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Title: The History of Ballarat, from the First Pastoral Settlement to the Present Time.
Author: William Bramwell Withers.
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 1304971h.html
Language: English
Date first posted: August 2013
Date most recently:  August 2013

Produced by: Ned Overton.

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Production Notes:

The original map is missing from the scanned document. In its place, a map has been sourced from the State Library of Victoria, compiled by Robert Allan and also published by F.W. Niven. It covers the Ballarat gold mines and shows many of the locations mentioned in Appendix B. Click on this map to enlarge it.

In concordance with the classic, recently released in Project Gutenberg Australia, "The Eureka Stockade" (HTML), translations of all foreign language quotations and passages are here provided as numbered footnotes in an added Glossary. To go to the translation, click on the [red] bracketed number, then click on the [blue] number to return to the text. Withers' book has no footnotes.

Sandhurst is now Bendigo.

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THE HISTORY OF BALLARAT.

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THE

HISTORY OF BALLARAT

FROM THE

FIRST PASTORAL SETTLEMENT

TO THE

PRESENT TIME.

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BY

WILLIAM BRAMWELL WITHERS

JOURNALIST.

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SECOND EDITION:

WITH PLANS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.

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L.N.


TO YOUR MEMORY,


WHOSE


FRAGRANCE


"NO TIME CAN CHANGE,"


I REVERENTLY DEDICATE


THIS RECORD


OF


CHANGE.

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{Page vii}

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

This little History, in eight chapters, only touches a few of the more prominent incidents connected with pastoral settlement and the gold discovery in the Ballarat district. The compiler has seen the growth of the town from a mere collection of canvas tents among the trees and on the grassy slopes and flats of the wild bush to its present condition. Less than 20 years ago there was not a house where now stands this wealthy mine and farm-girdled city, whose population is nearly equal to the united populations of Oxford and Cambridge, and exceeding by several thousands the united populations of the cities of Winchester, Canterbury, Salisbury, and Lichfield at the time of the gold discovery. This is one of the truths which are magnificently stranger than fiction.

Some of the first workers in this mighty creation are still here. Of the pastoral pioneers there are still with us the Messrs. Learmonth, Pettett, Waldie, Winter, Fisken, Coghill, and Bacchus; and the Rev. Thomas Hastie is still living at the Manse at Buninyong.

Down the valley of the Leigh, where the Sebastopol streets and fences run over the eastern escarpment of the table land, may still be seen the sandstone foundations of a station begun by the Messrs. Yuille, whom the coming of the first hosts of gold-hunters scared away from a place no longer fit, in their opinion, for pastoral occupation. Those unfinished walls are in a paddock overlooking a little carse of some four or five acres by the creek side, owned by an Italian farmer, and close to the junction of the Woolshed Creek with the main stream in the valley. On the other side of the larger stream rise basaltic mounds, marked with the pits and banks of the earlier miners. Like the trenches of an old battle-field, these works of the digging armies of the past are now grass-grown and spotted with wild flowers. All around, the open lands of fifteen years ago are turned into streets and fields and gardens. A little way lower down the valley, where the ground has a broad slope up from the left bank of the Leigh to the foot of the ranges, was the Magpie rush of 1855-6. For a mile nearly every inch of frontage was fought for then, and a town of over four thousand inhabitants sprang up. Gold was found plentifully, and warehouse, hotel, and saloon crowded close with dwelling and church along the thoroughfare. A summer flood surprised the dwellers on the lowland and carried off lives as well as property, mingling a tragic sorrow with the losses of the unsuccessful. Time, less sudden than the midsummer freshet, but more sweeping, has cleared the ground of almost every vestige of the busy but fragile life of fifteen years ago. But the eternal sense of the Infinite survives "our little lives" and all their fitful pulsations of varying passion. Yonder, where, by the bush track side, the rounding slope swells upon the south, stands a church, sombre, lonely, and silent as the Roman sentinel at Pompeii when all around him had fled or fallen. This is all, save here and there heaps of broken bottles and sardine tins half hidden by the grass, and a few faint trench and building lines, softened by the rains, and bright at this time with the young verdure of the turning season. The most curious eye could now discover no other traces of the rush if it were not for the broader and deeper marks left where the first miners fought their industrial way, and where, for years, their followers retraced the golden trail. On going up the Yarrowee banks northward a space, as one looks up the valley he sees, beyond the city, the bare top, the white artificial chasms and banks and mounds, where Black Hill raised its dark dense head of forest trees before the digger rent the hill in twain, and half disembowelled the swelling headland.

Besides the pastoral settlers already mentioned, there are yet with us some of the first discoverers. Esmond is still here. Woodward and Turner, of the Golden Point discoverers, are still here in Ballarat, and Merrick and some others of that band remain in the district. Others who followed them within the first week or two are also amongst our busy townsfolk of to-day.

While these remained it was thought desirable to gather some of the honey of fact from fugitive opportunity, that it might be garnered for the historian of the future. Nearly all the persons whose names have been mentioned above have assisted in the preparation of this narrative by furnishing valuable contributions from their own recollections, and the compiler takes this occasion to thank them and others, including legal managers of mines, whose ready courtesy has enabled him to do what he has done to rescue from forgetfulness the brief details here chronicled touching the history of this gold-field. He has borrowed some facts and figures, too, from Mr. Harrie Wood's ably compiled notes, published in Mr. Brough Smyth's "Gold-fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria." To the officers of most of the public institutions referred to he also owes the acknowledgment of much courtesy; and to Mr. Huyghue, a gentleman still holding office in Ballarat, and who was in the public service here at the time of the Eureka Stockade, thanks are due, both by the publisher and compiler, for notes of that period, and for the extremely interesting illustrations of the Stockade, the Camp, and other spots copied from original drawings. The publisher also acknowledges the courtesy of Mr. Ferres, the Government printer, in supplying original documents, and of Mr. Noone in giving valuable assistance in connection with their reproduction by the photo-lithographic process. The contributions of newspaper correspondents during the Eureka Stockade troubles have also assisted the compiler, and notably the letters of the correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser in 1854-5. But to Mr. John Noble Wilson, the commercial manager of the Ballarat Star, is due, on the part of all concerned, the recognition of his suggesting the narrative, of his constant cordial co-operation, and his untiring ingenuity in making suggestions and collecting materials both for the text and the illustrations. The reproduced proclamations by the Government, which the reader will find at intervals, as well as many of the original documents, are the fruit of that gentleman's assiduity in collecting materials of interest and pertinence.

It has been necessary to record the fact that the tragic issue of the license agitation was mainly due to the mistakes of the governing authorities, even as the unrighteous rigors of the digger-hunting processes were made more poignant by the haughty indiscretions and brutal excesses of commissioners and troopers. But it is equally incumbent on the recorder to recognise the more agreeable fact that there were officers in both grades who did their harsh duties differently. Some of these are still in the service, and retain the respect they won in the more troublous times by their judicious and humane administration of an obnoxious law, for the existence of which they were in no way responsible.

In the matter of gold statistics there has been found great difficulty, for the early records were imperfect, and the latter ones are little, if in anywise, superior; while searches for the first newspaper accounts of the gold discovery have shown that, both in Melbourne and Geelong, the public files have been rifled of invaluable portions by the miserable meanness of some unknown thieves.

The future we have not essayed to divine. What the past and the present of our local history may do to enable the reader to speculate upon the future, each one must for himself determine, though the faith of the Ballarat of to-day in the Ballarat of the future may, we think, be more accurately inferred from the stable monuments of civic enterprise, and the many signs of mining, manufacturing, and rural industry around, than from the occasional forebodings of fear in seasons of depression. In less than two decades we have created a large city, built up great fortunes, laid the foundations of many commercial successes, and sown the seeds of yet undeveloped industries; and those who have seen so much should not readily think that we are near the exhaustion of our resources, either in the precious minerals, or the still more precious spirit of enterprise and industry necessary for the development of the wealth of nature around us. For the good done, and for the doers of the good, we may all be thankful, if not proud; and, in proportion as we are thus moved, we may look with confident hope towards the future, whose uncertain years are lit up with the radiance of the past, and shaped to our vision by the promise of the present.

Among modest writers it is the fashion not only to write prefaces, but to excite attention to wonderful merit by apologies for defects. The present writer burns to be in the fashion. He craves the indulgence of the reader in informing that important personage that the ordinary duties of a reporter on a daily morning paper are not luxuriously light, and that the compilation of the following narrative has been a refreshing appendage to the daily discharge of such ordinary duties, plus a bracing exercise of sub-editorial function. He has, no doubt, amply vindicated Bolingbroke's accurate apothegm, and especially in this preface. Both preface and narrative may be regarded as a verbose exaggeration of the importance of the subject. The answer to that is, that the writer has written mainly for those who know the place, and, knowing it, are proud of it; for those who believe in the future in reserve for it, for the colony to which it belongs to-day, and for the empire of which it some day may be a not altogether unimportant portion.

In the City of York, where memory and fancy, busy with the records and the remains of the past, make of the softened lights and shadows and many-colored figures of mediaeval English history an inexpressible charm, the glorious Minster rises over all supreme in its solemn and saintly beauty. Whatever pilgrim there has studiously perused that marvellous "poem in stone" may have seen over one of the doorways the work of some loving and pious egotist in the following inscription:—"Ut rosa flos florum, sic tu es domus domorum." [1] Let us be permitted, with similar egotism, if not with equal piety, to inscribe here, as over one of the portals of approach to one of the golden fields and cities of Victoria:—Ut aurum metallorum pretiosissimum, sic tu es camporum aureorum princeps, urbiumque opulentissima. [2]

W.B.W.   

Ballarat, 22nd June, 1870.

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{Page xii}

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

This second edition was called for as the first was out of print, and this new issue and all the author's interest in the History are the sole property of the publishers. In transferring my rights to the publishers, I undertook to write what was deemed necessary to bring the narrative "up to date". To do this and supply some omissions from the first edition were, both, desirable, and the attempt has been carried out as far as the publishers' views as to space have permitted. How inadequate the realisation is, my repeated wails in the text admit as frankly as possible. Independently of the omissions from the first edition, the developments of the city and suburbs during the 17 years since 1870 involved so much matter that it was found impossible to deal with it all in a satisfactory manner within the space available; but it is hoped that the leading events of the period have, at least, been in some way recognised. And even that could not have been done had it not been that the author, with some few exceptions, met everywhere the readiest will to assist him by supplying the official information required. In the body of the work these courtesies have been generally acknowledged, and I desire to repeat here my sense of indebtedness in that respect to very many citizens. It is not for me to judge how ill or well my part of the work has been done, but it may be permitted to me to say that the publishers and printers have finished their work in a manner that does credit to them and to the arts they represent. Mr. Niven has enriched the edition with many illustrations from his own pencil, and the photo-lithographs of official and other documents which give fac similes of those papers, bespeak the resources of the publishers' establishment. The apposite; designs on the cover, and their engraving and printing, are all the product of the publishers' own office, and compare creditably with the work of old-world firms. The map of the mines, at page 232,* has been prepared from surveys specially made by Mr. Robert Allan, mining surveyor, and is a document of interest and value. To Mr. Anderson, the head printer, I owe my thanks for many intelligent suggestions in the course of the revisal of proofs, and his vigilant eye detected some errors in Appendix A which had lain unnoticed ever since the issue of the edition of 1870. It is hoped that the present edition is nearly free from literal errors, but two or three have been noticed since the matter passed through the press. In the bottom line, page 61, the date 1855 should be 1854; in the heading to Chapter VI. "representative charges" should be "representative changes;" and in the bottom line, page 285, the date 1857 should be 1856.**

[* The original map was not available; another, also produced by Niven, has been substituted here—N.O.]

[** All these corrections have been made—N.O.]

A word to scholars, that they may not believe a lie. I am no Latinist. As a poor pavior on the high road of letters, I picked up some Roman tesser� [3] by the way side, and, to please my fancy and give bits of color and tone of reminiscence and meaning not else handy, inserted them here and there in the ruder work. Only that, my learned brothers of the great republic.

The writer of even so small a history as this, is but as the voice of one crying in a wilderness of facts and dates, in hope of reducing them in some sort to cosmic order. Like the life it essays to depict, history is only a drama, and the historian merely sets the scenes, and lifts the curtain, where else had been uncertainty or oblivion.

Our revels now are ended. The actors here, too, were all spirits. Many, as squatters Pettett, Waldie, Winter Bacchus, one of the Learmonth's, besides a host of mining and civic pioneers, have melted into air since the first edition was issued. The veteran Thomas Hastie still lives at the Buninyong manse, and others still grace, or disgrace, with their corporal presence, the scenes of their exploits. There remain Humffray and Lalor, and, with other of Lalor's Stockade subalterns, the gold-finder Esmond. Humffray and Esmond are in the shallows, but Lalor, on whose "rebel" head a price was once set, floats proudly as the able and well-salaried Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. His political friends are not ashamed to plead for a retiring pension for him, after he has, for many years, been liberally paid for his services in a nominally pension-hating democracy; whilst Esmond, but for whose discovery Lalor might never have been here, has failed to get leave to earn State wages enough to keep the wolf from the door.

The fingers of change move swiftly. Whilst facts and figures have been shaping for the printers of this edition, the funerals of some of those who furnished the matter have passed by. Since the last chapter has been in type, the old mess-room of the civil and military officers of the Camp has been sold, and its materials have been removed piece-meal. Thirty years ago, the present Premier of Victoria stood in his blue serge shirt on the verandah of the house, and unsuccessfully tried to persuade his brother blue-shirts to return him, at that time, to the court then sitting there. "Rebel" bullets fell about the house during the ante-Stockade trouble, and then the vanquished victors of the Stockade sent representatives to sit in the mess-room as a Local Court, with Warden Sherard as first chairman, and thereafter, as long as the court lived, with the merry, brown-eyed Daly, and with the merrier and caustic Miskelly as the clerk for awhile. Ex-Chairman Sherard is still here, as Savings Bank actuary, but Daly and many others, who sat there a generation agone, are dead. The old historic house itself is now gone, too, and a free public library is to be built upon the site.

For myself, I now vanish for ever from this stage, to write editions of this History no more—if this be history. But though I now retire behind the scenes, so far as this work is concerned, I shall not forget the play nor the leading players. The largest portion of my life has been spent here, and if there be any possibility of the realisation of such a sad conceit as that of the Tudor Mary, who said Calais would be found written upon her heart, the name of this beautiful city of Ballarat may be found written upon mine.

W.B.W.   

Ballarat, 3rd August, 1887.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, PLANS, &c.

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General View of Ballarat, 1887        (Frontispiece).

"King Billy" and Ballarat Tribe, 1850

Ballarat in 1852 from Mount Buninyong

Store Drays on the Road to the Diggings

Creswick Creek from Spring Hill, 1855

Ballarat Flat, 1855, from Black Hill

The "Township" from Bath's hotel, 1855

John Alloo's Restaurant, Main road, 1853

Deep Sinking, Bakery Hill, 1855

First Quartz Mill, Black Hill

Arrival of the Geelong Mail Coach

Gold-digging License

Business License

Arrival of Troops

Site of the Eureka Stockade

Government Notices:

[Notice on Social Order]

[Notice by the Resident Commissioner]

[Notice to Special Constables]

Proclamations:

[Two Proclamations]

[Reward for Lawlor and Black]

[Reward for Vern]

[Notice by the Lieutenant-Governor]

[Notice by France's Consul]

Soldiers' and Diggers' Graves

The Stockade Memorial

Golden Point and Yarrowee Creek

First Horse Puddler

Band and Albion Consols Mine, 1887

Madame Berry Mine, 1887

Mining Plan of Ballarat [substitute]

Mining Registrar's Old Office

View of Sturt street

Lake Wendouree

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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[Preface to the First Edition] [Preface to the Second Edition] CHAPTER I. BALLARAT BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY. First Exploring Parties.—Mount Buninyong.—Mount Aitkin.—Ercildoun.—Ballarat.—Lake Burrumbeet Dry.—Settling Throughout the District.—First Wheat Grown.—First Flour Mill.—Founding of Buninyong.—A Wide Diocese.—Appearance of Ballarat.—The Natives.—Aboriginal Names.—The Squatters.—Premonitions of the Gold Discovery. CHAPTER II. THE GOLD DISCOVERY. California and the Ural.—Predictions of Australian Gold.—Discoveries of Old Bushmen.—Hargreaves and others in New South Wales.—Effects of Discovery at Bathurst.—Sir C.A. Fitz Roy's Despatches.—First Assay.—Esmond and Hargreaves.—Esmond's Discovery at Clunes.—Previous Victorian Discoveries.—Esmond's the First Made Effectively Public.—Hiscock.—Golden Point, Ballarat.—Claims of Discoverers as to Priority.—Effects of the Discovery.—Mr. Latrobe's Despatches.—His Visit to Ballarat.—The Licenses.—Change of Scene at Ballarat.—Mount Alexander Rush.—Fresh Excitements.—Rise in Prices. CHAPTER III. FROM THE GOLD DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR OF THE EUREKA STOCKADE. Great Aggregations of Population.—Opening up of Golden Grounds.—A Digger's Adventures.—Character of the Population.—Dates of Local Discoveries.—Ballarat Township Proclaimed.—First Sales of Land.—Bath's Hotel.—First Public Clock.—Tatham's and Brooksbank's Recollections.—Primitive Stores, Offices, and Conveyances.—Woman a Phenomenon.—First Women at Ballarat.—Curious Monetary Devices.—First Religious Services.—Churches.—Newspapers.—Theatres.—Lawyers.—First Courts.—Capture of Roberts, the Nelson Robber.—Nuggets.—Golden Gutters.—Thirty or Forty Thousand Persons Located. CHAPTER IV. DIGGER HUNTING. The Gold License.—Taxation Without Representation.—Unequal Incidence of the Tax.—Episodes of Digger Hunting.—Irritating Method of Enforcing the Tax.—Suspicions of Corruption among the Magistrates and Police.—Visit of Sir Charles and Lady Hotham.—Big Larry.—Roff's Recollections.—Reform League.—Murder of Scobie.—Acquittal of Bentley.—Dewes Suspected.—Mass Meetings.—Burning of Bentley's Hotel.—Irwin's Narrative.—Arrest of Fletcher, M'Intyre, and Westerby.—Re-arrest of Bentley.—Conviction of Bentley.—Rich's Experiences.—Conviction of Fletcher, M'Intyre, and Westerby.—Demand for their Liberation.—Increased Excitement.—F�te to the American Consul.—Foster.—Sir Charles Hotham.—Arrival of Troops.—Troops Assaulted.—Bakery Hill Meeting.—Southern Cross Flag.—Burning the Licenses. CHAPTER V. THE EUREKA STOCKADE. The Last Digger Hunt.—Collision between the Diggers and Military and Police.—Southern Cross Flag again.-—Lalor and his Companions Armed, kneel, and swear Mutual Defence.—Irwin's Account.—Carboni Raffaello.—His Pictures of the Times and the Men.—More Troops Arrive.—The Diggers Extend their Organisation Under Arms.—Lalor "Commander-in-Chief".—Forage and Impressment Parties.—Original Documents.—Shots Fired from the Camp.—The Stockade Formed.—Narrative of a Government Officer in the Camp.—Attack by the Military and Taking of the Stockade.—Various Accounts of the Time.—Raffaello's Description.—Other Tragic Pictures.—First Stone House.—Bank of Victoria Fortified.—A Soldier's Story.—List of the Killed.—Burials.—Rewards Offered for the Insurgent Leaders.—Their Hiding and Escape.—Charge Against A.P. Akehurst.—Proclamation of Martial Law.—Feeling in Melbourne.—Foster's Resignation.—Deputation of Diggers.—Humffray Arrested.—Vote of Thanks to the Troops.—Legislative Council's Address to the Governor.—His Reply.—Prisoners at the Ballarat Police Court.—Royal Commission of Enquiry.—Trial and Acquittal of the State Prisoners.—Humffray.—Lalor's and his Captain's Hiding Place and Peculiarities.—Cost of the Struggle.—Compensation Meeting at the Stockade.—Raffaello there Selling his Book.—Subsequent Celebrations.—Soldiers' and Diggers' Monuments.—The Burial Places.—The Insurgent Flag.—Death of Sir Charles Hotham.—Hotham and Foster Vindicated. CHAPTER VI. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. Ballarat Politically Active and Influential.—New Constitution.—Humffray and Lalor Elected.—Their Addresses.—Humffray in Trouble.—Lalor on Democracy.—Lalor on the Star.-—The Grand Trunk Affair.—Petition for a Private Property Mining Law.—Neglect by the Parliaments of Mining Interests.—Probable Causes.—New Political Demands.—Votes of Lalor and Humffray.—Burial Expenses of Governor Hotham.—O'Shanassy Chief Secretary.—Haines Succeeds, with M'Culloch as Commissioner of Customs.—O'Shanassy in Power Again.—Nicholson Cabinet.—Succeeded by Heales, with Humffray as First Minister of Mines.—O'Shanassy in Power Again.—Succeeded by M'Culloch.—The Tariff.—Re-call of Governor Darling.—Darling Grant Crisis.—Death of Governor Darling.—Grant to his Widow and Family.—Sladen Ministry.—M'Culloch in Power Again.—Representative Changes.—Jones Declared Corrupt.—Defeats Vale.—The Macpherson Ministry.—Its Resignation.—Macgregor's Failure.—M'Culloch and Macpherson in Office Together.—Michie Elected for Ballarat West.—First Berry Government.—M'Culloch in Power Again.—Joseph Jones, Minister of Railways.—Major Smith in the Second and Third Berry Governments.—His "Merry Millions".—His Breach with Berry.—Ballarat Sticks to him.—C.E. Jones Returned Again.—He and his Tribune.—R.T. Vale and Jones beat Bell and Fincham.—Ballarat East Candidates: their Ups and Downs.—James, Minister of Mines, Loses his Seat, and Leaves Political Life.—Council Elections.—Wanliss Petitions Against Gore's Return.—A Local Self-Government Paroxysm.—Local Court.—Mining Board.—Court of Mines.—Local Courts Wrongly Constituted.—Mining Boards.—Judge Rogers and Black Wednesday.—One Code of Mining Law Required.—Valuable Services of the Earlier Courts and Boards. CHAPTER VII. DEVELOPMENT OF MINING. Block and Frontage Claims.—Some Early Diggers.—Election Excitements.—Opposition to Extended Areas.—Such Opposition a Mistake.—Present Areas.—Progress of Mining Discoveries.—Increased Operative Difficulties.—Introduction of Machinery.—Luck in Digging.—Mining Agreements and Litigation.—The Egerton Case.—The Clunes Riot.—The Browns Leases.—Pleasant Creek Jumps.—Stink Pots.—Private Property Leases and Law.—Foreign Capital.—Sebastopol Drainage.—Prospecting Board.—Koh-i-Noor, Band and Albion Consols, Llanberris, and Black Hill Quartz Companies.—The Kingston Alluvial Field.—Gold Returns and Mining Statistics.—Pre-eminence of the Ballarat District.—Westgarth on the Purity of Ballarat Gold.—Assays of Ballarat Nuggets.—Table of Nugget Dates, Weights, and Localities.—Sebastopol Plateau Revival.—Increasing Proportion of Quartz Gold.—The Future to be Chiefly Quartz Mining.—The Corner.—A Great Transition. CHAPTER VIII. THE TOWN OF BALLARAT. Area and Population of Ballarat.—Great Mining Collapse.—Municipal Statistics of Ballarat West, Ballarat East, and Sebastopol.—Water Supply.—Lake Wendouree.—Yacht and Rowing Clubs.—Hospital.—Benevolent Asylum.—Orphan Asylum.—Female Refuge.—Ladies' Benevolent Society.—Roman Catholic and Anglican Dioceses.—Churches.—State and Church Schools—School of Mines.—Museum—Observatory.—Public Art Gallery.—The Stoddart Gift.—The Russell Thompson Bequest.—The Burns Statue.—Other Statues Projected.—Typography.—Photography.—Lithography.—Public Libraries.—Mechanics' Institute.—Academy of Music.—Eisteddfod.—Cambrian Society.—Musical Societies.—Agricultural and Horticultural Societies.—Iron Foundries.—Implement Factories.—Woollen Mills.—Coachbuilding.—Flour Mills.—Bone Mills.—Breweries.—Distilleries.—Cordial Factories.—Bacon Factories.—Tanneries.—Boot Factories.—Juvenile Industrial Exhibition.—Fire Brigades.—Volunteers and Militia.—Gas Company.—Banks.—Recreation Reserves.—Cricket and Football Clubs.—Hunt, Race, Coursing, and Gun Clubs.—Roller Skating Rinks.—Acclimatisation, Caledonian, and Hibernian Societies.—Reformatory.—Hope Lodge.—Railways.—Tramways.—Public Offices.—Public Halls.—Gaol and Court House.—Camp.—Last of the Military.—Explorers' Monument.—Queen's Jubilee and Old Pioneers.—Electric Telegraph and Telephone.—Rainfall and Temperature.—Henry Sutton.—Local Journalism.—Royal and Other Visitors.—Reminiscences.—Past and Present Contrasts. Appendix A: [Representatives in Parliament for Ballarat from the First Election in 1855 to the Year 1886.] Appendix B [Glossary: Translations of Foreign Language Quotations and Phrases.] General View of Ballarat, 1887

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HISTORY OF BALLARAT.

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{Page 1}

CHAPTER I.

BALLARAT BEFORE THE GOLD DISCOVERY.

First Exploring Parties.—Mount Buninyong.—Mount Aitkin.—Ercildoun.—Ballarat.—Lake Burrumbeet Dry.—Settling Throughout the District.—First Wheat Grown.—First Flour Mill.—Founding of Buninyong.—A Wide Diocese.—Appearance of Ballarat.—The Natives.—Aboriginal Names.—The Squatters.—Premonitions of the Gold Discovery.

In January of the next year explorers set out again. The party this time consisted of Messrs. J. Aitken, Henry Anderson, Thomas L. Learmonth, Somerville L. Learmonth, and William Yuille. The starting point was Mr. Aitken's house, at Mount Aitken, and thence the explorers went towards Mount Alexander, which at that time had just been occupied by a party of overlanders from Sydney, consisting of Messrs. C.H. Ebden, Yaldwin, and Mollison. From Mount Alexander they followed the course of the Loddon, passed over what has since been proved to be a rich auriferous country, and bore down on a prominent peak, which the explorers subsequently called Ercildoun, from the old keep on the Scottish border, with which the name of the Learmonth's ancestor, Thomas the Rhymer, was associated. Their course brought them to the lake district of Burrumbeet and its rich natural pastures. The days were hot but the nights cold, and the party, camping at night on an eminence near Ercildoun, suffered so much from cold that they gave the camping place the name Mount Misery. There was water then in Burrumbeet, but it was intensely salt and very shallow. Next year, 1839, Lake Burrumbeet was quite dry, and it remained dry for several succeeding summers. It was covered with rank vegetation, and the ground afforded excellent pasture after the ranker growth had been burnt off. The country thus discovered was occupied during the year 1838, and other settlers, pushing on in the same direction, in a couple of years completed the occupation of all the fine pastoral country as far westward as the Hopkins River. The brothers Learmonth, Mr. Henry Anderson, Messrs. Archibald and W.C. Yuille, and Mr. Waldie settled on the subsequently revealed gold-fields of Ballarat, Buninyong, Sebastopol, and their immediate vicinities. Some members of the Clyde Company, of Tasmania, visited the Western district in 1838, that company giving the name to the Clyde Inn, of the old Geelong coach road. They settled upon the Moorabool and the Leigh, Mr. George Russell being the manager. Major Mercer, who gave the name to Mount Mercer, and Mr. D. Fisher, were of that company. The Narmbool run, near Meredith, was taken by Mr. Neville in 1839. Ross' Creek was named from Capt. Ross, who in those early days used to perform the feat of walking in Highland costume all the way to Melbourne. But in those times travelling was a more serious matter than in these days of railroads, coaches, cabs, and other vehicles, with good roads and a generally settled country. Then there were no roads, few people, and a thick forest, encumbered about Ballarat, too, with the native hop. Mr. Archibald Fisken, of Lal Lal, was the first person to drive a vehicle through the then roadless forest of Warrenheip and Bullarook. In 1846 he drove a dog-cart tandem with Mr. W. Taylor through the bush to Longerenong, on the Wimmera.

Messrs. T.L. and S.L. Learmonth, whose father was then in Hobarton, settled their homestead on what became known as the Buninyong Gold Mining Company's ground at Buninyong. Mr. Henry Anderson, who was the earliest pioneer in what is now known as Winter's Flat, planted his homestead near the delta formed by the confluence of the Woolshed Creek and the Yarrowee, Messrs. Yuille subsequently taking that homestead and all the country now known as Ballarat West and East and Sebastopol. These settlers gave the name to Yuille's Swamp, more recently called Lake Wendouree. The Bonshaw run was taken up by Mr. Anderson, 'who named it Waverley Park, and Mr. John Winter coming into possession shortly afterwards gave to it the present name, after his wife's home in Scotland. Messrs. Pettett and Francis, in 1838 (as managers for Mr. W.H.T. Clarke), took up the country at Dowling Forest, so called after Mrs. Clarke's maiden name. Shortly after they had settled there Mr. Francis was killed by one of his own men with a shear-blade, at one of the stations on the run. Before Mr. Pettett took up the Dowling Forest run he was living at the Little River, and a native chief named Balliang offered to show him the country about Lal Lal. The chief in speaking of it distinguished between it and the Little River by describing the water as La-al La-al—the a long—and by gesture indicating the water-fall now so well known, the name signifying falling water. Mr. Waldie subsequently took up country north-west of Ballarat, and called his place Wyndholm, where he resided till his decease. Messrs. Yuille had settled originally on the Barwon, near Inverleigh, but finding the natives troublesome they retired to Ballarat. Mr. Smythe, who with Mr. Prentice held the run, gave the name to Smythe's Creek, as Messrs. Baillie had to the creek at Carngham their run there being afterwards transferred to Messrs. Russell and Simson. Mr. Darlot also occupied a run there. Creswick Creek has its name from Henry Creswick, who settled upon a small run there. Two brothers Creswick had previously held country close to Warrenheip. The Messrs. Baillie were sons of Sir William Baillie, Bart., of Polkemmet, Scotland. Mr. Andrew Scott settled with his family at the foot of Mount Buninyong, where he had a snug run in which the mount and its rich surrounding soil were included. Mrs. Andrew Scott was the first lady who travelled through this district. She drove across the dry bed of Lake Burrumbeet in the year 1840. The country about Smeaton and Coghill's Creek was taken up in the year 1838 by Captain Hepburn and Mr. David Coghill who came overland from New South Wales with sheep and cattle, following the route of Sir Thomas Mitchell in his expedition of exploration in Port Phillip in 1836. With them came Mr. Bowman, who also brought stock. He took up a run on the Campaspe, while his companions came on further south. The Murray was very low when they crossed, and the stock was easily passed over. At the Ovens they found a dry river-bed; Lake Burrumbeet was also dry that year. When Messrs. Hepburn and Coghill had left sheep at the Campaspe and Brown's Creek on their way, they pushed on, and from Mount Alexander they descried the Smeaton Hills, and, continuing their journey, found and took up the unoccupied country there. Smeaton Hill was called Quaratwong by the natives, and the hill between the Glenlyon road and Smeaton Hill was called Moorabool. Captain Hepburn, a seafaring man originally, was one of the Hepburns of East Lothian, Scotland, and Smeaton was named by him after the East Lothian estate held by his relative, Sir Thomas Hepburn. Mr. Coghill was the first to plough land at the creek which bears his name, and in which locality there now is found one of the broadest and richest tracts of farming land in Victoria. He brought with him overland a plough, a harrow, and the parts of a hand steel flour-mill. In 1839 he ploughed and sowed wheat, and thus grew and ground the first corn grown there. In 1841 Captain Hepburn erected a water-mill for corn on Birch's Creek; that was the first mill of that kind. Birch's Creek was named after the brothers Arthur and Cecil Birch, who, with the Rev. Mr. Irvine, came overland soon after Messrs. Hepburn and Coghill, and settled at the Seven Hills. Besides the run at Coghill's Creek, taken up by Mr. Coghill for some others of his family. Cattle Station Hill was also taken by him. This run lay between Glendaruel and the Seven Hills, and was part of the purchased estate belonging to the Hepburns. The late Captain Hepburn long acted as a justice of the peace, and he was one of the squatters whom M'Combie mentions as having taken part in a meeting held on the 4th of June, 1844, in front of the Mechanics' Institute, Melbourne, to protest against Sir G. Gipps' squatting policy, and to urge forward the movement for the separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales. The squatters mustered on horseback that day on Batman's Hill, and thence rode to the meeting in Collins street, the "equestrian order" thus giving an early example of the right freemen have, even in a Crown colony, to air public grievances publicly and fearlessly.

Lal Lal was taken up in the year 1840 by Messrs. Blakeney and George Airey, the latter a brother of the Crimean officer so often and so flatteringly mentioned in Kinglake's "History of the Crimean War". In the same year, Messrs. Le Vet (or Levitt) and another took up Warrenheip as a pig-growing station, but the venture failed, and some of the pigs ran wild in the forest there for years, and preyed on each other. After Messrs. Le Vet and Co. had been there awhile, the run was taken up on behalf of Messrs. Verner, Welsh, and Holloway, of the Gingellac run, on the Hume, by Mr. Haverfield (at present the editor of the Bendigo Advertiser), Le Vet and partner selling their improvements for about �30. Shortly after Mr. Haverfield came to Warrenheip, Bullarook Forest was occupied by Mr. John Peerman, for Mr. Lyon Campbell. The Mr. Verner mentioned above was the first Commissioner of the Melbourne Insolvency Court. He was related to Sir William Verner, a member in the House of Commons for Armagh. Mr. Verner took part, as chairman, at a Separation meeting held in Melbourne on the 30th December, 1840, and soon after that he left the colony. Mr. Welsh was the late Mr. Patricius Welsh, of Ballarat; and Mr. Holloway became a gold-broker, and died at the Camp at Bendigo. In the year 1843, Mr. Peter Inglis, who had a station at Ballan, took up the Warrenheip run, and shortly after that purchased the Lal Lal station, and throwing them both together, grazed on the united runs one of the largest herds in the colony. The western boundary of Mr. Inglis' Warrenheip run marched with the eastern boundary of Mr. Yuille's run, the line being struck by marked trees running from Mount Buninyong across Brown Hill to Slaty Creek. Mr. Donald Stewart, now of Buninyong, was stock-rider for Mr. Inglis, on the Warrenheip and Lal Lal stations, and superintendent during the minority of the present owner of Lal Lal. In 1839 Mr. W.H. Bacchus brought cattle from Melbourne and grazed them on his run of Burrumbeetup, the centre of which run is now occupied by the Ballan pound. There is a waterfall on the Moorabool there, which, for its picturesque beauty, is well worth visiting. The run extended on the Ballarat side of the Moorabool to about midway to the Lal Lal Creek. Mr. Bacchus still resides in the same locality, his present station being known as Perewur, or Peerewurr, a native name, meaning waterfall and opossums. It was originally held by Messrs. Fairbairn and Gardner. Buninyong was a village, or township, long before Ballarat had any existence as a settlement. The first huts were built at Buninyong in the year 1841, by sawyers, splitters, and others, Mr. George Innes being then called the "King of the Splitters". George Gab, George Coleman, and others, were the pioneers in the Buninyong settlement. Gab had a wife who used to ride Amazonian fashion on a fine horse called Petrel, and both husband and wife were energetic people. Gab opened a house of accommodation for travellers on the spot where Jamison's hotel was afterwards built. The first store in the neighborhood was opened at the Round Water Holes, near Bonshaw, by Messrs. D.S. Campbell and Woolley, of Melbourne, who almost immediately afterwards removed to a site next Gab's, at Buninyong, whose place they took for a kitchen. Gab then removed and built another hut opposite to the present police-court, and he opened his new hut also as a hotel. A blacksmith named M'Lachlan, with a partner, opened a smithy opposite to Campbell and Wooley's store. This was the nucleus of the principal inland town then in the colony. In the year 1844 Dr. Power settled there, and built a hut behind what was afterwards the Buninyong hotel. He was the first medical man in the locality, and for years the settlers had no other doctor nearer than Geelong. The young township became a favorite place with bullock teamsters, who were glad to build huts there where they could leave their wives and children in some degree safe from aboriginal or other marauders. In the year 1847, the Rev. Thomas Hastie, the first clergyman in the district, came to Buninyong. His house, and the church in which he performed service, were built entirely by the residents in Buninyong, both pecuniary gifts and manual labor being contributed. Then, as afterwards, the Messrs. Learmonth were among the foremost movers in the promotion of the mental and moral, as well as material welfare of the people about them. Mr. Hastie, in a letter to us, says:—

Before I came in 1847, the Messrs. Learmonth had made several efforts to procure the settlement of a clergyman at Buninyong, but had failed, partly from want of support, but chiefly from their inability to procure one likely to be suitable. Overtures had been made to Mr. Beazely, a Congregational minister then in Tasmania, and afterwards in New South Wales, but he declined them. The Messrs. Learmonth were willing to take a minister from any denomination, and the circumstance that a Presbyterian clergyman was settled here arose from the fact that no other was available. Until after the gold discovery there was no minister in the interior, that is out of Melbourne, Geelong, Belfast, and Portland, but Mr. Hamilton of Mortlake, Mr. Gow of Campbellfield, and myself. For many years my diocese, as it may be called, extended from Batesford, on the Barwon, to Glenlogie, in the Pyrenees, and included all the country for miles on either side, my duties taking me from home more than half my time. Before I came the Messrs. Learmonth had contemplated the establishment of a cheap boarding-school for the children of shepherds and others in the bush, but for prudential reasons they deferred the matter till the settlement of a minister offered the means of supervision. Immediately after I came the project was carried out, and subscriptions were received from most of the settlers in the Western district. The school was opened in 1848 by Mr. Bedwell, �10 a year being charged for board and education.

The gold discovery carried away the teachers, raised the prices of everything, and Mr. Hastie had to see to the school and its GO boarders himself; but through all the difficulties the school was maintained with varying fortunes, until at length it became the Common-school near the Presbyterian Manse, with an average attendance of some 180 children.

What is now the boroughs of Ballarat, Ballarat East, and Sebastopol, was then a pleasantly picturesque pastoral country. Mount and range, and table land, gullies and creeks and grassy slopes, here black and dense forest, there only sprinkled with trees, and yonder showing clear reaches of grass, made up the general landscape. A pastoral quiet reigned everywhere. Over the whole expanse there was nothing of civilisation but a few pastoral settlers and their retinue—the occasional flock of nibbling sheep, or groups of cattle browsing in the broad herbage. There were three permanent waterholes in those days where the squatters used to find water for their flocks in the driest times of summer. One was at the junction of the Gong Gong and the Yarrowee, or Blakeney's Creek, as it was then called, after the settler of that name there. Another was where the Yarrowee bends under the ranges by the Brown Hill hotel, and the other was near Golden Point. Aborigines built their mia-mias about Wendouree, the kangaroo leaped unharmed down the ranges, and fed upon the green slopes and flats where the Yarrowee rolled its clear water along its winding course down the valley. Bullock teams now and then plodded their dull, slow way across flat and range, and made unwittingly the sites and curves of future streets. Settlers would lighten their quasi[new?] solitude with occasional chases of the kangaroo, where now the homes of a busy population have made a city; it was a favorite resort of the kangaroo, and Mr. A. Fisken, of Lal Lal, and other settlers often hunted kangaroo where Main, Bridge, and other streets are now. The emu, the wombat, the dingo, were also plentiful. The edge of the eastern escarpment of the plateau where Ballarat West now is, was then green and golden in the spring time with the indigenous grass and trees. Where Sturt street descends to the flat was a little gully, and its upper edges, where are now the London Chartered Bank, the Post-office, and generally the eastern side of Lydiard street, from Sturt street to the gaol site, were prettily ornamented with wattles.

"King Billy" And The Ballarat Tribe, 1851.

I often passed (says Mr. Hastie) the spot on which Ballarat is built, when visiting Mr. Waldie, and there could not be a prettier spot imagined. It was the very picture of repose. There was, in general, plenty of grass and water, and often I have seen the cattle in considerable numbers lying in quiet enjoyment after being satisfied with the pasture. There was a beautiful clump of wattles where Lydiard street now stands, and on one occasion, when Mrs. Hastie was with me, she remarked, "What a nice place for a house, with the flat in front and the wattles behind!" Mr. Waldie had at that time a shepherd's hut about where the Dead Horse Gully is on the Creswick Road, and one day when I was calling on the hut-keeper, he said the solitude was so painful that he could not endure it, for he saw no one from the time the shepherds went out in the morning till they returned at night. I was the only person he had ever seen there who was not connected with the station.

The ground now occupied by Craig's hotel on one side of the gully that ran down by the "Corner", and by the Camp buildings on the other side, were favorite camping places in the pastoral days. Safe from floods, and near to water and grass, the spot invited herdsman and shepherd, bullock-driver and traveller, to halt and repose.

The aborigines were nut numerous about Ballarat even in those early days; a little earlier, however, as when Dowling Forest was taken up, they were more numerous and were often troublesome, being great thieves. Several of the adults were strongly marked with small-pox at the time the locality was taken up for pastoral occupation. The natives, were considered inferior to the Murray tribes, and were generally indolent and often treacherous. From time to time they were troublesome to the settlers—as well to the good as to the bad. King Billy was the name given to the chief of the tribes about here, and that regal personage for many years wore a big brass plate bearing his title. He was chief of the tribes about Mounts Buninyong and Emu, and King Jonathan, of a Borhoneyghurk tribe, was his subordinate.

My brother and I (says Mr. Somerville L. Learmonth) began by feeding and being kind to the natives, but not long after the establishment of our first out-station, on the way to Smythesdale, we were aroused in the dead of night by the intelligence that Teddy, the hut-keeper, had been murdered. Some of the natives had seen the ration-cart on the previous day; they watched until the hut-keeper went unarmed to the well for water, his return was intercepted, and one blow with a stone hatchet laid him dead at the murderers' feet. The hut was robbed and a shepherd brought to the homestead the Pad intelligence. A party started next day in pursuit of the natives, but I have often felt thankful that we failed in finding them. On two occasions our men were attacked, but they resisted successfully and their assailants retired. Frequently small numbers of sheep were missing, but beyond this, and the stealing of small things when allowed to come near a station, the natives never injured us. I attribute our immunity to having issued orders, which were enforced, that the natives should on no pretext be harbored about any station. They are most expert thieves. I remember seeing a woman who was employed in gathering potatoes quietly raise a large proportion with her toes, and place the potatoes in her wallet, the others being openly put into the receptacle provided by the employer. Another gentleman, surprised at the rapidity with which his crop withered away, examined and found that the tubers had been removed and the stems placed in the ground again.

The place where the Messrs. Learmonths' hut-keeper was murdered was called Murdering Valley. It is near the south-western boundary of the borough of Sebastopol, and was, a few years ago, the scene of a more horrible tragedy than that of the murder by the aborigines. Once in 1842 the natives were troublesome on Mr. Inglis' run at Ballan. They had offered some insult to a hut-keeper's wife and all the European force of the station turned out with tin kettles, pistols, sticks and other instruments of noise and defence or offence—a great noise and demonstration were made to terrify the natives and thus that trouble was got over. Mr. Hastie says that when he first came to Buninyong the natives were "comparatively numerous". They used to come to the manse for food, in return for which they would fetch or break up fire wood.

As a pendant to the Rev. Mr. Hastie's picture of pre-auriferous Ballarat, the following, given to the author by Henry Hannington, will further help to illustrate the "origins" of the place. Mr. Hannington says:—

I was several times about Ballarat before the diggings in 1851. In the year 1844 I was driving a team of bullocks for Mr. Duncan Cameron, of Pascoe Vale, from his station. Yuille's Swamp (Lake Wendouree) was a camping place for teams, and the bullocks generally made off for the flat by Golden Point, where the grass was always green in the driest of summers. The timber on the flat was white gum, not thick. The creek opposite to Golden Point was shallow, about 15 inches deep. There was one water hole near Grimley's Baths (between Bridge Street and the Gas Works). I used to see a log hut or two about when I went after the bullocks, and some sawyers and splitters had huts and a few cattle on the ranges. The road from the Grampians to Geelong and Melbourne was the same as at present. It went past where the Unicorn Hotel is (opposite to the Post Office), then round Dan. Fern's corner (Albert Street), across the creek near Golden Point, and then to Buninyong, to the publichouse kept by Mrs. Jamieson, who was called Mother Jamieson. From there it went to Fisken's, near the Lal Lal Falls, for water for the teams. We had several visits from the black lubras. The blackfellows seldom came with them. We all had to carry firearms, as the blacks were treacherous, and were spearing hut keepers and others every day. I got safe with my team to Moonee Ponds, Pasco Vale, and had to come back to the Ballarat District in 1845, as there was an order from the Government for a few free men to join the new mounted police, and I was sent to Mr. Edward Parker, the protector of the blacks at Jim Crow Creek (Daylesford). I had nothing much to do. Went once a week for the mail, and was often about Ballarat looking up horses, as they always made for the flat opposite Golden Point. Everything looked then pretty much as it had the year before.

Hannington is only one of the vouchers for the water supply of the Yarrowee valley, but as old or older settlers than he tell us, as we have in part seen already, of the occasional drying up of what now seems to be permanent waters. Thus, one of the Learmonths writing to the Corn Stalk, in April, 1858, says:—

When we discovered the country around Burrumbeet, in January, 1838, there were then a few inches of intensely salt water in the lake. In June of that year the water dried up, and in the three following years Lakes Burrumbeet and Learmonth were quite dry and covered with coarse grass, which the cattle and sheep fed over, and which was burned in each of these summers. There was a little water in the middle of both lakes not evaporated at the end of the summer of 1842, and since then there was a gradual increase in both till 1852 when it reached its maximum and has been fluctuating since then. All the swamps and most of the springs that now supply water were perfectly dry, or nearly so, in the years 1839, 1840, 1841. The Moorabool did not run in these years, and the Leigh and the Barwon only for a few weeks, and then not more than knee deep. During these dry seasons Burrumbeet was fringed with a sort of myrtle, which must have been growing there for some time, for the trees had attained a considerable size, as may be seen by their stumps and roots which are still visible a hundred yards within water mark. With regard to Yuille's Swamp, from which Ballarat is supplied with water, it also was dry in the years I have mentioned, but the water in it, when the winter rains did not fail, was always good, which was not the case with many of the lagoons in the district.

Mr. Waldie corroborates Mr. Learmonth as to Yuille's Swamp, and Mr. Learmonth, with smaller, other eyes than those of subsequent water-supply caterers, remarks that if Yuille's Swamp were improved by feeders from Waldie's Creek "very inexpensive works would furnish Ballarat with an abundant and cheap supply of water at all times."

Hannington, like many another waif of the old days, seems, as we shall see by and bye, to have got stranded in the shallows whilst other craft about him swept on to fair havens. The squatters, too, were not fixed like the land they occupied, for they had their exits and their entrances, as we have seen, and many departed for good and all. It was thus with the Learmonths eventually, albeit they remained for many years after the date of the days of which we are now treating. Their Buninyong pre-emptive they let on a mining lease and after that they sold the hind. Still holding the Ercildoun estate, they ventured, themselves, some years later, upon the fortunes of mining, and took a quartz mine at Egerton, appointed a manager, won a good deal of gold, then sold the mine and sued the vendees, including the manager, who had sold as the vendors' agent and then joined the vendees. But this matter is dealt with further down the stream of our story. Not long after the law suit the last of the Learmonths left the colony or was dead. Ercildoun, the place where their famous merino flocks had borne them so many golden fleeces, was sold to Sir Samuel Wilson, and he eventually became an absentee, living in Earl Beaconsfield's house of Hughenden, and after some defeats becoming a member of the House of Commons, where he now sits as representative for Portsmouth.

Ballarat, or, more properly, Ballaarat, is a native name, signifying a camping or resting place, balla meaning elbow, or reclining on the elbow; all native names beginning with balla have a similar significance. Wendouree is the anglicised form of Wendaaree, a native word, signifying "be off", "off you go." Yarrowee is probably a Scottish settler's use of the Scottish Yarrow, with a diminutive to suit the smaller stream. Buninyong, or, as the natives have it, Bunning-yowang, means a big hill like a knee—bunning meaning knee, and yowang hill This name was given by the natives to Mount Buninyong because the mount, when seen-from a given point, resembled a man lying on his back with his knee drawn up. The Yow-Yangs, by the Werribee, is a form of Yowang. Station Peak, one of the Yow-Yangs, was called Villamata by the natives. Warrengeep, corrupted to Warrenheip, means emu feathers; the name was given to Mount Warrenheip from the appearance presented by the ferns and other forest growths there. Gong Gong, or Gang Gang, is an aboriginal name for a species of parrot; Burrumbeet means muddy water, and Woady Yaloak standing water. Mount Pisgah, in the lake country, was first known as Pettett's Look-Out, and Mount Rowan as Shuter's Hill. Mount Blowhard had no name among the settlers until one of Pettett's shepherd-boys gave it that name, from having often proved the appropriateness of such a designation, since his experiences of windy days there had been frequent.

As a race the Australian squatters were brave and adventurous. Many of them were men of liberal education and broad and generous culture, and some were men bearing old historic names, as well as possessing the instincts and the discipline of gentlemen. Others were vulgar boors, whose only genius lay in adding Hock to flock, run to run, and swelling annually the balance at their bankers. The first squatters took their lives in their hands, for they had to fight with various enemies—a treacherous native population, drought, hunger, and on all sides difficulties. Says Mr. Coghill, in a viva voce [4] communication to us:—

Every day, I may say for ten years, I have been many hours in the saddle. I never had much trouble with the natives, only that they would sometimes thieve a little; but I used always to make a point of going to them and talking to them as well as I could, and explaining to them that if they behaved themselves they would not be molested. I remember the bother we had with our first wool. We did not know how to get it down to ship, and we thought we would send it by way of Morrison's station, on the Campaspe. We had to cross the Jim Crow ranges, and we were a week among the gullies and creeks there before we could get a passage with our wool across the ranges.

The squatters were essentially explorers, and encountered all the risks of exploration. Over mountain and valley, through forest and across plain, they went where everything was new to civilisation. Passing by arid, treeless, grassless wastes, mere howling wildernesses of desolation, they pursued their way to tracts of boundless fertility, lands flowing, prospectively, with milk and honey, potentially rich in corn, and wine, and oil. Ever among the virgin newness of an unsubdued country, they steered their course by by guided by the sun or the compass; at night, led by the skies, as, to quote the great New England poet's melodious, child like conceit.

This may seem to be a romantic view of the squatter, but it is a real one. It is as real as the cutty pipes, the spirit flasks, the night rugs, the camp fires, the rivalries, ambitions, generous hospitalities, and occasional meannesses of the race. Doubtless they sought their own good, hut, however unwittingly, they actually became the beneficial occupiers of the laud for others. The teeming hosts drawn hither afterwards by the more dazzling hopes of fortune, and becoming eventually, and not without reason, hostile to the squatter, were in great part fed by the countless flocks and herds which the pastoral pioneers had spread over the wide pastures of this fair and fertile home of all the nations. With what to the squatter must have seemed like rash and boisterous violence, the sudden tide of population dashed its confluent waves upon our shores, and the serried ranks of the new army of industry marched boldly in upon the domains of the squatter, rudely disturbed his quiet dreams of perpetual occupation, and added at once a hundredfold to the market value of all his possessions.

From the first pastoral settlement to the discovery of gold there was a wool-growing, cattle-breeding period of something more than one decade. In that period the courage and the enterprise of the squatters, the real pioneers of all our settlement, had achieved no little in the direction of the development of the value of the main source of all national wealth—the land. Mr. M'Combie, in his "History of Victoria", remarks of the early years of settlement:—

During the ten years that the province of Port Phillip had been settled, it had been daily progressing in population and wealth. Vast interests had been silently growing up, and new classes were beginning to emerge into importance. All depended upon the land. The first wealth of Port Phillip was acquired from pastoral pursuits, and nearly every person was either directly or indirectly engaged in squatting.

But while those "vast interests had been silently growing up", there had been occasional premonitions of a rapid and turbulent change. While the shepherds fed their flocks by night and by day, other voices than those of angels in the air were heard in some places. In some of the more picturesque nooks of the district traversed by the Pyrenees and their off-shoots, the solitary shepherd, or squatter, on one or two occasions, or oftener still, saw sudden visions of easily won and boundless immediate wealth. Where the broad belts of purple forest spread out, and fair green glades and glens and ravines stretched over the swelling ranges of the district, the bushman wandered from silence to silence that only the elements or the birds of the native woods ever disturbed. Then it was that the first whisperings were heard of the rich secrets of the unmeasured geologic ages, and the first gleams were caught of the visions that had in them, however dim and formless then, the promise of a more brilliant epoch. But it may be well supposed that those hardy pioneers recked not then, even as they knew not, of the troubles that would fall to the squatter with the sturdy democracy of the then coming time. They were lords of all they surveyed. Of all earth-hungerers, they were, assuredly, among the hungriest, for, as Westgarth says, they had "a cormorant capacity for land". Over tens of thousands of acres of broad lands they roamed in the jocund spirit of undisputed occupation, and the still broader future lay unexplored, though even then the democratic invasion was imminent. The visions we wot of had been seen, but if seen were not all revealed. They were not at once blazoned forth to the public ear, but stealthily treasured or stealthily told, for instinct of change, of hope, of fear, more or less held back all who had seen the bright spectacle. The governing authorities heard of the things seen, and were offered proofs of the reality of the fateful discovery; but the same instinct and horror of change restrained them also from giving the revelations to the world. But the secret had escaped for ever when the first glittering speck glared as a lurid omen of evil, or lit up bright hopes that fell like a burst of sudden sunshine upon the silent, solitary settler. The new thing might be feared, or worshipped, fought against or cherished by the timid or selfish possessors of office and settlements, but it was to master all their purposes. Thus was foreshadowed the quicker entry of Australia among the peoples and the nations, the coming of the population from all the corners of the earth to overrun the quiet haunts of the squatter and the shepherd, the beginning of the new interests, and a grander destiny for the whole continent.

Ballarat in 1852 (looking north-west from Mt. Buninyong).

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{Page 17}

CHAPTER II.

THE GOLD DISCOVERY.

California and the Ural.—Predictions of Australian Gold.—Discoveries of Old Bushmen.—Hargreaves and others in New South Wales.—Effects of Discovery at Bathurst.—Sir C.A. Fitz Roy's Despatches.—First Assay.—Esmond and Hargreaves.—Esmond's Discovery at Clunes.—Previous Victorian Discoveries.—Esmond's the First Made Effectively Public.—Hiscock.—Golden Point, Ballarat.—Claims of Discoverers as to Priority.—Effects of the Discovery.—Mr. Latrobe's Despatches.—His Visit to Ballarat.—The Licenses.—Change of Scene at Ballarat.—Mount Alexander Rush.—Fresh Excitements.—Rise in Prices.

California electrified Europe and the United States by its gold discoveries in the years 1848-9, and that event was soon followed by the discovery of gold in Australia. Geologists who had studied maps and noted the auriferous mountain lines of the Ural and California, no sooner heard of Australian strata and the bearings of the mountains and ranges, than the existence of gold in this island continent was predicted. In the older settlements, too, of New South Wales, the aboriginies and the whites had occasionally stumbled upon glittering metals, as afterwards they did also in Victoria; but it was the Californian prospector, Hargreaves, who first publicly demonstrated the existence of gold in Australia. Actually, the discovery by others seems to have occurred both in New South Wales and Victoria about the time of the Californian rush in the year 1849. From a despatch dated 11th June, 1851, to Earl Grey from Sir C.A. Fitz Roy, then Governor of New South Wales, we learn that some two years before then a Mr. Smith announced to Sir Charles' Government the discovery of gold. A dispatch from Mr. Latrobe, the Governor of Victoria at the time of Esmond's discoveries, mentions the discovery of gold some two or three years previously in the Victorian Pyrenees. Smith was attached to some ironworks at Berrima. He showed a lump of golden quartz to the Chief Secretary in Sydney, and offered, upon terms, to reveal the locality of his discovery. The Sydney Government, if we may take the Governor's despatch as a guide, had some doubts both as to the veracity of the applicant and the propriety of making known his discovery even if a reality.

Apart (says Sir C.A. Fitz Roy) from my suspicions that the piece of gold might have come from California, there was the opinion that any open investigation by the Government would only tend to agitate the public mind, and divert persons from their proper and more certain avocations.

Then, on the 3rd April, 1851, Mr Hargreaves appeared upon the scene, Smith having vanished in refusing to "trust to the liberality" of the Sydney Government. Mr. Hargreaves was a man of greater faith than Smith, and he disclosed the localities in which he had discovered the precious metal. The localities were near Bathurst. The news spread all over the colonies, and the Bathurst and adjacent districts were rushed, to the great terror of quiet pastoral Settlers, and the annoyance of the respectable Government of Sydney. From the Governors despatches to Downing Street, it appears that the official mind was much agitated what to do. Settlers advised absolute prohibition of gold digging, and the authorities were in doubt as to whether it might be safe to impose regulations and a tax. Counsel's opinion was obtained as to the property of the Crown in the precious mineral, and ultimately a license tax of thirty shillings per month was levied upon the Bathurst diggers. The Rev. W.B. Clark, the geologist, gave excellent geological and political advice at the time, in the columns of the Sydney Morning Herald. He sagaciously remarked that "the momentary effect of the gold mania may be to upset existing relations; but the effect will be a rapid increase of population, and the colony must prepare herself for an important growth in her influence upon the destinies of the world."

The police despatches to the Sydney authorities described the miners as "quiet and peaceable, but almost to a man armed", wherefore the officer advised, "that no police power could enforce the collection of dues against the feeling of the majority." Hargreaves came to the aid of the authorities as a man strong in counsel and Californian experience. A minute of Hargreaves' is worth noting—"There existed (he says) no difficulty in obtaining the fees in California." But this was no marvel, as will be seen by the following revelation. "All the people (he continues) at the mines are honest and orderly. I was alcadi there. If a complaint be made the alcadi summonses a jury, and the decision is submitted to. A man found guilty of stealing is hung immediately." This was not less direct as a system of jurisprudence than that practised, as Dixon and Dilke tell us, by the sheriff of Denver, on the buffalo plains of America, where criminals had a very brief shrift and a quick nocturnal "escape" up the gallows tree. Yet we do not learn that in Denver, or anywhere else in that part of America, "all the people" were either honest or orderly, as Alcadi Hargreaves says they were in California. But then the Sydney prospector left his aleadiship in the early days, when the Arcadian simplicity of mining society had not yet lost the fresh bloom of what we will take to have been its early and honest youth. The Bathurst diggers appear to have behaved pretty well on the whole.

In July, 1851, occurred what the Sydney Morning Herald called "a most marvellous event", namely, the discovery of a mass of gold 106 lbs. weight imbedded in quartz. This made everybody wild with excitement. The Bathurst Free Press, of 16th July, said—"Men meet together, stare stupidly at each other, talk incoherent nonsense, and wonder what will happen next." Some blacks in the employment of a Dr. Kerr found this prize, their master appropriated it, and gave the finders two flocks of sheep, besides some bullocks and horses. Possibly this was the basis of Charles Reade's great nugget incident in his "Never Too Late to Mend". It may be noted here that last November the discovery of a similar mass took place at Braidwood, in New South Wales. The weight of the specimen was given at 350 lbs., of which two-thirds were estimated to be pure gold. We may conclude this notice of the discovery of gold in New South Wales by quoting the first assay of gold as given in the Government despatches from Sydney, under date 24th May, 1851. This assay was as follows:—

humid process.		|       |	dry process.
Gold. . . . . .	91.150	|	Gold. . . . . . . . . . .	91.100
Silver . . . . .	8.286	|	Silver . . . . . . . . . .	8.333
Iron . . . . . .	0.564	|	Base Metal . . . . .	0.567
	————	|		————
	100.000	|		100.000
Or 22 carats, �3 17s. 10�d. per oz., plus 1 dwt. 16 gr. silver, value 5�d.

Victoria was not long behind New South Wales in finding a gold-field, and it soon caused the elder colony to pale its ineffectual fires in the greater brilliance of the Victorian discoveries. James William Esmond was to Victoria what Hargreaves was to New South Wales. Esmond, like Hargreaves, had been at the Californian gold-fields, and had an impression that the Australian soil was also auriferous. He left Port Phillip for California in June, 1849, observed that there were similarities in soil and general features between Clunes and California, and decided to return and explore his Australian home for gold. It chanced that Esmond and Hargreaves were fellow passengers on their return from California to Sydney. Esmond found gold on the northern side of the hill opposite to Cameron's, subsequently M'Donald's pre-emptive right, at Clunes, on Tuesday, the 1st of July, 1851, and gold was found about the same time at Anderson's Creek, near Melbourne.

According to a letter written by Esmond to the Ballarat Courier on the 4th November, 1884, it appears that the above dates may be shifted a little. Esmond says in his Courier letter:—

On the 29th of June, 1851, I discovered gold in quartz and alluvial at Clunes, and brought it to Geelong. I showed the same to William Patterson, then watchmaker, afterwards assayer for the Bank of Australia, who tested the samples in the presence of Mr. Alfred Clarke, of the Geelong Advertiser, who reported my discovery on the following Monday, the 8th July, 1851. During that week I never heard of any gold discovery having been made or spoken of, except the discovery at Clunes. Previous to the discovery of gold in California, it was reported that a shepherd on McNeil and Hall's station at the Pyrenees discovered a lump of gold, and that he sold it to a person named Brentani, a jeweller in Melbourne. Captain Dana and his black troopers were sent up to ascertain if there was any truth in the reported discovery. A few people assembled on the ground to seek for the precious metal, but they all failed. I was living in the locality at the time, but did not go to the rush, believing it to be a hoax; but I thought differently after returning from the Californian diggings, which I visited in 1849. Anderson's Creek was the first diggings I heard of after Clunes was opened, Mr. Mitchell being the discoverer, and Buninyong was the next, by Mr. Hiscocks. *  *  * In a few weeks afterwards I returned to Clunes, and collected a sample of gold, some 8 oz. or 9 oz., which I sent to Mr. Patterson, of Geelong. This was the first sample of gold sold or produced in the Victorian market. My object in writing this letter, sir, is to inform the public where the first payable gold-field in the colony of Victoria was opened, and what I state I don't think any person will dispute.

Esmond published his discovery in Geelong on the 6th of July, Hargreaves having preceded him in the sister colony by some two months. But we have seen that before Hargreaves there was a Smith, who would not accept the terms of the Sydney Government, and so disappeared. There was yet another discoverer earlier than the man of the Berrima ironworks. Mr. John Phillips, late Government mineralogical surveyor, and then mining surveyor for the Victorian Government at St. Arnaud, discovered gold in South Australia before any of the explorers previously mentioned. He announced his discoveries to the authorities in South Australia and Port Phillip, and to Sir Roderick Murchison, but neither of the local Governments acted upon his discovery. The discovery by Mr. Phillips was about synchronous with discoveries made by the Rev. W.B. Clarke, and had been foreshadowed in the geological predictions of Sir Roderick Murchison and Count Strzelecki. Mr. Phillips got nothing for his pains, and Esmond was less fortunate than Hargreaves in the matter of public recognition and reward. To Hargreaves were voted �10,000 by the Government of New South Wales, and subsequently �2381 by the Victorian Parliament, Esmond, after a hard light, receiving a vote of �1000 from the Parliament of Victoria, and some small public, quasi-public, and private rewards besides. But he did not receive the amount all at once, though early proposed. On the 5th October, 1854, Dr. Greeves proposed, in the Legislative Council, a vote of �5000 to Hargreaves, and in his speech he admitted that Esmond was "the first actual producer of alluvial gold for the market." The motion was carried. Mr. Strachan moved, supported by the late Mr. Haines, and only seven others, an amendment for giving �1000 each to Hargreaves, Esmond, Hiscock, Mitchell, and Clarke, and �500 to a Dr. Bruhn, who was said by Dr. Greeves to have advised Esmond as to the existence of gold in Victoria. There was an earlier discovery than Esmond's in Victoria, asserted by Mr. J. Wood Beilby, as the repository of a secret from the person who was said to have been the actual discoverer. But Beilby does not claim for public revelation, but only as the revealer to the Government of the day. In a pamphlet published by Dwight, of Melbourne, in Beilby's interests as a claimant for State reward, the following statement is found:—

Mr. J. Wood Beilby establishes, by the production (from the Chief Secretary's office) of his correspondence with Mr. La Trobe, and concurring documentary evidence, the fact that, so early as 7th June, 1851, or some weeks earlier than Mr. Wm. Campbell, he informed the Government of the existence of gold in workable deposits at the locality now known as Navarre, and in the ranges of the Amherst district. Mr. B. does not claim to have been the original discoverer, but to have placed the information before Government, for the benefit of the public, at the critical period when its value in arresting the threatened exodus of our population to Bathurst was immense. Mr. La Trobe was at first very incredulous, evidently not having been made aware previously, of the existence of gold as one of the mineral products of Victoria, as his reply, by letter of 11th June, 1851, demonstrates. Mr. B., however, supplied further details of information, and, waiting upon him personally, so urged investigation, offering to share expenses, that Mr. La Trobe organised a prospecting party, including Mr. David Armstrong, then a returned Californian digger, afterwards gold commissioner, and the late Capt. H.E.P. Dana, attended by a party of native police; Mr. Commissioner Wright, resident at the Pyrenees, being nominated to act with the gentlemen of the party as a board of enquiry. From various causes the expedition was delayed starting from the Aboriginal Police Dep�t, Narree Worran, until a few days before the publication of Mr. Campbell's letter. But the news was made public. Although Mr. La Trobe had requested Mr. Beilby to abstain from further publication of the fact until the result of his investigations, the officials named to accompany the expedition, and their subordinates and outfitters, were not tongue-tied or bound to secrecy. It is, therefore, no matter of surprise that their intended prospecting trip to the Pyrenees was bruited far and wide; and, as a sequence, their investigations forestalled by the discoveries at Clunes.

In or about 1847-8, William Richfould, the author of the discovery published by Mr. Beilby, was a shepherd in the employment of Mr. W.J.T. Clarke, at his upper outstation on the Heifer Station Creek, Navarre. He was an intelligent and observant man, and always looking for and preserving natural curiosities. He discovered water-worn gold in the crevices of a brownish slate rock, in the bed and sides of the creek close to the ranges, and also found a few specimens of gold in quartz upon the surrounding ranges. These specimens he from time to time disposed of. In 1848, finding himself followed and watched by his fellow servants too closely, and being at the time desirous of selling some valuable specimens, he journeyed westward, and meeting Mr. Armstrong, an employ� of S.G. Henty, Esq., at the Grange, he was induced to visit Portland, and disposed of his gold to merchants there, by whom it was sent to Tasmania as Californian gold; being probably represented to them as such, the then current popular belief being that all gold deposits belong to the Queen, and that its appropriation by an unauthorised person was punishable. Richfould then engaged as shepherd with Mr. Beilby at Mount Gambler, and shortly after showed Mr. B. some small specimens of gold he had retained, refusing, however, at that period, to give any information as to the locality of his discovery. Subsequently, in July, 1849, he divulged his secret to Mr. B. on his pledge to keep it, unless its publication was required by public emergency, or the discoverer died. Richfould after this left Mr. B.'s service, professedely to return to the scene of his discoveries. Nothing certain is now known of his subsequent history, but his death was shortly afterwards reported in the Mount Gambier district.

Some two years before either Esmond's or Beilby's dates there was a discovery of gold at the Pyrenees asserted by one Chapman, who sold gold to a jeweller in Melbourne, named Brentani. Chapman was at that time shepherd at Mr. Hall's station near the Pyrenees, the locality of the subsequently opened Daisy Hill diggings. Brentani and his trade hands made up a secret party with Chapman to go to the Pyrenees and get "a dray-load of gold". They went, but did not get the dray-load of gold, and Chapman mysteriously disappeared and was not heard much of again. Brentani and his men do not seem to have pushed their search or disclosed what they had heard, or seen, or done. M'Combie also mentions the finding of gold in quartz by W. Campbell, of Strathlodden (M.L.C.), in March, 1849, at Burnbank, and also at Clunes, near where Esmond subsequently made his more fertile discovery. Clunes was named by Mr. Donald Cameron after a farm at Inverness in Scotland.

Mr. Bacchus, of Perewur, in whose service Chapman had once been, chanced to meet Chapman in Sydney. Mr. Bacchus wrote a letter on the 1st July, 1851, which was published in the Argus, and copied into the Sydney Morning Herald of the 23rd July, 1851, and in that letter he says:—

Chapman is an old servant of mine, and I have every reason to believe his story. He says he left Melbourne for Sydney because he felt himself watched, and was regularly hunted for information as to where he had found the gold. He says he never took Brentani and Duchesne within miles of the place, and gives an excellent reason for not doing so. His story is plain and straightforward, and from his description of the place I think he might be able to put any one in the way of claiming the reward. He offers to show the exact place at which he picked up the piece of gold, for the sum of �50 and his passage from Sydney.

Mr. Bacchus, writing to us with the alcove enclosure, states:—

About the same time I wrote to another person in Victoria:—"From what I have heard and seen of the description of country where gold is found in this Colony (N.S.W.) I have no doubt that it can be obtained in Lerderderg and other creeks running from Mount Blackwood and Bullencrook towards Bacchus Marsh." And so it was a few weeks after. I give another extract of a letter to me from a friend in Victoria, dated in July, 1851;—"Coming from one so well-known as yourself your letter in the Argus attracted great attention, and has been the means of preventing numbers from leaving here for Sydney. No end of people have set out in the direction indicated by you."

Store Drays camped on road to Ballarat, 1853.

The reward referred to by Mr. Bacchus was advertised by the Port Phillip Government, the disclosure of Hargreaves' discovery having compelled the Government here to abandon its previous policy of fear as to the possible consequences of such a discovery, as it was expected there would be a wholesale exodus to New South Wales. The Lerderderg locality has been proved, as Mr. Bacchus states, to be auriferous, but the country there has not been very rich in the precious metal.

The recommendation of the Committee of Parliament, prior to the year 1857, was that �10,000 be divided amongst certain claimants, and that Hargreaves should have �5000 and Esmond �1000, but the Parliament reduced Hargreaves' vote to �2500 and Esmond's to �500; the �10,000 recommended to the batch of claimants selected being reduced one-half. There appears to have been a motion carried by Dr. Greeves for a vote of �5000 to Hargreaves, but that must have been a conditional vote or else a reversal took place, as the final award was only half the sum recommended by the Committee. Humffray, in July, 1857, enquired in the Assembly why Esmond had not had the �1000; and subsequently the Parliament did the tardy justice to the Clunes discoverer of voting him the balance of the �1000 originally recommended. Ten years after Humffray's question as to Esmond, namely—in July, 1857, Frazer moved in Hargreaves' interest and asked the Assembly to vote him �2619, the balance of the sum recommended by the Committee of Parliament. The motion was refused by the House, but by a narrow majority, nineteen voting for and twenty-one against the motion. Most people, probably, will be of opinion that Hargreaves was amply rewarded, whatever may be thought of the official recognition of Victorian discoverers. To them the Governments and Parliaments appear to have shown a rather wayward disposition, and to have distributed votes upon principles not always very obvious. The persistent refusal of recognition of Beilby's claim seems to be an instance in point, for though he could not claim as a producer of gold he gives evidence of priority as a revealer of its existence, and it is reasonable to presume that his revelation was one of the impulses that led to explorations whose results are now before the world. The reward paid to Hiscock for the discovery of a locality which scarcely paid the miner as a gold-Held, contrasts also with the non-recognition of Connor's and Merrick's parties who discovered Ballarat itself. If any principle should be held to have guided the Governments of the day, it may be assumed that valuable discovery, not barren discovery, first claimed attention. Yet Hargreaves, who discovered nothing in Victoria, got more than Esmond, and Beilby, who first announced discovery, and Connor's and Merrick's parties, who actually discovered Ballarat, have received nothing. It must be felt that if Hargreaves merited what he received some of the Victorian discoverers and revealers met with scant acknowledgment, and that amongst these last the unfortunate J. Wood Beilby, and the Golden Point discoverers, may be included.

As soon as Esmond's discovery was known prospecting parties set out from the seaboard, and early in August the late Mr. Hiscock found gold in the gully near Buninyong which now bears his name. The ground was poor and was abandoned as richer fields were soon discovered. The Ballarat gold-held was discovered by other prospectors, two only of whom were in Ballarat in 1870, namely—Wm. Woodward, a French polisher, living in Chancery lane (late Eureka street), Ballarat West; and Rd. Turner, a house decorator, living in Raglan street south, Ballarat West. Of these two, Turner only survives, and is still here. Woodward was in Connor's party of six persons, namely—Connor, Woodward, Brown, Jeanes, Smith, and Thornton. Turner was with four others, namely—Dunn, Merrick, Wilson, and a man named Charlie, the party having, from Alfred Clarke, the name of the Geelong Mutual Mining Association. Merrick, some years since, was mining at Dolly's Creek, Connor and Brown are dead, Thornton was lately at Miners' Rest, and Dunn, Jeanes, and Smith in Geelong. Both parties left Geelong for Clunes, but on the way met Alfred Clarke, who informed them of Hiscock's discovery, and they therefore began digging at Hiscock's, Gully, but the ground did not pay. Preserving the tenses of the first edition, when the author had personal interviews with the discoverers, we must say that Woodward and Turner differ a little in some of their dates and facts, and appear in some sort to be rival claimants for the honor of the discovery of Golden Point. Woodward asserts for his party the exclusive right to whatever honor belongs to the discovery, while Turner claims for his party equal credit as being discoverers simultaneously with Connor's party. Woodward says the discovery was made by Brown on Monday, the 25th of August; Turner says it was made by himself and Merrick on Sunday, the 24th, and that Brown made his discovery on the same day. Woodward says that on the 25th Brown was sent out to prospect and returned the same day, saying he had found gold in every dishful of dirt, and wanted men and the cradle to go with him. On the 26th three others of the party went with Brown and the cradle, and got 4� oz. of gold for the first two hours' work. That day they first used the cradle, and for the first day's full work obtained 30 oz. of gold. Woodward also says that Turner and Merrick's party reached the Point on the Tuesday, but not earlier. Turner avers, on the contrary, that on the Sunday he and Merrick went out to look—as advised by some diggers in Geelong returned from California—for hills with quartz gravel and boulders. They went by way of Winter's Flat, ascended the ranges, found a � oz. of gold in a tin dishful of dirt, carefully concealed the traces of their prospecting, returned to Buninyong, and told the news to their partners. He states that on the Monday both his party and Connor's party left Buninyong for the Point, his own party being bogged in Winter's Plat by the way, and part only reaching the Point that night, the remainder arriving next day. Merrick, as Turner avers, commenced cradling on the Tuesday morning, for the purpose of being able to say they were the first to do so. They obtained 9 oz. or 10 oz. of gold during the first week, being less fortunate in that respect than Connor's party. Turner admits that Connor's party were the first to arrive at the Point, but he says it was on Monday, and that a few hours later on the same day some of Turner and Merrick's party were also there. Both parties agree that they were there together on the Tuesday, and that all the men on the field then were only about half a score. Dunn, writing from memory at Chilwell, Geelong, on the 9th of February, 1870, sent the following letter to Turner:—

Dear Sir,—In answer to yours of the 8th inst., I shall give you a full and true account of our gold prospecting, and the first discovery of Golden Point, as follows:—1st. Richard Turner, James Merrick, Thomas Dunn, George Wilson, Charles Gerrard, James Batty. 2nd. Started from town on Tuesday, 8th August, 1851; met with an accident on Batesford Hill, the loaded dray passing over the driver's stomach, left him at Mrs. Primrose's with the Chinese Doctor, proceeding on journey (for the Clunes) but stopped at Buninyong near a fortnight. The party getting dissatisfied, Wilson and I agreed to go in search of better diggings, so we started from Buninyong on the Sunday morning 24th August, 1851, between 10 and 11 o'clock, with tin dish and shovel to find the Black Hill; reached there about 2 o'clock, saw Greenwood's party with a few specks of the color, left the Black Hill about half-past three. In coming over Winter's Flat, I says to George—"There is a likely little quartz hill, let us try it before we go home." It was pouring of rain at the time. So with that I cut a square turf, then partly filled the dish and went to the creek to wash it. Oh, what joy! there was about ten or twelve grains of fine gold. So we left off, covered up with turf, and made for home as fast as possible through the rain; reached home like two drowned rats; started next morning early for our new discovery; reached there in the afternoon; had the cradle at work next morning. I firmly believe that I, Thomas Dunn, and George Wilson were the first men, and got the first gold, on the little quartz hill now known as Golden Point. If there is any one that can dispute this letter let them come forward publicly like men.

From memory in Ballarat, since giving us an oral statement, Woodward writes the following as to the discovery:—

Connor, Woodward, Jeanes, Thornton, and Brown left Geelong, Wednesday, 20th August, 1851. Smith arrived on Sunday, 24th August. Brown started (for new ground) Monday morning, 25th. Meeting on Monday evening to petition against paying license-fee for the month of September on account of gold not being sufficient to pay expenses. On the 26th Brown came back for three more men, horse and curt and cradle, and the two first hours' work gave 4� oz. Commissioners arrived on Friday, 19th September, asking for Connor's party; taking the pannikin up with the gold remarking—"This is a proof it will pay the license-fee." On the 20th Commissioner sends for Connor to pay the license-fee for the remainder of the month. After Connor had paid the license he was pelted with clay and bonnetted. A public meeting was held outside the bark hut in the hearing of the Commissioners, Herbert Swindells on the stump. Resolutions passed that no one pay the license for September, as we had petitioned against it. The meeting no sooner over than the (Commissioners') hut was rushed to pay the license, as them that did not pay would loose their ground—Conner's party receiving 16 feet square each, double the ground to what others had. Herbert Swindells was refused a license to dig on account of taking the stump at the meeting. A collection was made for him of 12 oz. of gold which he lost the same night. This is a correct list of facts.

Merrick, writing from Morrison's Diggings, on the 24th February, 1870, to Mr. James Oddie, says:—

As to the time or date of our arrival on Golden Point I do not remember, but as to the day and circumstances they are simply as follows:—I formed the party at first with the intention of proceeding to Esmond's Diggings, and on the road we tried Hiscock's Hill, found it would not pay, so we agreed at the end of the week to send George Wilson, one of our party, to the Brown Hill to see if Lindsay and party had found gold. If they had not we were to start for the Clunes on the Monday morning. George went up on Saturday or Sunday returning over Golden Point, the flat being flooded. He tried a dishful of gravel and got a nice prospect—some of the bits like small shots flattened. When we had seen the prospect we determined to start for the place next morning early, so that we should not be noticed leaving. On our arrival at Yuille's Flat our cart got bogged, so three of our party, the carter, and horse, started for the Point, taking with them as many things as they could, leaving two of the party to mind the cart. When they got to the Point to their surprise they found Connor's party just arrived. The cart was soon got up and the tents commenced putting up. Most of our party were for finishing tent and other odd jobs, and commence washing the next week, but I said, "No for I intend to be the first that ever worked a cradle in this place." It was agreed I should, and I cradled the remainder of the week, but no other party began till next Monday or Tuesday following, except they tin-dished it. My party consisted of six men, but Mr. Batty did not come up with us. Their names are as follows:—T. Batty, R. Turner, Dunn, G. Wilson, C. Fitzgerald, J.F.C. Merrick.

Thus was opened the gold-field of Ballarat, and the honor of discovery seems to be tolerably evenly balanced between the two claiming parties. Turner does not, though Dunn does, assert priority of discovery for his party, and he admits that Connor's party were first on the Point on the first working day, Woodward making Tuesday and Turner making Monday to be that day. Merrick does not assert priority either, save as to the use of the cradle. It may, perhaps, be held that the balance of priority inclines to the side of Connor's party, and it is said in support of Connor's claim that he was always regarded as leader of the diggers at the meetings held in those first days when the authorities made their first demand of license fees. Then it is seen from Woodward's statement that the Commissioner recognised Connor's claim to priority, and gave the party a double area. Swindells fared worse than our modern men of the stump, and appears to have been less mindful of No. 1 than his less scrupulous descendants. It is worthy remark, as already shown, that none of these actual discoverers and openers of the Ballarat gold-field ever received any reward from the Government, though Hiscock had, and Esmond also, Hargreaves, however, as already stated, having the lion's share. So far, it must be said, Victoria has acted with less liberality to her own children than to the stranger's. As to Hiscock's gold cup, lately (1870) exhibited here as the product of gold got in Hiscock's Gully, Woodward affirms that the cup was not made of gold discovered there.

Writing to Mr. James Oddie, from Tarnagulla, under date 29th May, 1884, William Brownbill, the discoverer of gold at what is now known as Brown Hill, on the road to the Gong Gong, says:—

In the early portion of 1851, having donned the blue shirt, I resolved to swim with the tide and take the first job that presented itself.   *   *   Took a job rebuilding Mr. Cray's station, which had suffered by the fire on black Thursday, and while there very exciting stories were told of the Sydney gold-fields, and several hands left the station for that new enterprise. Not long after the Sydney fields had been noised abroad it was stated that there had been gold found at Buninyong by a blacksmith named Hiscock. Hearing that a great many people had gone there in search of gold I decided to go to Buninyong and see for myself what could be done. Judge, then, my disappointment to find that this diggings of Hiscock's was just about being deserted, parties chopfallen and discouraged selling their outfit, consisting of a tarpaulin, spade, pick, tin dish, for the merest trifle. During the evening, however, at the hotel I fraternised with a gentleman, a reporter for one of the Geelong papers, who had come up to take stock, and from him I learned that some new place had been discovered some miles out in the bush. He and I made our way to the place and found Dunlop and Regan, the discoverers, with about six or seven other parties on a small hill (Golden Point) scratching up dirt and washing it in a tin dish, where specks of gold became visible. Upon my attempting to follow their example I was informed that that side of the hill belonged to them and that I had better look for a place for myself. Under these circumstances I was constrained to take my stand on the other side which was afterwards called Poverty Point. Not many days elapsed before feeling discouraged, and I struck out across the bush in search of fresh fields, trying bits of dirt here and there as I went along. In this way, then, I came to the place which in honor of my discovery the diggers called "Brownbill's Diggings" and which afterwards degenerated into "The Brown Hill". We commenced work and must have been some considerable time there when Governor La Trobe, accompanied by Captain Dana and some black police, came up to see the place, Brownbill's diggings being the first visited. Upon my showing the Governor the manner in which gold was obtained he remarked to me—"Your mother did not think when you came to Australia that you were going to dig gold out of the ground in that manner."   *   *   "I have never received so much as a shilling in the shape of reward from the Government, my repeated applications being rejected on the plea that my discovery was too near another diggings.

Other parties from the seaboard were quickly on the trail of the Golden Point prospectors, and Hiscock's Gully-workers soon repaired to the richer locality. Hannington, whom we left revisiting pre-auriferous Ballarat, so to speak, in 1845, turns up again as we pursue his story. He goes on thus:—

After that I went exploring, and did not visit Ballarat again till 1851, where I arrived 28th August, and sunk several shallow holes about Poverty Point. There was not much gold getting then on Golden Point. Found a few specks in the grass, and put down a hole five feet deep. The gold was all over the bottom like a jeweller's shop. There were some rows commencing over the claims then. I was about the fourth claim on the Point, and people coming every hour. We carried the dirt down to the creek in bags and washed it in dishes, and after that we got cradles. Some of the men that came washed with gloves on their hands. There was doctors and lawyers. Mr. Ocock, from Geelong, was one. Then the flat below the Point started, and I got another hole there about 10 feet deep, and could see gold all over the bottom. Worked it out, and went off in the night, as there was sticking up beginning then. Made for William Ritchie's hotel, on the Geelong road, and got there by daylight, and came back after placing our gold safe. This time we pitched our tent on the very spot where the School of Mines is now, to be in sight of our claim. Cleared off a large heap of earth, and sunk 12 feet, and it seemed to be a little gutter. It was like looking into a ginger bread basket, it looked so yellow with gold. We were doing well, but was near being stuck up one night, only I happened to be about, as I heard steps, and sang out to them to retreat or I should fire. They stuck up two others that night. We soon worked out that hole, for we were surrounded by claims, the next to us being James Pugh, mate of Esmond's. We sold the claim for two ounces of gold, and went up to Mount Alexander. Came back again in 1852, six months after, and found one man only on Golden Point, and that was the same man we sold our claim to, as the others all left. He said to me that he had averaged six ounces a day since we left. I did not do well at Mount Alexander, and went to Big Bendigo. Did well at Eaglehawk, but speculated in property at Melbourne, and got into the money-lenders' hands, and lost all, so came back to Ballarat again after trying other diggings unsuccessfully, and remained up to the present time (September, 1886.)

Teddy Shannahan, whose story about the Eureka Stockade will be found further on, gives some touches of the times when the first rushes had set the colony ablaze. From notes furnished by gentlemen on the staff of the Ballarat Courier, after an interview with Shannahan, the author culls the following:—

My party arrived at Buninyong in 1851, just after Esmond and Dunlop, and we went on Golden Point a few days afterwards, where we got 8 oz from a bucketful of stuff. I saw one poor fellow killed by the fall of a tree which he had undermined recklessly, so anxious was he to get the gold. One day a commissioner and a trooper demanded my license, and, as I had not one, they took me, with a lot of others, to the camp, where we were guarded by eight or nine blackfellows, and they, with their polished boots, were looking as proud as possible. I got my license, after telling them my mind, and had to pay �10 in all. We went to Mount Alexander and Fryers' Creek and on to Bendigo, where we had our pick of a squatter's flock of sheep for 9s. a head. We were the first to sink in Long Gully. At Eaglehawk you could see the gold shining in the heap of dirt, and every man sat on his heap all night with pistol or some weapon in his hand; I thought they would be making picks and shovels of the gold, it was so plentiful. It was there the first nugget was found, one 9 lbs. in weight. We only got �3 an ounce for our gold. In a week or two we started for Geelong, where my family was, and "home, home," was the cry. Each of our party took about 8 lbs. weight of gold to Geelong. We spent Christmas of 1851 there, and soon after that decided to go again to Ballarat, taking our wives—Glenn and I—and families with us—seventeen in all. Three inches of snow fell in Ballarat on our arrival, and we were hardly landed on the Eureka when up came a commissioner and a trooper and demanded our grog; we had ten gallons of brandy, and had to give it up, and we had got it at the post office below, but we did not tell where we got it, though the commissioner knew, for the bullock driver, we believed, had told him. The trooper wanted a digger to assist him with the grog; "if you do," said I, "I'll smash your head", so the digger gave no assistance. Next day the commissioner came back to my mate, and got him to take the keg to the camp. We paid the post office man �1 a gallon for the grog, and he gave us back the �10. We started digging on the Eureka, near where the stockade was afterwards. One day, when the troopers were license hunting, I saw Thomas Maher get into a hollow log to escape the troopers; when he got in he found a snake there four feet long; it went to one end of the log, and Maher remained till the troopers went away. The diggers were wearied out of their lives by the troopers. They were tormented everywhere. Our party from first to last on the diggings must have paid about �500 in license fees.

Creswick Creek (near Ballarat) from Spring Hill, 1855.

Shannahan, who is now 86 years of age, may be pardoned if his memory is not exact as to the number of pounds. His notion of the "tormenting" troopers is honestly Hibernian, and was thoroughly characteristic in one who began his narration to the Courier interviewer with the words:—

No, it was not the gold discovery that brought me out. In Corrigeen, Barony of Kilmarney, where I lived, seventeen houses were burnt in one day by way of eviction. I at once made up my mind to be under Parker, our landlord, no longer, and I came out here.

The ever recurring wail of the Saxon-hating Irish Celt was thus most naturally echoed by Shannahan as soon as he found the inconvenient officers of the law crossing his path in this new land. Shannahan had a store within the Stockade, and there the declaration of independence, mentioned in a subsequent chapter, was drawn up.

On the 28th of August, among others who arrived at Buninyong, were Messrs. James Oddie, Thomas Bath, Francis Herring, and George Howe, and they reached Golden Point on Monday, the 1st September. The news quickly got to Geelong, and on the 9th a good many people, including ministers of religion, doctors, merchants, and others, arrived. On the day following, the Clunes prospectors having heard of the richer discoveries, Esmond, Cavenagh, and others arrived from Clunes, and Esmond and Cavenagh found fifty pounds weight of gold in two days, that being the first sent down by escort, and Cavenagh being the first to send goid to England, where it realised �4 per oz. The sketch map of Golden Point, by A.C. M'Donald, as the place was when the first rush was just reaching there, gives us a fairly accurate picture of the ground as it was then occupied. M'Donald was one of the diggers there, and Mr. Oddie vouches for the validity of the plan. He informs us that his tent was close to Cavanagh's claim, and his claim was down the slope towards the creek. Seeing how rich Cavanagh's claim was, and that Oddie's tent was not on the claim held by Oddie's party, Howe and Herring—probably the first practitioners in a line of business that in after years became an art—jumped Oddie's tent ground, a space twelve feet by fourteen, or thereabout, and took 37 lbs. weight of gold out of the ground. The following extracts from Mr. M'Donald's diary of the time throw additional light upon the aspect of affairs then, and prove that snow in summer was near being a fact in this elevated region that year.

