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58 the paper back to J. H. W. telling him he might want such a piece for some necessary occasion, which would be the full worth of such a notice, not forgetting to tell him of the change in his story of the morning from the one at night, taunting him with his two-face dealing. “ The land having been selected close to Mr. Langland’s foundry, for the garden, and also to put in a few acres of wheat; on Tuesday the first plough was put into the earth, and on the 8th of September five acres of wheat were sown, partly on and around Mr. Langland’s foun dry, and a garden commenced between that and the hill known as Batman’s Hill, upon which hill our people first pitched their tent on the 30th of August, 1835, and which was not removed until J. P. Fawkner came over in October 1835, when he fixed to dwell nearer the fall, and put up his house exactly at the rear of the Custom House. “ The ploughing was performed by horse labor, and the ploughman was G eorge Wise, one of the sons of Mr. Bichard Wise of Norfolk plains, who was engaged to J. P. Fawkner for one year’s service, as general farm servant at £25 a year. “ It had been agreed that each person of the six associates should have a plot of land, on which to build and make a garden, and grow corn on, and that if it was found that the Government would not allow the whites to buy and hold land, under title obtained from the abori gines, it was thought no reasonable British Government would refuse to the first bona fide settlers a plot of land on which they might grow food for themselves and dependants. This expectation, as the reader will find, was one very wide of the mark when Sir Bichard Bourke took possession of our discovery, made at the risk of life, and at a cost of money few people are aware of. “The small lots agreed upon were measured off simply ten acres for each of the six. Contrast this with the Squatting fraternity, pushed over under the auspices of Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, in which his nephew, if not himself, had one share, and many of his officers also shared amongst them the fine fertile fields of Australia Felix. The writer cannot but own that he loves that name or title far more, than the common hackneyed one of “ Victoria.” The lands having been roughly measured off, lots were drawn, and on the lands which fell to J. P. Fawkner’s share, the ground was ploughed and sown with wheat and a garden dug, plants put in, seeds sown and the fruit trees planted
