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 subsequently adopted into the tribe. He was presented with two "lubras," or wives, and, acting in what he, no doubt, considered the most philosophical manner under the peculiar circumstances, he completely forgot the world of civilization, and, sinking to the low level of his savage companions, he led a merely animal existence for the long period of thirty-two years. This remarkable character lived to be useful in his latter days as a medium of communication between the whites and the blacks.

In 1835, Port Phillip was permanently colonised under the auspices of freemen. The leader of the successful expedition and the founder of the colony of Victoria was John Batman, a young farmer resident in Van Diemen's Land, and a man of energy, perseverance, and self-reliance. With twelve others he formed a colonising association, under whose auspices the country surrounding Port Phillip Bay was thoroughly explored, and the excellence of the soil, both for agricultural and pastoral purposes, was abundantly demonstrated. Twelve months after Batman's arrival, the incipient colony had a population of two hundred settlers, who were owners of fifteen thousand sheep. In March, 1837, the first representative of Royalty visited the new settlement in the person of Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, Governor of New South Wales. Sir Richard won his spurs in the Peninsula, and, as one of the best colonial governors, his name will appear again in these pages. He was of course an Irishman, having been born in Limerick in 1778, and in the same city he died in 1855. Bourke remained in the infant colony for a month, and during his brief stay laid out the sites of Melbourne (the metropolis), Geelong, and Williamstown. The first place was named after the then English Premier, Lord Melbourne; the second was allowed