6/10/51. Left Geelong in company with A.V. Suter (now residing at Yambuck Station, near Portland, Victoria), William Fisher, (then of Barrabool Hills, farmer); Percy E. Champion (of Geelong, now deceased). 9/10/51. Arrived at Golden Point, Ballarat. 11/10/51. A considerable fall of snow to-day. Snow-balling freely indulged in. Population estimated at about 1000 to 1200. Sly grog-selling carried on openly, several prominent Melbourne and Geelong storekeepers subsequently fined. Meetings were held and two orderly and respectable diggers did their best to put down sly grog-selling and partially succeeded in doing so. 26/10/51. The postal arrangements at this time were very insufficient; a bi-weekly mail from Melbourne and Geelong served for a population of about 10,000 diggers. I frequently walked to Buninyong and received letters there that should have been sent on to Ballarat. 2/11/51. About this time a stampede set in for Mount Alexander and in less than a week Golden Point was almost deserted; many diggers returned to Geelong and reported that the field was worked out. Weather bitterly cold and wet, hail and sleet and a little snow fell to-day. The Yarrowee and Gnarr Creek were, when I arrived on the field, clear running streams, the former 3 to 4 yards wide, with wide grassy black alluvial flats. Black Hill heavily timbered to its summit and not a pick had been put in anywhere on the western side of the Yarrowee stream. The diggers worked their claims very carelessly and accidents resulted by the caving in of the sides; a few deaths also resulted. One party took up a claim at the foot of a large tree, and found a considerable quantity of gold amongst its roots; the tree was under-mined and fell, killing one of the party and injuring another. The police hunted the diggers, and any miner found searching for gold without a license was taken to the commissioners' camp. I have seen three men chained to a tree all night because they could not, or would not, pay the 30s. per month. About the end of October, two men were shot at for stealing gold, or rather washdirt. They were not mortally wounded, however, and were allowed to escape.

On the 19th of September Mr. Commissioner Doveton, and Assistant-Commissioner Armstrong arrived with troopers, and on the 20th the first license was issued, Connor's party being the first licensees, and paying 15s. each for the remainder of the month. The diggers did not relish the demand of license fees, and at a meeting held—Connor on the stump—the division was against paying the fees. But the decision was not adhered to in practice, for the licenses were taken out immediately. Turner, for his party, followed Connor's example quickly, for by that time jealousies of each other had arisen, the Clunes contingent being regarded with especial disfavor. Swindells, one of the Geelong diggers, mounted the stump in those early days and on one occasion he got the diggers to divide—Clunes v. Geelong—and the balance of power being seen to be on the side of the latter, and the presence of the authorities aiding also, peace was kept. For the attitude of the Commissioners was firm. When Swindells and Oddie, as the chosen delegates of the diggers, waited on the Commissioners to oppose the issue of the licenses. Commissioner Doveton said to them:—"I am not come to make the law, but to administer it, and if you don't pay the license fee I'll damned soon make you pay it." This was nervously epigrammatic, and being fortified by a very contiguous group of black troopers, was practically irresistible. No wonder, then, that the peace, in that direction also, was kept. But that little drama in the tent of the Commissioners was a kind of prophetic rehearsal. The dialogue had in it pent-up elements which, not many years after, exploded in tragical fashion. But we must not here forestall the evolution of events.

The diggings were shallow and very productive, the rains were heavy, and two rude bridges erected, the first probably, over the Yarrowee by Connor's party, were washed away. By the time the first week was over there had gathered near 100 diggers at the Point, the riches unearthed there quickly attracting not only all the other prospectors, but setting the colony on fire with excitement from end to end. The quiet Ballarat sheep run, with its grassy slopes and shadowy glades, and its green-galley where the Yarrowee poured its limpid waters, became suddenly transformed as by the wand of an enchanter. The Black Hill then looked upon the valley with a densely timbered head and face, whence its name was taken. The valley was thinly sprinkled with trees, and the ranges, with the spurs subsequently known as Golden Point, Bakery, Specimen, and Sinclair's Hills, were well timbered, while the western basaltic table land, where Western Ballarat is now, was moderately sprinkled with the usual variety of forest growth. In a brief time all this was changed. Soon the solitary blue columns of smoke that rose from the first prospecting parties' camping places were but undistinguishable items amidst a host. The one or two white tents of the prospectors were soon lost in crowded irregular lines and groups of tents that dotted the slopes and flats, or spread out along the tortuous tracks made by the bullock teams of the squatter. The axe of the digger quickly made inroads upon the forest all round; the green banks of the Yarrowee were lined with tubs and cradles, its clear waters were changed to liquid, yellow as the yellowest Tiber flood, and its banks grew to be long shoals of tailings. Everywhere little hillocks of red, yellow, and white earth were visible as the diggers got to work, and in a few weeks the green slopes, where the prospectors found the gold of Golden Point, changed from their aboriginal condition to the appearance of a fresh and rudely made burial ground. At first the upturned colored earth-heaps were but as isolated pustules upon the fair face of the primeval hills and valley, but they rapidly multiplied until they ran together, so to speak, and made the forest swards but so many blotched reaches of industrious disorder, the very feculence of golden fever everywhere in colored splotches with shadowed pits between.

Mr. Latrobe, in a despatch at this date to Earl Grey, says:—

It is quite impossible for me to describe to your lordship the effect which these discoveries have had upon the whole community. Within the last three weeks the towns of Melbourne and Geelong and their large suburbs have been in appearance almost emptied of many classes of their male inhabitants. Not only have the idlers to be found in every community, and day laborers in town and the adjacent country, shopmen, artisans, and mechanics of every description thrown up their employments—in most cases leaving their employers and their wives and families to take care of themselves—and run off to the workings, but responsible tradesmen, farmers, clerks of every grade, and not a few of the superior classes have followed; some, unable to withstand the mania and force of the stream, but others because they were, as employers of labor, left in the lurch, and had no other alternative. Cottages are deserted, houses to let, business is at a standstill, and even schools are closed. In some of the suburbs not a man is left, and the women are known, for self-protection, to forget neighbors' jars, and to group together to keep house. The ships in the harbor are in a great measure deserted, and masters of vessels, like farmers, have made up parties with their men to go shares at the diggings. Both here and at Geelong all buildings and contract works, public and private, are at a stand-still.

Mr. Westgarth, in his "Victoria in 1857",. thus refers to what he saw of change in Melbourne when he returned from a visit to Europe:—

All had been changed into a wild and tumultuous development. The waters of Hobson's Bay were scarcely visible beneath a forest of five or six hundred vessels. The grassy glades of North Melbourne were now a hard and dusty surface, cut up everywhere with roads, and disturbed with the incessant noise of the traffic to the interior.

To extricate the deserted ships it was proposed to get Lascars from India. Communication with the mother country was only possible haphazard in those days. The Victorian Governor's despatches took six, and, in one instance, seven months to reach London. His Excellency and all his following were perplexed by the whirlwind of auriferous excitement. As his despatches stated, all classes felt the burning thirst for gold. Sir J. Palmer, at that time President of the Legislative Council, was one of the first diggers at Golden Point, and used to quarter at Lal Lal. Among the first visitors were Lady A'Beckett, wife of the Chief Justice, with other ladies and gentlemen, who made a pilgrimage from Melbourne in a waggonette to see the new wonders. The Governor, too, came upon the scene. Clunes and Anderson's Creek had mildly aroused the authorities in Melbourne, and regulations to be enforced by the 1st of September were discussed for those places; "but (writes the Governor to Earl Grey) before this could be done, they also were deserted, not from any real unproductiveness, but from the discovery of the new gold-field within a mile of the township of Buninyong." This was the Hiscock's Gully ground, but that electric flash was speedily followed by the more brilliant discharges from Golden Point, "another locality (to cite the Governor's despatches again) producing the precious metal in far greater abundance in the valley of the River Leigh, about seven miles to the northward, into which a very large conflux of adventurers is pouring." Under these circumstances the Government bestirred itself, sent up police, promulgated the right of the Crown in the gold, issued licenses, and so took the first feeble steps in the portentous and sometimes wayward path of gold-fields government. The Golden Point diggers did not like the licenses at first, but they soon took kindly to them, and 400 were issued within a few days. His Excellency, writing on 10th October, stated that 1300 had been issued, and by the 30th October, 2246. He saw the lucky diggers digging up the gold on the Point, and told Earl Grey there were 500 cradles at work, not fewer than 2500 persons on the ground, and 500 arriving daily. He saw 8 lbs. of gold washed from two tin dishes of dirt, heard of a party that raised 16 lbs. at an early hour, and 31 lbs. in all that day, many parties of four sharing day after day 10 oz. per man. "There can be no doubt (continues his Excellency) but that gold must rank as one of the most important, if not the most important, products of the colony, and that from this time forward a very considerable and valuable section of the population will be employed in realising it."

The Victorian Governor's foresight was true, for he was sagacious and the times were quickening. He and his Ministers had only just begun to draw breath again after the Ballarat rush, had begun to discuss the propriety of raising the salaries of civil servants to meet the new state; of affairs, had noted "business beginning to receive as many, physically and morally unfit for the austerities of the gold-fields returned to their homes," when a second shock came to fright them from their re-assuring propriety. The Mount Alexander diggings "broke out", as the expressive phrase had it, and the Governor once more took to horse and went to see the newer Eldorado, writing on 30th October to Earl Grey, and telling him "On my return to Melbourne the whole population was again excited."

The Mount Alexander rush was caused by a shepherd picking up a bit of golden quartz. That led to prospecting, and a party haying got �300 worth of gold in a seam of quartz, more prospectors arrived, and then the rich alluvial grounds were opened, and Ballarat itself was half deserted by rushers to the later held, and everything was turned topsy-turvy once more. Poor Mr. Latrobe at last got excited in his syntax. Writing on 3rd December to Earl Grey, his Excellency said:—

I must now apprise you that the progress and results of the successful search for gold in this (Mount Alexander) quarter, in the short interval which has since elapsed, has been such as completely to disorganise the whole structure of society, and it really becomes a question how the more sober operations of society, and even the functions of government, may be carried on.

Mr. Hastie, writing recently to the author, says:—

At the beginning of the diggings little attention was paid to Sabbath religious worship, the feelings of many resembling those of the digger who, when asked for a subscription, sent for a bottle of brandy to treat his visitor with. For the brandy the digger paid nine shillings, and as the subscription sought was only five shillings, his refusal cost more than his consent would have cost. After a while, however, open shops on the Sabbath were shut, the diggings became dotted with places of worship, and the Sabbath was observed with nearly as much respect as at the present time. At the first, all sorts of people came to the diggings, government officers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and others. Two friends spent a night with me on their way to Ballarat; one was in the civil service with a salary of �600 a year, the other a merchant in good business. I expostulated with them, but they seemed determined to carry out their purpose of throwing up office and business for gold digging. Second thoughts must have induced them to change their design, for the civil servant rose afterwards to the very highest office in his department, and the merchant, after some years, retired, and, as far as I know, is still (1886) living at home on the estate he purchased. Among those who rushed to Ballarat were several clergymen, and one asked that his horse might graze in my paddock. I said a Church of England minister had been staying with me for a fortnight, and if he came, like him, to preach to and visit the diggers, I would be quite willing to keep his horse, but if he came as a digger, I must charge him, as I had not sufficient grass for my own stock, and was continually pestered with similar applications. One day a digger asked me if I would sell my vehicle, as he was going to Bendigo, and the trap would suit him; I said I could not spare it, and he then offered to take me as a mate. Humoring his whim for the moment, I pointed out how little I could do; "Oh," says he, "we will make you cook, and you will share alike in the gold." I declined, and perhaps lost the chance of becoming one of the Sandhurst magnates, but I do not regret the decision. Society, for a time, seemed to lose its ordinary conditions; those at the bottom rose to the top, and those at the top fell to the bottom; but it says much for the intelligence and character of the diggers and others that this state of things was so speedily righted, and that authority and law so soon resumed their place. This was certainly not due to the conduct or character of some of those in authority, young men whose only title to office was their having the ear of the Government, or of some one connected with the Government, for there could not be one more just, upright, and anxious to promote the interests of the colony than Mr. Latrobe. Many of his inferior officers were indeed inferior. Many had come out with recommendations from the home Government which Mr. Latrobe was constrained to regard. Had he been left to act on his own authority the disturbances which took place would never have occurred.

Mr. Hastie's observations anticipate here the march of events in this history, but they go to vindicate the reputation of an honest officer, upon the heads of whose subordinates, appointed, doubtless, in the manner stated, much of the trouble hereafter to be recorded must be laid.

The Hon. David Ham, who was elected to the Legislative Council on the 30th June, 1886, as one of the representatives for the Wellington Province, tells the following story of his adventures as a pioneer in the early days, from which it will be seen that he was a wonderful man for being at the start of things:—

Ballarat Flat, from the Black Hill—1855

I landed in Melbourne on the 24th July, 1849, when the wages paid for general servants was from �20 to �25 a year. Having had contracts for the supply of stores to wool ships off Point Henry, I became a farmer in 1850 at Bellarine, Indented Heads, and was potato digging on the 6th July, when the fires of Black Thursday were about us. We all left work and ran down into the sea. Left Geelong on the 10th July, 1851, for the diggings at Buninyong, no Ballarat being then discovered. Saw Hiscock and party washing off dirt in a tin dish, swilling it through the water, and then letting clear water on the dirt and fishing with a knife for any specks of gold that could be seen through the water in the dirt. Returned to Geelong and left there with stores when Ballarat was discovered. T.C. Riddell, Robert Fawcett, myself, and four others, reached Ballarat in September, as the first license had just been issued. Pistols and powder were the order of the day when work was over. We had a good claim on Golden Point, and soon worked it out, and then on the 3rd November, Alfred Douglass (senr.), W. Harper (Government Officer), H. Butchers, and I, left for Fryer's Creek. Got there on the 9th, our party being the fourth on the ground. We opened up Golden Point and the Golden Gully, taking a loaded gun to protect ourselves with, as old hands were prowling about for chances to rob holes. Many a life was taken in those days and never accounted for. The diggings were rich. I have seen 130 lbs. weight of gold taken out of a crevice in the rock there. In March, 1852, we had come to Ballarat again, and had a claim on the creek below Golden Point, about 32 feet square, 10 feet deep, and we took out �1200 worth of gold in two months. Then I, with four others, sank the first hole in Canadian Gully, and found the first nugget just below Hill and party, who were surfacing on the top of the range. We were about the first to open the first gully at Little Bendigo on the old Eureka. In May there came a flood and ruined all the workings on the flats. From 1853 to 1854 I had a butchery store on the Eureka, where the Orphan Asylum is now. Sold out, went to Geelong, invested in house property there, but people left for the gold-fields, property fell and I lost everything but my reputation. Paid 20s. in the pound, and in 1857 went to Ararat diggings. In 1859 I and others put up a sawmill in Monkey Gully, and opened up the Victoria Reef at Browns; and up to 1863 was engaged opening up Smythesdale, Happy Valley, Cape Clear, Bull Dog, and Linton. In 1868 I returned to Ballarat, where I have remained ever since.

The Ballarat excitement was exceeded by that of the Mount Alexander rush, and the Governor informed Earl Grey that while there were about 6000 persons at the Ballarat rush, there were double that number in an area of 15 square miles at Mount Alexander. His Excellency forthwith proposed to put a pecuniary drag upon the wheels of this auriferous machine that was running away with the bodies and wits of the population. He proposed to double the license fee, as the Legislative Council would not sanction a special vote to meet the new exigencies of the Executive. A further ground for the proposal was, "the notorious disproportion of the advantages derivable under the license system to the public revenue, compared with the amount of private gain." His Excellency also hoped by this means to deter unfit men from going to the diggings—fond but delusive hope. The superintendent of police and the sheriff furnished their contributions to the bitter cup of the unhappy Governor, informing him that most of the police and warders and turnkeys of gaols had sent in their resignations. Nor was this all, for "many clerks in the public service are bent on the same course." Then the Governor applied to the Governor-General at Sydney for "an increase to the small military force stationed here, sufficient, I trust, happen what may, to place the gaols, stockades, and banks for the present in safety." Mr. Latrobe wisely reminded Earl Grey that the preservation of order was more important than raising a great revenue, as thousands would flock to the colony, but good colonists would stay away if law became impotent to preserve peace and order. So he felt that he must have soldiers, not fearing that they would desert like the sailors to follow the seductive pursuit of gold. "Melbourne ought (wrote his Excellency) to be made the head-quarters of one regiment at least." In time this came about, and then, in less than two decades, we had talked of getting rid of both soldiers and the Home Government, and setting up absolutely for ourselves. The soldiers are already gone, and all the British empire is discussing the relations to be maintained between the parent State and her world-encircling colonies.

This modern outcome, however, had not appeared to the Government of 1851 as a probability. The Governor and his subordinates were busy regulating and licensing and escorting the diggers and their gold. "Boninyong", as the name was spelt in the despatches, was the head-quarters of the local authorities then. They issued a notice in October, having found that gold was accumulating, that "the escort will leave Boninyong every Tuesday morning at six o'clock; persons desirous of sending gold under the security afforded by this conveyance are to take care that it is forwarded to Boninyong not later than four o'clock p.m. of the Monday. Escort charge of 1 per cent. on washed gold, to be estimated at the rate of �3 per ounce, and on gold mixed with a larger portion of stone at the rate of �2 10s. the ounce." The Government authorities undertook no responsibility. Like the squatters, or small settlers, they advertised a sort of accommodation paddock on wheels, but took no responsibility. They had to take gold-dust in payment for licenses, for coin was scarce, and in the same month we find the Treasurer in Melbourne advertising for tenders for the purchase of 1500 oz. of gold.

In December the Government doubled the license fee, making it �3 per month, or �1 10s. if the license was taken out after the 15th of the month. And this for a claim eight feet square for one man, or eight feet by sixteen for a party, and with a prohibition against digging within half-a-mile of every side of a homestead. Even these regulations were luxuries to be denied to civil servants unless they could show that their resignation of office had "not only been authorised, but was unattended with embarrassment to the Government." To work this machinery on the Ballarat, or "Boninyong", diggings there were gazetted in October:—William Mair, commissioner, salary �300 a-year; D. Armstrong, assistant-commissioner, salary �250; John Bell, clerk, salary �100; Henry Smith, inspector of police, salary �150; mounted and foot constables at 3s. and 2s. 9d. per diem respectively; and native police at the magnificent pay of 1�d. per diem. For the Mount Alexander diggings there were Messrs. Doveton, Lydiard, Dana, and Eyre as commissioners, or police officers; and, as clerk, Mr. W. Hogarth, afterwards for sometime clerk of petty sessions in Ballarat.

The following table, showing the prices current at Ballarat, has been compiled from official returns, and will show the influence of the gold discovery on the value of the necessaries of life:—

articles.	quantity.	dates.
		Jan. 1852.		May, 1852.		June, 1852.		Oct., 1852.
		s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.
Flour	pound	0	6	0	6	0	10	1	3
Tea	"	2	0	2	6	2	6	3	6
Sugar	"	0	6	0	6	0	8	1	0
Meat	"	0	3�	0	3	0	4�	0	5
Milk	quart	2	0	4	0	—	—	—	—
Bread	pound	0	4�	0	6	0	9	0	10�
Bacon	"	3	0	2	6	3	0	3	0
Butter	"	3	0	2	6	3	6	3	6
Potatoes	"	—	—	0	3	0	5	0	8
Washing	dozen	7	0	6	0	8	0	8	0

The returns for the Mount Alexander diggings were more elaborate, as at the dates given that locality was the more important. It is, however, presumable that similar rates ruled in Ballarat for goods not included in the Ballarat table. The prices at Mount Alexander in October, 1852, were similar where both tables recite the same articles. We find that at Mount Alexander some handicraftsmen got as much as 25s. per diem, oats were �3 per bushel, tobacco 10s. per lb.; while in Melbourne Wellington boots were quoted at from 50s. to 60s. per pair for imported, and from 75s. to 90s. for those made to order. The price of cartage from Melbourne to the diggings was from �100 to �120 per ton; hotel charges were from 50s. to 140s. per week, and a horse at livery cost 15s. a day, or 105s. a week. And it must be remembered that these prices were paid for the roughest and rudest accommodation and service, while the qualities of goods could never in those days be very closely or, at least, profitably scrutinised.

From some accounts and papers placed by Mr. Thomas Bath in the author's hands, the proofs are given that up to the end of 1854 and the beginning of 1855, there had not been any great reduction in prices. The coach fare from Geelong was still �3; "Mrs. Lynn and nine children" paying �20. At that time Mr. Bath had some men sawing for him the native timber then growing contiguous to a sawpit in the Gnarr Creek gully, between Doveton and Armstrong streets, where the railway reserve and wood merchants now are. For flooring boards, the price was 38s. per 100 feet; and quartering, or 4 inches by 3 inches, 33s. per 100 feet. Flour was �6 10s. per bag; potatoes, 4�d. per lb.; eggs, 6s. per dozen; milk, 3s. per quart; peas, in husk, 1s. 3d. per quart; ginger beer, 4s. per dozen; lemonade and soda water, 5s. per dozen; oats, 16s. 3d. per bushel; hay, �25 per ton. A blacksmith's bill charges 24s. for shoeing a horse, a single shoe being paid for at the same rate. For a crowbar weighing 26 lbs., the price was 32s., and 30s. for tireing wheels, but how many is not stated, though 2s. is the price for one linch pin, 3s. for a maul ring, and 5s. for "one new axe;" not very exorbitant charges these last, surely, for the times. From the same heap of old papers it is found that �1 was the rent for two sittings from 1st January to 31st March, 1856, in the little wooden building in Armstrong street, which served then for Anglican church purposes. Some weighbridge notes for August, 1856, also are evidence of Mr. Bath's priority in that way; the first bridge in Ballarat having been erected by him in what is now Bath street, and about midway between Lydiard and Armstrong streets. One of the best-kept documents in the series now before the author carries us back to the days immediately after the Eureka Stockade affair,—mentioned further on—and to the days preceding the foundation of the District Hospital. It is as follows:—

Mr. T. Bath will please to send the undermentioned Wine, &c., to the Camp Hospital, with the least possible delay. Application for the payment of the above to be made to my office.

Twelve (12) bottles Porter.

Six (6) bottles Sherry Wine.

---

{Page 46}

CHAPTER III.

FROM THE GOLD DISCOVERY TO THE YEAR OF THE EUREKA STOCKADE.

Great Aggregations of Population.—Opening up of Golden Grounds.—A Digger's Adventures.—Character of the Population.—Dates of Local Discoveries.—Ballarat Township Proclaimed.—First Sales of Land.—Bath's Hotel.—First Public Clock.—Tatham's and Brooksbank's Recollections.—Primitive Stores, Offices, and Conveyances.—Woman a Phenomenon.—First Women at Ballarat.—Curious Monetary Devices.—First Religious Services.—Churches.—Newspapers.—Theatres.—Lawyers.—First Courts.—Capture of Roberts, the Nelson Robber.—Nuggets.—Golden Gutters.—Thirty or Forty Thousand Persons Located.

About the middle of 1853 myself and seven others commenced prospecting. We were six sailors out of eight, and were called "the sailors". The gully was called Sailors' Gully after us. Swift and party, Americans, commenced prospecting Prince Regent's Gully about the same time. We obtained a double claim, 48 ft. by 24 ft., as a prospecting claim. We were the first I could discover to slab the shaft from surface to the bottom, the practice being to sink a round shaft as far as the ground would stand, then square and slab the rest. Our first shaft was lost in the drift at about 70 feet from the surface. This was the first drift with heavy water touched on Ballarat. The second shaft was lost in the drift at 90 feet from the surface. This caused the whole ground to be rushed both above and below our ground. Our third shaft we succeeded in bottoming at 107 feet—then the deepest hole on Ballarat—dead on the gutter. The water was very heavy, and we were obliged to use two buckets, one up and the other down, for the first time on Ballarat. We had to send to Geelong and get made to order two water-buckets. The first gold got was a nugget weighing 2� oz. weight, sent up in the water-bucket. The largest piece of gold got from the claim was 100 oz. Hundreds of people came to see us every day, and as we were very hard worked we had to post a notice for them to read, instead of asking questions:—"Notice.—Bottomed at 107 feet. Large quantity of water. Got a nugget."

The Black Hill was, early in 1853, busily occupied, and the ground between that and Rotten Gully—the head of the Eureka Lead—was being taken up, the Eureka, so named by a medical man, being opened in August, 1852. During the next year or two the shallow grounds declined in importance, occasional discoveries of new reaches of such ground not sufficing to keep back the gradually growing importance of the deeper sinking on the Canadian, Gravel Pits, Eureka, and other golden gutters. Creswick was rushed in December, 1852, and ground down the Leigh and at Smythesdale was gradually opened thereafter. In Ballarat the population was located principally, indeed almost entirely, on the ground now traversed by the present streets of the eastern borough and along the lines of leads now built over, covered with gardens and yards, crossed by streets, or still lying outside the clustering houses and on the edges of the mingling boundaries of borough and bush.

Township of Ballaarat from Baths Hotel, showing part of the Camp & the "Logs", 1855.

The new chum digger of 1852 writes to the author of 1886 as follows:—

I and my mate, whose very name I have forgotten, pitched our tent on the slope near the Black Hill, where Humffray street is now. That was in November, 1852. We had come up from Melbourne with near a score of shipmates just landed from South Africa. One of them, a Londoner, had an umbrella-shaped tent, the rigging of which was a work of dexterity, and was watched with interest. Close by, a party of four or five Scotchmen settled down with more resolute intent, for they built sod walls for their tent cover to sprawl over, and a sod lum, as they called their chimney. Some of our shipmates had no money nor any inclination to hard work, so they accepted billets as policemen at the Camp. They and others of the force then were a ragged ununiformed Falstaffian sort of crowd, with arms to match. I well remember climbing the green mound to the group of tents called the Camp, where I paid for my license, and where Camp street and its close packed neighbourhood is now. There were not many diggers at Golden Point. The Canadian we did not visit, but on a Sunday we explored Rotten Gully, at the head of what became the Eureka, and found the gully well occupied and well deserving its name, for it was very rotten sinking. We dug shallow holes in the Black Hill flat, but got "the color" only, and early in December the rush to Creswick broke out and we went there. Pitched our tent on the sward among the trees not far from a creek, but what creek it was or is I do not now know and could not find again if my life depended upon it. We were again unlucky, fell out, separated, and I returned to Ballarat on my way to Melbourne, disgusted with gold-hunting and bush-life, and determined to rush back to civilisation, as fur as the thing was reachable then in Melbourne. I found and left "Creswicks", as it was called then, a mere collection of tents in the bush, and never saw it again till it had grown into a little town, had been nearly all burnt down and rebuilt. Ballarat was also a mere collection of tents, and a few slightly more substantial dwellings, and all was on the eastern side of the Yarrowee, save a few diggers' tents to the west and the Camp group on the edge of the table land. I found some of our shipmates employed making a dam across the Gnarr Creek, near where the buried culvert now winds round beneath the hill on which the locomotive engine-sheds are. On the slope from what is now Hill street to what is now the artificially raised Mair street, our old ship's "Doctor" had his shed and stoves and what not, where, as Camp cook, he prepared the liberal meals required by the healthy digestions of the people of all grades at the Camp. It was a torrid day towards the end of December when I humped my swag from "Creswicks" to Ballarat, and it was absolute luxury to have a bunk allotted to me in the police quarters amongst my old South African schooner mates. Next morning early I rose to start for Melbourne, the old "doctor" (long since laid in the old cemetery in Ballarat) was making a damper about four feet in circumference, and he had coffee bubbling in a big boiler, and mutton chops sputtering in an enormous fryingpan with a handle some three or four feet long. He hospitably commended to my lips the chalice of boiling coffee and heaps of chops and damper at pleasure. I ate, as a fool eats, who has an appetite and does not know how the midsummer heats of the day before and the day then dawning were to affect him in conjunction with hot coffee, hot chops, hot damper, and the tax of unwonted exertion upon the energies and endurance of the body. Another Melbourne-bound swagsman passed as I bade the Camp cook farewell, and we marched on together. There was a rapid kind of freemasonry extant in those days between some chance acquaintances, and so this passing swagman and I trudged on in company, but I had not reached Warrenheip before I found the pains and prostration of incipient dysentery were upon me. I could only drag along slowly, and never having been ill in my life before—nor since for that matter—I was frightened. Seeing an empty woolshed, or something, before we reached Ballan I said to my companion: "Go on, and leave me here, for I can't go any further now." In sooth I thought I was going to die. Perhaps he did too, and thought also that he had better not be hindered, so, prudent man as he was, he vanished for ever. I never knew his name, nor whence he came, nor whither he went. Crawled on by nightfall to Ballan and got a bed at the hotel there, but the landlord was also a prudent man. I lay in agony all night, and in the morning he came to me and said: "Get out o' this—we don't want any sick men here." There was no answer to so masterful and, indeed, irresistible a command as that, and I got out. Just able to walk, and my light swag a burden, I was glad to see a dray with some diggers, apparently returning to Melbourne, and I asked for a lift. This they refused, but offered to carry my swag for me and leave it at the hotel at Bacchus Marsh. I confidingly, and gladly, and gratefully gave them the swag, and they were soon out of sight round a bend in the road. By the time I had reached round the bend they were invisible, but on the road I found the bag in which I had carried my belongings, a change of clothes, some papers and other trifles. Everything of the least usable value had been stolen, and I sadly gathered up the poor remainder and went on to Bacchus Marsh. But I had by this time got out of the goldfields region by a good distance, and what after that befell me does not belong to this motley history.

Mr. Latrobe, writing to Earl Grey on the 2nd March, 1852, said the population at Golden Point and "the outworks at Brown Hill" had "dwindled rapidly down to 200 steady licensed workers," averaging not more "than eight or ten ounces per man monthly." In the same despatch, however, his Excellency is pleased to express a belief—strengthened by the fact that the population had just then begun to increase and reached "500 and upwards"—that when rain should come more people also would come, "and that it will be found that the 'Ballarat Goldfield' is far from being exhausted." His Excellency was, as we know, a good prophet. He was not always as accurate in his geography, for in a despatch dated 8th July, 1852, he informs Earl Grey that "a new working, called the 'Eureka', nine miles from Ballarat proper, as well as two or three others, were discovered in the month of May." In the Governor's view of the gold-field population there seems to have been not only a spirit of faith in the people, but, as became the son of the old Moravian missioner, of devotion towards God. In the despatch last cited, his Excellency says:—

On all hands it must be considered that the population at the workings, taken as a whole, are as orderly and well disposed as can be met with in any part of the colony. The comparative rarity of instances of grave outrage or of capital crime is a subject of great gratitude to God.

On the same day, in another despatch, the Governor adverts to the state of the Government and the exigencies of the new order of things, and again says his feeling is "that of thankfulness to God that so much has been achieved" in the way of preserving order. His Excellency over and over again bears testimony to the general good order maintained by the mining population, and that, too, "notwithstanding the extraordinary circumstances under which the multitude finds itself brought together, the passions and temptations of the hour, and the acknowledged insufficiency of the police to oppose physical force to any really serious outbreak or general disturbance." And when that which the Governor hinted at as possible had really become a fact, the Argus correspondent, writing from Ballarat on the 13th November, 1854, bears the following testimony to the good manners of the diggers on Sundays even in those exciting times:—

These Ballarat diggers are most extraordinary rebels. It struck nie to remark particularly, and to enquire as to their conduct and observance of the Sabbath. Truly they have few advantages, precious little of the gospel offered to them, little either of education given; no wonder, indeed, if they were vagabonds. But, as far as I could hear or see, the greatest possible order and sobriety, the utmost observance possible, I may say, of the Sabbath, has characterised their proceedings. Clean and neat in their diggers' best costume, they promenade over these vast gold-fields, their wives and children in their best frocks too; but anything more calm or becoming or regardful of the day could hardly be witnessed in the best towns of even Christian Britain. How delightful would it not be to rule such men well?

True, most truly, indeed! But the writer need not have wondered if he had known that the great bulk of the population were of the best men of the "best towns of Christian Britain", men of invincible spirit, as well as of moral and law-abiding principles.

His Excellency's next despatch, dated the 31st July, 1852, enclosed a petition from the Legislative Council to the Queen, praying the establishment of a mint in Victoria, as "one of the richest gold-fields in the world." We have now, but when this history first appeared, had not yet got a mint any more than a law to legalise mining on private property, also petitioned for a year or two after the date last given. The Corporation of Melbourne backed up the Legislative Council's petition for a mint, but the Ballarat petition of 1855, for a private property law, fell then, as through many succeeding years, upon an unsympathising Parliament and a careless metropolis. It is a coincidence worth noting, that the Melbourne corporation's petition for a mint was signed by Mr. J.T. Smith, who had about that time begun his long series of mayorships of Melbourne, and who subsequently became Minister of Mines.

The following table, compiled from various sources, including the compiler's own knowledge of several items, will give, as it were, a bird's-eye view of the opening of the several portions of the Ballarat field during the period ending December, 1854:—

locality.	date.		| | | |	locality.	date.
Clunes	1st July	1851	| |	Dead Horse Gullies	Early in	1853
Hiscock's Gully	August	1851	| |	Prince Regent	February	1853
Golden Point	August	1851	| |	Sailors' Gully	Early in	1853
Canadian Gully	September	1851	| |	White Flat	Early in	1853
Brown Hill	September	1851	| |	Scotchman's Gully	Early in	1853
Black Hill	October	1851	| |	New Chum Gully	End of	1853
Little Bendigo Gullies	End of	1851	| |	Black Hill Lead	Early in	1854
Eureka Lead	August	1852	| |	Gravel Pits Lead	Early in	1854
Red Hill Lead	November	1852	| |	Bakery Hill Lead	Early in	1854
Black Hill Flat	November	1852	| |	Gum Tree Flat	End of	1854
Creswick	End of	1852	| |

Excepting the Dead Horse Gullies all the Ballarat proper leads mentioned in the table above came from the eastern side of the ranges into the Ballarat basin. In the year 1855 the western side gave out the Golden Point, Nightingale, Malakoff, Redan, Whitehorse, Frenchman's, and Cobbler's leads, all of which flowed under the basaltic plateau of western Ballarat and Sebastopol. The Golden Point was the name given to the earlier confluent streams as they issued from Eastern Ballarat in one lead and passed under the plateau, and into that lead all the others flowed that had come down from the western side of the range.

The Ballarat township, now the City of Ballarat, was proclaimed towards the middle of the year 1852, the first sales of land being held in Geelong, Thomas Bath, now of Ceres Farm, Learmonth, being the first purchaser for business occupation. This was in November, 1852. The land obtained by Mr. Bath was bought at the second sale, and consisted of portions of sections 1 and 2. Cobb's corner and the present town-hall site were sold at the same time, and were bought by Robt. Reeves, on which, subsequently, he forfeited his deposit. In the following year the land was put up again, and the corner was bought by Mr. Bath for �250. The next lot, that now occupied by the Town-hall and District Court, was bought on the same day by P.W. Welsh, for �202, and the deposit on that lot was again forfeited. In the Appendix A will be found reports of the first land sales in Ballarat West and East.

Mr. Bath built the first hotel in Ballarat, when all the Government dwellings were of canvas, or of slabs with bark roofs. It was erected in May, 1853, and licensed in the following month. At that time there was no other hotel between Buninyong and Lexton. But near the corner of Dana and Lydiard streets, now occupied by Holmes and Salter's law offices, a tent or hut was kept by one Meek, who wrote pen-and-ink sketches of "Victoria. Meek, as became his name, did not make his business very prominent from a licensing point of view, and his establishment, by way of irony upon it or the police, used to be called "The Trooper's Arms". The hotel built by Mr. Bath in May, 1853, was of wood, in one storey, and is now a private dwelling on Soldiers' Hill, the site of the original hotel being now occupied by the permanent portion of the hotel now known as Craig's Royal hotel. The wood for the first hotel was all brought from Geelong. The two-storey portion yet remaining was begun at the end of 1853, and finished in 1854. The clock now (1870) in the wooden tower was then placed there, and was the first public clock in Ballarat. Mr. Biddle, of Biddle's Saw-mills, supplied the hardwood for the building, the longer timbers having been cut in the hollow called the Crater on the western slope of Mount Buninyong. He says he also suggested the placing of the public clock in the tower. Mr Bath tells us that the cost of both buildings was enormous, for prices alike of material and transit were then excessive. He paid �80 per ton carriage from Geelong, 40s. to 45s. per hundred feet at the pit for hardwood, as the indigenous forest timber is called, and �1 per hundred feet cartage from the saw-pits to Ballarat. Mr. Bath, in a letter to us, gives the following additional recollections:—

The roads in those days were frightful. I have had goods on the road from Geelong above five weeks. Mrs. Bath came from Geelong by, I suppose, the first coach, and was three days and two nights on the road. Watt ran a conveyance from Ballarat to Melbourne via Bacchus Marsh, stopping there one night, fare �7. When I built in Ballarat there were not many hotels between Geelong and this—two at Batesford, then the Separation Inn, then Watson's, at Meredith, and Jamieson's and Sellick's, at Buninyong. I have often ridden from Ballarat to Geelong without seeing a fence or meeting any person, but at those times I kept off the track. I purchased a stack of hay in 1853 from Mr. Darlot at the station at Sebastopol at �60 per ton, and I had to truss and cart it in the bargain, and this was hay of a self-sown crop and about half of it silver grass [While we copy this, (1870) oaten hay in truss is sold in the Ballarat market at �2 10s. per ton.] I purchased oats in Geelong in 1850 at 2s. per bushel, and at Bendigo in 1852 at �3 per bushel. Some of the farming land in this district was sold in June, 1854, and I then commenced farming, cropping about fifty acres the first season.

On the 8th December, 1856, the first sale of frontages in Ballarat East commenced. The sale had been preceded by much excitement relative to an absurd proclamation prohibiting the issue of licenses, or the carrying on of business within one mile of sold lands. After some agitation that ukase was withdrawn by the Government. The sales of the Main road frontages were continued for four consecutive days, and land now of little value then realised enormous prices. To return to 1852, we note that Mr. Adams, late of Buninyong, had a store at the head of Golden Point, and he used to act as postmaster and convey letters from the diggings to the township of Buninyong, his store giving the name to the hill now known as Old Post-office Hill, where also the first Government Camp was situated, whence it was removed to the present locality. Mr. Alfred Clarke, late of the Geelong Advertiser, acted as letter-carrier between Geelong and Buninyong in 1851. The first supply of stores to the early diggers was afforded by one Stirling's hawking dray, in October, 1851, and the first regular store was shortly after that opened by Mr. Robinson, subsequently a member of the first town council of Geelong. Stirling and Sons' drays were the only conveyances at that time for either passengers or goods between Ballarat and Geelong. Stores, like dwellings, were rude, and often the storekeeper, like the digger, was surly. From his tent of calico or canvas, with its furniture of blankets, frying-pan, cradle, puddling-tub, pick and shovel, the digger went to the store where mutton, flour, boots, serge-shirts, moleskin trousers, tobacco, sardines, sugar, picks, shovels, billies, and other things were all found in one grand miscellany. Coin was rare, and the digger generally bartered his gold-dust for goods. Change there was none, and reckonings partook of the largeness of view which ignored minute calculations. Paper was scarce, and often the digger had to carry his groceries to his tent in box, billy, handkerchief, or shirt. The life was rough but eventful, not to say jolly, and as long as gold was got the digger was generally happy. If his pocket grew light and the authorities demanded license fees, he had to wash dirt enough to supply the required gold; but if he failed in his search, or, worst of all, if health failed, he was of all men most miserable. There were no hospitals or asylums in that early day, and a woman was an absolute phenomenon; so the sick man often died with nothing civilised about him but the awkward, if gentle, tending of his digging partners in the gold-hunting wilderness. And some fell in utter loneliness, their bones when found being buried beneath some drooping spray of peppermint about the slopes or gullies of the gold-field.

In those first days of digging life, when womanless crowds wrestled with the earth and the forest amid much weariness and solitude of heart, the arrival of a woman was the signal for a cry and a gathering. The shout, "There's a woman!" emptied many a tent of besoiled and hardy diggers, for the strange sight evoked instant memories of far-away homes: of mothers, wives, and sweethearts, and all the sweet affections and courtesies they represented, and never with such eloquent emphasis as then. There was no man, having the heart of a man, who did not bless the vision, while many an eye was moistened with the sudden tear as love, hope, disappointment, fear, struggled all at once in the homeless digger's bosom. But recklessness often marked the life of the time, and the brandy bottle of the grog-shanty killed some victims then as it does in this later day. Unlicensed at first, the grog-sellers got licensed afterwards, and did heavy trade with the heavy drinker, the more moderate drinkers helping to swell the business to a large and highly profitable aggregate. Prices of all kinds of goods and all kinds of labor were enormously high. One publican in 1853, when cartage from Geelong was �80 per ton, paid �1500 a week for cartage for seven months running. This one man had at one time no fewer than 122 public-houses or shanties either mortgaged to him or in his own actual possession.

Mr. F.W. Tatham, manager of the Prince of Wales Company from 1862 to its winding up in 1875, gives an episode or two illustrative of the times and the men of the fifties. He says, referring to the mad, early, womanless days, that

Brandy was the great panacea for too many. But civilisation gradually dawned, and some congenial spirits now and then met to discuss politics, theology, or other serious matters in the tent on Sundays or evenings. There was one party consisting of three doctors, a captain in the army, some sea captains, and some American colonels and majors. Some of them are dead, others scattered over the world, but some of them became victims of alcohol. Joe N———, our next tent neighbour, a merry, bibulous sawmaker from Sheffield, had a young wife. About a year after marriage she had to prepare for a serious emergency, but had no means, for Joe swallowed everything. My wife and other women promised to help her, and I tried to get hold of Joe, but there was no getting him then into a serious mood. At last, one Sunday morning, as the wife's time uas drawing near, and things were dear and scarce, I got Joe to look at the position. As soon as he realised it, he said he knew where he could get some gold, and would soon set things right. Next day he brought home a few pennyweights—enough to make a start with. The next day he got several ounces, too late for the intended service, as the young stranger had made an appearance; but the ladies had cut up some of their own clothes, and so the exigency was met. That was a year before the Eureka affair. At another time Joe came to my tent one Sunday morning, and we went exploring up by Black Hill, Dead Horse, and Rotten Gully, afterwards called Little Bendigo. He was hard up, as usual, and I had no money, for I did not expect to want any. After an hour's travelling, Joe wanted to drink; I said we could get a drink of tea at some tent. "Tea be blowed", said Joe. "But we have no money, and the shanties don't give grog on credit." "Oh, if you'll help," replied Joe, "that's all right." We looked round among the shallow holes for some likely looking headings, found a tin dish planted among some rubbish, scooped up half a dish of dirt, and washed it off, getting a few grains. After repeating the experiment three or four times, he succeeded in getting nearly a pennyweight of gold, and, tying it up in a bit of rag, he persuaded a German grog seller to let him have about a quarter pint of brandy. That was in the mad times when men would not wash dirt for less than an ounce to the tub, and nobody took much notice of a man washing a bit of headings, even on a Sunday. Poor Joe is long since dead. Some of the other and better educated mob of professionals and naval and military men thought of little else than where they could got brandy. They knew something of chemistry, and I have heard them boast how, when all their money and credit was gone, and, living far into the night in a drug store, they, with the help of some pain-killer, manufactured a palatable drink. One of the ladies who helped Joe's wife was Mrs. Pincott, whose husband subsequently gave his name to Pincott's dam. They lived close by our tent, and Mrs. Pincott gave birth to a son, the first born on these diggings. This was close to Brown Hill, and Pincott's mates were so pleased that they took the hat round, and collected bits of gold from some of the wash-dirt paddocks; some gave them small nuggets, some gave wash-dirt, some money, altogether amounting to about �80, and the lad was named Eureka. He lived and throve three or four years, and then fell into a water hole. His mother found him before he was dead, but, though she made frantic efforts to get him out of the shallow hole, she could not reach him. Digging her toes into the sides of the shaft, she kept the boy for a time out of the water, but could not make her cries for help heard until too late to save her child's life.

John Alloo's Chinese Restaurant, Main Road, Ballaarat, 1853.

Mr. John Brooksbank, a hardworking Yorkshireman from Bradford, who landed in Melbourne on the 20th June, 1848, and came to Ballarat in September, 1851, favors the author with some autobiographical notes—simple, graphic, almost reminiscent of old Pepys in quaintness. He says:—

After a long and severe passage, and my money being a little scarce, I had to be pretty smart and get work as soon as possible. Got work in (Government employ, and soon after was taking contracts, and during this time I bought a farm of the Hon. John Pascoe Fawkner, near Melbourne. Went to Geelong in right good times, everything going on first rate until the news of the discovery of the gold. Then everything was upside down, men would not work at any price, contracts broke, men and masters going to the diggings. Jack was as good as his master. Never got a penny for my work in Geelong, so I had to make my way to Ballarat, which was in the month of September. Pitched my tent on the Brown Hill road, now called Humffray street, and started to sink; got a little, and at the end of November we left for Mount Alexander, and was not long before we got gold. So I was there on Xmas day and had a jolly fine plum pudding. My mate's wife used to cook for us and rock the cradle, and got half share, and the two seemed to keep their own purses separate  *   *   *  On our way to Melbourne I was gathering sticks to boil the billy and picked up a roll of notes tied with a string. Not near our dray at all, so I put them in my pocket and said nothing about them, thinking they would say "we will divide them"; as I intended to advertise them in Melbourne. But when we were on our way the woman, to my surprise, said she had lost a roll of notes, so I asked what the parcel was like. She said it was rolled up tight and tied with a string so I knew at once it was the one I had found, so I took it out of my pocket and showed it to her. The husband said she ought to give me half. She got the notes and we went on our way rejoicing. Got to Melbourne on Sunday, next day started for Geelong, and at night was in the bosom of my family. So I soon looked out and bought a horse and dray and took my family to Ballarat, where we arrived after seven days with a good horse, and we fixed our tent about the same place where I first fixed when first I came up. Built one of the first restaurants on Ballarat near where the Red Bull now stands. Meals were 4s. and Sunday dinners 5s. and regular boarders �2 2s. per week. Was obliged to keep a little grog, and soon after that a man came up from Geelong, a friend of one of the boarders, so he asked him to have a feed at his expense. So after having this feed he asked my wife to let him have drink, as he was a friend of his it was all right. So accordingly he got the drink, but to my horror and surprise this noble Geelong friend of our boarder went straight to the police camp and joined the force and came down and stuck me up for grog selling, and I was fined �50. He was soon hooted from pillow to post, and his effigy was burnt, and he was soon banished from Ballarat  *   *   *  The little gingerbeer man shot at the stockade was a boarder of mine. He was supposed to have shot Captain Wise on that memorable occasion.  *   *   *  About 7 o'clock on next evening a boy came running to tell me the bushrangers were in their store, and were tieing the master and mistress down. So myself and Mr. Smith and one or two others were fully prepared with our shooting irons in good order, so over we went and divided ourselves, some to the back and some to the front. I took the back, and Cane, an old man-o'-war's man, was with me, a wild sort of a man. So we got to the door pretty quietly, and could see over the door how all things stood inside; the pistols and the carving knives and cash box on the table, and the ringleader was putting the money in his pockets while the others were helping him. I had my horse pistol in my hand, and my mate came with his revolver keeping them covered, and by this time there was a double-barrelled gun there. So I dragged open the door and took charge of the fire arms, and the other men coming in at the front the bushrangers were secured without the slightest show of escape. So we released the missus and master and tied the would-be robbers in their place. When they were tried they pleaded guilty and had 14 years on the roads, the first three in irons. They were escapees from Pentridge. I had a great trouble at this time, as one of my children died very suddenly, and these trials were trials in those times. No one to make a coffin, as one man volunteered to make one but when I looked for the coffin he said he had clean forgot it; and two men went to dig the grave and got bushed, so I had to go and dig it myself. This is not very pleasant jobs lo do for your own children. The ground was not fenced in at this time, as this was amongst the first that was buried in the old burying ground (cemetery by the Creswick road).

Mr. Brooksbank tells other of his experiences, such as building tins old Bank of Victoria—referred to further on, diddling a party who had obtained a "wrongful" order for restitution of wash dirt, erecting a pump on Yuille's Creek between Webster street and Creswick road at which to sell water, going two or three times to New Zealand, building a public house at the corner of Lyons and Urquhart streets, then going mining again with no luck and "the results of foul air and old age creeping on I have determined as far as possible to leave the mining on one side."

From Mr. Irwin's contributions to the Ballarat Star, more expressly referred to in a subsequent chapter, we take the following as confirmatory of some foregoing remarks:—

During the earlier days of the rush to Golden Point a monetary arrangement existed which would scarcely be long tolerated now-a-days. It was this, when the purchaser went to a store for supplies he got as change either a Burnbank, Colac or other "note". These notes were simply rudely lithographed promises "to pay one day after sight", in Melbourne or Geelong, where the principal store of issuer was, the amounts specified in the "notes," which were of various amounts, from 5s. upwards. Suppose a purchaser of goods had got some of the notes from the Burnbank store and on the next occasion for purchasing went to the Colac or Robinson's store, the persons in charge of the latter would not accept of the notes of the rival establishment, to which the holder of them must go unless he was willing to lose their value. The system was an intolerable nuisance while it lasted, but it had soon to be abolished, change for purchases being reduced to a minimum by the sale of so many ounces or pennyweights of gold to the storekeeper, the balance, if any, being made good by boxes of matches and the like, to the satisfaction generally of both parties to the transaction. It is on record that very small potatoes, reckoned at the rate of threepence each, served as small change to a storekeeper who is now one of the wealthiest of Victorian colonists.

The first woman who arrived among the diggers was a bullock-driver's wife, whose husband had left his bullocks and turned to gold seeking. Next came Mrs. Thomas Bath, who was in fact, either the first woman, or among the first half dozen or so of women, who settled on the gold-field. After her others came at wide and dreary intervals in angelic similitude; but when the first two years had passed, and the gold-field had acquired some elements of permanency women joined their husbands, sons, and brothers already here, or came with newcomers, and thus gradually the diggers' social life assumed a greater similarity to that of older settlements.

The first meetings for the celebration of divine worship in public were held by a few Wesleyans, who assembled in a mia-mia, or tent of boughs, as for a Christian feast of Tabernacles, in the White Flat, where the smithie belonging to Mr. John James, late M.L.A., then stood, near the intersection of Grant street and the Yarrowee. For greater privacy these Wesleyans used to go from the tent of boughs to the denser bush then adjacent, and, seated on fallen logs, hold there the "class-meeting",—that private service which is peculiar to the Wesleyan family of Christians. They were after that held in a hut on Winter's Flat, and in a tent at the White Flat, when the Golden Point rush was at its height. One of those early "Wesleyan worshippers" writes as follows:—

The first service was held on Sunday morning, the 28th Sept., 1851, on the flat, preacher (local) Mr. J. Sanderson, about one hundred present, text Corinthians II, "Ye are bought with a price." Class meeting at two o'clock in Sanderson's tent on Golden Point. Mr. Hastie came, attracted by the singing, and requested the aid of the singers, and waited half-an-hour, and took them to his service at the Commissioners' Camp. Sunday following, 5th October, Rev. Mr. Lewis, Wesleyan minister, from Geelong, preached on the flat at eleven o'clock and at the Black Hill in the evening. Subscriptions for a chapel rolled in and on the 12th November, in the afternoon, Mr. Sanderson opened the new chapel; text 12th Chap. Isaiah, "Behold, God is my salvation." The chapel was of saplins and boughs with tarpaulin over it, no pulpit. James Oddie was at the opening service. The day was a very stormy one. Mr. William Howell was the treasurer. A Mr. Jones of Tasmania, gave the first pound, and nuggets rolled in fast and furious. No other service was held in the building. The rush to Forest Creek took away the population the next week.

The social, if not aggressive, missionary spirit of Wesleyanism had earlier proof in Victoria than even in those services at Golden Point. M'Combie, in his "History of Victoria", has the following passage:—

In April, 1836, before the city of Melbourne existed, the Rev. Mr. Orton, a Wesleyan minister of Van Diemen's Land, who had accompanied Mr. Batman when that gentleman brought his family across Bass' Straits, celebrated divine service beneath the beautiful casuarina trees which adored the crest of Batman's Hill. Those who assembled to worship upon this interesting occasion belonged to many races and countries; they were a pretty fair average from the adjoining colonies and the islands of Great Britain. Mr. Batman's Sydney blacks also attended, while not a few of the aborigines, who had been attracted by the preparations, had crowded in. The Church of England service was read, and an excellent discourse preached from the text, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and we have heard from one who was present that the first sermon delivered by a regularly ordained clergyman on the site of the great metropolis was striking and orthodox.

The Wesleyans discovered similar activity when, in 1852, the crowding hosts of gold-seeking immigrants could not find houses to enter in Melbourne, not even at the enormous rents then demanded. The Government was at its wits' end and did its slow and cumbrous best to procure shelter for the crowd, but Mr. Latrobe thus refers to the Wesleyans in a despatch on 28th October, 1852, to Earl Grey:—

The Wesleyan body have the credit of taking the lead, by a very large collection, amounting, as I am informed, to near �2000, and the immediate commencement of a "Refuge for the Houseless", primarily for those in connection with their particular community, but in effect as far as their means will allow, for any who might be found to require it.

Some who joined in those tent or hut services, in the midst of the hot fever of the first rush to the marvellous riches of Golden Point, became active honorable men in our public life, and some are at this day filling positions more or less prominent in both ecclesiastical and secular life. The Rev. Thomas Hastie, of Buninyong, and the Roman Catholic Father Dunne, of Geelong, used to visit the diggings also and minister to their several flocks at irregular intervals. Father Dunne's first church was a tent near Brown Hill where the worshippers, or some of them, had to kneel upon quartz gravel as the mysteries of the mass were celebrated. The Wesleyans built the first place of worship, the site being on a knoll near Sinclair's Hill, and named by them Wesley Hill. They then built a weatherboard church where the Eastern Town-hall now stands. The Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Presbyterians, were close upon the heels of the Wesleyans, and other denominations followed, the first church building in permanent materials being erected by the Wesleyans where their present school-house now (1870) stands at the corner of Lydiard and Dana streets. The first church there was built towards the end of the year 1854, some stray bullets from the insurgent diggers on the flat falling among the workmen while the building was being built. The Rev. Theophilus Taylor was then superintendent minister of the Wesleyan Church here. After holding services in what was then the police-court, in Ballarat West, the Church of England people built a small wooden church in Armstrong street, where worship was held till Christ Church was built in Lydiard street. The wooden church was afterwards a billiard saloon, and then it became Pinkerton and Co.'s printing office. The first Anglican Church in Eastern Ballarat was a tent on the site of St. Paul's reserve. It was improved into a weatherboard building and after that came the brick edifice of to-day. When the diggings first commenced, Mr. Hastie, of Buninyong, was accustomed to go to Ballarat and hold service in the afternoon, when the greatest number of hearers could be obtained. The service for some time was held in the open air, and at different localities. Other ministers subsequently came, and each chose the situation which seemed most suitable. When the Eureka rush took place, a tent for worship was erected by the Presbyterians on the Eureka Flat, and then a wooden church was erected on Specimen Hill. The congregation became settled, Mr. Hastie urged them to call a minister, and in 1855 the Rev. James Baird was called and ordained. A service in Gaelic was Iftld every Sunday afternoon for some time there. During the time Mr. Baird was minister Ballarat West was gradually rising into importance, and for a time, service was held between both places, but ultimately, it was entirely removed to the West and held in the council chamber, near the corner of Sturt and Lydiard streets. During this period the Soldier's' Hill site was obtained, and a church built; the union, however, now took place, and as the Sturt street site, was reckoned most convenient, a church was erected there and the Soldiers' Hill church was converted into a school. In 1858 Mr. Baird resigned and returned to Britain, when the Rev. Wm. Henderson was called and inducted.

Schools and newspapers sprang up, too, during these first three years, and the population increased from Governor Latrobe's hypothetical census of 6000 to over four times that number. The bills of newspaper mortality showed a strong tendency in the early papers to early death. Mr. Alfred Clarke, as the representative of Mr. Harrison (then proprietor of the Geelong Advertiser), attempted to bring a printing press here in October, 1851, for the purpose of bringing out a paper to be called the Boninyong Gazette and Mining Journal—for it must be remembered that Buninyong was then the only recognised settlement. It was a township of some antiquity, and Ballarat was but an aboriginal name in the aboriginal bush, or in the hardly less barbarous diggings. Clarke's dray with the press got bogged on the way up from Geelong, and in the meantime Clarke had a little feud with the commissioner of the day about the site selected on Old Post-office Hill, the press was packed off to Geelong again, and thus ended the first essay in the direction of newspaper literature here. The Ballarat Times and Southern Cross was the first paper actually published in Ballarat, the first number being published on the 4th March, 1854, at an office in Mair street, opposite the Market Square. Subsequently the Times office was removed to Bakery Hill, near the intersection of the present Victoria and Humffray streets, by the proprietor and editor, Henry Seekamp, The paper lived for several years, and died on the 5th of October, 1861. The Leader was the next adventure. It was a joint-stock affair, and only made six appearances. The Creswick Chronicle was next brought out by Mr. J.J. Ham, an old colonist and experienced journalist. It died in the bloom of early youth, after two or three issues only. In July, 1855, appeared the Ballarat Trumpeter, a gratuitous sheet, which in 1856 was published as a tri-weekly, under the joint ownership of Messrs. Wheeler, Fletcher, and Evans. It lived about twelve months, and was the nucleus of the Ballarat Standard. Then came the Star. It appeared as a tri-weekly journal on the 22nd September, 1855, under a joint-stock proprietary, with Messrs. Samuel Irwin and J.J. Ham as editors. After some four months it was discontinued for a week, and then it re-appeared, having passed into private hands in the interval, and in December, 1856, appeared daily as at present. On the 10th November, 1856, the Ballarat Standard appeared, and some time previously the Nation. The Standard, owned by Messrs. D.D. Wheeler and W. Cooper, was a tri-weekly, edited by Mr. W. Cooper (subsequently of the Portland Guardian). It made its last appearance on the 26th of the month in which it was born. Mr. Denovan, afterwards M.L.A. for Sandhurst, edited the Nation, which peacefully expired after less than a dozen issues. In 1857 an attempt at the facetious was made, and a Ballarat Punch appeared, and laughed at some of our follies, and chided some of our sins. Mr. Hasleham, then correspondent of the Melbourne Herald, conducted the new comer through a portion of its short and merry career, and Mr. C.E. Moore designed a capital title page for it that never appeared for want of the necessary wood or stone gravers. The comic little paper had several owners and editors, but none of them could make it live. In August, 1857, appeared the Corn Stalk, a monthly quarto of 4 pages, "printed and published for the proprietors, J. and T. Oddie." It was edited by Mr. J.N. Wilson, now the chairman of the Ballarat Water Commission; and it is noticeable that the ninth number now before us (April, 1858) has for its leading article an essay declaring that "a plentiful supply of good water for domestic and commercial purposes is, above all things, what Ballarat wants." The article is backed up by extracts from letters from Messrs. J. Learmonth and T. Waldie, showing that not only Burrumbeet and Yuille's, but even the rivers Moorabool, Leigh, and Barwon had, within their memory, been dry. Newspaper enterprise then flagged for a while, until, on the 24th March, 1859, a little company of adventurers brought out the North Grenville Mercury, Mr. M.G. Byrne, afterwards a barrister, being editor. It was pluckily maintained, first as a tri-weekly and then as a daily, in all for some twenty weeks, when, after a hundred appearances, it was also welcomed by the journalistic Capulets to their tomb. The Tribune came next, appearing on the 21st of November, 1861, and ending on the 11th July, 1863, Mr. Harrison, previously of the Ballarat Times, being the manager and editor, and at last sole proprietor. The Ballarat Sun arose on the 26th September 1864, and appeared daily under the auspices of a joint-stock proprietary. After a troublous lift; and change of ownership, it sank below the horizon during the following year. Advertising sheets, distributed gratuitously, appeared and disappeared at intervals all the years after 1854, and on some Saturday in August, 1856—the date missing from the copy before us—appeared The Chinese Advertiser, a medley of Chinese and English, but mostly Chinese, which was to be a "pioneer of Christianity and Christian civilisation among the Chinese in Australia," and was printed from stone, by Robert Bell, Main Road, Ballarat. Mr. Bell remains, and so do a good many of the Chinese, but the Advertiser has long since disappeared. On the 25th of May, 1863, appeared the Evening Post, at once our first evening and first penny paper. It has had several changes of ownership. The Ballarat Courier, Messrs. Bateman and Clark, proprietors, first appeared on the 10th of June, 1867, and the Evening Mail, the last-born of the newspapers, on the 6th of April, 1869. It was started by a band of printers, then, in the hands of the same company, was registered with an increased capital under the Trading Companies Statute, and, eventually, was incorporated with the Evening Post. Ballarat Punch revived also, and struggled against fate till February, 1870, when it disappeared. It was started by the late C.A. Abbot, who was both artist and editor, as well as proprietor. Buninyong, Creswick, Clunes, and Smythesdale all had papers of their own; and even Sebastopol, the most juvenile of boroughs, has had its local newspaper. In recording this list of publications, we have travelled beyond the period set down at the head of the chapter, but have done so as being more convenient than otherwise. The physical difficulties in the way of printing were great in the early days of the gold-fields, as in the beginning of all new settlements. Some of these difficulties have been referred to in the text. Mr. D.D. Wheeler, who was one of the founders of the Standard and Trumpeter and a shareholder in the first Star co-partnership, writes of the latter journal:—"Its first number was printed and published in the middle of a hurricane and inundation, with the printers nearly up to their middle in water." This was in what is now Bridge street before the levels were raised there. Mr. Wheeler hazards the opinion that the Nation appeared more times than is stated in the text. He may be literally correct, but the facts are not materially different. As to the Trumpeter, Mr. Wheeler says:—"It was revived by its original proprietor early in January, 1856, and continued for about twelve months, when it lost its ground in competition with the Star and Times." The competitive fates fell afterwards upon the Times, which succumbed to the Star; and the Star, though still alive and holding a high position, has had to see the Courier outstrip it in the race and take the place of local journalistic leadership. The Star had many owners. From the original proprietary it passed to Messrs. Wanliss and Belford; then to Wanliss alone; then to J. Noble Wilson; then to H.R. Nicholls and Co.; then to a joint stock proprietary; then to the Courier proprietors; then to the present owners, Messrs. Martin and Grose, who are also proprietors of the Creswick Advertiser. The Commonwealth, a monthly publication, appeared for the first time in March, 1870. It was edited by Mr. W. Clarke, Grand Master of the Orange Lodges in Victoria, but it has long since vanished.

"Deep Sinking" Bakery Hill, Ballaarat—1853.

The caterers for the amusement of the early diggers had ample patronage in those days. The first theatrical venture was in December, 1853, when a canvas house was set up in the Gravel Pits, the leading actress afterwards becoming the wife of the editor and proprietor of the Ballarat Times. A person named Clarke opened a similar theatre on the Eureka in February, 1854, and soon after that Mrs. Hanmer opened a weatherboard theatre called the Adelphi, where the Tontine, and more recently called the Windsor hotel, afterwards stood in Esmond, now Durham, street east. The Charlie Napier, Montezuma, and Victoria theatres in Main street, all long since burnt down, speedily followed with larger accommodations and better performances. There came afterwards, drawn by the fame of the golden colony, some of the most accomplished histrionic artistes of the time. Catherine Hayes, Anna Bishop, Lola Montes, Brooke, Kean, Ellen Tree, Sir William and Lady Don, Jefferson, Celeste, Montgomery, were among the brighter stars that have risen upon our auriferous horizon. Lucy Chambers, an Australian by birth and a singer of European fame, appeared in opera; Charles Mathews, the comedian, Madame Ristori, and nearly every artist of high rank who came to Victoria also appeared in this city. Further details of dramatic business will be found in a future chapter.

The first magistrate sat of course at Buninyong. Mr. Eyre was the officer, and he used to visit the diggings at intervals. The finding of the first monster nugget at Canadian Gully in February, 1853, caused a new rush thither, and in that rush came Mr. Adam Loftus Lynn, who was the first attorney that practised here. After spending the months of February, March, and April in digging, he began to practise his profession on the 1st of May, his office being then opposite to the Ballarat Times office of that day. About six months after Mr. Lynn had commenced practice, he was joined by Mr. Ocock. After them came, in time, a forensic deluge. The first local County Court and Court of General Sessions were opened by the late Judge Wrixon, with Mr. Francis Greene as clerk of the peace, in January, 1853, at Buninyong, the original style of the County Court being "The County Court of Buninyong and Ballarat." It retained this style till the sixties. The court style, the judge, the clerk, all are dead and buried, but Mr. W. Tweedie, the first bailiff is still (1887) bailiff; and as County Courts in Victoria may soon be merged in some other court, the first bailiff may also be the last of the old order. The courts presided over by Judge Wrixon first sat at Ballarat near the end of the year 1853. Mr. Justice Williams opened the first Circuit Court in Ballarat on the 12th December, 1856, in what was then the police court-house, the county court-house, and the place where the English Church service was performed. The building stood in what is now Camp street, on the western side, where the street bends round near the Freemasons Hall. In respect of the courts of law we have gone beyond the period set down at the head of this chapter, but we have done so by way of convenience to the reader.

One of the Victorian sensations of 1852 was the robbery of several thousand ounces of gold from the ship Nelson in Hobson's Bay, on 2nd April, by a band, of whom one Roberts was a conspicuous confederate. He was sentenced with others but proved an alibi and was released. He then fell into the hands of the police in the Ballarat district and early in 1853 was in custody for horse stealing. He and others were at the Separation inn, at Leigh Road, on the way to the seaboard for trial, examination, or sentence. Handcuffed as he was, Roberts managed to slip them off, and he then jumped clean through one of the hotel windows, and bolted. He was at large for some time, but still in the first half of the same year he was known to be hiding somewhere near Beaufort. Mr. G.G. Morton, of Labona, who had landed in the colony in October, 1852, and obtained from Mr. Latrobe a cadetship in the police force, was sent with the cadets to Ballarat, where they arrived on the 29th September of that year, Morton being subsequently appointed to the charge of the Wimmera district. When Roberts was known to be lurking about Beaufort, Morton, accompanied by a stalwart trooper named Worsley, and an aboriginal who was supposed to know where Roberts was, set forth to attempt the capture of the horse stealer. The aboriginal pointed out as the robber's lair a bark hut in the ranges, known on the run as the Waterloo hut, the site being that afterwards opened up as the Waterloo diggings. Morton arranged with Worsley the modus belli [5] whereby Morton was to burst in the hut door and fall down in the hut, Worsley to be close at his heels and cover the robber with firearms. This was done to the letter, Roberts being there with another man, a vagrant unconnected with the horse stealing. The police had only to do with Roberts, the other man being harmless, and being told to take no part if he valued his own life or liberty. Roberts, being covered by Worsley, began to show fight; Morton sprang to his feet and felled the robber with the butt end of a pistol as the ruffian was exclaiming: "Yes, I'm Roberts, you ———, and you shan't take me alive." The officers soon had the handcuffs upon him, and strapped him to Worsley's stirrup, Morton being ready to prod him with a sabre if he did not march peaceably to his fate. Roberts used much emphatic but unrecordable language, and still made show of resistance at first, but soon submitted to the march, and was safely lodged in gaol, and eventually sentenced.

This Roberts was an old convict who had come out in 1844, and when he obtained his freedom he took to the roads and was for a time associated with the notorious Captain Melville, who strangled himself in the Melbourne gaol. He was only 37 when arrested at Waterloo, and by the time he was sentenced thereafter he had a total of 32 years imprisonment imposed for three charges of highway robbery and assault, including five years in irons. The ruffian began a life of crime very early, and his frequent imprisonments had afforded leisure, as does the sequestered life of the sailor, for the indulgence of that strange fancy for tattooing which seems to fascinate convict and sailor alike. Here is the gaol record of "particular marks":—

Sun, heart, and dart; foul anchor, soldier and woman R.D.A.B.; launch, cross flags and crown on left arm. Crucifix, maltese cross, flags, skull and bones, sword and pistol on right arm.

By the end of the year 1852 the diggers on the gutters had begun to reach what was then called deep ground, and their vocation soon after that began, though rudely and tentatively, to assume more of the character of regular mining. The year 1853 was rich in new discoveries, and a large number of gullies were then opened. The Canadian, opened early in 1851, was named from a man called Canadian Swift. The gully and issuing gutter were very rich, the first large nugget ever found being unearthed there about February, 1853. It weighed 1620 oz., and has never been surpassed in weight by any discoveries since, except by the Welcome nugget, found on the reef in some old ground on Bakery Hill on the 9th of June, 1858 (weight, 2217 oz.), and the Welcome Stranger, found at Mount Moliagul on the 5th of February, 1869 (weight, 2280 oz). A rich bend in the gutter known as the Jewellers' Shops, was about two hundred yards from where the nugget was found. The ground there was prodigiously rich in gold, heavy, lumpy, bright gold in profusion, and hence the name given to the spot. The gutter ran down the valley, and mingled with the other golden streams that met in the area formerly known as the Gum Tree Flat, into which also the Red Hill, Red Streak, Eureka, Bakery Hill, Gravel Pits, and their tributaries poured their golden wealth. Dr. Gibson, Muir, and others of the Gravel Pits gutter near the Prince Albert hotel (afterwards St. John's Presbyterian Church), opposite to the present Hebrew Synagogue, and Rowland and Party in Sailor's Gully, appear to have been among the earlier miners who slabbed their shafts throughout. Gibson's first essay was with frame and piles; but before that, in 1852, Mr. Beilby and others used saplings to secure unsafe shafts, and others lined the shafts with slabs of bark placed vertically and fastened with sapling frames. The claims known as the Italians', where the Gravel Pits entered the Gum Tree Flat, were famous for their heavy deposits of gold. The Eureka, the Canadian, and the Gravel Pits leads, all opened just after the first rush to Golden Point, were the famous golden trinity that made Ballarat world-renowned. The Eureka ran from Little Bendigo southwards beneath the Yarrowee and the present Railway, Humffray, Victoria and Eureka streets, into Pennyweight Flat, where it was joined, near the old Charlie Napier, or a hundred yards or so south-east from the intersection of Main and Eureka streets, by the Canadian, both flowing with other leads into the Gum Tree Flat, where they were joined by the Gravel Pits and Bakery Hill, which ran from the foot of Black Hill across the present Humffray street and Victoria street to the general place of confluence in the Gum Tree Flat—that area of ground the eastern edge of which Main street now traverses. The combined lead, which was in fact the main ancient stream flowing over the primeval bed rocks, ran westward, and entered beneath the basaltic plateau of Ballarat West, just below the intersection of Sturt and Lydiard streets, where it took a southern bend, and received a tributary from Golden Point. This tributary, being the first registered gutter, gave the name to the main stream which flowed on westward and southward, receiving many tributaries in its course. This is, however, anticipatory in point of time. The year 1853 was marked by a vigorous prospecting. In that year, the whole range north and south of the Ballarat Flat was opened up. Prince Regent's, Sailor's, Scotchman's, and New Chum Gullies on the eastern slope of the Golden Point range, and Terrible, White Horse, Frenchman's, Chinamen's, and Cobbler's Gullies on the western slope, were in that year entered upon in their shallower portions. On the Black Hill side, besides that hill and the adjacent gullies and Little Bendigo, Dead Horse, Sulky, and other gullies on the way to Creswick were opened. Apropos of Frenchman's Gully, it may here be noted that Esmond, the Clunes gold discoverer, found a 70-oz. nugget in the shallow ground in 1853. In the following year, while Sir Charles and Lady Hotham were on a visit here, a nugget weighing 98� lbs. was found in Dalton's Flat, and called the Lady Hotham after the wife of the Governor. By that time the quartz lodes at the Black Hill had been tested. Dr. Otway, with whom was Mr. Osborne, was the first adventurer there, and he erected a windmill as a motive power for reducing the stone. After that he procured Chilian mills, but neither process was successful. Mr. George Milner Stephen followed Dr. Otway, and with similar results. The Port Phillip Company then came upon the scene, operating both at Black Hill and on the ranges at Dead Horse, but with small success. That company soon found better fortune at the Clunes reefs, from which it drew for many years a large annual revenue.

Thus the three first years after the gold discovery saw some of the richest of the Ballarat gutters, opened up, most of the rich shallow grounds once or twice dug over, a population of from 30,000 to 40,000 assembled, lines of streets thickly inhabited by dwellers in canvas or wood, churches, theatres, hotels, bowling alleys, dancing saloons, stores in plenty and all the elements present of a rough, prosperous, young gold-fields settlement; while enterprising prospectors were still pushing out on every side, and adding fresh discoveries to those that had already made Ballarat famous in every part of the civilised world.

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CHAPTER IV.

DIGGER HUNTING.

The Gold License.—Taxation Without Representation.—Unequal Incidence of the Tax.—Episodes of Digger Hunting.—Irritating Method of Enforcing the Tax.—Suspicions of Corruption among the Magistrates and Police.—Visit of Sir Charles and Lady Hotham.—Big Larry.—Roff's Recollections.—Reform League.—Murder of Scobie.—Acquittal of Bentley.—Dewes Suspected.—Mass Meetings.—Burning of Bentley's Hotel.—Irwin's Narrative.—Arrest of Fletcher, M'Intyre, and Westerby.—Re-arrest of Bentley.—Conviction of Bentley.—Rich's Experiences.—Conviction of Fletcher, M'Intyre, and Westerby.—Demand for their Liberation.—Increased Excitement.—F�te to the American Consul.—Foster.—Sir Charles Hotham.—Arrival of Troops.—Troops Assaulted.—Bakery Hill Meeting.—Southern Cross Flag.—Burning the Licenses.

The First Quartz Crushing Battery, base of Black Hill, Ballaarat, 1855

When the European gold hunter arrived in Victoria, just after the gold discovery, he no sooner found himself upon the gold-fields than he was, as we have seen, brought into contact with a Government in the construction of which, and in the direction of whose policy, he had no more voice than the naked aborigine he saw prowling about the bush. Before he could legally put pick or shovel into the ground, the digger had to pay a heavy monthly tax, levied upon him by a Government and Parliament in which he was not represented. At first for thirty shillings, then for sixty shillings, and then again for thirty shillings per month, the digger obtained a license in this or some nearly identical form:—

GOLD LICENSE.

No.             185

The bearer,               having paid to me the sum of          on account of the territorial revenue, I hereby license him to dig, search for, and remove gold on and from any such Crown lands within the             as I shall assign to him for that purpose during the month of          185    , not within half-a-mile of any head station.

This license is not transferable and must be produced whenever demanded by me or any other person acting under the authority of the Government.

(Signed)         A. B., Commissioner.   

In this we have the symbol of the grievances that roused the gold-fields population. There was a heavy tax levied monthly by a non-representative executive; that tax was often oppressive in itself and unequal in its incidence, and it was often collected in so insolent a manner, that its unpopularity became a thousandfold greater.

Here, illustrative of the sport of license or digger-hunting, is an episode from a lecture by the late Mr. William Benson, once an escort-trooper in South Australia, then a reporter on the Ballarat Times, and subsequently a mining surveyor. The lecture was delivered at a Working Men's Temperance Meeting, in the Alfred Hall, on Saturday, the 19th February, 1870:—

I had been for some short time in 1853 occupied at the store of Messrs. Hilfling and Greig, on the township, where the drapery establishment of David Jones and Co. now is. Not very well liking my employment, I was on my way to the labor office on Bakery Hill to offer for a stock-rider's billet. Being dressed in somewhat digger costume, and talking near where the Yarrowee bridge now is, I heard behind me a stentorian voice—"Hallo! you fellow." I turned round. Speechless horror! There, at full galop, at the head of fifteen or twenty mounted troopers, with scabbards clattering and stirrups jingling, rode a stalwart black-looking chief of the digger hunters. "Hallo! I say, you, sir," thundered forth he, with a mighty flourish of his sword glittering in the beautiful sunlight, "have you got a license." Worse luck to me I never was a digger, even when gold could be got by pounds weight. Well, there flourished the sword of a mighty hunter, and there stammered I forth "No." At that moment up came the mounted and foot police. "Take this man into custody", shouts out the leader of the troop and off he gallops. I, in my simplicity, said the mighty hunter did not recognise me, he was a sergeant in the foot police at Adelaide when I was a government escort trooper there. "Well," says my custodian, "all I know is that I am going to take you to quod." This was the "logs", but all this time I was being taken away from the "logs" (or Camp lock-up), and near where the corner of Barkly street now is we there found another guardian of the spoil of the hunters, holding in terror of his formidable weapon a real digger whose clothes bespoke him to be a sojourner amongst the holes on the Red Hill. We were marched up the slope of Golden Point, the troopers and foot police far in advance; but I refused to go further and sat down. One of the diggers near, espying my bespattered comrade in distress, calls out "Hallo! mate, what's the row?" "Got no license," grumbles out the Red Hill digger. "Can't you give bail?" sings out the charitable-minded questioner. "Not I," returns the other, "or I should'nt be without a license." No more ado, but into his tent walks he of the charitable mind, and out he shortly comes and walking straight up to my fellow captive, thrusts into his brawny hands five �1 notes, saying "There's thy bail money", and off he walked. "Know you that man?" said I to my astonished mate in misfortune. "Never saw him before in my life," he replied, "but he is a good fellow and one of the right sort."

Benson and his companion were both bailed, and, after the examination before the bench, the digger was lined in the amount of his bail. Benson escaped fine, and after some delay recovered his bail. Such episodes abounded, with variations in detail. From an unpublished manuscript by Mr. R.M. Serjeant, descriptive of the times under discussion, the following comic picture is taken:—

We marked out a couple of claims on the Eureka, and one or two more at Prince Regent's Gully. On returning home one afternoon we found our gully (Specimen Gully) surrounded by the force on the hunt for licenses. I noticed our sod chimney smoking, and the hut door—an old flour sack stretched on a frame of wattle saplins—wide open, so I concluded Joe, our cooking mate, was about, and could not very well escape two of the police who were marching straight into the doorway. I had approached to within a few yards of the scene, license paper in hand, when the traps stepped back, as I thought, rather hastily, and, to my surprise, were confronted on the threshhold by a smart, genteel-looking female, who politely enquired their business, and the next moment espying me close in the rear, said—"Perhaps my brother can answer your enquiries, gentlemen!" The gentlemen, however, were not among the rudest of their class, begged pardon, and turned on their heels in search of more easy prey, while I proceeded to introduce myself to my newly-found sister, whom I then saw throwing up her heels and cutting most unladylike capers round the dining table. In the course of the evening Joe intimated that as he had resolved never to take out a license, he should, if we had no objection, continue to wear his new style of attire, and that in future his name was to be Josephine.

Mr. Serjeant gives us another lively view of the digger hunting process:—

"Traps! Traps!! Joe! Joe!!" were the well-known signals which announced that the police were out on a license raid, now becoming almost of daily occurrence. The hasty abandonment of tubs and cradles by fossickers and outsiders, and the great rush of shepherds to the deep holes on the flat as the police hove in view, readily told that there were not a few among them who believed in the doctrine that "base is the slave who pays." Hunting the digger was evidently regarded by Mr. Commissioner Sleuth and his hounds as a source of delightful recreation, and one of such paramount importance to the State that the sport was reduced to an exact science. Thus, given a couple of dirty constables, in diggers' guise, jumping a claim, gentle shepherd approaches with delapidated shovel on shoulder and proceeds to dispossess intruders in summary manner. A great barney ensues: Constable Derwent and his mate talk big, a crowd gathers round, and "a ring! a ring!!" is the cry. The combatants have just commenced to shape, when the signal referred to at the head of this paragraph rings through the flat. On come the traps in skirmishing order, driving in the stragglers as they advance, and supported by mounted troopers in the rear, who occupy commanding positions on the ranges. A great haul is made, and some sixty prisoners are marched off in triumph to the Camp, hand-cuffed together like a gang of felons, there to be dealt with according to the caprice or cupidity of their oppressors.

Irwin, in his letters to the Geelong Advertiser, corroborates Benson's account of the hunting mode, and gives, under date 23rd October, 1854, the following statement in explanation of resolutions adopted at a meeting in the Roman Catholic Chapel on Bakery Hill, expressive of sympathy with Father Smyth, and of indignation against Commissioner Johnstone:—

Some time since Mr. Johnstone was in command of a license-hunting party, one of whom, named Lord, came up to a tent in which was John Gregory, a foreigner, on a visit of charity to some other foreigners whose language he knew. The trooper Lord ordered the "—— wretches" to come out of the tent that he might see their licenses. Gregory, the servant of the Rev. Mr. Smyth, had no such document; on seeing which the trooper, damning him and the priest, ordered him to come along. As Gregory is not very strong-limbed, he requested to be allowed to go to the Camp himself, as he was not able to follow the force while visiting the various diggings looking for unlicensed miners. So far right; but on Gregory's appearing unwilling or unable to follow, the trooper ill-used him, and only let him off on Mr. Smyth depositing �5 bail for his appearance. At the Police-office, after being fined �5 for not having a license, Gregory was going away, but was recalled. On re-appearing, the charge of wanting a license was withdrawn by Mr. Johnstone, and one of assaulting a trooper put instead. For this he, the cripple, was fined the original �5 bail. In the whole affair the Rev. Mr. Smyth was certainly treated with but little courtesy; and the trumpery story of a cripple assaulting an able-bodied mounted trooper is too ridiculous to warrant serious attention.

Englishmen, free from crime, were at the mercy in those days of many demoralised and ruffianly policemen, who treated the diggers like felons, and were too often abetted by their superiors in this treatment of men thus practically deprived of two centuries of political progress. To these causes of irritation were added suspicions of corruption in the administration of the common law on the Ballarat gold-field, and this it was, as will presently appear, that precipitated the events which ended in the collision between the Queen's troops and the armed insurgents. Begun at Bendigo in 1853, the agitation against the gold-fields license tax, and for representation in Parliament, was quickly taken up in Ballarat, and was there pushed forward with more eventful incident to a more tragic conclusion. The outbreak was not that of a stupid, stolid, ignorant peasantry in arms against hay stacks and threshing machines, but of free-spirited, intelligent, people, goaded to resistance by intolerable wrong, and guided—at all events during a portion of the period—by men of education and character among themselves, aided by a provincial Press created and sustained for the most part by men also from among their own ranks. When commissioners, magistrates, and troopers, had got used to treating the diggers as people to be taxed and harried at pleasure, the offensive method of carrying out the obnoxious license law had grown so irksome that a reform of the whole system was irresistibly pressed upon the population. A Reform League was formed for the redress of grievances, and all the gold-fields supported the organisation. Towards the middle of 1854, Mr. Latrobe's successor. Sir Charles Hotham, and Lady Hotham, visited Ballarat, and, in spite of the existing grievances, they were loyally received. In connection with the visit there was some prominence acquired by a gigantic Irish digger, called Big Larry, who, with a rougher Raleigh-like politeness, not only assiduously planked over muddy spots for the dainty feet of the Governor's wife, but sometimes carried that representative lady bodily over portions of the ground, and generally cleared a way for the visitors through the crowd of spectators. It may be that his Excellency and his Melbourne advisers were led, by the welcome given by the diggers, to misconstrue the mind of the gold-fields population, and to think that all the Camp officials, instead of a very small minority only, were proper men properly enforcing the law. Be that as it may, the Government not only maintained the law, but sought to enforce it with greater rigor. In October, 1854, the Government sent up an order that the police should go out two days a week hunting for unlicensed diggers. At that time there were four commissioners at Ballarat, between whom the field was parcelled out in four divisions; but the boundaries being ill-defined, the police often hunted over the same ground twice, and thus the rudeness which too often marked the process of license-fee collection was often repeated over and over again upon the same man in the same day.

Mr. Joseph Roff, clothier, at present a member of the Town Council, writing to the author respecting the early days, says:—

The storekeepers were embittered against the Government, not only from a natural sympathy with their customers, the diggers, but also from a want of protection from lawless vagabonds let loose from the various colonies, and who were ever ready to rob or murder law-abiding citizens. To remedy this a meeting was called, asking the authorities for a night patrol, and the citizens meanwhile formed themselves into a body for the protection of life and property. As the stores were mostly of canvas at that time, a knife was all that was needed, for the most part, to enter a store, the only protection being a revolver kept close at hand for instant use. I well remember the early morning drills in the ranges for revolver practice, with a sheet of paper pinned to a tree for a target, and fired at from a distance of ten or twenty paces. One Minter morning, between one and two o'clock—the night being divided into watches—my watch had come. An adjoining store had been stuck up the night before, and, stung by the recollection of sleepless nights and constant anxiety, I had sworn to shoot the first thief who dared to attack my place. At that very moment of my watch I heard footsteps coming nearer and nearer, and, as it seemed to mo, with stealthy tread. A stop was made just where I had been sleeping. Immediate and silent as a cat I sprang from my blankets to the floor, placing the muzzle of my shooter in a line with the foe, who, in the coolest manner possible, struck a match, lit a candle, placed it in a bottle, and was apparently searching for the weakest part of the canvas before cutting a hole. "Villain," I muttered to myself in my thoughts, "I'll make an example of you; if you dare to enter, I'll fire, let the consequences be what they may." Minutes, which seemed like hours, passed; the damp earth chilled my bare feet; not a sign was made; what is the burglar up to? Peeping through an opening at the doorway, I saw a digger holding up a light to the side of the tent, and quietly and intently staring at it "What the deuce are you up to there at this hour of the night?" I roared out. "Me?" said the digger: "why, I've just come off my night shift, and wanted to read the latest news from the Roosian war." My heart sank within me, and I thanked God I did not fire; but this man was certainly nigh being murdered. Going outside, I found that Alfred Black, brother of the editor of the Digger's Advocate, who lodged with me and slept on the counter, had pasted up the latest number of the Advocate on the tent side, headed "Latest news from the Russian war." So ended that little episode. Shortly after that I had the satisfaction of winging a burglar who had cut the canvas from floor to ceiling, and was in the act of walking off with a bundle labelled with neither his name or address.

The tragical was intimately associated with the comical in those days; the latter was sometimes born of the former. If the woes of the diggers and the insults and injuries of the troopers were tragical, they produced Thatcher's comical metrical gibes at the authorities, and occasional theatrical farces with a similarly caustic anti-police humour in them. Thatcher sang nightly at the Charlie Napier, and amongst the farces of the day was one produced at the Red Hill theatre, partly to suit the requirements of a popular actor, and partly to have a fling at the officials of the camp. It contained a scene laid at the Black Hill, in which the authorities were pilloried as oppressors of the diggers, and license hunting was ridiculed and denounced. The audiences were not nicely critical, and every joke and every hit were applauded with all the force of exceptionally sound lungs. The more furious the fun, the better the diggers, as a rule, liked the entertainment. Sometimes there were episodes of exciting mirth not included in the bill of fare, and Mr. Roff, whose recollections of the old days seem to be very graphic, tells of one or two of those extra programme performances:—

I had the honor, he writes, of being costumier to the first theatre in Ballarat. I was staying at the Criterion Hotel. Red Hill, at that time the best on the Flat; it was of canvas, and resembled a circus; beds were fitted up round the sides like bunks in a ship, but hidden from view by calico hangings. The tables and seats were permanent fixtures made of boards. The theatre was made of wood and canvas, and was nearly opposite to the hotel, A large and magnificent company were specially engaged, with a complete and splendid orchestra. The pieces for the opening night were, I think, Maritana, as a play, and the Irish Tutor. The night was fine and warm, and the place was crowded with diggers in every variety of costume. There were the blue and red serge shirt, the tall Yankee hat, Hessian knee boots, the long scarlet sashes, and all the audience ruddy with health, and as jolly as sand boys. The curtain had descended on the first piece, brandied peaches, sherry cobblers and spiders, cocktails, and what not, had been consumed between the acts, and the leading star had been encored, recalled, and shouted for in champagne at least a dozen times. The curtain rose for the after-piece, and the re-appearance of the star was greeted with enthusiasm, although it was apparent that stellar demoralisation had set in. As the piece proceeded, something was seen to have gone wrong, and the face of the star reddened with rage. Turning upon a subordinate actor who was leaving the stage, he severely kicked the super., who turned round upon his leader and said: "You may get as drunk as you like, but you don't kick me again, if you do, I'm dashed." The star, approaching the footlights as the curtain fell, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the fellow says I'm drunk. (Shouts from the audience.) If I did kick him he knows he deserved it. (Go it old man.) Am I drunk, ladies and gentlemen? (No, yes, pitch into him.) I'd rather be drunk any time than a fool. Isn't it enough to make anybody drunk to have to play with such idiots? Haven't I played before the Governor of New South Wales—but am I drunk, gentlemen?" At this moment some person from behind the curtain pitchforked the star forward right over the footlights into the orchestra, and as he lay astride the double bass, clutching the neck of it as for very life, the whole audience rose and roared with laughter, the rapid fun of the affair tickling them more than a dozen screaming farces of the best low comedians.

Mr. Roff, after telling how a gold buyer secreted �1000 worth of bank notes in his stove chimney overnight, and in the morning, hearing his boy lighting a fire, rushed to the rescue of the notes, but only in time to save a half-charred heap of paper that, luckily, still showed most of the numbers, goes on to detail the pains of a tailor with a cork leg. This tailor lived in the first brick house built in Ballarat East, and had for next room neighbours a band of Bohemians who made night hideous with what they called harmony. The tailor lived like a martyr for a while, though he had to rise early in those ante-eight-hours-of-labor days; but his camel back was broken one night by the harmonists striking up "The Cork Leg". As this seemed to be adding brutal insult to much provoking injury, the tailor resolved on revenge. Rising from bed, he pulled a big zinc case into his room, and belabored it lustily with cork leg and a stick. The Bohemians were vanquished. In fierce response to their shouts of remonstrance, the tailor roared: "I've stood this little game long enough. You'll have enough 'cork leg' before you're done, so here goes for another hour, to see how you like my harmony." Away banged the tailor with leg and arm upon the sonorous metal, until the enemy, tired and beaten, retreated from the field, and left the angry tailor to sleep thenceforth in peace.

Arrival of Geelong Mail—Main Road, Ballaarat, 1854.

Another of Mr. Roff's illustrations of the early times in Ballarat refers to the period when that part of the city about Drummond street was bush:—

Adventuring beyond as far as what is now Pleasant street one day with a companion sportsman, Mr. Rolf lost his friend, and then himself; The native "cooey" failed to bring any answering sound. I moved onwards, he says, and at last thought—"Where am I?" Looking upwards and on all sides, I replied—"Lost in the bush." Everywhere trees, openings, bits of sky, but everywhere the same bush. I walked till I was tired and bewildered. I sat down to rest, thirsty and perplexed; then looking up again at the sun, I saw he was sinking in the sky; westward, of course. Eureka! I have it; I will turn my back to the sun, go forward, and that will take me eastward towards my home. I rose and ran, often looking back to see how the sun lay, and in less than two hours I saw a house; soon after that I reached Winter's paddock, but it was getting dark. Before me, right away on the hills and down in the valleys, shone the illuminated stores and tents of the diggings, and I soon reached my home. I had been for hours lost in the bush, and had travelled some thirty miles or so; but I had not, probably, been at any time more than three or four miles from the Ballarat post office.

