The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
INTRODUCTION OF CIVIL GOVERMENT: FORMATION AND GROWTH OF THE PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS.
SYNOPSIS: —Captain Lonsdale's Arrival. —Arrival brick Building. —Mr. of the Survey Staff. —Convict Prisoners from Sydney. —Mr. Robert Hoddle's Arrival. —Arrival of Mr. Disappearance of his Private Secretary.—••• The Secretaryship.— Belcher and Vaughan.—Mr. Commissioner of Crown Lands.—Mr. Latrobe.—HisPanegyric, Prayer and Treasury.— Mac Vide's Alleged Embezzlement. — First Colonial Robert Russell First Surveyor.— His] Russell's Return lo Sydney.—His Visit to Geelong.— First Deposition, and Acceptance of Clerk of Works. — M r . Hoddle's Appointment. — Resignation, Resumption of Office, and Final Retirement. — Customs Formation of Market Department.—Public Street.—Removal of Mr. Webb.—Mr. Narrow Escape.—His Lands.—Commissioners Department.— J. H. N. Cassells.—His Successor. — The Harbor-Master's Works. — Mr. C. H. Leroux's Death.—Mr. Ghinn's Appointment. — Yarra Bend Government Death.—Russell succeeded by Mr. James Asylum. — The Medical Department.—Dr. Cussen.—Mrs. Rattenbury.—Mr. Lee.—Dr. Cussen's Death in 184c).—Dr. Sullivan his Successor.—Dr. McCrea.—Aborigines' Protectorate. — Croxun Gisborne and Powlett. — The Scourgers.
CONSEQUENT on the report of Captain Stewart, and the memorial of the inhabitants, on the 29th September, 1836, the first civil functionary and Government representative arrived in Melbourne in the "Rattlesnake" from Sydney. This was Captain William Lonsdale, attached to the 4th Regiment stationed at Sydney, where he passed over to the public service as Police Magistrate. He was to act as Administrator of the Government, under very explict instructions from Head Quarters. His salary was £300 per annum, with £100 as outfit money; and he reigned here until the arrival of Mr. Latrobe. He was an officer with much more good in him than harm, who acted strictly up to the letter of his orders; and, with a natural calmness of temperament and equanimity, took matters easily enough. A man of unblemished character, and impartial in the conduct of affairs, in a season of absolute political quietude, he succeeded in giving general satisfaction, and on resigning the reins of government received a testimonial and address from the inhabitants. The presentation was made in January, 1840, and the following extract from his reply is worth transcribing:— "Having had the pleasure to see the colony advance from its cradle to its present state of strength and prosperity, I can bear witness that that prosperity is mainly attributable to your skill, persevering industry, and enterprise. In no part of the world, I am convinced, has there been a greater display of these qualities; nor can an instance, I am sure, be adduced in which they have been more successful in the same space of time." He then, for a time, officiated solely as Police Magistrate, was subsequently appointed Sub-Treasurer, and in the lapse of years was promoted to the Colonial-Secretaryship, in which capacity he will be again referred to. A few days after the arrival of Captain Lonsdale, the brig "Stirlingshire" brought from Sydney a Survey Staff, consisting of Messrs. Robert Russell (in charge) Frederick R. D'Arcy, and William W. Darke; the first at a salary of £220, and the others £200 each per annum. By the same vessel came Mr Robert S. Webb , as Chief Officer of Customs at £200, Mr. Skene Craig to manage the Commissariat, Ensign King with a detachment of the 4th Regiment, thirty convict prisoners, and a Mr. Joseph William Hooson as a senior constable. Though Captain Lonsdale was supposed to exercise the functions of an Administrator of the Government, he was, in reality, little more than a Police Magistrate, to which might be added the superintendence of a small penal settlement, which was formed at the western terminus of the town. The area, now bounded by Bourke, King, Collins, and Spencer Streets, was then about the nicest spot in all Melbourne. Cut up by no water-courses, and flat as a pancake, spread out at the foot of Batman's Hill, it was covered with a vendure green as a leek, and soft as a Turkey carpet. But Captain Lonsdale and his followers soon pounced upon it, hacking it up in such a manner as to change the whole aspect of the place, every year bringing further additions and alterations, every change for the worse. Mr. Russell has supplied me with a copy of a plan of this convict kraal, or "Government block," as it came to be called, showing its inception and the alterations it underwent until 1839, and an inspection of this chart is very amusing. Here was concentrated the whole executive power of the infant colony, from its two extremes, of Police Magistrate and flagellator,for flogging was an institution then, not amongst the free, but the bond section of the population. There was no executioner then, because, until the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1841, there existed no court with a jurisdiction over capital felonies, and Port Phillip "hangings" (when there were any) were done in Sydney. Off the north-west junction of what are now known as Spencer and Little Collins Streets, Captain Lonsdale was quartered in a wattle-and-daub "Government House," very different from the palatial pile raised in South Yarra, but surrounded with a luxury of pure air, and unpoisoned by effluvia from a fetid river, about which modern Governors so feelingly complain. Lonsdale, as soon as he got a chance, moved off to a comfortable cottage in the eastern part of Richmond (now Princes') Park, where a gymnasium has for years been training rising generations in calisthenic exercises, and his vacated domicile was turned into quarters for a Lieutenant Smyth, and such officers as succeeded him in the charge of the military detachments for years stationed in the town. At the north-west corner of Spencer and Collins Streets was placed the Survey Office, and near it, in from the street, the soldiers' barracks and a few huts, enclosed by a stockade of ti-tree, in proximity to which, no doubt for protection, were two hovels used as a police office, and guard-room cum lock-up. On the north-west corner of Collins and King Streets, were marked two rows of sod-made cabins, where the soldiers were billeted before they went into barracks, and further up, near the Little Collins Street intersection, was placed the Government mechanics' work-shop, three-quarter wattle-and-daub to a quarter brick (where the forge was). Beyond this, in the same line, was the prisoner's barracks, where there is now a police station; not far from the temporary hospital, and near the corner of Bourke Street was the Clerk of Works' office, whilst in the middle of the square, as a sort of formidable head-centre, was the mansion of the overseer of roads, and the scourger squatted in a den on the site of the now Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine. With the exception of the Clerk of Works' and Survey offices, and the Officers' quarters, the other fixtures were the-most miserable, comfortless holes, in which human beings were ever forced to live. The convict prisoners, sent in small drafts from Sydney, varied in number, never perhaps exceeding forty or fifty. These were intended for Government work and (exclusive of two or three hundred ticket-of-leave holders) for private service. They performed any mechanical or menial work required for the Government; some of them were transferred into the mounted police, and others were formed into a gang to make and repair the streets. As a rule, they were a little-good-for blackguard lot, and only for fear of the cat-o'-nine tails, never could be kept within any reasonable bounds of subordination. Captain Lonsdale, fresh from a penal colony, was not unused to this state of things, and took the world as it came philosophically enough. He certainly was not overworked; and that the New South Welsh authorities seemed to be aware of this, may be assumed from the fact of their forwarding him at the end of 1838, the following consignment of Government stores for the public service of Port Phillip:— 6 bottles of red and 6 ditto black ink, 1 bundle of quills, 1 box of wafers, 20 fathoms of red tape, and 1 quire of foolscap paper!
