead rapidly; Tasmanian settlers crossed over and were transported with Port Phillip, even those who had never been transported before. In a few months the total population, which we gather from history was not a tee-total population, numbered above a hundred souls. Batman resided in the fashionable suburb called Batman's Hill, where he had a farm and general shop, being something between a squatter and a dealer in marine stores. Fawkner took up his abode on the wharf, on the spot now occupied by Fulton's foundry; and, where the "Founder of Melbourne" first established himself, the business of a founder has been very properly continued, as a graceful tribute to the memory of Mr. Fawkner's early services.
In March 1837 the Rattlesnake again appeared in the Bay, and might have been the sea serpent, for the stir she created, for Governor Bourke had arrived, with some soldiers, and convicts, and lawyers, and other requirements of a new settlement in a high state of colonial civilization. There came also a clergyman with a stock of hymn books and wedding rings, and a Custom House officer with the customary staff, and a surveyor with his staff, and a constable who also brought his staff. And Captain Lonsdale was appointed magistrate, and the ship's carpenter made him a proper bench immediately. Now Governor Bourke and Mr. Hoddle the surveyor set to plan the city, ruling out a few streets to go on with, after the pattern of a chess-board - thoughtfully reserving a considerable space for rubbish and empty bottles - and which very space is now that charming resort which strangers so much admire as Carlton Gardens. The two new cities, Williamstown and Melbourne, were then christened with great ceremony and grand baptismal effects, and the day was observed as a close holiday at the Custom House. The former place was named after the "sailor king," a coloured representation of whom, in baggy trousers and with a great star on his chest, that makes him look as if insured in the Sun Fire Office, is still to be seen in the principal public building, or rather public bouse, at Williamstown. Melbourne was so called after a popular minister of the period, but of what denomination is not stated.
The first land sale took place in June, 1837, and the city was parcelled into blocks and offered at the rate of about £70 an acre. These blocks, however, were stumbling blocks to any but the wealthy settlers, as a large deposit was required at the fall of the hammer right down upon the nail. So the town lots were afterwards sold by the foot, which enabled everyone to get a footing, and the young township prospered mightily. In 1837 there were thirty-six houses in Melbourne, - twenty-seven private and nine public; a proportion which has not been materially varied since. The first bridge erected was in Elizabeth street, where it is still very much wanted in wet weather. This bridge was constructed entirely of wood, like the bridge upon a fiddle; but no further particulars of this interesting structure have been preserved.
Mr. Fawkner established a hotel in Market-square, opposite the picturesque blue stone ruins still observable, and whose origin and design are involved in obscurity. J. P. F. was famous for his gingerbeer, which was the first beer brewed in the colony, and his house was the resort of all the colonial nobs, whose periodical doses of spirituous refreshment came at last to be called "nobblers." Mr. Fawkner started the first colonial newspaper in January 1838. It was issued in manuscript for two months, and had nearly a dozen weekly subscribers, who paid their money every Monday morning in advance, before they got the paper. The Melbourne Advertiser was neatly written, on a sheet of foolscap, and contained a leader, some "Town Talk," and a few advertisements, and sometimes a moral aphorism, or a conundrum.
Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers (Melbourne, Vic. : 1867 - 1875), Monday 4 October 1869, page 183
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60448865
Extracted from the article titled THE LATE JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER.
He was certainly one of the early pioneers; and he had much to do with the foundation of Melbourne; he contributed to its prosperity with the energy, perseverance and public spirit characteristic of his prime, and, as the Father of the city continued until a day or two before his death to watch over its progress. But though persistently contending for recognition as the founder of the colony, his exclusive claim cannot be admitted without doing injustice to the prior claims of others. If to be founder of Victoria means that he was the first to discover the most fertile and attractive region hitherto found in Australia, the proud discovery is not his.
In this grand discovery, then Fawkner had no share, except to wonder when he heard of it, and prepare to settle in the country when he could find opportunity. To Hume and Hovell belongs the honor of traversing it from the Snowy Mountains to the waters of Port Phillip; to Sir Thomas Mitchell the equal honor of traversing it in a more northern course, from the Murray to Portland Bay.
Passing now from the era of discovery to the era of settlement, we ask, was Mr Fawkner the first settler? and again the answer is 'No.' On reaching the end of his journey westward, Major Mitchell found at Portland Bay the Messrs Henty living amid their nooks and herds. They were emigrants from Tasmania, who had crossed to Victoria two years previously for the purpose of whaling and squatting, and were busy importing sheep and cattle in order to occupy the country around them. The next attempt at settlement was made by John Batman, who had long been a Tasmanian resident, like the Brothers Henty, and was probably encouraged by their success… .
