never seemed to be anyone, and he then said in disappointed tones, "Right Oh! Jerry," and we slowly creaked under way again.
We were very glad when we at last steamed into the brightly lighted Melbourne station, and found our kind host and hostess waiting there for us with their car, in spite of the lateness of the hour. Afterwards, in talking over the development of Australia with the people who lived there, we learned how great a part had been played by the discoveries of gold in populating the state. The first permanent settlement in Victoria, the smallest of the five states of Australia, was made by some immigrants from Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called, in Portland Bay in 1834. This is an open bay which lies at some distance from Melbourne to the south-west; it was found to be unsafe for shipping, and there was a lack of good land in its immediate neighbourhood. Melbourne was founded the next year at the head of the deep inlet called Port Phillip Bay by parties of settlers from Van Diemen's Land. Other settlers came from Sydney, and beginning to explore the interior were struck with its great capabilities. Immigration rapidly progressed, regular government was established under Captain William Lonsdale in 1836, and the capital was named Melbourne.
