and for the services so given he obtained a further grant of two thousand acres of land. He did not long survive his coming to Port Phillip, and, after a lengthy illness, died at Batman's Hill, on the 6th May, 1839; and at 11 a.m., of the 8th, was buried in the then very new, but now almost forgotten, old cemetery. He had a family of one son and seven daughters, but the former, whilst a mere boy, was accidentally drowned in the Yarra some years after. It is a strange coincidence, that, on Batman's first meeting with the native chiefs (Jaga Jaga), they were astonished at his seeming to them to be an exact counterpart of a brother who had died very recently, the resemblance corresponding in every peculiarity except colour—even to the loss of a front tooth; and thence, until Batman's death, the younger of the brothers evinced the deepest affection for him. John Pascoe Fawkner was a Londoner, and born 20th August, 1792. AVhen only eleven years old, he, with his mother and sister, was permitted to accompany his father, a convict in the Collins Expedition. The abortive penal settlement at Sorrento has been already referred to, and after the transfer of the party to Van Diemen's Land, young Fawkner struck out for himself, and lived for some years at Hobartown. He worked in a saw-pit (of which he often spoke in after years), took a hand at many things, and, gifted with some of the attributes which win success, won it accordingly. Once he got into trouble as an accessory in the attempted escape of some convicts from the island, but he never so sinned a second time. With an education of a very restricted kind, he was a voracious reader—devouring, but not digesting. He was glib of tongue, choleric, and disputatious; and it is, therefore, not much wonder to hear of his having practised as an advocate in the old Police Court at Launceston, especially at a time when practitioners were scarce, and readiness and bounce answered just as well as law. Though, as a rule, very abstemious, he seems to have had a special penchant for public-houses, and accordingly became the landlord of the Cornwall Hotel at Launceston; and was actually the father of the Northern Press of Van Diemen's Land, for, in 1829, he established the Launceston Advertiser. As a journalist, it is said of him that he never soiled his hands with secret service money or bribes, at a time and under conditions when such perquisites were not unknown, and that in his own fashion he took a sincere interest in the welfare of the community in which he lived. As to his career in Port Phillip, he will frequently turn up in other parts of this work, and I shall now simply add that he died in Melbourne on the 4th September, 1869, an honourable member of the Legislative Council, and so much esteemed that over 200 carriages were present at his funeral, and 15,000 persons lined the streets on his burial day.
And such were the two "Johns" — the earliest fathers of our commonwealth, whose names will be inseparably entwined in its past and future history. It is remarkable that neither of them left issue in the male line, and so far they have become lineally extinct.
There has been much disputation as to whom should be accorded the honour of the "white foundation of the colony," and, after much consideration of the question, I have arrived at the following conclusion, which, to my mind, appears irresistible:—
That the Grimes' party were the first European arrivals at the site of the future capital,
That William Dutton was the first resident at Portland,
That Batman was the first prospector of Melbourne and Geelong, and
That [not Fawkner, but] Fawkner's party—five men, a woman, and the woman's cat—were the bond-fide founders of the present great metropolis.
HISTORICAL CURIOSITIES.
As many incorrect versions of the "Title Deeds" by which the country was conveyed to Batman by the aboriginal chiefs have been printed, it seemed to me not undesirable to append the following copy, as revised from the Originals in the Public Library, the Trustees of that institution having purchased them a few years ago, on the suggestion of Sir W. H. Mitchell, the President of the Legislative Council:—
Know all persons that we, three brothers, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, Jagajaga, being the three principal chiefs, and also Cooloolock, Bungane, Yanyan, Moowhip, and Monmarmalar, being the chiefs of a certain native tribe called Doutta-galla, situate at and near Port Phillip, called by us, the above-mentioned chiefs, Iramoo and Geelong, being possessed of the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, for and in consideration of twenty pair of blankets, thirty knives, twelve tomahawks ten looking-glasses, twelve pair of scissors, fifty handkerchiefs, twelve red shirts, four flannel jackets, four suits of clothes and fifty pounds of flour, delivered to us by John Batman, residing in Van Diemen's Land, Esquire, but at present sojourning with us