For six years before carrying his project into effect, Batman had cast longing eyes on the new land of promise across the straits.
He had solicited permission to occupy land there from the Government at Sydney, and when his proposals were declined, on the plea that the district known as Port Phillip lay beyond the limits of the colony of New South Wales, he and his associates in the project concluded to help themselves by purchasing land from the natives. Mr Batman exited from Launceston on the 12th May, 1835, in a small vessel called the Rebecca, accompanied by seven Sydney natives who had worked on his farm in Tasmania, and landed at Indented Heads in Port Phillip on the 26th of the same month. He made a general survey of the land around Port Phillip, from the Indented Heads to the Merri Creek, and found it all that could be wished. In the course of his rambles about the Merri Creek, he met with a native camp, where he, found eight chiefs, to whom he explained through the Sydney, blacks accompanying him that he wanted to buy land and come to live among them. Here an arrangement was made between Batman and the chiefs, by, which two millions of acres were purchased for a trifle on behalf of himself and the parties associated with him in the enterprise. In order to secure the territory thus acquired, Batman formed a settlement at the Indented Head, and leaving there a few of his companions, with instructions to erect a hut and commence a garden, sailed to Launceston, which he reached on the 11th June. Exception has been taken both to the manner in which the purchase was made and the purpose which the parties had in view in making it. It has been condemned as an infamous bargain with ignorant savages. Infamous it may have been, but are not all the so-called bargains that civilised men make with savage tribes of a similar character? Was the Messrs Henty 's previous possession of territory, or Fawkner's subsequent occupation, conducted on a principle more equitable to the aborigines? We need not dwell on the point, as the sales alleged to have been made by the natives were not recognised by the British Government. Then again, Batman's party have been denounced as squatters; but was not Fawkner just as much a squatter as any of them?
One question more remains. Was Fawkner the founder of Melbourne? If the answer to this question is to be given faithfully, it must be said that he was only one of the founders. While Batman was over at Port Phillip, surveying its general capabilities, as a grazing and agricultural district, he met, as we have seen, some native chiefs on the banks of the Merri Greek, and it was somewhere about the present site of Northcote, and overlooking Collingwood Flat, that he made his treaty with them for the land, which, be it remembered, included the site of Melbourne. On leaving them, he passed through a forest, which, from the description must have been what is now called the Royal Park, contiguous to the University; then, walking over the hills forming the sites of Fitzroy, Carlton, East, West and North Melbourne, and crossing the swamp known by his name, he reached the Saltwater River. He thus traversed a great part of the future city five months before Fawkner had seen the locality at all. More than that : before reaching his vessel which was lying near the mouth of the Yarra, he got on the point at the junction of the Saltwater River with the Yarra, and as the wind was unfavorable at the moment for the ship leaving her anchorage, he took a row up the Yarra in his boat. Here we must quote his very words : - The boat went up the large river I have spoken of, which comes from the east, and I am glad to state, about six miles up, found the river all good water and very deep. This will be a place for a village. The spot Batman thus selected for a village is now the Melbourne Wharf. The particulars of Batman's visit are found in his official correspondence, and confirmed by the testimony both of Robson, the mate of the vessel which brought Batman over, and of George Evans, one of Fawkner's company, and also by the statements which appeared at the time in the Launceston Press. As Batman was the first to discern the eligibleness of the site on which Melbourne now stands, what, then, was Fawkner’s part in the founding of the city?
