Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/104

 officer who formed one of the expedition to Ballaarat under Sir Robert Nickle:—

"Previous to our leaving Melbourne we were for two days in hourly expectation of receiving the route, and on the morning of the 30th November were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness for the line of march. Information as to the disturbed state of the diggings had been duly transmitted, but the denouement was far more sudden and decisive than at first anticipated. Staff-officers were in constant communication with the heads of the military departments, and every preparation made for the exigency of the occasion. About 4 p.m. the corps in garrison were ordered to parade, and shortly afterwards officials were despatched with orders to march to the township of Flemington, and there halt for more detailed instructions. Both regiments (the 12th and 40th) were drawn up near Flemington Bridge, within a few minutes' walk of each other, and were immediately joined by the officers, men, and guns of H. M. ships Electra and Fantome, then lying in Port Philip Harbour. Major-General Sir Robert Nickle, K.H., Deputy Adjutant-General, Colonel E. Macarthur, and the whole of the staff, were also on the spot, and after a short exchange of salutations the bugle sounded the assembly; the advanced guard was told off, and the whole of this formidable force again in motion.

"No peculiar feature disturbed 'the even tenor of our way;' the march was comparatively a silent