On the 27th of May, 1837, Mr. Robert Hoddle relieved Mr. Russell, as Principal Officer of Survey. He was also appointed a Commissioner of Crown Lands, and acted as Government auctioneer at the first public land sales. A Court of Petty Sessions was established in 1838; Quarter Sessions in May, 1839, and towards the end of the same year, Mr. James Croke arrived from England, via Sydney, and proceeded to act as Clerk of the Crown, Crown Prosecutor, and Law Adviser in Melbourne.
Arrival of Mr. Latrobe.
In June, 1839, it was publicly intimated, for the first time, that a Superintendent was to be appointed, an office likely to be bestowed on a Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe, of whom very little was generally known, and the announcement gave dissatisfaction, as it was thought that Lieutenant-Colonel Snodgrass would be selected. However, it turned out that Mr. Latrobe was to be the man, and his arrival was looked forward to with much interest. This remarkable event came off on the 30th September, when the "Pyramus" barque arrived from Sydney, with his Honor, Mrs. Latrobe, and a Mr. Lee as Private Secretary. It was understood that Mr. Latrobe's salary was to be £800 per annum, with allowance for clerk and contingencies, and his patronage was to extend to all appointments not exceeding £100 a year, subject, of course, to confirmation at Head-quarters. On dis-embarking the following day, 1st October, he received a salute of nine guns—and on the 2nd made his official entry into Melbourne, but certainly not under the auspicious indications of Queen's weather, for torrents of rain flooded the almost impassable streets, and the crowd accompanying him were not only ankle but knee deep in slush and mud. He was accompanied by Captain Lonsdale and Mr. Webb. There then stood at the south-west corner of Collins and William Streets, the mart of Mr. Charles Williams, a well-known auctioneer. Here the first Governor made himself known to the community; and, standing on the door-step in the presence of a large concourse (a tithe of whom could not find room inside), and in "the pelting of the pitiless storm," the Governor's Commission was read by the Collector of Customs, and an address was presented to His Excellency. His speech in reply was much better than many of the unmeaning vice-regal utterances, since delivered in "another place." He said, "It was not by individual aggrandisement, by the possession of numerous flocks and herds, or by costly acres, that the people shall secure for the country enduring prosperity and happiness, but by the acquisition and maintenance of sound, religious, and moral institutions, without which no country can become truly great." He prayed to God "for strength and power, that, whether his stay among them be long or short, he may be enabled to know, and to do his duty diligently, temperately, and fearlessly." It must be said of him that he did his best to perform this promise. He was received with unmeasured enthusiasm, and the Gazette newspaper thus exclaimed:— "He comes to us as our good genius to assist to develop our resources, and to place us high in the scale of Colonies—Colonies! nay, he comes to found a mighty empire." On the 16th, Mr. Latrobe rode to Williamstown for the purpose of forming an opinion as to the capabilities of the port, and ascertaining what improvements might be made there. Two requirements were obvious to him, viz., the enlargement of the pier and the erection of a lighthouse. His salary was £8oo a year, but the Press declared that it should be £2000. It was afterwards increased by the Home Government to £1500. Mr. Latrobe brought out a wooden house from England, which was put up at Jolimont, where he purchased an allotment of land at the upset price of £500, no person bidding against him at the auction sale. When he left the colony in 1854, this was cut up into suburban building lots, and paid an enormous profit on the original outlay. He was a travelled and accomplished gentleman, and, though nothing of an orator, was an agreeable writer, of much culture, and no inconsiderable ability. He had previously acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the Home Government, by reporting, in 1838, on Negro Education in Trinidad and British Guiana. The son of a Moravian missionary, the influences of his religious training marked his whole career, for he was a thoroughly conscientious and honest man, who felt a sincere interest in the welfare of the colony, and always endeavoured to do right under difficulties of no ordinary kind. It was inconsistent with the nature of things that Mr. Latrobe's popularity should continue. He had no "bed of roses;" with little more authority than one of the permanent heads of some of our present public departments, he was often obliged to do things he could not help, whilst official obligations compelled him to bear in silence many an undeserved attack. His chief fault was an unsteadfastness of disposition, and a good nature which forced him at times to say "yes" instead of "no." In dealing with the claims of the several religious denominations, a delicate task was often imposed on him, and though with an evident leaning to Episcopalianism, on the whole he dealt out substantial justice to all. He was repeatedly accused of partizanship in the interest of the squatters, though in reality he was the reverse. He was an ardent
promoter of every movement, tending to benefit the Province, and his services in resisting the introduction of transportation, were of incalculable value in bringing the agitation on that question to a successful issue. He was often the best abused man in the colony, though he had the good fortune of always retaining a large circle of influential friends. From 1851 to 1854 he was placed in a position of unprecedented difficulty, through the social disorganisation caused by the gold discoveries, and sufficient allowance has never been made for the exigencies of the situation. He left the colony, however, amidst the regrets of those who knew him best, and secured a retiring pension under an Act of Parliament, passed in the interests of ex-Governors of colonies. For some time before his death he suffered from a deprivation of sight, and died, near London, on the 2nd December, 1875. The Superintendent's Office,
In the first instance, transacted its rather limited business in a cottage in Little Flinders Street, one of the two apartments of which was used as a sub-Treasury. In February, 1841, these quarters were vacated for a somewhat more commodious brick tenement at the north-eastern corner of William and Little Collins Streets. The Superintendent soon after gave up this place altogether to the Treasury, and moved around to the untenanted house of Batman, on Batman's Hill, and there made himself as comfortable as circumstances would permit. He was little more than a senior clerk, tied up with red tape, with hardly more to do than to receive and answer correspondence from head-quarters, and report progress. In course of time he was entrusted with discretion to a considerable extent, and some of his despatches may be ranked with the ablest State papers in the office of the Colonial Secretary. He used to be facetiously styled "the Twenty pounds Governor," because in the beginning it was said that his financial discretion was limited to that amount. Further he dare not go without a special authority.