Early in the year 1835 he had arranged in his own mind a plan of colonisation for Port Phillip, and in order to carry out his scheme, took five residents of Launceston into, his confidence. They were neither his partners in a co-operative association, nor his servants, but men of means, willing to make a venture in the new country, of which they had heard glowing accounts. He purchased the Enterprize, a schooner of about fifty-five tons burden, and had circumstances favored, he would probably have been in Hobson's Bay as soon as Batman, but he was detained by sickness, and the Enterprize sailed without him. The arrival in the Yarra, and the commencement of a settlement on its banks, was quite undesigned on his part, for at the time the vessel left Launceston he knew nothing of the Yarra whatever : on the contrary, he gave directions to his friends on board to direct their course to Western Port, and in case of failing to find suitable country there, to proceed to Port Philip and search the eastern aide from Point Nepean. ‘The ultimate choice of the Yarra’ says Mr Bonwick, after a full statement of all the particulars based on documental evidence, ‘was an accident of the party, independent of Mr Fawkner, unknown to him, and in opposition to his repeated instructions. He was not, at any rate, designedly the founder of Melbourne.' Finding nothing suitable either at Western Port or Point Nepean, the pioneers of the Fawkner party crossed the bay, anchored the Enterprize at Williamstown, and rowed up the Yarra till they sighted the undulating hills on the right hand and the left, and getting a draught of fresh water at the now well known spot where a reef of rocks runs across the river, staying the further advance of the salt sea tide, they exclaimed, ' Here is the very place, and here we will stay.' It was the very spot of which Batman had said, 'This will be a place for a village.' The Enterprize returned to Launceston leaving one or two in charge, who built a hut and commenced to plough and sow. It has been said that Fawkner built the first house, but that is scarcely correct. In those days a mud hut was called a home, and the first one was built by George Evans. It has also been said that Fawkner turned the first sod. How could that be, when the fact is that on making his first appearance on the soil with the return voyage of the little schooner, a fine crop greeted his eye? Mr Fawkner's part was to build the first substantial house, to open the first hotel, to establish the first newspaper, and when the Rev. Mr Waterhouse, the first clergyman, arrived, to place a large room in the hotel at his disposal for divine service until a place of worship could be erected.
Herald (Fremantle, WA : 1867 - 1886), Saturday 20 November 1880, page 1
Our Exhibition [** see below] Supplement
WHEN, on the 19th of April, 1770, Captain Cook, in the Endeavour, first sighted Point Hicks, now known as Point Everard, in Gippsland, exhibitions of the art, and industry of the world were unthought of but, could the great circumnavigator have possessed any idea of these great gatherings of the beautiful, the useful, and the ingenious, he could never have supposed that, in a very little more than a century, the somewhat forbidding coast upon which he gazed could become a portion of a colony, one of the smallest in area of a large group, but possessing a vigour and energy and selfreliance sufficient to induce it to invite all the nations of the world to friendly rivalry in the pursuits of peace. Neither could Surgeon Bass when he entered Western Port in 1798, nor Lieutenant Murray when he discovered Port Phillip, on the 10th January, 1802, nor Lieutenant Colonel Collins, with his party of marines and convicts, when he made his unsuccessful attempt to colonise Victoria, have foreseen any such an event. Even later on, when Hume and Hovell penetrated the country overland from Sydney, and on their return reported "favourably" of the land, they could little have guessed the wonderful future before the country they traversed. Mr. Edward Henty, when he first made his venture of settlement at Portland Bay, in 1834, may have had some conception that the country was destined to become a great grazing and wool producing locality, but even he, in his wildest dreams, could never have imagined Melbourne in October, 1880, or only 46 years later, with its great population, its substantial and handsome buildings, its wealth and energy, and its irrepressible enterprise.
Batman and his party, who landed on the site of Melbourne in May, 1835, and John Pascoe Fawkner, who followed Batman from Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) in August of the same year with another party, were the first Europeans to follow up the course of the Yarra to what is now the heart of a great city, but they, too, must have been oblivious of the wonderful events which were to occur within the next forty-five years in the colony which they were virtually founding. Major (afterwards Lieutenant Colonel Sir) Thomas Mitchell, who came overland from New South Wales some time afterwards, and met some of Batman's and Fawkner's parties as they were pressing inland, appears to have had some vague appreciation of the resources of the country, for he named the province Australia Felix, so struck was he with the great capabilities of the districts he traversed. But while Major Mitchell appreciated the splendid soil and the geniality of the climate, he has left no trace to indicate that he suspected the existence of the then undiscovered and surpassingly rich mineral treasures, which eventually proved the foundation of the greatness and prosperity which enabled a colony so insignificant in area as Victoria to bid the artists, manufacturers, and producers of the world to friendly rivalry at so early a period in its history as October, 1880. The reports of Sir Thomas Mitchell, and the success of the early colonists, we are told, created "great excitement," not only in the older Australian settlements, but also in the mother country. This excitement must have been mild indeed as compared with what was to come. It resulted in flocks of sheep and herds of cattle being driven overland from Sydney, and the occupation of the best portion of the new territory; but other "reports" and other "successes" were soon to be made, resulting, not in a great accession of quadrupled population, but in a vast influx of men and women from all parts of the world, and the wildest excitement known to the human race - the gold fever. Before this, however, the population had been rapidly increased by arrivals from the other settlements, and by a steady immigration from the United Kingdom.
