Moving Beyond Port Phillip District
At the head of Port Phillip Bay a settlement was commenced in 1835 and while it was not the first attempted settlement in Victoria (Churchill Island, 1801; Sorrento, 1803; Corinella,1825; Portland, 1834) it quickly gained a reputation as an area of promise.
Much of the good land in New South Wales, Van Diemans Land and the Swan River District had been taken up by the early arrivals to those areas and to families interested in gaining, opportunities were limited.
While settlement of the mainland along the Victorian coast was frowned upon by the Colonial office the initiative taken by John Batman, John Pascoe Fawkner, Thomas Henty and others started a rush of people to the Port Phillip District, which meant that all land near the new settlement was quickly occupied.
As the new arrivals reached the district they travelled further out towards the west and north from both Doutta Galla (Melbourne) and Geelong.
In his article "Prominent Pioneers" Thomas Patterson makes this comment about the men who came to the Clyde, Cranbourne, Tooradin area.
| Westernport was fortunate in its early pastoral pioneers, many of whom were enterprising, capable men, who came out in the “thirties and forties”, not from necessity, but in search of adventure and wider horizons. It is significant that the men who landed here in the early squatting days and began as overseers and managers of stations, really gaining their colonial experience on other men’s money, were often the ultimately successful colonists, while it was sometimes not with others. The banks were only too glad to finance them on the security of their squatting licences, and the collateral consideration of their experience and repute-they had no better outlet for their money. Among the permanent pioneers of Westernport however, there were two who were conspicuous for their work and influence. They were William Lyall and Alexander Patterson, who happened to hold adjoining runs, with frontages to the Koo-wee-rup swamp. Both men were of strong physique, adventurous spirit, and impressive personality. Thomas Patterson, Dec 24, 1932 |
Sources
1. A Clyde History
2. Newspaper Article "The Australasian 1932": Thomas Patterson
1. A Clyde History
2. Newspaper Article "The Australasian 1932": Thomas Patterson