While reform leagues and committees were organising during the years 1853 and 1854, the population educated itself to a certain degree in the discussion of grievances, and men came to the front as popular leaders, some of whom remain to this day in public life, as Mr. Lalor, at present (January, 1887) speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Others there were who, more gifted in committee than upon the public platform, quietly and effectively aided the reform movement, but never rose or sought to rise to the more prominent elevation of public celebrity. Many of these, also, remain-with us to this day. "Digger hunting", as the collection of the license fee was called by the men on the gold-fields, continued incessantly, accompanied with frequent instances of official tyranny. Informers were employed by the authorities, and some of those men were mere creatures of the higher officials, and had histories that helped from the first to forbid confidence. The tide of irritation and discontent rose higher and higher, and the more excited of the population began to collect arms, to form leagues of their different nationalities, and to discuss the probabilities of open insurrection and a declaration of revolt from British rule. At length, in the latter half of the year 1854, a digger named James Scobie was killed in a scuffle at the Eureka hotel, on Specimen Hill (now Eureka street), kept by one Bentley, who was considered by the diggers to be a participator in Scobie's murder. The house was one of very bad fame, and Bentley was arrested and brought before a bench presided over by Mr. Dewes, the police magistrate, who acquitted him. There were a few thoughtful men sitting in the court at the time, who saw the gravity of what they felt to be a glaring miscarriage of justice. One of them—Mr. J. Russell Thomson—narrowly escaped committal for daring to urge that Bentley's was a case which should be sent to a jury. This acquittal aroused the population more than any single official act since the gold discovery, for the general belief was that Bentley was guilty, and that the police magistrate corruptly urged the acquittal because he was under pecuniary obligations to the prisoner. This opinion as to Dewes' embarrassments with Bentley is still held. Dewes fell before the popular storm, went to British Columbia, where he justified Victorian condemnation by committing embezzlement, and he ended his life by suicide in Paris. The exasperation caused by Bentley's acquittal gave a vigorous impetus to the agitations for reform. At an indignation meeting held on, or close to, the spot where Scobie was killed, Messrs. J.B. Thomson, T.D. Wanliss, Peter Lalor, J.W. Gray, W. Corkhill, Alex. M.P. Grant, and Archibald Carmichael were appointed a committee to take steps for the collection of money to defray the cost of a further prosecution of Bentley, and so warmly did the public respond that �200 were gathered in a very short time in Ballarat alone, when the collections were stopped, as the Government, in the meantime, moved in the business and offered rewards for the apprehension of Scobie's murderers. The collector of the moneys, Mr. John W. Gray, returned the subscriptions, after payment of some charges, and thus that expression of indignation at wrong done was ended The other gold-fields ardently joined in the feeling prevalent here In Ballarat meetings were held on Sundays as well as on other days, and on Saturday, 11th November, 1854, thousands of men gathered, and flags and bands of music lent ominous life to the assemblage. The leaders were in favor of moral force and a purely constitutional agitation; but there were more fiery spirits than they. One of these—a compatriot of Scobie—on another occasion harangued the crowd, and said the spirit of the murdered Scobie was hovering over them and yearning for revenge. The occasion referred to was a meeting held near Bentley's hotel on the 17th of October, when the arrival of the police and military, and some injudicious acts by a few bystanders, led to a collision with the police, the reading of the Riot Act, and the burning of the hotel. Some of the diggers were arrested, and one was rescued on the way to the Camp. Milne, Sergeant-Major of police, a man held in general execration as an unprincipled informer, was regarded as the right hand of the officials in that business.

The subjoined extracts are from contributions to the Ballarat Star, by Mr Samuel Irwin, a gentleman who was an eye-witness of the time and a daily recorder for the Press of what transpired. His letters to the Geelong Advertiser of those days gave very full and, in the main, very accurate descriptions of the occurrences of the time. So far may their reliableness be assumed that not only have no material contradictions been made, but, as the English Blue Books demonstrate, Sir Charles Hotham adopted some of Irwin's letters as portions of his despatches to the English Secretary for the Colonies:—

As a matter of course, those who take an interest in the past of Ballarat have in a great measure to fall back on personal reminiscences, as but few of them have easy access to documentary evidence, so that most of what can be said or written under the circumstances partakes of the egotistical.

A good deal has been said of the means and persons by and through whom Bentley got into the good graces of some of the leading officials at the Camp. Little is positively known of the matter beyond those immediately concerned, but any one who had heard the tone in which Bentley asked a person standing one cold early winter's day in the verandah of the Police-court, after the court had closed, "Where is Mr. Dewes?" could hardly have failed to note a more than usually free and easy manner on the part of the equestrian questioner. The reply was civil—"In the magistrate's room"—to which Bentley, dismounting, betook himself with all the confidence of one who knew the locality well. In a few minutes Mr. Dewes and his visitor, then an applicant for a publican's license, appeared, and went into the large tent, just opposite the Police-court where the former resided.

The license was in due time granted, the hotel was usually crowded, the bowling-alley and the free use of cards contributing among other inducements to attract a large number of customers, almost in a continuous stream by night as well as by day. Knowing the fact that the hotel was nearly always open, Scobie made for it, found it closed, created a disturbance to gain admission, was assaulted in consequence and died. The coroner's inquest which followed was far from partaking of that strict scrutiny and judicial aspect which on the whole are so characteristic of such proceedings, and so the suspicion already existent as to the purity of some of the camp officials became stronger. At length the supposed participators in the death of Scobie were brought before the Police-court, composed of Messrs. Dewes, P.M., Rede, resident commissioner, and Johnston, commissioner. The prisoners, in the opinion of the majority of the bench, were free from blame, and were discharged, though Mr. Johnston, the junior, dissented from the opinion of his seniors. He even was so decided in opinion as to the guilt of the prisoners that he took a copy of the depositions, forwarding them to Melbourne for the consideration of the Attorney-General.

It was decided to hold a public indignation meeting on the spot where Scobie had met his death, to protest against the miscarriage of justice, and to devise the ways and means for bringing the delinquents to a fair trial. The meeting was held and passed off quietly, though pretty strong language had been used. The camp authorities, dreading an attack they said on Bentley's hotel, but to provoke one asserted the discontented, sent the police to act as a guard over the building. The usual "chaff" was indulged in, and nothing serious was supposed to be imminent on the part of the leaders among the discontented. But it fell out otherwise. A youngster, one of the lads who used to wash "headings" from rich claims, in the reckless unthinking spirit of untamed boyhood, threw a stone at the lamp in front of the hotel. The stone struck the lamp and broke the glass. This was the spark which lighted the train. The long suppressed indignation broke forth in one long terrific yell of irrepressible indignation "down with the house, burn it." The demolition of the windows was effected in a moment, and the sound of the crashing glass added still more to the excitement of all present, even of those who either from disinclination for such work, or by reason of the intervening crowd, could not join in it. The house was soon occupied, the people swarming into it by door or window as came most conveniently to hand. Some of the camp officials who had still managed to keep some faith in their honesty in the popular breast—notably Mr. Commissioner Amos, who was drowned in the London, aided by Mr. M'Intyre, who subsequently was rewarded for having done this, by being arrested for having been an aider and abettor in the riot—tried all their persuasive powers to calm the excited and now well-nigh frantic assemblage. It was labor in vain. The long gathering hurricane had burst, and must career until its fury had been spent. In a few minutes the cry was that the rear or side of the premises towards the bowling alley was in flames. And so it was, but who caused the fire is among the secrets of that day.

How it should have been a secret seems remarkable if the description given by the Argus correspondent be considered. His narrative may, in the absence of a statement to the contrary, be taken as given by an eye-witness, He says:—

About half-past two or three o'clock in the afternoon, and when the crowd had increased to about 8,000 or 10,000, a man carried an armful of paper and rags to the windward end of the bowling-alley, and placing them under the calico covering, deliberately struck a match and fired the building in the presence of the military. The cool, resolute manner in which everything was carried on resembled more the proceedings of the "Porteous mob" than of anything of the kind that has occurred since.

Contrasting with present rapidity of communication, the tardy publication of the Bentley hotel burning in the towns on the seaboard is notable. The disturbance and burning happened on the 12th October, but it was not mentioned in the Argus till the 19th, and then only in a letter from Geelong dated the 18th, and saying the news had been "just received". The Ballarat correspondent of the Argus seems to have acted with considerable deliberation, for he did not write till the 18th, his letter appearing on the 23rd. To make the deliberation more judicial by contrast with facts, the letter began with the words, "the exciting events, &c."

Irwin's narrative continues:—

During the earlier stage of the proceedings it was evident that the owner of the hotel might not expect much mercy at the hands of those present, and he was therefore easily persuaded to mount a fleet horse provided for him, and make his way to the Camp, where he ensured his personal safety, and gave word that more assistance was needed by the authorities at the hotel. The hurried progress of the refugee messenger, as he sped along the main road coatless, if not hatless, spread the excitement among those at work on the Gravel Pits Lead, and they also soon added their numbers to the already large and vast increasing multitude. The quick march of soldiers from the Camp soon after Bentley's arrival showed the urgency of the case, and ere they had gained the foot of Bakery Hill, scarcely a man was on the Gravel Pits, save some miner whose excited fellows had forgotton that he was "below", or some storekeeper who could not procure a temporary caretaker for his goods.

It may be superstitious or otherwise to mention it, but it is nevertheless the fact that, just as the military entered Specimen Gully, while the force of the breeze had fashioned the flames from the ridge-board of the yet standing but wholly ignited roof into a fiery coombe or crest, a small black cloud rested over the Black Hill, and a few scattered heavy drops of rain fell. Possibly the excitement was so intense that but few noticed the occurrence. The rain-drops ceased, the cloud disappeared—the breeze lulled, and with a crash down fell the only yet standing portion of Bentley's hotel.

With the now well ascertained opinions of Sir Charles Hotham on subordination, it may be readily imagined that he was furious at this open revolt against the law and fully bent on avenging the outrage. He had plenty of willing tools ready to his hands, men who, to use the words of one of his class, "would swear a hole through an iron pot" to oblige a friend. They at lust picked out three scape-goats. One was M'Intyre, now in comfortable circumstances in Glasgow, who had used his best endeavours to restrain the crowd at Bentley's from overt acts. Another was Fletcher, a printer, whose office was on the Main road, not far on the Eastern Market side of Twentyman and Stamper's. Fletcher, from all that can be learned, was not off the Main road the day of the fire, and certainly was not farther than the Prince Albert hotel in that direction. Westerby, the third man, has been asserted to be equally innocent with Fletcher in the transaction.

A meeting was held, and a committee was suggested to bail the prisoners. J.F. Coleman (now mining registrar at Staffordshire Reef,) volunteered to act, and his example being speedily followed the number that had been named—nine—was soon got together. Some had advised that the meeting proceed to the Camp and release the prisoners by force. A milder course, however, was adopted, and the committee went to the Camp and offered bail. After enquiry bail was accepted. All this took time, and the crowd, which had promised not to come nearer the Camp than already stated, had crept up, first to the Yarrowee Creek, and finally to the brow of the hill in front of the present Mining Board-room. The police had been drawn up on the higher ground to meet this body of men as they came towards the Camp. Experience had taught the Camp to be on the alert, and the whole force there was well in hand to prevent a second riot. While the bailbonds were being prepared, the angry hum of the crowd outside was distinctly heard inside the Police-court, and at one time the magistrates seemed to think the giving bail was but a ruse to temporarily distract the Camp, and, during a riot, release the prisoners by force. Fortunately the bail was concluded, and the committee with M'Intyre appeared. But a new difficulty was in store. In the anxiety to reach M'Intyre the crowd pressed forward, and, being kept back by the police, a collision would have been inevitable but that M'Intyre was hurried forward while the members of the committee spread their arms and good naturedly pressed their friends backwards. Returning down the Main road, revolvers were drawn and fired in defiance of the authorities. One of the revolvers went off in the excitement before its owner had raised the barrel over the heads of the crowd; in going off it somewhat seriously injured a man walking on the left hand of the person carrying it. Among the things advised was, now that M'Intyre was liberated, he should take to hiding. The adviser of this step was Kennedy, and the objector was one of the bondsmen, who happened to be present. To M'Intyre's credit be it said he refused, apart from the responsibilities of his bail, to hide for an hour. The trial and conviction of the three prisoners followed, which brings us to the celebrated demand for the release of the prisoners, made by a deputation to Sir Charles Hotham.

A meeting on Bakery Hill had adopted resolutions demanding the release of the prisoners, the dismissal of Milne, and affirming the right of the people to full representation, manhood suffrage, no property qualification of members, payment of members, short Parliaments, abolition of the gold-fields commission and the diggers' and storekeepers' license fees. Messrs. Hayes, Humffray, Holyoake, Black, Vern, Burke, Kennedy, and others were the speakers, and Hayes was in the chair. There had been a commission of enquiry into the Bentley hotel affair. The commissioners were Captain Sturt, Dr. M'Crea, and the magistrate Dewes, and they had closed their sittings on the day before the Bakery Hill meeting. That commission was looked on with mistrust by the diggers because of Dewes, whom, moreover, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Foster, had dismissed, or suspended, as a sop to the enraged population.

The commissioners went to Melbourne with their report. In December the trial of Westerby, M'Intyre, and Fletcher, the prisoners arrested for the burning of Bentley's hotel, was to take place in Melbourne, to which place the venue had been changed. Mr. Humffray prepared the briefs for their advocate. Bentley had also, in the interim, been re-arrested for the murder of Scobie, and had, with some associates in the affray that ended in Scobie's death, been convicted. They were sentenced to three years on the roads. The original acquittal was attributed mainly to the medical evidence of Dr. A. Carr, who was regarded as a colluding associate of both Dewes and Bentley. Solemn official condemnation of the Police Magistrate confirmed the popular denunciations of Dewes and some of his associates. Messrs. E.P. Sturt, W. M'Crae, and F.A. Powlett, who had been appointed to enquire into the matters connected with the hotel, and to report on claims for compensation therewith connected, made the following statement:—

Influenced by the fact that to the Police Magistrate, and the misconduct of that public officer, may be attributed, in a great measure, the riotous assembly which led to such unfortunate results, your board are willing to recommend certain of the sufferers by the burning of Bentley's hotel to a consideration of their claims.

Bentley had a bad record. The Police Gazette of the 23rd March, 1856, announces that a ticket of leave was granted to "James Francis Bentley, a native of Surrey, born 1818, 5 feet 7 inches high, fair complexion, brown hair, grey eyes, medium mouth, nose, and chin. Marks:-Mole on back of neck and light arm, right foot mutilated. Ship Blundell to Norfolk Island, 1844, sentence ten years. Tried at Melbourne Supreme Court 18th November, 1854, and sentenced to three years hard labor for manslaughter. Ticket of leave granted 18th March, 1850, for the district of Heidelberg."

GOLD LICENSE.

To have done with Dewes and Bentley, we may say here that Dewes was not silent under the strokes of dismissal from the service. In the Ballarat Times, published on the Sunday of the Eureka action, on the 3rd December, 1851, there was a letter addressed by him to the editor, in which he denied the allegations of corrupt connection with any of the diggers, though he pleaded guilty of "having mixed more with the intelligent classes on the diggings than my predecessors, or many of my contemporaries, were in the habit of doing.   *   *   *   As on most occasions, affability of manner is a good substitute for unmeaning hauteur, and were it not for the unfortunate affair of 'Bentley, &c.', no outcry would have been raised against myself in my official capacity." Dewes also shot Parthian arrows at his late colleagues in office.

I cannot say, he writes, how far land speculations, which often involve a complexity of interests, are compatible with the purity of the bench (which, indeed, comprises the greater part of the Camp officials, from the boy Gold Commissioner to the more mature Police Magistrate), and most of whom are land speculators. I can only assert that two out of the three gentlemen who formed the board of investigation were such, and that one of them had contracted a short time previously at Ballarat precisely the same description of obligation as that so severely commented on in my own case in the report of the Board.

"Read this, ye diggers," wrote the editor in a foot note, "and judge for yourselves what justice you may expect." The "boy commissioner" referred to was W.H. Foster, a young officer who afterwards became a warden and police magistrate. Both he and C Forster, governor of the gaol here for a time, claimed to be related to the Latrobe family, both forms of the name coming presumably, from the original vocational name Forrester.

On the 10th April, 1873, Bentley ended his career by laudanum in Ballarat street, Carlton, the poor wretch even in death having, as it would seem, chosen a place that had about it a reminder of his goldfield's exploits. He was about 54 years old, and left a wife and five children. The coroner's jury found that he poisoned himself whilst of unsound mind, and the Argus report of the inquest says he had bouts of drinking, poisoned himself six months before, and had "never been quite right since he lost his property at the Ballarat riots, and for the last two years had never ceased to talk about it." Let us hope that Scobie's ghost, so romantically referred to by one of the Eureka orators one day, is at rest with his revenge now.

Mr. Charles Rich, an old digger of the fifties, gives some recollections of those days. He emerged some years ago from canvas tents, shingled cottages, and the res angust� dufferorum [7]—ah mercy! ye double firsts—and took a voyage to his native cocaigne, returning thence with some goodly thousands sterling and what is, perhaps, the best private library of miscellaneous literature extant to-day in Ballarat. He built one of the handsomest mansions in Drummond street north, as became a descendant of a branch of the Cardinal Rich family of the Tudor times, and one entitled to exhibit that interesting specimen of heraldic ornithology—a wyvern. Mr. Rich was educated partly in France, partly in England, and has read a little law without being able, the author fears, to say whether a beast—or a wyvern—"taken in withernam can be replevied", but he is a quiet, shrewd observer. He writes:—

Mr. Scobie, the prima causa [8] of the burning of Bentley's hotel, arrived in this colony with a brother from Scotland, via London, in a barque called the "Moselle", at Melbourne, towards the end of 1852 (Mr. Ellery, A.R. came by the same ship). He took up his residence at Ballarat soon after, and opened up the gully in the Buninyong road, now called Scotchman's after them. The brother was afterwards a contractor at Ararat, where he died. On the day of his murder he had met an old friend. In the course of their peregrinations they called at Mr. Watkin's "Victoria" hotel, Armstrong street, and was there recognised by Mrs. R., housekeeper to Mrs. Watkins, as her shipmate. He was usually a very steady man, but carried away by the excitement of "auld lang syne", he went beyond his usual abstemiousness, and returning home to his tent, just beyond Bentley's on the "Eureka", called there for "just ane wee drappie mair." The house was closed. The landlord, being annoyed by his persistent knocking, came out and dealt him an unlucky blow with some weapon too ready to his hand, which was said to have quietened him for ever, but was to be the cause afterwards of such evil results to Mr. Bentley. In consequence of the apathy and partiality of the authorities the Scotch residents of Ballarat, considering there had been a miscarriage of justice, resolved to avenge the foul murder of their countryman. Notices were placarded about the diggings calling a meeting of Scotchmen on the site of Bentley's hotel, which resulted in its destruction and preluded the catastrophe of the Stockade. One afternoon, as I returned from work at White Horse, when I arrived at the township, now Ballarat West, seeing a fresh notice posted on a tree, I naturally stopped to read it, (it was a caution to the public against carrying firearms and concealed weapons) when one of the troopers parading the township jumped off his horse, and without speaking a word thrust his hands into my pockets, down the waist-band of my trousers, and inside the breast of my shirt, tearing off the buttons and totally disarranging my dress. I attempted to remonstrate, but all in vain. I was peremptorily ordered to move on. So, discomfited and upset, I had to yield to the force majeure; [9] and with curses not loud but deep got within doors as quick as I could, pondering on this treatment of a free-born Briton. One day, whilst crossing the diggings at Golden Point to get to the Township to renew my license, which had only just expired, I was stuck up by the troopers who were then scouring the diggings for unlicensed miners. Being quite taken by surprise I pretended to search my pockets for the license and produced the old one, but luckily for me I was accompanied by two mates who had licenses which were en r�gle. [10] They represented to the trooper that through an oversight I had omitted to renew, but that I was then going to the Camp to get a fresh one. He let me pass, but we had not gone above one hundred yards when we encountered Warden Webster. "Hillo, my men, show your licenses!" I endeavoured to gain time as before, by pretending to search for my license and showed the old one but folded, and had just been called on to show it when the trooper who had stopped me first rode up and called out "I have seen his license, sir!" and thereby saved me from the fine and the logs. I afterwards heard that if it had been discovered he had passed me he would have been fined himself. We had invited him to meet us down the road in the evening, but never saw him more. While sitting at dinner one lovely Sunday afternoon I received notice from Mr Watkins, the Government contractor, to join another young Welshman in sinking an excavation to make a grave for the diggers slain at the Stockade in the morning. We commenced digging the grave and had been at it some three or four hours. As it was a very large one we worked very hard, but before we had nearly finished the mournful cavalcade arrived. In consequence of the coffins being placed in two tiers, one above the other, they reached to within a foot of the surface, four at bottom and three at top, but we managed to cover them up by well banking the earth above them. Whether they were afterwards displaced I never heard. The coffins were very rudely made of � inch weatherboards, the covers roughly nailed on, so that the bodies were plainly discernible through the joints in the lids, and the limbs appeared contracted and quite discolored by smoke and fire, for the tents were burnt by the military who, when they captured the Stockade, fired the encampments with hand grenades. Whilst interring these unfortunates another procession entered the cemetery conveying the body of a digger, a Welshman named Rowlands, who had been shot by a trooper whilst entering his tent after returning from work. The trooper called on him to stand, and as he paid no attention shot him dead in his tracks. The body was buried at no great distance from those of the insurgents.

The trial of the alleged incendiaries ended in a conviction, and M'Intyre was sentenced to three, Fletcher to four, and Westerby to six months' imprisonment. The jury had recommended them to mercy, and, amid the applause of the bystanders in the crowded court, declared their belief that the outrage had been provoked by the improper conduct of the Ballarat officials. As to those officials, however, it must be remembered that, besides Dewes, there were Messrs. Johnston and Rede on the bench when Bentley was examined, but Johnston not only voted for the committal of the prisoner, but forwarded copies of the depositions to the Attorney-General.

As soon as the conviction of Fletcher, M'Intyre, and Westerby was known in Ballarat, the Reform League sent Messrs. Kennedy and George Black to Melbourne to "demand" the release of the prisoners. Black was then editor of the Diggers Advocate, and wrote vigorously for the popular cause. Kennedy was a man of rough, but moving eloquence. It was he who, at the meeting that ended in the burning of Bentley's hotel, declared that the murdered man's ghost was there yearning for revenge. As Saint Buonaparte, with pious fervor, proclaimed an alliance between Divine Providence and heavy battalions, so Kennedy, at one of the meetings of diggers, declared his preference of physical over moral force by reciting the rugged but vigorous couplet—

They reached Melbourne on the 25th November, Humffray, the secretary of the League, having on the 23rd, been introduced by Mr. Fawkner, M.L.C., to the Governor, who had intimated that if a proper memorial were sent to the Government, the prisoners might be released. The League secretary disapproved of the intemperate "demand" brought down by the delegates. The Sunday was at hand and the secretary and the delegates, and Mr. Ebenezer Syme, then of the Argus, and afterwards of the Age, spent part of the day discussing the position. Meanwhile, rumors of an arrest of the delegates got current, the diggers at Ballarat resolved on a monster meeting, and the camp officials sent despatches for more troops. On Monday, the 27th November, the delegates and Humffray waited on Sir Charles Hotham, to present the remonstrant petition. His Excellency was attended by the Attorney-General, Mr. (now Sir William) Stawell, and the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Foster. The "demand" was refused, but reforms were promised, and were said to be already begun. It is worthy of record that in the course of the interview the delegates spoke of the mode of alienating the Crown lands as being inimical to the interests of the poor man. Thus early had begun our not yet ended troubles in land administration. The excitement in Ballarat now grew intenser, and the towns on the seaboard were alarmed with rumors of insurrection. On the eve of the 28th, Mr. Tarleton, the American consul, was feted at a banquet in Ballarat, and while the dinner was going on soldiers were arriving from Melbourne, and a collision had taken place between the soldiers, troopers, and diggers. All that night the diggers were busy preparing arms and ammunition, the committee of the League sat night and day, the Camp bristled with sentries, and an eventful morrow was looked for.

In the Legislative Council, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Foster, in reply to a question from Mr. Fawkner, did not appear to have realised the gravity of the crisis, and the Argus of that day compared the Secretary to Nero fiddling while Rome was burning. Yet, while the Argus was hounding Foster down as the one "black-sheep", the diggers were hooting and groaning at the Argus as a "turncoat", because that journal had condemned some of the wild doings of the outraged population. Foster was about the best abused man of the day, and he had eventually to leave office before the storm of popular indignation.

Reinforcements of horse and foot police were concentrated about this time at the Camp from the neighbouring diggings, together with detachments of the 12th and 40th Regiments of the Line. On the 28th November the police were pelted, and the military, entering from Melbourne by the Eureka, were attacked by the diggers. The party in charge of the baggage was for a time cut off, and some of the waggons were overturned and rifled by the diggers in hope of finding fire-arms. In this, however, they were disappointed. Several soldiers were wounded and a drummer boy was shot in the thigh. The diggers followed the troops to the vicinity of the Camp, when the mounted police made a sortie, wounded several men, and drove back the crowd, the troops entering quarters in a panic-stricken and exhausted state at eleven o'clock at night. All night long the diggers kept fires burning, and made the night hideous with discharges of fire-arms and other noises. The military encampment was on the slope afterwards known as Soldiers' Hill, now forming part of the north ward of the City of Ballarat. The attack upon the troops took place in the Warrenheip gully, within a few hundred yards of the spot where, a day or two later, the insurgent diggers erected their Stockade. The onslaught upon the troops appears to have been unprovoked and savage, and it excited general disgust in the minds of the colonists everywhere out of Ballarat. At Ballarat, also, the larger portion of the inhabitants regarded the affair as alike inopportune and disgraceful. Indeed, the recognised leaders of the reform movement up to that time appear to have known nothing of the collision until it was actually over. Raffaello, a writer whom we shall refer to again, calls it a "cowardly attack". In illustration of the fact that the general body of the diggers sought only the rights of freemen, and were not marauders or revolutionists, it may be stated that when the Government Camp at Creswick was almost emptied of both officers and men for the support of the authorities at Ballarat, hundreds of the diggers offered their services to Mr. Commissioner Taylor for the protection of the gold deposited at the Camp.

A monster meeting was called by the League for the 29th of November, on Bakery Hill, at which some thousands were expected from Creswick, besides delegates from all the other gold-fields. For the movement had now become general, and emissaries had been sent all over the colony to enlist sympathy, procure help, and, in fact, make the rising national if not revolutionary. Henry Holyoake, brother of the notable English Secularist, had been sent to Bendigo to raise the diggers there, but he learned at Creswick of the discomfiture of Lalor's force at the Stockade, and his martial occupation being thereby gone, he retired till more tranquil times arrived. At the meeting of the 29th, Humffray and the delegates Black and Kennedy gave ill their report of the conference with the Governor. Raffaello says Lalor never addressed a meeting before that held on Bakery Hill on the 29th November, when he made his first speech in moving the calling of a meeting of the League for the next Sunday to choose a central committee,—the Sunday when the attack on the Stockade caused the collapse of all the physical force schemes then afloat. Some 12,000 men, it is said, were present at the meeting on Bakery Hill. A platform was erected, and on a flagstaff was hung the insurgent flag—the Southern Cross. The flag had a blue ground, on which, in silver, the four principal stars of the constellation of the Southern Cross were shown. Hayes was again the chairman, and the site of the meeting was on and adjoining the area now occupied by Victoria street, between East and Humffray streets. Besides the Committee of the League and the delegates, there were reporters on the platform, and two Roman Catholic priests—the Rev. Fathers Downing and Smyth. The Catholic Bishop of Melbourne, Dr. Goold, had also come to Ballarat to help to maintain peace. The delegates spoke, and Humffray, who still counselled moral force only, was denounced as a trimmer. He was also denounced for having waited upon the Government without authority from the League. A person named Fraser, among the crowd, also advised constitutional action, "and," says the Ballarat Times, "were it not for the influence of the chairman and his numerous supporters, the man would have been torn limb from limb by the infuriated people." How the people felt, and what they did and resolved to do, will best be gathered from the following resolutions, which were adopted unanimously, although the Rev. Mr. Downing proposed an amendment against the burning of the licenses:—

Proposed by Mr. Reynolds, seconded by Mr. Weekes—1. "That this meeting views with the hottest indignation the daring calumny of his honor the Acting Chief Justice, while on the bench, of the brave and struggling sufferers of Clare, Tipperary, Bristol, and other districts, on their endeavors to assert their legitimate rights; and do hereby give the most unmitigated and the most emphatic denial to the assertions of his honor in stigmatising as riots the persevering and indomitable struggles for freedom of the brave people of England and Ireland for the last eighty years."

Proposed by Mr. Lalor, seconded by Mr. Brady—2. "That a meeting of the members of the Reform League be called at the Adelphi Theatre next Sunday, at 2 p.m., to elect a central committee, and that each fifty members of the League have power to elect one member for the central committee."

Proposed by Mr. Frederick Vern, seconded by Mr. Quinn—3. "That this meeting, being convinced that the obnoxious license-fee is an imposition and an unjustifiable tax on free labor, pledges itself to take immediate steps to abolish the same, by at once burning all their licenses. That in the event of any party being arrested for having no licenses, the united people will, under all circumstances, defend and protect them."

Proposed by Mr. G. Black, seconded by Mr. Whatley—4. "That as the diggers have determined to pay no more licenses, it is necessary for them to be prepared for the contingency; as it would be utterly inconsistent, after refusing to pay a license, to call in a Commissioner for the adjustment of such disputes, and this meeting resolves whenever any party or parties have a dispute, the parties so disputing shall each appoint one man. The two men thus appointed to call in a third, and these three to decide the case finally."

Proposed by Mr. Murnane, seconded by Mr. Ross—5. "That this meeting will not feel bound to protect any man after the 10th December who shall not be a member of the League by that day."

Proposed by Mr. Humffray, seconded by Mr. Kennedy—6. "That this meeting protests against the common practice of bodies of military marching into a peaceable district with fixed bayonets, and also any force, police or otherwise, firing on the people, under any circumstances, without the previous reading of the Riot Act, and that if Government officials continue to act thus unconstitutionally, we cannot be responsible for similar or worse deeds from the people."

Bonfires were made of licenses, guns and revolvers were discharged, and League-tickets of membership were issued to the crowd. Troops were under arms in the gully beneath the Camp all the time in readiness for an outbreak.

BUSINESS LICENSE.

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{Page 97}

CHAPTER V.

THE EUREKA STOCKADE.

The Last Digger Hunt.—Collision between the Diggers and Military and Police.—Southern Cross Flag again.-—Lalor and his Companions Armed, kneel, and swear Mutual Defence.—Irwin's Account.—Carboni Raffaello.—His Pictures of the Times and the Men.—More Troops Arrive.—The Diggers Extend their Organisation Under Arms.—Lalor "Commander-in-Chief".—Forage and Impressment Parties.—Original Documents.—Shots Fired from the Camp.—The Stockade Formed.—Narrative of a Government Officer in the Camp.—Attack by the Military and Taking of the Stockade.—Various Accounts of the Time.—Raffaello's Description.—Other Tragic Pictures.—First Stone House.—Bank of Victoria Fortified.—A Soldier's Story.—List of the Killed.—Burials.—Rewards Offered for the Insurgent Leaders.—Their Hiding and Escape.—Charge Against A.P. Akehurst.—Proclamation of Martial Law.—Feeling in Melbourne.—Foster's Resignation.—Deputation of Diggers.—Humffray Arrested.—Vote of Thanks to the Troops.—Legislative Council's Address to the Governor.—His Reply.—Prisoners at the Ballarat Police Court.—Royal Commission of Enquiry.—Trial and Acquittal of the State Prisoners.—Humffray.—Lalor's and his Captain's Hiding Place and Peculiarities.—Cost of the Struggle.—Compensation Meeting at the Stockade.—Raffaello there Selling his Book.—Subsequent Celebrations.—Soldiers' and Diggers' Monuments.—The Burial Places.—The Insurgent Flag.—Death of Sir Charles Hotham.—Hotham and Foster Vindicated.

With incredible want of prudence the authorities chose the juncture, marked by the meeting of the 29th November, for a more irritating display than usual of the so-long condemned practice of "digger hunting". On the 30th November the last raid of this kind in Victoria occurred, under the direction of Commissioners Rede and Johnston, and the authorities by that act destroyed the remaining influence of the friends of moral force action among the diggers. The police, supported by the whole military force available, with skirmishers in advance and cavalry on the Hanks, formed on the flat south of the Camp and advanced upon the Gravel Pits, as the Bakery Hill diggings were called. This cleared the swarming crowd of diggers collected there, the diggers retiring as the troops advanced. At certain parts of the Main road, however, the diggers made a stand, and received the troops with a running fire of stones and occasional gun-shots. The troops took some prisoners and returned to Camp, and soon after that the Southern Cross flag was again hoisted on Bakery Hill; the diggers knelt around the flag, swore mutual defence, implored the help of God, and then began to drill. New leaders came to the front, as the advocates of moral force were discomfited by the authorities and the more turbulent insurgents. Peter Lalor, a native of Queen's County, Ireland, a son of the one time member of the House of Commons for the same county, was chosen "commander-in-chief" of the insurgents, and issued warrants and manifestos. A fiery-spirited Italian, named Carboni Raffaello, was another who then acquired prominence. He afterwards wrote a quaint polyglottic book, entitled "The Eureka Stockade: The Consequence of some Pirates Wanting on Quarterdeck a Rebellion." We shall meet with him presently. Irwin, in his communications to the Ballarat Star, says with respect to this last digger-hunt,—and he speaks nearly always as an eye-witness and often as an actor in the business:—

By the time that the camp authorities had retired, the men from the Eureka arrived, a good many of them. Lalor among the rest, being armed. A short consultation took place, all work was suspended, and the Southern Cross flag was hoisted on Bakery Hill. The popular indignation was intense. A mass meeting Mas held on Bakery Hill, where Lalor, gun in hand, mounted the stump and swore in his followers. The method of swearing-in was by uplifting the right hand, and was very impressive as taken by the hundreds who encircled their leader. Immediately after the swearing-in the names were taken down, and the men formed into squads for drill. The drilling was kept up with but little intermission to a late hour, and was now and then renewed up to the capture of the Stockade. As might naturally be anticipated, the Government had its emissaries among the insurgents, and but little was said or done which was not soon reported to the authorities. Immediately after the soldiers, &c., had retired to the Camp on 30th November, two or three members of the committee met in the committee-room at the Star hotel, and wrote a letter to the delegates who had gone that day to Creswick. The letter detailed the occurrences of the day, and solicited the aid of the miners of Creswick, and was directed to the delegates by name "or any man on Creswick." When the messenger arrived at Creswick he gave the letter to Black, and he read it to a large meeting he was addressing. It was immediately determined to render the required assistance, and a large body of men, headed by Kennedy, started for Ballarat, taking the direct way through the ranges. Kennedy was armed with a sword, and some of those who accompanied him from Creswick give an extraordinary account of how he flourished the sword about his head and speechified to his followers during a violent thunderstorm that happened that night. The Creswick contingent gradually dwindled away as they had but indifferent accommodation, and the majority of those who still remained left for home on the evening before the capture of the Stockade.

The Melbourne Herald correspondent states that the Creswick men marched out with a band, or singing the song "The Marseillaise". It was but a straw, but it showed how the current of men's thoughts and feelings was flowing.

Carboni Raffaello, in his book, shows that he had had a liberal education, and was gifted with a warm poetic temperament, with considerable shrewdness of observation and faculty for description. But he lacked discretion sometimes, and he seemed to be always perplexed with suspicions and mysteries, besides being oddly egotistical. He is sometimes a mystery himself, and, in his style, often amusingly incoherent, but his narrative has color and fire and incisiveness, and will make itself read. He hits off a man with a few sharp touches that live in the mind's eye. Here is one, a portrait of Kennedy:—

Thomas Kennedy was, naturally enough, the lion of the day. A thick head, bold, but bald, the consequence perhaps not of his dissipation, but of his worry in bygone days. His merit consists in the possession of the chartist slang; hence his cleverness in spinning a yarn, never to the purpose, but blathered with long phrases and bubbling with cant. He took up the cause of the diggers, not so much for the evaporation of his gaseous heroism, as eternally to hammer on the unfortunate death of his countryman Scobie, for the sake of "auld lang syne".

Raffaello calls Irwin "a rattling correspondent, who helped to hasten the movement fast enough." He gives the following picture of the Catholic priest:—

Father Patricius Smythe, a native of Mayo, looks some thirty-five years old, and belongs to the unadulterated Irish caste, half-curled hair, not abundant, anxious semicircular forehead, keen and fiery eyes, altogether a lively interesting head.

The Ballarat Times of the day he calls "a plant of cayenne pepper", and gives the following extract from that journal of 18th November, 1854, interlarded in his peculiar style with remarks of his own:—

We salute the League [but not the trio, Vern, Kennedy, Humffray] and tender our hopes and prayers for its prosperity [in the shape of a goodly pile of half-crowns]. The League has undertaken a mighty task [the trio'll shirk it though], fit only for a great people—that of changing the dynasty of the country [Great works]. The League does not exactly propose, nor adopt, such a scheme, but we know what it means, the principles it would inculcate, and that eventually it will resolve itself into an Australian Congress [Great works!!].

Here is Raffaello's account of the Leaguers' preparation for the digger-hunt of the 30th November:—

Quos Vult Perdere [M]ens Dementat. [11]—What's up? a license hunt; old game. What's to be done? Peter Lalor was on the stump, his rifle in his hand, calling on volunteers to "fall in" into ranks as fast as they rushed to Bakery Hill, from all quarters, with arms in their hands, just fetched from their tents. Alfred, George Black's brother, was taking down in a book the names of divisions in course of formation, and of their captains. I went up to Lalor, and the moment he saw me, he took me by the hand saying, "I want you, Signore; tell these gentlemen (pointing to old acquaintances of ours, who were foreigners) that if they cannot provide themselves with fire-arms, let each of them procure a piece of steel, five or six inches long, attached to a pole, and that will pierce the tyrants' hearts." Peter of course spoke thus in his friendly way as usual towards me. He was in earnest though. The few words of French he knows, he can pronounce them tolerably well, but Peter is no scholar in modern languages; therefore he then appointed me his aide-de-camp, or better to say his interpreter, and now I am proud to be his historian. Very soon after this, all the diggers "fell in" in file of two abreast, and marched to the Eureka. Captain Ross, of Toronto, was our standard-bearer. He hoisted down the Southern Cross from the flagstaff, and headed the march. Patrick Curtain, the chosen captain of the pikemen, gave me his iron pike, and took my sword to head his division; I "fell in" with John Manning, who also had a pike, and all of us marched in order to the Eureka. I assert as an eye-witness, that we were within one thousand in the rank with all sort of arms, down to the pick and shovel. We turned by the Catholic church, and went across the gully. Of this I have perfect recollection: when the "Southern Cross" reached the road, leading to the Eureka on the opposite hill, the file of two abreast crossing the gully, extended backwards up to the hill where the Catholic church stands. I took notice of the circumstance at the time. We reached the hill where was my tent. How little did we know that some of the best among us had reached the place of their grave! Lalor gave the proper orders to defend ourselves among the holes in case the hunt should be attempted in our quarters. The red-tape was by far too cunning this time; red-coats, traps, and troopers had retired to the Ballarat Camp, and wanted a "spell". We determined, however, to put an end to their accursed license-hunting, mock riot-act chopping, Vandemonian shooting down our mates in Gravel-pits.

Vern is always ridiculed as a vain, boasting, "long-legged, sky-blathering Vern". Lalor he loves as "he is the earnest, well-meaning, no two-ways, non-John-Bullised Irishman," wherefore "more power to you, Peter, old chummy! Smother the knaves! they breed too fast in this colony." Of the meeting on the 30th November, he says Lalor administered the oath to some 500 armed diggers, as follows:—"We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties." Dr. Kenworthy, Raffaello seems to regard, as did many more, as a go-between with the Camp authorities and the diggers. He was, in fact, regarded as a spy.

As soon as the news of these doings reached Melbourne, the Government sent up all the remaining available troops, with men-of-warsmen, horse and foot police, four field-pieces, and a number of baggage and ammunition waggons. Lieut.-Colonel Valiant, and subsequently Sir Robert Nickle, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, and Colonel Macarthur, Deputy Adjutant-General, proceeded to Ballarat in command of the troops. The diggers who drilled under their commander-in-chief, meant, many of them at least, nothing less than revolution and a republic. Lalor had a "minister of war", named Alfred Black, who, or his brother, had drawn up a Declaration of Independence. This was drawn up in a store kept by one Shannahan; Black, Vern, M'Gill, Raffaello, Curtin, Lessmann (a German), Kenworthy (an American medical man), and others being present. Black was subsequently killed while working as a quartz miner. Lalor having been, to Vern's disgust, elected Commander-in-Chief, "orders of war" were issued by him for arms, ammunition, and impressment, and he sent out piquets to enforce them, and prevent their being made a cover for robbery. It appears, however, that ammunition was not abundant in the Stockade, the foraging parties of the insurgents to the contrary notwithstanding. A pistol was picked up in the Stockade loaded with powder and quartz pebbles, in lieu of hall or smaller shot, showing, as may be assumed, that the diggers were not rich in the usual materials of destruction. One of the foragers' receipts for H military levy read as follows:—

Received from the Ballarat Store 1 Pistol, for the Comtee X. Hugh M'Carty—Hurra for the people. Another:—The Reform Lege Comete—4 Drenks, fouer chillings; 4 Pies for fower of thee neight watch patriots.—X.P.

The night watch patriots were some of the insurgents told off to patrol the diggings, for now there was, de facto, civil war. The Government authorities were in a fortified camp on the western plateau, and the insurgents were organising and fortifying on the eastern grounds. Before us lies the tattered remnant of a triple receipt given by the subscribers to the firm of Bradshaw and Salmon, then carrying on business in the Main road, Ballarat East. It will be seen that Esmond, the gold discoverer, was one of the foragers for ammunition, the time being imminent when a deadly use was to be made of the materials collected. Mr. Leake, from whom we receive the document, and who, later, had joined Bradshaw's firm, writes:—"I cannot call to mind much about the matter, only I have a distinct recollection of Mr. Moran threatening to shoot me if I did not 'hand over quick', and I have very little doubt my life would have been taken that night only for Esmond." The "patriots" were getting stern and peremptory as the times got bracing. But Esmond was not one of the most fiery of the insurgent officers, and he appears to have had a memory for friends as well as a sense of what was judicious. He once rescued Irwin, the correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser, who, writing of Esmond and himself in the following passage says:—

One night, that of Friday, 1st of December, a gentleman who had occasion to go down the Main road, when he came in front of the old Charlie Napier hotel, found some hundred men drawn up two deep there. Passing down the one side of the men, he sought to discover if he had any acquaintance among them. Not having found one he passed up the other side, until he arrived where the person, a lieutenant, who was in charge stood. The gentleman being unknown to any of the party, was asked his business there, and his account of himself not being deemed satisfactory he was arrested, to be subsequently conveyed to head quarters to be dealt with. It soon transpired that the captain of the detachment, with a few men, was in the hotel searching for arms, and that he was momentarily expected to come out. When he did come out he spoke to the prisoner, who was an old and intimate friend, and, not knowing that he was under arrest, asked him to go into the hotel and have a drink. The lieutenant began to fidget. The explanation was soon made, the misunderstanding being got over by the lieutenant, under a threat from the captain of having him arrested, going into the hotel when he, the captain, the late prisoner, and one or two more came to a better understanding while drinking a few glasses of champagne.

Here is the triple receipt:—

Murnane fell down dead one day while working at a shaft on Esmond's Lead, and Moran either fell or threw himself overboard when on his way hence to India.

On the 1st December—says, in 1870, a Government officer who was in the Camp at the time of the Stockade affair—the Government took final measures to meet assault. Every Government employ� was armed and told off to his post, and sentinels and videttes were placed at several points. The principal buildings of the Camp, including the present Mining Boardroom, in Camp street, were fortified with breastworks of firewood, trusses of hay, and bags of corn from the commissariat stores, and the women and children were sent for security into the store, which was walled with thick slabs, and accounted bullet-proof. A violent storm of rain, with thunder, commenced as these arrangements were completed, and the mounted police, soaked through with the rain, spent the night standing or lying by their horses, armed, and horses saddled ready for instant action. At 4 a.m. on Saturday, 2nd December, the whole garrison was under arms, and soon after daylight a demonstration in force was made towards Bakery Hill without opposition. We heard to-day that the insurgents were visiting the outlying stores and demanding arms. Bodies of men are seen drilling near the Red Hill. No work is now carried on throughout the entire diggings, and every place of business is closed. [Taken, evidently, from a diary.] A mounted trooper from Melbourne with despatches was fired at near the Eureka line, where, through the information of spies, it is known that a stockade is being erected.

The Government Camp, Ballarat, 1854. Troops arriving from Melbourne.

To this pass had the gold discovery, "digger hunting", and irresponsible government brought the place where less than four years before there was nothing but pastoral silence and solitude. The Eureka stockade was at first intended more as a screen behind which the diggers might drill than as a fortification. It was an area of about an acre, rudely enclosed with slabs, and situated at the point where the Eureka Lead took its bend by the old Melbourne road, now called Eureka street. In the picture published at the Ballarat Star office, near twenty years ago, the middle of a line drawn from Mount Warrenheip, in the centre back ground, to the chimney from which smoke is issuing on the right of Sturt street, would indicate very nearly the site of the Stockade. The site, as is shown on the map herewith, lay about midway between what are now Stawell and Queen streets on the east and west, and close to Eureka street on the south. At the time of the fight the lead had not then been traced so far, but the "shepherds" were there with their shallow pits, and one or two claims were sinking. The Stockade included some of those holes, as well as some diggers' tents, where the staff and other officers and men of the insurgent force had their quarters. Pikes were forged in the Stockade, and arms and ammunition had been largely collected. Several companies of riflemen and pikemen were formed, and a military insurgency established. The mass of the diggers did not support this armed resistance, but friends, and, it is said, enemies also, dropped into the Stockade at all hours of the day and night of Saturday the 2nd of December. Friendly butchers brought cart-loads of beef to the rendezvous, and Lalor's men lay about the fires cooking, burnishing arms, or engaged in other warlike business. Lalor, it is said, gave "Vinegar Hill" as the night's pass-word, but neither he nor his adherents expected that the fatal action of Sunday was coming, and some of his followers, incited by the sinister omen of the pass-word, abandoned that night what they saw was a badly organised and not very hopeful movement. Father Smyth and Messrs. Kennedy and George Black were in the Stockade during the Saturday, and heard a project made to assault the Camp, it being declared that 2000 diggers could be got for the purpose, and the Camp easily taken. The three persons just mentioned did what they could to dissuade from the proposed attack on the Camp, and so left the Stockade. Mr. Budden, J.P., a Canadian, and a school-fellow of Ross, heard of the approach of the troops and police on the Sunday morning, and hastened from his tent near the Stockade to advise Ross to withdraw from the hopeless struggle. Challenged by the insurgent sentries, Budden succeeded at length in getting within the Stockade and endeavored to prevail on Ross to leave the place, warning him that the Government force was approaching and that resistance would be useless and fatal. Ross, however, refused to desert his comrades. The firing soon began, Budden escaped by precipitate flight to his tent, and Ross was fatally injured. All the day, on Saturday, Lessmann was out, by Lalor's orders, in quest of a horde of vagabonds who were using the name of Lalor's "minister of war" as a cover to thievish raids upon storekeepers and others. Lessmann's and other outposts of night videttes were off duty just before daybreak on the 3rd, no attack being anticipated, but Lalor, Ross, Vern, M'Gill, and other leaders were there.

We will now let the Government officer speak again from the Government Camp.

Before daylight on the 3rd December a force, consisting of 276 men of all arms, including a strong body of cavalry, mustered quietly and left camp with the purpose of attacking the Stockade. At early dawn they reached the neighborhood of the position sought, and the advanced files were fired at by a sentinel posted within the Stockade. The order of attack was now given, and the detachment of the 40th Regiment, led by Captain Thomas, the chief officer in command, made a quick advance upon the double breastwork which formed the stronghold of the insurgents. After several vollies had been fired on both sides, the barrier of ropes, slabs, and overturned carts was crossed, and the defenders driven out, or into the shallow holes with which the place was spotted, and in which many were put to death in the first heat of the conflict, either by bullets or by bayonet thrusts. The foot police were first over the barricade, and one, climbing the flagstaff under a heavy fire, secured the rebel flag. After burning all the tents within the enclosure, and in the immediate vicinity, the troops returned to camp, and carts were sent out for the dead and wounded. The latter thus obtained immediate medical aid. They were covered with blood, and were mostly shot in the breast. The number of insurgents killed is estimated at from thirty-five to forty, and many of those brought in wounded afterwards died. Of the troops, three privates were killed, and several wounded, one of whom died. Two officers were wounded, and one, Captain Wise, died. Among the arms taken in the fight were pikes of a rude construction, made on the spot, and furnished with a sort of hooked knife to cut the bridles of the cavalry. The dead were buried the same day in the cemetery. The bodies of the insurgents, placed in rough coffins made hurriedly, were laid in a separate grave, the burial service being performed by the clergyman to whose congregation they belonged. At night we were again under arms, as constant rumours of an intended attack kept us on the alert. This is exhausting work, and a severe trial, especially for the military, as the men have had no rest for several nights. Indeed, no one within the lines has undressed for the last four nights at the very least.

4th December.—The funerals of several of those who fell at the Stockade and were removed by their friends, took place to-day. They were attended by several hundred men, who marched three abreast up the Main road and past the Camp, during which the garrison was under arms. 7 p.m.—A number of insurgents, favored by a clouded moon, crept up under cover of the nearest tents beyond the palisade, and fired from several points upon the sentinels. This caused a sudden alarm, everyone flew to his post, and a general discharge took place, resulting, as was believed, though erroneously as to the deaths, in the death of a woman and a child in one of the tents, and in the wounding of three men on the road adjoining, who unfortunately happened to be passing at the time. One of these was brought in from the road in front of the mess-house (now Mining Board-room), and died a few days after.

5th December.—This afternoon, to our great joy, the advance guard of the relief from Melbourne, commanded by Major-General Sir Robert Nickle was seen defiling from the ranges, and soon after, the whole body, escorted by squadrons of cavalry, and accompanied by a seemingly endless string of baggage-waggons traversed the diggings, and piled arms within the lines. This force consists of 800 men, together with a large party of sailors from H.M.S. Electra, and four field pieces.

6th December.—The district is placed under martial law, and in obedience to a General Order, the inhabitants have brought in a large quantity of fire-arms.

9th December.—The General attended to-day at a tent specially erected on the flat below the Camp, to swear in special constables; but with, as I believe, one solitary exception, no one came forward to support the Government, and the object failed. Nevertheless, the handful of persons assembled heartily cheered for the British army. This was the period of the siege of Sebastopol, the false rumor of the capture of which had just arrived.

22nd December.—Captain Wise was buried tins day with military honors. Since the time when his death became known, many flags throughout the diggings were lowered half-mast out of respect to this officer, who had been stationed here previously, in command of the enrolled pensioners, and was a general favorite with the people.

2nd January.—A soldier, who was shot in the face, died this morning. All further apprehension of an outbreak having ceased, the Major-General and staff, with a portion of the field train and the navy, have returned to Melbourne, leaving about 800 men in garrison to await eventualities. Confidence is being now generally restored. The gold-field again presents its usual thronged and lively aspect, and the streets of the township are no longer deserted, or traversed by grim patrols of mounted troopers.

1st April.—The prisoners taken at the Stockade, and tried in Melbourne, were acquitted on the charge of high treason, which is considered a triumph to the popular cause. And thus terminated the agitation which caused such loss of life and property to those prosecuting mining and commercial operations on the Ballarat gold-workings.

Thus far goes the narrative of an intelligent eye-witness within the Government Camp. He is evidently in error as to the hour when shots were fired into the Camp on the night after the affair at the Stockade. At 7 p.m. it would be daylight. The statement as to the firing upon the Government Camp on the evening of the 4th is traversed altogether by one who was here then and long afterwards. He says:—

The soldiers were not fired upon, though they might report so to save themselves. The soldiers on guard on Soldiers' Hill, being either in drink or strongly excited, wantonly and savagely, without orders and without provocation, fired into the Flat. They came rushing out of the large tent like madmen, firing and re-loading, and firing again irregularly at the tents, not even a corporal commanding them. They turned round and fired at me two or three shots though they saw me in a different direction from that whence the insurgents are said to have fired.

Some allowance must be made for the opinions formed by men in sudden emergencies like this when general alarm prevailed. That shots were exchanged between the Flat and the Government Camp appears unquestionable.

As has been seen, the attack by the authorities was unexpected, and thus both men of war and men of peace were found within the Stockade, while insurgents were absent who would otherwise have been present. There were over a hundred armed men in the Stockade, including Lalor, the chief, and a company of pikemen, and a company of musketeers, under Ross, Vern, Lynch, and Esmond. James H. M'Gill, another loader, had been previously absent on the ranges with some riflemen, ostensibly for the purpose of opposing the troops expected from Melbourne. There were diggers working at their claims also within the Stockade. One of the captains under Lalor thus describes the affair:—

I was on guard and saw the military at the same time that the alarm was given by a digger working on a brace hard by. They were then at the point where the gully, running down from the Stockade, joins the head of Specimen Gully. I called out to Vern, and Vern called Lalor. We got under arms immediately, some 200 about. The first shot was fired from our party, and the military answered by a volley at 100 paces distance. Then there was a volley from the Stockade. The military sent out scouts on foot, and the troopers surrounded the Stockade, the party on foot being covered by the fire from the force posted on the high ground in the rear of the Free Trade Hotel. Captain Wise led the scouts on foot, who broke into the Stockade where Lalor was, on the side fronting to Specimen Gully. They got in, and the firing, and piking, and bayonetting went on, and the "rebels" got into disorder and rushed into some tents and a blacksmith's shop on one side of the Stockade. The troopers fired the tents, and the rest of the military now came up. The sun had now risen, and about twenty minutes had passed since the first shot was fired. Then two soldiers appeared on the other, side with bayonets fixed. Warden Amos' horse, which we had taken with the warden before, was between me and them, and I fired my revolver. One fell, and the other drew back. I then fired a second shot at the soldiers, my men in the tent cheering at the time. I then said, "I'm off", and wheeled round to go out of the Stockade, but met some troopers and retreated, and ran into a butcher's shop close by. The military had now taken the Stockade, and they took away the prisoners they had. I was in the chimney, and so escaped, as they did not search. Most of our men were Irishmen. The soldiers now went off with their prisoners, and the Stockade, slabs, tents, and all were on fire.

The correspondent of the Melbourne Herald saw the retreat of the military with their dead, wounded, and prisoners. He says further:—

I was attracted by the smoke of the tents burnt by the soldiers, and there a most appalling sight presented itself. Many more are said to have been killed and wounded, but I myself saw eleven dead bodies of diggers lying within a very small space of ground, and the earth was besprinkled with blood, and covered with the smoking mass of tents recently occupied. Could the Government but have seen the awful sight presented at Ballarat on this Sabbath morning—the women in tears, mourning over their dead relations, and the blood-bespattered countenances of many men in the diggers' camp—it might have occurred to His Excellency that "prevention is better than cure."

M'Combie, in his "History of Victoria", gives the following account of the attack on the Stockade.

On the night of the 1st December lights were observed in the tents of the diggers; and signals were repeatedly exchanged, and shots fired at the sentries, who were driven in. The officer in command found a large number of insurgents organising, drilling, and equipping themselves. The spies had seen their leaders telling them off in companies, and heard one of the commanders say to the people that those who had no other arms should get an iron spike placed on a pole, as "that would find the tyrants' hearts!" The officer in charge issued a public notice that no light would be allowed after eight o'clock; that no discharge of fire-arms would be tolerated upon any pretence; and that persons disobeying these orders would be fired at. On the same day Mr. Commissioner Amos arrived at the Camp at Ballarat, with information that the diggers were occupying an entrenched camp at the Eureka, in considerable force, with the avowed intention of intercepting the troops under the Major-General, then hourly expected to arrive from Melbourne. During the whole of that day the insurgents had possession of the diggings, and were busy levying contributions on all classes, giving the orders of their "minister of war" in payment. The officer in command prudently refrained from molesting any of their detached parties. He was unable to attack the insurgents during the day, as he could not leave a force behind to protect the Camp, and resolved upon a night surprise. Circumstances favored this bold attempt. The insurgents had not contemplated any active measures on the side of the authorities until the main body of troops and the commanding-officer had arrived. It was Sunday morning, and a very great portion of them were away, and those who remained had dined late, and some, no doubt, had drank deep. They were surprised by the gallant commander of the Queen's troops, Captain Thomas, who resolved to seize the favorable opportunity of delivering a most effective blow against them. The insurgents were posted in a very advantageous position, in a fortified camp, or rather stockade, at the Eureka. It rested on a gentle eminence, and was of considerable strength. The leaders were, however, not very deeply skilled in military engineering, for it was much too large, and was not protected by proper bastions or outworks to aid the defenders in a general assault. Under all disadvantages, the diggers would have repulsed the military had the attack not been made at a time when it was totally unexpected, and when the great body were absent. The officer upon whom the responsibility of this enterprise rested was Captain Thomas, and he planned and carried out the whole affair with creditable ability and vigor. He was assisted by Captain Pasley, R.E., who bravely advanced with the skirmishers and directed the assault. The military were fortunate in having Mr. Commissioner Amos to act as their guide; being well acquainted with the locality, he led the troops to the exact spot where the operations were to commence. The force under Captain Thomas reached the ground just as the morning begun to dawn. There were present 30 men of Her Majesty's force [40th], under Lieutenants Hall and Gardyne; 70 mounted police, under Sub-Inspectors Furnell, Langley, Chomley, and Lieutenant Cossack; 65 men of the 12th Regiment, under Captain Quendo [Queade] and Lieutenant Paul; 87 men of the 40th Regiment, under Captain Wise and Lieutenants Bowder [Bowdler] and Richards; 24 foot police, under Sub-Inspector Carter; making a total of 100 mounted and 176 foot.

When the body arrived at about 300 yards from the entrenchments the detachments of the 12th and 40th Regiments extended in skirmishing order; the mounted force moved to the left of the position and threatened the flank and rear of the insurgents. The main body now advanced boldly to the attack. We have no means of ascertaining the exact number of men in the Stockade, but they could not have out-numbered the Queen's force. They stood to their arms manfully as soon as the alarm was sounded, and when the military were at a distance of 150 yards they poured in a tolerably effective fire upon them. The commanding-officer now directed the order to fire to be sounded, and throwing in a steady fire on the camp in front, the military advanced in unbroken order, undaunted by the continuous discharge with which the insurgents received them. As the troops were likely to be severely handled, the reserves and foot police were now brought up for the struggle; a sharp fight was kept up for some time, but, in consequence of the ammunition becoming scarce amongst the insurgents, their fire slackened, and in a few minutes the military carried the entrenchment at the point of the bayonet. The engagement lasted about twenty-five minutes; the rebel leaders fought well, Mr. Peter Lalor having been wounded in the breach and left for dead in the Stockade, and several others cut down at their posts. The loss to the Queen's force was considerable, including Captain Wise, who, in leading his men to the attack, was severely wounded and died in a few days afterwards; Lieutenant Paul was also severely wounded. The loss among the insurgents was variously estimated, but there could not have been fewer than thirty killed on the spot, and a great many wounded. There were 125 prisoners taken in the Stockade. The commander-in-chief of the "forces of the Republic of Victoria", as they were styled, named Vern, a Hanoverian by birth, escaped, and a reward of �500 was offered for his apprehension. Mr. Lalor, the other leader, who fell within the Stockade, lost his right arm in the engagement. On the Tuesday the troops under the command of the Major-General arrived on Ballarat; and they were not there a minute too soon, for a large body of insurgents were in arms at Creswick. There can be no doubt, however, that the victory at the Eureka had very much raised the spirits of those who supported the Government, and in a corresponding degree dispirited all connected with the insurgents, and the officer in command unquestionably deserved credit. He exercised a wise discretion in attacking them, instead of waiting until they became the aggressors. Indeed, most of the colonists who were unfavorable to the authorities, and their system of administering the law on the diggings, were compelled to condemn this open attempt to overthrow the Government. The Legislature Council, then in session, presented an address of sympathy to his Excellency, which was of the following tenor: that, having been placed in a painfully embarrassing position since his arrival in the colony, he was entitled to the sympathy and support of the Legislature. Sir Charles Hotham was very far from inexperienced in affairs of State importance. He was particularly happy in his reply. The firm resolve to suppress the incipient revolution was softened by the readiness with which he offered to redress those grievances which the diggers had complained of. He said it would be his constant endeavour to conduct the government with the utmost possible temper; he said the time for military rule had passed; but when there was an outbreak, and that caused by foreigners—men who had not been suffered to remain in their own country in consequence of the violence of their character—then Englishmen must sink all minor differences and unite to support the authorities. The Government, however, fared rather differently when a direct appeal was made to the people. A public meeting had been called by requisition, to consider the best means for protecting the city during the crisis at the diggings. The principal agitators in this matter seemed to be the members of the Legislature, who took a large share in the proceedings of this public meeting. The resolutions proposed were received with such ill-concealed dissatisfaction, that, after the Mayor had declared two of them to be carried, the opponents of the Government interfered, and such confusion prevailed that the gentleman who presided vacated the chair, which was occupied by Dr. Embling, and a series of resolutions diametrically opposed to the proceedings of the Executive, and demanding an immediate settlement of the differences between the Government and the diggers, were carried with the utmost enthusiasm. Mr. Frencham, who has been already alluded to as one of the discoverers of gold in Victoria, spoke on behalf of the diggers, and told the people they "must go forth with their brother diggers to conquer or die." The Government demonstration having terminated in so very unsatisfactory a manner, another meeting was convened on the following day "for the assertion of order and the protection of constitutional liberty." It took place on a large open space of ground near St. Paul's Church, at the corner of Flinders lane. From 4000 to 7000 people were present, the chair being filled by Henry Langlands, Esq., one of the largest employers of labor in Melbourne. The speakers were Messrs. Blair, Owens, Fawkner, Fulton, Frencham, Grant, Cathie, and Embling. The resolutions condemned the whole policy of the Government, and declared that, while disapproving of the physical resistance offered by the diggers, the meeting could not, without betraying the interests of liberty, lend its aid to the Executive until the coercive measures they were attempting to introduce should be abandoned. The result of this meeting had very considerable weight with the Executive, and the same afternoon a Government Gazette extraordinary appeared, in which was a proclamation revoking martial law on Ballarat.

Site of the "Eureka Stockade"—shortly after the fight. Ballaarat 3^rd Dec 1854.

The repulse at the Stockade did not depress the diggers, and a body of about 1000 armed men was, at this time, collected together on the Creswick road. It was very fortunate that Sir Robert Nickle, who had now assumed the command, was an old and experienced officer. He immediately restrained the violence of the police and military, and held several parleys with the disaffected diggers, in which he strongly urged them to return to their duty.

Some literal errors in M'Combie's narrative we have corrected in [square] brackets. His phrase "30 men of Her Majesty's force" should be 30 men of the mounted 40th. They were picked men of that regiment. Raffaello, a little further on, calls them "Indian dragoons". M'Combie is wrong also as to the diggers not being depressed by the affair at the Stockade. The action of Sunday entirely demolished the schemes of the insurgents. There was no such gathering either on the Creswick road as that mentioned by M'Combie. Archdeacon Stretch, of the English Church, bore witness to the peaceable aspect of affairs at Creswick. The Geelong Advertiser, of the 11th December, states that the Archdeacon had been on "a conciliatory tour in the district, and reports the 25,000 diggers of Creswick Creek to be under the physical charge of three policemen." The three constables were enough, and no clearer evidence seems necessary to show how little disposed the general population there was to armed resistance to the authorities.

Here is Raffaello's description of the attack on the Stockade:—

Remember this Sabbath Day (3rd December) to Keep it Holy.—I awoke. Sunday morning. It was full dawn, not daylight. A discharge of musketry—then a round from the bugle—the command "forward"—and another discharge of musketry was sharply kept on by the red-coats (some 300 strong) advancing on the gully west of the Stockade, for a couple of minutes. The shots whizzed by my tent. I jumped out off the stretcher and rushed to my chimney facing the Stockade. The forces within could not muster above 150 diggers. The shepherd's holes inside the lower part of the Stockade had been turned into rifle-pits, and were now occupied by Californians of the I.C. Rangers' Brigade, some twenty or thirty in all, who had kept watch at the "outposts" during the night. Ross and his division northward, Thonen and his division southward, and both in front of the gully, under cover of the slabs, answered with such a smart fire, that the military who were now fully within range, did unmistakably appear to me to swerve from their ground; anyhow the command "forward" from Sergeant Harris was put a stop to. Here a lad was really courageous with his bugle. He took up boldly his stand to the left of the gully and in front: the red-coats "fell in" in their ranks to the right of this lad. The wounded on the ground behind must have numbered a dozen. Another scene was going on east of the Stockade. Vern floundered across the Stockade eastward, and I lost sight of him. Curtain whilst making coolly for the holes, appeared to me to give directions to shoot at Vern; but a rush was instantly made in the same direction (Vern's) and a whole pack cut for Warrenheip. There was, however, a brave American officer, who had the command of the rifle-pit men; he fought like a tiger; was shot in his thigh at the very onset, and yet, though hopping all the while, stuck to Captain Ross like a man. Should this notice be the means to ascertain his name, it should be written down in the margin at once. The dragoons from south, the troopers from north, were trotting in full speed towards the Stockade. Peter Lalor was now on the top of the first logged-up hole within the Stockade, and by his decided gestures pointed to the men to retire among the holes. He was shot down in his left shoulder at this identical moment; it was a chance shot, I recollect it well. A full discharge of musketry from the military now mowed down all who had their heads above the barricades. Ross was shot in the groin. Another shot struck Thonen exactly in the mouth, and felled him on the spot. Those who suffered the most were the score of pikemen, who stood their ground from the time the whole division had been posted at the top, facing the Melbourne road from Ballarat, in double file under the slabs, to stick the cavalry with their pikes. The old command, "Charge!" was distinctly heard, and the red-coats rushed with fixed bayonets to storm the Stockade. A few cuts, kicks, and pulling down, and the job was done too quickly for their wonted ardor, for they actually thrust their bayonets on the body of the dead and wounded strewed about on the ground. A wild "hurrah!" burst out, and the "Southern Cross" was torn down, I should say, among their laughter, such as if it had been a prize from a May-pole. Of the armed diggers, some made off the best way they could, others surrendered themselves prisoners and were collected in groups and marched down the gully. The Indian dragoons, sword in hand, rifle-pistols cocked, took charge of them all, and brought them in chains to the lock-up. The red-coats were now ordered to "fall in"; their bloody work was over, and were marched off, dragging with them the "Southern Cross". Their dead, as far as I did see, were four, and a dozen wounded, including Captain Wise, the identical one, I think whom I speak of in relating the events of Tuesday evening, November 28. Dead and wounded had been fetched up in carts, waiting on the road, and all red-things hastened to Ballarat. I hastened, and what a horrible sight! Old acquaintances crippled with shots, the gore protruding from the bayonet wounds, their clothes and flesh burning all the while. Poor Thonen had his mouth literally choked with bullets; my neighbor and mate Teddy More, stretched on the ground, both his thighs shot, asked me for a drop of water. Peter Lalor, who had been concealed under a heap of slabs, was in the agony of death, a stream of blood from under the slabs heavily forcing its way down hill.

Raffaello piles up too much agony here. He is right in wounding his hero in the left arm, M'Combie being in error in saying Lalor lost the right arm. A correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser, not Irwin, gives the following tragic picture of what he saw:—

The first thing that I saw was a number of diggers enclosed in a sort of hollow square, many of them were wounded, the blood dripping from them as they walked; some were walking lame, pricked on by the bayonets of the soldiers bringing up the rear. The soldiers were much excited, and the troopers madly so, flourishing their swords, and shouting out—"We have waked up Joe!" and others replied, "And sent Joe to sleep again!" The diggers' Standard was carried by in triumph to the Camp, waved about in the air, then pitched from one to another, thrown down and trampled on. The scene was awful—twos and threes carried together, and all felt stupefied. I went with R———— to the barricade, the tents all around were in a blaze; I was about to go inside, when a cry was raised that the troopers were coming again. They did come with carts to take away the bodies. I counted fifteen dead, one G————, a fine well-educated man, and a great favorite. I recognised two others, but the spectacle was so ghastly that I feel a loathing at the remembrance. They all lay in a small space, with their faces upwards, looking like lead; several of them were still heaving, and at every rise of their breasts, the blood spouted out of their wounds, or just bubbled out and trickled away. One man, a stout-chested fine fellow, apparently about forty years old, lay with a pike beside him; he had three contusions in the head, three strokes across the brow, a bayonet wound in the throat under the ear, and other wounds in the body—I counted fifteen wounds in that single carcase. Some were bringing handkerchiefs, others bed furniture, and matting to cover up the faces of the dead. O God! sir, it was a sight for a Sabbath morn that, I humbly implore Heaven, may never be seen again. Poor women crying for absent husbands, and children frightened into quietness. I, sir, write disinterestedly, and I hope my feelings arose from a true principle; but when I looked at that scene, my soul revolted at such means being so cruelly used by a Government to sustain the law. A little terrier sat on the breast of the man I spoke of, and kept up a continuous howl; it was removed, but always returned to the same spot; and when his master's body was huddled with the other corpses, into the cart, the little dog jumped in after him, and lying again on his dead master's breast, began howling again. ———— was dead there also, and ———, who escaped, had said, that when he offered his sword, he was shot in the side by a trooper, as he was lying on the ground wounded. He expired almost immediately. Another was lying dead just inside the barricade, where he seemed to have crawled. Some of the bodies might have been removed—I counted fifteen. A poor woman and her children were standing outside a tent; she said that the troopers had surrounded the tent, and pierced it with their swords. She, her husband, and her children, were ordered out by the troopers, and were inspected in their night-clothes outside, whilst the troopers searched the tent. Mr. Hasleham was roused from sleep by a volley of bullets fired through his tent; he rushed out, and was shot down by a trooper, and handcuffed. He lay there bleeding from a wound in his breast, until his friends sent for a blacksmith, who forced off the handcuffs with a hammer and cold chisel. When I last heard of Mr. Hasleham, a surgeon was attending him, and probing for the ball.

Shanahan, in whose store the dream of anti-British freedom was sketched out by the red-hot insurgents of the fiery period between the burning of Bentley's hotel and the military attack of the 3rd December, tells the following story:—

The diggers were granted no redress, and their complaints gradually grew louder until a climax was reached in October, when the murder was committed (Scobie's) near Bentley's hotel. I was at Bentley's just before it was burnt, Bentley ran out and got off, or the diggers would have lynched him. I know who set fire to the hotel. The poor fellow is dead now, and I am not going to mention his name. On the Saturday afternoon before the attack on the Stockade a deputation, consisting of Captain Ross, Black, Manning, Hayes, Curtain, and myself, and about five others, went up to the Camp to see if any redress would be given to the diggers. Those in charge at the Camp promised everything to the deputation, who then left. On the way back to the Eureka we met the Creswick contingent of diggers, several hundred strong, and when they were told that a fair settlement had been promised, they laughed at it, and aaid the promises were only given to catch the diggers in a trap. Their words came true. On Saturday night there was a large number of diggers in the Stockade. I kept a store within the Stockade. Lalor was in charge, but large numbers of the men were constantly going out of the Stockade, and as the majority got drunk, they never came back. Esmond, like a gentleman as he was, got powder and shot from a shop down the Main Road, and paid for it out of his own pocket. The 500 or 600 from Creswick had nothing to eat, and they, too, went down the Main Road that night. The men constantly going out—it was dry work in the Stockade—[now some long thirsty months away from the days of ten gallon grog kegs at �1 a gallon]—and Lalor seeing that none would be left if things went on, he gave orders to shoot any man who left. Vern cleared out immediately, and order was given to shoot him, but he got away. It was about two or three o'clock on Sunday morning when Vern went away. Those in the Stockade had anything but a pleasant time of it, as the accommodation was not sufficient even for the small number of men that remained. Anyway, after the promises received in the afternoon from the Commissioners, it was thought that there was no danger, and the diggers did not know whether to go on with the armed resistance or stop. About three o'clock in the morning there were about 150 pikemen inside the Stockade, and some others. M'Cullagh and Glenn, two diggers, were seen prowling about the Stockade, and they were taken prisoners as spies. They roared for their liberty, and were let go, it being too much trouble to keep them. My wife and one or two other women were in the Stockade, and I was in bed, when I heard shots, crack, crack, in quick succession. Got up and seized my gun, and went to the door. The soldiers were about a hundred yards away, and I could see some of our poor fellows lying dead, nine being killed by the first volley. The diggers were up, and a lot of them had evidently made up their minds to fight to the death. When Captain Wise and his regiment saw that the diggers were awake and meant resistance, he sang out, "Fortieth! are you going to retreat?" I am sure he said that. Orders had been given to pick off the leaders of the soldiers, and Captain Wise was shortly afterwards shot. The shooting on both sides then went on, and it was only the bags of flour that kept my wife and me from being shot. A lot of the diggers commenced to run away, and after the shooting was done I saw Ned Flynn run into an old chimney, and a soldier ran up to him and stuck him in the neck with a bayonet. Everyone they caught they slaughtered. It was not in the Stockade that they killed the majority of the diggers, but in the running away. I took refuge in an outhouse, and the troopers and soldiers did not see me. They commenced setting fire to every tent on the ground, using a pot of burning tar. Our tent was set on fire, but my wife put it out before it was all burnt.

Mrs. Shanahan was much interested at this part of her husband's narrative, and took up the story herself, saying:—

I heard the firing first. My husband was not long gone to bed, and I pulled him out and told him the firing was on. He got up, and, said I to him, take out your gun. There is the little gun (pointing to an ancient fire arm against the wall). He went out, and must have hid himself in a small outhouse. There was a knock at our tent door, and a trooper and a soldier came in. "Shoot that woman", said the trooper. The foot soldier said, "Spare the woman", and the trooper said, "Well, get out of this, the place is going to be burnt down." They set fire to the place, but before it was much burnt I managed to put it out.

"The soldiers did not stay long," continued Shanahan, "and galloped away at once. I went out and had a look round. [The cautiously valiant man of big words yonder at the non-military camp in the far off Golden Point days!] There were dead bodies here and there. I would never like to see such a sight again. The poor fellows who had fought for their liberty I If all the people saw what I saw, there would soon be a grand monument up to those poor fellows. [The old man, say the interviewers, was here much moved.] We found Peter Lalor down a hole with his arm broken. We got him out, and he was taken away on Father Smyth's horse. I counted twenty-two dead. The pikemen suffered most."

Mr. R. Lorimer, who was boarding at Skarrett's Victoria Restaurant, near the Stockade, in a paper he gives to us, tells how Mrs. Skarrett, by drawing a revolver from her bosom and threatening to shoot, saved her horse from being carried off on the Saturday morning by three men who claimed to be sent by the "commander in chief". He then narrates what he saw and heard on the Sunday morning:—

On the morning of the 3rd of December, immediately before daybreak, I was awoke by the sound of a bugle. My mate, Tom Green, a rifleman, who had been in active service in India, under Lord Gough, was sleeping on the table beside me. He said, "Ah! that sound is only too well known to me; the military are there, the bugle call means 'extend into skirmishing order.'" Immediately afterwards a solitary shot was fired. Another bugle call was given, and rapid firing was heard. We were all soon out of bed, or rather off the tables—we all slept on the tables. Tom Green, with rifle in hand, guarded the back door, and I, with rifle in hand, mounted on the frame work of the canvas structure, looked out of the opening over the door and guarded the front. The women and children were all out of their beds, and were lying flat on the floor. By this time the firing was rapid and general, The bullets were whizzing about like mosquitoes, and at times were rather near to be pleasant. Still, only two struck the tent. When the fight was going on, I saw Mr. Gaynor and two others hurrying down the Eureka lead with Peter Lalor. They lifted him up and placed him inside of a the of slabs, which was stacked immediately opposite to my "look-out opening. "Shortly after Father Smythe, mounted on his grey horse, rode up to the pile and spoke to Mr. Lalor. I conjectured that he was wounded. The stores and tents in the Stockade were then burning. The bugle had sounded the "general assembly", and the soldiers were preparing to march back to the Camp, taking with them in the ambulance carts their dead and wounded, when I saw thorn clear away, I went out with my companions and made for the pile of slabs. One of the boarders came with us in his drawers and night shirt, and had a pair of slippers on his feet. A trooper came galloping down towards us. We retired again to the tent, but our half dressed friend stood. The trooper stopped in front of him, raised his sword over his head, and called out, "Oh! you b——— b———, you was one of them. Come along with me, and if you look back I will cut you down." In this state, half dressed as he was, he was driven before the trooper to the logs in the Camp reserve. We then made again for the pile of slabs. We climbed up and spoke to Lalor, who said, "For God's sake, boys, go and leave me." I replied, "If you wish to escape, now is your time; the soldiers are gone, and the troopers have cleared away also." "Down with the pile of slabs, boys." The work was done in a few seconds. Taking Lalor's coloured handkerchief, we bound it tightly over the top wound, making it a very good ligature, and giving him in charge of Billy Smythe, or Smith, to take to some place of safety, we bid him good-bye. Our half-naked friend was liberated in about a week after. Mrs. Skarrat, and one or two others, proved that he was in bed at the time of the riot; but the trooper persisted that he was "one of them—he knew him too well." "New Zealand Jamie", or James Powell, occupied the same cell with him. Powell was very badly wounded, and his wounds got no attention from the authorities. Hundreds of maggots were crawling in and out of the festering sores, which were disgusting to behold; but the puppets of the Camp had no pity. Death put an end to his misery and suffering, and his body now rests in the Old Cemetery with the other victims of the misgovernment of that day. All honour to the brave fellows who fell, however misguided they may have been. Gaynor, who placed Lalor in the pile of slabs, is now a respectable farmer at Ross's Creek; but of the others who removed him from the slab pile I know nothing, save and except myself.

Mr. James M'Dowall writes:—

This muster obstructed business of every description. Plunder and daylight robberies were very prevalent for a time. Stores robbed, and the contents carted into the Stockade, surrounded by guns and old rusty bayonets, the storekeepers not daring to say—what doest thou. A short time prior to this date I had gone into business in the timber trade. Finding that one of my valuable horses had been taken from one of my men when on his way home with a load of timber, I marched straight to the Stockade, and had an interview with the Commander in Chief, Frederick Vern. I endeavoured to regain possession of my horse, but without success. The Commander informed me that his men should require horses; but pressing my claim still further, I secured a written guarantee that should any damage be done to the horse, it should be made good. This document described the horse correctly, and was signed—A.A. Black, Secretary of War. By order of the Commander in Chief, Frederick Vern, On the following day, after the battle was over, the horse was found with a very severe wound on his stern, thereby proving that he and his rider (if any) were clearing out while the battle was raging. Soon after that date the government sent up a Commission of Enquiry, and advertisements appeared, inviting anyone who had suffered any loss to present their claims. I, amongst others, attended, gave evidence, and presented my written guarantee, which was looked on as a great curiosity. The Commission impounded the document, but never paid one penny, whilst some others were paid handsomely for their losses, or supposed losses. On my return from the Stockade I paid a visit to the Commissioners' Camp, and demanded protection from the authorities, but was told that the proper time had not arrived. When looking over this Camp, according to the description given by me before the Commission, a ring being formed round the Camp and guarded by the police, the authorities were concealed behind a fortification made of bales of hay and other horse feed in bags, and I was only allowed to speak to the said authorities through a small space near to the roof of a verandah of the house wherein they were fortified. The following day presented a sad spectacle on the same spot, where the wounded and dying were congregated, and were under the hands of the medical men.

Mr. Arthur Croft, an old digger, who arrived in Ballarat early in November, 1852, as one of a party of seven, writes as follows:—"We paid �84 to bring us up, a dray with only one horse in the shafts." An incredibly high price to pay for the luxury of "holding on to a rope going down hill to keep the dray from going too fast," and then having to submit to being bogged and capsized, with accompanying smashes of "nearly all our cooking materials", etc. The old digger's next experience was with his mates sinking a shallow hole at Little Bendigo, where they got no gold, for the diggers in the adjoining hole advised them to drive away from the gold, whilst the advisers "were taking out the gold all the time—artful old dogs." Other failures caused the party to break up, and our friend says his brother took the Balligney hotel in the Black Hill flat, "where a Freemasons' lodge was held." The lodge was at the Ballagney hotel. Meanwhile Croft was in a claim on the Gravel Pits, and while at the windlass one day "a lady stranger came up to me and asked how it was looking; so I told her. We talked together for some time, and she explained the mode of digging in California. Well, the men's time below was up, and she gave me a hand at the windlass, and when the men came up she went away, but left a pound to spend amongst us. She was the renowned Lola Montes, the splendid dancer and man-killer—I mean for her beauty. So we named the claim the Lola Montes, and wrote it in charcoal on the canvas of the tent. The very day after that she horsewhipped Seekamp, the editor of the paper at that time." After this adventure, our hero turns up "in the Township", where he sold his share for �10, and "the very next day they shared about �10 a man, and upwards for several months afterwards—in all about �200 a man," The narrative is incoherent as to dates and other things, but the consummation in the shape of "�200 a man" is intelligible. After that, this not very lucky digger opened the "Blue and White Flag" store, close to where the diggers subsequently built their Stockade. On the fatal Sunday morning he ventured into the Stockade, when the little battle was all over, having first hoisted the blue and white flag half-mast high. "The poor fellows lay covered with bullet wounds. There was a little dog close to one of them, and he would not allow anyone to touch him." Whether the "him" refers to the dog "or one of them," we do not know, so we will say, in the words of the old digger, "no more on that miserable affair—it was all brought about regarding the 30s. license." The narrator, after passing through a very hazy thereafter, emerges in a few years upon the Corner. "Another spec.", he sententiously proceeds. "Tried sharebroking. Went as clerk to one of them. Regarding the rise of shares, the greatest took place in a claim called Waterloo. They were worth �70 in the morning, and went up to �500 or more before the day was out. I was making sale notes out all the time for Mr. Croyle, the broker." Fortune never smiled benignly upon this Protean adventurer, and his modesty sums up all the subsequent course, so far, of his pilgrimage here in the words—"I am still living in Ballarat." He is one of the "Old Identities", or "Old Colonists", mentioned elsewhere, and we may well take our leave of him in wishing him a happy issue out of all his troubles.

Notice—Social Order

Notice—Abstain from Assembly

Notice to Special Constables

The fortunes of the Ballarat branch of the Bank of Victoria during the troubles between the diggers and the authorities, that is just as the troubles were about to culminate at the Stockade, throw some light on the state of things at that time. In the October of 1854, just before the collision at the Stockade, the bank was an "iron pot", that is, a frame of wood lined and covered with galvanised iron. It was on the south side of Sturt street, just east of the Survey office of that time, and about 150 feet west of the corner of Doveton street. One Saturday, about noon, three or four armed bushrangers walked into the bank, tied and gagged John Buckley, the manager, and the accountant, one Marshall, took notes and cash to the amount of �18,000, and vanished. In the following November a new manager was sent up, Mr. William Robertson, who has been here ever since. He has lately surrendered his charge, but till then (close of 1886) was the oldest banker in Ballarat. The iron pot was abandoned after the robbery, and a stone building, set up where the present bank is in Lydiard street, was purchased by the bank proprietary. It was a poor affair, though the first stone house erected in Ballarat, and may, in part, now be seen doing service as a shabby little one-story cottage in Holmes street, two doors from Grenville College. Still it was, for 1854, a great architectural achievement, and at one time attracted military notice. This was the week preceding the attack upon the insurgent diggers at the Stockade. At that time patrols of troopers and mounted infantry of the 40th Regiment were told off to draw a cordon round the Camp, and so great was the apprehension that masses of diggers would come into Ballarat from Creswick, Mount Alexander, and other places, that the military patrols prohibited any persons not resident within the streets adjacent to the Camp from passing along those thoroughfares. Fear had fallen upon all sides, and one day a banker seriously suggested to Mr. Robertson the propriety of their concealing their treasures somewhere in the bush. He rejected this advice, and though the banks took their treasure chests to the Camp every evening, he also rejected advice from the Camp authorities to abandon the bank and come into Camp till the trouble was over. Now, as the bank was of stone, and the Camp of canvas or wood, Mr. Robertson waited upon Captain Thomas, the officer in command, and represented to him the possibility of the diggers seizing an empty stone building thus facing the Camp, and making it a point d'appui [12] for attack. The captain saw the danger, and instead of getting the banker to desert his bank, sent men to fortify it. This was a few days before the Stockade affair, and until the fatal Sunday was over, all business at the bank was suspended. The doors and windows were boarded over thickly, and bags of chaff, bran, hay, sand, or what not, were heaped up behind the boards to make the place bullet proof. Thirty-six civilians from the Camp, armed with muskets, were sent over to the bank every night. They were divided into three squads, officered by Commissioners Webster, Johnstone, and another, and anxious watch was kept up at a sky light at the rear, and commanding the then near bush, so that the approach of the expected insurgent reinforcements that way might be detected in time. At dawn of Sunday, the 3rd December, a trooper came from the Camp to the bank garrison to put them on their guard, as something was going to happen. Soon after that the discharge of fire arms in the distance was heard, and in a short time another trooper came to the bank to say all the trouble was over, and the garrison could sally forth in safety or stand at ease within the fort. Mr. Robertson says he and others went out, and he saw the military and troopers returning into Camp with from a hundred to a hundred and fifty prisoners, and dying Captain Wise borne by soldiers on a litter into Camp.

With regard to the attack on the Stockade, the author has a letter signed "John Neill, late of the 40th Regiment," and dated from Devil's Gully on the 7th of February, 1870. Neill thus describes the approach of the troops and what followed, his grammar only being amended and redundant matter omitted:—

As a military man, and one who took a most prominent part in all the military movements of that day, I beg leave to offer a remark upon the statement made by the Government officer of the Camp. The small force consisted of detachments of the 12th and 40th Regiments, and a few troopers and foot police, the whole under the command of Captains Thomas and Wise, and a Lieutenant of the 12th—I forget his name. The order to fall-in and be silent was given, and when Captain Thomas had spoken a few words we were put in motion, led by Captain Wise. The party had not advanced three hundred yards before we were seen by the rebel sentry, who fired, not at our party, but to warn his party in the Stockade. He was on Black Hill. Captain Thomas turned his head in the direction of the shot, and said—"We are seen. Forward, and steady men! Don't fire; let the insurgents fire first. You wait for the sound of the bugle." [More credible this than Teddy Shanahan's version.] When within a short distance of the Stockade, the insurgents fired. Captain Wise fell, wounded mortally. The same volley wounded the lieutenant of the l2th, already spoken of, and three of his men; two killed, one wounded of the 40th—Privates Michael Roony, Joseph Wall, killed; William Juniper, badly wounded. The Camp officer says the police were the first to enter the Stockade. He is wrong. There was not one policeman killed or wounded during the whole affair. When Captain Wise fell the men cheered, and were over in the Stockade in a second, and then bayonet and pike went to work. The diggers fought well and fierce, not a word spoken on either side until all was over. The blacksmith who made the pikes was killed by Lieut. Richards, 40th Regiment. Honor to his name: he fought well and died gloriously. It was rumored that at that time the police were cruel to the Mounded and prisoners. No such thing. The police did nothing but their duty, and they did it well for men that were not accustomed to scenes of blood or violence. To my knowledge there was only one wounded man despatched, and he kept swinging his pike about his head as he sat on the ground. His two legs were broken, and he had a musket ball in his body. He could not live, and it was best to despatch him. His name was O'Neill, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland. I heard this statement from a sergeant of police, and I know it was correct.

It is but just that it should be stated that, in reply to Raffaello's statement that Kennedy took up the cause of the diggers out of mere regard for Scobie, Kennedy avers, in a letter in the Ballarat Star of the 22nd December, 1856, addressed to Raffaello:—

If suffering and loss be a proof that I have something more than talking heroism, or a prejudicial love for my country or countrymen, lam the man that can give that proof. Last year the same Thomas Kennedy sacrificed �1800 for the cause of the diggers alone; but that is not all. I have sometimes wrought ten hours a day for three days running on bread and water on account of these rows.

Kennedy generally defends himself in his letters against Raffaello's criticisms, and says, as to the license-burning meeting, that he refused to join that movement unless 4000 came forward to join the League. He then says:—

But, Raffaello, I well remember on that day that when you came forward and addressed the public (to use your own phraseology towards other people in page 59), "such suicidal rant" was used by you that day that I was compelled to take you by the arm and conduct you from the front of the platform to nearly the middle of it, and I believe from that moment your Italian blood was aroused, and in some measure interprets some part of your work.

Most people who knew Raffaello will be ready to say that Kennedy's story is not very improbable.

Raffaello speaks in fierce language of his treatment in the "lousy logs". He was taken with the other State prisoners to Melbourne:—

On passing through the Eureka I got a glance of my snug little tent, where I had passed so many happy hours, and was sacred to me on a Sunday. There it lay deserted, uncared for. My eyes were choked with tears, and at forty years of age a man does not cry for little.