Regular government was established under Captain Lonsdale in 1836, that officer being sent, in September of the year mentioned, to take charge of the Port Phillip settlement as a province of New South Wales. In the following March, Sir Richard Bourke, the then Governor of New South Wales, visited the infant settlement, and named the capital Melbourne, in honour of Lord Melbourne. Steady progress continued to be made; but the few old colonists remaining whose experience goes so far back are unanimous in their testimony as to the primitive state of society, and the humble aspirations of the inhabitants even in 1839, when Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe took charge as superintendent. Early in the history of what is now the colony of Victoria, the settlers showed an independence and enterprise which has continued to the present day to be a distinguishing feature of the colony. Neglect on the part of the New South Wales Government, misappropriation of the revenue raised in Port Phillip, and other injustices, created and fostered a feeling of discontent, which, on the 1st July, 1851, culminated in what had then become the most important province of New South Wales being separated and erected into a colony under the name of Victoria (after her Majesty the Queen), and with Mr. Latrobe as Lieutenant Governor. Hardly had Victoria gained its independence than rumours of such a nature as to set the pulses of all the community beating faster became whispered abroad. In a few months it was an ascertained fact that there were rich auriferous deposits, and within a couple of years the gold fever was at its height, and ships arriving every day were pouring in a vast and certainly mixed population, for those who came were drawn from all parts of the world, and all ranks and conditions in life. The discoveries were so rich and extensive, and wealth seemed to be so illimitable in the new Eldorado, that people to the very ends of the earth were affected by the reports of the doings in Victoria. The riches of those early days - and yet we are writing of little more than a quarter of a century since - may be imagined when it is stated that, up to the end of the year 1879, the gold raised in the colony, so far as ascertainable, was 48,817,596 ounces, of an aggregate value of £195,270,384, and this in the face of the fact that, during the last ten years, the gold yield has dwindled down to comparatively insignificant proportions, as in 1879 Victoria only exported about three millions worth of the precious metal. These figures, it must be borne in mind, do not represent the total of the realised wealth produced in the search for gold, but are simply the official returns, which, of course, do not convey an accurate idea of the treasure won from the earth, as hundreds of thousands of ounces left the shores of the colony in private hands, and without the cognisance of the authorities. But to return to our narrative of the progress of the colony. After the discovery of gold, and during the governorship of Sir Charles Hotham, mining regulations of an oppressive character were issued, and these led to discontent, and finally open resistance, among the miners, who, at Ballarat, towards the end of 1854, erected what was known as the Eureka Stockade, and set the authorities at defiance. The military were sent up, and an encounter resulted, in which a considerable number of lives were lost on both sides, but the miners were defeated. Their bold resistance of oppression, however, produced, as might have been expected, a profound sensation, and such was the strength of public opinion, that the injustices they had to complain of were mitigated; while some of the ringleaders, for whose heads a reward was at first offered, were freely pardoned.
The gold fever lasted for some years, but in the meantime, a new Constitution, endowing the colony with responsible government, was proclaimed in November, 1855, and still remains in force, although strenuous attempts to amend it have been made on various occasions, and it is still the subject of one of the bitterest party contentions that has marked the political history of Victoria. As may be supposed, the vast and rapid addition to the population of the colony, and the immense wealth extracted from the earth, materially altered the state of society, the aspect of the principal centres of population, and the prospects of the colony. Melbourne and Geelong were the towns most distant from the richest gold diggings, but, as the principal seaports, they naturally reaped the benefits accruing from the gold discoveries. Melbourne, in particular, made astounding strides, and soon outgrew itself to such an extent that workmen could not be got to keep pace with the demands for accommodation. The exigencies of the moment called into existence that gathering of tents known as Canvas Town, where, for a long time, those who could not secure more substantial shelter were fain to content themselves in tents or rude canvas houses. In course of time, however, when the first excitement - intense, but natural, under the circumstances - had worn off, every thing assumed a more settled aspect. Attention was given to the proper improvement of the cities and towns, of which the principal were then as now - Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Sandhurst, and Castlemaine. The two first named owed their positions to the fact of being seaports, and the other three were the centres of the richest goldfields ever discovered. The population continued to increase, and with it commerce flourished, and the revenue of the infant state commenced to assume very respectable proportions. From the earliest times of responsible government, a conviction of a future greatness in store for Victoria seems to have actuated her public men, for probably in no young state in the world have public buildings and other enterprises been entered upon with so much substantiality and apparent wastefulness, and on such an extensive scale, as in the richest colony of the Australian group. The visitor to Melbourne is particularly struck with this, and in nearly all the large towns the same features are noticeable. So far, the confidence of the earlier colonists has been justified, for although there have been periods of depression in Victoria, as in all other parts of the world, a revival has soon taken place, and the prosperity of the community has not been materially interfered with. Indeed, such is the buoyancy and elasticity of Victoria, that although there have been some of the fiercest political struggles - often approaching dangerously near to violent outbreaks, but never actually overstepping the mark, excepting in the case of the Eureka stockade - the country has steadily progressed, and has continued to hold the foremost place among the Australian group.