The establishment was thus provided for on the Estimates of the time:— His Honor the Superintendent, £800 per annum; Clerk (Private Secretary), £155 per annum; Assistant Clerk, £109 10s. per annum; Forage for horses to His Honor, &c., £139 10s. Total, £1204.
The Treasury having also moved to a skillion in the rear, probably the Batman kitchen, sufficient savings were pared out of the etceteras of the forage item to pay for a Messenger. In January, 1846, the Superintendent transferred himself and his official belongings to a newly erected building in William Street formerly well-known as the Government Offices, in the centre of the square now covered by the new Law Courts. The business did not increase very much for some years, though His Honor's salary nearly doubled, and that of his Private Secretary was largely augmented. This is how it stood in 1847: His Honor, C. J. Latrobe, Esq., £1500 per annum; Secretary and Chief Clerk, E. L. Lee, Esq., £240 per annum; Second Clerk, Mr. Alexander Holmes, £140 per annum; Third Clerk, Mr. Charles Holmer, £120 per annum; Messenger, Thos. M'Carthy, £50 per annum. In 1848 the Private Secretary disappeared under circumstances of a mysterious character never satisfactorily elucidated. Having obtained a three months' furlough, on the 15th December he left Brighton on a boating expedition. As the day was unpromising, some friends cautioned him against doing so; but he started in a small boat, with a black boy as his only companion. The boat was provisioned for two months, and Mr. Lee let it be understood that he intended visiting an island in Bass's Strait, where the parents of his sable protégé lived. Nothing further was heard for about a month, when an aborigine arrived in Melbourne with intelligence, that he had some weeks previously seen a boat upset in a squall off Point Nepean. The crew, a black and a white man, tried to save themselves by swimming ashore, in which the black succeeded, but the other was drowned. The blackfellow wandered about the country for some time, until falling in with some of the Western Port aborigines, he was killed by them. This story might not have been believed but for the simultaneous finding of a boat beached on a Mr. Thompson's station in Western Port. Captain Dana the commandant of the native police, started off at once with some troopers to hunt up further particulars, and succeeded in finding the boat, which was identified as Lee's. Though for nine years the Superintendent's Secretary, this was the first leave Lee had had. There were some who discredited the fact of Lee's alleged drowning, assigning sinister motives for his departure, and sensational paragraphs about him appeared in the newspapers. But Lee was never after seen in Melbourne, nor, I believe, heard of from that day to this. He was soon forgotten and his vacant desk filled by Edward Bell, whoretained the office until after the separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales, an event which raised the status of the department from a simple Supermtendency to that of a Lieutenant-Governorship.
The Treasury.
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- £4oo per a n n u m ; First Clerk, Mr. W . V. MacVitie, ,£220 per a n n u m ; Second Clerk, Mr. George R.
Penn, ,£125 per a n n u m ; Agent for superintending supplies, Assistant Commissary General Howard, ^ 9 1 5s. per a n n u m ; Auctioneers' commission (land sales it is presumed), ,£600 per a n n u m ; Newspapers, Stationery, Printing, etc., ,£300 per a n n u m ; Rent of Office and Incidental Expenses, ,£76 5s. 8d. per annum. Total, ;£i8i2 10s. 8d. S o m e of the changes of the locale of the office have been already stated. T h e Treasury followed the Superintendent from Batman's Hill to the Government offices, where it was assigned a portion on the ground floor, after which it migrated to a big blue-stone house, a little more North on the other side of William Street. Here it remained for some years until after the gold discoveries, when, re-crossing, it took up its abode in a three-storied tenement belonging to Mr. J. T. Smith, whence again it moved Eastward to the new Treasury, at the top of Bourke Street, and thence, back to the new Government offices in the rear, where it is likely to reimin in perpetuity. Captain Lonsdale was more successful as a Police Magistrate than a Treasurer. N o one doubted his thorough integrity ; but his new post was not quite in his line. A s in most of the departments in the early times, business was not transacted in anything approaching the method that has prevailed for the last quarter of a century. Then the public book-keeping was simplicity itself, compared with the complicated and cumbersome system of to-day. O n e very efficient, though at times, careless officer suffered for the Captain's laxity. This was Mr. MacVitie, thefirstChief Clerk, whose trial for embezzlement will be noticed in another chapter. H e was acquitted by the jury, and the Treasury management censured by the Judge. However MacVitie lost his place which wasfilledby the appointment of Mr. Alexander M'Crae ; and some time after, a roll of notes, believed to be the same for appropriating which MacVitie had been tried, was found put away in some musty pigeon hole, wherein the ex-Chief Clerk most likely in absence of mind thrust, and entirely forgot it. In 1851, Captain Lonsdale exchanged the Treasury for thefirstColonial Secretaryship, for which he was infinitely lessfitted,and Mr. M'Kenzie, the then Sheriff, succeeded him. T h efirstcompetitive examination in the colony was held in connection with the Treasury, in June, 1845. A clerkship was vacant by the dismissal of a young gentleman, whose ways were rather too fast for Captain Lonsdale. T h e salary was only a hundred a year, which, with the position it carried, was considered not a very bad thing, as matters then went, and board and residence could be had for a moderate figure. T h e examination was held at the Custom House and conducted by Mr. Cassells (Sub-Collector of Customs) and M r . Hoddle (Chief of the Survey Department). Nine candidates offered, but the general bad answering reduced them to three, viz., Messrs. Charles Vaughan, H . N . Hull, and G. F. Belcher, amongst w h o m the " w h o shall" heat was to be run off. Belcher's was the best all round answering, but there was a particular question of Cassells' which only Hull succeeded in mastering, and upon him victory smiled accordingly. H e wasn't long berthed, however, when he obtained leave of absence, and his brother, Mr. W . H . Hull, was appointed locum tenens. As the absentee never returned to his post, the temporary incumbency became a permanency, and the Treasury thus, without the virtue of competition, obtained the services of an excellent officer, w h o for so many years acted as Paymaster at Melbourne, and retired from the Civil Service some time ago. Belcher obtained a Treasury appointment, without competition, the following year, and through intelligence and efficiency, he ascended to some of the highest branches of the official tree. In after time he became Sub-Treasurer at Geelong, where he remained until he resigned to the regret of all ever brought into official relations with him. A consolation stake was also reserved for Vaughan in a clerkship in the office of the Superintendent, where he continued until after the district was separated from N e w South Wales, when he became a brewer in Collingwood, and was well-known as the Vaughan of Vaughan and Wild, in Smith Street. But a high municipal and political future was in store for Messrs. Belcher and Vaughan, and the Fates shunted them along in similar grooves, for Belcher was the best Mayor Geelong ever had, and Vaughan the most popular Civic Chief that ever "ruled the roost" in the Council Chamber, at Fitzroy. Both of them also found their way into the Legislative Council. Vaughan has long since gone to his last account. Belcher was recognised as one of the most consistent and independent members in the Upper Chamber of our Legislature, until his retirement
to private life at Geelong, where he still resides. The Survey Department.