In his 77th chapter he gives the following account of the killed and wounded at the Stockade:—

Requiesca[n]t in Pace. [13]—Lalor's Report of the Killed and Wounded at the Eureka Massacre, on the morning of the memorable Third of December, 1854:—The following lists are as complete as I can make them. The numbers are well known, but there is a want of names. I trust that the friends or acquaintances of these parties may forward particulars to The Times office, Ballaarat, to be made available in a more lengthened narrative. Killed:—1, John Hynes, County Clare, Ireland; 2, Patrick Gittins, Kilkenny, Ireland; 3,—Mullins, Kilkenny, Limerick, Ireland; 4, Samuel Green, England; 5, John Robertson, Scotland; G. Edward Thonen (lemonade man), Elbertfeldt, Prussia; 7, John Hafele, Wurtemberg; 8, John Diamond, County Clare, Ireland; 9, Thomas O'Neil, Kilkenny, Ireland; 10, George Donaghey, Muff, County Donegal, Ireland; 11, Edward Quin, County Cavan, Ireland; 12, William Quinlan, Goulbourn, N.S.W.; 13 and 14, names unknown, one was usually known on Eureka as "Happy Jack". Wounded and Since Dead:—1, Lieutenant Ross, Canada; 2, Thaddeus Moore, County Clare, Ireland; 3, James Brown, Newry, Ireland; 4, Robert Julien, Nova Scotia; 5,—Crowe, unknown; 6,—Fenton, unknown; 7, Edward M'Glyn, Ireland; 8, no particulars. Wounded and Since Recovered:—1, Peter Lalor, Queen's County, Ireland; 2, name unknown, England; 3, Patrick Hanafin, County Kerry, Ireland; 4, Michael Hanly, County Tipperary, Ireland; 5, Michael O'Neil, County Clare, Ireland; 6, Thomas Callanan, County Clare, Ireland; 7, Patrick Callanan, County Clare, Ireland; 8, Frank Symmons, England; 9, James Warner, County Cork, Ireland; 10, Luke Sheehan, County Galway, Ireland; 11, Michael Morrison, County Galway, Ireland; 12, Dennis Dynan, County Clare, Ireland.

(Signed) Peter Lalor, Commander-in-Chief.   

How many others owed their death to the Stockade attack can hardly be stated. Some lingered long, and died of wounds received there. The Melbourne Herald of the 12th May, 1856, reported:—

Amongst the deaths of recent occurrence at the Benevolent Asylum is that of Frederick Coxhead, native of London, lawyer's clerk, and 24 years of age. He sided with the insurgents at the memorable battle of the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat, and received a gun-shot wound. Compression of the brain ensued, and an abscess then set in, which terminated fatally on Sunday.

The authorities were under the impression that Vern was the insurgent leader, and as Vern, and Lalor, and Black, the "minister of war", escaped the grip of the assaulting force, rewards were offered for their apprehension. For Vern, as the presumed chief, �500 were offered, and for Lalor and Black �200 each None of them were ever arrested. Black was not present at the affair of the 3rd. Lalor had been severely wounded, and was supposed at first to be dead. He was covered up by a pikeman with slabs, till the soldiers retreated with their prisoners, when he left his hiding place, weary and faint with pain and loss of blood. Having made good his escape, he was, after divers troubles, secreted at a friendly hut on the ranges, where friends ministered to his necessities. On the night of the 4th he was conveyed to Father Smyth's house, where his arm was amputated by Dr. Doyle. Women may live nearer to the invisible than men, and be more rich in gifts of spiritual vision. Dreams and presentiments are sometimes theirs when the stronger sex see and hear nothing. It was said that Lalors betrothed in (Geelong—whom he afterwards married—saw him "in a vision of the night" or early morning of the 3rd December, wounded and bleeding before her. It was further said that her vision was a tolerably accurate picture of his actual condition. In an age of vote by ballot and much hard iron machinery Puck's declaration has been realised in the electric telegraph, and, still, "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy." To leave the speculative for the known, it will suffice here to record that search for the fugitive chiefs was made, and Lalor, who had many narrow escapes, was hidden in various places by his friends till the storm had blown over, when he was removed to Geelong, and underwent further surgical operations, the authorities appearing to have given over the pursuit. Ross had died from wounds received on the Sunday morning, and Vern escaped, and hid in various places till danger passed away with the subsequent acquittal of the State prisoners. M 'Gill's story is that he and some others, not thinking all was over when they fled, repaired to Creswick with a view to get out of harm's immediate way, and to secure two field-pieces that were said to be on Captain Hepburn's property at Smeaton. That project was soon abandoned, and M'Gill had to disguise himself and fly. He was met at the Springs by Mrs. Hanmer and another, who furnished him with woman's attire, in which he travelled by coach to Melbourne on the 5th, passing Sir Robert Nickle and his troops on their way up near the Moorabool. By advice of the since notorious G.F. Train, then Melbourne agent for the White Star Company's line of ships, M'Gill, disguised afresh in man's attire, went on board the "Arabian" as an officer of the ship. In the meantime Train and other American citizens interposed on behalf of their compatriot, whose youth—he was then about twenty-one years old—they pleaded in bar of grave punishment. Train sent to M'Gill one day, got him ashore, took him to Sir Charles Hotham's at Toorak, and after a brief interview the Governor, who expressed surprise at M'Gill's youth, bowed them out hopefully. Train next informed his client that the Government would not interfere to prevent his escape if he left the colony forthwith. M'Gill, however, still by the ever-vigilant Train's agency, was passed on as an invalid to the health officer's quarters at Port Phillip Heads, where he remained until the acquittal of the State prisoners practically proclaimed liberty to all the compromised. It was rumored at one time that M'Gill shot Captain Wise, then that he was pardoned because he saved Captain Wise's life in the Stockade, then that he was let off because he was an American. What happened to him because of his nationality cannot be precisely known. He avers that he neither shot Captain Wise nor saved him from any threatened harm. As to his Americanism, it is certain that a strong feeling existed at the time against what was considered a fear of American influence on the part of the Government. It is equally certain that the Government attributed the outbreak in a great measure to the treasonable schemes of concerting foreigners then in Ballarat and active in the agitations of the time.

That intelligent witness of most of the incidents during the whole agitation, upon whose papers in the Ballarat Star we have so freely drawn, makes the following statement relative to the later scenes in the drama:—

After the capture of the Stockade, it may well be imagined that there was a good deal of flight and hiding indulged in, and some singular incidents could be narrated in reference thereto. Lalor, Esmond, and others, some of them immediately, and others from time to time, found their way to Geelong, where they were secreted by various friends. The local police knew where most of the Geelong fugitives were, but as most of them had influential friends they were not molested, the more so as the Government said they had quite enough of the insurgents in their clutches. Messrs. Black and Kennedy started in company to make for Geelong. The latter, in his usual self-opinionated way, assured his companion that he knew all about the road to Geelong by way of the Mount Misery Ranges. How the fugitives took a pair of scissors and "barberised" each other, exchanging clothes, and generally disguising themselves, need not be minutely detailed. At last, towards evening, Kennedy acknowledged he was lost, though after a time a smoke was seen, and was soon found to be from an encampment, a sort of out-station depot or rural retreat for some of the rowdy boys of Ballarat. Kennedy was for being very mysterious, but Black frankly told the men that he and his companion were in some trouble—what he did not say—with the Government. He also let them see that he had plenty of money, and gave them �5 to get some stores. The messengers who went for the stores returned on the Monday evening, bringing a bottle of wine. How a decent fellow of the party took Black's side when some of his mates would have ill-treated him—how Black and Kennedy separated, the latter going bullock-driving—and how Black, meeting with other fugitives, at last got up to Melbourne, where his friends secreted him—would fill columns; but these things are more of a private or personal than a public interest. Mr. Seekamp was arrested on the Monday after the capture of the Stockade, he having �105 on him, and about to go to Bendigo. An extraordinary issue of the Ballarat Times was in course of publication when Mr. Seekamp was arrested. Hearing of his arrest, a friend called at the Times office and found a quiet enough account of the capture of the Stockade, wound up by about a "stickful" commencing thus, "This foul and bloody murder calls to high Heaven for vengeance, terrible and immediate," &c., &c. The copies that had been already printed were taken away and burned, all save one, which probably by this time has shared the same fate. After the acquittal of some of the State prisoners and the release of the remainder of them, those who had not been apprehended, and for whom large rewards had been offered, were in a somewhat anomalous position. Virtually they were as free from blame and as little hindered as others from going about, but actually they had the reward hanging over them, and some of them, at least, might tempt a needy man to assassinate them, as the reward was for them "dead or alive". Well, a land sale was advertised to be held in the old Police-court on the Camp. Some of the allotments were at Glendaruel, and Lalor had decided to purchase some of them. Of course, he could do so by an agent, but he preferred a bolder course, for, to the astonishment of his friends, all of whom by this time knew where he was, he appeared publicly on the day of the land sale, went to the Police-court to bid for the allotments, and when asked who's the purchaser, gave his name in the usual way. There was no more secrecy after this; the matter was reported to head-quarters, and the rewards were withdrawn in an early number of the Government Gazette.

Two Proclamations

�400 Reward—Lawlor & Black

�500 Reward—Vern

Lieut. Governor's Notice to Abstain

France's Consul's Notice [14]

Very barbarous excesses were charged against some of the troopers and other members of the civil arm, and one Powell was declared to have been murdered in cold blood, by Arthur Purcell Akehurst, a Government officer, but the officer was acquitted by the jury at the trial. Raffaello and the journals of the day give particulars of this very ugly episode. Akehurst is now a magistrate, and chairman of the Central Board of Health. Wanton wounding of mere spectators or unresisting insurgents was alleged to have been perpetrated, and it was gravely suspected that some wounded men were burned alive when the troopers fired the tents. One of the wounded spectators was Frank Arthur Hasleham, then acting for the correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser. Hasleham, in a memorial for compensation, describes himself as "a native of the good town of Bedford, and son of a military officer, to wit, William Gale Hasleham, who bore His Majesty's commission in the 48th Foot at Talavera." He was compensated by the Government subsequently, and after some years' sojourn here he went home to England. Some twenty-three who fell were buried by their friends, and the anniversary of the day was kept up with gradually decreasing demonstration. It may be stated here that the news of the attack on the Stockade reached Melbourne on the same day, and while Governor Hotham and Secretary Foster were attending divine service at St. James' Church, in Melbourne. Attorney-General Stawell and others were seen earnestly talking near the church, waiting for the Governor, and when his Excellency came out Foster went his way home, the Attorney-General and other of the Ministers accompanied the Governor to the Government printer, Mr. John Ferres, and urged him at once to issue a placard. This placard was printed and posted about the city on the Sunday, although dated as on the previous day. This placard was the one in which the Governor calls on "all British subjects to abstain, not only from identifying themselves" with "evil disposed persons", but "to render support and assistance to the authorities." The placard by the French consul was printed also on the Sunday. At the Governor's special and personal request also, on the 6th of December, a placard was issued with the words in large letters "Sevastopol is taken." This was declared to be a stratagem to divert public attention from the meeting to be held on that day in Melbourne for expression of sympathy with the Ballarat diggers. Many of those who were officially close to Sir Charles Hotham in those days were warm in his praise. They spoke of him as "a splendid fellow", and asserted boldly that he was misled by bad advisers.

On Monday, the 4th December, 1854, the Government issued a proclamation placing the "district of Buninyong"—for the old name with slightly changed spelling still prevailed over that of Ballarat—under martial law. On the same day, in the afternoon, an extraordinary Gazette was issued, calling on "all true subjects of the Queen, and all strangers who have received hospitality and protection under her flag to enrol themselves, and be prepared to assemble at such places as may be appointed by the civic authorities in Melbourne and Geelong, and by the magistrates in the several towns of the colony." Simultaneously a reward of �500 for Vern's apprehension, was offered, as the authorities not only thought he was the commander of the insurgents, but were haunted by another delusion, born of rumor, that Vern and some associates were erecting another stockade; in the Warrenheip forest. The metropolis was frightened from its propriety by the aspect of affairs at Ballarat. The Herald reported on the 4th that "One time it was said that an invading army of diggers was marching upon Melbourne, intending a general sack and pillage; next, that portions of the road were beset with guerilla parties anxious to have a shy at any detached troops and police who might happen to pass.   *   *   *   Throughout the day there was almost a constant swearing-in of special constables at the police-office." Deputations waited upon the Governor, declaring their loyalty. Meetings were convened in the metropolis, some to sympathise with the diggers, others to rally round the law and the authorities. Thus were the distant places shaken by the collision of that early Sunday morning at Ballarat. The poor diggers, in truth, wanted neither "sack nor pillage", but only to be treated as freemen, and to be governed by laws made by parliaments in which they had free representation, and not by laws enacted by a nominee legislature, and insolently, and sometimes corruptly, administered by men irresponsible to the people. Yet, as has been said before, there were rash and foolish and disloyal men among the insurgents. To them, and them alone, may be fairly applied the words of Sir C. Hotham in reply to one of the deputations to whom he spoke of "designing men who had ulterior views, and who hoped to profit by anarchy and confusion." But such men are found in all uprisings, and their presence in this one neither justified the wrongs of the times nor deprived the resistance of freemen of its inherent virtue. The Melbourne alarm, however, was not without fruit. The sympathy meetings were attended by large masses, and men of all classes united in condemning the misrule which had caused the outbreak. It chanced that just about this time the members of the Melbourne bar were roused by an attack by the Geelong Advertiser upon one of their brotherhood, who was accused of conduct unbecoming a prudent lawyer and a true gentleman. Then the barristers rushed to arms and fought on platforms in their brother's behalf, and while their weapons were yet keen-edged and bright the lawyers gathered also to the larger battle then waging between the gold-fields population and the Government. At a mass meeting held on the 13th January, 1855, in Swanston street—where the Anglican Cathedral is now slowly rising in its fair proportions—the State prisoners being yet untried, a petition for a general amnesty was adopted. In that petition the true cause of the rising, in so far as its moral force phases had gone, was set forth as follows:—

The recent unhappy outbreak at Ballarat was induced by no feeling of disaffection to the person of her Majesty, and by no traitorous designs against the institutions of the monarchy, but purely by a sense of political wrong, a loss of confidence in the local administration of law, and an irritation engendered by the injudicious and offensive enforcement of an obnoxious and invidious tax, which, though legal, has since been condemned by the Goldfields Commission.

Thousands of people in Ballarat subscribed a similar petition, but the Government refused the amnesty. The whole colony felt the rising to be serious. The Executive was certainly alarmed, and on the 7th December Mr. Foster, the Chief Secretary, gave way before the popular storm and resigned office. Foster was a member of the Vesey family in the Irish peerage. To him, as the prime spirit in the Legislative Council and Cabinet, great odium attached, for he was regarded as the mainstay of the system of misrule and nomineeism, and his resignation was, therefore, judicious if not necessary. It is probable that Sir Charles Hotham, however, was more directly responsible for the policy of the time than, to judge from the general feeling against Foster, was supposed by the population generally. Mr. Samuel Irwin furnishes some evidence, or hints of evidence, in support of this probability. He says, in his contributions to the Ballarat Star on the Eureka Stockade affair:—

Those who take an interest in these matters and have the requisite leisure might, among other documents, refer to the evidence given before a select committee of Parliament in the case of Mr. Foster when he sought to gain his pension. From the evidence in this case they will find that a very unwilling witness says Sir Charles Hotham had made up his mind before he left England what course he would pursue, and that he had even in sight of the English coast, said that the unruly gold-finders wanted "blood letting". The expression may not be literally correct, but at all events it signified that he would adopt repressive measures on Ills arrival. The same evidence—dragged from an unwilling witness—also went to show that Sir Charles Hotham used to correspond with the Resident Commissioner on the gold-fields in cypher and without the advice or even the knowledge of Mr. Foster. This much in justice to the reputation of one of the best abused men of the time referred to, who, whatever other sins he was guilty of, was not so of one-half of those then laid to his charge. The burning of Bentley's hotel, as may be imagined, created no small consternation in the official mind. With the now well ascertained opinions of Sir Charles Hotham on subordination, it may be readily imagined that he was furious at this open revolt against the law and fully bent on avenging the outrage.

Mr. Haines succeeded Foster, and the Legislative Council a day or two afterwards passed an Act of Indemnity for the declaration of martial law. The Act of Indemnity was passed on the 15th December, and on the 11th and 18th the Government offered rewards for the apprehension of Vern, Lalor, and Black,

Judge Wrixon and some barristers were at Bath's hotel on the 4th December, in readiness to open the General Sessions, but though the gaol was full of prisoners the sessions could not be held, because the Court-house had been turned into a guardroom, and jurymen could hardly be got together in that time of disturbance. The Melbourne Herald had sent up a special correspondent, and on the 4th December he described his view of the position of affairs. He discovers a solemn sense of the importance of his office, asserts anxiety to preserve a just neutrality, but feels bound to declare "it would appear that the Government officials here are determined to lose no opportunity of prolonging that animosity which it should be their duty to obliterate for ever." That it was their duty is certain, and it would have been well had they quickened duty with honest endeavor. The Herald's ordinary, or "own", correspondent also, on the 8th December, while the martial law recently proclaimed was still in force, takes occasion to denounce the civil officers of the Government Camp by contrasting their rule with that of the military r�gime. He says:—

The martial law administered by Sir R. Nickle is about as far superior to the Commissioners' law, under which we have been so long laboring, as it is possible for anything human to be. Had Sir R. Nickle arrived here a few days before, the bloodshed of last Sunday would have been avoided.

There is ample reason for adopting this writer's view of the situation. If the military rule was strong and odious because of its nature, and the reflection of wrong which it threw upon the diggers, it was also free from the still more odious and exasperating insults of the rule of civilians enforcing an irksome law with cruel impertinence and harassing personal injuries. The proclamation of martial law was objected to at the time as unconstitutional, and some protests were made. Whether the proclamation was right or wrong, it is a notable fact that it did not cover the attack of the military upon the diggers in the Stockade That tragedy was enacted without the reading of the Riot Act or the sanction of the existence of martial law, the proclamation being made on the day after the Stockade action. Another anomaly was the holding a coroner's inquest on one body only. The time was, it seems, out of joint in many particulars.

On the 6th December a large meeting of diggers was held on Bakery Hill, Mr. Thomas Williams in the chair. Humffray was there and Dr. Wills, father of the brave explorer who perished with Burke. Coleman and Mosterd were there, who afterwards were elected members of the Local Court. Resolutions were adopted whose tone showed the influence of the fiery blast of Sunday morning, and the rigor of martial law. They were mildly drawn, but with a double meaning, apparently, being applicable to either the authorities or the insurgents according to the mind of the interpreter. Here are the resolutions:—

Moved by Mr. Donald, seconded by Mr. W. Levy—"That this meeting views with regret the proceedings of the last week, rendering it necessary to assert the sovereignty of law and order by the sacrifice of so many lives and the proclamation of martial law."

Moved by Mr. Mosterd, seconded by Dr. Wills—"That this meeting considers the late appeal to arms to have been uncalled for, and pledges itself to use every constitutional means to restore tranquility and good feeling on the Ballarat gold-fields."

Moved by Mr..J.F. Coleman, seconded by Mr. Ingram—"That this meeting hopes that the officer in command of her Majesty's forces at Ballarat will act with as much forbearance and humanity as the circumstances may admit of: otherwise the lives of many innocent persons may be sacrificed."

Moved by Mr. Harris, seconded by Mr. Douglass—"That when the present excitement shall have ceased, we will pledge ourselves in a constitutional manner to have our acknowledged grievances brought before the Legislative Council of the colony."

Moved by Mr. J.B. Humffray, seconded by Mr. W.B. Robinson—"That a copy of the resolutions passed at this meeting, signed by the chairman, be forwarded to his Excellency Sir Charles Hotham immediately. That a deputation be appointed to wait on his representative at Ballarat, and present him with a copy of the same."

Moved by Mr. Dyte, seconded by Mr. Willern—"That the following gentlemen be the deputation to the Camp: Mr. Thos. Williams, chairman; Rev. P. Smyth; Messrs. Homffrays (Humffray), Donald, Mosterd."

The deputies were not very flatteringly received, for the Herald correspondent says Humffray was arrested, and the others were told by Mr. Commissioner Rede and Captain Pasley "that they could not receive such resolutions as they were not sufficiently eulogistic of the Government." This is probably rather a comment by the correspondent than a statement in terms of a naked fact. It is not probable that the Camp officials were so far demented as to make so very silly a speech; but the resolutions appear at any rate to have been rejected. As to Humffray, though he thus fell among the Camp Phillistines, peace-advocate though he was, he had been received at the meeting "with loud and protracted cheering." He conjured the diggers to refrain from further violence, and declared that he had put his life in jeopardy during his moral-force campaign against the insurgents and the authorities. He was liberated on the following day. It is worth noting that on the same day as this Bakery Hill meeting was held, a "monster meeting" was held on St. Paul's Church Reserve, Melbourne, Mr. Langlands in the chair, when the following motion, moved by Mr. David Blair, was seconded by Mr. Fawkner and adopted:—

"That the constitutional agitation at Ballarat has assumed its present unconstitutional form in consequence of the coercion of military force, and that matters would not have been precipitated to their present issue but for the harsh and imprudent re-commencement of digger-hunting during the period of excitement."

It is impossible to avoid concurrence in the latter portion of the resolution. The later digger-hunts were ordered by Sir Charles Hotham, and were his cardinal blunder. His excellent intentions, and his lucid and unanswerable expositions of the duties of a Government in relation to the maintenance of law and order, are all as idle judgments of sagacity after the event. He was not a great politician nor politic, and his military instincts knew nothing of concession or compromise with a people clamoring against both law and administration. This must be remembered, as well as the equally obvious fact that his Excellency had difficulties of many kinds to overcome, when we come presently to one of the Governor's special deliverances upon the Eureka collision.

Reverting to the meeting in Melbourne, it may be stated that one resolution by Mr. J.M. Grant, once Minister of Lands, proposed that Messrs. Fawkner, Strachan, O'Shanassy, Cooke, Fulton, Dr. Owens, and Westgarth, be a body of delegates to act as a commission of arbitration and adjustment between the authorities and the diggers. The meeting objected for awhile to Mr. Fawkner. Possibly this was because on the previous day, in the Legislative Council, that vigorous old "conscript father" had carried the following resolution, so entirely true in its eulogies and censures, if a little loose in construction:—

That the thanks of this House are due to the officers and men of her Majesty's 12th and 40th Regiments, sent last week on duty to Ballarat, for their truly soldierlike and highly commendable forbearance in receiving the hootings and violent assaults of a mob of worthless idlers, whom no man can class as true diggers: the merits of the forbearance and the steady patience of men bearing arms in their hands wherewith to repel assaults, stamps those troops and their commanders as truly British troops.

After some discussion the meeting consented to Mr. Fawkner being one of the delegates, but added to the list the name of Mr. Cathie, who afterwards became member for Ballarat East in the Legislative Assembly. The Government declined to entertain the proposition, but the Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Government to report on gold-fields' grievances comprised several of the gentlemen nominated at the meeting.

On the 6th December the following resolution was carried in the Legislative Council, on the motion of Mr. Miller, seconded by the Colonial Secretary (Foster), who had resigned, but still held office:—

"That the Lieut.-Governor, having been placed in a painfully embarrassing position since his arrival in Victoria, is entitled to the sympathy and support of this Council, and it pledges itself by every means in its power to aid him in restoring and maintaining law and order."

Mr. Miller, in moving the resolution, regretted the injuries suffered by innocent men in the trouble, but said it was "patent that all this disaster had been brought about mainly by the off-scourings of the foreigners collected on the gold-fields from every nation." The Colonial Secretary agreed with this, but Mr. Myles, a member for Grant, opposed the motion, and, says the reporter of the Herald, "attacked the policy of the Government in a speech in which he had not the sympathy of a single member of the House." Mr. Haines said "the time selected for the outbreak was exceedingly bad—a time when the Government proposed to look into all grievances." Unhappily for the reputation of the Government, there will always stand out in bold relief the steady pursuit of a policy of irritation and non-compromise until the latest moment. The authorities were too late in their "proposals to look into all grievances." They over-estimated the force of the insurgents, and under-estimated the weight of the moral-force movement, failing to see the expediency of a frank and earnest entertainment of the complaints made so long and so constitutionally. Small at the best, ill-organised, and ill-provided, the armed diggers' party would have never had heart to take the position it did take had not the authorities disarmed the larger body of peaceful agitators, and provoked hostilities by the peculiarly despotic action taken in the last license-collecting raid.

The Legislative Council, on the 6th December, presented an address to his Excellency embodying the motion submitted by Mr. Miller, and adopted almost unanimously by the House. Sir Charles received the Council at Government House, himself and the chief officers of State attired in the Windsor uniform. To the address of the Council his Excellency read the following reply:—

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen,—It is with no small pride and satisfaction that at a moment of unusual difficulty the Legislative Council of Victoria have assembled themselves around the Governor, and enabled him to proclaim to the world that with one voice, and one mind, and one heart, we are resolved to maintain the law. I assure you, gentlemen, that my utmost endeavors have been used to stave off and prevent the difficulty which has arisen, but is now, I am thankful to say, rapidly disappearing. I am desirous, if you will grant me time, to touch upon these points lightly, in order to show to you that my words are not lightly uttered, not spoken without some consideration. Before the deputation came from the gold-fields, the Eureka riots broke out, and the burning of Bentley's hotel ensued. Immediately the discharge of Bentley and the other men was sent to the Attorney-General [now ex Chief Justice Stawell], he saw that the authorities had taken the wrong course, and he came out post haste to Toorak, and recommended most strongly that the men who had been prisoners should be again brought to trial. We had then received no representative of any sort or kind from the diggers of Ballarat. Immediately instructions were sent down to bring Bentley and his associates to trial, and shortly after that we heard that the fire had taken place at the Eureka hotel.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen,—I wish to establish the fact, that the Government had given orders to enquire into the manner in which the former trial had been conducted before any representative from the diggers of Ballarat had been received, and before any violence had ensued.

Of the trial of the men engaged in the burning of the hotel I shall say but little, excepting to observe that the sentence was most lenient.

There were reasons which induced us to imagine that the conduct of the authorities at Ballarat had not been entirely what it ought to have been, and a commission was sent down with very stringent instructions to enquire into the whole case, and bring the offenders, of whatever degree they might be, prominently to notice. The result of that enquiry was, the magistrate [Dewes] was dismissed, the sergeant-major [Milne] was also dismissed (or rather will be placed under punishment and then dismissed), and that the coroner was most severely reprimanded for some injudicious expressions which he made use of. Now, Mr. Speaker and gentlemen, I do not think that that shows there was a Government in power which was unwilling to listen to the voice of the people.

The commission returned, the military were withdrawn, and there was every probable appearance of order and tranquility at those diggings, when suddenly we found it necessary to send down an overwhelming force in consequence of the reports we received from Ballarat. The Camp was threatened, and reports reached us that the Camp was not safe an hour, and then the time arrived when it became absolutely necessary that some vigorous steps should be taken and a decisive blow be struck. With regard to the opinion which I formed of the manner in which the authorities acted, I shall allow my own despatches to speak for themselves.

His Excellency then read copies of his dispatches to the Resident-Commissioner at Ballarat, in which he approved the action taken on the morning of the 3rd December, ordered secure holding of the prisoners, announced the proclamation of martial law, directed the apprehension of all the speakers at the license-burning meeting, and enjoined "the propriety of forbearance, caution, and temper towards the mining population," He continued:—

I was anxious to have those dispatches read, to show that whilst we have on the one hand endeavored to the utmost of our power to uphold law and order, yet, the very moment it was feasible, we revert to the original state of things; and martial law, which is repugnant to every Englishman, and especially so to every colonist, will cease as soon as possible, and I most anxiously hope that there may not be again occasion to revert to it.   *   *   *   I am satisfied that the time for military law and rule by violence has gone, never more to be recovered, and it ought not to be recovered. But, gentlemen, the moment there is an outbreak, and that caused, not by Englishmen, but by foreigners—men who are not suffered to remain in their own countries in consequence of the violence of their characters and the deeds they have done—I, for one, say that whenever that happens, the Englishmen of Victoria must rally round the Government, and must to a man sink their private differences, and forget the causes of difference which to Englishmen are inherent, and which, to a certain extent, are the blessings of our Constitution, and must rally round the authorities, liking or disliking them, and put that outbreak down. As long as I am at the head of the Government I will endeavor to prevent these foreigners agitating to disturb the good order which generally exists in Victoria, and preventing the honest and industrious portion of the population from continuing at their work.   *   *   *   We will redress all grievances, if possible, maintain order, and keep prominently before us the fact that our endeavors will meet with their reward in the way that the Legislative Council and the Speaker at their head have shown.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen,—I most cordially thank you for your expressions of feeling, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that whatever circumstances may arise, I may not be found wanting.

Good Yorkshire pluck at the bottom of the Yorkshire sailor's heart, no doubt, but a terrible buzzing bee in his bonnet as to "these foreigners". A seeming slip of the pen, too, about the time for rule by violence being gone "never to be recovered", and the slip is instantly corrected, for the time "ought not to be recovered". Excellent sentiment! Had it been practised as well as preached there had been no need of slaughtering men in the early Sunday morning light, nor of the "overwhelming force", the martial law, and all the abortive show of arrests, examinations, and trials for high treason and sedition.

Sir Charles was energetic in the business of the time. Some of the Government proclamations were written from end to end by his own hand. He was also brave and honest, but it would seem there never entered the head of that naval officer the conception that he was dealing with a different body of men from those that formed the laboring or even yeoman class upon his native wolds. It is likely that he had been, like many English gentlemen of rank and estates, accustomed to regard the masses as so much rent-producing material. But he had to learn that Victorian diggers were of quite different mettle. They were well described in a letter of the Bendigo correspondent of the Herald on the 30th November, who wrote of the Government officials and diggers:—

They have to meet hardy men, whose open-air occupations, thorough independence, and well-trained sinews give them a noble daring and a generous impetuosity. Free of all masters, with a knowledge that they can obtain gold whenever they choose to work, they possess all the self-reliance of the mountaineers.

Governor Hotham had learned nothing of the spirit of larger freedom which was abroad here, and was soon to be begotten afresh in the fatherland as we have seen it there since those days. He appeared not to have divined the presence here of the germs of a bold democracy, germs even then fast approaching the bursting point under the united influence of a fertile soil and a freedom-inspiring atmosphere, bursting into fruit, to be garnered here and shared, through the sympathy of race and the quickening of constant inter-communication, by the still struggling and ever enfranchising people of the mother country. One open declaration of a willingness to hear and enquire through the medium of men in the confidence of the gold-fields population, would have sufficed to prevent all the bloodshed and all the heart-burnings that outlived the Eureka tragedy itself. But the Government would not stoop to such a method of conquering its few enemies and of assisting its multitudinous friends. Old country hauteur, with new exasperations, were persevered in, blood was shed, and then the Government gave all the diggers wanted, and Sir Charles Hotham died, a victim to the anxieties caused by the troubles that might have been avoided but for official blindness, blindness that was fatal to life and peace for a time, but powerless to hold back those rights which greater wisdom would have earlier conceded.

The newspaper's of the day present to us a sorry procession to the Ballarat Police-court on the 8th December and following days, before Messrs. Sturt and Webster. The prisoners taken in and about the Stockade were brought up, while their wounded comrades still lay bleeding hard by in the rude Camp-hospital. There came Timothy Hayes, large, portly, jovial, humorous, wayward, ego�ste, the Irish chairman of the Bakery Hill meetings, whom the military arrested on their march back from the Stockade. He was not much of a fighter, but he had a wife of spirit. Lieutenant Richards, who ordered his arrest, deposed:—"After the arrest, the prisoner's wife came up and said if she had been a man she would not have allowed herself to have been taken. Then, addressing witness, she said, 'why did you not come yesterday when the men were ready for you.' "There came the little red-haired, fire-eyed Italian, Raffaello to confront the "spy" Goodenough, his accuser. Defeated, but not cowed, Raffaello shot lightnings of indignation at the Crown witness, and afterwards wept tears of manly agony as he was taken past his little tent on his way to trial at Melbourne. No saintly shape, "robed in white samite", or radiant with heavenly glory, ever appeared more pure than did the diggers' cause to Raffaello's vision. Whatever else may be said of him he was true to it, as he saw it, and to the last, even when a tragical and inglorious end seemed a not improbable fate. There came; also Manning, the Ballarat Times reporter, who had thought the sword could better serve than the pen to right the wrongs of the time. There came, too, another, the little editor of big words, Seekamp. "C'e un'u�mo ardito s�nza prud�nza" [15] Raffaello would have said. He was accused of sedition. Editorial lunacy might have been as appropriate an accusation. At least so it seems to the calmer reason of later days. Some of Seekamp's wonderful deliverances were read in court from the Ballarat Times of the 18th and 25th November. Here is one—ex pede Herculem. [16]

It is not for us to say how much we have been instrumental in rousing up the people to a sense of their wrongs; we leave that to the public and the world.   *   *   *   The coming Christmas is pregnant of change, for on next Wednesday will be held such a meeting for a fixed determinate purpose as was never before held in Australia. The Australian flag shall triumphantly wave in the sunshine of its own blue and peerless sky over thousands of Australia's adopted sons.   *   *   *   And when the loud p�an of

Now's the day and now's the hour,
See the front of battle lour,

shall have pierced the blue vaults of Australia's matchless sky, from the brave men of Ballarat on next Wednesday at Bakery Hill, there will not be one discordant voice in the sublime and heroic chorus.   *   *   *   Go forth indomitable people! gain your rights, and may the God of creation smile down propitiously upon your glorious cause! Forward People, Forward!

Though such appeals as these serve now to provoke a smile, they did not seem so ludicrous to the men whose blood was up in those hot days of agitation. A wild feeling of poetry as well as of anger fired the breasts of many then, and that which now reads like fustian was at that time perused with tierce delight and accelerated emotion. To judge from the Herald report the dealing with Seekamp's exalted language lifted reporter and printers above the common prose of business. The reporter calls the presiding magistrate "his Lordship", and the printers mixed up with the report two or three dreary paragraphs from the painfully dry details of debate in the Legislative Council of the previous day. Humffray, too, the cautious peace-advocate, may have been inspired by the ardent phrases of the "seditious" editor, for we shall see by-and-bye that even he infused some of the music of sounding phrases into his first political address to the Ballarat electors of the coming days. Lalor, the real chief, and Vern, the supposed chief, of the insurgents, were still lying under cover, with the Government rewards over their heads. Of these something more anon. The magistrates committed the prisoners for trial on the charges of treason and sedition.

Four days after the historic Sunday, a Royal Commission of Enquiry, consisting of William Westgarth, chairman; John Pascoe Fawkner, John Hodgson, John O'Shanassy, and James Ford Strachan, members of the Legislative Council; and William H. Wright, Chief Commissioner of Gold-fields, was appointed to investigate the whole grounds of the agitation which had been thus tragical in its results. On the 14th December the commissioners met at the Imprest Office in Melbourne, and four days afterwards they opened their commission at Bath's (now Craig's) hotel, Ballarat. The evidence taken by the commissioners comprised a vast mass of important information touching the wrongs and the requirements of the diggers; and the report of the commissioners, while it demonstrated the brutality of some of the subordinates, and the folly of the authorities generally, and chid the excesses of the insurgents, led to a speedy amelioration of the social and political condition of the gold-fields population.

On All-Fool's Day, 1855—so grim, sometimes, is the irony of the fates—the men arrested by the authorities and indicted for high treason were acquitted, a fitting day on which to record such a verdict upon the bloody business which had all along been marked by much folly on both sides. There were thirteen men arraigned by the Attorney-General's indictment of treason. First named was Timothy Hayes, the bland chairman of the Bakery Hill meetings. To him succeeded Carboni Raffaello, John Manning, John Josephs, Jan Vennik, James Beattie, Henry Reed, Michael Tuohy, James Macfie Campbell, William Molloy, Jacob Soranson, Thomas Dignam, and John Phelan. Sixty-four witnesses were set down in the Crown brief, and three panels of jurymen numbering 178 men in all were summoned for the trial. Henry Seekamp, the editor and proprietor of the Ballarat Times, had been previously tried for sedition, and being found guilty, "with a very strong recommendation to mercy," he was released on his own recognisances. Seekamp was a little man, but a pugnacious writer, and was often in trouble. He was said to write occasionally under inspiration from the source whence tradition tells us Dutchmen have drawn courage. He had some more judicious editorial coadjutors later in his journalistic career, but at the time of Westgarth's visit as chairman of the Royal Commission, it was no wonder he could find cause to write afterwards—"We found here a local newspaper—of course at war with the authorities, local and general—and we amused ourselves with the violent style of the 'leaders'." We shall have some further glimpses of Seekamp by-and-bye.

The State prisoners were defended gratuitously by Mr. B.C. Aspinall, who thus earned an honorable celebrity. With him in the defence were several of our foremost barristers. A general amnesty, in effect, followed the acquittal, and the Government even compensated both friends and foes who had suffered. Lalor, the chief man of war, and Humffray, the leading man of peace, on the popular side, were returned to the first Parliament held under the new Constitution which, with all their follies and excesses, the lighting men of the insurgents had done so much to obtain, and which the men of peace have done so much more to consolidate and improve. Humffray was the first Minister of Mines, a new department of the State for the control of the chief industrial industry of the colony. The department has not proved so useful as was expected, and public opinion, which had seen the actual power to lie mainly in the hands of Mr. Brough Smyth, at that time the Secretary for Mines, has here and there, grown in favor of an abolition of the department, and its inclusion in the lands department, Mr. Dow, the present Minister of Lands, advocating that policy when in Ballarat last March. Lalor has held a seat in Parliament from the date of his first election until the present day, and for a long period held salaried office as Chairman of Committees in the Legislative Assembly, he filled that office with credit to himself and the House, as he has since then the higher office of Speaker, and whatever may be said against him it will be admitted that he has shown practical and suggestive, if not constructive, faculty as a legislator. He became, with occasional vacillations, one of the most conservative, that is, constitutional, members of Parliament; as if, so to speak, justifying his resolute rebellion under arms by his general steady maintenance in peace of that constitutional freedom which he and his colleagues of the Stockade fought to obtain. The next chapter, however, will refer more in detail to political affairs.

The insurgent commander at the time of the Stockade collision was in the prime of early manhood, and his brown hair, blue-grey eyes, broad face, and rather heavy brows were those of a handsome presence. Not more than about twenty-five years old, full six feet in stature, broad-chested, and generally well-proportioned, and possessing a rather impulsive temperament, he was just the man to embody the physical-force-spirit of the movement. Raffaello was a shrewd restless little man, nearly forty years old, under the middle height, with reddish hair and red beard cut short, and small hazel eyes that had ever a fiery twinkle beneath a broad forehead and rather shaggy eyebrows. An Italian, a Catholic, possessing others besides his mother tongue, his sanguine temperament pushed him into the thickest of the struggle, and his political sympathies being democratic and unmixed with English leanings, he was one of the readiest to carry the rising to the extreme limit of revolution. Humffray was then a young man, too, possessing the patriotism and more than usual of the caution of Welshmen. Darker in complexion than either Lalor or Raffaello, he also differed from them in stature. He was about the middle height, moderately stout in frame, and had a well poised head and a comely face. His voice was musical, and he possessed a readiness of utterance which made him one of the foremost of the advocates of peaceable reform. To that phase of the struggle he adhered, but his caution at times led him to cross the more ardent purposes of others, who used to accuse him of trimming—an ancient and easy method of denouncing, and often of no worth. In this case there seems no ground for supposing Humffray ever to have been disposed either to abandon a legitimate, or to sanction an illegitimate agitation for a redress of grievances. Vern was a Hanoverian, warm, rough, uncertain, without the discretion, weight, and tact that Lalor possessed.

John Fraser, an early gold-hunter, whom we shall meet again by-and-bye, in more pacific and more civilised times, gives the following revelation about Vern's movements:—

One of the foremost to incite the diggers to use physical force was Frederick Vern. I first saw him at a meeting on Bakery Hill. Mounting the stump, he soon attracted attention by the bitterness of his invectives against the Government as "tyrants" and "oppressors", vowing that he would never become the slave of despotism. Shortly afterwards I saw him again, when the soldiers and police were skirmishing among the holes on Gum Tree Flat, in search of unlicensed diggers: then he appeared among the crowd with a long sword by his side. There were grave doubts of the sincerity and pluck of this foreigner, who could so glibly talk about "despotism", as if he had only discovered its existence on his arrival in a British colony. It appeared to me that, if anything, there was more bluster than genuine courage in the man; and my subsequent experience of him did not alter that opinion. For several months prior to the Stockade encounter, our party, consisting of Edmund Strange, Joseph Butler, George Norgate, Walter Parling, Peter, the baker, and myself, had been camping together on Dalton's Flat. We were shepherding, and occasionally working at a claim we owned on the Gum Tree Flat, at the same time doing a little fossicking on Dalton's Flat to keep up supplies. Only one of our party, Walter Parling, took an active part in the insurgent proceedings. More ardent than the rest, he enrolled himself in one of the companies formed to bear arms, and was frequently absent of a night attending to his drill. On Saturday evening, the 2nd December, he left, as usual, after supper, to go to the Stockade. About one o'clock a.m. he came home to bed, telling us, as he was undressing, that he had been put on sentry duty somewhere on the Melbourne Road; that he had stayed there two or three hours, and, finding himself very lonely and sleepy, he had made tracks for home. He felt confident he would not be wanted that night. He was mistaken. At early dawn we were all awakened by the sound of firing in the direction of the Stockade. Hastily dressing, we went to the summit of the rise north of Pennyweight Flat. Columns of smoke could be seen in the vicinity of the Stockade, as if a number of the tents were on fire. Troopers could also be seen rushing about in various directions in the distance; but what alarmed us the most was the peculiar sound of bullets whizzing over our heads, or on either side of us. Had we gone on, we would doubtless have shared the fate of other passive spectators, who were so ruthlessly shot down by the infuriated troopers. Shortly after returning to our tent, stragglers from the neighborhood of the Stockade, some of them in a state of the greatest terror and excitement, came hurrying along close to the tents. An Irishman stopped a few minutes to be supplied with a drink of water. He had his wife and three little children with him. The poor woman, crying bitterly, presented to our mind a picture of distress, as, nursing her infant in her arms, she bewailed in heartrending tones the loss of all their little possessions—tent, clothes, everything—burnt and destroyed by the troopers. On the following day I decided to accompany my mate Strange and his brother to Geelong, and remain there a few days. We found the people there greatly excited over the news of the fight. On the third day, hearing that matters had settled down quietly on Ballarat, we went back, and were met outside the tent by our mates, who mysteriously whispered to us that one of the insurgent leaders was concealed in our tent. On entering we were surprised to see, reclining on my bed, which he had occupied during my absence, the man whose name was in nearly everybody's mouth, the man for whose arrest the authorities were offering �500, dead or alive—Frederick Vern! At his request, we pledged ourselves, as the others had done, to shelter and provide for him, and keep his concealment a profound secret until he could regain his freedom, or escape. Every morning on leaving to go to work we carefully closed the entrance to the tent, so that even our acquaintances in the neighborhood would not attempt to enter during our absence. At one of our evening meetings it was suggested that a letter to the Press should be written by Vern, or in his name, announcing his departure from Australia. It was argued that such a letter would have the effect of misleading the authorities, and probably cause them to abandon their search for him. This idea was at once carried out, with the result that "Vern's Farewell to Victoria" was concocted and forthwith despatched to one of the papers—I forget which. [It appeared in the Age, and was dated from "Port Phillip Heads".] I was his amanuensis, and he graciously permitted me to do a little of the composing. In due time, I procured for him a copy of the paper in which this precious epistle appeared, and his delight in reading it in print was unqualified. He declared, with his usual emphasis, "that he was certain he would now be able to elude the tyrants' vigilance, and return at some future time to fight for the glorious cause of Liberty and Equality," An incident occurred a day or two afterwards which severely tested the strength of his nerves. The day being very hot, we were sitting together in the shade of the entrance to the tent, when four troopers were observed by one of us to be leaving the track over in the flat and making direct for our tent. Not a moment could be lost. Vern plunged under one of the bunks, a rug or two was hastily thrown on the edge to hide him from view, and just as these arrangements were completed the troopers rode up to the tent. Our agitation increased when we saw two of them dismount and enter the tent for a drink and a smoke. We were all immensely relieved when at last they bade us good day. As soon as we reported them out of sight, Vern emerged from his hiding place. His face was ashy pale; he trembled in every limb, and it was some time before he could manage to articulate. When his terror had partially subsided, he told us, in broken accents, "that he really thought it was all up with him." Having no money, Vern decided to apply to a lady friend for a loan, and sent me with a letter to Mrs. Spanhake, of the Duchess of Kent hotel. Main Road. As soon as that lady learnt that her friend and countryman was still on Ballarat, and not as she and others supposed on his way to Europe, she evinced the greatest anxiety on his account. She gave me three sovereigns to deliver to Vern, with strict injunctions to him not to venture from his place of concealment on any account until all danger was gone. On receiving this message, its effect on Vern was just the reverse of what she intended. It appeared to awaken an irresistible desire to pay her a visit; so a few nights afterwards a scheme was adopted to enable him to gratify his wish. A female neighbor, a tall bony Scotch woman, who had been let into our confidence, supplied us with a dress, bonnet, and shawl, and a few accessories to complete Vern's disguise. Thus attired, he went down town, accompanied by Butler. They returned safely about midnight, and several other trips to the same place were made afterwards, but under another disguise. About the end of February, Vern began to express impatience at being kept so long a prisoner, as he termed it, and announced his intention of trying to find his way to Melbourne, where, he said, he had faithful friends who would gladly shelter him. Having borrowed a pound from me—nearly all I had at the time—and five pounds from Parling, he took his departure one bright moonlight Sunday night, to make his way by the most unfrequented tracks to Melbourne. He solemnly promised to refund the money he had borrowed at the earliest opportunity, and when he was once more a free man he would handsomely reward those who had with so much fidelity screened him for so long. The old Scotch woman who had lent him her clothes shed tears copiously, and so we parted. We had no tidings of him for several months. At last we heard he was on Ballarat; that he appeared to have plenty of money, and was doing the grand among his friends. As he had not considered it necessary to pay us a visit, our mate Parling resolved to demand his five pounds. A day or two afterwards Vern called on us, but made no mention of his indebtedness, until reminded by Strange. Assuming an air of being offended, he pulled out a roll of notes from his pocket, and, flinging one on the ground, haughtily exclaimed, "There, Fraser, take your pound; I am out of your debt now." Seeing that I declined to pick up the money, Strange, whose temper was getting ruffled, sternly asked Vern if that was the way he had received the money, and demanded that he should pick the note up and pay his debt in a proper manner. Knowing that Strange was not a man to be trifled with, Vern awkwardly complied, at the same time muttering an apology when handing me the note, and haughtily strode away without another word. Parling happened to be away at work, and so missed that chance of getting his money also. Seeing Vern some time afterwards, Parling asked him for payment, but was met by a flat refusal. Parling then informed him that he would take it out of him at the rate of �1 at a time, and proceeded at once to take out the first instalment. He succeeded in getting the second and third in satisfaction, and doubtless would have insisted on taking out the other two instalments, but poor Parling was killed shortly afterwards in a claim at Buninyong, and so Vern escaped the finishing chastisement he so richly deserved. Such are a few of my recollections of that strangely diversified character—Frederick Vern.

Vern had a large ambition for cheap military glory, and, like the great Napoleon, had a stern unconquerable scorn of facts. Emerson says, somewhere, that Napoleon's genius was boundless in that direction, and before us lie letters in Vern's hand which demonstrate his great ability and daring in that peculiar walk of life. And this, too, while he declares in one of the letters that his motto had "always been fiat justitia et si pereat mundus." [17] But Vern may be credible sometimes, nevertheless. In a letter to the Star, dated 2nd October, 1856, he defends Humffray from charges of "treason" against the diggers, and says he was one of the first to attend on Ross when wounded, besides having kept Vern's hiding place secret when he could have had �500 for revealing it. To those who were intimate with the men and the time, the following letter—a literal copy—will be regarded as characteristic of the writer's general frame of mind:—

Mr. Lalor.

My dearest friend!

Once more enjoying the blessings of freedom, and having returned to the colony free from danger, I hasten to address you. I hear that you was seriously wounded and maimed for life. We are taking steps to subscribe in Melbourne for a man who has so bravely risked his life in defence of the miner's rights. My friend, would to Heaven you had taken my advice on Friday, or would to Heaven we would have had men more true and honorable in our ranks. I have positive information, and hold a correspondence in my hands now, from an officer in the insurgent army, and Mr. Furnell, late of H.M.A.—as soon as I can fathem the infamous plot, I shall avenge the murder of Ross and Capt. Potts, late of our ranks, and the world will be to hot to hold me and Lieut. Col. M.

Did you read my letter dated Albury, signed E.W. and S.F., it was a reply to Capt. Thomas' despatch. I am sorry that it should have cost 22 lives, or 23 including Capt. Pott's, to convince the diggers of the ridiculous absurds of such a foolish outbreak as the late Ballarat affair. Do you remember the delegates from Slaty Creek and their letter, as also M'Gill's reply to that letter, I have it from the best authority, that that was a plot. We was sold to the government for �800. Would to God I had seceded from the movement, or that you had taken my advice, and been discreet in your trust to strangers.

I charge M'Gill with treason before God and men, and woe to him if we meet again. I wish I had never accepted the command after your resignation on Saturday morning, and then Sir Toorak could never have offred �500 for my apprehension. The affair has produced good, but what a cruel, useless, wantan sacrifice of humane life did it involve. You have seen now that my advice was good, and that it was to permature a period for such a movement as you unfortunately provoked. Vengeance is now the only thing that is left to me, and I shall do my duty cooly but not foolishly.

Melbourne, 7 | 4 | 55.

This letter shows a little of what Raffaello calls "sky-blathering", for Vern was one of the wildest and least reliable of the physical force party. Lalor did not surrender, nor Vern accept the command. The letter is a raving symptom of Vern's delight in illusions. When peace returned Vern took to mining, and in 1856 he was tried in Ballarat for "rioting at Black Lead on the 7th April," and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The so-called riot was a combination, actively exerted, to fill up the holes sunk by "jumpers" upon claims held under the frontage regulations, then just become law. One of the witnesses at the trial said—"I heard Vern say, 'If any man stops us from tilling up the claims, I shall make a dead cock of him, by my God!' At the same time he pulled out a revolver." They were out-spoken men in those days here.

Vern was a voluminous writer to the newspapers of the times, and in a letter to the Star—he explains how Humffray, while pleading for Vern and others with the Government, was summoned as a Crown witness. He says:—

Allow me also to say that this incident never caused Vern the least uneasiness, inasmuch as Humffray had proved himself his best and truest friend. I think the strongest proof of this is, that Mr. Humffray knew Vern's retreat, came daily to sec him, and performed for him all those little offices of friendship which his unfortunate situation required, and that at a time when he could have made �500 by betraying Vern. This constitutes Mr. Humffray's treason! What a serious offence! Surely, after this, Mr. Humffray will be deemed anything but a traitor! Humffray, indeed, was live rebel's best and truest friend. Humffray, also, was the first man that came to the assistance of our lamented friend Ross.

He also wrote as a friend to Mr. Thomas Loader, when Loader was a candidate for Grant. Loader, seeing a letter by Vern in the papers in which another character was assumed, wrote to the Star, enclosing Vern's note to him, and the Star editor sums up the matter thus:—

Some men are badly used. Mr. Vern is so. He sends us a letter referring to Mr. Humffray; we publish that letter knowing it to be genuine. Mr. Loader hands us another which had been sent to him. This we also believe and know to be genuine and publish it. Again Mr. Vern sends us a letter—the present one—disavowing the authorship of the one to Mr. Loader. We believe and know it to be genuine and publish it. The public can judge for themselves—the three letters are from the same pen. We have shown the letters (which are still in our possession and open to the inspection of the curious) to friends of both Mr. Humffray and Mr. Loader, and they agree with us that either all the letters are genuine or they are forgeries—take your choice, Mr. Vern, of either alternative. Mr. Vern's courage has become proverbial, his truthfulness is now deserving of an equally honorable distinction.

Vern does not seem to have made any response to this revelation. As has been said, he was intrepid. But too much has already been said respecting this singular actor in the Ballarat rising.

Black had a light complexion, was tall, thin, sanguine, gentlemanly, irresolute; but, the occasional perturbations of some "sin of fear" apart, was true and faithful as became a gentleman, and one having, in the Raffaello dialect, "a belief in the resurrection of life." M'Gill was a young American, fuller of ardor than of trusty courage and sagacity. Ross was of another stamp; he was a Canadian, bold, brave, and trusty: about twenty-eight years old, of middle height, true as the steel of the axe that felled his native forests, he was one of the best loved men of those that fell. He was shot in the attack on the Sunday morning, and was removed by friends to the Star hotel that then stood in Main street, where he soon died. Esmond was another who, with a few others, took the more prominent positions in the struggle. His prominence was only comparative, and was essentially local. Hayes had a genius for exploration, and the airy flights of change were more seductive to him than the "demnition grind" of dull prosaic life in the whim-round of humdrum methodical duty. After the tragic comedy of the Stockade time, he declined upon the less romantic occupation of town inspector for Ballarat East, but private urgencies projected him upon the quest of fresh woods and new pastures, and he threw up his municipal prose for the poetry of life in the lands of Chili or Brazil. He took with him an honorable discharge from office, duly attested by the big seal of the municipality, and it seems that he bore with him also some mystic military charm as from the post Bakery Hill meeting days, when oratory had got translated into pikes and revolvers and muskets. For the town inspector of Ballarat East blossomed forth in Chili or Brazil as an authority upon military engineering, and he was employed by the bellicose people of those latitudes as an inspector of fortifications, on which he was to report forthwith, since trouble on the frontier was expected as a result of the war between the Southern and Northern States of America. How our hero came out of that exploit does not transpire, but he appeared after a while in San Francisco, where he sought to coalesce with Sweeney, once an auctioneer and municipal man in Ballarat East. Sweeney, it was said, had made a pile of dollars by buying horses and selling them to the Unionists or Confederates, or both; but instead of a coalition, there was a collision between the whilom Ballarat chums, and Tim, around whom his brother Freemasons had helpfully rallied within the Golden Gate, returned with larger experience to Victoria. He figured for a while as a railway hand in some capacity in Melbourne, his portly presence adorning the metropolitan halls and thoroughfares in his hours of leisure. And there he died, and so we will hope that he, too, sleeps well after his life's fitful fever.

In March, 1856, a return of the cost of the strife between the insurgents and the Government was laid before Parliament. The Deputy-Commissary General's figures showed the military expenditure to be �26,733 18s. 6d., which, by deducting the cost of the military in Melbourne on their ordinary footing, was reduced to �12,050. To this were added extra police charges, and the sum of �4689 4s. voted in compensation to sufferers. With regard to the compensation voted, it is to be remarked that Lalor and Humffray both interposed on behalf of the claimants. Lalor was specially active. The Star on the 22nd and 25th March, 1856, had the following reference to the part taken by the insurgent chief, then become a representative of the gold-field in Parliament:—

Graves of the Soldiers and Diggers who fell at the Eureka Stockade 3^rd Dec. 1854.

To Mr. Lalor's exertions we must attribute this successful result.   *   *   *   We can only consider as an additional grace to the triumph, that he who was the foremost to defend our rights, has also been the principal instrument in recovering compensation for wrongs inflicted.

On the 22nd November, 1855, a meeting was held on the site of the Stockade, Daniel Sweeney in the chair, "to consider the subject of compensation to the sufferers for the losses sustained by those who had their tents burned down and their stores and dwellings wantonly and ruthlessly destroyed by the military and police on the memorable 3rd December." And on the first anniversary of that day the fiery, lachrymose, faithful Raffaello was again on the spot offering for sale the first pages of his work, "The Eureka Stockade", which he had just brought up from Melbourne. He sat there till the sun went down, a modern Marius, with an eye to literary business. "He says (vide Star) he will receive from Melbourne 1000 copies more, and as the price is only 5s., all will have it in their power to purchase an interesting account of the Ballarat disturbances." "Great works", as he was called, from one of his favorite exclamations, sat there selling his writing and wailing his "perdidi spem" [18] not perceiving that a splendid social and political victory had been won in that sorry military defeat at the Stockade twelve months before.

On the 3rd December, 1856, there was a small procession to the site of the Stockade, about two hundred people assembling. Mr. John Lynch, who was a mining surveyor, a native of Ireland, and one of Lalor's captains in the Stockade, mounted a tree-stump and read an oration, the opening sentence of which was as follows:—

Sensible of the debt of gratitude we owe to the memories of the brave men who fell victims on the fatal 3rd December, 1854, in their efforts to resist the oppression and tyranny of the then existing Government, we meet here to-day, the second anniversary of that disastrous day, in solemn procession, to pay to their manes the only tribute in our power, the celebrating with due solemnity the sad commemoration of their martyrdom.

When Lynch's oration was finished, a march was made to the cemetery. The Star of that day reads thus:—

The persons present formed in procession, two and two, headed by Mr. Esmond, carrying a pole draped in sable, with black crape streamers. Next came Messrs. Seekamp and Lessmann, bearing garlands of flowers, and followed by the committee and the general procession. Nearly all the persons present wore crape on the left arm, and many more also wore crape on their hats. As the procession proceeded along the Eureka and Main road its numbers swelled to nearly three hundred, the line reaching from the Colonial Bank to the bridge, while numerous outsiders accompanied the processionists. Arrived at the cemetery, the procession walked round the spot where the bodies of the men who fell on the fatal Sunday morning are interred, and, returning to the monument erected to their memory, the apex of the monument was crowned with the garlands borne in procession. An oration by Dr. Hambrook followed, every person standing with head uncovered.

At this time the enthusiasm of the days of agitation had not all disappeared. There were left swelling bosoms and big words that the least opportunity brought into play. An emotional writer in the Star of the 9th February, 1856, drawing attention to a meeting, to be held that day on Bakery Hill, to discuss measures for the erection of a monument to the men who fell at the Stockade, ended his appeal with the following burst of fervor:—

The man on Ballarat who fails to swell to-day's meeting should be, in its most perfect reality of chains, dungeons, and degredation, a victim of slavery!

It does not appear that the enthusiasm of the time was very practical, for the only monument ever erected was a gift by the man who constructed it and undertook its erection. Oratory, however, was cheap, and at that time most of it was, no doubt, as sincere at the moment as it was plentiful.

In a despatch by Deputy Adjutant-General Macarthur we read of Captain Wise that "his remains are to be buried with the honors due to his rank, in the graveyard at Ballarat gold-field, beside those of the three other meritorious soldiers which lie there interred." Alas! for years the honors were not very gratefully echoed by survivors. Mr. Westgarth was in Ballarat on that day. He says:—

The day was hot and dusty as the cortege moved along to the place of burial, a slightly rising ground nearly a mile from the township. This rural cemetery was still wild and open, no fence having as yet been placed around it, for even this is an expensive process at a gold-field. But some excuse appeared for this apparent negligence, for the ground had evidently been but recently devoted to its present purpose, as the small number of graves amongst a large population indicated.

Since that time the city has spread out its arms all around the "rural cemetery". The place has been enclosed; it has well-kept paths, flower borders, handsome monuments, and it is crowded to overflowing with those who have fallen in this part of

The world's broad field of battle.

There is, too, a new and larger cemetery now, enclosed, ornamented, and already in part peopled with the silent ones. The place in the old cemetery where the military were buried was long like a neglected wilderness, a disgrace to the place, and all around spoke of neglect and ruin. In 1879, when Mr. William Collard Smith, then major, now a retired colonel, in the Victorian volunteer service, was a member of the Victorian Government, the burial place of the soldiers, after many appeals and remonstrances from old pioneers of the gold-field, was enclosed with a stone dwarf wall and iron fence. The ground was planted, the graves adorned with flowers, and the decaying original headstones and tablets alone spoke then of the passage of the intervening years. In the middle of the ground a freestone obelisk was erected upon a pedestal, and on the east and west faces of the obelisk two marble slabs were inserted, scrolls on each face of the freestone carrying the word "Victoria", and on the north and south sides the word "Duty" was carved beneath. Upon the marble slab facing east, as if looking towards the spot where the buried soldiers did their "duty", and fell in doing it, is the following inscription from the pen of this author:—"In this place, with other soldiers and civilians of the military camp then in Ballarat, were buried the remains of the British soldiers, Henry Christopher Wise, captain, Michael Roney, and Joseph Wall, privates of the 40th Regt., and William Webb, Felix Boyle, and John Wall, privates of the 12th Regt., who fell dead or fatally wounded at the Eureka Stockade, in brave devotion to duty, on Sunday, the 3rd day of December, 1854, whilst attacking a band of aggrieved diggers in arms against what they regarded as a tyrannous administration." The original draft read "insurgent" instead of "aggrieved", but the Minister in office rejected the original word as a reflection upon the diggers whose survivors' suffrages helped to make members of Parliament, and, potentially, Ministers of the Crown. Upon the same marble slab, beneath the inscription just quoted, and from the same pen, are the following memorial words:—"Not far west from this spot lie the remains of some of the diggers who fell in the courageous but misdirected endeavor to secure the freedom which soon after came in the form of manhood suffrage and constitutional government." Upon the slab facing west are the following words:—"This monument and the enclosing fence were erected Anno Domini mdccclxxix. by the Government of Victoria at the request of the citizens of Ballarat." The sexton takes care of the enclosure now, and the smaller one where the bodies of the diggers lie was not long since repaired by private subscription. As long as men of the Fifties survive, the memory of the dead Stockaders will be kept green, and the little burial place and its monument will, let us hope, be preserved from shameful neglect. But the old pioneers are fast passing away to the same silences as the sturdy insurgents of the fatal Sunday long ago reached, and who will keep the place of graves when all are gone? Let the men of the future do their duty as the buried soldiers and diggers did theirs, and both of these mortuary memorials will be preserved to be at once a tribute to heroic dutifulness and heroic resistance, and an incentive for all time to emulation of the same virtues in similar circumstances if, which Heaven forfend, they should ever arise. The diggers' monument is a grey sandstone obelisk, surmounted by a draped urn, and resting on a bluestone base. The west face bears the following inscription:—"Sacred to the memory of those who fell on the memorable 3rd of December, 1854, in resisting the unconstitutional proceedings of the Victorian Government. This monument was presented by James Leggatt, Geelong, to the people of Ballarat, and by them erected on the 22nd March, 1856." The other three faces have the following inscriptions:—"John Haynes, Co. Clare, Ireland; Patrick Gittings, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland; Thos. Mullin, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland; Samuel Green, England; John Robertson, Scotland; Edward Thonen, Elbertfeltdt, Prussia; John Dimand, Co. Clare, Ireland; Thos. O'Neill, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland; John Donaghey, Co. Donegal, Ireland; William Clifton, age 30, native of Bristol; Ed. Quinn, Co. Cavan, Ireland; Wm. Quinlan, Goulbourn, N.S. Wales; Wm. Emmerman, Hanover; Lt. Ross, Canada; Thaddeus Moore, Co. Clare, Ireland; James Brown, Newry, Ireland; Robert Jullien, Nova Scotia;—Crowe, Scotland;—Fenton, England; Edward McGlynn, Ireland." Between the two monuments, but close on the west side of the soldiers' memorial, is a plain truncated column of bluestone on a bluestone pedestal, enclosed by a chain fixed to four low bluestone posts. The pedestal has inserted on the east side a marble slab with this inscription:—"In memory of James Scobie, who met with a premature death on 'Eureka', October 7th, 1854. Erected by his brother George."

On the 16th April, 1884, a meeting was held at Craig's hotel to consider how best to erect a permanent monument to mark the site of the Eureka Stockade. A committee was appointed, with Mr. A.T. Morrison honorary secretary and treasurer. The Eastern Council concurring, a design by Mr. H.A. King, C.E., was chosen. The monument is an octagonal body of bluestone ashlar work in two tiers, with a flight of stone steps leading to the top, where, upon a massive bed of ashlar bluestone, is a cube of the same material, surmounted by a bluestone monolith twelve feet high. At the angles of the lower platform are to be placed four 64-pounder guns, contributed to the memorial by the Victorian Defence Department. The bluestone cube bears the inscription:—"Eureka Stockade, Sunday morning, December 3rd, 1854." On the 3rd December, 1884, the committee visited the then partially erected memorial as a mark of respect to the dead, and on Friday, 27th August, 1886, the still unfinished monument was formally handed over to the Town Council of Ballarat East, that body recording its acceptance in the following resolution:—"That the council recognise the efforts of these gentlemen in a public manner, and accept the work so well begun as a gift to the corporation, and that this corporation will finish and maintain it for all time." The council has not yet performed its contract, but a fence has been erected round the monument, and the enclosure is to be further ornamented by the planting of trees and shrubs. After the lapse of thirty years, some difficulty was at first met with in identifying the exact site of the Stockade, and the spot on which the monument is placed was chosen by the general agreement of many of the diggers and others who were either present at the encounter between the troops and the insurgents, or were at that time familiar with the Stockade and its surroundings. The builders of the monument were Rowsell and Son, the cost of stone and earthworks being �286 4s., raised by public subscriptions, organised and in part contributed by the honorary secretary and treasurer, and the committee—Messrs. Hickman, Ferguson, Salter, Lewis, Roff, Williams, B�chervaise, Spain, Josephs, Wilson, Dyte, and Hall.

In the Legislative Assembly, on the 31st of May, 1870, while the House was discussing a vote for the Nelson, ship, Mr. Frazer said "he had been informed that the flag unfurled on board the Nelson was the identical flag that was flying over the Eureka Stockade at the time of the riot. (Laughter.) The flag in question was subsequently stolen from the court, and had never since been found." This is possible, perhaps, but hardly probable. The flag was hauled down by trooper, or policeman, John King, who, in 1870, was Living in or near Warrnambool. King was a native of Mayo, Ireland, and he gave the flag, or what was left of it—for it was much torn, and was also lessened by relic-hunters taking bits of it—to Inspector P.H. Smith, who also was a Mayo man. Smith died in Melbourne, but where the flag is the author has not been able to learn.

Mr. Blanchard, who was at that time a compositor on the Ballarat Times, informs the author that after the fight on the Sunday, the soldiers had the diggers' flag hoisted on a pole at the Soldiers' Hill camp, and were dancing round it as if wild with joy and grog.

On the last day of the year 1855, at half-past twelve o'clock of the day, Sir Charles Hotham died at Toorak. His disease was dysentery, and his death was attributed to the harassing anxieties which accompanied the crisis. He is the only Victorian Governor who has yet died while in office here. His remains were buried in Melbourne. Governor Hotham failed, no doubt, to understand the gold-digging population. His mistakes were due to a want of sympathy with the democratic instinct inherent in all aggregations of free British colonists. His intentions, we may well believe, were to do his duty dutifully. That duty he conceived to be to rule with a high hand a people whom, though complimented by him upon occasion as peaceable and law-abiding, he practically regarded as a froward race of vagabond gold-hunters, mixed with demagogues and escaped and liberated convicts from the adjacent penal settlements. What wonder, then, that he, an aristocrat, a naval officer used to peremptory command, with such views heightened, too, by occasional excesses of language and action amongst the miners, should fail to comprehend all at once the policy required for the redress of wrongs which some of his own subordinates on the gold-fields had first intensified and then misrepresented. Divining only a part of the truth. Sir Charles Hotham was betrayed into a misconception of the crisis. As his predecessor had discovered "designing" men in the journalists of his day, so Governor Hotham found the gold-fields troubles to be the product of the schemes of "disaffected" men, and that idea whelmed all other conceptions of the causes of the outbreak. The Governor was partially right. There were among the insurgents men who hated British rule with a hereditary hatred. There were Irishmen who felt that feeling, and there were foreigners who had no special sympathy, if any at all, with British government; but even those men never desired or aimed at rebellion until they were maddened with the excitement of the agitation which sought, at least in its earlier stages, nothing but the clear and rational redress of plain and insulting wrongs. Here, even those who elsewhere may have been the least loyal were disposed to peace and submission, no matter whence they came, and it was nothing but the haughty folly of officials that precipitated what has been called rebellion; for it was clear to demonstration that it was not so much the law, or the want of law, as the unwise administration of law that provoked the rising of the gold-fields population.

Since the first edition of this History was published, the author has had opportunity for fuller examination of the evidence touching the parts borne by Sir Charles Hotham and Mr. Secretary Foster, and the irresistible conclusion is that the Governor, and not the Secretary, was the person directly responsible for the later severity of the enforcing of the hateful license law. The testimony of witnesses examined before the Select Committee, referred to by Irwin, is overwhelming in that direction. That committee sat in 1867 to consider Mr. Foster's—by that time he had assumed Fitzgerald as the ultimate one of several names—claims to a pension or compensation for his resignation of office at the time of the Eureka Stockade, and on the 11th July of that year the committee agreed upon its report, finding that Foster resigned on the 9th December, 1854, that he resigned voluntarily because "a prejudice, which he alleged to be without foundation, had arisen against him on the part of the miners," and that the evidence "did not warrant the conclusion that the discontent then existing on the gold-fields resulted from a policy for which he was responsible." The committee might have gone further than that, and included most of the gold-fields' commissioners in the same bill of acquittal. Foster shows that the Governor ignored him and his officers generally, took outside advice, issued peremptory orders on his own mere motion, and both Foster and other witnesses show that just before the attack upon the Eureka Stockade, the Governor held direct correspondence in cypher with some of the commissioners, passing by not only the Colonial Secretary Foster, but the Chief Commissioner Wright. Foster and Wright both held the licence to be a blunder, and advised an export duty on gold instead, and this was the view almost universally held by the commissioners on the gold-fields, than whom none should have been better able to judge of the merit of the law they had to enforce. The notable order of the 13th September, 1854, instructing the commissioners to go out twice a week in quest of unlicensed diggers, was the Governor's own work, given without consultation with any of his officers, and was the outcome of his persuasion that an export duty meant smuggling, and that the enforcing of the law had not been as dutifully done as it should have been. The Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the Ballarat disturbances, reported of that order that "previous experience should have dictated rather a change of the law; a fire is kindling from the use of some combustible material, and the official mode of extinguishing the flames is to increase this material." No condemnation by digger, journalist, or historian is stronger or more direct than that, and it is to be remembered that the direct author of "the official mode" was Sir Charles Hotham, and not Colonial Secretary Foster, nor Chief Commissioner Wright, nor Commissioner Rede, nor Acting-Chief Commissioner of Police M'Mahon. But the diggers, as was natural, and, indeed, in a sense, proper, regarded Foster as practically the source of trouble. They had come from constitutional England, where the Minister, and not the Crown, was responsible, and they had not learnt that Sir Charles Hotham was both Crown and Minister in one. They could not conceive that he who was less than the Queen was more than the Queen, and that he was despotically breaking the law—the law of official routine and of official courtesy—and that, not for the public good, however excellent the motive. They therefore threw on Foster, and secondarily upon the gold-fields commissioners, the odium of a policy for whose increased vigor the Governor alone was responsible. Foster resigned office to placate the people and ease the Governor's position, and it seems probable, by the implied consent, if not desire of the Governor, not, as is easy to infer, from a wish on the Governor's part to escape personal responsibility, but as a concession to an irritated and misjudging public opinion. It was only when before the Select Committee of a Constitutional Parliament, thirteen years afterwards, that Foster and the other officers of the Government under Sir Charles Hotham—till then silent under the seal of official duty and personal honor—revealed the fact that they had all denounced the licence and the licence-hunting policy, and that its maintenance and odious application were made compulsory by the fact, as declared in evidence by Foster, corroborated by the other witnesses, "that Sir Charles Hotham was so self-willed that he was indisposed to take counsel."

The Eureka Stockade Monument, Eureka S^t Ballarat East.

But Sir Charles Hotham is more to be pitied than blamed, more to be honored than condemned. There is no doubt that he died a martyr to a high and chivalrous sense of duty. He was a victim of error even before he reached his post in Victoria. The evidence of Captain Kay, R.A., his private secretary, declares that

Sir Charles Hotham disliked the licence fee; and I know in Downing street he was told before he came here that in consequence of what had already taken place in regard to this licence fee, the question was not very likely to be settled without a fight. He told me that more than once on board the ship coming out; and in conversation together he formed his plan of action in the event of such an emergency arising. I have often heard him say he found the law imposing a licence fee in force by Act of the Legislative Council when he came here, and it was his duty to carry it cut—that he did not make the law, but that he would use every means in his power to get it altered as soon as he could.   *   *   *   Sir Charles Hotham was far too high-minded and honorable a man to be able to make a scapegoat of anyone; he did not sacrifice Mr. Fitzgerald—Mr. Fitzgerald sacrificed himself. Sir Charles Hotham sacrificed himself also, but it was in the performance of an onerous and thankless public duty, and he fell in the discharge of it, as fully as any man ever did in the field of battle.

This is absolutely indisputable. It is borne out by the evidence of Mr. Rusden, clerk of the Legislative Council, as is also Captain Kay's opinion of the Governor's having abstained from formally requesting Foster to resign. Sir Charles Hotham arrived only at the end of June, 1854, hot from the stupid orders of Downing street, himself a naval officer accustomed to command, untrammelled by the restrictions of constitutional government, and impelled by the instincts of his profession and his sense of duty. He had little time, perhaps as little inclination, to acquaint himself with the temper of the people, or to take deliberate counsel with his officers in the Government, before the troubles at the diggings had got beyond pacific solution. If Foster ever gave advice, as is supposable, or if he did not advise against the maintenance of the licence law, the Governor, with the Downing street monitions ever about him, would naturally go to his Attorney-General for counsel. Indeed, it is said that Sir Charles did ask Mr. Stawell, now Sir William Stawell, the Attorney General of 1854, what powers he had as Governor in regard to the enforcing of the law, and that Mr. Stawell's advice was that the Governor's powers were full and clear. There came about, at any rate, a strong feeling at the time of the Stockade and afterwards, that two martinets, a naval one and a forensic one, had come together, and that the conjunction had boded ill for the diggers. But, besides these digging troubles, anterior to them in some sort, the Governor suffered irritation from what seemed neglect and imposition in connection with his household furnishings at Toorak, and he was also anxious because of a decline in the revenue. Captain Kay says his own idea was "that one-fourth of the money charged as expended upon Toorak never was expended on the place at all." Such a belief was, no doubt, shared by Sir Charles Hotham, and it is easy to conclude that the result upon a man of ardent temperament and of high principles of honor would be to dispose him to a want of confidence in the officials whom he was bound to connect with the business. He probably shrank proudly within himself, and Captain Kay says before the Select Committee that the Governor "attempted to do what no man alive could do, which was to take all the papers connected with the Government of this colony and read them for himself." "And did read for himself?" asks the committee. "And did read for himself, and killed himself," is Captain Kay's emphatic rejoinder. Mr. Rusden is equally convinced. "I think," he says, "he overworked himself, and being subject to internal disorder for a period of years after he was on the coast of Africa, no doubt the weakness to which he was reduced made him fall a prey to the illness that had overtaken him: he worked very hard, very often till one or two o'clock in the morning." There is something pathetic in the whole picture of this misguided, mistaking. Governor's martyrdom to duty. He fell a courageous and devoted victim to duty and to political errors, as before him had fallen the equally brave diggers and soldiers at the Eureka Stockade.

Soon after the Stockade trouble was over, the officer in charge held a parade of all the military force on the space now covered by the gas works. It was a symbolic display of the supremacy of law and, military though it was, of peace also, for there had already come an earnest of the better things for which most of the diggers had risen, pacifically or otherwise. It may be mentioned here that the plate showing the march of the troops to the Camp is historical—not imaginary. The artist, Mr. Huyghue saw what he has depicted.

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{Page 164}

CHAPTER VI.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT.

Ballarat Politically Active and Influential.—New Constitution.—Humffray and Lalor Elected.—Their Addresses.—Humffray in Trouble.—Lalor on Democracy.—Lalor on the Star.-—The Grand Trunk Affair.—Petition for a Private Property Mining Law.—Neglect by the Parliaments of Mining Interests.—Probable Causes.—New Political Demands.—Votes of Lalor and Humffray.—Burial Expenses of Governor Hotham.—O'Shanassy Chief Secretary.—Haines Succeeds, with M'Culloch as Commissioner of Customs.—O'Shanassy in Power Again.—Nicholson Cabinet.—Succeeded by Heales, with Humffray as First Minister of Mines.—O'Shanassy in Power Again.—Succeeded by M'Culloch.—The Tariff.—Re-call of Governor Darling.—Darling Grant Crisis.—Death of Governor Darling.—Grant to his Widow and Family.—Sladen Ministry.—M'Culloch in Power Again.—Representative Changes.—Jones Declared Corrupt.—Defeats Vale.—The Macpherson Ministry.—Its Resignation.—Macgregor's Failure.—M'Culloch and Macpherson in Office Together.—Michie Elected for Ballarat West.—First Berry Government.—M'Culloch in Power Again.—Joseph Jones, Minister of Railways.—Major Smith in the Second and Third Berry Governments.—His "Merry Millions".—His Breach with Berry.—Ballarat Sticks to him.—C.E. Jones Returned Again.—He and his Tribune.—R.T. Vale and Jones beat Bell and Fincham.—Ballarat East Candidates: their Ups and Downs.—James, Minister of Mines, Loses his Seat, and Leaves Political Life.—Council Elections.—Wanliss Petitions Against Gore's Return.—A Local Self-Government Paroxysm.—Local Court.—Mining Board.—Court of Mines.—Local Courts Wrongly Constituted.—Mining Boards.—Judge Rogers and Black Wednesday.—One Code of Mining Law Required.—Valuable Services of the Earlier Courts and Boards.

Thus, to the wild delirium of the early gold-hunting time there succeeded the troubles of the Eureka Stockade, and then, with the gift of constitutional freedom, there came the noble or ignoble rage of party politics. Ballarat has always held a prominent position in politics. The sturdy men who fought through all the agitations that led up to and followed the Eureka Stockade seemed to have given a character of influence to the electorates that were the outcome of those early struggles. But some of those earlier fighters were soon left behind. The current of politics ran a turbulent race in keeping with the swift march of colonial affairs generally. Some men who rose to early fame and bade fair to ride firmly upon the waters of public life have drifted upon lee shores and made wreck of health and reputation. Others have been out-faced by newer and bolder, if not better, men, and have fallen back among the shadows of private life. The simple aims and earnest honesty of most of the earlier agitators have given place to complications of policy and, too often, to the mere self-seeking of cunning men who trade upon the weaknesses and the vices common to society everywhere, and nowhere so potent as in a democracy where the passions and prejudices of all classes have full play.

We may as briefly as possible trace the course of those later events, besides glancing at some anterior passages of Colonial history which were the prelude to those which relate more closely to our story. On the 25th July, 1828, the British Parliament passed an Act giving larger powers to the Governments of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, and in 1837 the Government of Australia was created. On the 5th August, 1850, the Government of Victoria was constituted. One-third of the members of the Legislative Council, the only House of Legislature then, to be nominated by the Crown, and the other two-thirds by the inhabitants of the territory, separation from New South Wales taking place on the 1st July of the following year. The Victorian "Act to Establish a Constitution in and for the Colony of Victoria", was reserved on the 25th of March, 1851, for Royal assent, was assented to on the 21st July, 1855, and was proclaimed in Victoria, and came into operation on the 23rd November, 1855. By that Act the old and partly nominee Council was abolished and two Houses were created—a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly, both wholly elective, the Council having thirty members, chosen from six provinces, and the Assembly sixty members, chosen from thirty-seven districts. Pending the Royal assent to that Act, however, five representatives from the gold-fields had been added to the old Council. This was done in pursuance of a recommendation from the Gold-fields Commission after the quickening time of the Eureka Stockade, and Lalor and Humffray were chosen to represent Ballarat. About the same time Messrs. Samuel Irwin, John Victor, and William Bradshaw were appointed justices of the peace in Ballarat. They were men of the times and of the mines, and their appointment was one of the immediate fruits of the agitation for reform of administrative as well as legislative abuses. Irwin has already appeared in this narrative; Victor became principal of Grenville College, Ballarat, but now lives in Sydney.

The first printed election addresses of Lalor and Humffray were as different as the men. Lalor's was brief and plain as a word of command from a military man. In his short address it was natural he should say—

I am in favor of such a system of law reform as will enable the poor man to obtain equal justice with the rich one, which at present I believe to be impossible.

Humffray's was more verbose and rhetorical, full of wise saws, and bristling with sentiments and statistics.

I respond (he said) to the call readily, because I am anxious to enter St. Patrick's Hall, and have the high privilege of joining in the patriotic chorus which will form at once the requiem of the present irresponsible system, and be the herald of a glorious future for Victoria.

The printers of that day printed "golorious future", as if, facetious in their work, they wished to qualify the pacific agitator's eloquence by a suggestion of what, in the language of American politicians, is called "high falutin". We, however, may rather suppose he had only caught some distant echoes of the songs of the bards of his native land as, in the ancient times, they sang in "patriotic chorus" among the hills of long unconquered and ever romantic Cymry. Born in Montgomeryshire, near the source of the Severn, and not far from the head waters of old Usk that runs from the Brecon hills by valley, and glen, and crumbling castle walls, close past the site of hoary Romano-British Caerleon, thence to mingle its waters with those of the British Channel not very remote from the mouths of broader Severn and the more picturesque Wye, Humffray may have seen visions of the past and the future, in which poetry and politics became curiously blended. Lalor was not so much given to visions and poetry, if his later life be the test. He was directer, more practical, more commercial. However, youth and hope are immortal, and Humffray, at the time under discussion, was nearer than now to the days of "unbounded hope and heavenly ignorance." He may have penned his first political manifesto with the "March of the Men of Haerlech" ringing in his ears, or under other remains of the inspiration of his legendary forefathers who, if poets speak truly, were, some of them, in youth, as "damsels-errant", and used to

Humffray had spirit, and could assert himself in time of pressure. On the 26th of March, 1862, a "monster meeting" was held in the Town-hall, Ballarat East, to express indignation against Humffray and John Cathie for their votes in favour of a ten years' extension of the Squatters' Leases. Popular indignation is often accompanied by imputations of corruption, and by insulting assumption of almost despotic authority over the very reason and will of the representative. A display of this temper in the electorate seems to have occurred, for Humffray retorts upon some scandals of the kind. He did not appear before the meeting, but a letter from him was read in which were the following passages in wholesome assertion of rational freedom in the representative:—

I wish it to be distinctly understood that I claim now, as I ever have claimed, the most unfettered freedom in the exercise of my judgment while recording my votes; as I would not, for one hour, occupy the humiliating position of a mere delegate, and vote according to order   *   *  
As to the vile insinuations of corrupt motives which have been made against me, I know, and am known in Ballarat East too well to suppose for one moment that they will discredit any but their authors. Thus much, however, I will say, that if the price of a man's representing a constituency is that he must submit to an inquisition, by public meetings, into the state of his private affairs, whenever slanderous enemies choose to misrepresent and stigmatise his votes as venal, no human being of any spirit will consent to debase himself so far as to become a member.

Humffray fell, and Cathie too, before the storm; Cathie, who was no mean stump orator, upon occasion, having had the the courage to tell the tumultuous meeting that "the thing which shows me I have done right is the noise and not the reason that greets me." In all Humffray's public career he carried himself, as Hamlet puts it, "indifferent honest", not descending to the cunning arts of falsehood which have in later years carried away many constituencies captive. Later, he went the way, though less noisily, that the Netherlands Brederode went, and his influence consequently declined.

When the first Parliament was elected under the new Constitution Act, the Ballarat members were again elected, Lalor for Grenville district, including Ballarat West, and Humffray for North Grant, including Ballarat East.

There was one time, in December, 1856, when Lalor was held to have belied his previous democratic action. A new Electoral Act, brought in under the Constitution, the advent of which the Eureka affair had done much to hasten, was before Parliament, and the 4th clause proposed a renewal of the property qualification for the franchise. This was opposed by the country generally, as manhood's suffrage was demanded as the people's right. It was certainly a fair demand, and not illogical, as a sequence to the principles declared by the gold-fields reformers when Lalor was one of the most popular advocates of liberty. But Lalor voted for the obnoxious clause in the Act, and brought a storm upon himself. In a letter to the Ballarat Star on the 1st January, 1857, he defended himself against the attacks of that journal, and the complaints of his constituents. He said:—

I would ask these gentlemen what they mean by the term "democracy?" Do they mean Chartism, or Communism, or Republicanism? If so, I never was, I am not now, nor do I ever intend to be a democrat. But if a democrat means opposition to a tyrannical press, a tyrannical people, or a tyrannical government, then I have ever been, I am still, and I will ever remain a democrat.

Lalor held that "freehold suffrage is virtually manhood suffrage," and on that ground he justified his vote. No doubt he had grown more sober since the days in the latter half of 1854, when a programme of principles not much unlike Chartism, and a Declaration of Independence were adopted by the agitators of the day. His defence shows that he had the courage of his opinions, whether they were new or old, and suggests a feeling of the necessity of some such correction of the unequal action of a purely numerical majority, arrived at in the ordinary way, as proposed by Hare in his scheme for the representation of minorities. But he also went the length of advocating an Upper House of nominees instead of elected representatives. He even then cited that advocacy as a proof of his never having advocated "thorough democracy". That such an opinion as to the Upper House should have been held within twenty-four months of the Eureka agitation by the armed leader of that rising is one more instance of the mutability of human feeling if not of change of opinion. Lalor may not have had any very well-reasoned opinions on constructive politics when he took up arms against the rule of a Government and a partially elective single House of Parliament, but there is little ground for doubting that at that time his sympathies were in favor of as wide a liberalism as was espoused by those of his subsequent constituents who condemned his vote on the 4th clause of the Electoral Act in December, 1856.

Though located in Melbourne then, Lalor did not cease to take an interest in Ballarat affairs, and in letters written in July, 1857, he advises on divers municipal matters, and acutely criticises a prospectus for a tramway projected to be run from the Buninyong Road, or Plank Road—as that part of the road from about Clayton street to near Buninyong was then planked—to the forest near Beale's Swamp, to connect the sawmills with the town. The plank road to Buninyong was begun in 1856, and was made because the road was not yet formed properly, was swampy, and the traffic at that time was very great. A few years after, to wit in 1862, a Ballarat, Smythesdale, Linton, and Carngham Tramway Company was projected, with a capital of �10,000 in �10 shares; R.H. Lock, provisional secretary; but, like the scheme Lalor criticised, it never came to fruition, though near a quarter century was to pass before railway communication between Ballarat and Smythesdale was established. Lalor displays business shrewdness in that other matter, and is suspicious of undue local journalistic influence. The Star was of baleful aspect to his view, and he says:—

From what I have heard down here, I am satisfied that all the gentlemen connected with the Star intend to rule Ballarat, not only politically but commercially. Hence they have put Belford into the Council, Finnis as Town Clerk, and Coote as Surveyor. They have also attempted to get the Commission of the Peace for Belford, as I am informed. All these exertions are intended to produce pecuniary profit, as may be seen by the printing contract for the Eastern Council, which is, I believe, opposed to the standing orders. Now, it is quite evident they wish to follow the same game with respect to the Treasury. Hence Bailey and Coote are appointed.

This sort of stuff would be amusing reading now, were it not a reminder of the more unscrupulous attacks upon the journals of to-day by scheming politicians whose garrulous effrontery is surpassed by nothing unless by their insatiable and more than womanly vanity, or by their unquenchable lust of power and place and pay. As to Lalor, a dozen years from the Stockade episode found him a much changed man as to his pursuits. The loss of an arm and a cause had effectually reduced the revolutionary hysteria of his earlier youth, and he declined upon less heroic ambitions. He had failed to free this colony from the dominion of the Saxon; but he could, at any rate, still tight for money and political position, and in such a campaign discover talent as a user of men, as one able to mine and countermine, and to push his combinations with dogged tenacity even against odds. In 1854: he was a mere working digger with transcendental political aims. In 1866 he had became a mining capitalist. As a shareholder in the Grand Trunk Company, Creswick, he fought a long and successful battle with others of the company, who, when the company suspended operations because the mine had not paid, bought the plant and sought to obtain a new title by lease from the Crown. James Boughtman and Jonathan Middleton undertook the floating of the new company; the old lease was forfeited for non-payment of rent, the new lease was applied for, and in the meantime, or before then, the projectors of the new company, called the Australasian Company, had discovered rich ground. Then the issue of the lease was opposed by a person who signed the protest as "James Robinson". This person was never discovered. Nobody was found who claimed to be the James Robinson in question, and no proof of his existence or whereabouts was obtainable. He never appeared, but Lalor was omnipresent as an obstacle, and the lease was not issued until one Dominick Dillon, his friend and agent, had 400 shares in the new company transferred to him free of cost. The ground on which Lalor opposed the issue of the lease was the assumption of fraudulent collusion on the part of some of the projectors of the new company to the wronging of the old shareholders in the Grand Trunk Company generally, and the struggle over the lease application and its accessories led to long and costly litigation. Lalor had the courage of his opinions on the subject, and opposed Longmore's motion in the House "as an attempt by one member to gratify his feelings, political or religious, at the expense of another member, upon the mere assertion of parties with whom he had been engaged for two years in a legal struggle to gain his own." That struggle in the courts was lively and long. Nor was that all. The parties had their respective friends in Parliament, and on the 11th August, 1868, Mr. Longmore moved—"That a Select Committee of nine members of this House be appointed, by ballot, to enquire into and report upon the circumstances under which certain persons, such as Dominick Dillon and others, exercised a system of extortion over applicants for mining leases and other privileges, which may be dealt with by the departments, to procure bonuses and corrupt advantages for the said extortioners and their accomplices, to the injury of the public, in consideration of departmental and parliamentary influences which they profess to exert; such committee to have power to call for persons and papers; three to form a quorum." This hot motion was inspired by a strong belief that Lalor was using his position to extort advantages from the innocents who were seeking the lease for the new company. But Mr. M'Bain, by way of amendment, and in a more judicial spirit, moved:—"That a Select Committee of nine members be appointed to enquire into and report upon the circumstances connected with a certain application for obtaining a mining lease with which Dominick Dillon and others were connected; such committee to consist of Mr. Wrixon, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. E. Cope, Mr. Longmore, Mr. G.P. Smith, Mr. Aspinall, Mr. Macpherson, Mr. Kerferd, and Mr. M'Bain; five to form a quorum, with power to send for persons and papers." The original motion being negatived, Mr. M'Kean submitted a further amendment, which was almost word for word like Mr. Longmore's motion, but nominated eleven members, namely, Messrs. Sullivan, M'Kean, Crews, E. Cope, Miller, Blair, Kerferd, Thomas, Wrixon, Longmore, and Aspinall; three to form a quorum. This was rejected, and Mr. M'Bain's amendment was adopted. The committee began its sittings on the 25th August, and amongst the witnesses called were Messrs. Frazer, Stutt, and C.E. Jones, members of the House, the last named being then in office as Commissioner of Roads and Railways. Lalor was also present, and at the close of the examinations was informed that he could "make a statement" if he desired to do so. He replied:—"If the committee desire to examine me upon anything essential for me to say, I shall be very happy to answer." Mr. M'Bain said:—"But you do not desire to say anything unless the committee think proper to ask questions of you?" and Lalor's reply was:—"I am not aware that anything that any of the witnesses have said against me requires any answer." And so "the honorable member withdrew" and added nothing to the elucidations of the dark tangle of contradictions which the committee had encountered in the course of the examination of witnesses. The Select Committee had the spirit of Longmore's motion, though toned down by M'Bain's amendment, as the motive and cause of its existence. Its members comprised several trained lawyers; its implied instruction was to find out if the issue of the lease had been improperly opposed, and the finding was that the application for the lease was not improper! This was an impotent conclusion, doubtless, a kind of non sequitur [19] that must have disgusted the fiery Longmore, But it was not so bad as the first proposal, made by Mr. Kerferd, for that included a perfect absolution of all members of Parliament, so far, at least, as the words "nor is it in evidence that any Member of this House is any way dishonorably connected with it" went. Longmore could not brook so utter a verdict as that, and he broke up the sitting by vacating the chair. That was on the 8th September. On the 9th he was absent. Mr. Aspinall was in the chair, and the report as cited above was adopted and reported to the House. Previously to that, the committee had decided "that the chairman be ordered to report James Boughtman to the House for being guilty of gross prevarication," and on the 1st September Mr. Longmore moved the issue of the Speaker's warrant for Boughtman's arrest. After debate, the motion was withdrawn, but was renewed on the 3rd September, and carried, and on the 8th the Sergeant-at-Arms informed the House that he had, "in pursuance of the order of the House, arrested James Boughtman, and that he has him in his custody." The prisoner had earned his fate by not telling a plain unvarnished story, but his incarceration was not that of a felon. Like Hugh George, the Argus manager, who was before that put in parliamentary durance to suffer for the editor's attack upon Premier M'Culloch, Boughtman had the range of the premises, and fared sumptuously every day, but he had to pay the cost of his entertainment. Parliament was prorogued on the 29th September, and then Boughtman was set at liberty.