[** : The Exhibition referred to was the Melbourne International Exhibition which was held from 1 October 1880 until 30 April 1881. It was the second international exhibition to be held in Australia, the first being held the previous year in Sydney. This Sydney International Exhibition started in October 1879, but as it focused mainly on agriculture, it was deemed as not really universal and therefore did not meet the criteria for official recognition by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). Thus the Melbourne 1880 exhibition was recognised as the first universal exhibition and was staged at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building, which stands today.]
Melbourne Electric Telegraph : Some Early History
Australia's first telegraph line began operating between Melbourne and a station under the timeball flagstaff at Williamstown on 3 March 1854. Tenders for its construction had been called in the August of the previous year. The main function of the telegraph line being to transmit the time signal to (and later from) Melbourne more reliably. On page 4 of the Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer newspaper of Friday 17 March 1854, under the title Electric Telegraph it stated that : The first practical establishment in Victoria of this expeditious mode of transmitting news has been formed between Melbourne and Williamstown, the electric wire running upon supports about twenty feet high from the ground, and taking a westerly direction from Williamstown, proceeds, after a rather circuitous route, by the north west, ‘till they reach the Custom House in Melbourne. Elsewhere : There are 10¾ miles of wire between the Melbourne and the Williamstown terminus. Its route is from William Street to the Saltwater River [now the Maribyrnong River] which it crosses near the Racecourse. This route was preferred to a more direct one in order to avoid passing over private property and because of the floods which cover the marshes in winter time.
The support posts were placed at 30 to the mile meaning they were about 53 metres apart. The single wire was a number 6 (about 4 millimetres diameter) of galvanized iron. The circuitous route also meant that crossing the wider Yarra River was also avoided in favour of the narrower then Saltwater River, now the Maribyrnong River, north of its confluence with the Yarra. On large scale maps of the era part of the route of the telegraph line can be traced coming from the west then down Flemington Road to its intersection with Elizabeth Street, then due south across country to the William and Franklin Street’s intersection at the north east corner of the Flagstaff block, then down William Street to its intersection with Little Bourke. This route of the telegraph line showed that it approached Melbourne from the north down William Street, passing Flagstaff Hill just to its west. A branch line was run to the Flagstaff station primarily to initially just activate the timeball.
In the section of the 1855 view of Melbourne from the north, below, Henry Burn clearly captured the telegraph line into Melbourne, from the north and Flagstaff Hill down William Street, running to the then terminus at the William Street Electric Telegraph Station, with its lowered timeball.
For clarity, an enlarged and annotated section of Melbourne from the North near the road to Mount Alexander, Henry Burn, 1855; (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
The Melbourne terminus, the Electric Telegraph Office, at William and Little Bourke Streets, Melbourne, in 1870, with inset showing its name enlarged, and by now the timeball apparatus removed (courtesy State Library of Victoria).
The line was placed in operation in February but not opened for business to the public by Governor La Trobe until 3 March 1854 due to a shortage of office space. The Argus newspaper on 6 March 1854 reported the opening of the telegraph line as follows : The remaining wires have been fixed during the past week between Government House [Toorak] and the Custom House, which now has the means of instantaneous communication with Williamstown.
