He had obtained three copies of the grant
signed by three brothers Jagga-Jagga, by Bungaree, Yan-Yan, Moorwhip,
and Marmarallar. The area of the land bought by Batman was not
surveyed with precision, but it was of great extent, like infinite
space, whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere. And in
addition he took up a small patch of one hundred thousand acres
between the bay and the Barwon, including the insignificant site of
Geelong, a place of small account even to this day. Batman was a
long-limbed Sydney native, and he bestrode his real estate like a
Colossus, but King William was a bigger Colossus than Batman--he
claimed both the land and the blacks, and ignored the Crown grant.
Next, John Fawkner and his friends chartered the schooner
'Enterprise' for a voyage across the Straits to Australia Felix. He
afterwards claimed to be the founder of Melbourne. He could write
and talk everlastingly, but he had not the 'robur' and 'as triplex'
suitable for a sea-robber. Sea-sickness nearly killed him, so he
stayed behind while the other adventurers went and laid the
foundation. They first examined the shores of Western Port, then
went to Port Philip Bay and entered the River Yarra. They
disembarked on its banks, ploughed some land, sowed maize and wheat,
and planted two thousand fruit trees. They were not so grasping as
Batman, and each man pegged out a farm of only one hundred acres.
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