A perusal of the evidence taken before the Select Committee, and of the multitudinous assertions and denials in the newspapers of the day relative to the dispute, was not favorable to the taking of optimistic views of the morality of the contending gold-hunters. The emphatic verdict of many onlookers did not refer to some of the witnesses who were disinterested, albeit to the bulk of the disputants that verdict was applied promptly—arcades omnes. [20] But none of these things moved Lalor. His courage was equal to his caution, and that new-born faculty was parallel to his tenacity of purpose. He forged his way onward, undeterred by hostile criticism, and unseduced by the applause of laudators. He retained his seat in each successive Parliament, was Commissioner of Customs in the Berry Government, which was killed by the general election of the 28th February, 1880; and when the Service Government met with a similar fate by the general election of the 14th July following, Lalor was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the motion of Mr. Berry. He had one violent opponent only, namely, Mr. Bent, Commissioner of Public Works in the then expiring Service Ministry. Bent, whose own reputation is in Hansard and the public journals, said:—"As a native of this colony, I am sorry to think that, to obtain the distinction of being the Speaker of this House, it is absolutely necessary that a man should be a rebel against the British Crown. (Cries of "Shame" and "Disgrace".) I am quite sure the teetotal members of this House will be gratified and very pleased to go back to their constituents and say that they voted for a man who was drunk on the floor of this House while Chairman of Committees. ("Shame, shame"). I think it is a disgrace to this country to elect Mr. Lalor as Speaker of this House, and I am one who shall oppose his election." There was little expressed sympathy with this fierce tirade, and even the speaker's chief, Mr. Service, repudiated the coarse violence of his literally surprising colleague. The Premier said:—"I rise to express my extreme regret that my worthy and highly-esteemed colleague has allowed his feelings on this occasion to obtain the better of his judgment. I regret that he should have referred to a very old passage in the life of the honorable member for Grant, a passage which, I venture to say, reflects no disgrace upon the honorable member." There may have been a slight strain of Pickwickian humour in both addresses; but the Premier's condemnation of the Bent attack was cheered by the House, and Lalor's election to the Chair was unanimous. He discharged the high functions of the office with conspicuous ability, creditably sustaining the respectable traditions of the Chair during many sessions of mingled storms and calms, and as the end of the first session of the Parliament of the Gillies-Deakin coalition drew to its close in 1886, the Speaker announced his desire to retire. He was almost prostrated by diabetes, the physical energy of robuster manhood was gone; and before the session ended, Lalor had to absent himself from his place in the House.

In June or July, 1857, Messrs. John Yates, Alfred Arthur O'Connor, and John Cathie were appointed delegates to represent Ballarat in the Land Convention in Melbourne. The Convention was called at the instance of the Victorian Land League, a body sitting in the metropolis, and the immediate cause of the Convention was the general opposition in the country to the Land Bill then before the Legislative Assembly, and for his vote on which Mr. Lalor was called to account by the electors of North Grant. The first sitting of the Convention took place at Keeley's Australasian Hotel, Melbourne, on the 15th July, Mr. Thos. Loader, chairman of the League, presiding. When that series of Convention sittings was over, a public meeting was held in the Victoria Theatre, Ballarat East, to receive the delegates on their return. Mr. Humffray presided, and he and the delegates were received with great acclamations, Humffray's vote against the Bill being contrasted with the contrary vote of Lalor, "the recusant member for North Grant." About that time, too, a pecuniary testimonial was being subscribed for Humffray, and meetings were being held and requisitions signed to procure Lalor's resignation, as he had been acting, to quote the Ballarat Star of that day, "in the licence of constant and unvarying opposition to the wishes of his constituents." The feeling against the Land Bill was strong, and a petition signed by 17,745 persons at Ballarat, and one from Sandhurst, signed by 11,875 persons, were sent to Parliament expressing the opposition of the subscribers. In leaving this reference to the Land Convention, it may be remarked that many of the delegates, including Wilson Gray, who became the President, were afterwards elected to seats in the Legislative Assembly.

The miners were long without a law to legalise and regulate mining on private property, though as early as on the 4th March, 1857, Humffray moved, in the Legislative Assembly, "that the petition presented from the miners and storekeepers of Ballarat, praying for immediate legislation on the subject of mining on private property, be printed." The records of Parliament inform us that "the motion was agreed to." All the Parliaments for many years after that were unmindful of the subject thus prayed for, as the miners were too often content to feed upon the dry husks of pleasant charlatanry and passionate party, instead of seeking the pure and wholesome grain of honest and effectual statesmanship. By so much, and only so much, can the Parliaments be acquitted of neglect of the chief producing interest of the colony.

The adage that a free people is governed as well as it deserves to be governed has very few exceptions in illustration of the rule. One great all-sufficing cause of the neglect of mining interests in Parliament was the change that came in the political constitution and in mining itself. That double change placed power in the hands of the wages class, and converted mining from a field of independent fortune-seeking for all alike into a field for the exercise of capital and the employment on wages of the class that held in their hands the balance of political power. There thus arose the curious position that on the gold-fields themselves mining questions came to be of secondary political importance, as those who were most able to suggest a mining policy were outnumbered by those who only, or mainly, looked for wages, and who were led to vote for men who supported any policy that seemed to promise abundant employment and a wage-rate well maintained. The political agitations that followed the introduction of manhood suffrage and its accompaniments were therefore marked by all kinds of cries but mining ones. Though the mines were still the backbone of the country's prosperity, the men who worked in the mines on wages were separated in sympathy from the capitalists, who were nearly the whole exploiters of the mines; and theology, or protection, or free-trade, or cheap lands, or some other hustings cry, or some absorbing passion of party was generally the moving impulse to the exclusion of questions relating to mining law and administration. In the earlier days of the gold-fields men were of one heart and soul, and on all public questions then current there was an irresistible unanimity, for all were more nearly on a level in industrial value and in relation to the chances of fortune. The difference between the two times was natural, and the Parliamentary results equally natural, for not even democracy can prevent a war of classes, or make the greater to be always the wiser number.

"Golden Point" and the Ballarat Gold Washers, 1851

While, however, this change in the aspect of gold-fields politics had taken place, there had also come with the diversion of power some prevision of a still remoter change. The demand of the majority for protection and cheap land disclosed an instinct prescient of coming necessities. It was felt that though the mines had been, and still were, the chief producing interest in the colony, their importance had, relatively, declined. It was further seen that this decline must inevitably continue, and that for the increasing population new sources of labour and wealth must be developed. Hence the cry for protection that local manufactures might be created, and for cheap land that fresh fields might be opened for the employment of labour and the founding of new homes for the people.

That which the Protectionists desired the Free-traders also desired—the creation of new industries. But, in the differences upon the economical question, there arose so fierce a fight of party that hurtful issues foreign to the original ones, were raised as ancillary to victory rather than to the elevation of public opinion or the consolidation of a pure and stable scheme of economical politics. This made openings for new men, banished old ones from the political arena, and, in conjunction with the change that had come in the relations of capital and labor at the mines, caused questions of purely mining significance to occupy a subordinate and even neglected position.

In the moribund nominee Council Mr. Haines was the last Colonial Secretary as successor to the abused John Leslie Fitzgerald Vesey Foster, or "Alphabetical Foster" as he was sometimes designated from the multiplicity of names he bore. Mr. Haines also formed the first Government under the New Constitution of November, 1855. He was beaten on the 4th March, 1857, on a question of finance; Lalor and Humffray voting, as they generally did, on opposite sides of the House. Lalor on that occasion was with the defeated Government, and Humffray against it.

There was one notable occasion on which Lalor and Humffray voted together. This was in the old Legislative Council on the 10th January, 1856; a part of the proceedings relative to the burial of Sir Charles Hotham being reported as follows:—

Mr. Fawkner moved that the sum of �1500 be appropriated for funeral expenses, which were estimated to amount to �500, and the remaining �1000 would amply suffice for the erection of a monument. Mr. Lalor was quite willing to defray the funeral expenses, but objected to the erection of a monument. The memory of the thirty individuals who met their deaths at Ballarat would be a standing monument to the memory of Sir Charles Hotham. Mr. Grant moved an amendment that the vote be limited to �500, funeral expenses only. He said the House ought to be just, and remember those for whom no monument had been erected, and for whose widows no sympathy was expressed. What could they inscribe on his monument? Not his political character. Mr. Humffray seconded the amendment.

The amendment was lost, only the gold-fields members and one or two more, eight in all, voting for it.

On the 11th March, 1857, a new Cabinet was declared, with Mr. O'Shanassy as Chief Secretary, and Foster (whom Williamstown had returned) was Treasurer in that Ministry, which hardly lived two months. Its defeat was on personal grounds rather than on any question of policy proposed. Lalor and Humffray still voted one against the other on that occasion. Haines then came into power again. This was in April, 1857, and he had with him Mr. M'Culloch as Commissioner of Customs. That Ministry was defeated on the 22nd October, 1858, on a question of extension of the franchise; Lalor and Humffray being still opposed to one another. On the 10th March O'Shanassy formed his second Government. This Ministry was defeated on the 22nd October, 1859, on the ground of a general want of confidence; Lalor voting against, and Humffray for the Government. On the 26th October, the Nicholson Administration was announced, with Wm. Nicholson Chief Secretary. On the 21st November, 1860, that Ministry was displaced also on a vote of general want of confidence; Lalor and Humffray still preserving their relative positions. Lalor, however, had now changed his constituency and sat for South Grant, which seat he has held ever since; Humffray and Cathie sitting for Ballarat East, and J.R. Bailey (who shortly afterwards was Postmaster-General in the Nicholson Administration) and R.M. Serjeant for Ballarat West. These changes were synchronous with an alteration in the electoral districts, Grant and Grenville being divided into several districts of which Ballarat East and Ballarat West were two. In 1860 R. Gillespie and R.H. Locke were elected for the district of Grenville, which included Buninyong and the localities adjoining the Ballarat proper districts on the south and west sides.

On the 29th November, 1860, the Heales Ministry was announced, with Richard Heales Chief Secretary; and Humffray, Minister for Mines. This Ministry was defeated on the 12th November, 1861, in a debate on the Budget; and the next day a coalition Ministry was announced, with O'Shanassy Chief Secretary. This coalition Cabinet was displaced on 23rd June, 1863, on the Land policy, both Lalor and Humffray voting with the defeated Government. In the meantime Bailey and Serjeant had been displaced in Ballarat West by Duncan Gillies and W.C. Smith. For Grenville A.A. O'Connor was returned with Gillespie in 1862, and in 1863-4 he sat with M.M. Pope, T. Randall succeeding O'Connor in 1865. W. Frazer, once of the Ballarat Local Court, and J.T. Smith sat for the Talbot district, in which Creswick and Clunes were included.

On the 30th June, 1863, the first M'Culloch Administration was formed, with J. M'Culloch Chief Secretary. On the 11th March, 1868, this Ministry tendered its resignation on the question of a grant to Sir Charles Darling, who had been removed from office as Governor of Victoria on the ground of indiscretions during disputes between the Houses of Parliament over the Tariff. The "Darling Grant Crisis" was a dispute between the opposing parties as to a grant of �20,000 proposed to the recalled Governor. The party opposing the grant came to be known in Victorian politics as Constitutionalists, whilst the supporters of M'Culloch's policy called themselves Loyal Liberals. While the dispute was pending Sir Charles declined the grant, and so the battle ended. After his death all parties here united in voting an annuity of �1000 a year to his widow, and a sum of �5000 in trust for her children.

While these events were transpiring electoral changes had come about. In 1865, Charles Dyte and Charles Edwin Jones were returned for Ballarat East. The former retained his seat, but in 1869 Jones was defeated by Humffray, who held his seat, though Jones lodged an unprosecuted petition against his election. For Talbot Frazer still sat also. His fame is in some of the least creditable records in Hansard and the public journals. For Ballarat West Gillies and W.C. Smith sat till 1865, when Smith was replaced by W.M.K. Vale, who held the seat till 1869, when, while Commissioner of Customs in the M'Culloch Ministry, he resigned in order to contest the seat against Jones, the defeated of Ballarat East. Jones had ousted Gillies, but, while Minister of Railways and a colleague of Vale, he had been turned out of Parliament on a charge of corrupt practices, both sides of the House—his own colleagues in office as well as the Opposition—voting for his expulsion. With great intrepidity he declared his innocence, invoking God's name at a public meeting in support of one particular averment of innocence, and he boldly sought at the hands of the Ballarat West constituency a rehabilitation of his tarnished reputation. Vale resigned his seat to contest the election, as he declared, in the interests of parliamentary purity, and he was beaten by Jones, who had a large majority among the Welslhminers of Sebastopol. Vale had ceased to be as popular as he had been, and the assistance he derived in the contest from his old political opponents, no doubt raised party feeling, and caused the election to be determined at least as much from party spirit as from a regard to the greater issue propounded to the electorate. What helped Jones's cause was, the general belief that if he was guilty, others still unpunished were as bad as he, and a suspicion in many minds that Vale's contest was the result rather of envy or spite than of a sincere regard for political honesty and purity of Parliament. Jones and his accusers after that let the matter lie undisturbed. The Assembly, as being unused to such great moral efforts, quietly bore many taunts from without in relation to corruption, and Jones was permitted to sit unmolested.

The M'Culloch Ministry having, as we have seen, resigned on the Darling Grant dispute, a Ministry was announced on the 6th May, with Mr. Sladen as Chief Secretary, Mr. Gillies being Minister of Lands in this Administration. It was on the occasion of Gillies seeking re-election on acceptance of office that Jones had ousted him prior to his own expulsion from Parliament. The Sladen Ministry was defeated on the 10th July, 1868, on a vote of supplies, and Mr. M'Culloch then returned to power. This Ministry was displaced in September, 1869, by a coalition of Constitutionalists and Loyal Liberals on the ground of want of confidence. A Government was then formed, with J.A. Macpherson Chief Secretary. This Ministry was defeated on the Budget, and on the 31st March, 1870, the Government resigned. Some of their own supporters deserted them, including several Constitutionalists, and after some time spent in negotiations by several members of the House, and notably by Mr. John Macgregor, who had moved the hostile motion on the Budget, Mr. (now Sir James) M'Culloch again returned to power, and with him Mr. Macpherson, the deposed Chief Secretary, who accepted office as Minister of Lands. The new Attorney-General, Mr. Michie, was returned unopposed for Ballarat West, taking the seat vacated by Mr. John James, who had been elected to the seat vacated by Mr. Vale in his contest against Jones. James, at a meeting in the Alfred Hall—when Michie met the electors on his unopposed return—"took credit to himself for having done a noble act. He had done something to raise the Ballarat electorate—in fact, more than had been done for years," in giving up political life in favour of his more illustrious successor.

When Mr. Berry came into power for the first time as Premier and Treasurer, on the 7th August, 1875, Mr. W.C. Smith accepted office as Minister of Mines, and was returned unopposed on the 20th August. Mr. Berry was defeated on his land tax proposals, and Sir James M'Culloch took office, with Joseph Jones as his Minister of Railways; but on seeking re-election in Ballarat West on the 6th November, 1875, Mr. Jones was beaten by Mr. Fincham, Acting-Governor Chief Justice Stawell having refused Mr. Berry's demand for a dissolution. Mr. Jones's defeat was helped by want of faith in him as to his views on the secular education question, and a monster Anti-Education Act meeting in St. Patrick's Cathedral at that time increased the vigor of the secularists, and helped to secure Mr. Fincham's victory. At the general election on the 11th May, 1877, James Campbell contested Ballarat West, but failed, the old members. Smith, Fincham, and Bell, being returned. When W.C. Smith took office in the second Berry Ministry as Minister of Mines and Education, he was again returned unopposed, and a similar compliment was paid to him in August, 1880, when he took office in the third Berry Cabinet as Minister of Education. Mr. Smith, though no scrupulous Bayard, never gave to faction what was meant for Ballarat, liberal as were his contributions to mere party manœvres, for his untiring devotion to local affairs made him the idol of his constituency. When Mr. Berry went to England on the famous embassy, Mr. Smith was Acting-Treasurer, and he distinguished himself then by a speech in Ballarat, in which he declared that he had initiated a policy of retrenchment, the capitalised value of which would represent two millions sterling. His political enemies took hold of the statement, twisted its probable exaggerations into colossal masses of ridicule, and the "merry millions of the Major" became a byword and a gibe. In 1883, when the Service-Berry coalition Cabinet was formed, and Mr. Smith was left out in the cold, he became a virulent opponent of his old leader, and was hardly more scrupulous in his speech against Mr. Berry than he had previously been on his behalf. The Major, since become Colonel on the retired list, thus lost caste with some of his old supporters, but he retained his hold as "a good friend to Ballarat" upon his constituency generally, and has for a long time been returned at the head of the poll. In February, 1883, the electors were invited by Mr. C.E. Jones to renew their political connection with him. He had dwelt for some years in the United States for the benefit of his political health, and returned to woo the suffrages of his old supporters again. In a poll of seven candidates he and Fincham stood equal as in third place, and the returning officer decided the tie in favour of Fincham. At the general election in March, 1886, Jones was returned second on the poll, R.T. Vale, brother of Jones's old opponent, being third, and the old members, Fincham and Bell, were left to the studious leisure of private life. To assist him in paddling his political canoe, Mr. Jones started in Melbourne the People's Tribune, a weekly paper, nearly the whole of which was written by his tireless and versatile pen. In that paper he posed as the people's friend by excellence, as the champion of discontented civil servants, as the opponent of the non-political railway and civil service boards, and as the perpetually-pricking thorn in the flesh of the editor of the Argus. With heroic hope, or equally intrepid scorn of facts, the editor and proprietor of the Tribune assumed a reversion of the adage that the darkest hour is before the dawn, for the paper absolutely coruscated with brilliancy of promise and assurance of imminent greater prosperity and influence the week before it fell dead and joined the melancholy host of abortive journalistic adventures. The hard-working editor was thus left with larger leisure to pursue his custom of lecturing on social and historical subjects, and to cultivate the field of practical politics.

In Ballarat East, at the general election in March, 1871, there were no fewer than eight candidates for the two seats there, John James heading the poll, with Robert Walsh, barrister, second. At the general election of April, 1874, there were five candidates, and Daniel Brophy won first place, and James second. At the general election of the 11th May, 1877, when Mr. Berry's party polled well nearly everywhere, an anti-Berryite was returned at the head of the poll in the person of Townsend M'Dermott, barrister, James being second. At that election the two old members, Humffray and Dyte contested the seats, as did also Emmanuel Steinfeld, who took third place, Humffray being fourth, and Dyte fifth. At the next general election, in February, 1880, James recovered his old place at the head of the poll, another Wesleyan local preacher, James Russell, winning second place by 14 votes more than Brophy, who represented the Catholic and Constitutional vote. Yet, Berry, the Liberal, was beaten on the general result of the elections, and retired, but returned to power in the following August, and retired in July, 1881, when the O'Loghlen Ministry was formed, and Brophy recovered his place at the head of the poll, with James second. At the next general election, in February, 1883, Russell was at the top, and Brophy at the bottom, James, with monitions of the future in the air, taking second place. In February, 1886, another coalition ministry was formed, with Mr. Gillies as Premier, Treasurer, and Minister of Railways, and Mr. Deakin as Chief Secretary and Minister of Water Supply. Then Mr. James, who had served the Liberals and himself and friends very faithfully for years, and had held office for a long period as Chairman of Committees, aspired to higher position, and accepted office as Minister of Mines. That was the knell to his political life, at least for the present. The coalition was not popular in his electorate, and he still further intensified the opposition by holding quasi ministerial functions for some time without seeking the approval of his constituents in the usual way. So, when the general election came, in March, 1886, he was rejected, Russell heading the poll, and Mr. Edward Murphy, a Catholic, was given to the Wesleyan local preacher as a colleague. James, who had long since made friends of the mammon of agrarian acquisition, in Gippsland, retired to the fertile acres he had secured there.

Of the elections for the Legislative Council, it will suffice to refer to those which have taken place since the creation of the Wellington Province by the reform of the Constitution Act of 1881, the whole of Ballarat being included in that province. The first election was on the 6th November, 1882, when James Campbell was returned unopposed. The next was on the 10th April, 1883, when he was again returned unopposed on his acceptance of office as Postmaster-General in the Service-Berry Ministry. In August, 1881, the Hon. Henry Cuthbert retired by rotation, and was returned by 2,535 votes to 2,126 polled by James Long. In February, 1886, Mr. Cuthbert was returned unopposed on his acceptance of office as Minister of Justice in the Gillies-Deakin Ministry. In June, 1886, the Hon. J. Campbell having resigned office, Mr. David Ham was elected in his stead by a large majority over Thomas Drummond Wanliss, once proprietor of the Ballarat Star. In August, 1886, the Hon. G.F. Belcher retired by rotation, and Henry Gore was elected by 2,512 votes to 2,511 polled by Mr. Wanliss, who petitioned against Gore's return, but Parliament being prorogued before the inquiry had ended. Gore held his seat, and Wanliss was left to moralise on the stupid old custom of trying such issues by parliamentary committees, and to wonder whether his petition was dead or alive.

One of the local episodes of 1886 was a movement in aid of larger local self-government, and the decentralisation of metropolitan and Executive functions and influence. It was headed by James Oddie, and was but a spasm. The promoter engaged C.E. Jones, M.L.A., as its advocate, and some other of the local Parliamentary representatives mildly assisted at the first and only public meeting in the Alfred Hall Assembly-room on the 30th July, 1886. Four resolutions were submitted—the first in praise of local self-government, the second advocating its extension here, the third proposing an enabling bill to further the union of local bodies, and the fourth urging the formation of a Local Government Reform and Extension League. They were all carried by acclamation, and were never heard of afterwards. One morning paper praised the movement, the other one pooh-poohed it, the public did not show any enthusiasm in the matter, and the thing fell dead, though it contemplated the placing of the police and all licence revenues and control under municipal direction. In February, 1887, the Mayor of Ballarat East, Mr. Russell, M.L.A., re-opened the decentralisation issue in a serio-comic way, by drawing attention to what he regarded as the evil of excursions of Ballarat people to the seaside, urging that such indulgences took a great deal of money out of the place, and that it should be counteracted by a big jubilee rotunda at the local Botanic Gardens, and by other attractions. The Star laughed at the complaint, and the Age gibed both at the complaint and the cure; the latter journal, on the 28th of the month, summing up its strictures in the following words which the inhabitants of this city will do well to ponder over thoughtfully:—

Ballarat, with a population of 40,000, has three separate municipalities without any bond of union. The consolidation of this divided municipal power would do more to enhance the importance and promote the interests of Ballarat than all the Government favours likely to be conferred, and certainly more than any futile effort to dictate to the citizens the manner and place in which they shall spend their holidays.

To revert to more exclusively local self-government, the course of Local Court and Mining Board history may now be swiftly traced. On the 14th of July, 1855, James Ryce, Robert Donald, Carboni Raffaello, John Yates, William Greene, Edward Milligan, John Wall, Thomas Chidlow, and Henry R. Nicholls were chosen—at a meeting of the diggers near Lalor's stump, the old try sting place during the previous year's agitation—to serve in the Local Court granted under the reformed r�gime. A day before this Mr. C.W. Sherard, the resident-officer for the Government, had attempted to hold the election from the top of a dray near the site of the late Charlie Napier, but the crowd was too great for the space available, and hence the resort to Bakery Hill, where the election was had by show of hand. There was no other way practicable then, for the times were primitive and the circumstances pressing. These courts were the first fruits of the reform movement. They were presided over by wardens of the gold-fields—the old commissioners with a new name and smaller powers—and the members and electors of the courts were men holding miner's-rights, documents issued annually in lieu of the old licence. The Local Courts had power, not only to make local regulations, but to sit as absolute and unappealable courts of judicature upon cases brought under the regulations they framed. This was a fatal error in constitution, and in the course of time the defect became generally apparent, and led eventually to the abolition of the Local Courts and the creation of the Mining Boards as at present existing. The first sitting of the first Ballarat Local Court was on the 20th July, 1855, and the last sitting of the last court on the 30th April, 1857, Mr. Warden Sherard being the first chairman. To him soon succeeded Mr. Warden Daly, who filled the office as long as the court existed. The first clerk to the court was Mr. Bowker, who was followed by Mr. Harrington, and after him came Mr. John Miskelly, who held the office till the courts were abolished. Fresh parliamentary legislation in 1857 created the Mining Boards and Courts of Mines, the Mining Boards having power to elect their own chairmen, and being invested with merely legislative and some trifling administrative functions. His Honor Judge Rogers was the first judge appointed in the Ballarat Court of Mines, presiding as well (after the death of Judge Wrixon) over the County Courts and Courts of General Sessions for this district. When the Berry Government perpetrated the "Black Wednesday" outrage, discharged a host of judges, magistrates, and other civil servants in order to kill the Constitutionalists and promote the Berry version of Liberalism, Judge Rogers declined to continue in the service. He was a most painstaking judge throughout a long term of the heaviest equity suits ever brought in this district. His high position at the bar has since then been marked by the added rank of Queen's Counsel. With the abolition of the Local Courts and the establishment of Courts of Mines, there came also the Wardens' Courts, dealing with applications for forfeited ground, and with mining disputes of all kinds eventually, appeal in all cases lying to the Court of Mines. The first Ballarat Mining Board was elected on the 27th February, 1858, and Messrs. James Baker, John Yates, Alfred Arthur O'Connor (for Ballarat Proper), William Frazer, Robert Lamb (for Buninyong), Duncan Gillies, Robert Critchley (for Smythesdale), Joseph Reed (for Creswick),—Martin (for Blackwood), and William Butcher (for Steiglitz) were the members, James Baker being chosen chairman. Mr. Harrie Wood was appointed clerk, and he held the office until, in 1873, he received the appointment he now holds as Under-Secretary for Mines in New South Wales. His successor in the Mining Board was the present secretary, Mr. J.M. Bickett, whose appointment was made on the 18th December, 1873. The first meeting of the board was on the 9th March, 1858. The Local Court members were remunerated by the fees paid in the cases brought before the courts in their judicial capacity. The Mining Boards receive each a Government subsidy of �500 a-year, and the clerk is paid by the Government. The courts were more intensely local bodies than are the boards. The boards preside over and legislate for large districts, but the courts had very small areas of jurisdiction, nearly every mining centre, small or large, having its own court and its own regulations.

In looking at the mixed powers of the Local Courts and their great number, we see the cause of their abolition. The conjunction of the legislative and judicial functions did not work satisfactorily, and the multiplicity of courts being followed by a multitude of varying regulations, another element of dissatisfaction was found to quicken the desire for further reform. Hence arose the Mining Boards and Courts of Mines, the former legislating for districts in which previously, perchance, half a score of Local Courts had exercised their anomalous union of jurisdictions, and the later exercising judicial functions over areas coterminous with the mining board districts. In the present day the want of still further reform is felt. To the Mining Boards is now raised an objection similar in part to that raised against the Local Courts. As the larger views and wants of the miners required the abolition of the Local Courts in order to do away with vexatiously numerous and conflicting regulations, and get rid of the inconvenient union of powers in the courts, so now the abolition of the Mining Boards is held to be desirable as a means of getting one uniform code of mining law for the whole colony. Popular freedom is now perfect, and popular power so absolute, that the form of local self-government existing in the Mining Boards can no longer be regarded as essential to local interests. On the contrary, the general feeling of the mining communities all over the colony now is that the profitable pursuit of mining will be best helped by a code that shall be applicable to the whole colony, shall leave the pursuit as free as possible from trammels of all kinds, and thus at once facilitate the investment of capital, and give new fields to the operative industry of the working miner.

But it must not be inferred from this that either the Local Courts or the Mining Boards performed no services of value to the gold-fields. Both have done much good. They were creations of the times, and served the times faithfully. As experiments they proved defective, but their work has been a part of our mining progress, and will remain an honorable portion of colonial history. The miners showed almost invariably a singular sagacity in the selection of representatives in these local bodies, and some of their earliest favorites have continued to hold positions of credit and prominence up to the present day. Some 1600 cases were adjudicated upon by the Ballarat Local Court during its twenty months' existence. Many of these involved large sums of money, and were complicated in their issues, yet few substantial complaints were made against the decisions delivered by the raw magistrates thus newly called by the will of the miners from their ordinary and so different avocations. Besides its judicial work, the court made laws, granted certain claims and water-rights, and licensed "amalgamations", or unions of companies. The court also, in its primitive sense of duty, fought long with the lawyers, whom it tried ineffectually to exclude from practising before the court. In this romantic attempt to do without lawyers the whole court was unanimous, excepting Mr. H.R. Nicholls, who dissented on the ground of illegality. Though justified by the ultimate issue of the struggle, he had to bend before the popular will of the hour, and so resigned his seat.

Is it worth while to exhibit in the light of these modern days the literal merits of this quaint antique question. On the 25th September, 1855, Carboni Raffaello, on behalf of his colleagues, sent a letter to the Ballarat Star with the following enclosure:—

Local Court, Ballarat, September 25, 1855. Present—James Ryce, Edward Milligan, Robert Donald, John Wall, William Green, Thomas Chidlow, H.R. Nicholls, Carboni Raffaello. Proposed by Mr. Donald, and seconded by Mr. Chidlow:—"That in all cases where attorneys or members of the Legal professions are employed, either to advise or plead, during the hearing of any case in this court, the court shall have power to adjourn all such cases to any time, and from such time to time as the members may see fit. Also, that this be made public in the local papers in their first issue." The above proposition was carried by a majority of eight. The following protest was then handed in by Mr. H.R. Nicholls, the ninth member of the court:—"I beg to enter my protest against this resolution, inasmuch as the law officers of the Crown have decided that this Court has no power to prevent solicitors so advising their clients during the hearing of their case. The course adopted by this Court in adjourning such case is, I consider, unwise and unfair, inasmuch as it does not in any way tend to settle the question, and is likely to cause much injury both to the complainant and defendant in such cases."

As a pendant to this now amusing episode in Local Court life, the following will serve to show that the same men could be unanimous sometimes, could speak out with Spartan bravery, and could, with a touching and egotistical earnestness, magnify their office. The Court had passed a regulation extending the areas for eight men "on the deep wet leads of this district" to twelve feet square, and had sought the intervention of the Government to sanction regulations to stop the "system of shepherding or holding claims in reserve of 24 feet square by individual men, boys, and often children! aye, and even women!!" The Government did not respond and, on the same day that Raffaello wrote to the Ballarat Star, the Court wrote an indignant letter to the Colonial Secretary from which the above quotations, notes of admiration and all, and the subjoined are copied:—

It is with feelings of regret and dying confidence in the Government, that the members of the Local Court have observed the indifference with which the Executive Government has treated these and other matters of paramount interest to the miners. We are alone the sinews of the entire colony, aye, even very life. It is remarkable that attention could be given to the members of the bar who wish to force their eloquence and learning upon us for a fee I to capitalists owning engines among us, &c.; and not have sufficient time to say yes or no to the affair of the Ballarat miners, inasmuch as the further consideration of the Executive Government, or even of the Legislative body, on matters upon which their knowledge must be second-hand, can throw no further light upon the subject.

Then followed a request for an expression of the "intention of the Government with regard to the regulations submitted for their consideration," and all the nine members signed the manifesto. The document seems to have about it the odor of the old Bakery Hill meetings. No mere "blatherskiting", that, as Raffaello would have said. But then, those tribunes sat there, not more than nine brief months away from the Eureka bloodshedding, and Raffaello still less distant from the Melbourne goal and court of High Treason. His blood at any rate had not cooled, and there was still revolt in the general air at the least hint of adverse action or inaction, for the Government and the Parliament had not yet been popularised. There was yet much to do before there was full freedom and perfect self-government.

Raffaello was lithe and irrepressible as Puck or Ariel. One day, the 8th October, 1855, he objected to the presence of a Mr. Watson, clerk of the bench of magistrates, who was sitting inside the rail, or barrier, which divided the public from the members, parties, reporters, and lawyers. Raffaello asked the Chairman, the merry, brown eyed, handsome young Warden Daley, to order Watson's removal. The Chairman declined, and said he had no power to exclude anybody who conducted himself with proper decorum. Every one of the members of the court sided with the peppery little Roman, and left the court. Watson had about him the aroma of the recently-suppressed tyranny, and was evidently offensive to the jealous tribunes of the people. The Chairman adjourned the court, regretting "that the very men who had been elected by the diggers to forward their interests should be the foremost to impede them." Idle words, these, to men red-hot with passion. Next day Raffaello returned to the subject, tabled a motion, seconded by Robert M'Donald, excluding from the inner area of the court all but parties and reporters. The Chairman directed that the motion be made a record of the the court, but reserved to himself discretion as to its enforcement. Within forty-eight hours Raffaello was in the thick of another fight. This time his enemy was a lawyer, and the battle-field the columns of the Star. "An Advocate" had written taking the Local Court members to task for objecting to lawyers practising, and for pocketing so many court fees. Our little Ariel flew up at once with a letter on the 11th October, headed

He, at any rate, was not going to run any risks by long delays. The court got no more out of the fees than it had a right to, and "if Mr. Lawyer, 'An Advocate', is fond of declamation, a descendant of the Gracchi is just now getting better and better in health, and will give him a good feed, all hot, of the old style:—Quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra." [22] Perhaps "An Advocate" thought he had not encountered much patience to abuse in the red-haired valiant little son of the Gracchi, and after a little while the storm blew over, Ariel did his best to fold his wings and keep quiet, and the lawyers having won their battle, pocketted many fees by way of first fruits of a heavier harvest yet to come.

The members had a few other smart tussles with the wardens and the Government, battling like real tribunes of the people; now for a rain-proof house to sit in, and smooth forms to sit upon; now telling a resident-warden to mind his own business; and now calling on the Government to look after the court chairman, or the governor of the gaol. Indeed, it is not too much to affirm, that if the Parliament of the colony had been—in relation to the gold-fields—composed of men as honest in intention and as earnest in endeavor as have been the Local Courts and Mining Boards, the main industry of the country would not have so long suffered from the want of suitable laws. It is probable that the scandalous neglect by the Government and the Parliament was also owing, in some degree, to the sense of limited responsibility caused by the existence of local boards of legislature; and in this view it may fairly be said that the existing Mining Boards can in no way so well serve the mining interest as by securing their own abolition in assisting the central authorities to prepare one code of mining law for all Victoria.

The Mining Statute of 1865 created a new court, called "The Court of the Chief Judge of Courts of Mines", to be presided over by a judge of the Supreme Court. In its appellate jurisdiction the orders of the court were final. Besides appellate and original jurisdiction, special cases were reserved for the judge by the inferior courts. Mr. Justice Molesworth was appointed Chief Judge, and he held the office until his retirement from the bench.

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{Page 193}

CHAPTER VII.

DEVELOPMENT OF MINING.

Block and Frontage Claims.—Some Early Diggers.—Election Excitements.—Opposition to Extended Areas.—Such Opposition a Mistake.—Present Areas.—Progress of Mining Discoveries.—Increased Operative Difficulties.—Introduction of Machinery.—Luck in Digging.—Mining Agreements and Litigation.—The Egerton Case.—The Clunes Riot.—The Browns Leases.—Pleasant Creek Jumps.—Stink Pots.—Private Property Leases and Law.—Foreign Capital.—Sebastopol Drainage.—Prospecting Board.—Koh-i-Noor, Band and Albion Consols, Llanberris, and Black Hill Quartz Companies.—The Kingston Alluvial Field.—Gold Returns and Mining Statistics.—Pre-eminence of the Ballarat District.—Westgarth on the Purity of Ballarat Gold.—Assays of Ballarat Nuggets.—Table of Nugget Dates, Weights, and Localities.—Sebastopol Plateau Revival.—Increasing Proportion of Quartz Gold.—The Future to be Chiefly Quartz Mining.—The Corner.[—A Great Transition.]

Here, before going on with the story of development, may be mentioned a discovery made by the author since the first chapters of this new edition were printed. The story of the Golden Pointers has been told already, but a week before they reached the Point, a party of three from Geelong—John Smith, Joseph Asplin, and the late "Old Harry", of the North Grant livery stables—had left Hiscocks and followed the Yarrowee round to the Black Hill, passing by the rich Golden Point that was to be, to pitch their tents at the foot of the Black Hill. They began to dig at once at Devil's Point, but got very little gold, and by October their rations were exhausted, and they returned to Geelong and brought up their wives and a replenished commissariat. By that time there was no room for them at Golden Point, and they prospected about the Black Hill, getting gold from the quartz outcrop on the top and in some alluvial patches, but nothing heavy. Meanwhile came news of the Fryer's Creek rush, and nearly all the diggers at Ballarat rushed away to the new Pandora's box, the Black Hill trio following suit on New Year's Day, 1852. They did well at the rush, but eventually returned to Ballarat. "Old Harry" is dead, Asplin is settled elsewhere, and Smith, now 73 years old, who was burnt out a year or so ago, is now living on his old home site in a new house. He is a by no means rich man, but one who still leads an industrious life as the tiller of his own well-stocked terraced garden on the eastern slope of Seymour Crescent, whence he can look out upon the adjacent hill where his first tent was pitched and his first gold won, thirty-six years now gone. Close upon Smith and party's heels came others, amongst whom was William Bradford, who is still here, a hale old pioneer of 76 years, father of cycle-seller Bradford, who for many years has been busy in mining affairs, notably as legal manager of claims at Gordon, where his name is given to the Jones-Bradford Company.

There has been in many of the old diggers a strong development of what the phrenologists call "inhabitiveness". Like Smith and Bradford, they would cling with tenacity to the spots where they pitched their tents at first, let the currents of business, of settlement, or of mining drift as they may A similar doggedness of "inhabitive" pertinacity has often been shown by the old wifeless hatter, or lonely gold-hunter. The author has in his recollection one of that sort of invincible plodders with the lone hand. He bore one of the most ancient and most illustrious of English names, had been a Major in General Scott's corps during the Mexican war, and had then come to the Australian diggings. Year after year he followed the digger's vocation, at first in parties of other diggers, at last as the lonely hatter, was never successful, and never gave up hope. Grey hairs and deep furrows came with the long succession of luckless years, but his grey-blue eyes were still clear, and he still pursued his hobby of gold-hunting in the ranges, where he felt certain he would some day "come on it heavy". Alas, the years were heavy, but the gold light, and but for the kindly subsidies of old chums who were better off, the gallant old Major would not have been able to pursue the resultless battle so long as he has done; for, at the time of this writing, he is still carrying on the bootless quest.

Up to the year 1856 the block claim system had been exclusively the rule here. The original area of eight by eight feet per man, established by the Latrobe Government, was enlarged as the sinking increased in depth and the miners obtained the power to make their own regulations. But so long as the areas were small and fixed there was a great waste of labor, time, and money, as, out of a group of many claims, only a few could be put upon the gutter, or auriferous alluvium. In the first days of gutter-sinking, too, the miners sank only for the gutter, the value of the reefs, as the banks of the gutters were called, not having been at that time ascertained. This led to the abandonment of shafts and ground the moment the gutter itself was known to be outside such ground, and to the practice of "shepherding", or holding claims unworked pending the proving of the gutter course by the workings in more advanced claims. When, however, the ancient river-beds had been traced by the miner from their shallow sources into greater depths beneath the surface, the sinking of shafts became a more serious and more expensive business, and the waste accompanying chance-sinking became obvious so long as the areas remained too small to ensure the presence of the gutter. At length arose an agitation by some of the miners for the abolition of block claims on deep leads, and the adoption of the system of frontage or parallel areas, ensuring a given length of gutter to each claim. The proposal was warmly contested, and led to breaches of the peace and more general disturbance than had occurred since the affair of the Eureka Stockade. Mr. John Finlay first suggested the adoption of the frontage system in 1855 in letters to the Ballarat Star, under the signature of "Peeping Tom". Mr. Bacon, who was then in partnership with Mr. James Baker at Sebastopol, soon gave the proposition a more substantial form, and after that Mr. Baker espoused the cause so heartily, and fought for it so ably and so persistently in print and on platform, that he made the project peculiarly his own, and for a long time the frontage regulations were known as the Bakerian regulations. As already stated, the new scheme was opposed. The Sebastopol miners, who had to sink through rock to get to the gutter, felt the need of the protection from risk which the frontages promised, but the miners on the shallower and richer grounds of the older portion of Ballarat retained their liking for the old block system. The Local Court itself was divided upon the question, and resolved to refer the decision to the miners as an election issue. Bands of music, flags, and processions were a part of the outward and visible signs of commotion evoked by the issue raised. After preliminary election struggles, the members of the court resigned to test the question by a general ballot of the miners. A hustings was erected near the present site of the Ballarat gas works, and the result was a decisive victory for the frontage advocates. This was on the 14th July, 1856. The triumphant party raised a shout of victory as they moved off up the then open slope on the eastern side of Lydiard street, and the miners in the minority showed their sense of defeat by chasing their opponents up the slope and hurling blows and missiles in all directions. A riot seemed imminent, but mounted troopers rode up, dispersed the mob, and patrolled the streets to maintain the peace.

Since then the depth of mining has increased, and with it the areas of claims, while unforseen complications of titles arose as different gutters were discovered and frontage boundaries intersected each other. This led to a great deal of litigation, and as the original argument for frontage claims had lost its force when the extended areas ensured to each claim a portion of the gutter, there gradually arose a demand for the abolition of frontage and a return to blocks. This cycle was run in the course of one decade, and now all our deep lead mining companies have, wherever possible, converted their holdings into blocks, held, in many instances, by leases from the Crown, or by consolidated miner's-rights, the price of the ordinary right having been reduced from twenty to five shillings a-year.

The first proposals to largely extend the areas for mining claims were violently opposed, but events have justified the foresight of the advocates of extended areas, as immensely increased difficulties have made large outlay of capital necessary, and larger areas equally indispensable.

The areas tenable as mining claims under the bylaws of the Mining Board are limited by the bylaws, but areas held under lease are limited only by the terms of each lease. The latest bylaw of the Ballarat Mining Board limits a quartz claim area to 750 feet in width, with a length of 100 feet to each man. Alluvial claim areas are determined by the depth from the surface to the bed rock on which lies the golden drift or gutter. The latest bylaw ordains that a claim for one person shall be an area not exceeding half an acre, where the depth does not exceed 50 feet; over 50 and not over 100 feet, one acre; over 100 and not over 150 feet, two acres; over 150 and not over 200 feet, five acres; over 200 and not over 300 feet, nine acres; 300 to 400 feet, thirteen acres; over 400 feet, twenty acres. Unregistered claims may be occupied, one man having a right to 10,000 superficial feet in alluvial ground, and in quartz 50 feet along the lode by a width of 250 feet.

As was seen in the previous chapter, the Local Court had to take the Government to task for its inattention to some rules proposed in the matter of shepherding. There was cause for the Local Court interposing in the matter. On the 27th December, 1855, the Ballarat Star declared "we are not above the mark when we estimate the shepherds at 4000 or 5000 men, or about one-fourth of the population." But there was no frontage system then, nor areas large enough to warrant sinking on the areas then in vogue on the rock leads until the course of the gutter was known. Hence the dilemma. The miners had just traced the Frenchman's Lead beneath the Sebastopol plateau with its superincumbent deposits of clay and basalt. On the 26th December they held a meeting, and a proposal by Mr. Bacon, "that parties of twelve should have 34 feet allowed them along the supposed lead," was rejected in favor, not of a demand for larger areas, but of a petition to the Local Court "to propound rules which shall permit shepherding on this difficult lead, and obviate the deplorable consequences of jumping, riot, and tumult."

While all these legislative changes were going on, the character of mining operations underwent remarkable mutation. Excepting in old shallow grounds where the "hatter", as the single worker was called, or the small party of co-operative miners worked, the tub and cradle and windlass, those signs of early digging days, had disappeared. The alluvial gutters that had been found within the Ballarat East basin and on its sides, as well as those afterwards discovered on the western slopes, as White Horse, Frenchman's, Terrible, and Cobblers, had, by the year 1857, been traced beneath the basaltic deposits of the western plateau. Instead of having to sink through from 100 feet to 180 feet of diluvial clays and drifts merely, the miners now had to go in some cases more than double the greater depth, to blast through successive layers of dense basaltic rock, and to encounter heavy flows of water in the rocks and drifts. The Inkermann, Redan, and some tributaries still later discovered, belonged to the same category of rock mining, and involved similar difficulties and hazards.

The following table shows, approximately, the order of discovery after the year 1854. Before the dates given as to the leads mentioned there had been workings in the shallower portions, but the dates refer to the discovery of well-defined gutters or leads in the deeper ground:—

locality.	date.		| | | |	locality.	date.
Inkermann Lead	Early in	1855	| |	Esmond's Lead	August	1856
Red Streak Lead	March	1855	| |	Malakoff Lead	August	1856
Frenchman's Lead	June	1855	| |	Mount Pleasant Lead	August	1856
White Horse Lead	June	1855	| |	Miners Right Lead	September	1856
Asches Lead	June	1855	| |	Cobblers Lead	October	1856
Gum Tree Flat	July	1855	| |	Milkmaids Lead	November	1856
Terrible Lead	August	1855	| |	Redan Lead	End of	1856
One-eye Gully	September	1855	| |	A1 Lead	July	1857
Pennyweight Flat	September	1855	| |	Rush to Caringham	October	1857
Dead Horse	Early in	1856	| |	Haphazard Lead	Some time in	1857
Nightingale Lead	February	1856	| |	Swamp Lead	Ditto	1857
Golden Point Lead	May	1856	| |	Paddy's & Crawfish Leads	Ditto	1857
Caledonian Lead	June	1856	| |	Woolshed Lead	May	1858
Rush to Browns	June	1856	| |	Essex Lead	June	1858
Lady Barkly Lead	July	1856	| |	Native Youth Lead	July	1868

During the ten years after the Stockade year, a good deal of auriferous ground was opened down the valley of the Leigh as far as the Durham Lead. The Scotchman's, Black Lead, Stone Quarry, Sodawater, Devonshire, Goldseekers, Franklin, Victoria, and Welshman's Leads were during that time opened, as also the Union Jack and others at Buninyong. Well-defined leads in the Smythesdale, Scarsdale, Linton, Haddon, and some other fields in that part of the district were also discovered. Some of these last named, and Creswick likewise, have, with varying fortunes, continued to yield gold from deep gutters up to the present time.

Looking back at the earlier stages of practical mining, we see that, no longer able to carry on his vocation by mere manual labor and simple co-operative organisation, the miner had to invite the co-operation of capital and to employ expensive steam machinery. On the Eureka the first engine was worked on 3rd October, 1855, and before that date isolated attempts to use steam power had been made at the Canadian, Red Hill, and Red Streak, Peter Matthews at the Red Hill being the first to set up pumping and puddling gear, and on a principle pretty closely adhered to from that day to the present time. For a long time the miners opposed the introduction of machinery and capital. Mr. Wood tells us, in his notes published in Mr. Brough Smyth's "Gold-fields of Victoria", that when Messrs. Talbot and others put up an engine near the spot now intersected by Bridge and Peel streets, to work a shaft on the Gravel Pits Flat there, "a body of men proceeded to the claim for the purpose of smashing the engine, but were prevented from doing so by Mr. Talbot, who had provided himself with fire-arms, and threatened to shoot the first man who approached." Some few years after this, namely, in March, 1859, engines and horses were introduced below the surface. The Burra Burra Company erected a four-horse power engine below for hauling, and it was reported at that time that thirty pounds weight of gold were taken from the excavation made for the erection of the engine—an area of thirty feet by seven. At the same date a Welsh Company in Paddy's Gully, Winter's Flat, used horses below ground. Since then both engines and horses have been used in several of the larger mines.

So long as the grounds worked were shallow and rich the opposition to machinery was in some sort tenable, but as soon as gold-seeking assumed the features already described as belonging to rock-lead mining, the use of capital and machinery became a necessity. The eight feet square claim, bottomed at from two to twelve feet, and exhausted in as many hours sometimes, when Governor Latrobe first saw the gold hunters of Golden Point in 1851, has been followed by areas of hundreds of acres, held by hundreds of shareholders in incorporated companies, a single claim often worked by several large deep shafts, at each of which is an extensive plant of steam machinery, with the best possible shaft apparatus, the mine traversed by a network of tunnels and tramways, and taking many years to exhaust even approximately of its auriferous deposits. The tub, cradle, tom, whip, and whim are out of date and inapplicable to the claims now held by our large rock-lead companies, save only that the windlass or the whim is still sometimes used in initial operations. Many thousands of pounds sterling are spent in the mines of to-day before gold is ever reached by the miner. The United Hand-in-Hand and Band of Hope Company was said, by deputations before the Government, to have expended over �300,000 without having paid a dividend. Whole forests have been felled to supply firewood to our steam engines, and timber for the mines below. Our companies call for tons of candles at a time, and in some instances have gas to light up the dark recesses of their mines To draw the trucks of ore along the extensive iron roads in their mines they have studs of horses snugly housed in the warm bowels of the earth. Engineers, engine-drivers, clerical managers, clerks, mine managers, captains of shifts, troops of miners, boards of directors, all belong to the working staff of our mines of to-day. The surface works at a single shaft involve an outlay of thousands of pounds in some instances, where there are engines, boilers, tramways on the ground, tramways in the air, lofty poppet-heads, with braces supported by ponderous beams and uprights, and housing to shelter all the costly portions of the plant. In the sinking of a single shaft many thousands of pounds are sometimes expended. The outlay is similar in many instances, whether the mine be a quartz or alluvial one, and in several of our mines, as notably in the Prince of Wales mine, Sebastopol, both quartz and alluvium were worked, the steam-driven iron batteries working simultaneously with the steam-driven iron puddlers in extracting the gold from the original matrix and the alluvium respectively.

Improvements in Machinery—the First Horse Puddler, Pennyweight Flat, Ballaarat, 1853.

Of the luck of gold digging the history of the early years was full. A few instances of the early fifties are all we have room for here. John Hosking and party, eight in all, had taken up ground on the Red Streak, near Poverty Point, and, after shepherding several shafts awhile, left the ground, as the gutter appeared to be in a different direction. The party were strolling down the Main road one day, and Hosking, who still had some faith in the claim, proposed to Frank Kneebone, one of his mates, that they should toss up to decide whether or not they should go back and work the claim. A half-crown was thrown and Hosking won the toss. To work they went, and in nine weeks took out 192 lbs. some odd ounces of gold. This was from part only of a 24 feet square claim, for the party left the reef unworked, and a second party, who bought the claim after Hosking's crowd had done, took out near �500 a man. As was the custom in those days, Hosking's party threw away the headings, or top part of the wash dirt, until they found that Chinese were washing it greedily. Testing it they discovered that it paid well, and after that they washed all the dirt. Hosking and his son went home with �3,300 after a sojourn in Ballarat of only a year and nine months in all. It appears that the Indicator strike of gold passes through the claim on the Red Streak whence Hosking and his mates took so much of the precious metal, and that helps to explain its richness. Wood's "Notes" tell us that one party of six obtained 112 lb. of gold in ten weeks. Belcher and party of eight made �3000 each in four months. Eight Frenchmen obtained �2500 each in five months. The "Hell Fling Mob" obtained a similar amount each, and the "Sanctified Mob" �1500 each. These are only specimens. The working of the Eureka, Red Hill, and Canadian gutters, with their "Jewellers' Shops", their nuggets, their rich "pockets", their reefs or gutter-banks, often as rich as the gutters, supplied many instances of large individual successes. Now we go on with the development of mining.

Some documentary evidence before the author as he writes illustrates the development of operative mining partnership, from the Golden Point days of a few select friends working together to the modern times of large incorporated companies, as also the big equity suits which were a part of the modern phase of mining. The first mining agreement extant is dated 22nd September, 1851, is brief, plain, pithy, and signed by James Scott, John Armstrong, George Maynard, William Blaikie, Henry Duncan, and Thomas Butler, a party from Geelong. There is nothing specially notable in it, but clause 2 provides "that we do agree to abstain from digging or searching for gold on the Sabbath day" and clause 4 "that any person being found intoxicated shall forfeit the sum of �5, and for the second offence shall be expelled, should a majority of the party request it, and shall accept of such terms as the remaining portion of the party may deem just and equitable." One of the party—presumed to be Duncan—gave place to Alexander Fyffe, who filled a public space afterwards in Geelong life. The provisions as to Sunday work and temperance show how at the very start of the gold-fields there were men who had in them the religious sense and common sense, qualities which have been as saving salt in all the after years of change, toil, trouble, and turbulence. The next agreement bears date 8th October, 1851, and is signed by H.T. Bond, Alfred Higgins, James Curtis, Jno. Francis, Alfred John Windley, Wm. Morrison, Alfred Scott, James Watt, all of Geelong and neighborhood. It is a much more elaborate paper than the first one, and has a smack of legal lore in the wording, though nearly all the subscribers were printers. It bound the subscribers "for two calendar months from the date hereof for the purpose of digging or procuring gold or other mineral at Ballarat or at such other place as may be determined only a majority of the members of the Association." The rules were precise for the maintenance of sobriety and integrity, and for the due deposit and division of gold, the treasurer being W. Morrison, a relative of ex-mayor A.T. Morrison, of Ballarat City. The John Francis of the signatories became proprietor of the Creswick Advertiser, and was one day found dead in a water hole at Sulky gully where he had apparently fallen on his way home at night. The James Curtis has been for years in business, as printer and stationer, in Armstrong street.

The next document is a printed half sheet of foolscap containing the Albion Co.'s rules, introducing us, still under the cooperative system, to the half shareman who by that time had come to be common in deep sinking work, where capital was necessary and was represented by the "sleeping" half shareholder, or by the "furnisher" who supplied materials of some kind, and had a sleeping interest in the "mine", as the earlier "claim" had come to be called. It is a "Memorandum of Agreement, Rules, and Regulations, made and entered into this twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven between the undermentioned miners, being the shareholders working the claims numbered 115 to 123 (surveyed under class F of the regulations Gazetted 9th January 1857) on the Frenchman's Lead, Sebastopol Hill, in the District of Ballarat." The rules create a board of nine, to conduct the company's affairs, one of the nine to be chosen by the company as manager to "carry into effect all rules and decisions of the board." A secretary was to be similarly chosen from the nine who were to audit his books every Saturday and see that a "monthly balance sheet shall be posted up in the Albion Lodge for the inspection of the shareholders." Then came rules for registration of shares, half shares, and so on, for fines for breaches of rules, for payment of 100 per cent. per an. on unpaid fines, and 50 per cent. per an. on wages paid on account of an absent shareholder. Only necessary work to be done on Sundays, and "no fossicking unless by the sanction of three or more of the Board." Excellent provisions were made for order, for safety in working and for a world of necessary details, and further, "this company shall engage two or three beds in the Ballarat Hospital for the benefit of sick or otherwise disabled shareholders."

Our next and last specimen is a big bundle of twenty-one parchment folios, with an aggregate area of twenty-one feet by one and-a-half. This portentous heap is in orthodox legal form, illuminated with red ink lines, seals nearly as "big as muffins", to quote the words once used by barrister (now judge) Cope, when appearing in a Local Court case a few years before the creation of these "Articles of Agreement made and entered into this twenty fifth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty four" between Frederick William Tatham, as legal manager, and the Prince of Wales Co., on the Cobblers Lead, Sebastopol. This bundle of very expensive parchment brings us into the epoch of mining scrip, mining disputes, lawyers, litigation, and heavy bills of costs. It is, itself, a monument of litigation, for it is initialed here and there as an exhibit by the clerk of the Court of Mines at the several dates when the unhappy company had to appear and be duly shorn by the shearers. It provides, with the tedious tautology so dear to lawyers, for the constitution of the board and all its functions, and all the rights and liabilities of the shareholders. There are schedules, and forms of transfer and acceptance of scrip, showing that the company was registered as the Prince of Wales Company (Limited), under 24 Victoria, No. 109 (Pyke's Act), in 2560 shares of �50 each. Three or four superficial feet of the parchment are covered with the names and seals of the shareholders; broad margins with notes and numbers guide the eye, and red lines bound the whole as if blushing at the enormous expenditure of words and costs. Then follow on "further agreements" in German and other text, bearing date 9th January, 1865, and setting forth that the company is re-formed as the Prince of Wales Company, Registered, with a capital of �128,000, in 5170 shares of �75 each, �22 10s. per share paid up. More superficial feet than before are now covered with signatures, seals, schedules and other painful details. These folios recite a schedule, showing the company's property representing the paid up capital, namely:—

Frontage claim, Cobblers Lead, 4228 feet for 64 men. Frontage claim, Golden Point Lead, 2795 feet for 75 men. Frontage claim, Prince of Wales Lead, 3000 feet for 41 men. A quartz block claim, Cobblers Reef, 3000 feet by 500 feet for 64 men. An alluvial block claim, S.C. Mobeck and 63 others, 2000 by 640 feet. An alluvial Block claim, Augustus Sheppard and party,— men, 1320 by 760 feet, �105,000. One quartz battery of 16 head of stamps. One 50 Horse power steam engine, winding engine, 25 Horse power engine and three puddling machines, Office houses, outhouses, machine house, Engine house, Battery house. Blacksmith's shop, Storeroom, Firewood 2000 Cord, Rails, Ropes, Chain Ropes, Large pump and small surface pump. Long Tom, Cradle �10,200. Total, �115,200.

Then follows the usual array of signatures and seals to this new departure, and after that we come to a fresh set of folios under date 15th November, 1866, setting forth that "at two of the clock P.M. a majority in number and value of the shareholders being present" at an extraordinary meeting, the capital was increased to �208,575, in 8343 shares of �25 each; the same to be "increased" by giving to the Albion Company 3223 shares of �25 each in settlement of that company's claim for ground taken by the Prince of Wales Company. This was the last and biggest burst of the company in the matter of parchment display. There is twice as much space covered with signatures and share details this time as ever before, and the absence from some folios of previous columns of tiny seals is compensated for by two great crimson ones of nearly the dimensions of the Cope-muffin type. But there was also a new feature in the form of a photograph of a weird-looking, scratchy, pen and ink sketch of intricate claim-boundaries, showing the involved lines of the manifold frontage systems, a memorandum of apportionment of scrip, the signatures of the contracting directors, and two little black seals as symbols of the two companies, in settlement of what was too often a business too dark for satisfactory apprehension. Another extraordinary meeting followed on the 30th July, 1869, reducing the number of directors from nine to seven, and at another on the 2nd December, 1870, as set forth in several folios, the directors were empowered to forfeit and sell shares on which calls had remained unpaid seven days. This regulation is signed by "John Embling, chairman of the meeting", and underneath, and ending this strange eventful history of corporate and regulational change, we have the following relatively brief finial, but still in big black German and other text:—

At a meeting of the company duly held, it was moved by Mr. George Coleman Robinson, seconded by Mr. James Slater and carried, That the minutes of Resolutions passed on the 2nd day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy be confirmed. John Dane, Chairman of the meeting, F.W. Tatham, Manager of the Company.

Although there is no date to this last bit, it was probably a record of what took place at an ordinary or special meeting as soon as the other was over, and as legally necessary as a sequence to what went before. Amid all the paroxysms of change, in all the exits and entrances of signatories set out in this waste of sheepskin, there is one constant person. He is like Tennyson's brook. "F.W. Tatham, manager", goes on from start to finish. The first agony in 1864 was that of passing from the primitive condition of co-operation to that of incorporation under Statute, with the original shares converted into scrip. In this process there had to be a larger number of scrip given to the holders of sleeping shares, halves, quarters, eighths, or what not, than to the holders of working interests, as these last had to work or pay for substitutes, while the holder of the sleeping interest had no labor liability. Thus, in the first issue of scrip by the Prince of Wales Company, a full original share was made into 40 scrip, of which the sleeping half had 24, and the working half 16. So the Great Extended Company, Redan, turned its shares into 60 scrip, and gave 34 to the sleeping and 26 to the working holder. The apportionment of interests in the Nelson and Wellington Company, under the Limited Liability Act, in 5570 scrip, on the 4th August, 1864, was 40 scrip to each of 139� twelfth shares. But some holders had 10ths in the original partition, and received 50 scrip; others originally had 8ths, and received 60 scrip; whilst 58 scrip were allotted to each original share in the Bullock Horn claim, absorbed in the Nelson and Wellington. The difference in market value of working and sleeping interests will be seen in the following prices advertised on the 19th August, 1862, by S. Goujon, sharebroker:—

One full Nelson 10th, �2100; a square half Nelson, �1050; a sleeping quarter 8th Nelson, �675. On the same date Michael Walsh advertised:—One Albion, �1850; � working Albion, �675; � sleeping Great Extended, �1700; � working ditto, �1400; 1 Cosmopolitan, �1900; � sleeping ditto, �1150; � working ditto, �760; quarter 12th Nelson, �350; 1 Prince of Wales, �2000; � working ditto, �800; 1 great Republic, �900; � sleeping ditto, �600.

The year 1864 was the first year in which these transformations took place. Then, too, began the larger and more complex and more costly disputes, weary equity suits bristling with attorneys and barristers, and with costs incurred in coursing from court to court. Titles became more involved as local regulations and statutory law gave opportunities to "jumpers" who discovered that somebody's miner's right had expired, or somebody never had one, or found flaws in the mode in which a claim had been measured, or pegged out, or registered, or worked. The Prince of Wales Company paid large sums for clerical labor alone in connection with such difficulties, and that was but the poor fringe to an aggregate of over �13,000 costs for encroachment and other disputes.

If an old Golden Point digger of 1851, looking into his little shallow hole, rich as a jeweller's shop, or, as bullock-driver Hannington says, like a ginger-bread basket, had seen below, in the uprising future, the long law suits and the monstrous bills of costs, the worry, the waste of time and energy, he would have recoiled in horror. Affrighted by the vision he would, surely, have fled with foot as fleet as fabled Mercury's, and left all the gilded promises of the unknown for the more sober certainties of a less fascinating, but more certain, industry. The sacred thirst broke out very early in claim disputes, and it is only within the last few years that mining has come to be less heavily weighted with law and lawyers. The period of Local Court and Mining Board regulations was the halcyon time of the attorneys and barristers and their prompters the jumpers, but as frontages gave way to blocks, and as the leads reached private property and leaseholds came into vogue, litigation grew less and less, and the exhausting journeys from Court of Mines, to the Supreme Court, and from there to the Privy Council were almost mere matters of history. Nothing but the great richness of the mines saved the litigant period from being one of general ruin. The Prince of Wales Company obtained its first gold in 1860, some 63 ozs. being won up to 20th September of that year. Altogether the company obtained 164,874 ozs. of alluvial gold and 44,196 ozs. of quartz gold, and, after surviving all its costly transformations and disputes, paid �250,894 in dividends to its long suffering shareholders.

More famous suits were those of the United Hand-in-Hand and Band of Hope, the Great Extended Redan, and the Kohi-noor Companies, a kind of triangular battle over registration rights to gutters which raged for years, rolled from court to court and, after an outlay of �60,000 in law, ended, as such disputes often did, in a compromise. For a time the combat was, generally, � outrance, [23] and even the mathematics ceased in such conditions to be an exact science. Surveyors, theodolites, calculations, the very properties of the angle and the circle seemed to dissolve into thin air in the heat of those conflicts, and distance, number, weight, color depended, it would often seem, on the side for which the witness was called. The arena was one in which the builder up of bills of costs found his vocation abnormally easy, and the mining disputants bled with alacrity. But sometimes the victim turned upon the operator and criticised the demands made. Before us lies a printed address of James Cotter, the manager of the Hand and Band Company, with regard to a suit by Hardy and Madden, solicitors, "for recovery of �288 claimed by them as a refund due in respect of their 1,152 shares." The solicitors won their case. Cotter was a tall, spare. Irishman, with a quaint solemn medi�val-like face liable to sudden lights of intelligent humor. His face reminded one of those dull, saintly, effigies in old church windows, sadly serene in shadow, almost severe in their immobile expression, then suddenly a glint of sunlight comes and the figure is brighter with radiant aureoles of a new and vivid and almost articulate life. Him, the Court of Mines judge, Rogers, used to regard as a witness conspicuous for veracity, and Cotter held that the appellate judge, Molesworth, "failed to grasp the actual merits" of his (Cotter's) evidence on the bill of costs, and thus "through some error or mistake, quite inexplicable, arrived at an erroneous, though no doubt a conscientious, judgment." The dispute is cited merely to show how far the uncertainties of law in mining matters could extend, and specially, how the bills of costs arose. To that one firm of lawyers the company paid �5,551 7s. 3d. for a suit that dangled from January 1875 to August 1879 between the Ballarat Court of Mines and the London Privy Council. From Trinity Term to Michaelmas, to Hillary, to Easter, to Trinity again, the game was kept up in that particular suit in which the solicitors in question acted for the company in the Victorian Courts and by their London agent in the Privy Council appeal, and Cotter publishes the items charged by the London solicitor and by the Ballarat firm, the auditors finding a difference of �124 18s. 6d. between the two accounts. Bat the �5000 odd was only an item in the general sum of costs in one of these long-winded suits, as from �40,000 to �50,000 was sometimes the price paid for the luxury of a good stand-up fight in equity.

The Band of Hope & Albion Consols Battery at N^o 7A & 10 Shafts, Ballarat.

Of all the celebrated mining suits here, the most celebrated was that known as the Egerton case, in which Messrs. A.J.L., T.L., and S.L. Learmonth, the Ercildoun squatters, who had purchased the Egerton mine in 1863, and in 1873 sold it by their S.L. Learmonth to Martin Loughlin for �13,500, sued said Loughlin, William Bailey, James Williamson, Owen Edward Edwards, and an unnamed contingent called the Egerton Company. Bailey had been the plaintiffs' mine manager, and sold, as their agent, to Loughlin, joining Loughlin, Williamson, and Edwards thereupon as equal partner. The plaintiffs' case in effect was that these four defendants had played a comedy of fraud, in which Bailey, the confidential adviser and agent of the plaintiffs, who was said to have wept under pressure of antecedent gratitude for Learmonth favors, and Loughlin, the purchaser, were star actors, and Williamson, manager of the Union Bank, Ballarat, where the purchasing cheques were honored, and Edwards, a broker at the Corner, performed the parts of general utility men, whilst at the back of the stage was a chorus of nondescripts who held 1000 of the 25,000 scrip into which the chief actors had converted their original shares. But if the chief plaintiff felt the logically dramatic significance of his case, how the iron must have entered his soul. For there had been that tender and touching prologue to the play in the form of an interview between the confidential manager and his employer, in which the former softening, as it would seem, and almost

became, for one short, soft moment, "like Niobe, all tears."

The plaintiffs brought their suit in equity before Mr. Justice Molesworth, and it subsequently took the form, before Chief Justice Stawell and a special jury of twelve, of the live following issues to be tried as an interlocutory proceeding:—

I. That the quartz contained in the mine, the subject matter of this suit, before or on the 15th day of September, 1873, was richer in gold than the defendant William Bailey represented to the plaintiff Sommerville Livingstone Learmonth. II. That the defendant William Bailey did make a representation to the plaintiff, S.L. Learmonth, of the value of the quartz in the said mine, or of the value of the said mine false and to the knowledge of the said defendant, and with the intention of inducing the plaintiff to sell the said mine at an under value. III. That the plaintiff, S.L. Learmonth, was induced by the representations of the defendant, W. Bailey, as to the value of the said mine or quartz therein to sell the mine to the defendant, M. Loughlin, for the sum of �13,500. IV. That there was on or previously to the 15th day of September, 1873, an agreement or arrangement between the defendant, M. Loughlin, and W. Bailey that the defendant, W. Bailey, should have a share of the said mine after the sale thereof by the plaintiffs to the defendant, M. Loughlin. V. That both the defendants, J. Williamson, and O.E. Edwards, or one of them knew of the existence of such agreement or arrangement at the time of their or his entering into a bargain for the purchase of the mine.

The four chief defendants represented the four quarters of the Imperial flag, and were all then in prime middle age. Bailey was a tallish, light-complexioned, stoop-shouldered Saxon Englishman. Loughlin was over six feet high, a dark complexioned Irishman, with, perhaps, a strain of Hispano-Galway blood in him. Williamson was a Scotchman, of broad make and middle height, and fair complexion, one of Green's north of Tweed English. Edwards was a light, mobile, middle-height Welshman, who spoke good English with a Cambrian accent. Their answer to the plaintiffs' suit was, in effect, that they were all as innocent as new born babes. The poverty of the mine before the sale, and its richness after the sale, were not coincidences of the type so delicately hinted at by Mr. Weller, senior, but were events honest and true, irrefragable as the postulated innocence of infancy. And so, in sooth, they may have been. Mining luck is full of such sudden changes.

S.L. Learmonth deposed that Loughlin had written on 1st September, asking if the mine was for sale, and Learmonth, remembering some former advice of Bailey's, replied that he would sell for �50,000. Then, communicating with Bailey, Learmonth was advised to sell for �12,000, as the mine had been yielding poorly, and was only worth three years' purchase, Bailey saying that he would not give more if he had a cart load of gold. Upon this Bailey was authorised to sell, and did sell to Loughlin for �13,500, receiving from Learmonth 5 per cent. commission on the sale. Then the quadrilateral partnership was formed, the company floated in 25,000 scrip, the quad holding nearly all the scrip, and the output from the mine began to improve almost immediately, Bailey admitting in the witness-box that up to the date of the suit (14th March, 1876), he had received as his share of the gold "about �30,000". The defence set forth a denial of the allegations in the five cited issues, and an averment that "the rich stone after the sale was owing to the discovering of the new reef in the Rose (shaft)." Each side employed four barristers, and the case was opened on the 14th March, 1876, before Chief Justice Stawell and a special jury of twelve. Witnesses of all classes from all parts of the colony gave evidence; plans and models were used in profusion, and the public interest excited was great, as the allegations and denials were often very strongly opposed, and in the popular mind the unpopularity of the rich squatter plaintiffs was pretty well balanced by the fact of the sudden change in the mine's value after the mine had gone from their possession. On the 3rd April the judge summoned up to the jury; the jury could not agree, not even a majority of three-fourths, and they were discharged.

Mr. Dovan, one of the jurymen, said at the close of the judge's charge that he wished to make a statement which he considered a duty to himself and his fellow jurymen. "Last Wednesday evening a fellow came up to him in the interest of the defendants and offered him �250 to stand out and give a verdict on their side, and told him at the same time that they only wanted one to complete the number to form a disagreement." When the jury had announced their final failure to agree the judge said to Dovan:—"Can you recognise the person you said spoke to you f Dovan replied:—"Yes, I can give his name." His Honor then discharged the jury.

The defendants won the battle along the whole line, injunction motions, issues, everything, for when the plaintiffs made another essay to get back the mine they fared worse, the jury finding for the defendants on all the issues. Disconcerted, but not yet vanquished, the plaintiffs obtained leave to appeal to the Privy Council, but after a while began to treat with the defendants. This sent the defendant company's shares up 5s. and, as it was calculated that an absolute settlement would enhance their value 200 or 300 per cent., the defendants agreed to forego all claim for costs, which were estimated at �26,000. The dispute was settled on these terms, the plaintiffs' costs being about �50,000 or �60,000 of which, if rumor were not a liar, not less than �15,000 was paid to one man to act as general overseer of the fight for them.

This was the heaviest single suit in all Ballarat Mining litigation. It seemed to close the belligerent period that followed upon the advent of large companies and frontage complications—the halcyon time of the unscrupulous jumper and the fruitful source of disputes; just as the largest and most disastrous of the Ballarat conflagrations closed the specially igneous period of old Ballarat. Cotter, who had large experience in law-fights, argues in favor of the union of the two branches of the profession as a mode of cheapening law. He says that when Barrister M'Dermott returned to Victoria from New Zealand he consulted with clients without the attorney go-between, and he was boycotted by the attorneys for a while. But his action, according to Cotter's statement, reduced the cost of counsel's opinion from �12 to �2 13s. 4d., or in the case of Mr. Webb (now Mr. Justice Webb) to �3 13s. 4d.

The Honorable Thomas Livingstone Learmonth, M.L.C., had been taken away, by Providence or a desire to settle for his latter days in the old land, from the evil days of litigation which had come upon his brother Somerville in person as the remaining representative of the firm. Thomas was a public man, and a religious and charitable man, in a more prominent sense than any of his brothers, and when he left the colony for Britain there was a public recognition of his personal worth as an old colonist and dutiful citizen. On the 6th October, 1868, a soiree was given in his honor in the hall of the Mechanics' Institute, the late Robert Lewis presiding, and addresses expressive of remembrance of his many public services, his large enterprise, and his much appreciated philanthropy, were presented to the guest. One was on behalf of "the inhabitants of Ballarat and the surrounding districts," and another was from the Agricultural and Pastoral Society. The former referred to the changes Mr. Learmonth had seen since he first settled in the district, and in reply he said:—"You have alluded to the wonderful changes I have seen. They are indeed wonderful, for within twenty years I have seen a flock of sheep, tended by its solitary shepherd, feeding on the very spot on which this stately hall is built, and where this busy city, with its golden treasures, is carrying on the business and bustle of life."

The Browns leases dispute was a turbulent instance of the conflict of claims arising out of conflicting mine boundaries, and the costly uncertainty of mining law. Within four years after the Eureka Stockade the leasing disputes occurred, and revived for a time the excitement which had glared up over the frontage regulations issue at the Mining Board election on the 14th July, 1856. The dispute at Browns was caused by the granting, under leasing regulations gazetted on the 23rd December, 1858, of a lease to Duncan and party, known as the Great Britain Company. The lease was of an area 1200 feet square, or 33 acres, on the Contest Lead, in the Smythesdale Division of the district, and it was opposed by 96 miners forming the Washington, Banner of War, Better Late than Never, and Victoria Companies. The lead was proclaimed in November, 1857, under the frontage bylaws, and claims were duly registered; but many were soon abandoned, and then they were taken up with extended areas under regulations existing for that purpose, the subsequently leased area being one of the areas so taken up on the 1st September, 1858, taken up with the increased area as a protection under the plea of prospecting for the lead ahead of the last known place of the gutter. We have no space for all desirable particulars, and it must suffice to say that after great excitement, questionings of bylaws by the warden, Lowther, costly suits in the courts, incipient riots, the lessees were forcibly put in possession by Crown Lands Commissioner Sherard and sixty foot and twenty-five mounted troopers on the 25th May, 1859. A Select Committee of Parliament sat on the business afterwards, and found that all the facts in the lease affair had not been officially presented to the Government, and that though the bylaws of the Mining Board were of doubtful legality, still, "if Mr. Warden Lowther had duly and properly carried out the bylaws, no dispute would have arisen; and if he had reported all the facts to the Government, the Government would not have deemed it just or politic to grant the leases." The anti-lessees claimed compensation for losses to the extent of �12,256, and the Select Committee recommended compensation to the ninety-six miners interested, but Parliament declined to adopt the advice thus given, and all the compensation obtained by the miners was �30 a man paid by the lessees in settlement of the dispute.

There were a few Chinese gold digging in Ballarat as early as 1852, but there was no rising of the "yellow agony" in the district till the year 1873, when a dispute at Clunes led to a disturbance of the peace on the 9th December. There had been a strike of the miners employed in the Lothair mine, as the directors refused to give a Saturday afternoon holiday shift as was generally the custom. The directors pleaded that the miners had no right to demand a holiday shift without a rateable reduction of the two guineas a week wage, and, moreover, that as the Lothair mine was in wet and swelling alluvial country the works could not be safely left idle as if it were a dry quartz mine. There was a long series of palavers between the disputants and finally the miners struck work, supported therein by the Association then formed there. The directors of the mine, including Mr. Francis (then Premier), and Mr. Lalor, the whilom hero of freedom, &c., at the Eureka Stockade, decided to counter-plot against the strikers by employing Chinese labor, of which Creswick and Ballarat offered an ample supply. The Chinese were detested as an inferior race, as the harbingers of degrading pagan immorality, and as alien competitors for the bread which the miners required for themselves and families. By Monday, the 8th December, the miners had information respecting the employment of Chinese, and at once made a demonstration in force. About 500 men of the Miners Association, headed by the Clunes Brass Band, and armed with pick-handles, battens, and waddies marched about the town, many women accompanying them. At midnight the fire bell was rung, and the crowd went to the Lothair mine, ordered up the few men who were still below, and when they refused and could not be found in the mine the shaft was covered over and cages lowered upon the covering. The crowd then put ropes round a building prepared for the Chinese and pulled it down. Daylight of the 9th soon dawned, the bells were rung again, and over a thousand men, women, and children moved to the toll-gate on the Creswick road, and took possession of it and the contiguous fences. Lothair directors were approaching with a caravan of Chinese and police, but hearing of the hostile crowd turned off by the Tourella road to enter Clunes by the Ballarat road, and the miners at once rushed across to the new line of march and erected a barricade of timber, stones, ploughs, harrows, ropes and other obstructions. The caravan, headed by a coach driven by McPhee, its owner, by whose side sat Sergeant Larner, of the police, rapidly approached the barricade. A storm of missiles from the defenders of the barricade poured upon the caravan, and so heavy was the onslaught upon the Chinese that the police had to abandon their attempt to carry the barricade and return to the beleagured caravan. An order to retreat was given, and the caravan turned back on the way it came. The Sandhurst miners caught the excitement, and threatened to march to the aid of their brethren at Clunes. Mr. Blanchard, the mayor of Clunes, who was also president of the Miners' Association, and Mr. Phillips, M.L.A. espoused the action of the miners, the more emotional of the commentators in the Press championed their doings, and some were silly enough to compare the riot to the stand made at the Eureka Stockade. This was not wonderful if not very wise, for the business was a medley of conflicting legal and moral rights. The Lothair directors were within the law, and the rioters were violating the law. But the miners had the whole moral weight of the argument on their side, and if the Lothair directors had shown more tact they would, probably, have found it as easy to carry on the mine as other Clunes managements had carried on theirs. The refusal of concession was a blunder, the employment of Chinese was a blunder, and the sending an armed police escort was a blunder. This was felt by the authorities, and so it was that nobody was prosecuted, and even the anomaly of the mayor being also a rioter, or an apologist of the rioters, was passed over.

The jumper—so called from the primitive digger who jumped into an unoccupied shallow hole—has always been one of the troubles of mining life. He sometimes was honest and did good work, and sometimes was a rogue and did great wrong. The Pleasant Creek jumps of 1872-3 were famous for the excitement they created all over Victoria. Ballarat men were the jumpers, and they sought to get possession of quartz ground at Stawell, on the plea that it had been shepherded for ten years. The shepherds were rich, and there was a great fight in the courts, besides threats of physical force disturbances. Public meetings were held in Ballarat and elsewhere, a "Pleasant Creek Jumps Company" was formed, and after a long struggle the wealthy shepherds made terms with the chief jumpers, paid their costs, and got back the ground, to the great disgust of the general body of shareholders in the Jumps Company.

One of the uglier forms of mining dispute was the physical force tactics sometimes adopted by the disputants and the men in their employment. These methods were, in underground encroachment cases, sometimes dangerous to health and life. Drives were barricaded and defended vi et armis. [24] Sometimes water was let out to overwhelm the enemy, and sometimes stink pots were used. The encroachment dispute between the Prince of Wales and Albion Companies in 1866 was made infamous by the use of stink pots. The legal manager of the Prince of Wales Company writes:—

On account of its being such a serious crime, and hard to bring home to the real offenders, the prosecution was abandoned. I believe we could have proved who it was that purchased the deleterious drugs which were placed in our drives to prevent the men working, and which, if not discovered in time, would most certainly have destroyed more lives than one. The modus operandi [25] was simple enough, though I cannot say what drug was used; probably acetic acid, such as the plumbers use. I did not see it, but I can imagine a quantity poured into a vessel with copper scraps.

The latest jumping essay of special significance was an attempt in December, 1886, by near a hundred men to get possession "of that portion of the Band and Albion Consols claim, known as the No. 9 lease, and on which is the No. 9 shaft." Consols stock fell a few shillings in the market at once, but revived next day, and nothing more was heard of the business, save a plea by the jumpers that they only applied for some private property lots. The attempt and not the deed confounded them.

Three decades had gone, after the gold discovery, before a law was passed to legalise mining on private property, but scarce one had passed when mining leases on private property were in vogue. The first in the Ballarat district was for the Learmonth pre-emptive at Buninyong, applied for by Messrs. D. FitzPatrick, S. Irwin, and J. Victor, who also were the earliest appointed justices of the peace in Ballarat. That application fell through, and a lease of the ground was obtained by H. Cuthbert, solicitor, since then a member of the Legislative Council and a member of several Cabinets. In 1860 D. and P. FitzPatrick obtained a lease of Egan's Corinella Estate, near Daylesford, and after that mining leases became common both on private and on Crown lands. But the agitation for a private property law went on, and for the course of some thirty years Ballarat fought hard at intervals in mining boards, and committees, and in the press, but the question was shelved by the Parliament. For the people who voted and paid were "mostly fools", and the game went on till the political state of the country was so rank and corrupt that even manhood suffrage began to stir itself and call for reform. Then came the era of railway and civil service boards to restrict political patronage, and with these things there also came a law to legalise mining on private property.

Some of the Australian mining ventures were floated wholly or in part upon capital obtained in Great Britain. Excepting the Port Phillip Quartz Mining Company, of which mention is made hereafter, the only notable local instance of that kind was the Winter's Freehold Company which Mr. (now Colonel) W.C. Smith went to London, in 1868, to launch. A farewell banquet was given to him on the 9th September of that year, in the Alfred Hall, Mayor Davey, of Ballarat West, presiding, and the occasion was made the vehicle for conveying to Mr. Smith very hearty recognitions of his many and valuable services to Ballarat as municipal councillor, mining promoter, and parliamentary representative. With Mr. Smith, went to London Mr. Ligar, ex-surveyor general of Victoria, and Mr. Thomas Carpenter, a mining engineer, but the embassy was in the main a failure. The ambassadors were nobodies in London, and their bait was not attractive enough to the London Exchange. All that was done was to leave the project in the hands of broker Thomas Dicker, of the Mining Record, who placed 1,455 of the 12,960 shares composing the company's stock. This was, in fact, the third and final company. First, there was a company for boring for the lead, and that began to bore in October, 1866. Then a company to purchase the land was formed, an area of 1,360 acres being bought from Mr. John Winter for �50,000 cash, near �40 an acre being paid for land whose intrinsic value was about �3 an acre only. The company ceased mining in September, 1877, after spending �390,000, and having at the close of operations a debit balance of �33,000 at the Bank of Victoria. The bank, in fact, foreclosed, took possession, carried on the mine for eighteen months, and then the mine was abandoned. During its operations the company raised �89,518 14s. 8d. worth of gold. The bank raised very little comparatively, and only partially recouped itself by the sale of plant and freehold.

The only other venture of any importance launched in the Ballarat district with foreign capital is the Port Phillip and Colonial G.M. Co., at Clunes. This company was established in London, at the end of 1851, with a capital of �500,000, afterwards reduced to �125,000, the amount paid up being �100,000 in �1 shares. A staff, with a number of miners, stores, implements, &c., was sent out early in 1852, and a few months after that the present manager, Mr. R.H. Bland, was placed on the board of directors in London, and was appointed to take charge of the company in the colony. Mr. Bland arrived in Melbourne in August of that year. After some ventures in and around Ballarat, the company took up its present mine at Clunes under lease from the owner in 1857, work being commenced in March of that year. As there was at that time a difficulty in working the mine by the London company alone, an arrangement was made with a party of local miners, who formed themselves into the Clunes Quartz Mining Company, and have from that time till the present worked in conjunction with the Port Phillip and Colonial Company. The amount of capital expended in opening up the mine and erecting machinery was �19,500, of which the Clunes Company contributed �1,500, and since then a large amount from the profits of the mine has been expended in additions to the plant. Of the �100,000 capital called up in the Port Phillip and Colonial Company, only �27,000 was called after Mr. Bland's appointment to the control of the company's operations in Victoria. By courtesy of the manager we have the following statement:—

The following is the return of quartz raised and crushed at the mine from 1857 to 29th September, 1885:—Quartz raised and crushed, 1,307,727 tons; amount of gold obtained, 512,881 oz. 18 dwt.; value of the same, �2,056,552 6s. 10d. Profit obtained and divided as follows:—The Port Phillip Company, �225,028 19s. 4d.; Clunes Q.M.C., �118,415 2s. 11d.; proprietors' royalty, �138,877 11s. 7d.—total, �482,321 13s. 10d. The highest yield of gold in any one year was 1 oz. 9 dwt. per ton. The lowest yield was 3 dwt. 23 gr.: and the total average was 7 dwt. 9 gr. The largest quantity of quartz crushed in any one year was 70,222 tons. The total quantity of pyrites saved and treated was 7496 tons; gold obtained, 28,705 oz. 15 dwt.; value, �116,319 4s. 2d.; profit on the same, �88,899 15s. 9d. The plant consists of:—At the north shaft—(driven by steam supplied by three boilers): 1 winding engine, 24-inch cylinder; 1 pumping engine, 24-inch cylinder; 1 capstan engine, 10 inch cylinder; 1 Root's blower, driven by a 6-inch engine. South shaft: 1 engine and 1 boiler. Reducter works: 1 engine, 24-inch cylinder, driving 80 head of stamps, 2 stone-breaking machines, 6 buddles, 2 Chilian mills, 4 amalgamating barrels; 1 12-inch engine (supplied with steam from five multitubular boilers).

A movement was made in 1886 to drain the Sebastopol plateau, two plans being suggested, one by an adit tunnel starting near the Napoleons Lead, the other by a powerful pumping plant on the plateau. It was proposed to obtain State aid in both cases, either in the form of a cash subsidy or by statutory right to levy royalties or other contributions Nothing has yet been done towards realising either scheme.

In response to a louder call than usual for State aid in the shape of a larger prospecting grant, �80,000 was voted by Parliament in 1886, and local Prospecting Boards were created to receive applications for aid and report thereon to the Minister of Mines. The Ballarat board was elected on the 1st December last and consisted of Messrs. T. Richards, for the Mining Board; the Hon. H. Gore, M.L.C., for the Mine Owners; G. Williams, for the Miners' Association; City Mayor Thompson, for the Local Bodies; and Mr. J. Lynch, surveyor, for the Government; Mr. J.M. Bickett being appointed secretary. Each of the seven mining districts of the colony claimed an equal share of the vote, applications poured in with torrential plenitude, the boards sifted them, made their reports to the Minister, and then it was discovered that the Government included the cost of diamond drill work in the charges upon the vote which was thus reduced to less than half the �80,000. Thereupon arose a violent storm of gold-fields indignation, and threats of dire political vengeance hurtled through the air both inside and outside Parliament.

The Kohinoor Company, on the Golden Point Lead, commenced operations early in the year 1857, began driving in the latter half of 1858, and paid the first dividend on the 25th June, 1859. The area of the claim was 170 acres. There were 4 shafts, 8000 feet of drives, 2 steam engines, 3 boilers, 4 puddling machines, and the usual other belongings to a first-class company's plant, value �22,000. The company had expended �286,845 19s. 6d. up to November, 1869; had won 147,570 oz. 15 dwt. 7 gr. of gold, value at �4 per oz., �590,283; and had paid �304,460 in dividends. It must be noted that Ballarat gold has realised generally more than �4 per oz., but we have adopted that as a sufficiently accurate basis of calculation. The company was one of the very best ventures ever launched upon the alluvium of this gold-field.