The terminus of the telegraph line in Melbourne was to be a brick and stone building, containing offices, battery, acid and store rooms, a strong room for valuable documents, and quarters for an officer in charge. A tower nearly forty feet high, surmounted by a flagstaff, on which a timeball would traverse, formed part of the building. However, according to this report it was not completed when the Williamstown-Melbourne telegraph line first opened. Page 4 of the South Australian Free Press newspaper of Saturday 25 March 1854, stated : …as to the building in which the Melbourne terminus and offices are to the lasting disgrace of the Colonial Government (whose affair it is), this building is a small two roomed, boarded cottage, the roof of shingle, and without even canvass to keep out the cold or dust, situated at the corner of Little Bourke Street and William Street, and within the enclosure around the Government House. And this miserable shanty is used in the teeth of a promise made by the Government that, before the line could be completed, suitable two story brick and stone buildings should be erected for the undertaking. A couple of months later on page 5 of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper of Tuesday 18 July 1854, it was reported : Electric Telegram Office : This building is rapidly progressing, and will probably be ready in a fortnight or three weeks. A timeball was yesterday placed in position over the building, but will not come into operation until the removal of the electric telegraph business into the new edifice from the adjoining temporary office at present used. It was still a further three months until page 5 of the Argus newspaper of Saturday 14 October 1854, relayed : The Signal : The superintendent of the electric telegraph announces that on and after Monday next the timeball on the tower of the new electric telegraph station will be dropped daily, Sundays excepted, at one o'clock, mean time. It is unclear whether during the period March-October 1854 the timeball at Flagstaff Hill was operated by telegraph signal from Williamstown or continued by hand. (The Government House mentioned in the newspaper report above was vacated in 1854 when Toorak House, built in 1849, was leased to the Victorian government for use by the first Governor of Victoria, Captain Sir Charles Hotham KCB RN and four of his successors.)
Thus for at least a few months in 1854, the terminus of the telegraph line in Melbourne a was temporary office, that had been set aside at the rear of Customs House, on the corner of William and Flinders Streets.
One of the first telegraphic lines run in the city was that to Parliament House which the Argus newspaper reported on 20 October 1856 stating : Arrangements have been made for the extension of the electric telegraph to the New Houses of Parliament. Construction of Parliament House had begun in 1855, with the first of several stages officially opened the following year.
An 1857 government report stated that the location of the William Street Electric Telegraph Office had been found to be inconvenient to business. Thus approval was obtained for the Telegraph Office to be moved to a more central location. Four convenient rooms in the building known as the Hall of Commerce in Collins Street, were fitted with out with the new central office established on the 1 March 1857. The rooms were on the first floor, so that the public had to climb stairs to lodge their telegrams The Argus newspaper of Wednesday 11 March 1857, reported : Removal of the Electric Telegraph Office : The Government Gazette notifies that a Central Electric Telegraph Office having been established in the Hall of Commerce, Collins street, the business heretofore conducted at the Telegraph Station, William street, will for the future be transferred to the Central Office. (For information, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper of Friday 16 February 1855, said this : Hall of Commerce : The large building in Collins Street, a few doors from the Criterion [Hotel], and known as the Hall of Commerce, is undoubtedly a great and striking ornament of the city. The building extends over a large area of ground, and consists of three floors, and the Offices appear to us to be particularly well adapted to the purposes of brokers, shipping agents, and commercial men generally.)
Circa 1870 photograph showing the Hall of Commerce building on the right;
the verandah, under which it was recalled below, that most of the business was done, is evident; courtesy State Library Victoria.
In a report in June 1859, it was recorded that : A new [telegraph] line is now in course of completion between Melbourne and Williamstown following the east side of the railway line [also opened in 1859] and within the railway fence on which are provided four additional wires,.…taking opportunity at the same time to replace all defective or decayed posts in the line so as to render the entire work as effective and durable as may be possible.
Also in 1859 a government report stated that the present office accommodation in Collins Street, having been found inadequate to the increasing requirements of the department, and superior apartments for the purpose having been offered at the Exchange Building at a considerably lower rental, it was deemed advisable to effect a change in the locality of the Central [Telegraph] Office by accepting the tender made by the Exchange Company. A new office is therefore being fitted up in the Exchange building, in which improved arrangements are being introduced; and I entertain the hope that, while no loss to the revenue of the Department may accrue through the change, the public will find more satisfactory accommodation for the reception, transmission and delivery of telegrams than is now presented. It is anticipated that the new office will be opened for business by the 25th of the ensuing month (July 1859). The Melbourne Exchange Company, who owned the Exchange building, let its two front offices (ground floor), four offices in the basement, and a partition from the reading room. The Age newspaper of Wednesday 18 May 1859, under The News of the Day reported that : The Electric Telegraph Office will, in a few days, be removed from the Hall of Commerce to the Hall of the Melbourne Exchange, where it will remain until a site is fixed upon for a permanent office.
