Geelong 1839-1841: its early development.
In the first issue of 1968 the Ian Wynd, the editor of the Investigator magazine, continued his ‘Story of Geelong’. His focus in the February edition was the early development of the township of Geelong between 1839 and 1841.
He begins his account with the sale of the first lots in the township. Oddly the auction was conducted in Sydney with speculators dominating the sale. He explains the division of the town into two two districts of North and South Geelong, though not as we would know these areas today. He uses sources to describe the rudimentary state of developments that existed and then catalogs the development that took place in the ensuing three years.
The first sale of Geelong town lots was held in Sydney on February 14, 1839, making it difficult for inhabitants of Geelong to buy. Of the 53 lots sold only 12 were bought by Geelong men; they were Thompson round (two lots), Matthews (two lots), Nicholson (three lots), Kerr (two lots), Fyans (2 lots) and Addis (one lot). The prices paid ranged from £30-£53. The bulk of the lots (32) were bought by Sydney men as a speculation at prices ranging from £27-£155. The remainder went to 5 Melbourne buyers.
Only three blocks were offered for sale, two in South Geelong and one in North Geelong: the former was the area bounded by Barwon Terrace, Yarra Street, Foster Street and Bellarine Street while the latter was enclosed by Corio Terrace, Yarra Street, Mab Street and Bellerine Street (see map below). Thirty-six lots were sold on the Barwon side at an average price of £40 each, and seventeen lots were sold facing Corio Bay at an average price of £95 each. Only two Geelong men, Nicholson and E. B. Addis, Commissioner for Crown lands for the County of Grant, bought in the northern section, most of the others no doubt preferred to be as close as possible to the only source of water at the time, namely the Barwon River.
Even before Geelong was officially put on the map it had become a stopping place for settlers on the move to and from stations further inland. To cater for them Mack’s Hotel was built where Corio Terrace came to exist later, just west of Yarra Street.
George Russell gives this description of the inn:
“About the same time (1838) the erection of an inn or public house was commenced which afterwards became Mack’s Hotel. The first building consisted of split slabs, and contained three or four small rooms, being put up in a rough bush style and having the appearance of a large hut.“
Later in his narrative he adds further details:
“It consisted of a sitting room or parlour, a bar and three or four very small bedrooms, with a detached kitchen at the back. There were no stables for sometime after this, and the usual practice of persons arriving from the country and stopping for the night was to tether out or hobble their horses on the ground now occupied by the houses in Moorabool Street, Ryrie Street and Geringhap Street … Mack’s Hotel was almost the only place where settlers from the country stopped, and several additions were made to it in front of the original slab building before the present substantial stone house was erected.”
Turner in his History of Victoria when speaking of the few rude erections in Geelong in 1838 no doubt included Mack’s in his uncomplimentary comment that “others were public houses, or more correctly speaking, grog shanties where the shepherds and stockman gathered to carouse when they drew their wages.“
At this time there was no defined road to Melbourne and travellers often became lost as “the land along the north shore of Corio Bay, where Ashby, the Market Yards, and Bell Park are now situated, was a thickly covered with trees, and no landmarks could be seen“.
By 1839 Geelong was a surveyed township of some 30 huts. It had no pier but there were regular packets to Melbourne which navigated the overland journey to that town. Some of 1,500 people were living in the district but Geelong was still a small place. When William Russell visited Geelong in June 1839, he wrote home to relatives in Scotland that “there are only a few houses as yet erected at this place, amongst which is an in where we stopped all night. We visited a Mr Fisher who resides in this neighbourhood.“
Another aspect of the housing situation is seen in Philip Russell letter to George Russell in November 1839, “Dr Officer is taking over a house already made, which intends placing for the present at Geelong. You must endeavour to give him the carpenter for a short time to assist in its erection.“
One sign of the growing importance of Geelong was the granting on April 29, 1839, of the right to sell fermented and spiritous liquors in the town, in quantities of not less than two gallons. Whether it was the fear of the consequences of this act or fear of the Aborigines, the same month saw the appointment of four mounted police to Geelong.
The security of the people of Geelong or the fear of a crime wave apparently exercised the minds of the authorities considerably for the estimates for the year 1840 allowed for the provision of two watchhouses, one in Corio Street, the other in South Geelong. Estimates for the cost of the police force were £738/7/6.
On May 15, 1839, Geelong was linked with Melbourne by an overland mail service inaugurated by William Wright. On June 6 he expanded his activities by carrying passengers in his mail cart; the fare was £2 per person while the parcels were 2/6 each.
