herbage. The Eastern Hill was a gum and wattle tree forest, and the Western Hill was so clothed with sheoaks as to give it the appearance of a primeval park where timber-cutting and tree-thinning were unknown—whilst away northward, as far as the eye could see, was a country umbrageous and undulating, garbed in a vesture of soft green grass, of a height that if a person rode through it it would reach above the saddle-girths. Elizabeth Street, the outlet between the two hills, was a jungly chasm — an irregular broken-up ravine, through which the winter flood-waters thundered along over shattered tree-trunks, displaced rocks, roots, and ruts—whilst trending away north-westward spread out a large expanse of marsh of deep black soil, and without a solitary tree, its centre a deep lacune where swans, geese, ducks, quail, and other wild-fowl swarmed "thick as leaves in Vallambrosa." The country southward of the river was an immense wilderness, where, in the language of the historian Westgarth, "The kangaroo skipping about in undisputed happiness would emerge in troops upon the flats from the dense woods. The branches of the old gum-trees were filled with black and white cockatoos, and innumerable parroquets, whose gaudy plumage sparkled in the bright sunshine, while their incessant chattering imparted life to a scene otherwise hushed in the presence of man, and the total absence hitherto of his noisy, but enlivening commerce." From Fawkner's description, which is evidently overtinted, the place assumed quite an Elysian aspect. "His party," he writes, "reached with great joy the 'basin' at Melbourne, and were delighted, in fact, half wild with exultation, at the beauty of the country. The velvet dike grass carpet, decked with flowers of the most lively hues, most liberally spread over the land, the fresh water, the fine lowlands and lovely knolls around the lagoons, on the flat or swamps, the flocks, almost innumerable, of teal, ducks, geese, swans, and minor fowls, filled them with joy."
Batman, as has been already observed, went away to Launceston; but Fawkner kept his ground firmly, notwithstanding strong hints given by some of the "Batmanites," who looked upon the territory as theirs by right of purchase. It was agreed amongst the "Fawknerites" that each should select a few acres of land for a house and garden, but this does not seem to have been acted upon. However, a first selection was made near the Western end of Flinders Street, where a plough was set to work, and five acres of wheat sown in six days, thefirstcrop from which yielded one hundred bushels. Never was there a better beginning in a new country than this early manifestation of industrial enterprise. Shortly after Fawkner's arrival he moved nearer to the river, and what he was pleased to designate "a residence" was thrown up near the corner of William and Little Flinders Streets. Batman returned some time after and established himself on Batman's Hill, and the "Fawknerites," under an apprehension that he might have some legal claim, migrated from north to the south side of the river where about eighty acres of land were enclosed and cultivated. For some time a tribal feud raged between the rival "Septs," but it never passed beyond the stage of wordy warfare, and soon died out. To his dying hour, however, Fawkner never thought kindly of Batman, and hardly ever had a good word for his memory.
It was evident that once a commencement was made the earliest inhabitants could not long keep all their good luck to themselves. The news borne by the returned schooners to Launceston soon spread its wings, and new faces lost no time in putting in an appearance. In fact, almost simultaneous with the arrival of Fawkner, Mr. John Aitken dashed into the bay with a sheep-laden vessel, landed his stock, and settled in that fine country, not far from town, since known as Mount Aitken. Others followed, and towards the close of the year, "the settlement," as it came to be called, was in this position:— About sixty acres of land were under cultivation, and some good wheat grown. The habitations consisted of two weatherboard huts with brick chimneys, and some dozen sod erections or hovels; the population numbered about fifty souls; the live-stock, one hundred head of cattle, fourteen hundred sheep, six horses, some poultry and dogs, a few rabbits, and last, though not least, Fawkner's cat. It will be seen from this enumeration that master "bunny" may be classified as amongst the very oldest of colonists, and there was no need to acclimatise the destructive pest years after. The total shipping entered numbered eight, viz., one barque, two brigs, four schooners, and one cutter. Three squatting stations, viz., Connolly's, Solomon's, and Swanston's, were formed at a distance of ten miles, and for twenty miles into the interior the country had been explored with a result that told favourably as to its fertility and fitness for stock depasturing.
