CONTENTS:
Foreword v. Acknowledgments vii.
Part one: Seamen and settlers: The beginnings p3. The elusive Captain Wishart p8. Men from the sea p11. Atkinson and Rutledge p24. The squatters p35. The Belfast survey p48. ‘King of Port Fairy’ [William Rutledge] p62.
Part two: From Bench to Board 1843-53: The Bench of Magistrates (1843) p77. Civilisation creeping in (1844-5) p81. ‘A busy, very busy, place’ (1846-7) p89. ‘Belfast appears to be improving’ (1848) p93. Some trimmings added (1849) p98. A bank – and a bushranger (1850) p106. A busy year for Rutledge (1851) p111. Additions to cast of characters (1852-3) p115.
Part three: Progress and problems 1853-62: The way things were (1862-3) p125. Mainly municipal (1856-7) p140. Mr Bonwick makes some notes (1857-8) p153. Taking shape (1859-60) p163. Before the fall (1861-2) p176.
Part four: Belfast battles on 1862-72: ‘Fallen on gloomy days’ (1862-3) p195. Mayors, councillors and burgesses (1863-5) p207. ‘Throwing off that apathy’ (1866-9) p217. Not wholly peaceful (1869-72) p229.
Part five: Passiveness – in patches (1873-5) p243. ‘Ichabod’ says the banner (1875-7) p256. ‘A touch of autumn’ (1878-80) p269. Sad end of Town Clerk (1881-84) p283. The selling of the Survey (1885) p292. Jubilee p303.
Bibliography p310. Index p312.


ILLUSTRATIONS (selected):
Atkinson’s plan of the Special Survey (1850) p1. Belfast from the sandhills 1856 (sketch by S.T. Gill) p2. The Moyne Mills, Customs Jetty and Merrijig Inn (1861) p68. Rutledge buildings, Cowtan and Bland’s warehouses, Douglas House (1861) p68. The Jetty and the Signal Station (about 1865); The Church of England Vicarage (1861); Sackville Street: Stag Hotel, Bank of Australasia, Bank Hotel, and in distance, Star of the West (1861) p69. Customs House and Court House, Alison and Knight warehouse; Customs House and Court House (about 1861) p85. St John’s Church of England (Anglican) (1861); Dr Braim’s School and the Methodist Church (1861) p85. The Presbyterian Church and Manse (1861); St Patrick’s Church (1861) p164. The Caledonian Inn (about 1861); Alison and Knight’s flour mill, Rosebrook (1861) p165. Port Fairy: view from the hill on Griffith’s Island, about 1873, painting by Lennox Trew; A bird’s-eye view (about 1890) p180. Thomas Southcombe outside his Sackville Street shop (about 1880); Sadler’s shop, corner of Sackville Street and Cox Street, about 1864; Butcher’s shop, William Street, about 1880 p181. The Baxter’s ‘Yambuk’ homestead; Residence of R.H. Woodward; William and Eliza Rutledge at the ‘Big House’, no. 17 Cox Street p244. Wheat being carried to the wharf; S.S. ‘Casino’ at Shipping Co.’s wharf p245. Port Fairy Lands Department plan 1875 p260. S.S. ‘Coramba’ and fishermen’s wharf, about 1934; The wharves, about 1920 p261.

SURNAMES / FAMILY NAMES from the index:
Alison. Alston. Anderson. Appleton. Armstrong. Artis. Atkinson. Avery. Baird. Barber. Barkly. Barry. Barrett. Bateman. Baudin. Baxter. Bayly. Beaver. Bennett. Bent. Best. Billing. Black. Blair. Bland. Bonwick. Bourne. Bowen. Bowman. Boyd. Braim. Brown. Browne (Rolf Boldrewood). Bruce. Burnie. Cameron. Campbell. Carandini. Castwood. Connolly. Coode. Coppin. Corbett. Cowtan. Cox. Cust. Donnelly. Driscoll. Duck. Dutton. Earle. Emery. Evans. Farie. Fermaner. Finn. Flattely. Flinders. Flower. Forster. Frizzell. Fyans. Gallin. Gavin Duffy. Gee. Gill. Gleeson. Goble. Gollin. Goold. Grace. Grant. Griffiths. Grubb. Guinn. Harper. Hart. Hawkins. Haynes. Heath. Henty. Holden. Hood. Hooper. Horan. Horsley. Hosking. Hovenden. Howes. Hume. Huntly. Hutton. Ireland. Irvine. Jellie. Jermyn. Kell. Kelly. Kingk. Knight. Lane. Lakie. La Trobe. Laurie. Lee. Leviston. Lydiard. Lynar. McBride. McCann. McCracken. McDaniel. McGill. Macgregor. McKenzie. McKnight. McLaws. McMahon. Madden. Magner. Mair. Mandeville. Manifold. Mason. Massie. Meagher. Midgley. Mills. Mitchell. Moore. Moriarty. Mueller. Officer. O’Loghlen. O’Reilly. O’Shannassy. Osborne. Perry. Pickering. Polding. Powling. Rawlinson. Ritchie. Ross. Ruffle. Russell. Rutledge. Saunders. Scott. Shinnick. Slattery. Sloley. Smale. Smith. Southcombe. Speed. Spink. Spry. Stevens. Struth. Sturt. Sumner. Suter. Talbot. Tate. Taylor. Thomas (The Vagabond). Townsend. Trew. Tyers. Urquhart. Vanstan. Voisey. Vuscovih. Wallace. Wardell. Watson. Webb. Wedge. Weston. Whitehead. Wild. Wilders. Wilson. Wiltshire. Wishart. Witton. Woodward. Wrixon. Yorke. Young. Youngman.

