lips, evidently sought to stifle the effect produced by the sentence." T h e prisoners sent a message of grateful thanks to their Counsel, and were conveyed back to the gaol, the escort finding some difficulty in passing through the immense crowd congregated about. POSTSCRIPT.
Post-mortem would, perhaps, be a more appropriate heading for this note, for several notable and estimable old colonists have passed away in the brief interval elapsing since the commencement of the writing of the " C H R O N I C L E S O F E A R L Y M E L B O U R N E . " I was about thinking of making a start when Sir R e d m o n d Barry was carried off amidst universal regret. H e was the most remarkable personage in the annals of Port Phillip, for he threw in his lot yvith the destiny of the Province yvhen it was a weak, struggling settlement in 1839, and identified himself yvith every stage of its wonderful progression until he left it a bright and brilliant colony in 1880. H a d he lived I a m sure he yvould have enjoyed many of the queer old facts exhumed in the course of m y several narratives; and, if requisite, I should have confidently appealed to him as a testimony of their general accuracy, for no m a n amongst us would be more capable of expressing an opinion on such a subject. M r . W . F. A. Rucker has also m a d e his exit from the worldly stage, and to him I was m u c h indebted for the inspection of several old tracings and neyvspapers othenvise unattainable. H e yvas the second merchant or wholesale dealer in Melbourne, Batman being the first; and it was Mr. Rucker w h o started thefirstbanking agency here. H e was one of " T h e Tyvelve Apostles," a curious Mutual Assistance Co-partnery, of which I hope on an early day to furnish a full, true, and particular account. Next is the H o n . James Henty, one of the historic brothers w h o pioneered Portland ever so long ago. T h e n there is M r . John Murchieson, w h o died recently at K e w , an old resident of rare integrity and enterprise, who, amongst other feats, accomplished that of driving thefirsttandem overland from Sydney, when there yvas not only no railroad, but no road at all between the two capitals. Mr. Robert Hoddle (thefirstSurveyor-General, though not thefirstin charge), w h o came to Melbourne before it yvas even a township, with Governor Bourke, in 1837, has also gone under, after a long-lived and prosperous career ; and so has Mr. William Highett, thefirstmanager of the Union Bank, leaving hundreds of thousands of pounds behind him. Mr. T h o m a s Napier, thefirsttimber importer, has likewise passed to his account, and tyvo or three others of the very old identities are said to be in a precarious condition. Mr. Michael Croker has also departed this life, at Blackwood, in his 79th year. His obituary notice, announced that " he was deeply regretted by a large circle of friends." A n d I a m not surprised at it, for a more generous and kind-hearted m a n never existed amongst us. Arriving in Melbourne in 1839, he yvas in business in the town and city until after the gold discoveries, in 1851-2, when he betook himself to the diggings, and continued there since, having for m a n y years resided at Blackwood. There was hardly a m a n in the old times better liked ; and no one ever in vain asked the aid of Michael Croker in any movement for a good purpose. H e was one of the original members of the St. Patrick Society, and amongst the most prominent in the early national celebrations by yvhich the days of yore yvere distinguished. H e was an old and true friend of mine; and it is with sincere sorrow I publicly place a bunch of cypress on his freshly-covered grave. THE MURDER OF MR. CODD—19TH JULY, 1842.
There was no time, perhaps, in the colony yvhen the aborigines were more truculent and bloodthirsty than in the year embracing the last half of 1839 and thefirstof 1840. Outrages of a serious character were of almost daily occurrence in the interior, and there were impediments of a formidable nature to avert the retribution of the law. In April, 1840, a gentlemen n a m e d C o d d was murdered by the chief of one of the Western tribes, and the event caused a profound sensation, the deceased being held in general esteem. T h e coolness and daring of the deed brought apprehension to the scattered station-holders in the bush. Without inquiring whether the blacks or the whites were the original aggressors, any person fairly conversant with the early history of Port Phillip must admit that unprovoked atrocities were committed on both sides, for which terrible revenges were exacted. T h e instances in which offenders were brought to the bar of