The Band of Hope and Albion Consols Company is a corporation formed by two companies, the Albion Company on the Frenchman's Lead, and the Band of Hope Company on the Golden Point Lead. The Albion Company was the first which tested ground in Victoria by boring operations before sinking. The first bore was commenced under the auspices of Messrs. Elder, Campbell, and others, on the 21st June, 1856, when what is now the borough of Sebastopol, and the greater portion of the borough of Ballarat West, were still unreclaimed bush country. The company began its shaft on the 4th of June, 1858, sinking through clays, drifts, and basaltic and schistose rocks to a depth of 475 feet. By the year 1868 the company had obtained gold realising �254,144, had paid �117,995 in calls, and �90,921 in dividends. The Band of Hope Company began sinking in March, 1858, after previous boring. Unusual difficulties were encountered in heavy flows of drift and rock-water, for it took the company five years to sink the No. 1 shaft 340 feet, and put in a drive 180 feet, the shaft not being sunk 400 feet till April, 1866. In September of that year the company united with the Hand-in-Hand Company to work certain portion of the two companies' claims. The company procured the heaviest engines obtainable, lighted its mine with gas, and carried on operations upon the grandest scale then known here. It raised 700 tons of washdirt a day, and obtained as much as 1637 oz. of gold from one day's washing. Having bought and expensively altered the shaft of the extinct Golden Gate Company on the Redan Lead, it began, after boring, to sink a third shaft south of the Smythesdale road in November, 1865, and on the 26th September, 1866, a fourth shaft was begun in the centre of the Redan Racecourse. Up to the date of union with the Hand-in-Hand Company the Band of Hope Company had spent �29,565 on the No. 1 shaft, and �101,955 on alterations in and driving from the No. 2 shaft. The No. 3 shaft cost �11,859 in sinking, and the No. 4 shaft a nearly similar sura, and in all over �3000 were spent by the company in boring operations. Up to a date a few months previous to joining the Albion Company, the company had excavated and washed two and a half millions of cubic feet of auriferous alluvium and schist, from which 161,943 oz. of gold were obtained, value �656,869, yielding in dividends �388,000. On the 7th March, 1869, the United Hand-in-Hand and Band of Hope Company united with the Albion Company, forming the incorporated Band of Hope and Albion Consols Company; capital �449,000, in 22,450 shares of �20 paid up; area held, about 400 acres. The company's plant then included 11 engines, 14 boilers, and 16 puddling machines, besides buddies. In September, 1869, nineteen horses were employed in the underground works of the mine; 900 men, exclusive of splitters and others in the bush, were employed by the company, and the monthly expenditure of the company in working the mine was �10,600.

By the courtesy of Mr. Serjeant, the manager, the author is able to append the following later details of this mine, which is now a quartz mine only, and is still the premier mine of Ballarat:—

Up to the date of amalgamation, the gold won by the Albion Company was 84,324 oz.; by the United Extended Band of Hope Company, 188,490 oz.; and by the present company from the date of amalgamation to March, 1879, 246,737 oz. 6 dwt. 3 gr.—total 519,551 oz. 6 dwt. 3 gr., all from alluvial, and of the value of �2,078,235 9s. 2d. Early in 1879 quartz of a payable character was discovered at the company's No. 6 shaft at a depth of 268 feet, and up to the 30th of December, 1886, we raised and crushed 190,970 tons of stone, which produced 123,480 oz. 8 dwt. 14 gr., including 3283 oz. 13 dwt. 12 gr., from 1807 tons pyrites, value �509,355 19s. 9d.; total value of gold from all sources being �2,566,752 8s. 8d. The dividends paid amounted, at the close of 1886, to �1,134,101 15s., showing that shareholders have received �44 3s. 8d. per cent. of the gross value of the gold obtained. The above total is made up as follows:—United Extended Band of Hope, �446,400; Albion, �153,391 15s.; Band of Hope and Albion Consols, �314,861 5s.; do., do. (from quartz), �219,448 153. The plant consists of 13 engines, equal to 393 horse power nominal, 12 boilers, 70 heads of stamps, 1 steam hammer, 2 lathes, 1 slotting machine, 1 shaping machine, 1 Denny's concentrator, 2 Wheeler and Wilson's pans, 10 Halley's shaking tables, 6 amalgamating barrels, 1 stone crusher, 1 air compressor—valued at �15,000 7s. During 1881, after repeated trials, coal was introduced as an article of fuel, the results showing 1 ton of coal to be equal to 5 tons (50 feet to the ton) firewood. The present consumption is 60 tons coal and 100 tons of wood weekly. The former at 28s. per ton shows a considerable saving compared with the latter at 6s. 6d. per ton. The consumption of fuel in the stamp-house is estimated at the rate of 1 ton of wood to 5 tons of quartz. The stampers, with shank and disc complete, weigh 8 cwt., and have a drop of 8 inches. They strike from 70 to 75 blows per minute, and require 8 gallons of water per minute for each head of stampers. Each stamper is capable of reducing daily (24 hours) from 2� to 3 tons of hard stone, to pass through 160 holes to the square inch. Various samples of material have been used for permanent heads, and for shoes and false bottoms. For heads we find they are less liable to split when about 10 per cent. of wrought iron scrap is mixed with the cast metal. For shoes, the Lal Lal is the best we get. It is quite as hard as hematite, and possesses a toughness which hematite does not. We have also tried cast steel, which is far more durable than iron; but this is an imported article, and the charges at the Customs house is greater than the total cost of iron. The concentrated sulphides collected by means of Halley's tables are roasted before being treated for the gold they contain. The bye products are sulphur, arsenic, and sesqui oxide of iron. The latter we grind with oil for paint, which finds ready sale among boiler-makers, bridge-builders, and ship-owners. Of arsenic, we have a surplus, and the sulphur is not collected. The cost connected with mining and crushing the quartz is estimated at 5 dwt. per ton, and the cost of treating the pyrites at �2 per ton. No. 7 is 1300 feet, and No. 10 shaft is 1200 deep, and have been opened out at 13 levels. The greatest depth from which quartz has yet been raised is 1200 feet. The claim covers 193 acres of ground, chiefly held under lease. We employ 230 hands, and our fortnightly pay sheet, including wood and timber, carters and trade accounts, amount to an average of �1200. We pay captains 7s. 11d. per shift, facemen 7s., truckers 5s., 5s. 6d., bracemen, platmen, and laborers 6s., enginemen 7s. 6d.

In 1870, when the first edition of this work appeared, the Consols Company had let some of its shafts on tribute, and in giving that information Mr. Serjeant added the subjoined statement, which is of interest, as showing the difference in the scale of operations:—

The company, therefore, has only two shafts now at work in its own hands. At these about 500 men are employed, and the rate of wages has been altered as compared with the rate in November, 1869:—Captains, from �3 5s. per week to �2 10s.; facemen, from �2 5s. to �2 2s.; truckers, bracemen, platmen, puddling-men, laborers, from �2 2s to �2; sluicemen, from �3 to �2 10s.; engine-drivers, 8s. 4d. and 7s 6d. per day—"Sunday gratis"-when required. There are eight boilers now in use, eight puddling-machines, nine horses, and the monthly expenditure now is �5000.

The wage is, as shown before, now paid per shift of eight hours, and there is now no "Sunday gratis". Evidence of the magnitude of the alluvial and quartz operations in the area held by this company is found in the fact that thirty-two miles of alluvial driving were excavated, and four miles of quartz driving, exclusive of stoping strips.

The Llanberris Q.M. Company is the oldest quartz company in Ballarat, the claim having been taken up by sixteen men in September, 1858, and the first crushing had in the next September, the produce of the mine to the end of 1863 being 6391 oz. of gold, value �25,469, from which �9,052 were paid in dividends. In October, 1864, the co-operative company was made a registered one in 2,000 shares in which �13,400 have been paid in dividends from a total output value �76,896. The company's present claim includes the New Enterprise mine, which in one year gave to the original (sixteen) holders 16,000 ozs. of gold from quartz and a profit of �750 per man. The Learmonth Brothers, of subsequent Egerton fame, bought the New Enterprise, erected a new plant, and then sold to the Llanberris company. The Llanberris mine, taken in its entirety now, occupies the site of the confluence of the Red Streak, Canadian, and Red Hill alluvial gutters in the Gum Tree Flat, and in working the alluvial the eastern quartz lode presented at one place a perpendicular wall 18 feet high. This was known to Thomas Jones, of Llanberis, in Wales; he helped to form the Llanberris company, but the registrar spelled the name with two r's and hence the present style of the company. The mine is not a rich mine, but the company worked so economically that on a less than 3 dwt. average per ton debts were discharged and dividends paid. A rich thin golden strike of slates, known as the Indicator, traverses the Ballarat East belt of lodes, and it has lately helped to enrich the Llanberris workings.

The Black Hill Quartz Company is another example of success upon small average returns. The registrar, reporting in 1870, says of that company:—

The Black Hill Company began work in January, 1862, and from that time to the end of December, 1809, embracing a period of eight years, they have obtained the quantities of quartz and gold set down hereunder:—Quartz crushed, 250,575 tons; gold got therefrom, 36,185 oz. 15 dwt. 10 gr.; average per ton, 2 dwt. 21.31 gr.; total value, �145,541 6s. 3d.; total dividends, �21,730, being 10 per cent. per annum on the capital. The last dividend was paid in 1868.

Madame Berry G.M. C^o. Shaft Creswick near Ballarat.

In 1880 the company altered its constitution to that of a no liability company, in 14,880 shares, dividends amounting to �4,088 being paid under the new organisation, and in all, from the beginning to the present date, �31,130. The old mine has not been very productive for the last year or two, and tribute parties have been working parts of the ground with but moderate results.

The New North Clunes Company was started in 1859, Esmond, the gold discoverer, being one of the shareholders, and the company's mine has been one of the best in the district. The first gold was obtained on the 5th October, 1867, and up to the end of May, 1887, there had been crushed 424,461 tons of quartz for 241,802 ozs. of gold; value, at �4 per ounce, �967,208. The total amount of dividends paid to the same date was �516,056, or �251 per 2,056th share.

Among the many alluvial projects in Ballarat which never grew to fruition was the Grand Trunk Leads or Great River Company. This was a magnificent venture, on paper, in 6,000 shares of �5 each, for working "the continuation of the four rich trunk gutters of Ballarat, namely, the Golden Point, Inkermann, Redan, and Frenchman's   *   *   *   or nearly five miles of gutters held under the frontage system." This was at the end of the fifties or beginning of the sixties, and the area taken up lay where the Royal Park and Alfredton now are. Other interests militated against the success of the project, and the area was subsequently absorbed in the territories held by other companies.

For many years the alluvial deposits in Ballarat Proper have been exhausted, and the bulk of gold won in the Central Division has been quartz gold. This was foreseen in 1870, when the first edition of this History appeared; but a great revival of alluvial mining began in the Creswick Division in the early seventies. This was caused by the success of Graham, Brawn, and others at Broomfield Gully, in shallow ground. Their success led to the starting of the Lewer's Freehold Company on the 22nd July, 1872, the first party comprising Messrs. W.P. Jones, S. Fyson, H. Gore, T. Rossell, W. Curten, E. and G. Daws, Rev. J. Wagg, W.J. Gillard, R. Henden, J. Riordan, J.M. Davies, G. Westcott, Alex. Stewart, W. Saville, and Alex. Rogers. The first washing was on the 8th April, 1873, when 28 oz. of gold were obtained. This led to a great rush; the shallow ground was traced till the famous De Murska, Ristori, Lone Hand, and Madame Berry gutters were discovered, and nearly the whole of the country between Creswick and the Loddon taken up for mining. The rich deposits and the deep ground recalled the old days of Ballarat itself, and the locality is now the only largely productive alluvial field in Victoria. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the whole of the territory was private property, the Birches and the Hepburns, of the pastoral epoch, or their successors, vendees or assigns, being lords of the soil. The fortunate element was the freedom from the jumper and the other risks of Crown land regulations; the unfortunate element was the royalty tax imposed upon the miner by the land-owners. Early in 1875, by which time the shallow rush had reached the edge of deep deposits and given expectation of a large and profitable field, a band of Ballarat capitalists bought 6000 acres of Birch's estate, at �6 an acre, from Alexander Wilson, the owner at that time. This band consisted of Messrs. M. Loughlin, W. Bailey, E.C. Moore, J.A. Chalk, R. Orr, D. Ham, E. Morey, and H. Gore, who called their company the Seven Hills Estate Company. The company was registered under the Trading Companies' Statute, in 200 shares of �250 each, and their land was taken up by the famous Ristori, West Ristori, Loughlin, West Loughlin, Lone Hand, Lord Harry, Berry Consols, and Madame Berry G.M. Companies, upon whom a royalty of seven and a-half per cent. of the gold won was levied, with one per cent. extra when an extension of leases was required. In May, 1881, the Seven Hills Estate Company was registered in 10,000 shares of �20 each, but very few of the original company's shares changed hands, and the new company has never numbered more than fifteen shareholders. The company under its first organisation received �28,600 in dividends, and up to the 18th April last �138,885 under the new organisation, including �18,834 received as grazing rents from surface lessees. Thus we have an instance of a large sum (�148,651) being taken from the miner which, upon the theory that the gold belongs to the Crown, ought not to have been taken from him, and an instance of a very successful speculation which has already paid for the land more than four times over, and leaves still the estate intact, barring, indeed, some surface damage here and there, and the certainty of other mining royalties yet to accrue.

But the ability to pay such a large aggregate of royalty proves the richness of the alluvium and the success of the mining investors. Thus the dead Ristori Company (12,000 shares of �1) obtained 104,224 oz. 10 dwt. 12 gr. of gold, value �430,918 16s. 4d.; paid �32,153 14s. 2d. in royalty, and divided �16 14s. 5�d. per share. The dead Ristori West Company (20,000 shares of �1) obtained 38,491 oz. 5 dwt. of gold, value �158,409 15s. 1d.; paid �12,707 9s. 8d. in royalty, and �3 14s. 5�d. per 20,000th share in dividends. The dead De Murska Company (8000 �2 shares) obtained �76,600 1s. 2d. worth of gold, paid �5743 9s. 10d. in royalty, and �28,200 in dividends upon �8800 called up. The dead Lone Hand Company (12,000 shares of �1 10s.) obtained 126,146 oz. 3 dwt. 3 gr. of gold, value �522,162 17s. 3d.; paid in royalty �39,163 1s. 3d., and in dividends �242,700, the paid up capital being �15,300. But the still live and flourishing Madame Berry Company (18,000 shares of �1 10s.) puts all the others into shadow, for it has obtained already 160,592 oz, 11 dwt. of gold, value �656,464 18s. 5d.; has paid in royalty �49,177 13s. 11d., and �21 8s. per share, or an aggregate of �385,200 in dividends, with only 17s. odd paid up per share. This was up to the 18th April last, and the company has apparently a long and prosperous life still before it. This is the richest of all the Kingston mines, and its works are extensive, as already (June 1887) there have been over nine miles of drives excavated in auriferous wash, a mile and a-half excavated in reef, or bed rock, and forty rises put up from six to 157 feet in height, or an average of 30 feet each. The West Loughlin and Berry Consols have not yet become productive mines. The Hepburn Estate is in gold, the Berry No. 1 is beginning to open up wash, and it and the Consols will soon, apparently, be productive, the Hepburn Estate and Berry No. 1 being liable to the same royalty rate as that in the claims before catalogued, though outside the Seven Hills Estate. The Lord Harry and Earl Beaconsfield mines are likely to be producing gold before long, and a host of progressive companies stretch out the line of ventures to the borders of the Loddon Valley.

Among the unpleasant mysteries of mining adventure the discovery by the Hepburn Estate Company in the week ending the 12th February, 1887, that the officially reported details of work done by the No. 4 diamond drill bore were a delusion was one of the most unwelcome. As the drill was Government property and the drill managers Government officers, the reports officially made were regarded as trustworthy, and these reports declared that the drill had drift at 414 fret, rising over 150 feet in the bore, at 417 feet was in quartz boulders, and reached bed rock at 420� feet. This depth was enough to admit of the passage there of the proved deep leads adjacent, and trusting in the report the company spent �20,000 in the erection of powerful pumping and winding plant and in sinking a large well-appointed shaft. The shaft bottomed on gold, the company's future was regarded as assured, and shares on the 27th January, 1886, sold as high as �9 10s., but when the drive for the supposed gutter, where the bore was, reached the bore, and hard rock was found over head for 66 feet instead of deep gutter ground there was a panic, and on the 15th February 1887, shares fell to sales at �1 3s. 6d., a fall of �199,800, rallying very little after that. A deputation from the company to the Mining Department led to the nomination of Messrs. C.W. Carr, P.M.; R.M. Serjeant, manager of the Band and Albion Consols Company; and Stuart Murray, C.E., as a board to enquire whether the reports of the bore operations were true or false, and who, if anybody, was to blame for the company having been deceived. The board began to sit in Ballarat on the 10th March last, counsel assisting, and on the 12th the board found that the evidence exonerated Harrison, the drill director, from all blame of fraud, and ventured the opinion that it did not tend to lessen public confidence in the drills, but the board reserved its opinion on alleged errors in the drill reports. Directors, miners, all sorts of people, lay under suspicion of fraudulently dealing with the drill debris and drill reports for sharemarket purposes, but there was no proof of anything of that kind, and the material fact seemed to be that the haste and high pressure with which the drill was worked converted the indurated sandstone bed rock into its original drift constituents instead of drawing up a proper core. In their final report to the Government the board added to its previous findings the opinion that "in all cases the cores representing the strata passed through should be submitted to technical examination by skilled mineralogists, and reported upon, before mining operations are commenced, and that samples, with description of strata passed through, should be preserved for reference."

Encouraged by the brilliant success on the Creswick side of the Dividing Range, adventure was afresh stimulated on the western side, where the old Sulky Gully leads sprawled out into private property and were abandoned in the early sixties. A year or two ago a company called the Dowling Forest Estate Company leased from Sir W.J. Clarke 5,000 acres of his Dowling Forest Estate for mining purposes, and a portion of the leasehold between Mount Hollowback and the Dividing Range was sub-let to the Dowling Forest No. 1 Company. This company has sunk a shaft, opened up a considerable area of reef and gutter ground, and done some puddling, by way of testing the value of the deposits, but up to the present time no remunerative wash has been discovered there. Mr. George Cornwell, of Melbourne, was chairman of the original leasehold company, and his daughter, Alice, a lady of much spirit and keen commercial enterprise, took great interest in the fortunes of the newly opened field. Under her auspices the Midas Company was formed, which took up ground a mile or two south of the Dowling Forest No. 1 where some of the best known of the Sulky Gully leads had been left. The Midas was in shallower ground, by the end of 1886 had opened up rich wash, and up to the present time (end of May) has won close on 2,000 ozs. of gold. This success led to the floating of a host of other ventures round about, from the ranges westward out among the rich basaltic hills and plains of the Dowling Forest Estate. The diamond drill was brought into play as an auxiliary, the work of prospecting is going on vigorously, and it is hoped that a valuable new gold field will be opened up to balance the rich discovery on the Kingston side of the range.

Whilst these pages are going through the press the tide of a revival of quartz mining on the Sebastopol plateau is flowing Strong. This revival is due to the success of the Star of the East Company, a relatively new venture, and the continued good fortune of the Band and Albion Consols Company. Ten or a dozen years ago, or more, the Guiding Star Company, in working alluvial, had struck quartz that gave 1,300 ozs. of gold from 1,600 tons of quartz, but the company had to succumb to water and other difficulties. Some good results thereafter obtained by the Band and Albion Consols and Washington companies caused a rush, and several claims were taken up south and north of those companies, as there had been also as the outcome of the almost synchronous Hurdsfield alluvial rush upon some rich alluvial wash to the north-east of the Washington and east of the Kohi-noor claims. The Star of the East claim was taken up and the company registered in June, 1879, capital �34,000 of which �19,000 was paid up. Gold was first obtained in September, 1886, and up to the 3rd May last there had been 5,966 ozs. of gold won from 3,749 tons of quartz, and �4,800 paid in dividends. The claim is next south of the Band and Albion Consols claim, and there are several auriferous lodes in the area held by the company, including the Consols and the Guiding Star lodes. This marked success, and the prospect of equal luck north and south of the Star and the Consols along the strike of the proved belt of lodes, led to a fresh rush of adventurers, and claims were taken up for over a mile both north and south, and companies floated to work them. The favorite names for the new ventures were Star and Plateau, and on these two notes a peal of changes was rung, and the Stock Exchange share-list was much swollen by the added novelties. There is thus promise of a good testing of the quartz resources of the whole; reach of country from beyond Lake Wendouree, on the north, to the Durham on the south—a tract of country that was rich in alluvial deposits—and the reasonable inference is that the quartz lodes traversing the same country, and which were the matrices whence the stream gold was in large part drawn, will prove remunerative in the working. Upon the success or failure of this large experiment upon the Sebastopol plateau depends, in great measure, the immediate future of mining in the central division of the district

In attempting to show the aggregate produce of gold of this or any other district in the colony, great difficulty is at once encountered, and it is found that all figures must be merely approximate. For several years nothing like statistics of gold yields were attempted by the Government, and up to the present day it is impossible to arrive at more than probable aggregates and comparisons. The Mining Department has, all the years past, been busy with letter writing and the receipt of gold statistics, but has never found time or brains for distilling out district totals. Amplitude of details, a very waste of figures, but no informing or well differentiated total results. One thing, however, at the date of the first edition of this work (1870), amid all the dubiety of gold-fields statistics, had been irrefragably established, namely, the superior auriferous wealth of the Ballarat district over all the other mining districts of Victoria. A few figures will illustrate this. The return for 1868 of the value of mining plant in the several districts gave the following comparisons:—Ballarat, �706,393; Sandhurst, �418,738; Beechworth, �283,445; Castlemaine, �277,248; Maryborough, �227,348. The subjoined table of companies registered in the Court of Mines up to the end of 1868 illustrated the metropolitan character of Ballarat in another fashion:—

DISTRICTS.	No. of Companies.	No. of Shares.	Nom. Capital.
Ballarat	908	1,347,924	�10,579,711
Beechworth	641	1,240,731	5,935,419
Sandhurst	188	3,057,433	3,100,350
Castlemaine	431	771,524	2,270,176
Maryborough	195	873,048�	1,805,410
Ararat	94	105,667	662,429
Gipps Land	14	25,165	77,710

Subjoined is the tabular summary for 1869, issued by the Mining Department, from which it will be seen that the mining collapse in the late sixties told heavily upon the returns, but, that up to the end of that decade, Ballarat maintained its position as the leading field:—

DISTRICTS.	No. of Companies.	No. of Shares.	Nom. Capital.
Ballarat	135	402,492	�1,555,300
Beechworth	87	332,554	1,157,656
Sandhurst	53	240,086	772,875
Castlemaine	45	153,060	606,160
Maryborough	44	643,636	583,686
Ararat	39	131,686	298,414
Gipps Land	20	80,746	261,136

The returns for the quarter ending 31st March, 1870, give the subjoined comparative table relative to the steam machinery at work on the Victorian gold-fields, this return also demonstrating the pre-eminence of the Ballarat field, while showing also the decline caused by the depression in mining affairs:—

DISTRICTS.	ALLUVIAL MINING.		QUARTZ MINING.			Approximate Value of all plant.
	No. of Engines.	Horse Power.	No. of Engines.	Horse Power.	No. of Stampheads.
Ballarat	214	6,374	144	3,455	1,256	�595,513
Sandhurst	35	518	151	2,724	1,431	427,867
Beechworth	47	752	69	939	1,099	302,257
Maryborough	63	1,235	109	1,991	720	279,211
Castlemaine	31	552	134	2,291	995	262,070
Gipps Land	2	12	39	659	489	134,199
Ararat	16	224	36	879	397	124,110

The Victorian gold returns show that the year 1856 was the culminating one, with a yield of 2,985,991 oz. From that year to the year 1867 inclusive there was an annual decrease in the gold yield, the product in 1866 being 1,479,194 oz., or less than half the 1856 return. There was a recovery in 1868 of over 200,000 oz., or an increased produce worth nearly a million sterling. But the tables for 1869 show a return to the decreasing scale. What the whole colony did in the first ten years was shown by a pyramid of gilded wood sent to the London Exhibition of 1862 by Mr. J.G. Knight. This pyramid showed the size in mass of the Victorian gold exported from the 1st October, 1851, to the 1st October, 1861. It measured 1492� cubic feet, and represented 26,162,432 oz., or 800 tons 17 cwt. 3 qr. 7 lb. of gold; value, �104,649,728 sterling. In Hayter's Year Book the total export of Victorian gold up to the end of 1885 is set down at 53,727,986 oz., value at �4 per ounce, �213,911,944. This shows the singular rapidity with which the diggers discovered and worked the richer deposits everywhere, since nearly as much gold was won in the first ten years as in near a quarter century following thereafter. For the last few years the returns have been falling. Hayter gives the Victorian average from 1851 to 1885 inclusive at 1,535,000 oz. per year, or more than twice the 1885 total, 735,218 oz., as given by him. But the returns of the mining registrars enable him to show that though the output has been falling, there has been a rise in the proportion won to the number of miners employed. His estimate of gold per miner is �104 4s. 4d. for the year 1883, �106 14s. 6�d. for 1884, �108 15s. 9�d. for 1885. But it has always been difficult to get at the district yields very accurately.

Plan of the Ballarat and Sebastopol Gold Mines.

[Substitute Map; Source: State Library of Victoria.]

So long as the escorts were maintained, district returns of more or less accuracy were possible, and we now cite them as follows, comparing with those of Ballarat the Sandhurst or Bendigo returns, that district being the only one that ever claimed rivalry with Ballarat:—

BALLARAT.			| |	SANDHURST.
		ozs.	| |			ozs.
1853	..   ..   ..	319,099	| |	1853	..   ..   ..	609,728
1854	..   ..   ..	584,967	| |	1854	..   ..   ..	661,749
1855	..   ..   ..	769,429	| |	1855	..   ..   ..	429,933
1856	..   ..   ..	920,351	| |	1856	..   ..   ..	451,588
1857	..   ..   ..	686,263	| |	1857
1858	..   ..   ..	502,948	| |	to
1859	..   ..   ..	467,223	| |
1860	..   ..   ..	556,207	| |	1860	..   ..   ..	2,152,998
——	————	—————	| |	——	————	—————
	Total  ..	4,806,477	| |		Total  ..	4,305,996

In this table we have, in the absence of returns at hand, assumed that Bendigo produced as much during the last four years tabled as during the first four years, though it is known that that field did not produce in equal ratio. Yet, after assuming in her favor what is not true, we find that Ballarat stood half a million ounces, or two millions of pounds sterling, a-head of the northern field.

With the after years there came a change in the relations of the two districts. The alluvial field in the Creswick division has saved the Ballarat district from an ignominious decadence beneath the position of its ancient rival, whose title to the name of the Victorian Quartzopolis is unquestioned. The positions of the two fields during the last few years is seen in the following table, made up from the annual summaries of the gold-fields correspondents of the Melbourne Age:—

BALLARAT.			| |	SANDHURST.
		ozs.	| |			ozs.
1882	..   ..   ..	216,565	| |	1882	..   ..   ..	202,268
1883	..   ..   ..	210,009	| |	1883	..   ..   ..	220,157
1884	..   ..   ..	220,000	| |	1884	..   ..   ..	218,009
1885	..   ..   ..	211,242	| |	1885	..   ..   ..	216,772
1886	..   ..   ..	159,886	| |	1886		156,772

The foregoing Ballarat totals are ascertained by the addition of 10,000 oz. each year, for unreported gold, to the weekly official returns of managers of companies. The Sandhurst totals are taken from the Age correspondent's returns, but the 1886 total is, in the absence of a direct statement, made up by taking 60,000 oz. from the previous year's return, the correspondent saying "the returns for 1886 are from 50,000 to 70,000 oz. less than those of 1882-3-4-5." But to show how Ballarat owes its relative position to the discovery in the Creswick division, the following table of ascertained Ballarat district alluvial and quartz returns may be glanced at, it being remembered that the bulk of the alluvial gold is from the Creswick-Kingston field:—

Years.	Alluvial.	Dividends.	Quartz.	Dividends.
	ozs.	�	ozs.	�
1882	122,332	225,650	84,234	140,583
1883	109,271	158,900	55,860	34,002
1884	131,305	240,566	63,332	66,663
1885	125,446	311,810	60,101	45,216
1886	84,718	162,737	54,041	31,626
1887, to end of May	24,135	32,610	28,667	22,171
	————	————	————	————
Totals..	597,206	1,141,273	356,135	340,261

This table shows the recent decline in the general output from the mines, and for the first time in local mining history, exhibits an excess of quartz over alluvial gold. As in 1870, it may now he said more emphatically, the future of the gold-fields is, no doubt, to be one chiefly of quartz mining.

Mr. Westgarth, in his "Victoria in 1857", bears testimony to the superior quality and yield of this field, and to the enterprise of its miners. He says at page 182:—

Ballarat gold for its purity excels the gold from any other Australian field. Ballarat, indeed, takes the position alike of the oldest gold-field of any note, and that which has yielded the largest quantity of the precious metal. From the month of September, 1851—when the Government first established the armed escorts—to the end of 1856, there was sent down from Ballarat by these conveyances no less than 2,801,729 ounces of gold, of the value, in consideration of its purity, of upwards of �4 per ounce. It was at Ballarat where the spirit of enterprise was most prevalent.

The great purity of the Ballarat alluvial gold was early discovered. It has always commanded the highest rates in the bullion market. The assay of gold won from the Band of Hope and Albion Consols mine for the half-year ending June, 1869, was 23 carats 2� carat grains fine, and for the half-year ending December, 1869, 23 carats 2⅜ carat grains fine. Some assays of nuggets show similar purity. The Welcome Nugget assay was 99.20 pure gold = 23 carats 3⅛ carat grains fine. The Nil Desperandum gave an assay 98.80 pure gold = 23 carats 2⅞ carat grains fine. Thus, whether in large lumps or small particles, the gold found in the alluvium or drift of the ancient water-courses, or on the banks of those water-courses, is ascertained to be nearly free from all impurity, while gold in the matrix, quartz, is always charged more heavily with the baser elements.

As the origin of gold is still a mystery, unsolved by science or experiment, each student has his own theory. Some hold that gold is the product of electric action, some of vaporific sublimation, others of precipitation. The modes of its occurrence, the principle which governs its purity in and out of the matrix, and other items in the arcana, remain nearly as they were to the unlettered digger of the first days. Our most erudite savans, indeed, can say but little more about gold than was expressed by the old diggers, who pretended to no very clear vision of the subject, and said—"All we can say is, that where it is, there it is!"

In Smyth's "Gold-fields of Victoria", from which we have taken some of the above assays, we find nearly all the particulars tabulated below in relation to large Ballarat nuggets. We have had to supply omissions and correct some errors in dates in Smyth's tables:—

"The Corner" is the name given to the place where the sharebrokers and share jobbers assemble. For many years the gathering has been in front of the Unicorn hotel, on the south side of Sturt street, the brokers' offices being in the Unicorn passage, or right-of-way, and in Bones' Buildings, next east from the hotel. Bones' Building was originally a draper's shop, then a mining exchange, and Bones has added to it a second story, made one end into a billiard room, and retained most of the brokers' offices. The name "Corner" arose from the fact that in the early sixties, when the previously unorganised business of share dealing began to assume regular form—Messrs. Stallard and S. Goujon being of the earliest—share dealing offices were opened at the south-east corner of Sturt and Lydiard streets, where the London Chartered Bank now stands. The Corner at that time was covered by a wooden building on posts, an ironmonger's store occupied by A.R. Reid, now the actuary of the Geelong Savings Bank. Michael Walsh was one of the earliest brokers to open an office in the corner building, and he took in a partner named Were, and E.C. Moore, who had been hospital secretary, subsequently joined the firm. Other brokers followed, a daily muster was established, and the foundation of the Ballarat Stock Exchange was thus laid; the first Exchange, with M. Walsh president, meeting in a wooden building erected over an old shaft on the site now occupied by the Academy of Music. This was in the sixties. After that the Mechanics' Institute and the Unicorn hotel became the homes of the Exchange, and to Walsh succeeded F.C. Downes, and to Downes succeeded W. Nixon, the several secretaries being Messrs. Main, Slater, and Woolcott. On the 6th July, 1881, a rival, called the Royal Exchange, with Edwin Millard president, and S.W. Smythe secretary, was opened, the members having seceded from the original Ballarat Exchange because they declined to refuse to give individual quotations to the press. On the 5th December, 1885, the Royal was merged in the Ballarat, with Millard president and Woolcott secretary, both still (June, 1887) holding their respective offices. There were then 98 members on the roll, and the entrance fee by that time had been raised from �5 5s. to �25, and the stock list including 108 mines, the bulk of which are in the Ballarat district. Whilst this chapter is going through the press, the foundations of a new stock exchange building are being laid in Lydiard street.

The Ballarat alluvial stocks were large and costly things in the days of the origin of the share market. In the Melbourne stock and share list of 23rd June, 1863, Great Extended shares (80) were quoted at �2850, Kohinoor (40) at �2800, Albion (72) at �1800, Prince of Wales (64) at �1750, Defiance (52) at �1250, Working Miners (57) at �1100, Band of Hope (1600) �34. Thus we have the Great Extended with an aggregate value of �225,000, whilst at the time of this writing, May, 1887, the Band and Albion Consols, whose stock is a purely quartz stock, covering most of the areas held by the old Albion, Great Extended, and Band of Hope alluvials, is quoted at 76s., giving an aggregate value of �85,310. When the rich gutters were nearly worked out, and the large original shares had got reduced to scrip, share dealing became a larger and livelier business, and brokers and jobbers multiplied, nearly all of them being, for the first few years, men who had been actually engaged in mines as working or sleeping shareholders. The business was accompanied by projection of new ventures, and the occasionally violent alternations of activity and depression which usually mark the course of share dealing, for promoters of new schemes have to live, if they can, by their craft, and the passion for scrip gambling provided an ample arena for their exploits.

We have now ended our sketch of mining development, and the instances cited show what a vast transition has taken place in the miner's vocation since the days of the early shallow digging, and even the deeper and richer digging of the days when the Eureka, Canadian, and Gravel Pits were in their glory. The immense outlay in labor and plant before gold is reached now contrasts strangely with the easily won fortunes of the earlier days. If the classical digger of the Eureka were here now he might exclaim, "Oh! mihi pr�teritos referat si Jupiter annos;" interpreting it auriferously to mean, "Oh! that the gods would give us back the Jeweller's Shops and the Italians' holes of the bygone days." And some yearn for even an earlier time than that. For to an old goldfields man, weary with the hope deferred, and the many losses of deep sinking, the memory of the first diggings, or the sight of a little shallow-ground "rush" now, is like a sweet vision of childhood coming back to bless the world-worn old man in his desolateness and sadness of heart. The shallow-ground days were blythe with rapid golden successes, the joyous energy of independence and hope, and a continuous and hilarious change; but now the mines are tilled with men who have to plod on at their dull and ever dangerous routine year after year upon a small wage, while capitalists win or lose upon their market speculations or by the labors of the men who, in the primitive days, would have scorned to call any man master.

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{Page 239}

CHAPTER VIII.

THE TOWN OF BALLARAT.

Area and Population of Ballarat.—Great Mining Collapse.—Municipal Statistics of Ballarat West, Ballarat East, and Sebastopol.—Water Supply.—Lake Wendouree.—Yacht and Rowing Clubs.—Hospital.—Benevolent Asylum.—Orphan Asylum.—Female Refuge.—Ladies' Benevolent Society.—Roman Catholic and Anglican Dioceses.—Churches.—State and Church Schools—School of Mines.—Museum—Observatory.—Public Art Gallery.—The Stoddart Gift.—The Russell Thompson Bequest.—The Burns Statue.—Other Statues Projected.—Typography.—Photography.—Lithography.—Public Libraries.—Mechanics' Institute.—Academy of Music.—Eisteddfod.—Cambrian Society.—Musical Societies.—Agricultural and Horticultural Societies.—Iron Foundries.—Implement Factories.—Woollen Mills.—Coachbuilding.—Flour Mills.—Bone Mills.—Breweries.—Distilleries.—Cordial Factories.—Bacon Factories.—Tanneries.—Boot Factories.—Juvenile Industrial Exhibition.—Fire Brigades.—Volunteers and Militia.—Gas Company.—Banks.—Recreation Reserves.—Cricket and Football Clubs.—Hunt, Race, Coursing, and Gun Clubs.—Roller Skating Rinks.—Acclimatisation, Caledonian, and Hibernian Societies.—Reformatory.—Hope Lodge.—Railways.—Tramways.—Public Offices.—Public Halls.—Gaol and Court House.—Camp.—Last of the Military.—Explorers' Monument.—Queen's Jubilee and Old Pioneers.—Electric Telegraph and Telephone.—Rainfall and Temperature.—Henry Sutton.—Local Journalism.—Royal and Other Visitors.—Reminiscences.—Past and Present Contrasts.

From the northern boundary of Ballarat West to the southern boundary of Sebastopol borough the distance is five miles and a quarter, and from the western boundary of Ballarat West to the eastern boundary of Ballarat East the distance is four miles. These distances are measured along the central thoroughfares, where the whole alignment, with immaterial exceptions, is built upon. Thus, starting from the eastern boundary at the Canadian and going to the western boundary at Alfredton, the traveller passes along Main, Bridge, and Sturt streets, and performs a journey of a few hundred yards over four miles. This is a distance as great, if not greater, than that in London from Hyde Park Corner to the Bank, that from Westminster Bridge by water to the Tower, or that from the Elephant and Castle, south of the Thames, to Highbury Park in the north. It is as great as the distance in Melbourne from the University to the Junction at St. Kilda, or from the Spencer street railway terminus by way of the streets to the junction of the Merri Creek with the Yarra Yarra on the eastern boundary of Richmond. In starting from the northern boundary of Lydiard street, and passing to the southern boundary at Bonshaw, the traveller performs a journey of five miles and a quarter, and traverses Lydiard, part of Armstrong, Skipton, and Albert streets. This long stretch of street is represented in London by the distance from Hyde Park Corner past the Bank and Whitechapel to the Mile End road, from the Elephant and Castle to the New River reservoirs, or from Westminster Bridge by water, to Limehouse Reach. In Melbourne it is equal to a walk from Flemington to St. Kilda, or by water from the mouth of the Yarra Yarra to Richmond.

When the first edition of this work appeared in 1870, the traveller, while traversing the Ballarat thoroughfares mentioned, passed along the two central lines of streets of a city with over 40,000 inhabitants, 50 churches, 3 town-halls, 477 hotels, many other large public edifices, over 10,000 dwellings, 84 miles of made streets, 164 miles of footpaths, 15 miles of pitched channelling, property of the rateable value of a quarter million sterling, and yielding a yearly municipal revenue of �50,000, exclusive of a water supply revenue of �15,000. He passed over the two centres of a city comprising an area of 9400 acres in extent, where lay 60 miles of water mains, 50 miles of gas mains, and over 3000 lineal yards of stone flagging. He saw about him long reaching lines of stately buildings, and elegant shops, and large manufactories, including 11 banks, 8 iron foundries, 13 breweries and distilleries, 3 flour-mills, and other manufactories, all within the town boundaries; while everywhere around him, where less than twenty years before there was only the wild solitude of the primeval forest, the works of mining companies, the fertile farms, and the hum of commerce revealed at once the secret of the power which had created this great prosperity.

The Mining Registrar's Office, Lydiard S^t
Late the Government Treasury 1856.

Owing to the migration caused by mining changes, Ballarat has not increased its population, though it has otherwise made large progress. When this History first appeared, in 1870, the town and district were suffering from a depression caused by the reckless spirit of gambling at the Corner, by the responsive tastes of a hopeful public, and by the natural operation of the progress of mining, by which last the alluvial grounds had been in great part exhausted. The large sums lavished upon mere paper claims, and the heavy demands upon capital caused by a too great extension of adventure, had so far prostrated the ability of the district that a general collapse ensued, to the partial or total pecuniary ruin of scores of families, and a very general depreciation of property of all kinds, and notably of mining stock. In 28 mining companies whose offices were in Ballarat, and whose mines were in or near the town, the depreciation in the market value of stock—comparing prices in July, 1869, with those in May, 1870, reached the sum of �1,042,000. At least another million sterling must be added for depreciation in other stocks besides the companies specified These calculations were furnished by a gentleman familiar with the market, and they do not include the losses in call-paying. In April, 1870, the Melbourne Leader estimated the depreciation in 45 given companies' stocks to be �1,016,000 in March, 1870—as compared to March, 1869. The depreciation in mining stock, as cited above, amounted to �2,042,000 sterling—a sum equal to two-thirds of the annual public revenue of Victoria at that time. The gravity of this fact, and the relation of mining to what is called real property, will be seen from a comparison with some estimates of municipal revenue and town property. The mining depreciation was very nearly equal to fifty years purchase of the total revenue of the boroughs of Ballarat West, Ballarat East, and Sebastopol, and more than equal to eight years purchase of the whole real property in the city at that date.

This was a notable example of the ups and downs which the city, as the centre of a mining district, has been subject to. Similar conditions still exist and operate, though in a less marked degree; and the tables of yearly assessments may be taken, in some sort, as indications of the ebbing and flowing of civic fortunes. In the interval since 1870, great urban and industrial developments have taken place; new social and ecclesiastical creations have added distinguishing features to the city; arts and manufactures have grown in importance, albeit there may not have been additions to the number of business firms. There are fewer flour mills, breweries, distilleries, and hotels now than at the earlier date; no additions have been made to the number of churches in permanent materials, and some of the wooden ones have disappeared; but additions have been made here and there to churches existing in 1870, and in some places new churches have taken the place of old ones. There are still eleven banks, not including the Savings Bank; some metropolitan wholesale firms have offices here; warehouses and factories exist now that were not built in 1870; several manufactures are new, and others have extended their boundaries, whilst municipal works have gone on with ceaseless march whether revenues have risen or fallen. As large mention of these several changes as space allows will be made further on; but first we have to recount the beginnings and expansions of local municipal institutions.

This large and populous city, whose area and population and annual revenue would absorb those of several English cathedral cities, is situated 50 miles west from the shores of the Port Phillip Hay, and at an elevation of 1137 feet above the sea. Its western half is spread over a basaltic table land, the foot of whose eastern slopes is traversed by the Yarrowee Creek, which for a part of its course is the boundary between Ballarat West and East. Its eastern half is spread over schistose ranges and made hills of the auriferous detritus, and includes the oldest inhabited portions of the city. From it issued the leads or gutters of golden drift which have been worked beneath the elevated plateau of the western portion of the city.

The borough of Ballarat West, now called the City of Ballarat, was the oldest of the three boroughs. It was constituted a municipality on the 17th December, 1855, and on the 14th January, 1856, the first council was elected, consisting of Messrs. Jas. Oddie, Robt. Muir, Jas. Stewart, M.D., Wm. Tulloch, Alex. Binney Rankin, John Smith Carver, and Patrick Bolger. James Oddie was the first chairman for 1856-7, and Joseph Combe was the first town-clerk, and Samuel Baird first and only town-surveyor. Both left office many years ago, and Richard Ford, now a railway commissioner, succeeded J. Combe; the present clerk, George Perry, succeeding Ford; works overseer Wood, on Baird's retirement, acting as quasi surveyor.

The greater dignity of being a city instead of a borough involved greater splendor of official appointments. Robes and chains for the mayors, a gown for the clerk, and a livery suit for the city hall caretaker, altogether a right brave display of finery came into vogue with the civic eighties, to wit the robes in May, 1879, and the chain in the mayoralty of 1884:-5. The city clock was erected in the mayoralty of 1872-3. The following official description of the mayoral chain of solid gold is a municipal history in little:—

Mayor's Chain.—At present 13 shields, with connecting links and medallion. On face of medallion, the corporate seal. On reverse side, "Ballarat proclaimed a municipality December 18th, 1855"; "Council first met January 17th, 1856"; "proclaimed a borough October, 1863"; "proclaimed a city September 9th, 1870." On face of each shield is monogram of the chairman or mayor, and on reverse the following:—James Oddie, chairman 1856-7; James Stewart, M.D., chairman 1858-9; William Collard Smith, chairman 1860-1, mayor 1871-5; Robert Lewis, chairman 1862, mayor 1863, 1871-2, 1880-1; Daniel Brophy, mayor 1875-6; John Whiteman Gray, mayor 1877-8; John Noble Wilson, mayor 1881-2: Fred. Moses Claxton, mayor 1872-3, 1876-7, 1882-3; John Hickman, mayor 1883-4: Alex. Thomson Morrison, mayor 1879-80, 1884-5; Charles Salter, mayor 1885-6; T.H. Thompson, mayor 1886-7.

Since the foregoing has been in type, new sartorial wonders, in posse, [27] have been revealed, and the local journals tell of councillors, on the suggestion (congruenter nominatas) [28] of Councillor Little, being about to outshine the beadle. They are to sit in "cut-away coats of aldermanic pattern, stand-up collar in Prussian military style, and front and cuffs ornamented with point lace; coat and trousers of broadcloth, and shoes with silver buckles." The clerk's attire is acutely differentiated from the rest, and the gorgeous caretaker's uniform remains unabated.

The first council chambers were of wood, erected by Messrs. Doane and Ringrove on the site of the District Police-court in Sturt street, and were destroyed by fire. The erection of a new town-hall with granite front, from a design by Mr. C.D. Cuthbert, having been decided on, the foundation of the first portion was laid by Mr. John Robinson Bailey, M.L.A. for Ballarat West, on the 16th August, 1860. The builders were Messrs. Evans and Barker, the contract being for �4,900, and the new building was opened on the 1st February, 1861. The borough council afterwards decided on a change of plan, and competitive designs were obtained, and finally the council ordered that a design by Mr. Lorenz be adopted, subject to variations to be designed by Mr. Oakden, the borough architect, under whose superintendence the present hall was erected. The initial letter at the beginning of this chapter shows the upper portion of the centre and tower. The contractor for the works was Mr. Cowland, for the sum of �16,767, the contract to be completed by the end of 1870. On the 14th January, 1870, Thomas Cowan, the mayor, laid the new memorial stone of the town-hall. His worship in his address on that occasion made the following statement:—

The Sturt street frontage will occupy a space of 153 feet. The principal entrance to the municipal offices, will be in the centre under the tower, which will stand right out to the front so that the stone which has just been laid will also be the foundation stone of the tower. This tower is to carry the Alfred Memorial Hells which have already arrived in Ballarat. They have been cast by Messrs, Meats and Stainbank, of Whitechapel, and competent judges have pronounced them to be the finest peal that has come to these colonies. There are eight bells in all, pitched in the key of E flat, and the largest—the tenor bell—is 4 feet 3 inches in diameter, and weighs 23 cwt. The total weight of the eight bells is nearly 4� tons; the weight of the eight bells in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, being only 3� tons. The Alfred Memorial Bells are valued at �1,180. In addition to the bells, the tower will contain a splendid illuminated clock, with four dials, each 9 feet in diameter, and which, besides striking the hours and quarters, will ring a chime every hour on fifteen small musical bells, that will be placed in the roof of the tower. The centre of the clock face will be 95 feet above the street, and the total height of the tower about 135 feet. It is to be observed that the building now in progress will leave nearly half the town-hall reserve unoccupied, the depth of the ground being 132 feet, and the depth of the building only 70 feet, so that if at any future time it should be decided to erect a spacious public hall, there will be a site available for the purpose of 120 feet by 70 feet.

The hall was opened in due course, the Alfred bells were set up in the tower, the illuminated clock is there also, but it does not "ring a chime every hour on fifteen small musical bells," for they were not musically audible, and their tiny tinkle was mockingly compared to the jingle of bullock bells. Some bell doctors essayed amendments in the carillons, as they were called, but the essays were failures, and the little bells have been laid aside. The Alfred bells are a success, and so is the ringing of them sometimes, but the ringers are not always a happy family, and then hitches occur in the bell service, whilst apprentice hands occasionally make the evenings horrible with their sad lessons in the art of campanology.

The first assessment was in 1856, and showed that there were then 267 tenements within the municipality, and 297 vacant lots, the whole valued at �40,061. On this assessment the council struck a rate of sixpence in the pound, which the Government disallowed, and a shilling rate was then struck. Among the applications to the Government by the first council were requests for a site for a mechanics' institute, for a market place, for public gardens, for the removal of buildings where Sturt and Lydiard streets now intersect, and for the formation of Sturt street. Sturt street, which is now made throughout its whole length, is three chains wide, and is ornamented with elegant shops, churches, and gardens. All the other streets are one chain and a-half wide. The borough comprises an area of 2,880 acres, and has now property of the rateable value of �146,105.

The following table shows the course of assessment values for the city, and the number of tenements rated:—

Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.	| |	Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.
1856	564	�40,061	| |	1873	5665	�128,735
1857	8111	32,088	| |	1874	5400	122,195
1858	1430	41,015	| |	1875	5400	108,665
1860	2608	54,500	| |	1876	4924	102,825
1861	—	72,058	| |	1877	4542	103,688
1862	2788	82,721	| |	1878	4506	103,586
1863	3451	102,434	| |	1879	4338	102,957
1864	3474	95,638	| |	1880	4410	104,361
1865	3571	98,172	| |	1881	4625	115,238
1866	3948	112,580	| |	1882	4567	128,190
1867	4191	114,757	| |	1883	4857	136,246
1868	4839	132,538	| |	1884	4982	138,939
1869	5365	148,522	| |	1885	4929	141,057
1870	6099	178,040	| |	1886	5320	143,091
1871	6024	153,869	| |	1887	4978	146,105
1872	5894	135,098	| |

There are within the city 86 streets, of which a length of 52� miles is formed and metalled. There are also 90 miles of footpaths, 36 miles of kerbing and channelling, over 3,000 lineal yards of flagging, 17� miles of flagged or asphalted footpaths, near 5,000 dwellings, 120 hotels, 24 churches, 2 steam flour-mills, 7 iron foundries, 4 agricultural implement factories, 2 woollen factories, 3 �rated water and cordial factories, 3 furniture factories, 10 printing offices, 1 tannery, 1 gas works, a town-hall, a theatre, a mechanics' institute, a free library, a free art gallery, a free museum, a gymnasium, friendly society and other halls, 7 State schools, many private schools, 2 fire brigades, post and telegraph office, assize and police courts, gaol, and other Government offices. The total population of the city is set down by the valuer at 20,878 persons, the City Council having a revenue from all sources of �26,841 for the year 1886, and for the same year an expenditure of �26,675.

The assessment and population of the different wards for 1887 are as below:—

South—Assessment, �38,808; tenements, 2230; population, 9919. Central—Assessment, �66,931: tenements, 1228; population, 4206. North—Assessment, �40,366; tenements, 1689; population, 6754.

Under the new licensing policy of the Legislature, the number of hotels has been lessened. The number stated in these pages are from the sub-treasury record of licenses issued up to the end of May, 1887.

Taking the city treasurer's figures for the year ending 30th September, 1886, we have the city's financial condition thus set down:—

Indebtedness—Loan, 1875, �47,500; do., 1884, �10,000; total, �57,500. Process of liquidation:—The whole of the principal of the loan of �47,500 is repayable on 1st May, 1903. In the meantime, interest of 6 per cent. is payable half-yearly, viz., on 1st May and 1st November; and 2 per cent. of the loan is invested yearly towards the establishment of a sinking fund for the liquidation of the original debt. The principal of the �10,000 loan of 1884 is repayable at the rate of �800 on 1st June in every year until 1893; the balance, �2,800, becomes due on 1st June, 1894. In the meantime, interest of 5 per cent. is payable half-yearly, viz., on 1st June and 1st December; and 2 per cent. is invested yearly towards the establishment of a sinking fund for the liquidation of the balance. Amount of sinking fund to date, �12,628 0s. 1d.; debentures redeemed, loan 1884, �1,600; last assessment, �143,091; value in fee simple, �1,787,910.

The market inspectors supply the following returns:—

The live stock that passed through the Corporation Sale-yards for the year ending 31st July, 1886, were:—Cattle, 18,950; calves, 2,252; sheep, 503,971; lambs, 62,045. Sales in the private yards for the same period were:—Horses, 3,028; cattle, 7,420; sheep, 2,151; pigs, 14,077. The market returns for agricultural produce exhibit a lively increase, notwithstanding the large quantity now taken past by railway; but it is difficult to say whether the increase is due to climate causes or increased local demand; in either case it is satisfactory. The returns are:—Oats, 215,179 bushels; pease, 72,649 bushels; barley, 18,304 bushels; hay, 18,405 tons; straw, 1,251 tons; potatoes, 9,629 tons.

The death-rate of the city for the ten years ending 1886 was 422 7-10ths per year, but this included hospital deaths of patients from the whole district, and raised the average 25 per cent.

Ballarat East was proclaimed a municipality on the 5th May, 1857, and on the 1st June, 1857, the first council was elected, consisting of Messrs. Daniel Sweeney, John Gibbs, William M'Crea, Richard Belford, William Bramwell Robinson, William Bickham Rodier, and Geo. Clendinning, M.D. Mr. Rodier was chosen chairman, and Mr. Jno. Campbell was appointed town clerk. The municipality became a borough in October, 1863, and in August, 1872, a town. Following Mr. Rodier as chairman of the municipality, there were Messrs. Richard Belford, 1858; William Scott, 1859; George Clendinning, M.D., 1860; William Scott, 1861; Charles Dyte, 1862; and Frederick Young, 1863. As in Ballarat West, so here, the last chairman became the first mayor of the borough. His successors were John Fussell, 1864; George Clendinning, M.D., 1865; Emanuel Steinfeld, 1866 to 1869. Then followed in order Edward Eastwood, 1870; James Ivey, 1871; J.K. Baird, 1872; Henry Josephs, 1873; James Russell, 1874 and 1886-7; James Long, 1875-6-8; David Turpie, 1877; William Scott, 1879 and 1885; William Robertson, 1880; Theophilus Williams, 1881; John Ferguson, 1882-3; Thomas Walker, 1884. The municipal council held its meetings in several rented houses during the earlier years of its existence; but on the 26th December, 1861, the foundation stone of the present town hall was laid by Mr. Charles Dyte, the incoming mayor, with Masonic ceremonies. The architect was Mr. C.D. Cuthbert, long since a resident in Fiji, and the builders were Irving, Glover, and Co., the total cost being about �4,500. The town includes an area of 4320 acres, and has rateable property valued at �62,900. The first assessment on the books was in 1860, when the number of dwellings was 2470, amount of assessment not obtainable. The returns for the subsequent years are as follow:—

Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.	| |	Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.
1861	2982	�75,656	| |	1875	3681	�58,480
1862	2714	80,244	| |	1876	3473	55,439
1863	3070	80,001	| |	1877	3315	52,307
1864	3226	74,423	| |	1878	3273	51,146
1865	3126	74,561	| |	1879	3236	51,231
1866	2928	62,066	| |	1880	3209	51,411
1867	3045	64,378	| |	1881	3256	52,524
1868	3290	68,032	| |	1882	3407	55,247
1869	3767	76,587	| |	1883	3488	58,270
1870	3992	80,554	| |	1884	3505	60,048
1871	4143	79,734	| |	1885	3521	61,016
1872	4167	71,784	| |	1886	3526	62,295
1873	4057	66,609	| |	1887	3550	62,900
1874	3929	61,419	| |

Sturt St Ballarat, 1887

There are within the town 40 miles of streets made and formed, of which 20 miles are kerbed and channelled, and over 50 miles of footpaths, of which 5 miles are asphalted, 17 churches, 7 State schools, 79 hotels, over 3,000 dwellings, a town hall, a fire brigade, candle, soap, clog, and other manufactories, a police court, and a public library. Bridge, Main, and Humffray streets are what in the first days were bullock tracks; the former street is one of the busiest and handsomest in the city, and Victoria street is as wide as Sturt street, and, like it, planted with trees. Estimating the population of the borough at 4� to each tenement, the total population is about 15,000.

The following statement by the town treasurer gives the financial state of affairs at the dates mentioned:—

Revenue for year ended 30th September, 1886, �10,901 14s. 10d.; expenditure for year ended 30th September, 1886, �8,941 8s 1d.; indebtedness and process of liquidation (overdraft to be liquidated under the provisions of "Municipal Indemnity Act" before 30th September, 1888), �3,708 15s. 11d.; less amount to credit of general account at 30th September, 1886, �330 8s. 7d.; leaving debt, �3,375 7s. 4d. Outstanding Loan—100 debentures, of �100 each, due in 1903, total, �10,000; bearing 5 per cent. interest per annum. To liquidate the said loan �300 is yearly placed to a "sinking fund in liquidation of debentures", bearing 6 per cent. interest.

The death-rate of the town for the ten years ending 1886 was 212 3-10ths per cent. This average, and that for the city, are calculated by Mr. Walker, the registrar.

The borough of Sebastopol was proclaimed in October, 1864, and the first election of councillors took place on the 12th December, 1864, when Messrs. F.F. Beverin, Thomas Dickinson, John Edwards, Ricd. Miles, Ellis Richards, John C. Rowlands, Geo. C. Robinson, Geo. Tait, and Isaac Vickers were elected. Mr. John Wall, formerly of the Local Court, and a mining surveyor, was appointed town clerk and surveyor, and still holds those offices. The mayors of the borough have been Frederick F. Beverin, 1865-6; Isaac Vickers, 1867; Thomas Dickinson, 1868-71; John Whittaker, 1869; John Edwards, 1870; John Morris, 1872; Thomas Bray, 1873; Nicholas Kent, 1874; Peter Alroe, 1875; James Barrie, 1876; Joseph H. Ellsworth, 1877-84-5; David Hughes, 1878-9; Thomas H. Gray, 1880-1; James Leckie, 1882-3; William Hicks, 1886; Henry Mathes, 1887. The first council sat on the 4th January, 1865. At that time the population was 1800, and by 1870 had risen to 8200, but has fallen to 2300 in 1887. The municipal census is taken by the valuers under the Local Government Act, and Mr. Wall claims to have been the suggester of the process. The average death-rate of the borough, taking a term of 21 years, is given at only 10-5 per 1000. There are 40 miles of surveyed and 15 miles of made streets, 2 miles of kerbed and channelled paths, and � mile of asphalted paths. The area of the borough is 1800 acres. The financial state of the borough is easy. Last year's �900 of revenue was expended, but the council's indebtedness is only �300, being balance of 10 debentures of �100 each unredeemed. There are 8 licensed hotels in the borough. The following are the assessments for the several years since the formation of the borough:—

Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.	| |	Year.	Tenements.	Rateable Value.
1865	449	�6,028	| |	1876	1017	�9,600
1866	751	9,040	| |	1877	9911	7,010
1867	1030	14,231	| |	1878	870	5,900
1868	1245	16,680	| |	1879	680	4,848
1869	1661	22,352	| |	1880	545	4,690
1870	1730	15,400	| |	1881	631	5,036
1871	1740	15,306	| |	1882	524	5,095
1872	1665	13,512	| |	1883	502	5,410
1873	1570	12,825	| |	1884	500	5,314
1874	1404	12,004	| |	1885	506	5,155
1875	1185	10,400	| |	1886	496	5,095

The salaries of municipal officers are as follows:—City: Town clerk and treasurer, �500; assistant clerk, �150; his assistant, �26; rate collector, �220; ditto and revenue officers (2), �200 and �150; produce market and weights and measures inspector, �250; assistant, �39; cattle yards inspector and pound-keeper, �225; assistant, �130; dog inspector, ranger, and bailiff, �100; hall-keeper, �104; health officer, �50; cab and nuisance inspector, �37 10s.; curator of gardens, �200. Town: Town clerk and treasurer, �250; assistant, �156; rate collector, �235; weights and measures inspector, �156; town inspector, �156; health officer, �25. Sebastopol: Town clerk, �75; rate collector, �65; health officer, �10. Allowances for mayors 1886 were—For the city, �300; for the town, �175.

In 1886, Sandhurst, the next largest inland city after Ballarat, had an assessment of �167,908, revenue �23,453, 7137 tenements, 84 miles of kerbed and channelled streets, 100 miles planted with trees, 97 miles of road maintained and in use, and a population, at 4� per tenement, of 30,332. Geelong, which ranks next after Sandhurst, had at the same date an assessment of �73,242, 2398 tenements, and 40 miles of kerbed and channelled streets, and a population of about 10,200. But this does not include the adjoining boroughs of Newtown and Chilwell, and Geelong West, from which the author has been unable to obtain a return in detail, but whose population nearly equals that of Geelong proper.

In December, 1852, the first attempt was made at water supply. The Government Camp authorities then here employed men to build a small dam across the Gnarr Creek, at the spot where the creek then ran, and where the buried culvert now hugs the hill on which are the locomotive sheds. The little dam intercepted the overflow from Yuille's Swamp and the Gnarr Creek drainage, and served mainly for the Camp use. Yuille's Swamp, or, as it is now called, Wendouree Lake, was for some years the only source of supply; but, as the town grew, that reservoir was found to be insufficient, and steps were taken to secure water reserves in the Bullarook Forest, on which to construct reservoirs for the permanent supply of the town. The boroughs of Ballarat West and East united in a scheme of water supply, whose magnitude and excellent organisation were unequalled in the colony, save by the metropolitan supply. Mr. Richard Belford, when chairman of the municipal council of Ballarat East, was one of the first proposers of a supply of water from the forest, and owing to the steps taken then, the question was at intervals agitated, until the supply was carried out to its present limit. When Mr. J.B. Humffray was Minister of Mines in 1861, Mr. Kirk, who owned the first reservoir made in the forest for mining purposes, offered the reservoir to the Government for the use of Ballarat, and Mr. Humffray eventually promoted the purchase, and sent Mr. Engineer Bagge to report on the repairs necessary. Subsequently, Mr. Engineer Palmer, who became the first engineer for water supply, was employed to survey the forest, with a view to the construction of additional reservoirs for a more liberal supply.

Before this, a commission for the whole town had been proposed in a circular by the Eastern Council, but the proposition was not then entertained, and when Mr. Palmer made his survey there were grave doubts entertained as to the wisdom of adventuring upon the larger scheme. Mr. Palmer held that the scheme was practicable, and would pay, and he conferred with Mr. H.R. Nicholls, of the Ballarat Star; who urged the adoption of the larger supply upon the attention of Mr. C. Dyte, then chairman of the Eastern Council. Mr. Dyte did not fall in with the representations made, and Mr. W.C. Smith, of the Western Council, was then appealed to. He was convinced by the arguments used, and he became one of the earliest and ablest municipal advocates of the scheme of water supply. Every year helps now to confirm the wisdom of those who sought betimes to provide a good supply of this essential element in urban health, wealth, and comfort. The borough councils having had joint possession of Kirk's dam given to them in June, 1862, pushed the business of supply with energy, procured loans of money and grants of water-shed reserves from the Government, until at length there were reserves secured to the extent of near 3000 acres, and when the first edition of this work appeared there were three dams—Beale's, Pincott's, and Kirk's—with an aggregate storage capacity of 294,000,000 gallons, 60 miles of mains, serving 5000 houses, 40 manufactories, and 16 mines, and producing an annual revenue of �15,000. Then came a project for a fourth reservoir on the Gong Gong Creek. At first it was proposed to erect a dam across the narrow gorge where the granite outcrops a quarter mile or so below the site of the present Gong Gong, but after a severe fight in local councils and local journals, the present site was adopted. At that time Mr. C.H.O. Bagge was the engineer, and Mr. W. Thompson the secretary, for water supply, the borough councils of East and West Ballarat being the committee or commission of control, with a chairman chosen from one or other of the councils, Mr. Andrew Anderson being for a long time chairman. He acted with great energy and sagacity, and was one of the foremost to promote the planting of the reserves with exotic and indigenous trees. The Gong Gong reservoir, having a storage capacity of 420,000,000 gallons, was constructed by Messrs. Young and M'Guigan, from plans by Engineer Bagge, and a second line of 24 and 18-inch mains was laid to convey the water to Ballarat and Lake Wendouree. Between the town boundary and the Gong Gong, there is beside the roadway, where the mains are laid, a "connecting house", where, by working a series of valves, either the Gong Gong or the Kirk's line of mains can be shut off, or the pressure in the Kirk's line be increased by turning into it the water from the Gong Gong line. The first sod of the new reservoir was turned on the 12th May, 1874, by Councillor M'Dowall, chairman of the commission, and by October, 1877, the works were so far completed that water was turned into the new mains. The whole work was carried out under Mr. Bagge's supervision, assisted by Mr. R.M. Gale, A.I.C.E., with Mr. W. Seeley as clerk of works, the total cost of the new reservoir and valve house being about �105,000, including costs of settlement of a law suit between the contractors and the commissioners. The whole cost of the water works was �362,000, and the revenue about �16,500 a year, most of which is absorbed by interest on Government loans, and in outlay for maintenance and management. At the end of 1886 there was due to the Government �313,457 10s. 10d, including principal money �281,438 15s. 10d., bearing interest at 4� per cent., and arrears of interest, not bearing interest, �32,018 15s. The arrears had been �43,405, but when the present chairman of commission (Mr. Wilson) took office, he obtained a remission of the difference between the two amounts. The annual interest now payable is �12,664 15s. 2d., and the sum of �86,808 17s. 3d. has been paid in interest since the reorganisation of the commission in 1880. The commission was then created by statute as the Ballarat Water Commission, consisting of seven members, of whom three, including the chairman, Mr. John Noble Wilson, represent the Government, and are appointed every four years by the Governor-in-Council, and two members are elected by and from the City Council, and two by and from the Town Council, their term of office being two years. The first meeting of the new commission was held on the 21st July, 1880, the members being J.N. Wilson, chairman. Councillors W. Scott and R. Lewis with him representing the Government, and Councillors F.M. Claxton and J.W. Gray from the City Council, and Councillors H. Josephs and J. Phillips from the Town Council; Mr. J.B. Cathcart, who had some time previously been appointed in place of Mr. Thompson, being the secretary and treasurer. The commission has no engineer now, but Mr. Cameron is the foreman of works. To Mr. Secretary Cathcart the author is indebted for many of the foregoing details, and for much information besides, unusable here for want of space.

Lake Wendouree, the modern name of Yuille's Swamp, very truly indicates by its name the transformation which has come over that scene of one time alternate swamp and mud or dust hollow. By conserving the water and pouring in additions from catchwater drains and overflow from the forest reservoirs, a permanent lake has been created, which has for some years now been the great home of local aquatic sports and pleasure taking. It is the only inland water resorted to for aquatic contests of any note, and the beauty of its shores, the safe depths of its water, and the large fleet of steam, sailing, and rowing boats at all times available, have made the lake the favorite trysting place not only of boating people but, during the summer season, of pic-nic parties from nearly all parts of the colony. Since the early sixties, when Bob McLaren and Ned Williams led the way in boating, or Town-clerk Combe and Town-surveyor Baird pushed out in a flat bottomed punt through the masses of reeds that then covered the "swamp", the changes effected there have been many and great. To-day the visitor sees a nearly cleared sheet of some 300 acres of water, jetties, boathouses, yachts, and boats in profusion, and a fine fleet of steam pleasure boats plying from shore to shore at fares within the reach of all kinds of pleasure seekers. The City Council, with wise sagacity, has done much to improve the shores, and the walks round the well-planted borders are now among the pleasantest resorts of the pedestrian, who always has, as a permanent, strong attraction to healthful exercise, the botanic gardens as the western margin of the lake, and on the lake itself a host of vessels going hither and thither as may suit the fancy of private parties or the routine of the steam companies and others plying for regular traffic.

The Ballarat Rowing Club was the first club formed in Ballarat for regular aquatic exercises, some contests on Lake Burrumbeet with both sailing and rowing craft having been the harbingers of the safer and more convenient boating settlement and exercises at Wendouree. We have not space here in which to detail the origins of aquatic sports, but may say that Messrs. Cooper and Dobson, at Burrumbeet, and the McLarens, Ned Williams, Ben. Oxlade, and others in Ballarat, were the pioneers, closely followed by Ward, Taylor, and others, still to be found about the shores of Wendouree. From their initial doings have come the well appointed clubs of to-day, the many well fought contests on local and other waters, and the respectable position occupied by both the sailing and rowing fraternities of Wendouree. The club was born on the 20th November, 1861, at McLaren's hotel. Bridge street, when it was resolved to form a regatta club, under whose auspices a regatta came off at Burrumbeet on the 31st January, 1862. The club had for its first officers S.T. Clissold, president; J.W. Pringle and C.W. Sherard, vice-presidents; W. Clarke, honorary secretary; R. McLaren, starter and treasurer; and E. Williams, E. Scrase, J.H. Harris, J. Ahrens, R. Davidson, H. Golightly, J. Calder, J. Cummins, A.C. Kerr, and Cochrane, committeemen. The club afterwards changed its name to the Ballarat Rowing Club, and it now numbers about 100 members, and its present officers are F.M. Claxton, president; R.W. Holmes and J. Shiels, vice-presidents; F.W. Commons, captain; G. Read, vice-captain; J.P. Moran, treasurer; C.J. Aikens, secretary; and E. Williams, G. Tonner, P. Marxsen, L. Cutter, J. Pobjoy, J. Lonie, and R. Ditchburn, committeemen. After the Ballarat club came the Alabama in 1864. It lived for a year or two only, and after that came the Wendouree, the Lebentia, the Ariel, and they all died after a short existence. The City club was formed in 1871 and has a members' roll of close on 100, its officers in February last being D. Brophy, president; C. Salter, M. Cahill, and W.P. B�chervaise, vice-presidents; E. Bailey, secretary; J. Fitzgerald, treasurer; A. McNaughton, captain; J. Barnes, vice-captain; and R. Toy, J. Byrne, W. Robertson, W. Trahar, A. Kortlang, M.B. Jenkins, J. Aikens, J.J. Dobson, and R.A. Strachan committeemen. In 1884 was formed the last of the rowing clubs so far, and it revived the old name Wendouree. Its officers are J. Hickman, president; Colonel W.C. Smith, and Messrs. McDonald and Hartley, vice-presidents; J. Whitelaw, captain; C. Leggo, vice-captain; G. Male, secretary; G. Miller, treasurer; and D. Hare, J. McDonald, F. McGarey, J. Leggo, W. Archibald, O. Liddiard, and E. Cutter, committeemen. The Wendouree also numbers near 100 members.

The Ballarat Yacht Club was formed at a meeting held at Gill's Lake View Hotel, on the 29th May, 1877. Mr. O.E. Edwards in the chair. The following officers were elected for the first year:—President, R. Le Poer (afterwards Judge) Trench; commodore, O.E. Edwards; captain, G. Hathorn; treasurer, A. Brown; secretary, A.T. Seal; judge, H.R. Caselli. The first regatta under the auspices of the club was held on 30th November, of that year, when prizes to the amount of �150 were given. The principal yachts in commission at that time were—Victoria, 5 tons; Vagabond, 3� tons; Endeavor, 3 tons; Telegraph, 3 tons; Daphne, 5 tons; Kathleen, 3 tons; Leader, 6 tons; Flying Scud, 6 tons. On the 22nd October, 1878, A.T. Seal having resigned, W. Downie was elected honorary secretary, in which office he still (1887) remains. In 1881 E. Morey was elected commodore, which position he still (1887) retains—the officers at this last named period being—President, Hon. P. Russell; vice-presidents, B. Hepburn and T. Bath and the Hons. D. Ham and H. Gore; commodore, E. Morey; vice-commodore, W. Bailey; captain, T. Bailey; treasurer, J. Murray, as successor to T. Mann on that gentleman's retirement, after being in office for eight years; secretary, W. Downie; judge, W. Gale (vice [29] H.R. Caselli, deceased); starter, W.P. B�chervaise, who has occupied the position nearly ever since the formation of the club; timekeeper, R.W. Holmes (vice Lieut.-Colonel Sleep). The yachts in commission (1887) are—Commodore E. Moray's Ballarat, 6 tons; Vice-Commodore W. Bailey's Viola, 7 tons; E. Millard's Darlie Bay, 7 tons; Messrs. Gill and Mann's Flying Scud, 6 tons; Alex. Monsbourgh's Wendouree, 6 tons; T. Stoddart's Pinafore, 4 tons; R. Orr's Reporter, 4 tons; R. Taylor's Victoria, 5 tons. There are besides those named several other yachts on Lake Wendouree, which are usually kept for cruising purposes, amongst them being the Kathleen, Daphne, Endeavor, Idea, Coquette, Miranda, together with a number of other sailing craft. The yachting season usually commences in September and closes about April, during which period, in addition to the annual regatta, club contests are held almost every Saturday for trophies given by a number of liberal patrons, on which occasions a steamboat is always provided by the club for members, ladies, and guests. During the series of years the club has been in existence, one or more of the Wendouree fleet have represented the club on Lake Colac, Corio Bay, and once on Hobson's Bay, and on every occasion with success, even to the carrying off the first prize in each instance but one, thus establishing a name and fame unequalled by any yachts of their class in the colony. The members' roll at the commencement of the season 1886-7 numbered 120, and this is expected to be largely increased as the season progresses. For this concise summary of the Wendouree sailing fleet the author is indebted to Mr. Downie, the honorary secretary of the Yacht Club, and it is almost exclusively given in his own words.

"The Lawn", Lake Wendouree, 1887

As regards the fleet of steam-boats on the lake, enterprise in that direction began in 1865, when the Victoria, built by Messrs. Bishop and Co., of the Soho Works of that day, was launched. The Victoria has disappeared, and now there are six elegantly appointed steamers plying upon the lake, the owners being Mr. James Ivey and Mr. Gill. That is to say, Mr. Gill owns one, and Mr. Ivey, who was the largest original owner, is now part proprietor in, and is manager for, the Garden City Steam Boat Company, whose blazon on the wharf notifies the reader of the carrying capacity (690 souls) of the fleet.

Ballarat is rich in charitable and other public institutions. The District Hospital, in Drummond street, corner of Sturt street, an edifice in the classic style, is the earliest of the public charities, sick and injured people having at first been housed in huts at the Government Camp. The wounded men at the Eureka Stockade could not be provided with proper accommodation, and that led to the taking of steps for building a hospital. Messrs. Lynn, Henry Foster (Superintendent of Police), W.B. Rodier, J. Daly (Warden), R. Lewis, and others, mentioned as among the first officers of the hospital, started the movement. When the building was begun the site was in the bush, and some people lost their way in returning to their homes in what is now Ballarat East and the parts adjacent to Lydiard street. The foundation stone of the first portion of the hospital was laid on Christmas Day, 1855, by Mr. James Daly, police magistrate and warden, the architect being Mr. J. Robertson. The foundation stone of the remainder of the south wing was laid on New Year's Day, 1866, by Mr. Henry Cuthbert, with Masonic honors, Mr. Charles D. Cuthbert being the architect. The foundation of what is intended to be the centre, or Alfred Memorial, was laid on Queen Victoria's birthday, 1869, by Mr. Robert Lewis, and was opened on the next anniversary of the day; Mr. J.H. Jones being the architect, and of the completing north wing, not yet erected. The edifice stands on a reserve of five acres on the highest part of the western table-land. The names of the first committee of management and of the first staff of officers are as follow:—Messrs. J.A. Douglas, president; W.B. Robinson and J. Oddie, vice-presidents; M. Elliott, J. Oddie, H. Foster, J. Dixie, and A.B. Rankin, trustees; J. Dixie, treasurer; R. Muir, R.B. Gibbs, W.C. Smith, C.H. Edwards, S. Irwin, J. Cummins, G. Butchart, W. Moore, J. Daly, D. Oliver, J. M'Dowall, A.B. Rankin, and M. Elliot, committeemen; T. Doyle, J. Stewart, R.J. Hobson, and C.J. Kenworthy, honorary medical officers; H. Foster, hon. secretary; T. Hillas, resident surgeon; J. Garrard, dispenser and house steward; Mrs. Garrard, matron. The presidents since have been Messrs. W.B. Robinson, 1857-8; A.L. Lynn, 1859-60; A. Drury, 1861-2-3-4; W.H. Foster, 1865; J.M. Strongman, 1866; R. Lewis, 1867-8-9; J. O'Meara, 1870; W. Cameron, 1871; J. Permewan, 1872; F.C. Downes, 1873; G. Smith, 1874-5; A.H. King, 1876; D. Brophy, 1877; F.M. Claxton, 1878; T. Clegg, 1879; A. Anderson, 1880; J.J. Fitzgerald, 1881; J.J. G�ller, 1882; J. Hickman, 1883; C. Salter, 1884; P. Papenhagen, 1885; A. Hunter, 1886. The resident surgeons have been T. Hillas, 1856 to 1859; W.P. Whitcombe, 1860 to 1866; R.J. Owen, 1867 to 1884; J.E. Moffatt, 1885 to 1886; W. Morrison to end of 1886; R. Scott, 1887. The paid secretaries and collectors conjointly have been E.C. Moore to 1863, and C.I. Burrows from 1864 to the present time. G. Moore was at one time employed as collector only. Omitting those already mentioned, the following is the official list for 1886:—Vice-presidents, D. Brophy, Alex. White; honorary treasurer, W. Eyres; honorary solicitor, C Salter; committee of management, F.M. Claxton, P. Papenhagen, T. Clegg, J.J. G�ller, G. Smith, A. Anderson, S.L. Bailey, D. Cameron, O.E. Edwards, J. Phillips, C. Salter, J. Hickman, J. Permewan, W.J. Higgans, J.J. Fitzgerald; honorary surgeons, E.G. Ochiltree, W.A. Bradford, W.P. Whitcombe; honorary physicians, F.H. Eastwood, J.F. Usher, S.E.A. Zichy-Woinarski; honorary consulting physician, H.H. Radcliffe; honorary consulting surgeon, R.F. Hudson, M.D.; honorary surgeon dentist, J. M'Burney; auditors, J.A. Chalk, J.F. Spillman; dispenser, F.F. Shelly; matron, Mrs. A. Neilson; clerk, J.A. Richmond; galvanist, H. Weeks. The house contained, in 1870, 185 bed-spaces, the last report then returning 1033 as the number of patients admitted in the year 1869, and 5372 as the number of out-patients. Mr. Burrows, to whose courtesy the author is indebted for the statement, gives the present bed accommodation as 105 for males and 43 for females; the male in-patients during 1886 as 634, females 252, in all 886, and the out-patients as 1351 males, 1777 females, in all 3128. There are nine wards, including one for convalescents. The total cost of buildings has been �25,022, and the average cost per annum per patient �51 7s. 11�d.

The Benevolent Asylum, on a five-acre reserve fronting Ascot street, was the next of the public charities. It is a palace in the Elizabethan style, with well-kept grounds, a magnificent home such as the English poor, we may suppose, have never dreamt of in their wildest flights of fancy. The foundation stone of the first portion was laid on St. Patrick's Day, 1859, by F. Gell, D.P.G.M., with Masonic honors, the architect being Mr. Christopher Porter; builders, Messrs. Evans and Barker; cost, �3765 4s. 2d. The first building was opened on the 20th February, 1860. The foundation stones of the subsequent portions appear to have been laid without ceremony. Mr. J.A. Doane has been the architect of all those portions of the asylum which have been built since the first, save the chronic ward now building from designs by James and Piper. The second portion was built by Mr. J. Francis at a cost of �2907 15s., and was opened on the 10th June, 1862. The third, or north centre portion, was built by Mr. J. Hope, at a cost of �2016 8s., and was opened on the 26th August, 1863. The fourth, or north wing portion, was built by Mr. F. Nicholls, at a cost of �2127 1s. 5d., and was opened on the 19th March, 1867. The fifth, or southern wing—a lying-in hospital—was built by Messrs. Irving, Glover, and Co., at a cost of �2712 10s. 2d., and was opened on the 27th of July, 1869. On the 29th April last. President Phillips and Treasurer Shoppee laid the foundation stone of the chronic ward now in course of erection. The total outlay for buildings and repairs up to the 30th October, 1886, was �22,216 8s. lid. The first committee sat in 1857 as the almoners of the "Ballarat Visiting and Benevolent Association", and consisted of Mr. R. Smith, president; the Revs. P. Madden, J. Bickford, J. Potter, J. Strongman, G. Mackie, and Niquet; Messrs. W.C. Smith, R. Belford, W. Fraser, R. Ocock, J.H. Dunne, J. Oddie, M.J. Cummins, M'lvor, A. Dimant, D. Morris, Martin, S. Donnelly, Tristram, A. Dewar, W. Dimsey, J. Dodds, Crane, H. Wood, I. Wheeldon, R. Davidson, R. Lewis, Brannon, A. Davies, Lockhart, Gripe, and Talbot, committeemen; A.S. Park, hon. treasurer; A.A. Tarte, hon. secretary. The presidents of the asylum since then have been:—R. Lewis, 1860-4; W. Scott, 1865; J. O'Meara, 1866; G. Lovitt, 1867; J.A. Doane, 1868; G. Lovitt, 1869; J. Oddie, 1870; R. Wrigley, 1873-4; C.C. Shoppee, 1875-6; J. Long, 1877-8; J.J. Fitzgerald, 1879-80; H. Josephs, 1881; J. T. Phillips, 1882-3; J. Oddie, 1884-5; J. Phillips, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Boughen were the first master and matron, and Mr. Boughen is still in office, but Mrs. Boughen is dead, and the present matron is Mrs. M.H. Phayer. Peter Cazaly was the first paid secretary, and Dr. M'Farlane the first medical officer, and to them have succeeded T.C. Coates as secretary, and Dr. Holthouse as medical officer. The office-bearers for the year ending July, 1887, were:—J. Phillips, president; J. Hickman and J. Ferguson, vice-presidents; J.T. Phillips, J. Oddie, D. Brophy, W. Dimsey, and A. Anderson, trustees; C C. Shoppee, treasurer; Drs. Whitcombe, Usher, and Radcliffe, honorary medical officers; H. Josephs, J. Showman, J. Russell, Rev. Father Doyle, Hon. D. Ham, J.J. Fitzgerald, T. Taylor, S. Cohen, J. Curtis, D. Lessels, J. M'Cafferty, M.C. Carey, W. Scott, G.K. Coutts, J. Murray, O.E. Edwards, committeemen. The charity is a home for old age and chronic invalids, and provides rations also for out-door patients, the committee undertaking to visit out-door claimants for relief, and generally to supervise the administration of the funds. On the 6th December, 1869, there were 195 patients in the house, and 816 patients were receiving out-door relief, the outlay for the ten years from 1859 to 1868 having been �68,202 10s. 2d. At that time beds were made for 274 in-patients. On the 31st December, 1886, there were in the asylum 251 inmates—196 males and 55 females, the total admissions during the year being 290 males and 114 females, exclusive of 14 males and 23 females born during the year in the Lying-in Hospital. During that year there were issued 21,490 adult rations and 13,836 children's rations to out-patients, or a weekly average of 413 to adults and 266 to children; and the medical officer treated 1690 cases—1373 males and 317 females. The weekly average of in-patients for the year was 248, and the average cost, calculated over the last eight years, per patient per annum, was �17 15s. 10�d.

The District Orphan Asylum is in Victoria street, and is a plain edifice, designed by Architect H.R. Caselli. It was established in 1865, the licensed victuallers of Ballarat, with Mr. W.R. Watson at their head, having been foremost in its promotion, assisted very nobly from the first by the friendly societies of the town and district. The foundation stone was laid on the 8th December, 1865, by Mr. (now Sir James) M'Culloch, the Chief Secretary of the colony, and the building, as far as then erected, was opened on 8th July, 1866, the cost up to 1870 being �7500. Since then large additions have been made to the asylum, at once increasing the accommodation and completing the harmony of the architectural design, the total cost to date being �18,538 3s. lid. In December, 1869, there were 80 children in the asylum, the building then having accommodation for 200. The asylum can now house 300 orphans, the number on the roll at the end of 1886 being 72 males, 49 females, in all 121. The asylum grounds comprise an area of 40 acres, and the gardens supply the asylum with a large amount of edibles, besides adding beauty to the surroundings. In this later respect, the gardens of the hospital and the Benevolent Asylum even excel those of the Orphan Asylum. The following are the names of the first committee and office-bearers:—President, W.R. Watson; vice-presidents, E. Steinfeld, H.H. Peake; trustees of land, G. Lovitt, W.R. Watson, R.B. Gibbs, E. Steinfeld, H.H. Peake; trustees of funds, W. Jones, G. Lovitt, R.B. Gibbs, W.P. Martin, E. Drake; committeemen, W Scott, W. Dunn, James Walker, J. Craddock, W.M. Brown, Jas. Hall, T.J. Mitchell, R. Kent, H. Cuthbert, J. Eddy, R. Jones, Gilbert Duncan, P.C. Parry, Jas. Goujon, W. Jack, E. Larkin; secretary and collector, Wm. Webster; superintendent, John Finlay; matron, Catherine Finlay. After Mr. and Mrs. Finlay came Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Sadlier, then Mr. R. Wreford and Mrs. Wheeldon, and then the present Mr. and Mrs. A. Kenny. The names of the present committee and office-bearers are as follow:—President, J. Richards; vice-presidents, H. Josephs, W.P. Martin; treasurer, W. Scott; hon. consulting medical adviser. Dr. Hudson; hon. medical officers, Dr. Usher, Dr. Woinarski, Dr. Salmon; hon. solicitor, Hon. H. Cuthbert; committee, D. Brophy, E.W.G. Chamberlain, Jas. Curtis, C. Dyte, J. Ferguson, D. Fitzpatrick, Wm. Gale, W.T. Glenn, J. Hickman, W. Lakeland, W.D. M'Kee, J.C. Molloy, J. Nicol, H. Reid, T.H. Thompson; secretary and collector, Robert Wreford. The presidents have been:—W.R. Watson, 1865-6-7-70; R.B. Gibbs, 1868; Wm. Scott, 1869; R. Lewis, 1871; E. Chamberlain, 1872; J. Long, 1873; D. Brophy, 1874; J.W. Gray, 1875; H. Levinson, 1876; R. Wreford, 1877-8; J.C. Molloy, 1879; W. Lakeland, 1880; D. Fitz-Patrick, 1881; D.B. Macaw, 1882; W.D. M'Kee, 1883; J. Ferguson, 1884; J. Richards, 1885-6.

For both Orphan and Benevolent statistics, the author is largely indebted to the present secretaries of those charities.

The Female Refuge was originally in Grant street, but is now in Dyte's parade, and is devoted to the shelter of several classes of women in distress. There are now 12 inmates in the house, and accommodation for 20 in all. The Refuge is under the management of a committee of ladies. The present matron is Mrs. Munro. The Grant Street Refuge was started some 20 years ago, Mesdames Clendinning, Swift, Henderson, and Cummins being of the first committee. The present committee are Mesdames Swift (president), Thornton, Inglis, Clarke, Glenn (secretary), J. Jones, Towl, W.T. Thompson, Corbould, R. and G. Thompson, Williams, Thomas, W.H. Jones, and Trevor. The site in Dyte's parade is the gift of Mr. James Oddie.

The Ladies' Benevolent Clothing Society is an auxiliary to the larger charities, the main form of its benefactions being the distribution of clothing to necessitous people who do not come directly under the provisions of the Benevolent Asylum.

Ballarat is the See of two bishops, the Churches of Rome and England having, in 1873, created each a Ballarat Diocese in what had previously been the Diocese of Victoria. Although the Sees were created at about the same time the Roman Catholic bishop was first consecrated, the Right Rev. Michael O'Connor, D.D., having been consecrated in Rome in May, 1874. He arrived in Ballarat on the 18th December, 1874, and was installed in St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday, the 20th, by Archbishop Gould, a sermon being preached on the occasion by the Rev. W. Kelly, S.J. Bishop O'Connor died on the 14th February, 1882, aged 52 years, and his remains were buried in the north transept of the cathedral, A mortuary chapel in his memory is to be built adjacent to the cathedral. Dr. James Moore, who was dean and vicar-general under Bishop O'Connor, had been entitled monsignor by the Pope, and had previously been the senior clergyman in charge of the mission, was appointed bishop in his place, and was consecrated by the archbishop in St. Patrick's Cathedral on the 27th April, 1884, the bishops of Hobart (Murphy), Adelaide (Reynolds), Goulburn (Lanigan), and Armidale (Torregiani), assisting, and the Very Rev. T. Cahill, S.J., preaching on the occasion.

The Right Rev. Samuel Thornton, D.D. (and M.A., of Melbourne), and late Michal Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, was consecrated first Anglican bishop of Ballarat by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of London, Melbourne, and Goulburn, in Westminster Abbey on the 1st May, 1875, S.S. Phillip, and James' Day. Bishop Thornton arrived in Ballarat on the 10th August, 1875, attended a thanksgiving service on the same day at Christ Church pro-Cathedral, and was next day there installed by the Ven. T.B.C. Stretch, archdeacon of Ballarat and Hamilton, the bishop preaching the sermon. In the evening of the same day there was a public reception in the hall of the Mechanics' Institute, where attended the clergy. Chief Justice Stawell, and other leading laymen of the church. On following days addresses of welcome were presented to the bishop from the Ballarat Presbytery and by a number of Birmingham men, from whose town the bishop hailed.

The boundaries of the Anglican Diocese are officially described to be those of the colony "except on the east where the boundary is irregular, but adjoins roughly the 144th meridian." The author has not succeeded in obtaining a definition of the Roman Catholic Diocesan boundaries.

Of the many churches in Ballarat, those in permanent materials, as brick and stone are called, may be particularised. Every communion had earlier churches of wood, and at the present time most communions have churches both of wood and of brick or stone; but the more perishable buildings are gradually disappearing as churches, and this record only refers in detail to the more durable; edifices.