Further improvement in the mail service was promised by an advertisement in the Port Phillip Gazette: “On Friday, 6 March 1840, and every succeeding Friday, mail will be dispatched from the Post Office, Melbourne, to Geelong, at 6 am and return on Sunday at 6 pm.“
That this promise was not always fulfilled is shown in Geelong Advertiser’s lament of May 1841 that: “No mail has arrived this week by land or sea. The district of Geelong is now, as it were, banished from the rest of the colony.“
Another sign of the growing population of Geelong was the fact that Patrick McKeever was appointed Inspector of Slaughter-houses at Geelong. The need for fresh meat for residence of the town no doubt prompted the establishment of the slaughter-houses and it is interesting to see that the administration extended control over them is so quickly.
For some time the exorbitant ideas of the Sydney speculators blocked any extensive occupation of the town. Another factor was the failure of the government to put up more land for sale. Arden, proprietor and editor of the Port Phillip Gazette, protested against the effect of this policy on the development of Geelong:
“Geelong presents a few struggling houses, comprising in one spot the dwelling of the police magistrate and the constabulary, and in another locality, nearly a mile distant, a few Mercantile stores and private buildings. The number however, of inhabitants in the immediate neighbourhood, occupying suburban land previously sold, supply the church of the town with a congregation, which exceeds upon occasions the number of 200.“
The fiery and outspoken John Dunmore Lang, somewhat inaccurately, laid all the blame at the feet of the governor, Sir George Gibbs, whom he accused of fixing higher price on Geelong town land. He goes on:
“But as this profound scheme for screwing out the last shilling from an enterprising and industrious people did not answer, and the Geelong town allotments hung up on the government auctioneer’s is hands, his Excellency hit upon another notable schemed for raising the wind, namely, by drawing an imaginary line from East to West through what should have constituted the township, and calling the portion next to the harbour North Geelong and the other portion South Geelong, the minimum price of the being lowered to £150 an acre.“
The result according to Lang was “an insignificant village about a mile distant from the proper town“ while the sale of suburban land at £2 and £5 an acre “carried off both purchases and population from both of the Governor’s towns.“
However, the situation was remedied somewhat on August 13, 1840 when another 53 lots were sold, and again on December one, 1841, when 10 lots were sold.
On August 27, John McKinney was appointed Coastwaiter at Geelong at a salary of £150 per annum; the appointment of this customs official reveals the extensive shipping and that already existed. Another very important event was the establishment of the first newspaper, the Geelong Advertiser, “edited by James Harrison and printed and published for John Pascoe (sole proprietor) by William Watkins, at the Advertiser Office, North Geelong, Australia Felix“. Thus on the one date, November 21, 1840, Geelong‘s oldest institution and one of its most illustrious citizens made their debut together. So we find PL Browne writing that in 1840: “Geelong had its postal service, its a branch of the Port Phillip bank, it’s first a stone building, causeway across the Barwon.“
The first stone building, may have been the home of the Reverend Andrew Love, the first minister, a Presbyterian; the manse was in McKillop Street. In 1840 he baptised 11 children, married 15 couples and buried three persons. The causeway was the breakwater built by Foster Fyans with convict labour; this structure prevented the flow of saltwater up the Barwon and provided Geelong with a more accessible supply of freshwater.
The year 1841 saw further development in the legal facilities of the town when on January 18 Nicholas Fenwick was appointed as Commissioner of the Court of Requests and Alfred John as a Registrar of the Court. Later in the year, on August 4, Fenwick replaced Fyans, as police magistrate. And on October 26 when Governor Gibbs visited Geelong he told it citizens how delighted he was with the country, that he would do all he could to advance Geelong, and that he would give directions for the commencement of a new courthouse.
A further facility was the establishment of a pound near the police office in South Geelong. No doubt this was a necessity at this early stage when very few fences existed and when the horse was a very common form of transport.
Sign that life was becoming more settled was the holding of the first race meeting at Ariey’s flat on a bend of the Moorabool River near Bell Post Hill (opposite where the cement works Quarry was in 1967). The meeting took place on May 1 and was probably the first sporting event held in Geelong; it consisted of two events run in heats and a trotting match.
The first census of the Port Phillip District in 1841 revealed that the town population was 454, living in 81 houses. Convicts employed by the government numbered 20 while there were 6 in private assignment. The town of Geelong was now firmly established and its boundaries were formally defined on December 21, 1841.
The accompanying map is based on one showing Geelong in 1838 and was possibly drawn by H.W.H. Smythe. It is signed by Foster Fyans as having been received. It shows two stores on the shore and Dr Thompson‘s house, but curiously it does not show David Fisher’s house. Bellerine Street connected north and south Geelong as there was a break in the steep cliffs at the foot of that street where a rivulet ran from a swamp in what became the Market Square. Another map of 1840 shows further streets drawn in; these are showing by dotted lines on the map. The spelling of the street names is that used on the map.