Mr. Robert Russell was the first man who placed a surveyor's theodolite on the land which was afterwards marked out as the township of Melbourne. After leaving school, as an articled pupil he entered the office of Mr. William Burn, of Edinburgh, probably thefirstarchitect of his day, where he remained five years, and according to an indorsement on his indenture in 1828, "he had faithfully and properly conducted himself durinc the whole of that time." Proceeding to London, he obtained a position in the office of Mr. Nash, the King's Architect, then engaged on extensive additions to Buckingham Palace, whence he passed over to the Irish Ordnance Survey, then being conducted under Colonel" Colby, and whilst there, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the Irish survey. In 1832, rejoining Nash, he formed the acquaintance of Mr. Francis Clarke (one of the best m e n in the establishment), w h o was proceeding to N e w South Wales, and afterwards appointed T o w n Surveyor of Sydney. Russell also took it into his head to try his fortune in N e w South Wales, and having [strong introductory letters to the Surveyor General (the subsequent Sir T h o m a s Mitchell), and Chief Justice Forbes, found little difficulty in obtaining an appointment as Assistant T o w n Surveyor. It was he w h o surveyed the greater part of the town of Sydney, prior to the issue of Crown grants. H e was thus engaged when a Survey Staff was required for Port Phillip, and at the suggestion of Mr. W . W . Darke, one of his colleagues, volunteered to take charge of the branch department. Mr. Russell's " Letter of Instructions" dated ioth September 1836, was a curiosity in its way. Amongst other duties he was enjoined, while travelling " T o be vigilant over the conduct of his m e n ; to forbid their straggling or provoking the Aboriginal natives to acts of hostility, and to have no intercourse with them unless in his presence. T o concilitate the natives, and for any assistance rendered, r e c o m m e n d them for presents, to the Police Magistrate ; also to observe the disposition of the natives, whether ferocious and hostile to strangers, or showing any inclination to friendly intercourse. T o state in his reports, as far as he could, the number of each tribe, h o w armed, and whether for war or merely for the pursuit of game." Mr. Russell and his party arrived in Melbourne in the " Rattlesnake" on the 5th October, and on the 25th he and D'Arcy went to Geelong in the pinnace of the " Rattlesnake," m a d e soundings in the harbour, ascended Station Peak, and took observations. Returning on the 2nd November to the " Settlement," Russell did not remain idle, but made the sketch of unformed and unnamed Melbourne, referred to in Chapter I. O n the 1st January, 1837, Mr. Russell received his appointment as Commissioner of Crown Lands (thefirstin the colony), and two days after the Police Magistrate wrote asking him, in his new capacity, to settle a mutual complaint from Messrs. Smith and Highett respecting a sheep run on the Salt Water River. O n the 20th, the Commissioner replied to the effect that the matter had been arranged by M r . Highett agreeing to move off the disputed land. This was thefirstof a long series of squatting altercations which cropped up in the aftertime, and few of them were so amicably adjusted. T h e Russell party pushed on with their survey business, and, considering the drawbacks, brought on by the exceptional times and circumstances by which it was beset, m a d e reasonably good progress. A change of management, however, occurred in March, when Mr. Hoddle, w h o accompanied Sir Richard Bourke, was placed in charge, and Mr. Russell, thus relieved, returned to Sydney. There was no incapacity or misconduct alleged against Mr. Russell who returned soon after in the position of Clerk of Works, and the only manner of accounting for the transfer made in the Survey branch, is a presumption that Sir Richard Bourke wished to replace Mr. Russell by an officer, ranking higher in the service both by seniority and departmental status. If not this, some unexplained undercurrent of favouritism must have effected the removal of an officer for another in no way his superior in professional ability. Mr. Robert Hoddle, consequently, succeeded as Principal Officer of Surveys and Crown Lands Commissioner, and also acted as thefirstGovernment land sale auctioneer, but this did not prevent him doing a little in the land-buying way himself, for he one day ventured to bid for the two half-acre lots extending from Bourke to Little Collins Streets, at the west side, and, being the highestfigure,knocked them both down to himself for ,£54—the best bid he ever made in his life. Pie had also the good sense to stick to them through all the monetary manias in the colony, and the consequence is they are n o w a mint of money in themselves. Born in London, he was, in 18n, attached to the Engineer Corps of the Military Service, and passed many years of his professional life at the Cape of Good Hope. Arriving in N e w South Wales, he was appointed Assistant-Surveyor by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1822, and was promoted to an Assistant-Surveyorship in 1828. Mr. Hoddle had anything but a sinecure, for as a taste of blood only whets the lion's appetite for more, the proceeds of the early land sales stimulated the Sydney Government to press land into the market, and between the demands of the Executive, the "earth hunger" created by increase of population, and the rage for land speculation, the hands of the survey staff were kept full for some years. At the end of 1840, Mr. Hoddle and the new Sydney Governor (Sir George Gipps) had some misunderstanding, whereupon Hoddle sent in his resignation, a step so much regretted that measures were taken to present him with a testimonial in recognition of the manner in which he had performed his duty, and given very general satisfaction. At this period the department stood thus :—Assistant-Surveyor in charge (Mr. T. S. Townsend), £400 per annum; Assistant-Surveyors, by contract (Messrs. W . W . Darke and H. W . H. Smyth), at 20s. per mile for land and allotments, and 30s. for rivers and ranges; Draftsman employed in thefield(Mr. T. H. Nutt), _£i8o; Clerk, Mr. D. G. M'Arthur, ,£200 per annum; *Messenger, 8d. per diem, ,£12 3s. 4d. per annum; *Three Overseers of Surveying Parties, is. each per diem, ,£54 15s.; with some ^£2000 for other contingencies. The Portland Bay district had a Surveyor and Assistant-Surveyor to itself, in the persons of Messrs. C. J. Tyers and E. Kennedy. In 1841, Mr. Hoddle consented to resume office, and so remained until 1851, when he was nominated Surveyor-General of the new colony, from the service of which he retired in 1853, on an allowance of _£iooo a year. During his official career he made many more friends than enemies. H e was in his 88th year, enjoying as good health as could be expected at such an advanced age, and from all appearance was likely to score as many years as his mother did, who died at 95 ; but on the 23rd October, 1881 he unexpectedly succumbed to a severe attack of gout. If it were only for his instrumentality in securing for Melbourne streets ninety-nine feet wide instead of sixty-six, good citizens ought not to grudge him his long life and pension. THE CUSTOMS.