The Anglican communion has six churches in permanent materials, of which Christ Church, in Lydiard street, is the oldest of all existing permanent ecclesiastical edifices here. It is a Gothic structure, built of basaltic stone, the nave designed by Backhouse and Reynolds, and the transepts by Mr. E. James, and was begun in 1854 during the incumbency of the Rev. J.R. Thackeray, the foundation stone being laid by Archdeacon Stretch. At that time the building was not carried on. In the year 1857 the nave was built, the Rev. John Potter being then the minister. It was opened on the 13th September, 1857, by the Revs. P. Homan and J.G. Russell. The transepts and chancel were added in 1868, and were opened on the 6th May of that year. The transepts and chancel cost �1,792, and the earlier portion over �2,000. A wooden annex to the north transept has since been added for the accommodation of the increasing congregation. The Church Assembly having resolved upon the erection of a cathedral, arrangements were made that the site should be that occupied by Christ Church, which had already become the pro-Cathedral, but by a later decision that scheme has been abandoned, and a site chosen at the Dana street corner of the reserve, now occupied by the vicar's residence. Designs for a cathedral were accepted from Messrs. Tappin, Gilbert, and Denehy, and at a meeting in the Alfred Hall, on the 10th September, 1886, presided over by his Excellency Sir Henry Loch, the sum of �4,850 was promised in aid of the erection. The style of the proposed edifice is to some extent early English at a transition period, plan cruciform, with nave, side aisles, transepts, side chapels for organ, choir, sacrarium and vestry, accommodation for other church purposes to be made in the basement. Nave length, 130 feet; width of nave and aisles, 64 feet; length of transepts, 120 feet; height of nave walls, 52 feet. The choir is an apse, and the bold west front rises sheer from the street footpath, flanked by two towers, whose altitude is about 200 feet. The nave roof is continued in an unbroken line over the choir, and at the junction of the nave and transepts a richly decorated fleche rises some 120 feet. The competition was open to all Australia, and it is a matter of satisfaction that a firm whose members are native born, one of them Ballarat born, have carried off the honors. Altogether, the cathedral promises to be one of the most beautiful of sacred edifices in any of the colonies. The school-house of brick, which stands north of the church, was opened on the 1st of October, 1868. St. Paul's, in Humffray street, a Gothic design, built of brick, has been re-built, in part, and was opened in its present state in April, 1864; architect, Mr. L. Terry. The original body of the church was built for a school, the foundation stone being laid on the 17th of May, 1858, by Mr. J.B. Humffray, who then said it was "the first stone foundation laid for educational purposes in Ballarat East." The tower was built and the church enlarged in 1862, but in 1864 the site of the church subsided in consequence of mining operations beneath and the building was taken down. The present church was then erected, the Rev. R.T. Cummins incumbent, the old tower remaining, and the church built west of the tower instead of east as before. St. John's, a Gothic design, in Armstrong street north, built of brick, and designed by Mr. L. Terry, was begun on the 15th of March, 1864, the Dean of Melbourne laying the foundation stone. It was opened on the 29th of February, 1865, by the Rev. C.T. Perks. On the 16th of November, 1869, Archdeacon Stretch laid the foundation stone of additions to the church, which were opened on the 11th March, 1870, the Rev. G.W. Watson being the incumbent. On the 16th May, 1884, Bishop Thornton laid the memorial stone of a side aisle and organ chamber, and the church was re-opened on the 2nd October of that year, by Archdeacon Julius. The additions were designed by Terry and Oakden, and cost �773 6s. St. Peter's, in Sturt street west, Gothic design, built of basaltic stone, was begun on the 16th November, 1864, Mr. B.H. Hassell laying the foundation stone. Mr. C.D. Cuthbert was the architect, and the nave was opened on the 11th of June, 1865, the Rev. W.H. Adeney being the incumbent. St. James', Little Bendigo, Gothic, built of brick, and designed by H.R. Caselli, was opened by the Dean of Melbourne on the 17th of July, 1864, the Rev. G.C. Allanby being the incumbent. Holy Trinity, Albert street, Sebastopol, built of brick, and designed by H.R. Caselli, was begun in September, 1867, Archdeacon Stretch laying the foundation stone. Since then two bays and a chancel have been added, a memorial stone being laid by Miss Kate Bray in January, 1870; the Rev. Gualter Soares, minister.

The Roman Catholics have two churches—St. Patrick's, Sturt street, now the Cathedral Church, and St. Alipius', in Victoria street. The first is in Flamboyant Gothic style, and is at present the largest and most beautiful Gothic edifice in the town. The materials are basaltic stone, with freestone enrichments. Bishop Gould laid the foundation stone of the nave and side-aisles on the 7th of February, 1858, the Revs. P. Madden and R.F.X. Fennelly being the resident ministers; architects, Messrs. Shaw and Dowden. The pillars of the nave were erected in 1861, and the building, as far as the point now intersected by the transepts, was opened by the same bishop on the 8th of November, 1863, Dr. Shiel, Archdeacon of Ballarat (afterwards Bishop of Adelaide) being then resident here. The transepts, side chapels, chancel, and sacristy were built after drawings by Mr. Denney, Dean Moore, now the bishop, being the clergyman in charge. The erection of the tower and spire is reserved for the future. The nave and aisles cost �12,000; the after contracts amounted to a larger sum, and �1500 were spent on the iron fence round the reserve, the total outlay to date being near �40,000. Steps were taken in 1872 for the erection of St. Alipius', in place of a weatherboard building previously in use on the site, and the present edifice was opened in 1874. Archbishop Gould laid the foundation stone early in 1873.

The Scottish Presbyterians have three churches. St. Andrew's, in Sturt street, is a Norman design by C.D. Cuthbert, built in basaltic stone, with an ornate freestone doorway. The foundation stone was laid on 1st of December, 1862, by the Rev. W. Henderson, the minister. While being built a portion of the walls was blown down in a gale on the 3rd of August, 1863. The church cost �3150, and was opened on the 15th of August, 1864. The tower and spire were built in 1884 from designs by Architect C.D. Figgis, at a cost of �2133, the height of the spire being 148 feet. The spire is named the Henderson Memorial Spire, the minister having died during the building of it, and the dark layers of stone in the pinnacles show the height to which the work had reached on the 22nd July, when the pastor died. Two small congregations had existed before the original St. Andrew's one, which latter worshipped in a wooden building adjoining. The two earlier ones belonged respectively to the Synod of Victoria and the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria. The remnants of these two joined in one, making the St. Andrew's congregation under the charge of the Rev. W. Henderson, the wooden church being opened on the first Sunday in May, 1858. Soon after that nearly all Presbyterian bodies in Victoria united as the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, and the congregation of St. Andrew's joined that union. Ebenezer, United Presbyterian, in Armstrong street south, built of basaltic stone, and designed by H.R. Caselli, was begun on the 10th of December, 1862, the minister of the congregation at that time, the Rev. R.T. Walker, laying the foundation stone. The church was opened on the 21st of June, 1863. Some church additions and a manse have since then been erected. Doveton Street Church, United Presbyterian, built of brick in 1866, and opened in June of that year, was then a Welsh Congregational Church, designed by Carpenters T. Lewis and J. Thomas. It became the property of United Presbyterians, under the pastoral charge of the Rev. R.T. Walker, who opened his pastorate there on the 15th of August, 1869. The building has long ceased to be a church, and is now a hall for secular uses. The congregation of St. John's, Presbyterian Church of Victoria, at first worshipping nearly opposite to the Synagogue, in Princes street, and then in the Alfred Hall, accepted a design by Mr. Oakden for the present large wooden church in Peel street, the site not being suitable for heavier materials. This course was taken on the advice of the architect, Mr. Percy Oakden, and the present church, which holds over 1000 persons, and is said to be the largest wooden church in Victoria, was built by Irving and Clover, the site and building costing �3500. The edifice was opened on Sunday, 13th August, 1871, when the Rev. Dr. Cameron, and the resident minister, the Rev. J.W. Inglis, officiated. On the 9th October, 1881, a Sunday school and lecture hall, at the roar, was opened by the Rev. T. Hastie. The architects were Caselli and Figgis; builder, W. Robertson; cost, about �1500; holding capacity, from 900 to 1000.

The Free Church of England had one building, dedicated to St. Thomas, built of brick, in Macarthur street west, designed by J.R. Burns. It was opened on the 19th of July, 1869; minister, the Rev. C.W. Collins, and is now a Wesleyan church.

The Catholic Apostolic Church has recently purchased, and now occupies, the church in Sturt street west, originally known as Holy Trinity Congregational Church.

The Welsh Presbyterians have one church. It is in Albert street, Sebastopol, is built of basaltic stone, and was designed by H.R. Caselli, the foundation stone being laid on the 3rd of March, 1865, by Mary, wife of Ellis Richards, a deacon of the church. The church was opened on the second Sunday in April, 1866, by the Revs. R.T. Walker and W. Henderson in the English language, and on the next Sunday by the Revs. Messrs. W.M. Evans, Farr, Roberts, and J. Evans in the Welsh language.

The United Welsh Protestant Church has a church of brick in the reserve at the corner of Lydiard and Armstrong streets. It was built in 1858 for the use of Welsh Protestants of all denominations. The Revs. J. Farr and L. Llewellyn were the first ordained ministers.

The Primitive Methodists have four churches—one of brick, in Humffray street, the foundation stone of which was laid by Mr. J. Richardson on the 9th of April, 1860. The church was designed by J. Buckle, and was opened on the 8th of July, 1860. One of brick, in Burnbank street, designed by W. Benson. Mr. J. Richardson laid the foundation stone on the 6th of June, 1864, and the building was opened on the 5th of August of the same year. One at the south-east corner of Eyre and Lyons streets, designed by J.A. Doane, and built of basaltic stone. Mrs. M.D. Morgan laid the foundation stone on the 10th of May, 1868, and the church was opened on the 23rd of October of that year. One of brick, in Beverin street, Sebastopol, designed by J.A. Doane. The foundation stone was laid on the 23rd of June, 1868, by the Rev. S. Bracewell, and the church was opened on the 27th of the following September.

The Wesleyans have eleven churches. Wesley Church, in Lydiard street, built of basaltic stone, was designed by Backhouse and Reynolds; cost, �5000. The foundation stone was laid by his Excellency Sir Henry Barkly on the 17th January, 1858, and the church was opened on the 18th of July of the same year, the first sermon being preached by the Rev. D.J. Draper, who was drowned in the "London" steamer, that foundered in the Bay of Biscay on the 11th January, 1866. The change of prices between 1854 and 1870 is shown in the fact that �2500 was the cost of the original school-house at the corner of Lydiard and Dana streets, a small, plain, low-walled building of rotten sandstone from the Black Hill, and basaltic boulders. A similar building could now be erected for a fifth or sixth of the cost. The bluestone church was sold a year or two ago to the School of Mines, and is now the School Museum. The present handsome edifice, of brick and stone, in pointed Gothic, at the corner of Dana street, is from designs by Messrs. Terry and Oakden, of Melbourne, and was built by Messrs. Irving and Glover, cost over �10,000, and will seat 1100 persons. The works were begun on the 5th October, 1883; the memorial stone was laid by the Hon. J. Campbell on the 11th December, 1883, and the church was opened on the 14th December, 1884, by the Rev. H. Bath, a former superintendent of the circuit. Barkly Street Church, of brick, cost �1933, was completed on the 5th of May, 1860; J.A. Doane, architect. There was no ceremonial laying of the foundation stone. Neil Street Church, of brick, cost �1400, was completed on the 16th of March, 1867; J.A. Doane, architect. The foundation stone was laid by the Rev. W.L. Binks. Wendouree Church, of brick, cost �475, was finished on the 16th of June, 1860; J.A. Doane, architect; the Rev. J. Bickford the officiating minister. This building has recently been closed, as subsidence of the site has made the place unfit for use. Sebastopol Church, of stone, in Cheshunt street; first part opened in March, 1864, completed on the 22nd May, 1869; foundation stone laid in August, 1863, by the Rev. W. Taylor, of California; J.A. Doane, architect; the Rev. J.S. Waugh officiating minister. Little Bendigo Church, of brick, cost �611; J.A. Doane, architect; foundation stone laid by Mrs. D. Morgan; completed on the 24th of June, 1865. Mount Pleasant Church, of stone, cost �980; foundation stone laid by the Rev. J.S. Waugh; completed 16th September, 1865; J.A. Doane, architect. Pleasant Street Church, of brick, cost �1700; officiating minister. Rev. W.L. Binks; architect, J.A. Doane; completed on the 24th of June, 1867. In 1886, additions for choir purposes were made to this church, after designs by Mr. C.D. Figgis. A handsome new parsonage has also been erected close by the church. Golden Point Church, of brick, cost �850; foundation stone laid by the Rev. W.L. Binks; architect, J.A. Doane; completed on the 29th of June, 1867. Brown Hill Church, of brick, cost �714; foundation stone laid by George Smith; architect, J.A. Doane; completed on the 22nd of March, 1869. The eleventh church is that in Macarthur street, already mentioned.

The Bible Christians have four churches. Armstrong Street Church, of brick; foundation stone laid in December, 1860, by Mrs. Frederick Baker; opened on the 3rd of March, 1861; F.O. Korn, architect. Skipton Street Church, of stone; foundation stone laid on the 8th of August, 1865, by the Rev. John Orchard; opened on the 25th of March, 1866; H.R. Caselli, architect. Grant Street Church, of brick; foundation stone laid on the 19th of December, 1865, by the Rev. W.H. Hooker; opened on the 18th of March, 1866; designed by carpenter S.H. Lugg. Humffray Street Church, of brick; foundation stone laid on the 30th of October, 1866, by the Rev. James Lowe; opened on the 20th of January, 1867; designed by carpenter S.H. Lugg.

The Hebrew Synagogue, in Princes street, of brick, cost �900, was designed by T.B. Cameron. The foundation stone was laid on the 25th of January, 1861, by Mr. C. Dyte, M.L.A., and the opening service was celebrated on the 18th of the following March, the Rev. Mr. Isaacs, minister.

The Baptist Church, of stone, in Dawson street, opposite to St. Patrick's, a substantial edifice, with Grecian front, was designed by J.A. Doane, and cost �3591. The foundation stone was laid on the 23rd of October, 1866, by the Rev. Isaac New; pastor, the Rev. W. Sutton, and the building was opened on the 6th of November, 1867. Since then the building has been much beautified both inside and out, and at considerable cost.

The old Congregational Church, of brick, near the corner of Dawson and Mair streets, was designed for a school by J.A. Doane, and cost �800, the site adjoining being reserved for a church. The old building was opened on the 21st of March, 1862; the Rev. Mr. Gosman, minister; after him the Rev. J.J. Halley. The first church was of wood, in Sturt street, and opened on the 6th of June, 1857. It was sold in September, 1861, to Mr. Boyd, the printer, who still occupies all of the premises. In 1881, on the Queen's Birthday, the memorial stone of the present church, at the corner of Mair and Dawson streets, was laid by the Rev. Joseph Walker, the pastor, to whom has succeeded Dr. Roseby, whose pastorate began in December, 1885. The church is of brick, in Gothic, with novel treatment in some details, the architects being Caselli and Figgis, and the cost �3550. The present accommodation is for 500 persons, site space being reserved for future extension if necessary. The parsonage adjacent was designed by C.D. Figgis, and cost �1400. The Dawson Street Church is the only one belonging to this denomination in Ballarat.

The Disciples of Christ have a brick church in Dawson street, built from a design by J.A. Doane; cost of building, �500; fittings, vestry, and extras, �185; land, �75; total, �800; opened in June, 1865. They have a wooden church also at the corner of Peel and Eastwood streets.

The Friends have a small wooden meeting-house in Grant street. The Wroeites once had a meeting-place in Dyte's parade, and the Unitarians one in East street, but neither sect has one in Ballarat at present.

The Lutherans have erected a brick church in place of an earlier wooden one on their reserve in Doveton street south. The architect was C.D. Figgis; builders, Taylor and Ellis; cost, �1100 says Pastor Herlitz, but �995 2s., says the architect. The church was opened on the 19th March, 1870, by Pastor Herlitz, the head of the Lutheran Synod of Victoria.

The Town Mission was begun in an organised form in March, 1870, by Messrs. M. Morgan, Cortlet, Etchells, Jones, Nash, and Costain, and Mesdames Kitchen, Whitrick, and Burton. In February, 1872, the present missioner, Martin Hosking, was engaged. There is now a mission hall in Eureka street, and a Chinese school and meeting-house in Main street, and the work done by the missioner and his assistants in caring for the bodies as well as the souls of the poor is veritably practical religion of a very Christian type. Mr. W. Little, who, with Mrs. Little, gives valuable help in the musical portion of the mission work, has furnished the author with much interesting detail in connection with the establishment and operations of the mission, but there is no space available here for more than this bare and ineffectual record. The author has only that poor but pressing apology to offer to the churches generally for his meagre notices in these pages.

That modern invention, the Salvation Army, opened its campaign in Ballarat in April, 1882, the commanding officers being Major (now Colonel) and Mrs. Barker, Captain (now Adjutant) Hodges, Lieut. Hayes, Happy Dinah, and others; and a branch of the Prison Gate Brigade was opened in August, 1885. An iron roofed wooden barracks, measuring 90 x 50 x 12 feet, and accommodating 1,700 people, is erected in Little Bridge street, the memorial blocks having been laid on the 2nd April, 1884, by the Hon. J. Campbell, M.L.C., and Mr. Jas. Russell, M.L.A.

The passing of the Education Act of 1872 revolutionised the primary school systems of the colony and annihilated at a stroke all the denominational schools save some of the Roman Catholic ones. That church has fought and still fights against the State schools, and has opened new schools of its own in all directions, but as the denomination is in a minority, and the great bulk of the children of Ballarat are sent to State schools, these have become a notable feature in civic architecture, as they are necessarily numerous, and they mark the advent of a new school of architecture in the Public Works Department. In the older days the State buildings of all kinds were, as a rule, hideous to the sight. The new State schools are sightly, and lend some really welcome aspects to the landscape. There are eighteen State schools in Ballarat, and there was an aggregate average attendance during 1886 of 5,342 children. The aggregate cost of the school buildings was �48,230, not including some outlay for yards, and tree planting here and there. The following table gives some details of interest, the names of head teachers, where changes have occurred, being given in the order of their appointment.

School No. 34 was the first Associated Training School in the district. It was thus created in 1874, with Mr. Rosenblum as associate. Seventy-one students have been trained there, of which number sixty are now State school teachers. From school No. 1436 seventy two pupils have passed the matriculation examination of the Melbourne University, and eleven have obtained from the Education Department exhibitions of the yearly value of �35, tenable for six years. On the 8th April, 1884, Mr. Nicholls, the head teacher was elected by the teachers of the colony as their first representative on the Committee of Classifiers. This committee was created by the Public Service Act of 1883, for the purpose of classifying all State schools and teachers, and for dealing with the transfer of teachers. On the 4th May, 1887, Mr. Nicholls was declared re-elected to the office by a majority of 462 over Mr. John Sergeant, the other candidate. School No. 2103 is the successor to the Denominational school in Errard street, over which Mr. Lowther also presided, and to which between 5000 and 6000 scholars had been admitted. The number admitted to the State school has been close on 4000. Under Mr. Lowther's management many teachers have been trained, and "about sixteen" have passed the matriculation examination, two have obtained exhibitions, and four have won scholarships.

Church schools amongst Protestants now are Sunday schools only, and as such do not seem to come within our purview here. The private day schools are many, and their successes at University examinations indicate a fair average of teaching ability. The largest school is the Ballarat College, which is in some sort attached to the Presbyterian Kirk of St. Andrew's. Its first principal was R.O. M'Coy, and the present one is J. Garbutt. A.A. Buley is now principal of Grenville College, which was founded by John Victor. Victor has left Ballarat, and the school has migrated to Sturt street. Bain's High School, in Camp street, Queen's College, in Dana street, Mrs. Kennedy's School, on Soldiers' Hill, both for girls, and Kearney's Ballarat Grammar School, in Eyre street, are the other main private schools. The Catholics have several primary and other educational establishments. There are the Loretto Convent, Mary's Mount (quaint misnomer for the flat marge of Wendouree), founded in 1875 by sisters from the parent house, Loretto Abbey, Rathfarnham, County Dublin; the Loretto preparatory schools and Ladies' College, Dawson street, conducted by the same sisterhood; the training college, in the same grounds; the primary schools, St. Josephs', Lyons street; St. Aloysius', Redan; the Sisters of Mercy Convent schools, Victoria street; the Christian Brothers' School, in Skipton street; and three primary schools for boys at St. Alipius', Victoria street, Redan, and Palmer's Gully, under lay teachers.

The Ballarat School of Mines, which has recently been affiliated to the Melbourne University, was begotten in some discussions between Messrs. J.M. Bickett, Harrie Wood, J. Lynch, and a few others connected with the mining interest of the district, Mr. Bickett at the first (1869) suggesting what has only now been accomplished—to wit, the connection with the University. Early in 1870 the project took shape, Judge Rogers having drawn up a draft constitution for the School, and Mr. Justice (Sir Redmond) Barry taking a lively interest in the business. The Government gave for the use of the School the old Court-house, in Lydiard Street, next north from the gaol, and all the land and buildings between the gaol and the Wesley Church of that day. On the 26th October, 1870, Mr. Justice Barry opened the School with an inaugural address, and as the School developed, more buildings were erected, including classrooms, laboratory, lecture-hall, steam-gauge testing tower. On the 8th October, 1885, the Wesley Church of 1870, which had in the interim been purchased by the School authorities, was opened by his Excellency Sir H.B. Loch as a museum free to the public. The whole property of the School is valued at about �15,000, including the site, an insurance for �10,350 covering the buildings and their contents. An annual vote in aid of Schools of Mines is passed by the Legislature, the Ballarat School receiving half, as since 1880, inclusive, the ordinary annual vote has been �4,000, and has been equally divided between the Ballarat and Sandhurst Schools. The School is governed by a council meeting quarterly, and an administrative council meeting monthly. The first president of the School was Mr. Justice Barry. The other members of the first council were—Judge Rogers (vice-president), Sir J. M'Culloch, J.A. M'Pherson, D. Gillies and W. M'Lellan, M's.L.A., Professor M'Coy, Messrs. II. Wood, J.M. Bickett, H.B. de la Poer Wall, Dr. Usher, T. Gray, U.W. Newman, R. Lewis, J. M'Dowall, H.R. Caselli, VI. Trennery, L.S. Christie, C.S. Reeves, R.M. Sergeant, T.D. Wanliss, and the chairmen of the mining boards of the colony at that date. The first secretary was James Baker, of frontage regulations fame; then J. Croker, then W.H. Barnard, as a methodically enthusiastic first registrar, then the present registrar. The museum, which is open free to the public, is a growing attraction, and very rich in mineralogical exhibits. In February last, Mr. R.M. Sergeant deposited �260 in the City of Melbourne Bank as a premium for the best method, other than the smelting mode, of treating auriferous ores. The offer was to remain open for two years, and if not then won, the money was to be applied to the founding of a School of Mines scholarship for engineering; the mayors of Ballarat, the vice-president of the School of Mines, and the chairman of the Band and Albion Consols Company are the trustees. This offer has greater moment from the fact that from several colonies, even as far off as the Kimberley gold fields, in South Africa, applications have been sent to the School for help in the supply of mine managers, engineers, and persons skilled in the treatment of refractory ores. Want of space shuts out a mass of details of interest relative to the School and Museum, and this notice must close with list of council and officers at the close of 1886:—President, Sir Wm. Foster Stawell; vice-president, James Oddie; trustees. Sir W.J. Clarke, Bart., M.L.C., R.H. Bland, J.W. Rogers, Q.C.; council, the president, the vice president, D. Gillies, M.L.A., W. M'Lellan, M.L.A., F. M'Coy, F.G.S., Prof. Univ. of Melbourne, J.W. Rogers, Q.C., the Anglican Bishop of Ballarat, C.R. Blackett (the president of the Pharmacy Board, Victoria), A. Anderson, J.M. Bickett, I.J. Jones, Archdeacon Churchill Julius, J. Lonie, J.F. Martell, W.H. Nicholls, H. Reid, E.I. Rosenblum, R.T. Vale, M.L.A., Theos. Williams, A. Wynne, the Mayor of the City of Ballarat, the Mayor of the Town of Ballarat East, and the chairman, for the time being, of each of the seven mining boards of Victoria; honorary solicitor, H. Cuthbert; honorary treasurer, I.J. Jones; curator of museum, F.M. Krause, F.G.S.; botanical reserve, hon. curator, W. Longley; auditor, Chas. Kent; registrar, Andw. Berry.

The School of Mines Observatory, which was begun on the 16th December, 1885, is situated near the south boundary of the Town of Ballarat East, on a moderately elevated spur of the White Horse Ranges, known as Mount Pleasant. In 1885 the Government reserved three acres on this site, selected by Mr. J. Wall, for observatory purposes, and in March, 1886, the Anglican Bishop of Ballarat, Mr. Ellery, Mr. James Oddie, Mr. Isaac J. Jones, Mr. Theophilus Williams, Mr. Rosenblum, and Mr. Agar Wynne were appointed a committee under the provisions of the Land Act 1884 for the care, protection, and management of the reserve. Mr. James Oddie, with a generous zeal for the promotion of astronomical science, supplied the means by which the Observatory buildings have been erected and equipped. The first telescope placed in position was a 12�-inch Newtonian reflector, made by Captain H.E. Baker, late of Goldsborough, now residing at the Observatory. This instrument was turned to the heavens for the first time on the 13th January, 1886. On the 11th May, 1886, the formal opening took place, when Mr. D.M. Davies, M.L.A., occupied the chair. The Hon. W.C. Smith, M.L.A., introduced Master M'Hutchinson, who, on behalf of the students of the astronomical class, read an address to Mr. Oddie, the conclusion of which was a request that he would permit the "lighthouse of the sky to be named the Oddie Observatory." Mr. Oddie, in reply, expressed the hope that the Observatory would prove a valuable adjunct to the School of Mines, and that the establishment would ultimately be taken over by the council of that institution. This is probably the destiny of the Observatory.

Ballarat is the first provincial city in Australia to possess an art gallery open free to the public. The gallery is the outcome of an exhibition in June, 1884, of local and other pictures in the city hall. The expenses of that display, �200, were borne by Mr. James Oddie, and he and Messrs. T. Price, J. Oldham, E. Turnbull, C.N. Gilbert, and H.J. Hall were the original promoters of the exhibition. A meeting of citizens decided that a permanent gallery of art should be established; the front floor of the Academy of Music was rented at a nominal rate from Sir W.J. Clarke, and his Excellency the Governor opened the gallery on the 11th of September of the same year, his Excellency and Lady Loch being then on their first visit to Ballarat. Mr. Turnbull acted as secretary. The gallery was nearly filled "with loaned pictures, and in course of time many presentations of works by Australian and other artists were made, Mr. Oddie being specially liberal in his donations both of money and pictures. To Mr. Turnbull succeeded the present secretary, Mr. J.A. Powell. In August, 1886, the Government sanctioned a vote of �2000 for the purchase of pictures, and granted a site of 21 perches in Lydiard street for a gallery, designs for which, by Tappin, Gilbert, and Denehy, were adopted by the gallery committee, who decided on erecting the front part of the building. Last May the patrons of the gallery were incorporated as the Ballarat Fine Art Public Gallery Association—President, J. Oddie; vice-presidents, Right Rev. Dr. Thornton, Right Rev. Monsignor Moore, Sir W.J. Clarke, Bart., T. Stoddart, J. Shiels; executive committee, the vice-presidents, and Archdeacon Julius, Father Rogers, J. Oldham, E. Morey, F. Martell, J. Robson, G. Perry, T. Bath, C.B. Retallack; council, members of the executive, and Rev. Dr. Roseby, Dr. Maconnochie, A. Anderson, D. Brophy, J. Coghlan, J. Hickman, H.J. Hall, J. Holland, F.W. Niven, W.H. Nicholls, T. Price, J. Sommers, C Schutze, A. Wynne, R. Wrigley, T. Uthwatt; hon. treasurer, J. Oddie; hon. solicitor, A. Wynne; Melbourne selection committee, G.F. Follingsby, J. Smith, L. Patterson, J. Reed; local selection and hanging committee, H.J. Hall, J. Oldham, J. Sommers, T. Price. On the 21st June, the Queen's Jubilee Day, the memorial stone of the gallery was laid by Sir W.J. Clarke. The architects' description of the building is as follows:—

The Art Gallery has a frontage of 58 feet, with a depth of 100 feet. At present it is intended to only build a portion, viz., the fa�ade complete, with a depth of 77 feet. The ground plan is divided into two large shops, placed one on each side of a grand entrance 13 feet wide, which leads to a double flight of stone steps, each 6 feet 6 inches wide. Behind the staircase is the secretary's office and students' rooms. The first floor is merely two large rooms, lit from the ceilings, the main gallery being 55 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 24 feet high; the back or water color gallery being 55 x 20 x 20. The whole of the building is fire proof, and ventilated in accordance with the Tobin principle. The front, which is 50 feet high, is divided into three bays by three-quarters round Corinthian columns, relieved by pediments, and crowned by the figure of Britannia, supported by figures representing arts and science. The basement will be in the Doric order, the columns being rusticated. Material of basement, bluestone; rest of front, brick and cement. The shops may at future date be converted into students' rooms. Total cost of present portion, �500.

Mr. Thomas Stoddart, a wealthy mining speculator of relined tastes and liberal ideas, has given to Ballarat possession of an art gift unique in all Australasia. None of the public grounds of even the metropolitan cities of Australia are graced with marble statues in such profusion as are the Botanic Gardens of Ballarat, and this distinction is due to the large liberality of Mr. Stoddart. When in Italy a few years since, he remembered Ballarat, and resolved to embellish it with no fewer than twelve statues in Carrara marble from divers studios in that place, and on the Queen's Birthday, 1884, he formally handed over his splendid present to the mayor and council of the city, as custodians for the city for all time, the statues being at that time set up in the Gardens. A procession of boats across the lake, a large concourse of spectators, the presence of the Ballarat Rangers with their band, all lent interest to the occasion, and the spontaneous applause of the people who witnessed the ceremony of the transfer betokened the public appreciation of the generosity of the giver. The statues represent Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Hercules, Mercury, Leda, a Bacchante, the Farnese, and another Flora, Hebe, and Pomona.

James Russell Thompson's name occurs in the early passages of this book. He was a very true gentleman, well informed, studious, generous, modest. From the early fifties to the early eighties he was, with brief exceptional absence, a citizen bearing a quiet retired part in the building up of this city and its interests. He died on the 26th May, 1886, and by his will he bequeathed a landscape, a portrait, and a study of dogs' heads, all in oil, to the Ballarat Art Gallery, besides a residuary bequest amounting to �3000 in trust to his executors, Messrs. J. Noble Wilson and H.A. Nevett, for the purchase of statuary for the Botanic Gardens, Mr. Stoddart being requested by the testator to assist the executors in selecting the works of art to be chosen. These gentlemen have been in communication with the Hon. James Service, who is travelling in Europe, and he has provisionally advised the purchase; of a marble group in Rome, representing the flight of a man, woman, and child from Pompeii. The executors and Mr. Stoddart have also under consideration the selection of another work, probably either a statue of Wallace, the Scottish hero, or the symbolical group Britannia unveiling Australia; but at the time of this writing (June, 1887), no selection has been made absolutely.

The statue of Robert Burns, erected in Sturt street opposite to the General Post-office, is the gift of a body of citizen subscribers, and this ornament to the city may fairly be regarded as a first fruit of the example given in the Stoddart presentation to the city. The statue is by Giovanni Udney, of Carrara, from a design by Mr. Thomas Thompson, of Ballarat, and a portrait of the poet sent to the artist for his inspiration. The work was unveiled on the Eight Hours Anniversary Day, 1887, by the Hon. J. Nimmo, Minister of Public Works, who made an oration on the occasion in the presence of ten or fifteen thousand holiday sight-seers. Mr. Stoddart was one of the more active of the committee, and a banquet was given to him on the 10th June, 1887, on which occasion a gold watch was presented to Mr. J.M. Bickett, who had acted as secretary to the committee. The cost of the statue and its belongings was over �800.

The seminal influence of good deeds is seen again in a movement already forward for the erection of a statue of Tom Moore. As was the case with the Burns statue, so now, as these words are being written, all sorts of people are joining in the endeavor for the honor of Moore of the "Melodies". The committeemen have applied to the City Council for leave to erect the statue in Sturt street, immediately west of Armstrong street, where the Queen's Birthday Oak at present stands, and the council has referred the matter to the Lake and Gardens Committee. The council itself has also under consideration a project of its own for the city, namely the erection of a statue of the Queen in Sturt street, opposite to the city hall, and in commemoration of Her Majesty's Jubilee.

Typography was almost as early an art in Ballarat as was that of the blacksmith, for the diggers had not been long here before the printers were at work. The first attempt, as we have seen in an earlier chapter, to get a press conveyed to Ballarat failed, and the first office actually opened appears to have been Seekamp's Ballarat Times office, in Mair street, Ballarat West. He afterwards migrated to Bakery Hill in the East. After him came Fletcher and Evans, in the old Main road, now called Bridge street, but before the old levels were raised to what they are now, with some of the shop floors in the present street eleven feet above the original surface. Fletcher was one of those arrested for the burning of Bentley's hotel. His office was the first jobbing office apart from the newspaper press, and Wheeler's Trumpeter was printed there. This office became the printing and bookbinding establishment for some years of Armstrong, who, in 1853, introduced at Golden Point the first Ballarat circulating library. Charles Boyd, who is still here, began business as a printer in the Main road, near the United States hotel in 1857, and he claims to have first introduced Greek letter type in Ballarat. That was in 1862, the type being specially imported from England for his use. It was employed for some years by Mr. J.H. Pope, then head teacher of the Soldiers' Hill Presbyterian school, for printing examination papers. The letter is seldom used now here, and, indeed, is not kept in any other office but Boyd's. Like gold digging and the several sports, printing was first started in the east—if Clarke's foiled essay in 1851 may be called a start—but it has long since made the west its head quarters. Excepting M'Kee's printing office in Bridge street, all the offices now are in the west, namely, the newspaper offices, and the jobbing offices, large and small—to wit, Boyd's, in Sturt street; J. Curtis' and J. Anderson and Co.'s, in Armstrong street; F. Pinkerton's, E. Campbell's, J. M'Hutchison's, Rider and Mercer's, in Lydiard street; and the publishers of this book, in Sturt street. F.W. Niven and Co.'s business is the largest in Ballarat, and the largest in the colony outside the metropolis. A Courier report of a visit to the establishment on the 10th of November last states that "during the past few years the firm has brought into use �1500 worth of the newest machinery, and their excellent work in printing and chromo-lithography has enabled them to largely increase their business." The visit was made to view exhibits prepared for the exhibition then about to be opened at Sandhurst, and the scene presented by the busy working of sixty-five hands, with engines, presses, and so forth, and the prolific output of pictures, posters, cards, labels, scrip, crests, monograms, almanacs, and what not, besides engravers and lithographers at their nicer and noiseless work, was a display to remember. The magnitude of the firm's operations is reflected in the average weekly wage sheet of �111, the �5000 worth of machinery in use, and the annual consumption for the year of �6500 worth of paper and printing, bookbinding, and stationery materials. This edition of the History of Ballarat, comprising 10,200 copies, when bound complete, will have absorbed 256 reams of paper, and will weigh no less than 6� tons. Inspired by the Courier reporter, the author notes that at a banquet on the same day, at Craig's hotel, Mr. Niven, the senior partner, referred to Seekamp and the first printers, and the improvements now in vogue whereby "millions of bills, &c., could be turned out in the same time as about 100 were printed with the old hand arrangement." The Star reporter lets in the following ray of light upon the development of the firm's business:—"Four and a half years ago, we understand, the firm employed 20 hands. At that time they devoted their attention almost solely to mining and ordinary letter-press printing. Since Mr. H.W.H. Irvine joined the firm, however, and relieved Mr. Niven of the management of the commercial part of the business, enabling him to devote his attention more fully to the artistic work, the firm's trade has increased by leaps and bounds, until now there are 65 or 67 hands employed." This firm supplies orders all over Victoria, and in parts of adjacent colonies, and for its exhibits at the Sandhurst Exhibition a silver medal was awarded.

Photography was a very early form of localised pictorial art in Ballarat, that is if photography be an art, a question which is left for experts to discuss. William Ellis was the first Ballarat photographer. He was a bricklayer, who had emigrated from Liverpool to Port Natal, crossed over to Victoria in 1853, worked at his trade in Melbourne, picked up the rudiments of photography there, and settled on the Red Hill, Ballarat, in 1855. In December, 1855, a daguerreotypist named Rochlitz had a "studio" near the Golden Fleece hotel, Lydiard street. His place was a two storied wooden house on the site now occupied by offices of the Ballarat Banking Company. Messrs. Cowley and J. Noble Wilson subsequently practised photography there, with Rochlitz as assistant. About that time, or a few months later, when Lola Montes was in Ballarat, an American daguerreotypist practised a little while, and issued some rather free and easy photographs of the famous strolling player of so many experiences. Cowley and Wilson also had on view daguerreotypes of Lola, A.M. Quinn, and other celebrities of the day. Madame Charpiot daguerreotyped also in Bridge street, and Fenton, Coldrey, and Co. practised in collodion near what was then the horse bazaar, in the Main road. Ellis sold his business to the late A.V. Smith. After that came Solomon and Bardwell, then Roberts Brothers, then Wright, then Glenny, then Silverlock, then Willetts, then Richards and Co., then Chuck, then Williams. The last four practise here now, and an amateur society has its home at the School of Mines.

Lithography, or the art of printing from stone, was introduced in Ballarat by the late Mr. Ronalds, of the Wendouree Nursery Gardens, in 1853, but his little hand presses were rather cherished old companions than active workers in those days. In August, 1856, as mentioned in chapter iii., Robert Bell printed his Chinese Advertiser from stone, and about the same time Henry Harris, E.C. Moore, C. Abbott, and others started the first Ballarat Punch, F.W. Niven assisting in the illustrations with one of Ronalds' hand presses. In 1857 Niven purchased Ronalds' presses and began lithographing regularly, subsequently joining H. Deutsch, in Bridge street. Deutsch was famous in those days for his lithographic views of old Ballarat, and here and there exist valuable collections of the street and other views issued from his office. In 1858 the first steam lithographing machine in Ballarat and in the colony was started by Niven, at 19 Lydiard street, and was a great success. About the same time another was got to work in Melbourne, by H. de Grouchy. These machines were looked upon with great distrust by trade critics, as although such machines had worked well in France, England, and other relatively cold climates, they were considered unfit for Australia. But Mr. Niven says that was the very reason which induced him to order one through Detmold, of Melbourne, as he thought the speed of the machine would counteract the tendency of the stone to dry as the slower hand rollers did. The result proved the accuracy of the reasoning, for it was found that the heat here scarcely affected the stone at all, and very soon Troedel, of Melbourne, found his way to Ballarat to see Niven's success, and he then followed in Niven's wake. In a short time machines almost entirely superseded the old hand presses, and instead of injury to the trade, as had been predicted, their general use soon increased the amount of lithographic work tenfold, and where formerly small orders of 100 or so were done by the hand press at a high cost, the continuous machine turned out impressions by the million at a cheap rate. This, as in the case of other machinery, created demand, and employment was made for establishments with 50 or 60 hands, as at F.W. Niven and Co.'s works, instead of smaller shops with hand presses and relatively few employ�s. As we have said, Deutsch was once a name here. He sold to F.W. Niven. J. Gellatly and J. Curtis did lithographic work at one time, but at present Rider and Mercer, in Lydiard street, and F.W. Niven and Co., in Sturt street, are the only lithographers in Ballarat. These firms, and notably F.W. Niven and Co., have made mining plans and similar works obtainable at small cost, and have thus facilitated the extension of the mining industry. Lithographic views of Ballarat, Sandhurst, Warrnambool, and other places, and views of Lake Wendouree and other scenes in the district have been issued in abundance from these gas driven lithographic presses, F.W. Niven and Co. alone being able at present to execute the larger pictures. Curtis, in Armstrong street, and M'Kee, in Bridge street, have turbines as a press motive power, Curtis having gas in addition to the water power.

Xylography, or wood engraving and printing, was introduced with color printing by Charles Boyd, who brought it from Philadelphia to Melbourne in 1854, and to Ballarat in 1856. Boyd cut his own blocks, and is still practising the art at his office in Sturt street. The Melbourne firm was Walker, Boyd, and Co., now Walker, May, and Co., Boyd going alone as a printer in Ballarat. He claims, in fact, to have, in the elegant language of America, "licked" all local creation in the printing line, having won "three medals and five certificates for excellence in printing—a record not achieved by any other printer in Victoria," But Boyd does not affect the finer class of woodcuts; for that he, like other printers in Ballarat, has recourse to Mr. William Gooch, of the Argus agency, Ballarat, a past pupil of M. Jenny, a Swiss artist in Melbourne. The initial letters of the chapters in this book were engraved in M. Jenny's office, and Mr. Gooch sustains to-day the prestige of his teacher's studio.

The Public Library, in Barkly street, was established in 1862, and is open free to the public. The building is handsome outside, and the interior library hall very elegant. The foundation stone was laid by Sir Redmond Barry on the 21st of January, 1867, and the cost of the building and fittings was about �3500. A hall has since been added at a cost of �1200. There are 12,000 vols. in the library, the number of reference books in history and science being probably the largest and best of any provincial library in Victoria. The first president was Mr. Emanuel Steinfeld, and the first librarian Mr. Miller, Mr. Frederick Young having been the first chairman of committee. To Mr. Miller succeeded Mr. J. Fitzherbert, and to him Mr. S.E. Mendoza, the present librarian. A small public library has been opened also in the old Warden's Court-house in Sturt street, and a project is on foot for the erection of a suitable building for the purpose of the library. The officers now (June) are—R. Baker, M.L.A., president; J.R. Matthews and W. Evans, vice-presidents; J. Vallins, librarian; E.H.L. Swifte, secretary.

The Mechanics' Institute, in Sturt street, was born in April, 1859, in a little wooden house between Humffray and Barkly streets, in Main street, and its first reading-room was opened, as was afterwards the Ballarat East Public Library, in the engine-house of the Ballarat Fire Brigade. On the 20th of April, 1859, the first committee was chosen as follows:—Messrs, J.B. Humffray, president; A. Anderson and R. Belford, vice-presidents; J. Stewart, M.D., T.S. Learmonth, H.R. Caselli, F. Young, and W.C. Smith, trustees; G.G. Mackay, treasurer; C. Dyte, W.H. Batten, R. Lewis, J. Cathie, D. O'Connor, J. M'Dowall, R. Mitchell, W. Frazer, J. Dodds, W.B. Withers, W. Cooper, and D. Oliver, committeemen. Mr. W.H. Batten was subsequently elected secretary, and has held office ever since. The presidents up to 1870 inclusive were—J.B. Humffray (two years), A. Anderson and T. Lang (two years), C. Lister, F.C. Downes (two years), and Joseph Jones (three years). Since then F.M. Claxton, 1872-3-4-5; A. Marshall and I.J. Jones, 1875-6; T.H. Thompson, 1877-8; E.W. Stephens, 1879-80; E. James, 1881; L. Stansfield, 1882; J.R. Marshall, 1883; J.M. Bickett, 1884; A. Brown, 1885; A. Jack, 1886; H. Wheeler, 1887; E.P. Date being in office for the current official year. The first stone of the first part of the Sturt street building was laid with Masonic honors by Mr. H. Cuthbert on the 28th of September, 1860, and on the 19th of December the reading-room was opened. The room has been since then enlarged, and is now the most spacious of the kind in the colony. The completed building, designed by J.H. Jones, is one of the largest and handsomest in the town. It was opened for a fine arts exhibition by his Excellency the Governor on the 21st of July, 1869. There are 1200 members on the roll, and near 14,000 vols, in the library. A billiard room is now part of the Institute. It was opened in February, 1879. The Institute is now free of debt. In May, 1870, while Haydon's "Aristides" yet hung in the hall of the Institute in the exhibition then on view there. General Tom Thumb and his companion dwarfs were also exhibiting themselves to large crowds. A writer to the Ballarat Star, himself an artist, remembered Haydon's wail of despair in his diary, and pointed out the coincidence that 24 years afterwards, and 16,000 miles away from the Egyptian Hall, the picture and the dwarf were again in contact, and again the dwarf the more popular.

The Academy of Music, in Lydiard street, is the successor of the old Theatre Royal, in Sturt street, and of the last of the Charlie Napiers, in Ballarat East. G.V. Brooke laid the foundation stone of the Royal on the 20th January, 1858, and in 1873 Thespis was deposed in favor of commerce, whose servants reign there now. In the meantime Mr. C. Dyte had, on the 26th December, 1861, laid the foundation stone of the last of the Charlie Napiers, and the first in permanent materials, but that also has disappeared, after having for some time served as a brewery for Messrs. Scrase and Ainley. Madame Arabella Goddard laid the foundation stone of the Academy on the 24th September, 1874, and the house was opened on the 7th June, 1875. The site belongs to Sir W.J. Clarke, Bart., and the building was erected at his cost (�12,000) from designs by architect George Brown. The Academy has a more beautiful interior than had any of the other theatres, but it is less cosy than the Royal was, and its long shape is less adapted to the convenience of spectators of the drama. The Alfred Hall, in Grenville street, built for the reception of the Duke of Edinburgh when he visited Ballarat, has been often used for dramatic performances, and is the largest hall in the city.

The Welsh Eisteddfod has become an established institution in Ballarat, and it is the only one of the kind extant in Victoria. These festivals in Ballarat date from the year 1855, and they have done much to foster and evoke musical talent, not only amongst the natives of the principality and their children, but among all classes of citizens. The Eisteddfod is held every St. David's Day, or on some day as near thereto as is convenient. Vocal and instrumental music, poetry, oratory, are all subjects within the programmes, and the best masters are employed as the awarders of the prizes offered for success. The more prominent of the originators and promoters of these local festivals were Messrs. J.B. Humffray, Theophilus Williams, H.B. Williams, R. Lewis, H. Davies, Ellis Richards, Timothy Thomas, John Morgan, John Morris, and others.

The Cambrian Society in Ballarat is founded on similar lines to those of the Melbourne Society, that is for the promotion of greater unity and a better organisation of mutual help amongst Welsh colonists, and the keeping alive the fires of Welsh patriotism. The society was projected on the 30th April last, and the officers chosen on the 7th May as follow:—Rev. W. Thomas, president; Joseph Josephs and Philip Lewis, vice-presidents; H. Lewis, treasurer; Theos. Williams, secretary, and W.L. Roberts, assistant secretary; Theos. Rhys, D.W. Davies, D. Davies, P.L. Jones, J. Harris, P.L. Roberts, J. Lewis, D. Prosser, committeemen. There are (June) 50 members enrolled.

Musical societies have been many in Ballarat, commencing with the Philharmonic, which was formed on the 5th of March, 1858, Mr. D. Oliver in the chair. He was chosen secretary; A.T. Turner, conductor; A. Fleury, leader; A. Oliver, treasurer; and E. Towl, Dr. Kupperberg, L. Bruun, C. Franz, J. Lake, J.A. Doane, Stoddart, E. Gates, Sayers, and J. Stower, committeemen. The society died in 1863, and was succeeded by the Musical Union, which also soon died. The Harmonic Society was formed in 1863, with J. Robson, G.O. Rutter, J. Robson, A.T. Turner, R. Wrigley, and A.T. Turner as conductors, in order, till the society was wound up at the end of 1875. The secretaries were R. Wicking, Holmes, A. Brown, J.R. Pascoe, and then Wicking saw the close of the society. Then came, in 1866, the Glee and Madrigal Union, with W. Rees (father of Alice Rees), A. Gray, S. Nightingale, E.T. Whitten, P. Cazaly, S. Lamble, and J. Knox as its main elements. It was a quiet quasi private organisation, and broke in pieces in 1870. The Choral Society was a creation of the year 1866, with Carl Schmitt as conductor, but did not long survive its first appearance. Another Choral Society was started in July, 1873, with Mr. Bucke as leader, succeeded by A.T. Turner. This society was also short-lived. There was also the German Leider Krantz, which merged in the Liedertafel of May, 1881, whose first officers were the Hon. H. Cuthbert, president; C.B. Finlayson and A.T. Morrison, vice-presidents; A. Bruun, treasurer; J. Bunting, librarian; J. Dunn, secretary; Carl Hartmann, conductor. The officers at the close of 1886 were—H. Cuthbert, president; A. Anderson and H. Brind, vice-presidents; C. Eyres, treasurer; R.L. Nicholl, librarian; J. Robson, conductor; W.D. Hill, secretary. In 1884 another Musical Union was born. Its first officers were—W.S. Matthews, conductor; J. Ware, treasurer; W. King, secretary; and the officers now are—Archdeacon Julius, president; J. M'Leod and G.K. Coutts, vice-presidents; G. Herbert, R.A.M., conductor; F. Herbert, pianist; D.J. Coutts, organist; A. Bruun, leader; J. Ware, treasurer; Bryant, librarian; L.R. Llewelyn, secretary; and Messrs. Gray, Radley, Hardie, Roberts, Whitten, and Chalmers, committeemen. The Maennerchor is the latest organisation, a small band of singers who do not attempt the more ambitious programmes of the larger societies. There is a great and interesting local musical, as well as dramatical, history, but there is no room for it in these pages.

The Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society assumed that style on the 3rd May, 1865. Previously it was called the Ballarat Agricultural Society merely. The first record we find of it is a report of a meeting held at the George hotel on the 14th of June, 1856, Mr. Robert Muir in the chair, when arrangements were made for the first ploughing match, which was held on Mr. Baird's farm on the 10th of July, 1856. The records of the society show that on the 15th August, 1856, a meeting was held in the old Council Chambers, in Sturt street, when Messrs. R. Muir, J. M'Dowall, T. Bath, R. Dickson, Butchart, J. Stewart, M.D. Haydon, J. Baird, W. Sim, and Bilton, were appointed a committee with R. Dickson secretary, and Messrs. Fisken, Morton, Dalgleish, and M'Intosh represented the society at the Victorian Board of Agriculture. The society held its first exhibition of produce on the 12th March, 1859, in the old brick building called the Corn Exchange in the Market square. Learmonth and Burrumbeet had a certain localisation of the society there until the 2nd of April, 1860, when a unification took place and the society was known as the Ballarat Society. The first National drain Show was held in the Ballarat Society's yards on the 22nd and 23rd of October, 1868. The first Grand Champion Sheep Show was held at Ballarat on the 13th and 14th of September, 1876. The total value of the prizes awarded at the (eleven sheep shows which have now been held at Ballarat amounts to the very handsome sum of �6501. The largest amount received at any one show was at the National Show in 1881, when over �600 were taken at the gates. During the past 26 years the society has expended no less than �31,852 in prizes for the encouragement of rearing and breeding good live stock, and fostering the manufacture of first-class agricultural implements and machinery. It has also laid out about �8000 upon show yard improvements. Its annual exhibitions are attended by large crowds of visitors from all parts of this colony. The Hon. Philip Russell, of Carngham, is now the president of the society, an office which he has held for six years. The secretary, Mr. Simon Morrison, has held his position in connection with the society for upwards of 22 years, and Mr. Thomas Bath has been honorary treasurer for the society for nearly 20 years. The vice-presidents last elected were Messrs. G.G. Morton, Jas. Baird (since dead), and W. Anderson, M.L.A. Both the pastoral and agricultural interests are represented on the committee. The secretary, Mr. Morrison, states that he learns that the first ground broken in the Burrumbeet district was by Messrs. Robertson and Ross, after whom came Messrs. Strachan and Beaton. On the Learmonth side Messrs. J. Medwell, G.G. Morton, J. Baird, J. M'Intosh, and Moore were the first. Medwell is said to have put the first post in the ground at Learmonth, and turned over the first acre of ground for a crop of potatoes. The magnitude of the pastoral and agricultural interest of the district is reflected from that of the demands of the town markets. The author has no room for many other details of interest in regard to these important industries.

The Ballarat Horticultural Society was formed in 1859. On the 11th October of that year there was a meeting at Bath's hotel; present—Messrs. Ocock (in the chair), T. Lang, W. Elliott, R.U. Nicholls, C. Tunbridge, B. Hepburn, and G. Binsted, when preliminaries were discussed. On the 18th of the same month another meeting was held, at which Dr. Kenworthy (of Eureka Stockade fame) presided. The society was then formally constituted, with Dr. Kenworthy president, Dr. Richardson vice-president, T. Lang treasurer, G. Binsted secretary, and W. Elliott, G. Smith, W. Appleby, R.U. Nicholls, R. Ocock, J. Tugwell, and W.H. Foster committeemen. The society held its first exhibition on the 25th of November, 1859, in W.C. Smith's sales-room in Sturt street, near the south-east corner of Doveton street. The Alfred Hall is now the place of exhibition. The present officers are Messrs. A. Anderson, president; J. Nicholls, J.C. Chalmers, vice-presidents; A. Fraser, treasurer; J. Ware, secretary and librarian; N. D'Angri, D. Laidlaw, W. Rattray, S. Rennie, J. Ross, G. Smith, J. Williams, professional committee; A. Engeler, A. Gray, H. Hunt, S.D. Partridge, G. Perry, R.W. Phillips, R. Stringer, amateur committee; F.C. Wainwright, hon. auditor. There were in June of this year 320 members on the roll.

The iron, woollen, and other industries of Ballarat demand a volume for their proper record, but we can only insert here the more prominent names and doings. The Victoria, Soho, and some minor iron foundries have lived and died, and to the Victoria belongs the honor of making the first locomotive in Ballarat. That was the Lady Barkly, so named by his Excellency Sir H. Barkly, about the year 1860. The engine was made for Mr. Davies, an engineer on the Geelong to Ballarat railway. Other engines were made soon after for New Zealand and West Australia; but a new and important era arose when the Phœnix Foundry Company, started in February, 1856, by Messrs. Carter, Oldham, and Shaw, became an incorporated company on the 12th November, 1870, with Mr. W.H. Shaw as manager, and the manufacture of locomotives for the Victorian railways was begun. The new departure was a complete success, and the company has established the largest locomotive factory in Victoria, securing against all competition the making of nearly the whole of the colonially manufactured engines. The company delivered the first locomotive to the Government on the 4th March, 1873, the next day's Courier saying:—"At five o'clock to the minute yesterday morning, locomotive No. 88 left the Phœnix Company's works, in Armstrong street, on the steam lorry specially made for the conveyance of the engines and tenders to the railway station." By the 2nd April the engine had completed its 1000 miles test, and the feat was celebrated by bringing up a special train of Cabinet Ministers and others from Melbourne, by flags all over the city, by pealing of the Alfred Bells, and by a banquet in the city hall. The completion of the 100th locomotive was celebrated on the 13th April, 1883, when there were still greater rejoicings. Mr. Service (the Premier), other Ministers, and Parliamentary representatives were present, and the locomotive was decked with flags, and boughs, and flowers. Speeches, cheers, pealing of bells, banquets, a whole city keeping holiday, and the Tubal Cains of the great locomotive workshop of Victoria as the applauded heroes of the day, made up a series of sensations long to be remembered. By the end of 1886 the company had delivered 203 complete engines with tenders; and the company's immense plant is so complete, its workmen so skilled, its management so able, that practically the Phoenix Foundry seems to have made successful competition out of the question at present. The trustees of the company are Messrs. D. Brophy, chairman; W.H. Shaw, manager; R.G. Middleton, secretary; G. Perry, Thos. Bodycomb. The value of the industry locally is seen in the distribution of near �2000 monthly in wages, and the creation of a school where hosts of youths learn one of the most valuable of all the mechanical arts. The Union Foundry, started in March, 1865, by Messrs. J. Walker, J.F. Woods, T. Bradcock, and W. Sandry, changed its firm status by losing Mr. Sandry and gaining Mr. W.F. Harrington, a branch having been in the meantime opened at Maryborough, in Queensland. Then in October, 1872, Mr. John Hickman bought half of the Ballarat business, and the local firm became Walker, Hickman, and Co., and since November, 1879, Mr. Hickman has been sole proprietor. The firm's work is mainly the manufacture of heavy mining engines and machinery the most ponderous pumping, hauling, and other plant being sup plied to mining companies all over the colonies, details of which there is no space here to narrate. The company's wage-sheet is about �1000 per month, and the importance of the manufacture is second only to that of the Phoenix works. Bromley and Co., in Windermere street; Trahar and Sons, Yarrowee; Abraham, Little Bridge street, of patent windmill and pump fame, have each some special casting work as their leading trade features. The agricultural implement factories comprise the works of Kelly and Preston, and Dingle, Laverick, and Co., in the Creswick road, and Munro's, at Alfredton, and the products of these factories win prizes all over the colonies, and find their market even as far as India. John Tynan's plough factory, in Mair street, is the successor to older ones under the same direction, and his fame is as great in that special work as any man's in Australia. The Lal Lal Iron Company has ceased to be for the time a practically operative venture, but the company has great resources in valuable ore lodes, which some day, doubtless, will receive due attention from capitalists. The School of Mines analysis of the lode shows it to be haematite brown ore, yielding 50 per cent. of iron, besides yellow ochre and brown umber pigments.

There are two woollen factories in Ballarat—the Ballarat Company's, at Sunny Corner, and Messrs. Dennison, Wynne, and Hepburn's, in Doveton street north. This last was previously held by Wilson and Co., and was originally a flour mill owned by a Mr. Hayes. This factory is mainly employed in the manufacture of coarse tweeds, and is a private property. The Ballarat Company is an incorporated venture, and was started in October, 1871, work commencing in June, 1873, with one set of machines. Improvements were made from time to time, until the whole of the capital (�40,000) had been called up, and by the end of 1886 the company had 40 looms at work and 130 hands employed. Flannels and blankets were first made, and then fine cloths and tweeds. The greater part of the clothing for the Victorian militia has been made by the company, and now the company has built larger rooms and obtained additional plant with which to manufacture worsted and compete for the �5000 bonus offered by the Government for the first production of that class of goods. Up to the end of 1886 the company had paid three dividends of 7� per cent. on the capital, the net profit for the half-year ending 31st December, 1886, being set down at �1194 2s. 11d. Mr. David Melvin is the manager, Mr. J.T. Williams the secretary, and Messrs. Alex. Bell (chairman), Robert Bell, and J.C. Smith, directors.

Coachbuilding began very early in Ballarat, and the various exhibitions in the district have shown that the local factories can produce vehicles which may rival the elegancies of Long Acre. The leading firms to-day are Jones and Trembath, in Mair street; Cutter, in Chancery lane; and Dickson, in Armstrong street.

There are two steam flour mills at work now in Ballarat—that of Fry and Co., Limited, Wendouree, and that of Mr. Nicholson, in Armstrong street. There are two bone mills—Jopling's, on the Creswick road, and Elsworth's, at the upper end of Pennyweight Gully. The breweries comprise Leggo and Sons' Barley Sheaf, Creswick road; Magill and Coghlan's, Warrenheip, Tulloch and M'Laren's Royal Standard, Armstrong street, all large and long established properties, and of growing value, besides the more recent Black Horse Brewery, Ascot street, G.T. Lee, proprietor The Warrenheip Distillery Company, famous for its spirits, has about 150 acres of land at Dunnstown, an unfailing supply of spring water, and turns out about 80,000 gallons of whiskey, geneva, and rectified spirits of wine per annum, which could be increased, if need were, to 100,000 gallons. The proprietors are Messrs. G�ller, Brind, and Walker.

Cordial factories in Ballarat are three in number, namely, E. Rowlands (late Rowlands and Lewis), in Dana street; O'Hehir and Co., in Errard street; and T.A. Hawkins and Co., in Lydiard street. They all manufacture �rated waters and cordials; but Rowlands' factory, as being the first in Ballarat, and as being one whose fame and extent are quite unique in the colony, demands special notice. In 1854 the original firm started making lemonade, soda water, and ginger beer on the shores of what is now Lake Wendouree, when eight hands were employed. To-day the firm has five depots—Ballarat, Melbourne, Sydney, Creswick, and Smythesdale—the first three being manufacturing places, at each of which an eight horse-power steam engine is used, and in all 300 hands are employed, receiving an aggregate weekly wage of �330, the 1854 Ballarat output of 300 dozen bottles a day having grown to a daily manufacture in 1886 of between 3000 and 4000 dozen, whilst the first day's Melbourne make of 6 dozen in July, 1873, had grown to an output of 3547 dozen in one day of last year. A big stride this, surely, and one to note. Meanwhile the simple triad of beverages which sufficed for the diggers of 1854 has been followed by waters and cordials galore. The factories of the firm now produce, besides the original three comforts, seltzer, potass, lithia, magnesia, apollinaris, Carlsbad, and tonic waters; ginger ale, sarsaparilla, Ballan seltzer, vigorine, noyau, maraschino, cura�oa, rhatang bitters, orange bitters, aromatic bitters, quinine bitters, sarsaparilla extract, hop bitters, alkine bitters, �rated bitterade, ginger brandy, pine apple syrup, ginger wine, raspberry vinegar, lime juice syrup, lemon syrup, peppermint, cloves, milk punch. This list symbolises the development of the firm's trade, which is spread all over the colonies. A commercial witness, of some travel himself, writes to the author:—

Mr. Rowlands, by the introduction of his manufactures all over the colonies, does more to advertise Ballarat than does any other manufacturer; for, as one gentleman said to me at Deniliquin once, "When you get beyond the reach of Rowlands' soda water, you are beyond the pale of civilised society," and though I do not agree absolutely with that, still I recognise the fact that in all the colonies, and in the leading towns in Victoria, Ballarat drinks, through the agency of Rowlands, are obtainable.

Even the fiery teetotaller may well exclaim-—"More power to this earnest solacer of thirsty souls, and may his unintoxicating shadow never grow less." The Australasian Trade Review, of a year or two ago, was full of interesting details of the firm's doings, for which we have no space in these pages; but the writer there gives us a glimpse of the inner works when he says the Dana street works can turn out over 3000 dozen bottles a day, and that at the vigorine counter alone in the Collins street factory "half a score of men and boys are kept labelling and gold foiling the bottles, of which thousands of dozens are sent out monthly, and the sale steadily increasing." The Ballarat factory has, as general manager and foreman respectively, Messrs. A. Attwood and Joseph Franklin, the Melbourne factory Messrs. D. Jones and Thos. Ferguson, and the Sydney factory Messrs. J. Jones and W. Moxom. Franklin is the nestor of the firm's employ�s, for he has breathed the effervescing atmosphere of the factories for 32 years now gone. On retourne toujours � ses premieres amours, [30] and Mr. Rowlands, though living in Melbourne, gives most of his trade patronage to Ballarat firms.

Ballarat possesses three bacon factories—to wit, Farmer's, Day's, and Foord's, whose hams, flitches, and sausages have gone out to the ends of Australia, and made the makers baconically famous. Of tanneries, Anderson's, by Wendouree, is the oldest, and belonged originally to Messrs. Burrington, Anstis, and Baker. At Fellmongers and at Buninyong there are tanning works, Messrs. Davies and Graham's, at the latter place, being one of the larger works. Boot factories have multiplied of late years in Ballarat, the latest outcome being a co-operative factory born in a strike a year or two ago. It is not paying dividends, or none are publicly announced. There is a clog factory in Humffray street; and of the boot factories those of Whitten and Cairns, in Dana street. Book and Sons, in Main street, and Davies and Graham, in Armstrong street, are the larger.

The first Juvenile Industrial Exhibition in Victoria was opened in Ballarat on the 15th February, 1878, by his Excellency Sir G. Bowen, in the Alfred Hall and in the market hall then adjacent. It was projected and managed by Mr. R.D. Bannister, and was very successful. A credit balance of �758 17s. 2d. remained at the close, and was vested in the following trustees—A. Hunter, H.R. Caselli, J. Buley, G.O. Preshaw, and H. Reid. Subsequently J. Hickman and E. Curtis were appointed in place of Buley and Caselli, deceased, and J.C. Smith in place of Preshaw, removed. With �500 of the money entrusted the trust purchased the frontage in Lydiard street, on which the Commercial Club building and other offices stand. The site was let on a 40 years' building lease to the club, at a rental of �91 a year, with the right of purchase for �3000 at any time within 15 years from the date of the lease. A commemorative banquet was given in the city hall on the 1st of last month (June) by Mr. Hickman to the committee and representative citizens, when Mr. H. Bradbury, the exhibition secretary, read a report showing that there was �725 in bank at interest. The banquetters resolved informally that another exhibition should be held as soon as possible.

There are three volunteer fire brigades in Ballarat—the Ballarat, the City, and the Soldiers' Hill brigades. The Ballarat was established in 1856, and has its engine station at the corner of Barkly and East streets. It has 40 members, was the first in Victoria to procure a steam fire engine, and to its generally complete outfit is now adding a set of Bright's electric fire alarms. The City Brigade was established in 18-59, a previous organisation having disbanded because the municipal authorities refused a subsidy. The brigade's engine station is at the corner of Sturt and Raglan streets, and it has a steam engine as part of its large equipage. There used to be a Sebastopol Brigade, but the City Brigade has taken over that body's duties, and now has a member roll of 40. A Soldiers' Hill Juvenile Brigade was formed in 1879, and disbanded in 1881, and the present brigade was formed. It has no engine, but has a look-out station, and hose, hose carriages, hydrants, branches, and couplings. The fire fighters of Ballarat have won much fame alike in their intrepid battles with the igneous disasters of the past in Ballarat, and in the competitions which since then have been held in all the colonies. The brigades are at present officered as follow:—Ballarat Brigade—W. Trotman, captain; C.H. Crannage, lieutenant; G.A. Beyer, secretary; J.B. Johns, treasurer; J. Coward, hose officer; J.W. Dark, apparatus officer; A. Anderson, F.H. Drew, T.H. Lawn, trustees; Rudolf M�ller, caretaker. City Brigade—J. M'Donald, captain; G. Palmer, lieutenant; A. M'Garey, hose officer; J.C. Fraser, apparatus officer; J. M'Kenzie, engineer; J.H. Leggo, treasurer; T. Curnow, secretary; W. Perry, caretaker. Soldiers' Hill—H. Carlyon, captain; W. Rooney, lieutenant; J. Burke, hose officer; R. Henderson, apparatus officer; H. Fern, secretary; S. Selman, treasurer.

The volunteer corps of Ballarat Rangers was the outcome of a movement in the year 1857. On the 23rd of October, 1857, a meeting, convened by Mr. Ocock, was held at Bath's, now Craig's, hotel, Ballarat West, "to consider the propriety of establishing a rifle corps in this district." Mr. A. Davies presided, Mr. Cooper acted as secretary, and Messrs. Davies, Wilkes, Coleman, Cooper, Daly, Ocock, and Major Wallace (then sheriff), were appointed a committee to prepare a memorial to the Government. On 21st of July, 1858, the consent of the Government to the enrolment of a corps was received, and on the 26th of July a meeting was held in the Shakspeare hotel, Main street, Ballarat East, Mr. W.B. Rodier in the chair, when the name "Rangers" was rejected, and it was agreed that the name should be the "Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Regiment". The regiment was to consist of four divisions of infantry and two of cavalry. On the 9th August the first meeting of enrolled members was held at the Shakspeare hotel. At this meeting Mr. Richard Belford, who had been then, or was soon afterwards, elected Lieut.-Colonel, presided, and it was reported that there were 65 members on the roll. The rules were referred to the committee for revision, and on the 24th of August Mr. Belford presided at another meeting, held at Bath's hotel, when Major Wallace, who was a half-pay officer of the line, was elected adjutant, C. Forster captain, J. Daly first lieutenant, and D. Sweeney second lieutenant of infantry; and Alley captain, and A. Kelly and A. Davies first and second lieutenants of cavalry; Mr. Rodier acting as treasurer, and Mr. Just as secretary. Mr. Belford subsequently resigned office, and Major Wallace became the chief. The name of the corps also was changed to "Ballarat Rangers". The corps after that consisted of three companies of infantry; Nos. 1 and 3 being manned in Ballarat West and East respectively, and No. 2 in Clunes and Creswick. The cavalry force of the colony, called the Prince of Wales Light Horse, was a distinct arm of the service then also, and a troop existed for some time in Ballarat. Of the Ballarat Rangers the commissioned officers, when this History was issued in 1870, were:—1st Company—W.C. Smith, major; J. Johnston, W. Henderson, and R.W. Musgrove, captains; W.P. Whitcombe, assistant-surgeon. 2nd Company—P. Keatch, captain, Creswick detachment; B. Jessup, captain, and L. Le Gould, lieutenant, Clunes detachment. 3rd Company—J.T. Sleep, captain commandant; A.M. Greenfield, captain and adjutant; J. Ivey, captain; T. Hillas, assistant-surgeon; A.J. Boulton, lieutenant. Of the Ballarat troop of cavalry E.C. Moore was captain, J.H. Mount lieutenant, and G. Nicholson assistant-surgeon. Mr. Ocock, whose tall gaunt figure had a military look, and whose nose bore a striking resemblance to that prominent feature in the face of the Hero of Waterloo, was one of the first, if not the first, to drill the beginnings of the cavalry force here, and James M'Dowall, one of the troop of that day (1857) says they were frequently taken out as far as Miners' Rest on drilling excursions. The troop had C.W. Sherard as captain after that, then E.C. Moore, Julius Mount, D. Madden, the last captain being James A. Wilson, the troop being disbanded in December, 1883. Attached to the troop was a Rifle Club, whose first meeting was held at the old Orderly-room on the 5th of January, 1873, the foundation members being Lieut.-Colonel Rede, patron; Surgeon Nicholson, president; Lieutenants Madden and Carty, vice-presidents; Lieut.-Colonel Rede and Troopers Purdue and Beck, handicappers; Sergeant Wilson, treasurer; Trooper Deeble, secretary; Sergeant Tannock, and Troopers Lynch, Quinan, Lynch, Brown, Cummins, Skoglund, Walden, Snowball, Horwood, Rayreux, Russell, Young, Lynch, and Farming being also members. In 1883, the year of the disbanding of the cavalry troop, the Rifle Club also was broken up, and new defence legislation by Parliament led to the formation of a militia in place of the old volunteer infantry. There was an earlier civilian Rifle Club in 1860, whose practice; butts were on the Golden Point range. Messrs. Clissold (president), Mumby, C. Boyd, Wanliss, M'Ivor, and others were of that club, and matches were a regular addition to the ordinary practice pastime of the members.

The Rangers were disbanded when the Militia Bill was passed, and the first militia battalion for Ballarat was started in November, 1883. The first name was taken on 24th November, 1883, and the first batch of recruits sworn in on the 21st January, 1884. The officers of the battalion when first formed were the senior officers of the disbanded Ballarat Rangers—Lieut.-Colonel J.T. Sleep, Major A.M. Greenfield, Major L.H. Kildahl, Captain and Adjutant Thos. Mann. Surgeon R.D. Pinnock, Majors Greenfleld and Kildahl, were gazetted to their majorities after the formation of the militia. The establishment provided for 326 officers and men, the former including, besides those already named, 3 captains and 8 lieutenants. For these vacancies 10 recruits were selected, and at the examinations held the following passed, and on 30th June, 1884, were posted lieutenants to the battalion:—R.E. Williams, J. Garbutt, H.A. King, T. Holding, W. Laidlaw, J. M'Whae, H.D. Longden, E. Hayes, D. Madden, and F.W. Claxton. Subsequently Lieutenant Holding retired to the unattached list, and Lieutenants Williams, Garbutt, King, Laidlaw, M'Whae, and Hayes were promoted to be captains as vacancies occurred. Other changes and promotions followed, including Captain Williams' elevation to a majority on the retirement of Major Kildahl; but, much to the author's regret, there is not space for further details. The battalion has well held its place in all respects, and is now in possession of one of the finest orderly rooms in Victoria, with a spacious parade ground adjacent.

The Gas Company is a private corporation, dating from 1858, with a capital of �35,000, and a freehold of 3� acres, bounded on the west by Albert street, on the south by Dana street, on the east and north by Grenville street and the back of allotments in Lewis street. The first directors were Messrs. J. Hepburn, M.J. Cummins, R. Belford, J. Gibb, R.B. Gibbs, E.A. Wynne, and Dr. Stewart. The engineers have been Messrs. Jones, father and son, and the present Mr. S.E. Figgis; and the secretaries Mr. G. Binsted, and Messrs. S. and W.H. Figgis, father and son. Exactly 100 days after the turning of the first sod for the erection of the works, gas was first turned on at the main for the supply of the town. This opening of the works was performed by Mr. J.B. Humffray on Saturday evening, 17th July, 1858, and the newspapers speak of the "brilliant devices" illuminating the gas works and other parts of the town. Wesley Church was the first public building lit by the company; but gas made by a Mr. Courtis from gum leaves and oil had before then been used in Christ Church, Bath's hotel, and other places, and the old Charlie Napier was lighted about the same time with gas of a similar kind made by Mr. John Gibbs. The Ballarat company's revenue for the first year of supply was �12,000, and at the close of 1868 it was �24,600, with 1200 consumers, and at the close of 1886 the revenue was �27,497, with 2720 consumers, the total expenditure having been �98,626. At first the price of gas was 40s., and has since been reduced to 8s. 4d. per 1000 feet, less discounts of from 5 to 10 per cent. to large consumers, the rate of dividends paid being 10 per cent. per annum. The best appliances in manufacture have been added from time to time, and the gas-making power at the close of last year was 2,000,000 cubic feet per week, and the storage room 400,000 feet, the quality of the gas being set down at 18 candle power. There are five gas-holders, the latest being a telescopic one of 200,000 cubic feet capacity. The author regrets to be compelled, by want of space, to suppress divers details anent this and suburban companies.

The Banks are nearly all clustered in Lydiard street, between Dana and Mair streets. The Bank of Australasia, Union, London Chartered, National, Colonial, New South Wales, Victoria, City of Melbourne, and Ballarat Banking Company are there, and all have buildings more or less elegant and costly, whose architectural prominence attracts the notice of every visitor to the town. The designs for these edifices are generally some phase of Italian. The Commercial Bank is at the city hall, corner of Sturt and Armstrong streets, occupying the whole of the Armstrong street ground floor of the hall, and part of the Sturt street front also. The Mercantile Bank has taken over Mr. Oddie's premises at the corner of Dana and Armstrong streets, and the London Chartered Bank has a branch in Post office place Ballarat East.

The Ballarat Savings Bank completed its thirtieth year on 15th of last November, and during the thirty years �2,075,023 7s. 5d. was paid in, �100,048 13s. 10d. was credited in interest to depositors, �1,948,577 7s. 1d. was paid out to depositors, 40,663 accounts were opened and 32,188 closed, leaving on the 15th of November last 8,475 depositors with �226,494 14s. 2d. to their credit. William Thomas Pooley was the first actuary, and to him Charles Wale Sherard, the present actuary, succeeded in 1870.

Australians love out of door sports, and Ballarat has its share of recreation reserves, as the Eastern Oval, the Western Oval, Russell Square, Miners' Racecourse, Mount Pleasant Reserve, Sebastopol Oval, whilst the Saxon Paddock, private property by Wendouree, is rented by the Ballarat Football Club, and has a stand erected for spectators.

The Eastern Oval is the oldest and most popular place of resort for cricket. The Ballarat Cricket Club was founded in 1856, when Daniel Sweeney (captain), Henry Davies, and some others were active promoters of the club. On the 29th of October, 1856, the club had its first practice on the then open flat near the present Oval. To secure the present reserve the club and the borough council have worked together generally, the club spending large sums in making the Oval what it now is—one of the finest cricket grounds in Australia. The officers of the club now are—Messrs. C.B. Finlayson, president; H. Brind, J. Shiels, vice-presidents; Alex. Miller, treasurer; E.J. Wollaston, secretary; Bain, Williams, O'Connor, Dunn, Hunt, Ferguson, Martyr, Pearson, committeemen. At the pavilion was for some time treasured a rude lightwood bat, one of the first played with by the club. In the Cricket Reserve the Ballarat Bowling Club has a green. The first president of this club was Donald Macrae. There is also a tennis court there, and during the winter season the Oval is used for football exploits. A new grandstand and pavilion are projected, as well as a union of the cricket and one of the football clubs; but nothing in that respect is yet settled. There is a book of local sports yet to be written, and it must suffice us here to say that, besides a second bowling club, the Central, in Mair street, cricket and football clubs are now as plentiful in Ballarat as yellow leaves in autumn. The Ballarat is, as of old, the leading cricket club; and the Ballarat, the Imperial (born Galatea), and the South Ballarat are the leading football clubs. All of these have had first class players, and they have generally been drawn away to the metropolis to strengthen the several clubs there. Those three clubs are at present officered as follow:—Ballarat—T. Bath, president; S.L. Bailey, J. Shiels, and C. Welch, vice-presidents; R.M. Duthie, treasurer; A.B. Berry, secretary; E. Williams, J.S. Reid, D. Davies, A. Reynolds, A. Bodycomb, W. Palmer, F. Mann, Graham, J. Brown, W. M'Millan, J. Manderson, W. Christie, committeemen. Imperial—J.M. M'Kenzie, senior, president; R. Chinnery, W. Peach, J. Leggo, W.H. Hennah, J. M'Donald, G. Williams, J. Reed, D. Cameron, Manning, J.T. Sleep, J.C. Chambers, and E. Catherall, vice-presidents; G. Williams, treasurer; J. Cunningham, secretary; Douglass, delegate; W. Robertson, G. M'Kenzie, J. Young, A. Gough, T. Thomas, committeemen. South Ballarat—President, Dr. E.G. Ochiltree; vice-presidents, C. Stewart, H.L. Pobjoy, W. Barton, J.T. Williams, H. O'Connor; P. O'Neil, delegate; J. Finnegan, D. Montgomery, J. Lyons, C. Vaughan, J. Caldwell, W. Perkins, H. Watson, committeemen; H.F. Elliott, treasurer; J.G. Rennie, secretary.

The Ballarat Hunt Club was formed in 1881 at the instance of Mr. A. Chirnside, of Werribee, who acted as master, with Mr. A. Wynne as treasurer, and Mr. R. Macrae as secretary. It hunts deer, foxes, and sometimes bits of kerosened rag. Saturdays are the days, and the "fields" are generally numerous, and made up of more or less valorous people of both sexes.

The Ballarat Turf Club is the successor of the Ballarat and Creswick Race Club, which began racing in 1853, and it has a reserve of 486 acres in Dowling Forest properly laid out as a course, with grandstand and other belongings. Mr. A.M. Greenfield is the secretary, and Messrs. II. Walsh, C.W. Sherard, H. Cuthbert, A.M. Greenfield, M. Loughlin, A. Wynne, and R. Orr are the trustees of the freehold. The Miners' Racecourse is on the Sebastopol plateau, where racing began in 1863, was discontinued in 1883, after a race on the 6th April of that year, and was revived this year. In the interim the course was fenced, and a grandstand erected, the last race meeting being on Jubilee Day, 21st June just past. The trustees of the course are Messrs. B. Hepburn, M. Loughlin, J. King, R. Stewart, and R. Walsh, and J.A. Blight is the club secretary. The Lal Lal Club has its course near the Lal Lal Falls, and its great trysting time is New Year's Day, when holiday folk gather there in thousands. The officers last New Year's Day were—R. H�ger, president; D. Fitzpatrick, vice-president; J. Tannock, judge; T. Cahir, starter; G. Vowles, handicapper; Colonel Sleep, timekeeper; H. Way, clerk of the course; R. Vickers, weigher; J.A. Blight, secretary.

The Ballarat Coursing Club was formed at a meeting in the George hotel on the 22nd May, 1873, Dr. Whitcombe in the chair, when the chairman, and Messrs. R.U. Nicholls, J. Hughan, F. Parker, Wood, A. Clarke, D. Bantock, J. Johnstone, T. Creighton, and J. Ward were appointed a provisional committee. Subscription was fixed at two guineas, the rules of the Victoria Club were adopted, and Mr. J. Johnstone was appointed secretary. The first registration of dogs was by B. Hepburn and J. Hughan on the 15th September, 1873. The first coursing meeting was at the Pentland Hills on the 7th August, 1873, but there had been coursing before the club was formed. Some years anterior to the date of the formation of the club Messrs. B. Hepburn and others had coursed wallaby on Struan Robertson's run at Narracoorte, on the South Australian frontier, and soon after that Messrs. Hepburn, J. Leonard, and David Jones, obtained hares from the Government dep�t in Phillip Island. Since that time there has been regular coursing, the plumpton at Ercildoune being now the club's ordinary trysting place. The present officers of the club are Sir S. Wilson, president; Messrs. R. Chirnside and B. Hepburn, vice-presidents; J. Lombard, treasurer; S. Cadden, secretary.

The present Gun Club is the successor to the Pigeon Shooting Club established in 1861, with G.C. Tuckett, president; R.U. Nicholls, secretary and treasurer; and W. Bignell, J. Whitehouse, C. Winsor, J.R. Torbitt, W.H. Ford, T.R. Hewet, and J. White, committeemen. In 1864 the club reported that it "attained the object for which it was established, viz., sport, recreation, and the scientific use of the gun." A year or two after that it died, and from its ashes sprang up in 1872 the present Gun Club, whose aim, amongst other things, was and is "to demonstrate the shooting qualities of guns with various methods of charging, such trials to be registered." The club's "amended rules" of 1879 do not recite that scientific aim; but the secretary assures the author that the club pursues its original purpose in that regard. In 1872 the club started with Colonel Rede president, F. Peyton secretary, and T. Eyres, E. Rowlands, R.U. Nicholls, and H.D. Cave committeemen. The present officers are—Norman Wilson, president; W.D. Clarke, vice-president; C.H.F. Walker, treasurer; T.W. Purdue, secretary: and J. Allender, D. M'Donald, J.G. Robertson, J. Stout, junior, T. Tindale, C. Whitpaine, and R. Moffatt, committeemen. The club has its own freehold of eight acres, and a pavilion near the old Essex mine, between the Creswick road and the Learmonth road, the cost of which was �700. Large prizes are given annually, the amount last year being �325, including a �175 handicap, open to all the colonies.

The Ballarat Acclimatisation Society, formed in 1870, has done good work in stocking lakes and streams in the district with fish; ova of trout, perch, carp, and other fish having been procured for the purpose, and the society has been the means of distributing fish over many parts of the colony. One importation of American white fish did not succeed, and since then one of grayling ova proved to be a failure, but the society does not on that account lose heart, and fresh efforts will be made, amply warranted by the large successes which have made earlier experiments fruitful. Some American brook trout ova have very recently been received. The society's officers are Messrs. Dr. W.P. Whitcombe, president; C. Taylor, secretary; G. Perry, treasurer; Alex. White, W.T. Thompson, C. Salter, F.M. Claxton, J.N. Wilson, J. Hickman, committeemen. Other acclimatisers, notably Mr. C.H.J. Walker, gave us the blackbird, thrush, and other welcome singing birds. Still there were others, who, moved by less happy inspiration, introduced the stag, hare, rabbit, fox, and sparrow, and the last three have become general pests. Especially is it thus with the rabbit. He has multiplied and subdued the country. He has devastated millions of acres of grass and grain lands, robbed the farmers of their harvests, lowered the value of land, and the Legislature has intervened with special laws for the lessening of the plague, which still prevails, however, to an alarming extent in some parts of the colony.

Roller skating has been practised in Ballarat on several occasions, notably for a time on the floor of the Academy of Music, but the first place devoted specially to the pastime was the link in Dawson street, which was opened on the 13th of last April. That rink occupies a quarter acre, less a surrounding platform some live or six feet wide. It was built for Mr. A.W. Ridgley, the lessee, at a cost of about �1,500, the site being leased for five years from Mr. Robert Sim. American and other modes of skating are taught in Ridgley's arena. Rinks have since been opened in Grenville and Skipton streets by local proprietors.

The Caledonian Society was formed in November, 1858, and the first sports were held on New-Year's Day, 1859, on what is now known as the Eastern Oval. Mr. Hugh Gray was the first president, and with him as judges on that day were Charles Roy, Donald M'Donald, and Donald Gunn, the pipers being Andrew Wattie and Donald Rowan. There had been two annual gatherings before this, the first being held on the ground between the sites now occupied by the villas of Mr. E.W. Stephens and Mr. F.W. Niven, in Webster street. At this first gathering Edward Dufferin Allison, M.D., presided. The Buninyong Highland Society was formed about this time also. The Copenhagen Grounds, near the Royal Park, were for some years the Ballarat Society's trysting place, and then the gatherings were held in the Recreation Reserve in Eyre street, but they have been discontinued for some years. A wrestling club was formed in 1850, and some accomplished athletes exhibited feats in the Cumberland and Westmorland styles, as well as in the Devon and Cornish kinds of wrestling. These feats were first performed in the Charlie Napier Theatre, and they afterwards formed a portion of the programme of events at several of the Caledonian Society's New-Year gatherings.

The Hibernian Society, formed in Ballarat on the 7th July, 1868, is now called the Hibernian Australian Catholic Benefit Society. The first president was Mark Young; vice-president, Michael O'Grady; secretary, Michael Deegan; treasurer, John Berry. In November last there were 137 members. St. Patrick's Day is the society's great festival time; sports are held under its auspices annually, and since their commencement some �600 have been divided by the society between the Hospital, and the Benevolent and Orphan Asylums of Ballarat. The present officers are:—President, Martin Ryan; vice-president, J.H. Knight; treasurer, Charles Fitzgerald; secretary, D.J. Doyle. The place of ordinary meeting is the belfry-house in the Cathedral reserve of St. Patrick, and the society is under the patronage of the resident Catholic clergy. There are branches now all over Australia, and the members wear green scarves and other decorations.

On the north-west of the Botanic Gardens is the Reformatory for boys, originally an Industrial School, for neglected boys not convicted of crime. During 1886 there were 87 boys admitted to the Reformatory, of whom 58 have been newly committed. The superintendent was Captain Evans, an expert of some repute, to whom succeeded Mr. E. Charles Connor, and under his care the tendency to abscond seems to be notably declining. In 1884 the percentage of absconders was 13.06, but in 1885 only 2.81, and in 1886 2.56.

The Rev. Lockhart Morton, of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, established, in June, 1886, a "Hope Lodge", where drunkards have found a refuge from themselves and their temptations. The Lodge is supported by voluntary aid, takes no note of creed or nationality, and has been a blessing to many a poor wretch unable to say "no" to the tempter from within or without.

Ballarat history includes a record of the foundation of the road boards and their successors, the shire councils of Ballarat, Buninyong, Bungaree, Creswick, and Grenville, which have local jurisdiction in the rural territories surrounding the city and its suburbs, but there is no space here for notice of their origins and internal histories. The same remark applies to the local origins and developments of the originals or branches of the several banking establishments, the Australian Natives' Association, Miners' Association, Amalgamated Miners' Association, Mine Managers' Association, Mine Owners' Association, Master Tradesmen's Association, Ironworkers' Association, Young Men's Christian Association, the Mutual Improvement Associations, the dead Eclectic and the not yet dead Psychological Associations, the Medical, Medical Benefit, Debating, Building, Temperance, and St. Andrew's Societies, divers Trades' Unions, the Field Club, the Friendly Societies, their lodges and dispensary, the potteries and brickfields, and other things, in respect of which the author has, sorrowfully, to be content with their mere enumeration here.

The railway from Geelong to Ballarat was opened on the 11th April, 1862, and since then extensions have been made from Ballarat through Creswick to the lines northward; through the Learmonth country to Ararat, Stawell, and the Wimmera district, to the South Australian frontier, joining with the line to Adelaide; through Haddon to Smythesdale and Scarsdale; and through Warrenheip to Ballan as part of the direct line to Melbourne. Short lines have also been run off to the Dowling Forest Racecourse, to the City Cattle-yards, and to the City Produce Market.

In 1885 the City Council obtained leave to construct tramways, but the Government took ample time in making the concession, as the council's application was the first outside the metropolis, and the concession involved, in fact, the determination of the basis for future concessions or "orders" to provincial bodies. Having obtained leave, the council leased to Mr. Edward Thompson, of Adelaide, for a term of 30 years, the right to construct and work the tramways, the conditions being as follow:—

1. Commencing at the bottom of Sturt street, near Grenville street, or at Lydiard street (at option), and thence with a line on each side of the central plantation as far as Ripon street; thence by a single line on south side of Start street, as far as the street by the Convent ground to Wendouree parade and the Botanic Gardens, to a point near the rotunda. 2. Commencing at junction of Lydiard and Sturt streets, and going north along Lydiard street to Macarthur street; thence to Wendouree parade and round the north part thereof to Botanic Gardens to the point before mentioned, near the rotunda. 3. Commencing at a point in Sturt street, at junction with Ripon street, and thence north along Ripon and Fraser streets to Wendouree parade, going north as far as Macarthur street. 4. Commencing at junction of Armstrong street south and Sturt street; thence along Armstrong street and Skipton street to the city boundary. 5. (And when deemed necessary). From intersection of Skipton and Drummond streets, along the latter to Sturt street. Horse traction. Routes—As required by the council. Conditions—As published by the council. Time for construction—Nine months to the lake; one year for the whole, with right to complete earlier and start running the cars. Option of purchase by council—During the first 10 years, �70,000, exclusive of freeholds (if any). At expiration of 30 years the whole concern, plant, &c., to be given over to the council without cost. Terms offered—�1575 per annum when lines are laid down, or �150 per mile per annum directly cars are allowed to run on any finished portion, such terms to be irrespective of profit on investment. The fares to be charged shall not exceed 3d. for three miles, and for shorter distances at the basis of Id. per mile between certain points to be tabulated and agreed on between the council and the promoter. The tram cars shall commence running not later than 8 o'clock a.m., and shall continue running until 11 o'clock p.m., at intervals of 15 and 30 minutes. Cars may run earlier or later than above at such times and fares as may from time to time be arranged between the council and the promoter.

Early in 1887 the contractor let his contract to a company floated in Melbourne. This company was in 32,000 shares of �2 each, of which 17,000 were at once given out for allottal to the public, and were taken up. Whilst this chapter is going through the press, the company is laying down materials and taking steps for the erection of the houses necessary for stables and workmen in connection with the formation of the works.

The first part of the present Post Office, erected in 1863, at the north-east corner of Sturt and Lydiard streets, was the sixth one erected since Ballarat became the resort of the gold-seeker. At first there was a tent near what is now the corner of Sturt and Camp streets; then there were "shanties" on Old Post Office Hill, as the top of Golden Point was named, and at Brown Hill; then a wooden building at the south-west corner of Lydiard and Mair streets, where the Royal George hotel now stands. No street delivery of letters was granted till 1856, and old residents remember still the crowding and quarrelling to get at the old post-office window, the police having sometimes to interfere for the maintenance of the peace. In 1858 the present site was selected, and an ugly office erected, which was opened on the 10th of September, 1858, the first night mail to Melbourne having been despatched from Ballarat on the 1st of July in the previous year. In November, 1859, the post-office, opened in September, 1858, was taken down and another built, which in its turn was removed. Offices, in continuation of the post-office, have been built in Lydiard street for the Treasury, Electric Telegraph, Lands, Public Works, Police, Mining, and Vital Statistics Registry departments of the Government here.

