Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/340

under Captain Mertho. From the first moment Collins seems to have desired to transfer the settlement to Van Diemen's Land. Many writers have wondered at the folly of Collins and his officers in leaving a district so fertile as Port Phillip, which presented rich pasture lands without any need for clearance of timber. It is proper to let Collins speak for himself, and to show that in addition to a hankering to have his settlement close to the open sea, one of his motives was his fear that, if he should settle at the river discovered by Robbins and Grimes, he would not be able to protect himself from the natives. One or two quotations from the log of Captain Woodriff, and the published work of Lieut. Tuckey, of H.M.S. Calcutta, explain Collins' fears.

On the 16th Oct., Tuckey was sent in the launch to survey the upper part of the harbour. The log declared that Tuckey found no fresh water, but "fell in with a large party of natives who were very troublesome, their numbers increasing from one hundred to two hundred. The lieutenant and party were obliged to fire upon them, which drove them off, but with loss of one of their companions who was shot." Tuckey's work enlarged upon the treachery and daring of the natives, "upwards of two hundred having assembled round the surveying boats." Such having been the occurrences in Oct., Collins' despatch (to Governor King), dated 5th Nov. 1803, Sullivan's Bay, Port Phillip, becomes intelligible. The intimation from Harris, the surveyor, that "the northern shore was more numerously inhabited than any other parts," condemned it in the eyes of Collins. He had seen Phillip speared at Port Jackson.

The despatches from New South Wales, with the report of the discovery of the Yarra-Yarra river, had not been received in England when Collins sailed thence. King sent his report in May 1803, and Collins left England in April of that year. Collins wrote as follows:—

". . . From Mr. Mertho, who had been examining some part of the bay, I received the first unfavourable impression of it, which I am truly concerned to observe a more minute survey thereof has only tended to strengthen. Anxious to discover a place possessing the advantages of fresh water, timber for building, and soil for agricultural pursuits whereon I could land my people, I determined to lose no time in examining the bay. . . .

"I went on shore with Captain Woodriff to a bay on the east side, where very good fresh water had been obtained by sinking casks near the