Though Mr. R. S. Webb arrived from Sydney as Chief Custom-house officer in October, 1836, there was very little to be seen of a Customs department for years after. A shabby, leaky, comfortless, weatherboarded cabin was shipped piece-meal from Sydney, and this was put on what was then the side of a hill, rear-ward of the present splendid Custom House. Much inconvenience was felt and patiently borne through the fact that Melbourne was not a Free Warehousing port, and public opinion only uttered muffled growls until the 23rd February, 1839, when a "public meeting of merchants" was held in what was known as the long room of Williams' auction mart, " for the purpose of taking measures to procure Melbourne being declared a Free Warehousing port." Mr. Patricius W . Welsh was voted to the chair, and energetic speeches were delivered, brief, pithy, and pointed, by Messrs. C. Williams, J. P. Fawkner, D. S. Campbell, John. Hodgson, Arthur Hogue, Captains B. Baxter and Bacchus. Resolutions were passed affirming the purpose endeavoured to be attained, and Messrs. AVelsh, Hodgson, Carey, Campbell, and Williams were appointed a committee to prepare a memorial to the Government. A lengthy and elaborate manifesto was the result, which, supported by many signatures, was transmitted to Sir George Gipps in May, and received his approval on the 17th June. The official proclamation took effect in October, and a small party of officers was despatched from head quarters. It consisted of Captain Lewis as Plarbor Master, with Messrs. C. H. Le Souef, and John M'Namara as Tide Waiters at Melbourne, and Mr. John Stafford, Landing Waiter at Williamstown. Towards the end of 1838, tenders were accepted by the Government for the erection of a substantial building in lieu of the wooden sentry-box, and the contract signed, sealed and delivered, was received from Sydney on the 14th December by Mr. Robert Russell the then Clerk of Works. Mr. J. J. Peers, once a well-known master-builder, was the contractor, and on the 17th December, Russell thus writes to the Colonial Architect:—" Peers intends to begin the necessary excavations, which will not be great, next week. I have marked out the ground for him." Four days after he again writes on the same subject, and this extract is interesting, as showing how the addition of a new street to Melbourne originated :—" I have
- These Employes were ticket-of-leave prisoners of the Crown, w h o were paid small gratuities, and the field labourers belonged to the same class. taken upon myself tofixthe site of the building according to the accompanying plan, for I make no doubt
a road will eventually be required on both sides of the ground. That which I have marked by dotted lines is leading directly from the freshwater to the Market Reserve, behind Custom House ground. I also think you will agree with m e that a Custom House should have a road all round it." Thus was suggested Market Street, which, before that time, was a part of the Custom House Reserve, and the street was proclaimed as such some time after. The new structure was to be a substantial building of brown stone, with slated roof. It was little thought at the time that it need be replaced by another, at least for a century or more. T o give room to the builders, the wooden shed was broken up, and the department was moved to a brick cottage not far off in Little Flinders Street. T o transact business in this den, a person had to go up a stepladder from the unmade footway, and, whatever the weather, it was a risky excursion, for if the day were dry and dusty, one might chance to break his neck, and if wet and sloppy, be either drowned or smothered in the surrounding water and mud. Much caution was necessary in either case, but there was generally no hurry or rush of business. During thefirstweek of January, 1840, the concern was bundled away from the stepladder to the abandoned counting-house of Messrs. M'Cabe and Co., adjoining the William Street side of the Market Reserve,'and in a fortnight after it was started afresh from this to a weather-board house belonging to Mr. Reeves, an auctioneer, placed at the corner of Queen and Flinders Streets, and fronting the Yarra. The erection of the Custom House was stayed for want of funds after the foundation was laid, but a fresh vote led to a resumption of the work after some delay. At length the departmental wanderings came to an end, and it found a resting place in a portion of the new building which was completed infitsand starts. At the commencement of 1841 the Customs was a full-blown establishment, its regular staff comprising :— Sub-Collector, R. S. Webb, Esq., .£300 per annum; First Clerk, Mr. Colin Pentland, ,£130 per annum; Second Clerk, Mr. Neil Mathieson, ,£120 per annum; Locker at Melbourne, Mr. J. Miller, .£250 per annum; Landing Surveyor, Mr. C. H . Le Souef, ,£200 per annum ; Landing Waiter, Mr. C. Neville, ,£150 per annum; Tide Waiter (vacant), ,£100 per annum; Landing Waiter, & c , at Williamstown, Mr. J. Stafford, ,£200 per annum ; ditto at Geelong, Mr. J. M . Kinny, ^£150 per annum ; Tide Waiter, at ditto., Mr. T. Butterworth, ,£100 per annum. Commander of Revenue cutter, "Ranger," S. Karkeek, Esq., 7s. 6d. per diem, with mate 4s., carpenter 3s. 9d., steward, 2s., and thirteen seamen at 2s. each as daily wage with rather moderate ration allowances. The two officers of the cutter had is. 6d. each daily as table money, and the Commander, in lieu of coals and oil, ,£36 per annum. There was also a Customs boat at Williamstown manned by a coxswain at 2s. 6d., with five boatmen at 6d. per day each, and four boatmen were employed at Melbourne at the same rate. These "sixpenny tars" were Crown prisoners who were supplied with the usual scale of rations. Mr. W e b b continued to act as Collector of Customs until January, 1845, when he was removed from office, in consequence of some mismanagement of accounts, which reflected more on his mode of bookkeeping than his integrity. H e was succeeded by an officer from the Hobartown Customs, Mr. J. H. N. Cassells, who kept the post until his death, after the province was separated from N e w South Wales. In the course of time, branches of the Customs were established at Geelong, Portland, Belfast, and Port Albert. THE
HARBOR
M A S T E R ' S D E P A R T M E N T , was organised in 1839, and in 1840 consisted of:—
