An account of the pastoral occupation of Port Phillip, written by R.V. Billis and Alfred S. Kenyon (a noted historian) in 1930. This book is written as a history and account of pasturing and the merino sheep and wool industry in Port Phillip from its first permanent settling in 1835 to the gold rush of the 1850's. It includes information on laws, land sales, squatters, the first land boom, pastoral companies, station hands, bush ranging, exports, stock diseases, gold, meat trade, pioneer women, depressions and much more. This publication also includes extracts from diaries and notes of early pioneers as well as from letters which provide an excellent primary source for historians and genealogists. As Billis and Kenyon say; these 'not only carry us in fancy to the early scenes and life in the bush - for they breathe the very spirit of the times - but they are of historic value' which is very true of the book itself. Includes letters of John Cotton of Doogallook, on the Goulburn River p238. An index to this book may be found at the same call number.