As mentioned, the Exchange building was owned by the Melbourne Exchange Company and was a forerunner to the Melbourne Stock Exchange. The building, which opened on Friday 14 August 1857, was not, however, the Stock Exchange building. The Melbourne Exchange Company’s Exchange building was located on reportedly a valuable plot of Government ground at the corner of William Street and Little Flinders Street West/ Flinders Lane. This location was behind the then Customs House and later became the site for the Harbour Trust building. It is understood that the building was called the Exchange because it was a club house for merchants who transacted business between themselves, but not in the formal manner which is now associated with the stock exchange as we know it. However, being so far from the centre of business the merchants wouldn't go there so the Melbourne Exchange Company succeeded in letting the building (on Government ground remember) to the Government.
In 1863 the Williamstown Observatory was replaced by a new facility in the Botanic Gardens. This facility, now the Melbourne Observatory, assumed responsibility for Melbourne’s and Williamstown’s time services. As shown in the map section below, by 1870 the GPO clock as well as Gaunt’s Clock were controlled via telegraph by the Astronomical Clock at [Melbourne] Observatory.
Communication between certain of the Government departments was only established in 1865. Some or all of those departments are probably included in the list below.
The corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Streets saw the first Post Office opened in 1842. Later in 1859 work started on what became the Melbourne General Post Office (GPO) which still stands in part today. A branch telegraph office will be opened today at the General Post Office, the entrance to which will be from Bourke Street. Communication has been opened with all stations, and messages will be received and transmitted the same as at the head office near the Custom House, was reported by the Argus newspaper of 6 April 1869.
A map titled Victoria : Skeleton Map of Telegraph Circuits, compiled by JR James, Telegraph Manager, drawn by IW Payter, Assistant Manager, and published by Peter Cornelius Alcock, 1871, was available courtesy State Library Victoria. (Messrs James and Payter also get mentioned below). The section of interest Local Circuits is shown below after some enhancement. A more informative version may be viewed via this link. The map showed the locations around the Melbourne CDB that were then connected by telegraph by late 1870. As it was compiled by senior people then associated with the telegraph its reliability can be considered high. While the telegraph is in essence an electrical circuit which is rapidly closed and broken to send information, telegraph line is the more common descriptor for telegraph circuit, and so will be continued to be used. A simple electric telegraph circuit is shown in the illustration below.
Illustration of a simple electric telegraph circuit.
Extensively cleaned and colour coded for clarity, this section of 1870 map titled Victoria : Skeleton Map of Telegraph Circuits, shows just the plan of Local Circuits.
Given that there is/are no circuit(s) shown to the location of William and Little Bourke Streets on the map section above, it is concluded that by 1870 the telegraphic facilities at that site are no longer in use. The Chief Telegraphic Office was now at the Exchange building on William Street and Flinders Lane, at the rear of Customs House. Notably, the very early telegraph line between Government House, Toorak, and Custom House, established in 1854 is not included as a Local Circuit either. This telegraph line is depicted below the word MELBOURNE in the map, and is also shown to have a connection to the residence of the Postmaster General. The Postmaster General's Department of Victoria having been created in 1857.
The map section enables the telegraph lines in existence to be fixed in time and shows lines to locations not mentioned above, resulting in a total of twenty-three (Wheatstone branded) telegraphic instruments in use in the Melbourne CBD by 1870 :
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LOCAL CIRCUITS |
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Colour Code |
Instruments |
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Chief Telegraph Office |
Treasury Offices & General Post Office |
purple |
2 |
|
Argus Office |
red |
1 |
|
|
Greville & Co |
light blue |
2 |
|
|
Gavin Brown & Co |
light blue |
2 |
|
|
Two lines to suburbs south & east |
light green |
2 |
|
|
Treasury Offices |
Chief Telegraph Office & General Post Office |
purple |
2 |
|
Military Barracks |
magenta |
1 |
|
|
Public Works |
yellow |
2 |
|
|
Crown Lands & Surveys |
dark green |
2 |
|
|
Customs plus Shipping & Immigration |
dark green |
2 |
|
|
Parliament House |
Argus Office |
red |
1 |
|
|
|||
|
Argus Office |
Chief Telegraph Office |
red |
1 |
|
Argus General Manager's residence |
orange |
1 |
|
|
Argus Editor's residence |
orange |
1 |
|
|
Parliament House |
red |
1 |
|
|
Observatory |
Post Office Clock |
black |
automatic |
|
Gaunt's Clock |
black |
automatic |
|
|
Chief Telegraph Office |
Government House |
blue |
not local |
|
Post Master General's Home |
blue |
not local |
|
|
Test Houses |
Chief Telegraph Office |
black |
testing |
|
Parliament House |
black |
testing |
|
|
Treasury Offices |
black |
testing |
|
|
Legend as given in main map |
|||
|
Wheatstone Instruments |
Circles |
23 |
|
|
Test Houses |
Rectangles |
3 |
|
Not immediately recognisable in the above list would be the names Greville & Co and Gavin Brown & Co. The offices of these two companies were in the Hall of Commerce, Melbourne Exchange Subscription Reading Room, at then 48 Collins Street West, between Elizabeth and Queen Streets. While Gavin Brown and Co were stock and share brokers, Greville and Co were telegraphic agents and public telegrammists being part of an Australian Telegraphic Company. The Australian Telegraphic Company acted as a Reuter's agent, being solely concerned with messages between England, other Reuters’ bases in the British Empire and Australia and not with domestic services. (Reuters was one of the largest news agencies in the world, established in London in 1851 by the German born Paul Reuter).
