History of Melbourne - Foundation of Town

Foundation of Town

On 6 June 1835 Batman, as part of a Tasmanian business syndicate known as the Port Phillip Association signed a treaty with eight Wurundjeri elders, in which he purported to buy 600,000 acres (2,400 km2) of land around Melbourne and another 100,000 acres (400 km2) around Geelong, on Corio Bay to the south-west. On 8 June he wrote in his journal: "So the boat went up the large river... and... I am glad to state about six miles up found the River all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village." The last sentence later became famous as the "founding charter" of Melbourne.

Batman returned to Launceston in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) and began plans to mount a large expedition to establish a settlement on the Yarra. But John Pascoe Fawkner, by now a businessman in Launceston, had the same idea. Fawkner bought a ship, the schooner Enterprize, which sailed on 4 August, with a party of intending settlers. When Batman's party reached the Yarra on 2 September, they were dismayed and angry to find Fawkner's people already in possession.

The two groups decided that there was plenty of land for everybody, and when Fawkner arrived on 16 October with another party of settlers, they agreed to parcel out land and not dispute who was there first. Both Batman and Fawkner settled in the new town.

Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines was annulled by the New South Wales government (which at the time governed all of eastern mainland Australia) on 26 August 1835 (and the annulment confirmed by the Colonial Office on 10 October 1835), but provided for compensation to the Association. Although this meant the settlers were now trespassing on Crown land, the government reluctantly accepted the settlers' fait accompli and allowed the town to remain.

In September 1836, Governor Bourke established the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, though the borders had still not been determined, with the settlement as its administrative centre. (Bourke was authorized by London to establish a settlement in April 1836) Bourke also appointed Captain William Lonsdale as police magistrate, chief agent of the government and commandant of the district. Captain William Hobson (later Governor of New Zealand) was instructed to accompany Lonsdale, his family and public officers to Port Phillip. The presence of a warship together with the Governor's agent indicated the Governor's intention to re-take control of the situation in Port Phillip. Lonsdale arrived at Port Phillip with his wife Martha, 7-month old daughter Alice and his one assigned servant, on board HMS Rattlesnake, commanded by Hobson. They anchored at the south end of the Bay on 27 September 1836, where Hobson despatched a cutter for survey work, and by 29th had proceeded north and anchored off Point Gellibrand, Hobsons Bay, near the mouth of the Yarra River. Lonsdale landed unofficially, distributing the official proclamation of the establishment of the new settlement, and did the same the next day. On 1 October 1836 Lonsdale was formally rowed up the Yarra River and was met by John Batman and Dr Thompson and other assembled settlers.

Bourke also commissioned Robert Hoddle to make the first plan for the town, completed on 25 March 1837, which came to be known as the Hoddle Grid. The surveys were intended to prepare for land sales by public auction. Bourke visited Port Phillip in March 1837, confirmed Lonsdale's choice of a site for the new town and named it Melbourne, after the then British prime minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire. Before being officially named, the town had several interim names — including Batmania, Bearbrass, Bareport, Bareheep, Barehurp and Bareberp (in June 1835). The General Post Office opened under that name on 13 April 1837. Public auctions for land began in June 1837. The compensation of the Port Phillip Association were only recognised to the extent of £7,000, allowed as a reduction on the purchase price of land bought by the association. Most of the members sold their entitlements to Charles Swanston.

George Gipps became Governor of New South Wales in 1838. In October 1839, he appointed Charles La Trobe as Superintendent of the district. He was a gifted man with artistic and scientific interests who did much to lay the foundations of Melbourne as a real city. La Trobe's most lasting contribution to the city was to reserve large areas as public parks: today these are the Treasury Gardens, the Carlton Gardens, the Flagstaff Gardens, Royal Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

A Separation Association had been formed in 1840 wanting Port Phillip District to become a separate colony, and the first petition for the separation was drafted by Henry Fyshe Gisborne and presented by him to Governor Gipps. The entire population of Port Philip in 1841 was 11,738.

On 12 August 1842, Melbourne was incorporated as a "town" by Act 6 Victoria No. 7 of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales. On 25 June 1847, the City of Melbourne was declared by letters patent of Queen Victoria.

In December 1842 Frederick Dalgety arrived in Melbourne and would soon be a merchant concentrating on 'the settlers' trade', providing merchandise for the squatters and buying their produce which he would ship to England. Richard Goldsbrough, a woolstapler, came to Melbourne in 1847. He bought a weatherboard building on the corner of Williams Street and Flinders Lane, and set up a business as a classer and packer of wool for sale in England. In 1850 he set up the first regular wool auction in Bourke St, Melbourne.

In 1843 there was a panic which was attributed to an influx of British capital being used for land speculations, with the money being deposited in banks at interest, lent to squatters, and it's sudden withdrawal for the purpose of remitting to London in payment for immigration and other demands. The panc was also caused by low wool prices and the cessation of transportation.