Harbor Master, C. M . Lewis, Esq., ,£250 per annum ; Pilots—Messrs. T. H . Sutton, W m . Timothy, Alex. M'Pherson, and Josiah Trundle at ^£50 each, ,£200 per annum; Meteorologist, Mr. Philip Hervey, is. 6d. per day, ,£27 7s. 6d. per annum ; Light-housekeeper at Heads (vacant), £ 1 0 0 per annum ; Lightkeeper and signal man at Williamstown, Mr. A. M'Naughton, ^£85 per annum. Provision of ^ 1 0 0 0 was made for a pilot vessel and two boats; also for other boats, buoys, mooring tackle and sundry contingencies. In 1841, Mr. Lewis was succeeded by a Captain Gordon who reigned for some time, when he was supplanted by Captain Bunbury, well-known to old colonists. THE PUBLIC WORKS
Department was necessarily of early formation, and its head was known as the Clerk of Works. The first incumbent was a Mr. C. H . Leroux who also officiated as an assistant surveyor. Soon after his installation he took so m u c h to tippling, that Captain Lonsdale was obliged to have him removed, and on the 30th March, 1838, was succeeded by Mr. Robert Russell. Leroux, after his dismissal, went so far from bad to worse, that on the 17th August, 1839, at the age of 34, he was found dead in bed, and the next day Melbourne honoured his remains with a numerously attended funeral, considering the number of residents then in town. In overhauling his official papers, Captain Lonsdale and Mr. Russell found, amongst other scraps, a prescription for the concoction of rum-punch which poor Leroux, no doubt, compounded too often, and, unlike ordinary dispensers, always swallowed his own dose. Neither Lonsdale nor Russell ever experimented on the recipe. O n e of thefirstthings the new clerk set about was the erection of a suitabh office for himself, and this was thefirstGovernment brick building put up in the province. I have the plan and elevation before me, from which it seems to have been a brick-walled, chimnied, and roofshingled cottage of one room, 14ft. x 20ft. ; and here he settled down to his drawings, but in January, 1839, was compelled to clear out by the Police Magistrate, w h o required the place as a temporary Police Court, as the usual Court in the Market Reserve was about to be required for Quarter Sessions purposes. This Russell did, though not with the best grace, but the Police Magistrate was also the Commandant, and his commands, whatever they might be, should be obeyed. S o m e time after the new building was again used as a Clerk of Works' office, but in 1841 it was turned into "chambers" for thefirstResident Judge, w h o used an adjoining brick building as a court-house. Russell soon grew tired of his appointment—and on the 18th June, 1839, he sent in his resignation, and was followed by Mr. James Rattenbury. In 1840 the staff was thus constituted :—Clerk of Works, James Rattenbury, Esq., .£185 per a n n u m ; Overseer of Works (vacant) 5s. per diem, ,£91 5s. per a n n u m ; Overseer of Roads and Gangs, Samuel Sparkes, ,£60 per annum ; Overseer of Prisoners, Corporal Hawkins (28th regiment), ,£18 5s. per a n n u m ; Gratuities to Military Artificers, ,£100 per annum ; Rations and Clothing to Prisoners of the Crown, ,£3600 per annum ; Tools, building materials and incidentals, ,£900 per annum. U p to this period, the Custom House in progress was the only Public work of any consequence, and hitherto the various small jobs in the way of patching and white-washing the several queer hovels in use for public purposes, were mostly executed by ticket-of-leave artisans and handy men. T h e Custom House was thefirstregularly contracted-for building, but sums having been voted for the erection of a new gaol and court-house, the Clerk of Works had something in the way of works to look after. Still the duties were of the most mechanical character, for all plans and specifications were prepared in the Colonial Architect's office at Sydney, and shipped away, cut and dry, to Port Phillip, and precious muddles some of the plans and specifications were. Mr. Rattenbury was a common-place, plodding, pains-taking kind of official, but he had the good luck to secure the services of a Mr. Joseph Burns, a smart, practical, wide-awake fellow, w h o overseered under Rattenbury's superintendence, and Rattenbury comparatively had easy times of it. Rattenbury, though drawing only a rather minimum salary, did well, and prospered, so far as to be able to build houses in Victoria Parade, and became what is conventionally phrased "well-in ;" but as time went on, ugly stories crept abroad about his doings with the contractors, his being " palm-oiled " by some, " rowed" by others, and treated in some other way by more. Incriminating letters appeared in the newspapers, complaints were m a d e to the Superintendent, and twice or thrice, private investigations were held, but nothing, so far as the public were aware, had been specifically shown to compromise him. However, for some reason, Rattenbury was removed from office in April, 1846, and succeeded by Mr. Henry Ghinn, a gentleman still alive and respected in Melbourne. T h e new Clerk's salary was ^£200 a year, and he had Mr. Burns as next in c o m m a n d at 6s. per day, but there had been attached to the department a bridge branch, with a Mr. David Lennox (appointed in 1844) as superintendent, with ^£50 per a n n u m more than Ghinn, and a Mr. J. H . Craig as a clerk at 6s. per day. T h e lunatic asylum at the Yarra Bend had also been commenced, and for superintending the works there, a Mr. James Balmain received a daily wage of 6s. Mr. Ghinn remained head of the department for several years, and was fortunate in rendering satisfaction to the higher powers, and securing the good-will, not only of the contractors, but of such of the outside public as were brought into official intercourse with him. H e was conscientious, firm and courteous, and always ready and willing to co-operate in any movement initiated for the welfare of the community. W h e n events rendered a re-construction of this department necessary, he was appointed Colonial architect, which office
he held until he retired from the public service. The Medical Department