The Argus newspaper of Monday 15 July 1872, announced on page 7 : The New Telegraph Office : On 15 July 1872, the new [Chief] Telegraph Office was opened in the new location on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Little Bourke Street…This office was only designed to be temporary but it was anticipated that it would probably meet all requirements for several years or at least until the north wing of the General Post Office, had been erected for use as the Telegraph Office…The [telegraphic] instruments are ranged round the walls, forming a hollow square. There are 30 in all, and from the position in which Mr. James, the manager, and Mr. Payter, the assistant manager, sit, each operator can be seen at work by the officer in charge. The temporary telegraph office at the GPO was to last until 1906. Notably 1872 was the year in which the first overseas telegraphic message was received in Melbourne.
Simultaneously with the removal of the Chief Telegraph Office to the GPO on Elizabeth Street, a branch telegraph and money order office was opened at the eastern end of the Custom House to overcome any problems the merchants who do business in the western half of the city might suffer from the change. Finally in 1876, the telegraphic equipment from the original William Street building was all removed to the south east corner of Customs House.
The GPO was now the centre for all posts and telegraph.
Edited circa 1888 photograph, by Charles Bristow Walker, showing the former Hall of Commerce building, now renamed The Exchange in Collins Street.
The signage over the entrance is inset highlighting that there was an electric telegraph office and also an office of Reuter’s Telegram Co; courtesy State Library Victoria.
The Evening News newspaper of Wednesday 22 May 1878, revealed on page 2 that a new proposal has been submitted for the erection of a new Hall of Commerce, containing a large ballroom, restaurant, smoking room, telegraph office, &c. The new building opened on 10 May 1880 and bore the name on its exterior The Exchange. Please refer to the above circa 1880 photograph. At the time it was recalled that from 1862 to 1880 the call room (trading area or floor for stock trading) had been situated in the Hall of Commerce on Collins Street West. It was not inside, however, but under the verandah of this building that a good deal of Melbourne's share transactions took place. So much was this so that for many years it was customary to speak not of stock exchange business but of business under the Verandah (Hall,1968). Moreover, it was said that many may remember the Verandah, or old Hall of Commerce, in Collins Street, with its crowd of lounging, smoking, loud talking, and most mixed individuals, whose numbers were at times so great that they intruded far into the roadway itself, and formed altogether one of the most striking, if not always quite the most satisfactory, features of life in the Victorian metropolis. All this was changed; the old verandah was swept away, and in its place the plain, but handsome and business like, facade now formed the Collins Street front of the new The Exchange building. A large clock was erected over the door leading into the mercantile room, which was connected with the Government Observatory to ensure the correct time being always obtained. Wind and weather reports were posted every fore noon, and large black boards were provided on which were posted from time to time any important news that may have been received. The building was well supplied with approaches, the principal one being in Collins Street. On passing through the vestibule, the telegraph office was found on the right, and its completeness was apparent to all. The operator was under the control of the Government, thereby securing accuracy of despatch, and of all things the most essential secrecy; then came Reuters Telegram Company Office.
Collins Street looking east from Queens Street, Melbourne, 1883, showing The Exchange building second left from the corner in the wider context;
notably the telegraph poles are carrying 35 lines (circuits) for and through Collins Street, at this time; courtesy The National Museum of Australia.
The map below shows the growth of the electric telegraph network in Victoria in the first 20 years. Following the first line in 1854, by 1875 nearly all major Victorian towns were not only interconnected but Victorians could reach interstate and overseas.
Stylised map showing the electric telegraph network in Victoria by 1875;
note that due to the scale and/or quality of the sources, Alcock’s 1871, Victoria : Skeleton Map of Telegraph Circuits, and Whitehead's 1875, New Map of Victoria,
the map should be considered as indicative only.