FULL INDEX available on library computers: Electronic resources \ Indexes (alphabetically by name of place).

FROM THE INDEX (Place names, institutions, etc.):
Alison and Knight. Amusements.

Banks: Australasia; Colonial; National; Savings; Victoria.

Banner of Belfast newspaper. William Bateman and Co. Bathing houses and public baths. Belfast: local government. Belfast Gazette newspaper. Bench of Magistrates. ‘Block 7’. Botanic Gardens. Bowling Club. Breweries.

Bridges: Belfast East; Jetty; Port Fairy North; Rosebrook; South West Passage.

Cannon. Cemeteries. Challacombe and Bishop.

Churches: Anglican; Methodist; Presbyterian; Roman Catholic.

Cobb and Co. Courts and Court House. Cowtan and Bland. Cricket. Customs House. Exhibitions. Fire Brigade. Fishing. Football. Gas Works. Griffiths Island. Grubb and Blair. Harbour and harbour works. Horse racing. Hospital. Hotels: see Inns and hotels. Imports and exports. Immigration.

Inns and hotels: Albion; Bank; Belfast; Bridge; British; Caledonian; Colonial; Commercial (Sackville Street); Farmers; Golden Fleece; Harp of Erin; Horse and Jockey; Merrijig (Old); Merrijig (Royal); Plough (Belfast); Plough (Killarney); Royal Oak (now Commercial); Sally Ann; Stag; Star of the West; Steam Packet; Temperance; Union; Volunteers Arms (late Market); see also: Licences, beer and liquor.

Lighthouse. McKenzie and McCowan. Mahogany Ship. Public Market. Marram Grass. Mechanics’ Institute. Mount Rouse hunt. W. Nieman and Co. Nipper and See. Oddfellows and Oddfellows Hall. Police. Population. Post Office. Powder Magazine. Railways. Regattas. Rifle Club. Salvation Army. Schools. ‘Seaview’.

Ships: Ship: Alert; Andromeda; Anne Milne; Argyle; Balmoral; Bellinger; Bitter Beer; Brothers; Casino; Champion; Children; Collier; Cypress; David Clarke; Dawn; Despatch; Diana; Dingadee; Duke of Richmond; Dundee; Dusty Miller; Eclipse (trawler); Edina; Eliza; Elizabeth; Emu; Enterprise; Essington; Eumeralla; Fairy; Farewell; Fenella; Gulf of Akaba; Gulf of Mexico; Henry; Inellan; Iron Age; John Lewis; Julia Percy; Keera; Lady Bird; Lady Mary Pelham; Lord of the Isles; Lowestoft; Lydia; Malta; Manchester; Margaret; Margaret and Agnes; Mars; Mary Ann; Monarch; Moreton; Nelson; Orwell; Otway; Pearl; Pelican; Priam; Prince George; Queen; Raven; Rob Roy; Ruby; Runnymede; Sally Ann; Sarah; Sarah Ann; Sarah Louisa; Shand; Sir John Byng; Sir William Wallace; Socrates; Sphene; Squatter; Storm Bird; Surrey Castle; Swift; Sydney Griffiths; Thistle; Victoria; Wave; Wellesley; Western; William; Wombat (dredge).

Shows (Agricultural and Horticultural). Sports, athletics.

Stations and estates: Aringa; Boodcarra; Dunmore; Farnham (see Rutledge); Goodwood; Korongah; Leura; St Helens; St Kitts; Squattlesea Mere; Weerangourt; Yambuk.

Steam Packet Wharf. Street lighting. Streets and roads. Surveys, special. ‘The Syndicate’. ‘Talara’. ‘Tatra’ (Douglas house). Telegraph. Temperance Hall. Temperance Society. Toll gates. Town Hall. Volunteers (Rifles and Artillery). Water supply.