had an early origin. Before the arrival of Captain Lonsdale in 1836, there were no Government invalids to be cared for, and even after, the prisoners committed for trial for indictable offences were, until 1839, forwarded to Sydney, as there was no "trying" machinery in Melbourne. T h e few cases of illness that occurred up to September, 1837, were attended to by our twofirstphysicians, Drs. A. Thomson and B. Cotter; but on the 14th September Dr. Patrick Cussen arrived from Sydney, with the appointment of Assistant Colonial Surgeon, and forthwith entered upon his duties, which, in the course of a few years, became onerous and troublesome to a degree, for he had to attend to the convict employes attached to the several departments ; and not the least troublesome, his services were at the call of the Immigrants staying in the depot or camp prior to their engagement. H e was the Public Vaccinator, as small-pox panics occasionally occurred, in consequence of the epidemic showing n o w and then amongst the Aborigines. Cussen was a white-headed, red-faced, brown coated, good-humoured, though choleric little fellow, and between the Immigration tents, the Government Hospital, the gaol, and the newspapers, was kept in a chronic state of tribulation. In the early times the wattle and-daub hut, used as a prisoners' lock-up, had to do duty also as hospital—a queer place one would think in which to promote convalescence; but then the patients were numerically so small, that there were never more than one or two beds, or rather shakesdown, required at a time, and often none at all. A s to a lock-up, it might be one literally, for the prisoners were locked in there, but the white culprits had little difficulty in breaking out, and the blackfellows incarcerated used to burrow under the slabs forming the foundation. T h e first institution of this kind was on " the Government block" before mentioned, off the north-west corner of King and Little Collins Streets, and respecting it Mr. Robert Russell thus answered a query of mine : " T h e building marked ' Temporary Hospital' in the plan was, I believe, used as a lock-up or watch-house, because the same building in m y field-book when I surveyed this block is marked 'temporary gaol,' and I know not where else it could have been. It seems to have been d o o m e d to do double or treble duty. I know it : was from this building, or one of those adjoining, that the blackfellow scraped his way out, and I also know that it was used as an hospital when Dr. Cussen was the Government doctor; for he sent a sketch which I made of it to Sydney, to show what a hovel it was." S o m e time after a stone lock-up was erected in the Market Reserve, and a wooden police office, with a couple of skillions put up near it. The Hospital must have followed in their wake, for, in 1839, the P. P. Gazette declared it to be " a close, dirty box, about 12 feet square, the adjoining apartment being turned into a waiting and lounging room to the police office!' It was subsequently transferred to a stone cottage in the north-western part of Bourke Street, flanked by an aromatic bye-way known as Shamrock Alley, and as an Immigration Infirmary, found its last abode, singularly too, in the vacated offices of the Superintendent at Batman's Hill. After the convict element ceased to be employed in the town, and the Russell Street prison was opened, the Government Hospital was mostly used by the newly-arrived immigrants, who, as a rule, were robust and healthy, so that for several years the Government Sanatorium was little more than a mythical institution, about which Old Cussen used to fume and fuss, together with a sort of double, n a m e d Leary, as his care-taker and shadow; and I really believe that the pair, misled by the power of imagination, sometimes really fancied they had a whole ward full of shadowy invalids to minister to. In 1840 the department stood on the following moderate footing -.—Assistant Surgeon at Melbourne, P. Cussen, Esq., M.I), ,£136 17s. 6d. per a n n u m ; Assistant Surgeon at Geelong, Jonathan Clarke, Esq., M.D., ,£50 per annum: Dispenser, 8d. a day, ^"12 3s. 4d. per a n n u m ; allowance for quarters to the Assistant Surgeon at Melbourne, ,£50 5s. per a n n u m ; provisions and medical comforts, ,£120 per a n n u m ; utensils and hospital furniture, ,£100 per a n n u m ; incidental expenses, p£io per annum. O n e day in 1845, Dr. Cussen was nearly killed in m y presence under the following circumstances:— Professional duties led m e to the new gaol, n o w the old southern wing of the metropolitan prison, and on admittance I found Cussen and the gaoler (Wrintle) in conversation. There was then no Yarra Bend or any other Lunatic Asylum, and the gaol had to serve the purpose of what is n o w termed an Hospital for the Insane of both sexes. There was a dangerously demented w o m a n confined in one of the cells on the ground floor, and on the invitation of the doctor w e accompanied him to see h o w the poor creature was getting on. She was a Mrs. Lee, the wife of a Melbourne actor, and went mad under certain pecuniary reverses sustained by her husband. Being a dangerous lunatic, she was "camisoled," and had evidently determined this day to "jacket," in a different style, thefirstperson she got a chance at. Though her arms were made fast, her lower limbs were tinder no restriction, and as the cell-door was opened by a turnkey w h o stood behind, the w o m a n was waiting on the spring, and the doctor being thefirstperson to enter, she dealt him such a kick in the abdominal region as knocked all the fussiness out of him for the time, caused him to make a half-back summersault, and fallflaton the flagging. H e was removed in a state of semi-unconsciousness, and sent home. W h e n I saw him some days afterwards, in answer to an inquiry as to the state of his health, clapping m e on the shoulder, he exclaimed : " Look here, m y dear friend, I never had such a narrow shave for it in all m y life. B y Jove, it will be a caution to m e as long as I live." H e lived until 1849, when he was succeeded by Dr. Sullivan, who also died in harness, and was replaced by Dr. M'Crea, cashiered a few years ago, who is still alive and hearty, and known, either personally or by repute, to everyone. T h e Government Medical Department was never a Sybarite couch to any of its occupants. T h e billet, though warm enough in some respects, had ever a tendency to get too hot. It was hot water with Cussen, it reached boiling heat with Sullivan, and Dr. M'Crea can best tell whether it was frying-pan or fire with him. T h e life was worried out of Cussen, the early troubles of the Yarra Bend are believed to have shortened the thread of Sullivan's existence; yet M'Crea had the cat-like tenacity of nine lives, for, though he never fattened, he actually seemed to thrive upon what killed others. In this respect he was a living illustration of the adage that " O n e man's poison is another man's meat." THE PROTECTORATE OF THE ABORIGINES.
