The indicating ensigns were thus distinguished :— FLAGS.
Red—England. R e d and White divided horizontally— 2. London. White and red ditto—Liverpool. 3Red and blue ditto—Scotland East. 45- Blue and red ditto—Scotland West. 6. Blue—Ireland. 7- White—Europe (Continent). 8. White and Blue, divided horizontally — America, North. Blue and white ditto — America, 9South. White and blue, divided vertically — 10. Africa. n. White and red—Asia. I.
PENDANTS. i. 2.
3456. 78. 9-
Red and yellow—Sydney. White and yellow—Hobart T o w n . White, red, and yellow— Launceston. Yellow, blue, and white—South Australia. Blue, yellowy and red — N e w Zealand. B l u e — S w a n River, King George's Sound, or any port of Australia. Blue and yellow—Port of Australia Felix, West. Red and yellow chequered—ditto East. Blue, yellow, and black—Whaling, or South Sea Islands.
M a n y a cherished recollection of times past is associated in the minds of the few surviving old colonists of 1888, with this Flagstaff Hill, as it was the pleasantest outside place in Melbourne for a Sunday or week-day evening stroll. T h e reported incoming of an English ship would draw crowds there, and they stared with anxious, wistful gaze as the ship beat up the harbour, yearning for the h o m e letters, of which she might be the bearer, of good or evil news, the harbinger. In the June of 1847, quite an unprecedented occurrence took place, for on one day no less than five English vessels arrived. People could scarcely believe it possible, and the next day the newspapers crowed themselves hoarse, and in grandiloquent notes of interrogation, vauntingly demanded if ever such a thing had been known in the Australian colonies, and prognosticating almost incredible consequences for Port Phillip in future. In five or six years after (1852-53), through a totally uncounted agency, Port Phillip waters were rushed by the mercantile marine of the civilized globe, and Hobson's Bay was frequently anchoring ground for hundreds of vessels of every country and flag.
THE PIONEER STEAMERS.
The beginning of December, 1840, witnessed an arrival, the most remarkable of the notabilia of our early shipping annals, for on the 5th, the steamer " Clonmel," 250 horse power, and 500 tons, made her appearance in Hobson's Bay. She was sent from England for the Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston trade, and her coming was hailed as a significant indication of the importance which the Australian colonies were assuming in the commercial mind of the Mother-country. T h e most exalted notions were entertained as to what the " Clonmel" would do for Port Phillip—notions doomed to be shattered in the wreck of the steamer, which occurred on her second trip from Sydney. She left Sydney on the 1st, and made the passage here in seventy-two hours. T h e day after her arrival (Sunday the 6th) was scorchingly hot, and crowds from Melbourne had a broiling tramp of it through the burning sands to Sandridge to view the interesting stranger. T h e " Clonmel" left for Launceston on the 7th, returning on the 14th, and steamed back to Sydney on the 16th, but she did not enter Port Phillip waters again. T h e fares by her to Sydney were thus notified :—Ladies, ,£12 12s.; gentlemen, ,£12 12s. ; on deck, £6. O n the 9th January, 1841, the "Augustus" barque, 160 tons register, arrived, being the first three-master berthed there. The second river steamer was the "Governor Arthur," a small craft, which was laid on between Melbourne and Williamstown, making two trips each day (except Sunday).
