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| Portrait of John Pascoe Fawkner (1792-1869) , dated to 1863. |
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| Carte-de-visite photograph by George William Perry (1854-1897), contibuted by the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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| Fawkner's first printing office, from which he produced his 'Melbourne Advertiser'. |
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| Watercolour by colonial artist, Wilbraham Frederick Liardet (1799-1878) dated to 1875, contributed by the La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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John Pascoe Fawkner was the son of a London metal engraver who was transported for receiving stolen goods. The family joined the ill-fated expedition to found a penal settlement at Port Phillip Bay in 1803. The party set up base on the sandy south-eastern shore, and soon ran short of water.
In November, with summer approaching, they abandoned Port Phillip and headed for Van Diemen's Land. John Fawkner was only a lad at the time, but the thirst he had felt in that waterless place became imprinted on his memory.
Fawkner had a tempestuous youth. In 1814 he was caught trying to help a group of convicts to escape to South America, for which he was sentenced to 500 lashes and three years hard labour. On his return to Hobart he had further run-ins with the law, so he decided to move north to Launceston, where he set up a hotel (though a teetotaller himself) and at various times practised as a bush lawyer, newspaper editor, baker, nurseryman, coach proprietor and builder.
In the winter of 1835 Fawkner was working at his hotel when John Batman came in, boasting that he had signed a treaty with the Aboriginal 'chiefs' of Port Phillip, and was now the 'greatest landowner in the world'. Fawkner and several of his customers decided to set up their own expedition forthwith. Fawkner acquired a ship, the Enterprise, and was about to depart when a bailiff arrived with a summons for debt, forcing him to stay behind. George Evans, who was on the ship, recalled seeing Fawkner's diminutive form on the shore, jumping up and down and shouting to his companions to look for a place with fresh water.
Following his instructions, they settled on a spot by the Yarra. The members of the Port Phillip Association were not pleased when they discovered there were rivals in the district. The animosity between the Batman and Fawkner camps led to a long-running argument about who deserved to be called the founder of Melbourne.
Fawkner arrived in Port Phillip in October 1835. He set up a hotel of sorts, and soon began producing a 'newspaper', the Melbourne Advertiser, writing the copy by hand in his own inimitable prose. Fawkner eventually became a substantial landowner, setting up an estate at Pascoe Vale in 1839. A long-term member of the Legislative Council, he was a vigorous (and vicious) opponent of the squatters, who in his eyes had gained their land by robbery. Clever, energetic and pugnacious, Fawkner lived to become the grand old man of the settlement, though even in his latter years his sharp tongue won him few friends.
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| The funeral procession of Melbourne's 'grand old man', John Pascoe Fawkner, passing the corner of Bourke and Spring Streets. |
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| Wood engraving by Samuel Calvert (1828-1913) published in The Illustrated Australian News, October 11, 1869, by Ebenezer and David Syme, Melbourne. Contributed by the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria. |
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Copyright Imagine The Future Inc. and Australian Film Commission, 2002.
Text by Jenny Lee for ITF.
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