In January, 1839, four gentlemen arrived from Sydney, charged with the care of the aboriginal inhabitants of the province. They were Messrs. E. S. Parker, James Dredge, William Thomas, and C. W . Sievwright. They brought amongst them four wives, and twenty-two children, equal tofiveand a half youngsters each. They were appointed to act under the superintendence of a Chief Protector, a Mr. G. A. Robinson, who had acquired considerable experience in dealing with the natives of V a n Diemen's Land. Mr. Dredge was soon replaced by Mr. William Le Souef; the province was partitioned between them, and in 1840 the following arrangements existed :— Chief Protector of Aborigines, Mr. G. A. Robinson ; Assistant Protector for the Geelong or Western District, Mr. C. W . Sievwright; ditto for the Mount Macedon or North-west District, Mr. E. S. Parker; ditto for the Western Port or Melbourne District, Mr. W m . T h o m a s ; ditto for the Goulburn River District, Mr. W . L e Souef; and to enable them to interpose more effectually in disputes arising between the black and white population, they were gazetted Territorial Magistrates. They were thus provided for:—Chief Protector, ,£500 per a n n u m ; Allowance to same for Clerical Assistance, Office, etc., ,£100 per a n n u m ; Four Assistant Protectors at ,£250 each, p£iooo per a n n u m ; Allowance to Assistant Protectors each .£191 12s. 6d., ,£766 10s. per annum ; Four free Overseers, each £n& 5s., ,£473 per annum ; Four free Constables, each ,£50 3s. gd., £ 2 0 0 15s. per annum. Total, ,£3040 5s. Each Assistant Protector was required to ration and clothe two prisoners of the Crown, out of the ,£191 12s. 6d.; and these m e n were his attendants when engaged on travelling duty. A n area of ten square miles of country was reserved in each district, which the Assistant Protector was supposed to use as a homestead and agricultural establishment intended to serve as the centre of operations in his district, and as an asylum for such of the Aborigines as were disposed to drop down into a settled life. Agricultural operations were to be carried on at these stations for the exclusive benefit of the natives, of w h o m such as were able were expected to give an equivalent in labour; the sick, the aged, and young children were to be rationed. For each of the establishments there were furnished two convict labourers, a dray with six working oxen, plough, harrows, spades, and other requisites; but such supplies were distinct from the Assistant Protector's travelling equipment, which consisted of a cart, two men, tents, etc. These establishments were not to interfere with the itinerating duties of the Assistant Protectors; but were meant to render their services more efficient, for they were to go amongst, and sojourn with the native tribes, and endeavour to prevail upon the natives to adopt some settled mode of existence. It was contemplated to appoint a missionary to each homestead, where the agricultural operations were to be superintended by a free overseer, and the Assistant Protector was to be aided by a free constable, in the performance of his magisterial duties. T h e Protectorate continued to exist for some years, and certainly never attained the measure of success so sanguinely hoped for by its promoters. T h e Assistant Protectors were often placed in positions of m u c h difficulty between the white and black population, and in more than one instance, evinced an undue degree of partiality towards theirprot'egh, and so extreme an animus in some inter se prosecutions for criminal offences, as to excite m u c h dissatisfaction. In the early feuds between the blacks and whites, it must be admitted that the fault was not always on the side of the Aborigines. Ferocious murders, no doubt, were perpetrated by them, but the world will never know the brutal provocations and retaliations that took place. CROWN LANDS COMMISSIONERS.
As already stated, Messrs. Robert Russell and Robert Hoddle, the two first Principal Officers of Survey, were nominated successively as ex-officio Commissioners of Crown Lands, but on the ist July, 1840, the Government deemed it advisable to appoint Special Officers, charged with the administration of the Crown Lands Act 4, William I V , No. 10. T h e province was divided into two districts, viz., Western Port and Portland Bay, the former of which was assigned to the care of Mr. Henry F. Gisborne, and the latter to Captain F. Fyans. T h e duties of each Commissioner were the exercise of a general supervision over the working of the Act, to determine disputes as to the boundaries of squatters' runs, trespasses, payment of rent, assessment, and matters of a kindred nature. T h e Act provided for the enrolment of a corps known as the Border Police, to assist in executing the mandates of the Commissioners. M r . Gisborne soon resigned, left the colony, and was succeeded by the well-known and well-liked Mr. F. A. Powlett. At the end of 1840, the establishment was thus constituted :—two Commissioners, ,£450 each per annum, ,£900; two Scourgers, 2s. 6d. each per day, ,£91 5s.; rations, clothing, and equipments for 20 men, at ,£40 each, ^£800; cost of horses, ,£500; forage and farriery for horses, ,£1000; conveyance and incidental expenses, £300. Total, ,£3591. Let it not be for a moment supposed that the " scourgers " were required to thrash offending squatters into good behaviour. Their " cats " were to tickle the backs of any offending trooper, as the : force was composed of prisoners of the Crown. O n e scourger for ten m e n would appear to be sufficient; but : the second whip was put on probably by way of a demonstration, and to keep the rascally crew in terrorcm. Besides the floggers were obliged to make themselves generally useful, so that they were not quite sinecurists. This force was disbanded in 1847, with the exception of two troopers to each Commissioner, to facilitate the due, and sometimes undue execution of the law. In course of time the province was cut up into seven districts, and as many Commissioners appointed at a payment of ^£1 per day. The Commissioners were, with one exception (Major St. John), m e n w h o wielded a petty despotic authority with a fair average success, though not without frequent manifestations of discontent from dissatisfied disputants. S o m e grave mistakes (if nothing more) used to be m a d e by them, a notable instance of which is disclosed in the action of Sprot v. Fyans, summarized in another chapter, where a special jury gave a verdict against the official. T h e many selfish short-comings of Major St. John, will be more than once referred to elsewhere.