The Gaol, at the southern end of Lydiard street, was commenced in 1856 by Gray, a builder, whose contract was for �9000. In 1857 a wooden stockade, surrounding the site, was blown down during a gale; another was erected and then removed as useless. New extended plans for the gaol were prepared in 1858, and a second contract was begun in December of that year by Evans and Barker, builders, the contract being for �4000. Then, such is the genius of Government architects for blundering, the plan was condemned, and Evans and Barker contracted for �9000 more to alter what had been done, so as to make the gaol plan radiating. Then there was a contract let to Williams and Young at �9000 for the erection of boundary walls and certain offices, the establishment as it now stands being completed early in 1862, at a total cost of between �40,000 and �50,000. The present Court-house, south of the gaol, was opened in 1868; the older Court-house, injured by subsidence of the site, being now the School of Mines.

The Police quarters are, as they have been ever since the removal from Old Post Office Hill, on the Camp Hill, now no longer a green mound, but cut up by streets and nearly covered with buildings. The present warden is Mr. Thomson, who is also the police magistrate. The old wooden military barracks—where a remnant of the 40th Regiment remained until October, 1857, when that symbol of empire vanished from Ballarat, as it did soon thereafter from Melbourne—has disappeared, and the site is now occupied by more sightly and more permanent buildings.

At the intersection of Sturt and Lydiard streets is a monument commemorative of the tragical exploration expedition of Burke and Wills in 1861. Plans for a monument were prepared as early as February, 1862, by Canute Andersen, at the instance of a committee of townsfolk, but the project slept till February, 1863, on the 7th of which month the foundation stone was laid by his Excellency Governor Barkly, with accompaniment of much display of processions of public bodies, benefit societies, parading of volunteers, flags, music, and addresses. The commemoration was a special duty for this city, for Wills, the ardent and chivalrous youth who was brave Burke's second, had lived in Ballarat, where his father practised medicine for some years. To do this duty well had been honorable, but with the picturesque celebration of the foundation-laying the enthusiasm of the committee and the public died. The money collected only sufficed to raise a sombre block of bluestone as the base of the projected monument, and the unsightly mass lay there, a mark for the gibes of visitors, until March, 1866, when another committee was formed, and the work of discussing ways and means of finishing the structure re-commenced. Money could not be collected to carry out the first and better design, and after more than a year's delay the present monument was decided on, the borough council voting money in aid of the work. Mr. Andersen again prepared plans, and again gratuitously. The bottle with coins and documents deposited by Governor Barkly was exhumed, the original stonework having been removed, and on the 26th August, 1867, Thomas Davey, mayor of the borough, re-laid the bottle, and the present structure was thereafter erected. The monument now consists of an octangular stone reservoir, with a square pier in the centre, surmounted by a cast-iron basin and a fluted column of iron bearing four gas lamps, and an urn as a finial. An iron railing round the top of the octagon has recently been erected. Water used to be laid on from jets above the iron basin whence it flowed, as from a huge inverted umbrella, into the stone receptacle beneath. In the masonry rising from the stone basin and supporting the iron superstructure, marble slabs are inlaid, on which are the following inscriptions:—

North side: In memory of the explorers who perished while crossing the Australian continent in the year 1861. East side: Robert O'Hara Burke, leader, died 30th June, 1861; William John Wills, second, died 30th June, 1861; Ludwig Becker, naturalist, died 29th April, 1861; Charles Grey, assistant, died 17th April, 1861. South side: Erected by the inhabitants of Ballarat.

The Queen's Jubilee was celebrated right royally in Ballarat on the 21st of June, and from thirty to forty thousand people heroically paced for hours through the mud in Sturt street and Bridge street to witness the illuminations. New Testaments, bearing each a fac-simile of the Queen's autograph of the text, "Peace on earth—good will to men", followed by Her Majesty's signature, were given to large numbers of State scholars. Jubilee medals were distributed in some places, half-crowns were given by the Hon. P. Russell to the children in his district, and many people gave gifts to the poor instead of spending money in gas, A worthy method this last, surely, of celebrating the Jubilee, save where the method was motived less by sympathy for the poor than by antipathy to the British connection, and by disloyalty to the Queen as the Imperial symbol and centre of that connection. Among the more notable events of the day in Ballarat were a great procession of friendly societies, fire brigades, old colonists, and others; and the ceremonial laying of foundation-stones; that of the Art Gallery by Sir W.J. Clarke, that of the new Stock Exchange by Mr. Thomas Stoddart, and that of the Old Colonists' Hall by President John Murray. A banquet was given to those three gentlemen in the afternoon. Apropos of the Old Colonists, there is only space to say here that they represent the Old Pioneers who hobnobbed with Old Bendigonians a decade or more ago, and are some of the remains of the gallant host of gold discoverers and gold-hunters of the early fifties. Their secretary is the Mr. Frazer, whose graphic story of Vern's hiding in the stockade days is given in a former chapter of this work.

Mr. C.D. Figgis, the architect of the Mining Exchange, gives the following description of the building that is to be completed early in 1888:—

The site has a frontage of 66 feet to Lydiard street, by a depth of 180 feet towards Camp street, and being irregular in plan will have a I'ear frontage of 99 feet. The building will be two story in height to Lydiard street for a depth of 35 feet, behind which portion the building is one story, and consists of a main exchange hall surrounded by offices, branching off which is a large room for meetings of the exchange. The Lydiard street fa�ade upon the ground floor has four shops or office fronts, and a broad central entrance under semicircular and elliptic arches. A plain Tuscan cornice divides the ground from the first floor which is pierced by nine windows in three compartments separated with plain brick pilasters. The architrave, cornice, and window moulds will be in stucco, and between the balustrading of the windows and the top of the pilasters black polished bricks will be used, tuckpointed with white joints. The style is adapted modern Italian, and the upper portion of the fa�ade is simple in character and surmounted with a bold cornice and open balustrading. A paved vestibule leads from Lydiard street to the Exchange, which measures 126 by 37� feet. There will also be an entrance from Camp street, and another from the Police Camp lane. The roof will be of iron, elliptical, and there will be semi-circular cleristory lights on three sides. The floor will be of asphalt. Mr. W. Robertson is the contractor, and the tender for �4007 does not include lime and other things, whose cost will probably bring the total near �5000. Mr. Trembath is clerk of works.

Some of the members of the Stock Exchange have helped to make history in the Ballarat district. The fancies of dealers in scrip are lively, and it may be pleasant to them to be reminded that their new home now building will cover historical ground. The Exchange site includes that of Raffaello's "lousy logs", and also the yard where Captain Thomas mustered his little army soon after midnight for the march upon the Eureka Stockade at the following dawn. Meditations among the tombs of the dead past, however, will not be so fascinating to the mercurial manipulators of scrip as the golden light about a spot in the heart of oldest Ballarat, midway between their new home now building and the Stockade site. For, at the bright spot in question, the Sulieman Pasha Company has just (4th July) proved a new lode to be worth near 3 oz. to the ton, and the stock has "boomed" the market for an aggregate advance of over �30,000 in one week.

Electric telegraph communication was first had between Ballarat and Melbourne on the second anniversary of the Eureka Stockade action. The Ballarat Star of Tuesday, the 4th of December, 1856, contained the following announcement:—

The first telegraphic communication between Ballarat and Melbourne, and vice versa, took place yesterday afternoon at twenty minutes past three o'clock. Last evening, about eight o'clock, the representatives of the Press on Ballarat were invited by Mr. M'Gowan to witness the working of the telegraph. There being no office accommodation ready at present, the spot selected was the last post near the Unicorn hotel on the Township. A wire was carried from the post to a small testing machine placed on a stump at its base, and thence, to secure moisture, carried to the stream adjoining, which runs from Bath's claim [now Cobb's corner]. Mr. Humffray, who was at the Melbourne station, transmitted the following remarks to Mr. M'Gowan—"The establishment of electric telegraph communication between Ballarat and Melbourne is a far more pleasing event to celebrate on the anniversary of the 3rd of December than stockades and massacres."

Intelligence of the bestowal of knighthood upon Mr. Ronalds, the inventor of the telegraph in England, led to the publication of the fact that the Mr. Ronalds referred to was the In-other of Mr. Ronalds, who once had the Wendouree Nursery, in Ballarat, and who was also a man of considerable attainments. Several nephews of the inventor were lately in the colony.

The following table will show how post and telegraph office money matters stood as between the three leading inland towns of Victoria, for the year 1885, and the letters, etc., passed in 1886:—

———	Orders Issued.	Savings Bk. Deposits.	Telegrams.	Letters.	Packets.	Papers.
Ballarat	�23,162	�33,113	�4,030	3,102,023	488,647	1,157,823
Sandhurst	17,040	19,377	2,788	3,204,992	335,261	844,114
Geelong	11,931	53,644	1,979	2,136,621	181,891	708,319

The number of officers employed in 1885 was, for Ballarat and Sandhurst, 48 each, and for Geelong 42. The decennial march of business in Ballarat, supplied, like the above, by the courtesy of the department, was as below, only that as regards letters, packets, and papers, the three decades end a year later than for the other items of the table:—

Year	Savings Bk. Deposits.	Money O. Issued.	TELEGRAPH BUSINESS.		Letters.	Packets.	Papers.
			Messages.	Cash.
1865	�791	�19,461	25,079	�3006	1,330,250	39,298	337,144
1875	22,308	19,856	41,487	2572	1,742,370	169,772	464,671
1885	33,113	23,162	82,708	4036	3,102,023	488,647	1,157,823

The official records of the Ballarat Lands Office give 26 '66 inches as the average local rainfall for the 26 years, 1857-1884. The mean temperature, calculated over the same period, was, for January, 65.3; February, 64.4; March, 61.8; April, 55.1; May, 49.2; June, 45.5; July, 43.1; August, 46.3; September, 48.7; October, 55.7; November, 57.9; December, 61.6.

The telephone was introduced in Ballarat by the Victorian Telephone Exchange Company, Limited, in February, 1883. The office is in Lydiard street, and there was at the end of June, 1887, a subscription roll of 176, Mr. James Oddie having been the first subscriber enrolled. This roll involves an apparatus of 200 lines, each subscriber paying �10 a year for a service extending within a radius of one mile from the Post-office. The company was at first known as the Melbourne Company, and began work in Melbourne in 1880, a branch having been opened in Sandhurst soon after the Ballarat one was started.

In the realm of science Ballarat has become of world-wide fame through the inventions by Mr. Henry Sutton, a native of the place. His skill and acquirements in electricity, telegraphy, telephony, photography, and also in astronomical and microscopical studies have won for him a high position as a practical scientist, and the credit is the greater as he is a self-taught student. But, doubtless, the scientist is born as well as made, and if Mr. Sutton did not in the succulent days of infancy actually lisp in occult phrases of science, it is clear that his genius for experiment developed early, and that it was fostered by still earlier and persistent study. Gifted with a good memory, and the stimulus of the fervid spirit of science, Mr. Sutton, before he was 14 years old, had read every book on science to be found in the library of the Ballarat Mechanics' Institute, and since then he has kept up the perusal of all the prominent scientific journals, and all the patent records in Engineer and Engineering. Besides this, he won a silver medal and 30 other prizes for drawing in the School of Design. At the age of 14 he designed completely what is now known as the Gramme dynamo electric machine. That machine caused the first revolution in the generation of electricity, and if Mr. Sutton had then had the means he would have forestalled Gramme in the publication of the invention. When Bell announced the invention of the telephone, Mr. Sutton devised in the first year thereafter no fewer than 20 odd different telephones, 16 of which were patented by other people after the date of his inventions; and there was only a space of 16 days between Sutton's discovery of carton filament, as used in the present electric lamps, and the discovery by Edison, as Mr. Ellery, the Victorian Astronomer Royal, can testify. Then, the Sutton air pump is thus referred to by the English Mechanic of the 21st July, 1882:—

On page 34 will be found one of the simplest and best of mercurial air pumps, not only for the purposes of the electrical lamp maker, but also for all purposes where a high degree of vacuum is required to be produced. A reference to page 34, No. 886, will give the reader a good idea of the principle of all mercurial air pumps, and will introduce him to one of the simplest, and, we believe, the most efficient. In Mr. Sutton's air pump, there illustrated, the mercury is caused to rise into the globe by the action of a force pump, and it is obvious that the operations can be performed very rapidly.

Mr. Sutton devised also a vacuum pump, worked by a water jet, and it is in daily use now at the Ballarat School of Mines for chemical purposes. In 1877, at the invitation of the secretary of �ronautical Society of Great Britain, he wrote two papers on the flight of birds, detailing experiments and deductions in that branch of study, and the secretary acknowledged that Mr. Sutton had discovered the true theory. Some 70 pages of the society's report for 1878 are occupied with the Sutton papers and drawings as designed by the writer of the papers. Mr. Sutton has contributed articles to the Royal Societies of London and Victoria, and has several times been invited to write papers for the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians of London. He is an associate of that society, and a member of the Royal Society of Victoria, and he has been invited by M. Clocheary, a member of the French Government, to become a member of the Societe Internationalle, whose roll of members includes the most distinguished electricians in the world. But that which has been, perhaps, more gratifying than anything else to this gifted and indefatigable young Ballarat scientist, is the appreciatory reception given by the Royal Society of England to his new electrical storage battery. The proceedings of that body, No. 217, for the year 1881, contains a paper by Mr. Sutton, describing his invention as a mode of storing electric force so that "it may be drawn off equally and regularly, and this whether the generator be on or off." The description is too elaborate and too abstruse for a place in these pages, but we may make the following brief extract:—

The cell, having a negative electrode of copper, a positive electrode of lead amalgamated with mercury, and a solution of cupric sulphate, I have adopted as a thoroughly economical, lasting, and practical form of storage reservoir. The chemical changes in this cell are exceedingly interesting and beautiful.   *   *   *   The power of this cell is very great and very constant; it can be made to last for hours, the time being dependent on the quantity of cupric sulphate decomposed.   *   *   *   It will be seen from the foregoing that this method of conserving energy has a wide field before it, and as it will benefit fellow workers in science, placing in their hands a means of experimenting with powerful electric currents, I give it without reservation, freely and untrammelled by patent rights, for their use.

This is large liberality, and bespeaks the disinterested enthusiast in science. The president of the Royal Society, Mr. W. Spottiswoode, writing to Mr. Sutton on the 4th January, 1882, acknowledges a second paper with diagram of the cell, and says, "Your former communication created much interest among our fellows. I hope soon to send you printed copies of it." The Mechanic says, "The methods named as those of Monsieur J Rousse are all embraced in Mr. Sutton's, but the great advantage in Mr. Sutton's storage battery is that the speed of the discharge can be regulated at will, a quality which none other known possesses. Mr. Sutton's inventions are appreciated in the very home of scientists, and this is proof positive of their value." Iron, another English journal, says, "Mr. Sutton's invention is pronounced invaluable, and on no less an authority than Mr. J.W. Swan, of electric lighting fame." Iron thus cites Mr. Swan in evidence as follows:—"I can fully confirm Mr. Sutton's statement as to the facility with which a thick crust of peroxide formed on the mercurialised lead in his cell, giving it a greater capacity for storage. The discovery of this means of rapidly forming a thick coating of peroxide is invaluable."

This Ballarat scientist, then, born in Ballarat on the 3rd September, 1856, has, by his own unaided studies, won the recognition of the first men of science in the world. But, nihil sine labore. [31] It is the enthusiast who wins—if he have the necessary other gifts. And this is no celibate ascetic, scorning social delights, for, though a tireless worker, Mr. Sutton is a benedict, and it is to be devoutly hoped that his wife shares adequately in the enthusiasm of scientific research. He is to-day working in original paths as zealously as ever, and seldom retires before 2 o'clock a.m., very often not till 3 o'clock, daylight sometimes surprising him every morning for a week before he can cry, "Hold, enough!" and he therefore! proclaims the theory that "eight hours' work won't lift a man in this world." He has lately been engaged in perfecting what promises to be a very valuable process of engraving by the aid of photography, but the results will not be published until the process is perfected. Another series of experiments is in course of making for the production of photographs in colors. But, greater marvel still, in some sense, Mr. Sutton has designed, but not yet constructed, an apparatus by which he hopes to be able to see here in Ballarat, by the aid of electricity, the race for the Melbourne Cup. The author congratulates Mr. Sutton on his being a native of Ballarat in these years of grace, for such startling commerce with the occult arts as the things done and doing reveal would, surely, have won for the worker a very different fame "in the ages of faith". That a young man, who left school at 12, should, before he was 30, have won such fame as a student and inventor, and mirabile dictu, [32] be acknowledged here in his own home by such men as Professor Andrews and Mr. Ellery as one of the best lecturers at the School of Mines, is a proof that genius is above the restrictions of relatively narrow circumstances, and does not wait upon universities or professional chairs for leave to conquer the recondite secrets of science and make a place for itself in the foremost ranks of the scientifically illustrious. Such a worker as Henry Sutton is, may plead on virtue's side against a vicious mass of base and brutal "larrikin" lust and indolence—against a city full of vain inanities and the growing passion for endless amusement, and strident, unmannerly irreverence and display. This reverent student of nature is so quiet and so modest, as well as so laborious and so gifted, that he will be almost angry with the author for thus setting him out in these pages as a reproach to the idle, the ignorant, and the rude; and as an example to encourage other of our native youth to rise to similar levels of serene and lofty pleasures, pregnant with practical blessing to the world.

Ballarat journalism, through all the changes of the place, has borne its full share in the expression and direction of public opinion in the colony, and in that respect has been representative of the political activity of the local electorates. If the common editorial omniscience in attacking all questions, earthly and heavenly, has not been gifted with the creative and evolving touch of genius, and if recent editorials have lacked some of the scholarly touches of earlier days, they have also been free from the incoherent hysterics which were, sometimes, the wonder of the early fifties, and they have had none of the approaches to Eatanswill personalities which marked, upon occasion, the sixties and seventies. The acuter and better reasoned criticisms of things, dramatic and literary, which now and then adorned the columns of the late fifties and sixties, have now no equal. Such essays are not now attempted. In their place have come benevolent or merely formal notices, and, for the most part, they are of monotonous pattern. There are also depressing copies of paragraphed American humor, and, by way of corruption of pure English, the regular use of the slang of police lockups and other places. The old order gives place to the new, and new readers and new writers have entered the arena of affairs. They are, or will be, for the most part Australian born, racy or rancid of the soil, and, no doubt, reciprocally interpretative. But, for the present, whether it be that editorial writers have grown mellower, wiser, or more careless, it is certain that Mr. Westgarth would not now find his old entertainment in local editorials; and though the quondam lecturer, now Sir Archibald Michie, Q.C., might still find in local press work proofs of his theory that press writers are generally gentlemen of defective education, the Swinburnian verdict on some other offenders, that their products are examples of the "blatant audacity of immedicable ignorance", will seldom be applicable to Ballarat journalists.

Since Prince Alfred, then captain of the Galatea, made his joyous entry on the 9th of December, 1867, and had three days of levees, feasts, dances, visits, processions, addresses, and what not, there came in July, 1881, the royal lads, Albert Victor and George of Wales, midshipmen under the care of Admiral Earl Clanwilliam, his Excellency the Marquis of Normanby being also of the party. The visitors were duly banqueted by Mayor Robert Lewis, of the city, and Mayor William Robertson, of the town, and saw the more notable sights. Besides these Royal and Vice-royal people, there have come peers and commoners, more or less illustrious, from the old world. To wit, Anthony Trollope, the novelist; Froude, the historian; Proctor, the astronomer; Gerald Massey, the poet; one of the American generals Sheridan; Forbes, Sala, and Phil. Robinson, the war correspondents; and Dr. Cameron Lees, with his Balmoral order of the Thistle, as a royal chaplain and a representative Scottish Presbyterian. Proctor, Massey, Sheridan, Forbes, Sala and Robinson all delivered lectures in Ballarat, on the several matters in which they had won fame. Of peers there were many. Lord and Lady Brassey, of the "Sunbeam", who came with their children in June last, being the latest of that order. The Duke of Manchester was one of the first. After him, in June, 188-5, came Lord Lymington, eldest son of the Earl of Portsmouth, and on the 30th March last the Earl and Countess Aberdeen and Lord Sandhurst, and with Lord Sandhurst came Sir Henry Wrenfordsly, ex-Chief Justice of West Australia and Fiji. On the 1st April last he was admitted to practise at the Victorian bar. These last two came as guests of Sir W.J. Clarke, on a visit to his Dowling Forest Estate, where they were all entertained by Mr. G.G. Morton, of Labona, and very complimentary things were exchanged between landlord, visitors, and tenants. For the latter, the spokesman was James M'Intosh, of Myrtle Grove Farm, who propounded as a cure for Irish disorder the giving of an estate in Tipperary to Sir W.J. Clarke, who should deal with tenants there as at Dowling Forest, and that the Government should deport all disloyal prelates, priests, and laymen to Siberia "to learn moderation and toleration." Whilst these happy interchanges were going on at Dowling Forest amid plentiful hospitalities, some leading Home Rule Irishmen were presenting an address of welcome to Lord and Lady Aberdeen at Craig's hotel, after the Earl and Countess had been to see the mine and works of the Band and Albion Consols Company. The address expressed gratitude for the manner in which the Earl and Countess had shown their interest in the welfare of Ireland during the Earl's Lord-Lieutenancy, and asked the Countess to accept a 4oz. nugget of Ballarat (Carngham alluvial) gold. One of the peculiarities of the presentation was that Father Rogers (who took a leading part in the welcome, and hoped for Home Rule for Ireland and a second term of office for the Earl), and W.M. Acheson, who read the address, as well as some others of the welcomers, came within the category of those of whom Michael Davitt said last year, according to a statement in the Pall Mall Gazette—"They are not Irish, they are only English and Scotch who are settled among us." But Davitt referred specially to Ulster Orangemen, and Father Rogers and some co-"settlers" were hardly of that clan at any rate. The Earl's reception was very cordial, and his responses to the honors paid to him and his Countess were at once manly and modest. It is rememberable that though this Scotch Earl, as one of Mr. Gladstone's subalterns, received these courtesies, the English Lord Lymington, whose papers in one of the London fortnightly reviews a year or two before on "The Portsmouth System" in Ireland, showed that the M'Intosh theory of cure had in part been successfully anticipated and applied there, came and went without any recognition by either Irishmen or Davitt "settlers". But then the Englishman had held no office, and was here but a private visitor. He was only a Wallop, whose ancestors before the Heptarchy, mayhap," drank potent waes haels [33] at Celtic Caergwent, killed and ate boars in the beech and oak forests about Upper and Nether Wallop, and took speckled trout from the little streams of the Hurstbournes, Tarrant and Priors, whose head waters run among the chalk slopes towards the Vale of White Horse on the one hand, while on the other the sister rivulet took its way down the fat vales, chalk-bounded, of north-eastern Hants. His, and his ancestors' home, was in old Wessex. An Englishman of the English he, with his tall, gaunt form, and his Saxon hair. As were Englishmen, too—pace [34] Michael Davitt—Wolesley, Wesley—Wellesley—Wellington, this last a very typical Englishman even, as was his great or greater namesake, John Wesley. As were, and are also, perchance, the Wasleys, who discovered the Al lead here in Ballarat, and the younger Australian born one who, the other day, son of a mining manager here, won the top and final honor in laws at the Melbourne University, coming off with his B.A. and his LL.B., and a scholarship of �75. How the links of race, geography, history, development, touch us as we go along, and how small the globe seems. Doubtless Davitt, from an aboriginal Irish point of view, was theoretically and racially right in marking the bar immigrant in the Irish escutcheons he pointed at. Here, too, at the antipodes we are brought face to face with the facts of difference and commixture. Here we mix more and more into one indivisible people; but the process began ages ago on the other side of the world. Those Wallops touched, territorially, on the west the Celtic and prehistoric Stonehenge and the Vale of White Horse. On the east they hunted towards the Strathfieldsaye won by Wellington from the grateful empire he had served or saved, and his domain hedged the vanished Romans' buried Silchester. The centuries with their changes have been weaving us all together—Celt, Roman, Dane, Saxon, Norman—have woven us in part together, and which is warp and which woof who will say? Surely it is better to respect the web thus woven and weaving than to rip it in pieces with our paltry Popkins questions of dividing peoples.

In the fragments of hours which the writer has spent amongst old newspaper files he has felt as if making a pilgrimage, after a long absence, through an old burial ground. "The years that are fled knock at the door and enter." The local dead have been continually before him, but speaking or acting in some of the many affairs of life. The vehemence of speech and intense interest and vitality of action over what, seen in the present distance, seem to be matters narrow and trivial, contrast strangely and instructively with the silence of the now departed actors and talkers. Names forgotten—names even of acquaintances and friends—are recorded on these yellowing and fragile sheets, and as they re-appear, one by one, they almost startle sometimes by the rush of many memories which they produce. To a newspaper writer it is similar, but more solemn, less merely curious, than the sudden meeting, in some strange journal printed, it may be, thousands of miles away, a paragraph from his own pen, and quoted from paper to paper till it has reached the far distance and comes back again upon him by some chance of affairs as an old but forgotten face, with features sometimes distorted by violent handling or worn by attrition of time and change. This is like a sudden note of music or odor of a flower recalling a past hour: the other is like the loud re echoing of thunder among the hills when the listener had thought the last far-off reverberation had for ever died away. The first sonorous burst which awed him by its grandeur seems then to be heard again, and the first emotions are re-awakened. Such is the power that lies in these dry records which the printer's art has preserved, and such the seeming remoteness of the yet near past in the swift evolutions of events in a young and growing and active colonial settlement.

The great spectacle presented to the eye of the visitor in these days is marked, to the inner eye of the old resident, with many deeply graved lines of toil and trouble. Many a man has fought on bravely, year after year, against rocks, drifts, floodings, poverty, and almost despair. Not quite despair, however, for else all had been lost. There was still hope that at last gold would be reached, and that hope and his own native courage and independence have made to the miner the dry crust, the drink from the often-watered tea-leaves, the narrow cheerless tent, general privations, and sometimes sickness, the experience of long periods. Such were some of the men, such the pluck that created this city. Many of them obtained industrial victory, but many more only had "the consciousness of battle, and the resolve to persevere therein while life or faculty is left." And many fell, as is the miner's too frequent lot, victims to foul air, treacherous earth-slips, water-bursts, personal recklessness, and mine-engendered diseases.

Any one of the diggers of 1851 or 1852 who looks now upon this city cannot fail to reflect on the contrast of the present and the past. To those who have remained here during all the intervening years the growth and transformation of the place have seemed less magical than to others, for they have been like those who witness the progress of their children from infancy to youth and manhood. The progress has been seen, but it has been only at special moments that the mind has grasped the fact that the child has disappeared and a man has taken the vacated place. There has come a day when the mind has, by some quick process of projection upon the past, brought it into line with the present, and then the little child looks out from the larger, soberer, countenance of the man. It is only for a moment, and then the younger vision disappears, save to the peering sight of memory that follows sadly, and clings lovingly to the fairer and fresher form that will not stay but retreats, with ever increasing velocity, as the new realities and duller cares of the present crowd in upon the mind. So with the old digger now as he walks about these spacious gas-lit streets, where he no longer needs the candle in the broken bottle as a lantern after dark, but where every thoroughfare is adorned with crowding edifices, and is glittering with the blaze of a more artificial life, and the results of accumulated wealth. As he looks, there come moments when all the scene dissolves into its original elements. Through all the rattle of street strife, over all the display of churches, towers, halls, and noisy warehouses, his eyes see something and his ears hear something invisible and inaudible to others. Over all the array of aggregated civic opulence and beauty, and its dark shadows of want and haggard strife for bread, there steal to him the silence of the beginning, a few white tents among the forest trees that are no more, the half-dozen columns of curling smoke from the camp fires, the round, oval, and square pits of the shallow-ground digger, the scanty patches of newly turned up golden soil. The fresh breeze, that came over the old silent odorous bush and its reaches of grass-land, breathes upon him again instead of the noisome exhalations from the gutters and sewers and by-ways of the thickly peopled town. In another moment that scene, too, glides past. He is in an absorbing series of mutations. The past moves along before him like a panorama in which every scene quickens the vision with the light of familiar sights and the warmth of pleasant memories. Streets of tents and shingle houses now stretch out in sinuous lines. They wind among hillocks of dirt and scant bush, upon the slopes and the flats and the hill-tops. Merry crowds of men work briskly at windlass and cradle and puddling-tub, and others ply the many trades and callings which the increased multitude have demanded with their gold, their fancies, and their necessities. Then night comes with its glittering camp fires, the crashing of felled trees, the discharges of multitudinous firearms, the song from tent and windlass the laughter of the lucky or the careless, the music from the dancing saloon, the oath of the profane, the ribaldry of the drunken, the solemn, or jubilant, but sacred hymn of those who in that way worship God. As he sits by the lessening light of his fire, with the pungent aroma of the grass-tree and the peppermint in the air about him, the gazer sees still other visions. In such moments, as our Australian Kendall has said—

He wearies at last and enters his tent. By the flickering light of the decaying embers of the open-air fire he fastens his canvas door, lies down upon his mattrass of gum-leaves, or grass, or straw, and is soon in dreamland. He awakes to find it was, indeed, but a passing vision of what once was where this wide-reaching city now spreads out its arms and rears its "tower-encircled head". All is changed, save the "everlasting hills" by day and the eternal procession of the stars by night, and all has come about by the enterprising industry evoked by the unconquerable love of gold.

The same power operates now as in the earlier days. The working miner, with his pinched, weary, wan visage, his little bundle of food, and his billy of tea, going along the paved streets at midnight, past stately houses of business and luxury, to his dreary dirty labor below ground, and the jovial cigar-smoking well-fed speculator at the Corner in the broad noon-time are aiming at similar ends, though both, by sore stress of changed conditions, are now forced to indulge in less brilliant expectations. Both men aim at that which every shaft, every engine, every pile of stones or waste of mullock and sludge, as well as every office and shop and field reveals—the desire of domestic comfort, the means of personal gratification, or the ability to give happiness to others. Amidst all the mutations of the outward and visible the inward and invisible impulse remains the same.

Everything indicates one resistless force and points to one humble pioneer.

It is not our purpose to enquire what might have been the future of this locality, or of the colony, had the quiet and comparative solitude of pastoral settlement not been broken in upon by the gold discovery with its sequent hordes of population, and all their busy and creative industry. To those who come after us we shall appear as pioneers. We, looking back to that which, in the swift evolution of events in this place, seems to us a distant past, think of the still earlier pioneers whom we followed hither. And as we look we connect what they did with the yet unrevealed future of the colony. The gold-digger's work must ever be a factor in the great sum of Australian history. It is not all, certainly, and its relative value must decline. But, across the many-threaded tissue of our young national life, the wealth, and enterprise, and influence of the gold-fields run in a bright broad band of gold; and, in the far-off future, the historical student, when he searches among the foundation-stones of empire here, will find the base of one of the strongest columns of national greatness inscribed with the names of the golden cities of Victoria, and, first of all, the name of the first and the richest—Ballarat.

In looking at these wide-spreading streets and thickly clustering dwellings, at these green and beautiful oases of flowers and trees, at the far-reaching, well-tilled fertile lands, that lend their ornamentation to the general landscape, the thoughtful spectator naturally asks what it all signifies. Truly it is the outcome of the plodding thought of Esmond as he walked among the sierras of California and remembered the home he had left in Victoria. This three-boroughed city means, reflectively, a reminiscence and a hope lighting up the mind of that quiet gold hunter, and, more remotely, of alcadi Hargreaves also, as he sat in judgment upon delinquent diggers, or peered with questioning eye through the Golden Gate of the Pacific, Australia ward, and saw as in a vision the golden glory of his late home rising like Aurora, radiant with light and beauty. It is but true that every field of yellow grain, every tree in our orchards that bends beneath its golden fruitage, every flower that waves its odorous beauty in our gardens, every line of grace and elegance in our stately piles of architecture, speaks of one pioneer. Every demonstration of our civilisation, from the tall temples of religion to the costly shrines of literature and art and the richly stored houses of commerce, from the glittering carriages and the rustling silks of the luxurious rich to the crowding hosts that fight the daily battle of life's hard labor for bread, all is but a homage to the enterprise of Esmond, of Clunes, and his immediate followers, the discoverers of this the first and the richest of the gold-fields, and the battle ground of the political freedom of Victoria.

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{Page 329}

APPENDIX A

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REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT FOR BALLARAT FROM THE FIRST ELECTION IN 1855 TO THE YEAR 1886.

1855	BALLARAT.
November 10.	Peter Lalor, John Basson Humffray, nominated to a seat in the old Legislative Council before the Constitution Act came into force.
BALLARAT WEST, included in north grenville under the constitution of 16th july.
1856	1855, one member
October 3.	Peter Lalor returned unopposed
BALLARAT WEST, proclaimed an electoral district in 1859, with two members to represent it in the legislative assembly.
1859	General Election.
August 26.	John Robinson Bailey	1502
	Robert Malachy Serjeant	1341
	Duncan Gillies	963
	William Frazer	878
1859
November 5.	J.R. Bailey returned unopposed, having accepted office as Postmaster-General in the Nicholson Ministry.
1860
November 12.	J.R. Bailey	1402
	D. Gillies	1138
	Mr. Bailey had changed the office of Postmaster-General for that of Commissioner of Trade and Customs, and was again elected.
1861	General Election.
August 2.	D. Gillies	1209
	Wm. Collard Smith	969
	John Phillips	790
1864
February 4.	Robert Lewis	1092
	Wm. M.K. Vale	952
	This was to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Mr. W.C. Smith, January 18, 1864.
1864	General Election.
November 3.	D. Gillies	1443
	W.M.K. Vale	1435
	Geo. G. Morton	929
1865
September 11.	W.M.K. Vale	1450
	James Service	1070
	Mr. Vale resigned his seat with a view of testing the feeling of the constituency on what was known as "The Constitutional Question", or "The Tack", and was re-elected.
1866	General Election.
January 29.	W.M.K. Vale	1443
	D. Gillies	1383
	T. Cooper	1316
1866
August 6.	W.M.K. Vale	1099
	Thos. Carpenter	558
	Mr. Vale, having accepted office in the M'Culloch Ministry as Commissioner of Roads, was re-elected.
1868	General Election.
February 20.	W.M.K. Vale	2251
	D. Gillies	2217
	H.B. Chalmers	2021
1868
May 7.	Chas. Edwin Jones	2663
	D. Gillies	2363
	Mr. Gillies accepted office as Minister of Lands and Survey in the Sladen Ministry, and was defeated on presenting himself for re-election.
1868
July 30.	C.E. Jones	2383
	W.M.K. Vale	2325
	Joseph Atwood Doane	1750
	Messrs. Jones and Vale had accepted office in the second M'Culloch Ministry, and were re-elected.
1869
March 27.	C.E. Jones	2442
	J.A. Doane	1082
	Mr. Jones resigned his seat and his office of Commissioner of Railways, and presented himself for re-election to test the feeling of the constituency on certain public charges which seriously affected his character as a member of Parliament. He was re-elected.
1869
May 10.	C.E. Jones	2605
	W.M.K. Vale	2046
	Mr. Jones had been expelled the House of Assembly for "corrupt practices". Mr. Vale resigned his office as Commissioner of Customs and his seat in the Assembly, to contest the election with Mr. Jones, "in the interests of political honesty", and was defeated.
1869
May 22.	John James	2368
	D. Gillies	2201
	James Eddy	97
	This was a contest for the seat vacated by Mr. Vale.
1870.
April 25.	Archibald Michie elected without opposition. Mr. James resigned to give Mr. Michie the chance of a seat in the Assembly, Mr. Michie having accepted office as Attorney-General in the third M'Culloch Ministry without having a seat in Parliament.
1871.
March 16.	W.C. Smith	2418
	Joseph Jones	2262
	C.E. Jones	2179
	J.W. Gray	2108
	H.B. Chalmers	395
1874.
April 22.	W.C. Smith	2526
	Joseph Jones	2064
	Henry Bell	1487
	R.M. Serjeant	1020
1875.	W.C. Smith was returned unopposed on his accepting office in the first Berry Ministry.
1875.
November 6.	G.R. Fincham	2678
	Joseph Jones	1703
	An Act to amend the Electoral Act 1865 was passed on the 2nd November, 1876, and gave a third member to Ballarat West.
1877.
May 11.	W.C. Smith	2431
	G.R. Fincham	2304
	Henry Bell	1979
	James Campbell	1864
1877.
June 1.	W.C. Smith was returned unopposed on taking office as Minister of Mines and Education in the second Berry Ministry.
1880.
February 28.	W.C. Smith	3014
	Henry Bell	2698
	G.R. Fincham	2685
	James Campbell	1801
	C.B. Finlayson	1649
1880.
July 14.	W.C. Smith	2644
	Henry Bell	2531
	G.R. Fincham	2518
	R.M. Serjeant	1460
1880.
August.	W.C. Smith was returned unopposed on taking office as Minister of Education in the third Berry Ministry.
1883.
February 22.	W.C. Smith	2770
	Henry Bell	2565
	G.R. Fincham	1743
	C.E. Jones	1742
	Charles Salter	1689
	R.T. Vale	1113
	W.T.C. Kelly	569
	This was C.E. Jones' first appearance as a candidate on his return from a purgatorial sojourn of several years in the United States. Fincham and he polled equally, and the returning officer gave the seat to Fincham.
1886.
March 5.	W.C. Smith	3154
	C.E. Jones	2478
	R.T. Vale	2066
	G.R. Fincham	1927
	Henry Bell	1814
	BALLARAT EAST,
1856.	included in north grant.
October 10.	J.B. Humffray (elected)	690
	Thos. Loader	255
	George Black	24
	BALLARAT EAST,
proclaimed an electoral district in 1859, with two members to represent it in the legislative assembly.
1859.	general election.
August 26.	John Cathie	1136
	J.B. Humffray	1112
	Richd. Belford	556
1860.
December 7.	J.B. Humffray returned unopposed.
	Mr. Humffray had accepted office as Minister of Mines in the Heales Ministry.
1861.	general election.
August 2.	J.B. Humffray	1245
	Jno. Cathie	851
	Andrew Semple	706
	J. Christian Lyon	20
1864.	general election.
November 3.	C.E. Jones	702
	Charles Dyte	521
	T. Corcoran	437
	J.B. Humffray	332
	A. Semple	242
	Samuel Deeble	107
1866.	general election.
January 29.	C.E. Jones	954
	C. Dyte	939
	T. Corcoran	670
1868.	general election.
February 29.	C. Dyte	1042
	J.B. Humffray	836
	C.E. Jones	826
	James Eddy	777
1871.
March 16.	John James	607
	Robert Walsh	582
	E. Steinfeld	551
	G.R. Fincham	482
	T. M'Dermott	352
	C. Dyte	348
	W.B. Rodier	338
	S. Deeble	147
1874.
April 22.	Townsend M'Dermott	1046
	John James	742
	E. Steinfeld	586
	J.B. Humffray	238
	C. Dyte	174
1877.
May 11.	D. Brophy	1328
	J. James	1325
	J. Russell	1019
	T. M'Dermott	505
	W.T.C. Kelly	221
1880.
February 28.	J. James	1795
	J. Russell	1756
	D. Brophy	1742
1880.
July 14.	D. Brophy	1817
	J. James	1644
	J. Russell	1631
1883.
	J. Russell	1981
	J. James	1826
	D. Brophy	1724
1886.
March 5.	J. Russell	2068
	E. Murphy	1728
	J. James	1694
	C. Dyte	134
	Mr. James had accepted office as Minister of Mines in the Gillies-Deakin Coalition Cabinet, but his manner of taking office, and the Coalition he joined, were both unpopular in Ballarat East, and hence his rejection.

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	LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
1882.	wellington province.
	James Campbell.
November 6.	Returned unopposed in place of the Hon. F. Ormond, assigned to the Wellington Province by Act 702.
1883.
April 10.	James Campbell.
	Returned unopposed on his acceptance of office as Postmaster-General in the Service-Berry Ministry.
1884.
	Henry Cuthbert	2535
	James Long	2126
	Mr. Cuthbert had retired by rotation when thus re-elected.
1886.
	Henry Cuthbert.
	Returned unopposed on acceptance of office as Minister of Justice in the Gillies-Deakin Ministry.
1886.
June 30.	David Ham	2832
	Thomas Drummond Wanliss	1958
	This election was caused by the retirement of the Hon. J. Campbell.
1886.
August 17.	Henry Gore	2512
	Thomas Drummond Wanliss	2511
	This election ensued on the Hon. G.F. Belcher's retirement by rotation. Mr. Wanliss petitioned against Mr. Gore's return.

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F.W. NIVEN AND CO., PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, BALLARAT.

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{Page 337}

APPENDIX B.

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In the last chapter of this book reference is made to a "boom" in the share market with regard to the Sulieman Pasha Co.'s stock. Since the printers worked off that chapter, and whilst the engravers have been busily putting finishing touches to the illustrations of the volume, a general revival in mining business has arisen, which promises much good for this city and district. Mr. Allan's map, which is, really, one of the most striking illustrations of the book, is also a very opportune pictorial record of the present physical aspect of mining here. It is the completest map of the Ballarat mines ever prepared. Close upon forty-five square miles of ground are there depicted, ground industrially famous in the annals of Australian mining; for it includes the first and richest of all great alluvial centres on this continent, and the site of the younger and now important quartz mines of the Ballarat and Buninyong divisions of the district. The map is, also, a proof of the complete revolution which has taken place in local mining. More than a hundred claims are shown by Mr. Allan, spread over the very centre and borders of the famous alluvial territory of the Ballarat basin and its contiguous valleys, but there is not a single alluvial claim in all this carefully measured and recorded series of mines. Thus completely has vanished the original form of Ballarat mining, and the one which roused the whole of these colonies from their antecedent dullness to a new life, and drew from all parts of the world the sturdy gold-hunters whose doings have in part been noted in the body of this book. The Ballarat basin, into which and out of which flowed the ancient auriferous gutters, is a hollow in the Great Divide, which stretches irregularly west by north across the colony from the greater Cordillera, which is the backbone of the continent, and reaches from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape Howe. The schistose rocks of the Divide are interlaced with lodes of gold-bearing quartz, and the alluvial gutters and reef-washes which the earlier diggers worked were parts of the d�bris of the denuded rocks that once towered high above the highest of existing levels on the ranges of to-day. Successive denudations and successive volcanic overflows during incalculable ages have respectively created and covered the various alluvial deposits during what geologists tell us were the pliocene and miocene periods; and the peculiarity of the Ballarat basin and its contiguous deposits is the fact that they occur where the forces of those geologic times broke down a portion of the western face of the ranges, and made a clean gap in the mountain spur. The volume of golden detritus was thus immense, and the deposits of the precious metal answerably large and rich. But all these auriferous deposits were the product of the quartz lodes which lay in the silurian rocks of the ranges, and thereby hangs the golden and industrial tale of to-day's quartz mining in this gold-field.

A glance at the map will discover a multiplicity of short red lines, black-edged, and all running in a similar direction, namely, from north to south. Those lines indicate the known quartz lodes, and the strike of them all is, roughly stated, from a little west of north to a little east of south. That is the feature of the main lodes, and their underlie is to the west, but spurs, shoots, droppers, and so forth, occur in all directions; those of them which are found on the east side of the lode-walls being invariably the richer in the precious metal, the bulk of the gold in many cases being obtained from relatively small masses of quartz. A width of country four or five miles broad is thus gridironed with lodes, the matrices of the gold which filled our gutters, spread nuggets and reef-washes over the sides of the ancient valleys, or still awaits the extracting arts of the modern quartz miner.

Very early after the gold discovery in 1851, there were rude and isolated essays in quartz mining, but it was not till the bulk of the alluvial deposits had been exhausted that anything like systematic quartz mining set in. The alluvial digger had now and then broken through gold-bearing quartz lodes whilst following or searching after the gutters, but the first attempts at quartz mining were made where the quartz outcropped in the ranges, and thus Dr. Otway and the Port Phillip Co. at the Black Hill, some others about the Little Bendigo and adjacent gullies, and Kaulbach on Old Post Office Hill, began to demonstrate the important fact that the cataclysms or the slower action of the geologic ages had not robbed the rocks of all their gold. The author well remembers seeing, some thirty years ago, Kaulbach's little party knocking out bright specimens of virgin gold in quartz as the men were opening their first shaft. They were only down about three feet then where now there is a great chasm formed by the subsidences of the mining of the after years. The recent brilliant finds along the deeper depths of the Indicator line were more valuable, but not purer or brighter than those all but surface specimens from Kaulbach's shaft. The deeper discoveries of the more modern workers have been in larger bulk, hundreds of ounces of virgin gold being found in bunches of quartz hinged together, as it were, by the pure, precious metal. There were discouraging theories set about by some of the geological savants at first, to the effect that most, if not all, the gold was in the upper portions of the lodes, that the rich alluvial gutters were an indication of that fact, and that it would not pay to go to the expense of seeking profitable results in deep quartz mining. But that theory is now pretty well exploded. The splendid discoveries made at Sandhurst at deeper levels than the deepest yet reached in Ballarat, as well as some finds at Stawell, have proved that the lodes do pay at great depths, and have raised the question whether or not still deeper levels will yield still richer results.

Ballarat, whose larger and richer alluvial deposits took a longer time to exhaust than those of other fields, is only a young beginner, so to speak, in quartz mining as a systematised industry, Clunes, Sandhurst, Stawell, were all earlier at work in that sense, but this centre is now a quartz centre, and it is steadily testing the issue—will deep quartz mining pay, or will it not pay? For some years quartz mines have been paying along the belt of lodes which traverse the eastern portion of Ballarat, and more recently the western belt beneath the plateau of West Ballarat and Sebastopol has been invested, and with gratifying success. This later success is the more notable, as deeper levels have been reached there than in the east, and the richest quartz has, in some instances, been found at the lowest depths. But this success on the western plateau is also an incentive to renewed enterprise in the east, or might have been, had there not occurred along the eastern belt of lodes successes enough to stimulate to fresh exertions and create a stronger faith in the value and permanency of the lodes there. The mining revival here is, doubtless, due to a variety of concurring causes, in which the reduction of the bank rates of interest on deposits may count for one, and may help to prolong the renewed output of mining energy; but the substantial discoveries along the strike of the Indicator, the better fortunes of the Sulieman Pasha in discovering good gold in the Pasha or Danish lode, and the excellent promise in the mines on the plateau, must be taken to be the more positive causes in operation. The rise of �36,000 in the aggregate value of the Sulieman Pasha stock in a space of 14 days in August has not, indeed, been sustained, but a substantial advance has been maintained, and in the same period some nine or ten stocks in Ballarat rose near �70,000 in aggregate value; whilst a host of other stocks in this and adjacent districts, but mostly held and managed here, have partaken in the general advance. It is always the case in the history of our mining revivals, that the rush of speculators to the share market prompts to a rush of promoters of new ventures, and the market soon gets flooded with new stocks, good, bad, and indifferent, till the supply exceeds the demand, and a lull ensues. This has already come in the current revival, and that it has come thus early is a matter of satisfaction, inasmuch as it will tend to arrest the launching of new claims, prevent the accumulation of merely bogus prospectuses, hold the fervor of speculation within safer limits, and so far save the district from a recurrence of those disastrous collapses which haves too often been the bane of mining revivals on the goldfields. In the meantime good is done. The revival itself is not without solid cause at the start, for the actual discovery of fresh gold, or the immediate prospect of it, gives the initial impulse; and though, as the movement gathers force, excesses may be committed, there is bound to be some solid residuum of profit in the development of mines already in existence, and in the opening of fresh ground to the pick of the miner.

The accompanying map of the Ballarat mines gives at a glance a view of a large field already in active work, and the work done is but as the mere scratching of the surface compared with what remains to be achieved. For although on the western belt of lodes the Band and Albion Consols Company has reached a level of 1400 feet below the surface, and the Star of the East Company a level of 1280 feet, both in paying ground, the bulk of the mines on the eastern belt of lodes have not reached a depth of 500 feet, and this in spite of the greater nearness of that belt to the centre of the auriferous formation, and of the sources of the grand alluvial gutters of the early days of mining in Ballarat. True, as to levels, the difference between the eastern and western mines is not so great in relation to sea level as appears in the figures stated, since a large number of the eastern mines have their surface below that of the western ones; but after making allowance for that, the fact remains that the eastern mines generally have only reached shallower depths, and have, in all probability, as have also the western ones, golden resources whose profitable exploration will be the work of many generations of miners. No fewer than between 30 and 40 lodes strike through the two belts—as many as that have already been discovered—and the diamond drill has proved gold in Ballarat East at more than double the depth yet reached in any mine on that belt of lodes. The more famous, because most proved, of the eastern lodes are the Indicator 1 and 2, Majestic, Scandinavian, Western Slates, Rothschild, Danish, Ribbon Slates, Sulieman Pasha, Pug, Fire Brigade, Oregon, Yorkshire, Old Post Office, Llanberris, Promised Land, Temperance, Monte Christo. The Temperance, at Little Bendigo, is said to be probably the most true and perfect lode in Victoria, as to its solid regularity and continuity of strike and underlie, barring, of course, the occurrence of crosscourses. But even they only shift the site of the lode; they do not change its quality of permanence and regularity. Looking, then, at the fact that the relatively deep mines of the western plateau are proving good gold-bearing lodes, that the older and shallower mines on the eastern belt are now paying better as they go deeper, and that the diamond drill has brought gold from depths below the deepest yet reached by the miner with his pick on either belt of lodes, it is clear that good warrant exists for a revival of enterprise that shall be not a mere spurt of transient market speculation, but a steady, and lasting, and increasingly profitable development of local resources.

This is how the author regards the present revival, in spite of its share in the customary alloy of febrile speculation, and its occasional symptoms of bogus enterprise. And there is this great consolation to local observers of the movement, that the revival is mainly one of purely local application. In past times Ballarat adventure has too often spent its capital like rain upon distant places, and met with no adequate return, and often with only disastrous loss; but now we have a revival at our own doors, open to local criticism and, best thing of all, inspired by local successes. Happily, too, this has come about whilst there remains most of the well-proven band of enterprising capitalists and mining experts, to whose spirit of adventure and plucky disdain of large risks this and other mining centres owe so much of their successful development. This current revival will see prospecting work done here where all, or the great bulk, of the fertilising capital is found for the enterprise. The wage-fund will be distributed at our own doors, will employ our own people, give customers to our own tradesmen, create a multiplicity of wholesome demands, and, let us be permitted to hope, furnish resultant demonstration of practically inexhaustible resources in auriferous lodes on both sides of the Yarrowee.

We will now make some brief reference to the several lines of claims shown on the map before us, individualising their history and prospects, and mentioning the more prominent of the promoters of the various mining operations extant to-day. Comparing what follows here with the text of the mining chapter in this book, one or two seeming discrepancies in dates may be noticed, but they are in reality consistent with each other for the most part, as referring to different stages of organic development. Looking along the eastern belt of lodes, where local quartz mining had its beginning, we see the Llanberris claim. It is on the southern edge of the alluvial basin, whose opening through the gap in the Divide stretches from Golden Point to the Black Hill, and we make it our starting point, because the Llanberris Company is the oldest living quartz company on the whole line. As we have said. Dr. Otway, the Port Phillip Company, and others were the first essayists in quartz mining on the Ballarat East lodes, and it was Mr. Thompson, an officer of the Port Phillip Company, who first, in a report to his directors, propounded the, at that time, incredible theory that the alluvial leads would flow from the eastern basin out westward beneath the basaltic plateau of Ballarat and Sebastopol. But all those earlier ventures died out, and the Llanberris Company, formed in 1857, is now the oldest existing organisation. Thomas Jones, of Llanberis, in old Wales, had worked the alluvial where the quartz claim is now, and he and others had noticed that the gutter encountered a thick high wall of quartz there, so when the alluvial was worked out the quartz claim was taken up. The New Enterprise Company took up the ground next south, and won 4000oz. of gold the first year, or �16,000 worth—not 16,000oz. as is inadvertently stated in the chapter on mining. That company then failed, the Messrs. Learmonth taking the claim and erecting a battery and other plant. They failed, and sold to the Llanberris Company, who removed their working staff to the Enterprise shaft. Jones, whose native place, plus an extra r inserted by some official blunderer, gave the name to the claim, had six shares for furnishing an engine and other plant. Messrs. Rowlands and Lewis long held shares in the mine, and the management was famous for its economy. The winnings were not brilliant for years, and yet on averages of from 1dwt. to 4dwt. per ton paid expenses, cleared off debts, and even paid occasional dividends. But lately the company has shared in the richer stone of that comparatively modern discovery, the Indicator, and has been able to pay regular monthly dividends. The company's capital is �24,000, in 2000 shares. Mr. Theophilus Williams is the manager, Mr. W. Gale is chairman, and his co-directors are Messrs. T. Humphrys, H. Jones, T. Osborne, J. Hicks, O. Thomas, and the Hon. D. Ham, M.L.C. The new impetus born of the revival has touched this company also, and larger operations have been decided on, involving a partition of the claim with a view to its being more thoroughly explored. These partitions, as West Llanberris and Llanberris No. 1, but, yesterday, inchoate formations, are now duly organised, and will, no doubt, be soon in active operation.

The Indicator is a black pyritous vertical line in the slate rock, striking, like the other lodes, north and south, thin as the edge of a knife at times, at others thickening to some inches; sometimes lost by crosscourse throws east or west, as all the lodes are, but always rich in itself in gold or indicating golden riches in the contiguous quartz, and always keeping, as do the lodes as a whole, the north and south strike. Other lines rich in pyrites and of similar features indicative of the presence of gold, exist both in the eastern and western belt of lodes, but the one specially known as The Indicator passes through the eastern half of the Llanberris mine, and thence north and south through the spur of the Divide to as yet unknown distances. It has been traced in many claims on either hand, is specially rich in nuggety virgin gold, and to its denudation in the vanished portions of the rocks is attributed much of the richness of the alluvial gutters of the basin.

The Last Chance Company, manager Mr. J. M'Whae, chairman L.L. Meanowski, co-directors Hon. H. Gore, M.L.C., E. Morey, Hon. D. Ham, M.L.C., and W. Irwin, was organised on the 2nd May, 1882, capital 20,000 shares of 10s., as the successor of the older Endeavor Company, whose venture was in the hands of Messrs. Balhausen and G�ller. They sold to a band of tributors, and with them the existing company was formed.

The Britannia United Company, manager Mr. J.M. Bickett, capital �12,000, in 24,000 shares, was organised on the 7th March, 1887, and is the old Britannia and Major combined. The directors are Messrs. W.H. Batten (chairman), J. Wittkowski, C M. Watson, R. Thurling, and L.L. Roberts. The company is adding to its plant, and is preparing to sink deeper and generally to enter upon a completer style of operations.

The Victoria United is the nucleus of a newly-formed mining combination of ventures, all the interests in which belong to a company in whose projection Miss Alice Cornwell had a leading part. This lady's name has been mentioned in the body of this book, and reference will be made further on to her enterprise in connection with this and other mining undertakings in and around Ballarat.

The Sulieman and Indicator Company, capital �10,000, in 20,000 shares, is a new organisation for working the Black Hill United mine. The manager is Mr. G. Ruffle, and the directors are Messrs. Alex. Gilpin, W.H. Batten, J. Hardy, J. Mager, and P. M'Whae.

The Queen's Jubilee Company, capital �20,000, in �1 shares, manager Mr. E.H.L. Swifte, directors the Hon. Colonel Smith, M.L.A. (chairman), and Messrs. Alex. Gilpin, E. Morey, T. Stoddart, Hon. J. Williamson, M.L.C., C. Seal, and D. M'Phail, was organised on the 1st November, 1886. This company has the deepest shaft yet sunk on the belt. It is down 782 feet now, and the company proposes to carry it down to a depth of 1250 feet, pent-houses and other proper safety arrangements being in use, so as to allow of shaft sinking below the 782 feet level, whilst stoping operations are in progress in the levels above. The company's resolve to sink so deep is due in part to the revelations made by the diamond drill in adjacent ground, the No. 1 bore having proved likely rock at 1000 feet, and the No. 2 bore having cut gold-bearing quartz at over 1500 feet.

The Black Hill Company is the prolific parent of a large family of claims, for that company's original territory and its subsequent accretions have at various dates been parcelled out in divers new ventures. The Sulieman and Indicator, born Black Hill United, is one; Queen's Jubilee another. North and South Sulieman, Nos. 2 and 3 Queen others. All these are not the offspring of the present revival, but most of them share in its advantages, and owe to it a fresh accession of energy, if not of solid capital. The Black Hill Company, after some preliminary operations, decided to register in 1862, with a capital of �37,200, in �15 shares, and on the 21st January, 1881, the present No Liability Company was completed, with a capital of �44,640, in 14,880 shares of �3 each, of which �1 was paid-up. The manager is Mr. J.F. Smith, and the directors are Messrs. C. Seal (chairman), J. Hardy, E.A. and A. Wynne, and D. Cameron. This company did most of the work in rending the Black Hill in two, and in tunnelling its deeper levels, and its large works and its fine battery of 60 heads made it for years the model as well as show quartz mine of this centre. Some statistics in connection with the company will be found in the chapter on local mining development.

The claims mentioned so far all lie on the strike of the Indicator, and the same line is presumed to exist in the Garden Gully claim on the furthest north of the map, or, if not in it, then the brood of new ventures mapped immediately west may have it, though all that is conjecture at present. Turning back southward and westward through the brood of new things, still callow, but promising to be soon well feathered, we come to

The Sulieman Pasha Company's claim, within whose ground, on the bank of the alluvial lead there, was discovered the famous Welcome Nugget tabled in the mining chapter of this book. That enormous mass of gold, and the rich gutter and reef-washes which were found there, were all so many proofs of the auriferous value of the denuded quartz lodes that once existed in the neighbourhood, and the company's success has shown that the lodes remaining are worth working. The Sulieman Pasha and the Danish are the main lodes of the claim, and the recent "boom" in the company's stock was caused by the striking of stone at a low level in the Danish lode that produced from two to three ounces of gold to the ton. This discovery was doubly encouraging, inasmuch as it was at a deeper level than usual in the company's workings, and as it showed that besides the Indicator there existed a valuable line of lode whose future working would in all likelihood be a permanently profitable industry. The result, so far, has been a great change in the status of the company. In the opening week of this year the company's stock was in 12,000 shares, and was offered at 6s. 3d. per share, without business, but by the middle of August, after the latest of several new hauls of gold, the company's stock, doubled to 24,000 shares, sold as high as 60s. per share, or 120s. per original 12,000th share. This highest rate of 60s. per share has not been sustained, for the phenomenal output of 707oz. for the week at the time of the highest "boom" has not been maintained, and at the time of this writing the stock is sold at 45s., or over 80s. for the share existing at the opening of the year. Still, the altered position of the company is remarkable, even looking at the weekly output of smaller sums since then, namely, 285oz., 306oz., 324oz., as contrasted with the fortnightly yields of from 37oz. to 83�oz. during the early part of the year. It is not that the mining revival is to be attributed to the revolution in this company's prospects, for the causes of the revival are manifold, and there is always a something in the air, so to speak, in revival times, by means of which speculators are drawn from the four winds of heaven, and the force of the movement is accelerated. The fact is that the Sulieman Pasha Company's success is but one of many similar successes; but it is certain that its good fortune has had a special effect for good upon the whole of the Ballarat East mine prospects, coupled, as it has been, with the heavy nuggetings along the Indicator strike in the Llanberris, Prince Regent, and North Woah Hawp mines. The Sulieman Pasha Company has a good plant, and a new shaft on the edge of Main street, near Humffray street, is being sunk with good speed, and will enable the company to carry on mine operations very effectively. The company's stock is in 24,000 shares of �1 each, and the first dividend this year (1s.) has lately been declared. The first incorporation was on the 3rd January, 1878, with 4000 shares of �1. That capital was in a year or two increased to �12,000, and this year the further increase was made as already stated. The manager is Mr. J. Curthoys, and the directors are Messrs. Isaac Jonas (chairman), E. Murphy, M.L.A., J. Hardy, and J. and M. Wasley. It should be recorded in this company's honor that it repaid a �500 loan from the Government prospecting vote some few years ago. The loan was an instance of aid fruitfully applied, and repayment was a phenomenon of corporate honesty.

A perfect cloud of Suliemans and other ventures has been created within the last few weeks, stretching away north of the Black Hill and away south of the parent company, but we have not space here to refer to them in detail. The map shows their chances in relation to the crack lodes, and the men who are directing the undertakings are generally men at once of means and expert knowledge. A promising discovery in the North Sulieman, one of the Black Hill Company's offshoots, occurs at the time of this writing, to illustrate the probabilities of ultimate success, less or more. So we take, also, as a sample of promoting names in these newer claims, and of public mining confidence, the board of the South Sulieman Company, of which Mr. J. M'Whae is the manager, and the directors Messrs. Isaac Jonas, Alex. Gilpin, J. Murray, M. Butterly, and E.J. Carroll.

Reverting to the leading mines south of the Llanberris claim, we have before us the Speedwell on the slope of the range between the sources of the Red Hill and Canadian alluvial leads. The ground was taken up for quartz a quarter century ago, and a good deal of gold has been obtained thence at intervals. Not long since the mine fell into the hands of the late Henry Costin, and at his death it was sold to a company—syndicate is the modern phrase—in which Miss Alice Cornwell is a shareholder. The original claim has been added to by the purchase of adjoining ground, and as the new proprietary will have means to work the mine properly, and as the Indicator line is included in the ground, there is good reason to anticipate for the new adventurers a liberal share of the success to which their enterprise will entitle them.

The southern boundary of the Speedwell mine brings us to the Sovereign Hill, so named from a company that 15 or 20 years ago was subsidised by local subscription for the purpose of sinking a shaft 1000 feet to test the value of our lodes at that depth. At that time the experiment was regarded as an almost wonderful effort, and it certainly was a plucky conception, not to say sagacious withal, for miners here had not then learnt the profitableness of our lodes at even greater depths than that. Financial and other difficulties arrested the Sovereign shaft works after a few hundred feet of sinking had been done, and the project was abandoned, as were a host of other ventures about the same date along the White Horse and Canadian ranges. Meanwhile less ambitious enterprise attacked the lines of lodes in the ranges thereabouts, whence the Canadian, with its "Jewellers Shops", and the Prince Regent and Sailors' Gully leads on the east, and the Nightingale, Milkmaids, Malakoff, Redan, White Horse, Frenchman's, and Cobblers leads on the west, had given to the alluvial miners of the fifties and the sixties such splendid harvests of gold. From 20 years since till now quartz mining has been going on there, both small co-operative parties and public incorporated companies engaging in the work, and fortunes have been made by the luckier of the adventurers. Some of the largest hauls of gold have been made by co-operative parties, whose winnings have never been disclosed to the public, and it is now known that a very large share of those successes have been along the southern strike of the Indicator line.

Pearse's Lease is the name of a bundle of areas on the northern side of the Canadian Gully, and several parties are working on the leasehold, Pearse, the lessor, having a battery there for his own and their service. As a rule, the results of operations there are not publicly disclosed, but it is pretty well-known that both the lessor and his sub-tenants have done fairly well.

The North Woah Hawp claim adjoins Pearse's Lease on the south, the map showing us that the rich Canadian gutter ran between the two areas. This claim, no doubt, owes its dividend-paying power to the gold on the Indicator line, which traverses the ground. The company's stock is in 22,000 shares of 5s. Mr. J. M'Whae is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. J.H. Williams (chairman), W. Irwin, R.T. Blackwell, T. Bailey, H.G. Williams, J. Johnson, and J. Bellinden.

The Prince Regent Company is one of the lucky ones, for, like the North Woah Hawp, it has come upon some brilliant specimens of rich stone lately on the strike of the Indicator.

Hundreds of ounces of bright gold in small portions of dazzling white stone have been exhibited at the Corner by those two companies lately. The Prince Regent stock is in 20,000 shares of 10s. each, the manager is Mr. C. Barker, and the directors are Messrs. T. Lyons (chairman), J.M. Davie, J. Lawrie, R. Don, and Jas. Curtis.

The southern extension line stretches out with a host of claims, but with only two or three that have any great hold yet on public notice. Midway between the Prince Regent and the Desoza and Buninyong Estate is the Rothschild. A mine near there earlier had that historic name, but did not justify its title. With the favoring gales of the revival, more advancement towards fortune may be made by the new one. Mr. A.J.E. Morey is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. R.M. Serjeant (chairman), B.J. Fink, E. Morey, P. Matthews, and J.F. Levien. Capital �24,000, in 24,000 shares.

The Desoza is now less famous than it was a few years ago, when its principal proprietor, after whom the mine and one of the lodes in it are named, signalised some rare golden results by taking a trip to Europe, bearing with him a large circlet made of gold from the mine, and destined to be a grateful votive offering to a venerated friend in the old world. There were preliminary rites of picturesque celebration at the mine, where Desoza's generosity and philanthropy worked other marvels of some note at the time. Unhappily the Desoza lode did not preserve its fame for richness, and the mine has been for a time in shadow.

The Buninyong Estate Company has the Desoza lode, as well as others, including one called the Estate, and some excellent results have been obtained there, although the returns for some time past have not been satisfactory. Deeper levels are, however, being reached and worked, and it is not unreasonable to hope that before long the mine will be again very profitably worked. Rich alluvial deposits were found in the vicinity, and the lodes which fed them have their remainders there, as have in Ballarat those which made the leads of this held so celebrated all the world over. The Estate stock is in 20,000 �1 shares. Mr. J.A. Chalk is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. P. Hedrick (chairman), A. M'Donald, D. M'Phail, D. Brophy, and J. Whelan.

Away in the north-east corner of Mr. Allan's picture are the Temperance and Monte Christo claims. We have mentioned some qualities in the Temperance lode, and may add here that the brave old company which worked it for so many years were only deterred by the want of adequate capital from pursuing the work below the deeper water levels. Now, however, fresh adventure there is mooted, and the name of E. Morey on areas on either side is a significant hint that capital is not far off, and will, in all probability, be soon brought to bear in the renewal of larger operations upon one of the most perfect lodes in the colony. The Monte Christo lodes have in times past yielded well, and the present operations are a resumption of work by men who know the ground as a spot of fair promise.

It is time now to look at the western belt of lodes. That belt traverses an auriferous alluvial tract hardly less notable than that in the eastern basin. The history of the Koh-i-noor, Band and Albion Consols, Prince of Wales, and other companies supplies proof of the alluvial wealth of the past, and the lodes which strike through the territory have since become prolific sources of profit to a few companies. That the same field is likely to be equally profitable to other companies cannot be reasonably doubted, and that this is the general belief is shown in the large number of new ventures already organised on the plateau extending southward from Lake Wendouree. The immense amount of gold taken out of the alluvial washes of the plateau supplies the same argument as to the lodes there as was deducible from the relation of the lodes of the eastern belt to the richness of the alluvial gutters on that side, and the validity of the logic has been demonstrated by actual results on both sides. We are now, in fact, seeing a mining revival which is the direct product of the proof of the argument that the remainders of the lodes which fed the gutters and reef-washes will pay for working. As has been said, the lodes of the plateau have been worked here and there for many years past, but it was not till the continuing success of the Band and Albion Consols Company at low levels and, more notably still, the discoveries made by the Star of the East Company had struck the general attention of the public that the actual possibilities of quartz raining on the western belt of lodes were practically realised. The Band and Albion lode and the Guiding Star or Star of the East lode are but two of the western belt, but they are the richer so far as discovery has yet gone, and they are eastward—that is, on the source side of the main body of the alluvial deposits of the plateau—so that the inference is natural that the great richness of those deposits was mainly due to the lodes in question. Nearly six millions sterling worth of gold was obtained from the alluvial fed in part by the detritus from the lodes in question, and now the actual explorations of those lodes hundreds of feet beneath the site of the alluvial bear out the assumption that the continuations of the original matrices of the gold are also rich in the precious metal. The successes of the two leading companies already mentioned have made the drainage of the plateau a more pressing public question, and have led to the taking up the whole available country along the belt. British capital is being sought as a help to development, but, as Mr. William Luplau, in his pamphlet, "The Sebastopol Plateau", reminds us, we have ourselves given evidence of our faith in the legitimacy of the field by organisations actually extant to the tune of a million of capital sterling. Certainly, nowhere else should there be greater faith in the future of local quartz mining than here, where the prodigious alluvial products of the lodes have been raised, and hence the local undertakings to explore the remainders of the lodes themselves.

Mr. Luplau gives the following table in his pamphlet, but it includes only the larger portion of the ventures actually existing:—

Companies.	Capital.	No. of Shares.
	�
Northern Star	48,000	24,000
New Koh-i-Noor	24,000	24,000
Hand and Albion Consols (uncalled capital)	11,225	22,450
Star of the East	34,000	24,000
South Star	12,000	24,000
North Plateau	24,000	24,000
Central Plateau	25,000	25,000
Sebastopol Plateau	24,000	24,000
South Plateau	24,000	24,000
Prince of Wales and Bonshaw	48,000	24,000

It is not necessary that we should deal with these tabled mines in detail, and the two leading ones have been mentioned already in our chapter on mining. The present Band and Albion Consols directors are Messrs. D. Brophy (chairman), J.H. Williams, W.H. Sewell, W. Canning, and J. Whelan. The Star of the East manager is Mr. E.W. Spain, and the office is in Melbourne. The directors are Messrs. G.J. Carroll (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, R.T. Vale, J. Spence, and J.H. Miller.

The New Koh-i-Noor manager is Mr. J.H. Dill, and the directors are Messrs. J. Embling (chairman), C. Seal, E. Morey, Alex. Gilpin, J. Hicks, G.J. Carroll, and A. Wynne. This is a quartz company, whose mine includes a large portion of the ground held by the alluvial company whose name is revived in the present company, and whose successes are noted in the mining chapter. The new company holds a very large area, and it is traversed by several lodes, but no large successes have yet been achieved.

Some dead and some small live ventures are pictured on the map between the Koh-i-Noor and Band and Albion claims, whilst to the west and north are new projects yet to be tested. The Band and Barton mine is one of the smaller areas from which good gold has been taken, and whose resources are not yet fully opened up. Mr. J.A. Chalk is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. M. Butterly (chairman), R. Tolhurst, W.E. Watts, D. Brophy, F. Hamilton, W. Murrell, G.G. Morton, and M. Griffiths, the stock being in 24,667 �1 shares. Mr. Barton, the mine manager, who has given his name to the mine as well as much shrewd practical energy, laid before the public some little time ago a scheme for raising gigantic sums for prospecting and drainage purposes, but his financial proposals have not received general support, and so have fallen fruitless for the present. Of the other companies, one, the Don Company, has its site adjacent to the wonderfully rich reef-washes worked by the dead Sir William Don Alluvial Company, whose heavy gold was, no doubt, the product of the denuded lodes whose remainders exist in the yet untested depths below. Gay's Freehold Company has a capital of �24,000, in 24,000 shares.

The manager is Mr. E.W. Spain, and the directors are Messrs. G.J. Carroll (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, R.T. Vale, A. Ramsay, and D. Thompson. Mr. Spain is also the manager of the Carroll Company, whose capital is �52,000, in 26,000 shares. The directors are Messrs. G.J. Carroll (chairman), J.B. Dean, Alex. Gilpin, R.T. Vale, and W. Hicks. The North Plateau Company is managed by Mr. C. Wilson, and the directors are Messrs. R. Tolhurst (chairman), the Hon. H. Gore, M.L.C., W. Murrell, W. Luplau, Alex. Gilpin, H. Parkin, and G.J. Carroll. The South Plateau Company's manager is Mr. J.P. Roberts, and the directors are Messrs. Alex. Gilpin (chairman), T. Stoddart, W. Luplau, G. King, and W. Irwin. The Northern Star Company's manager is Mr. C. Barker, and the directors are Messrs. Alex. Gilpin (chairman), E. Morey, the Hon. D. Ham, M.L.C., G.J. Carroll, and J. Robb. The South Star Company's manager is Mr. E.W. Stephens, and the directors are Messrs. R.T. Vale (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, G.J. Carroll, J. Mager, and T. Stoddart. The Sebastopol Star Company has a capital of �6000, in 24,000 shares. Mr. J.P. Roberts is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. J. Wall (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, L.S. Blair, W. Irwin, and W. Murrell. The Don Company is in the managerial care of Mr. C. Barker, and the capital and the directory are the same as in the Southern Star Company. The capital of companies mentioned in Mr. Luplau's table is not repeated here.

The Sir Henry Loch Company, next north from the Band and Albion Consols, has a capital of �24,000, in 24,000 shares, is just getting its first gold, and has fair promise of success. Mr. W.M. Acheson is the manager, and the directors are Messrs. J. Coghlan (chairman), Alex. M'Vitty, J.J. G�ller, J. Donaghy, and W.G. Williams.

The Sebastopol Plateau manager is Mr. J.A. Chalk, and the directors are Messrs. W.H. Barnard (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, R. Wrigley, W. Luplau, D. Fern, J. Curtis, and E. Jeffrey.

The Central Plateau manager is Mr. W.M. Acheson, and the directors are Messrs. E.O. Witherden (chairman), Alex. Gilpin, T. Stoddart, J. Cotter, and H. Goddard.

The Prince of Wales and Bonshaw Company has an enormous territory, comprising the areas once held by the alluvial companies of those names, and one or more of the champion lodes of the plateau strike through the claim, besides several others yet to be proved. The manager is Mr. J.A. Chalk, and the directors are Messrs. W. Bailey (chairman), E. Morey, O.E. Edwards, M. Griffiths, and P. Matthews.

The Owen's and Band of Hope Freehold and Leasehold manager is Mr. E.W. Spain, and the directors are Messrs. G.J. Carroll, Alex. Gilpin, R.T. Vale, J.B. Dean, and J. Jenkins.

The Leviathan Syndicate is in Mr. J.A. Chalk's managerial hands, and the territory, as the map indicates, is the largest of the whole series of mines mapped. The ground includes the once famous alluvial mines held by the Leviathan, Great Gulf, and other companies, which won large amounts of gold. As yet the new venture is waiting registration, and it is probable that its vast possibilities, both for alluvial and quartz exploration of a profitable character, will be undertaken by a mixed English and Australian proprietary. The provisional directors are Messrs. the Hon. H. Gore, M.L.C., Hon. D. Ham, M.L.C., T. Dibdin, Alex. Gilpin, S. Solomon, and P. O'Connor.

The wide field and large promise existing here for the exercise of either home or foreign capital are tolerably evident facts to anyone who takes the trouble to study the history of local mining development during the last 30 years, and to compare its outcome with the actual prospects of to-day and the indefinite future. The great amount of gold taken out of the gutters and reef-washes has not exhausted the resources of the field even in alluvial deposits, although it is next to certain that the best portions of them have been discovered and lifted. But it is generally admitted by practical miners here that in the Sebastopol plateau there still exist reaches of alluvial wash, in high and dry levels as well as in lower levels, that will pay for lifting, and this has always been one urgent ground on which the more perfect drainage of the area has been demanded. The alluvial remains, however, are now to be regarded as only accessory to the more important quartz resources now just opening up on the plateau, though it is held by some experienced miners that the abandoned Winter's Freehold ground will pay handsomely in its yet unexplored alluvial reaches, if once a shaft were sunk in a situation where the wash could be brought to grass with reasonable economy. It has always been the belief of experts that one cause of the Winter's Freehold failure was the enormous distance which the wash had to be conveyed from the faces to the shaft, and hence the conclusion as to the probability that a shaft sunk further out would give success instead of failure. If, however, this project needed additional incentive, it may be found in the fact that, as Mr. Allan's map indicates, prodigious masses of quartz exist within the area. One line of reef discovered in the course of the alluvial workings is marked on the map as having a thickness of 60 feet, and it is not likely that that is the only lode existing there. Stretching across, then, from that present western outpost of quartz discovery to the eastern lodes working in the Monte Christo mines, we have, in this mapped area alone, four or five miles of country literally striped with quartz lodes and innumerable interlacing veins, and traversed by alluvial gutters whose realised wealth is a part of the world's history. The great facts of the ascertained past warrant the recognition of the probabilities of the future, which point to the promise of golden wealth in the lodes remaining equal to, or greater than, all that which existed in the gutters and gutter banks where the alluvial miners of the last three decades discovered such vast deposits of the precious metal. This fact is so important that we may be pardoned for reiteration in the matter. And we may also be permitted to point to the reasonable further conclusion that, rich as were those alluvial deposits, it is fair to assume that our miners had not before them all the detritus of the abraded and vanished portions of the ancient matrices. Some, we know not how much, of the gold has, unquestionably, been swept away in the hurly burly of the elements during the periods of denudation. But in the remaining lodes, still, as before, the only known prolific matrices of gold, we possess all the gold that remains in them, possess it, that is, potentially, if we have capital enough and energy enough for its discovery.

And this consideration brings us to consider the debt which the district owes to the spirit of enterprise shown by the more or less wealthy promoters of mining development. It is not our business here to discuss the motives, or the methods, or the mysteries of mining promotion, but simply to point to the fact that the district owes much of its prosperity to the pluck, the calculating intelligence, and the large risks of capital by a comparatively small number of men, men who, for the most part, have risen from the ranks of practical mining industry. There is a sense, of course, in which every shareholder is a promoter of mining enterprise, but it is the relatively few who take the initiative in large speculations, and are the more conspicuous as the founders of new adventures, the prosecution of which means the opening up of large new fields of mining. The directors of companies, and not a few of the legal and mining managers, are generally men of note as sagacious projectors or wise counsellors, and a host of such names is given in these pages; but nothing less than a list of the members of the Stock Exchange, and of the shareholders in the several companies on the Exchange list, would be at all exhaustive of the tale of men who have given or are giving valuable assistance in the local development of our auriferous resources. Still, there are always certain names which occur to every local resident when mining undertakings, and especially new ventures of magnitude, are discussed. The Baileys, the Barnards, the Brophys, the Carrolls, the Cornwells, the Emblings, the Edwardses, the Forshaws, the Gores, the Gilpins, the Hams, the Hardys, the Joneses, the Loughlins, the Leishmans, the Moreys, the Magers, the Millards, the Randalls, the Robbs, the Stoddarts, the Seals, the Smiths, the Vales, the Witherdens, the Williamsons, the Wynnes, are as household words in regard to mining adventure, but they are only samples after all, picked for their special prominence, samples of a larger bulk of energetic enterprise. The interest such leading men hold, and the risks run by them in the conduct of the various undertakings for the opening up of new mines, or the carrying on of mines already in operation, are very large. A striking example of this, and of what one plucky man can do, is before the author now in a communication he has received in the course of the preparation of these pages. This correspondent says, in reference to the current stir in mining:—

I may say of my own knowledge that when Mr. A. Gilpin bought into the Sulieman Pasha and owned, I believe, more than a fourth of the company, mining public attention was practically directed to not only this mine, but many others in the east. I also consider that the system he advocated—coming here with a practical and successful Sandhurst reefing experience—has helped largely to the present mining revival in Ballarat, as it was, to a very great extent, his capital and experience that helped the Star of the East Company to surmount its difficulties, and on the success of that mine many others were floated, with every prospect of achieving the same success. I think most of the practical mining men here will bear me out in these remarks. I do not know how many companies he is interested in, but I should think in at least 30 or 40, and that he is one of the largest shareholders in Ballarat.

Without adopting this correspondent's views absolutely, the author is bound to say that in the main the above quotation is correct. The promoters of mining make it largely or entirely their business, and to natural shrewdness add long, varied, and expert acquaintance with the practice and theory of mining. They thus possess a special value as advisers, and as they are generally ready to back their own opinions with their own money, their lead is followed, as a rule, by the general body of speculators. Their influence and guidance are always in request for directoral boards, and thus it comes about, as these pages show, that the same names occur over and over again in the list of managing boards.

We have taken a look at the quartz belts on both sides of the Yarrowee, and have given some details of the ventures there, but the same adventurers who have helped to produce the success which has led to the revival of mining in Ballarat proper, have not confined their attention to local mines. In the adjoining districts of Maryborough and Ararat there are mines whose starting and working were either entirely or very largely of Ballarat origin. Many of them have their seat of management here, and others, like them, are largely held by Ballarat investors. The Chalks, the Kong Mengs, the Napiers, the Dukes, the Shaws are names of as many series of mines in Majorca, Carisbrook, Maryborough, and other places in that direction, from some of which gold and dividends are being drawn, and for the working of others large monthly sums in calls go out from this centre. Those stocks, whether good or bad time alone can determine, enter largely into the daily business of the Ballarat Stock Exchange, and make liberal drafts upon local capital. The Beaufort mines on the Ballarat side of the Ararat district are of less importance at present, and only one or two are now in the hands of Ballarat directors and managers.

The alluvial fields of the Ballarat district are now mainly restricted to the Creswick division, and one of the accompanying sensations of the revival has been the discovery of large nuggets in the Midas mine on the western side of the Divide. As has been indicated in the body of this book, the prosecution of mining on that side has been largely due to the energy and enterprise of Miss Cornwell, whose father, Mr. George Corn well, was chairman of the original Dowling Forest Estate Company in the Midas locality. To that lady is also due in part the creation of syndicates for mining the Speedwell and other grounds in Ballarat East, the Speedwell mine yielding from 80oz. to 100oz. per fortnight to the new owners. The Midas mine, however, is the chief source alike of fame and profit to the Cornwell promoters and their allies. Geological prophecies and bore indications tell of a large area of probably profitable alluvium in the Sulky Gully and Dowling Forest country, and a large number of shafts and bores are at work there, but up to date the Midas is the only mine that is a demonstrated success. The directors, in their report to the July meeting of the company, say "the Midas mine has renewed the exciting era of nuggets," but they little knew that in a week or two thereafter a nugget was to be unearthed that would fairly arouse the public attention of the colony as in the glorious days of the big lumps of gold tabled in Chapter VII. of this work. When Lord and Lady Brassey were here, they visited the mine on the 10th June, and on the 11th a nugget weighing 167oz. was discovered on the gutter banks, and it was named the "Lady Brassey", in honor of that lady. In July smaller lumps weighing 39oz., 32oz., and 28oz., besides many still smaller ones, were discovered, and on the 23rd August the largest nugget found since the year 1869 was brought to light. This was a lump of pure gold weighing 617oz., and it was found at a spot about 50 feet distant from the place where the "Lady Brassey" was discovered. When it was brought into Ballarat next day by Manager Robert Bryant and his men, and exhibited in Stoddart and Binnie's window at the Corner, the excitement was a moving reminder of the "good old days". Hundreds of sight-seers flocked to the Corner, and thus the ordinary hundreds of stock dealers were swollen for the time by the rush of as many hundreds more. Next day the nugget was sent to Melbourne, was exhibited at Government House, and there it was named the "Lady Loch", in honor of His Excellency's wife. Miss Cornwell had sailed some days before for London on a financial mission there, and it is understood at the "Lady Loch" nugget will be forwarded intact to London to serve as an illustration of the value of the mining grounds of the Ballarat goldfield. The Midas claim is an area of close on 1000 acres; the company has never made a call, has won over 7300oz. of gold, and has two shafts and two well-appointed steam plants, on which �9670 has been spent up to date.

It will be easily imagined that the splendid fortunes of the Midas Company have given heart to the swarm of ventures around, as the Dowling Forest No. 1, Midas Consols, Midas Extended, Midas East, Midas North, Midas South, Midas King, Midas No. 1, Midas Revival, Midas Mount Cavern, and Madame Midas, and if but half of the mines turn out to be profitable, a great new alluvial field will be added to the wealth of the district and of the colony. On the Creswick side of the Divide the mines of Kingston and Smeaton and their vicinities occupy a high place in public estimation, and at the time of this writing the market is enlivened by the news of heavy gold from the famous Madame Berry mine's No. 2 shaft, where the first washings have just taken place.

It is hardly necessary to state that all the mines shown on Mr. Allan's map are not actually now producing gold. Some are only in the initial stage of operations, and, whether on old ground or new, their future is all unknown. In a sense, as much may be said, of course, of all mines, even gold-producing ones, so great is the uncertainty of mining. But, after all, that is only a relative term. Actual discoveries, and the probabilities based on the known, do make future successes in many cases reasonably certain, although their actual measure is not ascertainable before hand. Of the mines on the eastern belt of lodes, the Monte Christo, Temperance, most of the Black Hill series, Sulieman Pasha, Britannia United, Last Chance, Llanberris, Speedwell, North Woah Hawp, Woah Hawp Canton, Woah Hawp Hong Kong, Prince Regent, Pearse's, and several unnamed co-operative ventures have reached gold. Of the public companies on that belt, the Sulieman Pasha, Llanberris, and North Woah Hawp are paying dividends, and others are approaching, through what miners call dead work, to that happy condition. Large dividends have been secured by co-operative parties, but they do not disclose actual results. On the western belt of lodes, the Band and Albion Consols, Star of the East, Band and Barton, Koh-i-noor, Serjeant's, Band of Hope, and Sir Henry Loch have been or are producing mines, and the first two are large producers and pay dividends. All of them, indeed, save the Loch, have paid dividends, and all may fairly be expected to do so again. All mines have their barren stages of dead work, as well after as before reaching gold, and the more or less near future will probably see at least a score of dividend-paying mines added to the present list of fortunate ventures.

The current mining revival is not local merely. There is a "boom" over the whole colony, and in all kinds of stock, the aggregate appreciation in which has been estimated by a writer in the Melbourne Argus at some ten millions sterling, including stocks in the silver mines of South Australia. As has been remarked, this greater interest in mining matters is largely due to the reduction of bank interest on deposits from six to four per cent. for yearly, and to three and two per cent. for half-yearly and quarterly terms, thus throwing heavy sums upon the stock and share market for investment. Imported capital, in the shape of public loans and private investments, has also swelled the amount of available money, and its relative cheapness gives new vigor to all kinds of share market business. There are over a hundred members in the Ballarat Stock Exchange, and the press of business there lately has given them two sittings daily of over an hour's duration each for the most part, whereas in times of duller enterprise half that time has served for the transaction of business. Some surprise was caused a few days ago by an announcement in a Melbourne paper that Mr. Thomas Stoddart, of the Ballarat Exchange, had paid �800 for a seat in the Melbourne Exchange, but enquiry proved that the statement was true, and that the purchase was probably a highly beneficial one for the purchaser. Mr. Stoddart's theory is, that the Melbourne Exchange is to be the great exchange of the Australian colonies, and that it may some day, not far off, rival the San Francisco Exchange, where he saw a seat sold for 40,000 dollars. He paid �600 to Mr. Melhado for the Melbourne seat, and �200 as an entrance fee, but since then the Melbourne Exchange has decided to limit its roll to 100 members, and to charge �1000 each for the 25 new seats to make up the hundred, the capital thus accumulating to be used in the erection of a new exchange building worthy of the times and the metropolis. This is mentioned as an illustration of the magnitude of the sharebroking and share-dealing interests, and because they are indications of the large amount of attention and capital devoted to the exploration of our gold mines. The Ballarat Exchange bears a prominent part in the general sum of mining business, and though, as we write, the local "boom" is not so high in its swing as it was a week or two ago, the impetus given by it to local enterprise is bound to be productive of good, in the greater life imparted to an industry with whose fortunes the prosperity of this city and district must, for generations to come, be intimately connected.

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[GLOSSARY:

Translations of Foreign Language Quotations and Phrases.]

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Numerous words and phrases which were foreign at the time of writing have since become part of English. These include "vice versa", "quasi", "regime", "venue". Others are well known, such as "de facto", "vide". None of these are included below.

[1] Just as the rose is the blossom of blossoms, so you are the home of homes. [Latin]

[2] Just as gold is the most valuable of metals, so you are the prince of gold camps and the wealthiest of cities. [Latin]

[3] tokens; dice [Latin]

[4] by word of mouth [Latin]

[5] mode of war [Latin]

[6] from the beginning [Latin]

[7] low concerns of simpletons ("dufferorum" an invention.) [Latin]

[8] main reason [Latin]

[9] superior force [French]

[10] (then) the rule [French]

[11] Those whom God wishes to destroy He drives mad [From "Eureka Stockade", Note [58] [Latin]

[12] point of support [French]

[13] May he [they] rest in peace [Latin]

[14]

France's Consul

To French People Living

IN THE COLONY OF VICTORIA.

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In the midst of the disturbances which are stirring the Ballaraat Mines, the Consul of France believes he must recommend his compatriots abstain from every demonstration which would have as its purpose the repudiation of the authority of the Queen's representatives in the Colony of Victoria.

They are obliged not to forget that they are in a country (which is) a friend of France, and that the first duty of a foreigner is to respect the authority of the country giving him hospitality.

If French people have complaints or grievances to forward to the Colonial Government, they can send them in complete confidence to France's Consul, who will know how to deliver them justice.

Produced in the French Consulate, 3 December 1854.

Count of Moreton de Chabrillon.   

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BY AUTHORITY JOHN FERRES[?] GOVERNMENT PRINTER MELBOURNE [French]

[15] There is a man bold without prudence [Italian]

[16] Hercules without a foot [Latin]

[17] let justice be done, even if the world perishes [Latin]

[18] I have lost hope [Part of "Eureka Stockade", Note [150]] [Latin]

[19] an inference not following logically from the premise [Latin]

[20] Arcadians everyone [Latin]

[21] Hinder from the beginning;
I will increase the delays by a long time, the cure strewn with professional practice. [Latin]

[22] "How long, Catilina, will you abuse our patience?" [The original from Cicero, parodied in "Eureka Stockade", Note [62]] [Latin]

[23] to the utmost [French]

[24] with force and weapons [Latin]

[25] mode of working [Latin]

[26] division [French]

[27] having influence [Latin]

[28] you term suitably [Latin]

[29] alternate [Latin]

[30] One always returns to his first loves [French]

[31] nothing (achieved) without work [Latin]

[32] wonderful to tell [Latin]

[33] drinks toasting [From the Anglo-Saxon toast W�s �u h�l, "be thou hale" (in good health)]

[34] apologies to [Latin]

[END]

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