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o) was actually the native name for the land around the bay. The white settlers somehow
reversed the names.
These were mainly exiled or emigrant Scotsmen and ex-Tasmanians. They came generally in
pairs, as partners or brothers: John Cowie and David Stead; George Russell and H Anderson;
the Sutherland brothers; the Austin brothers, the Manifolds, the Learmonths, the Murrays, the
Lloyds, the Yuiiles.
Dr Alexander Thomson, formerly catechist of the Port Phillip Association, set up a run on the
south bank of the Barwon River, covering present day Belmont and Highton. The son of an
Aberdeen ship-owner and born in 1800, Dr Thomson had previously been a surgeon on convict
ships before settling in Van Diemen's Land. Hemoved to Melbourne in 1835. His next move, to
the area of Geelong, is described in a letter he wrote in March 1354.
'In May 1836 I landed my sheep at Point Henry, and occupied the present township of Geelong
as a sheep station, and Indented Head as a cattle station for Captain Swanston. Messrs Cowie
and Stead and myself had the whole Western district to ourselves for eighteen months, parties
being all afraid of the blacks... In 1837 I buiit the present house of Kardinia, which I called after
the aboriginal word for "sunrise." I built also a house for the Derwent Company, occupied
afterwards by Mr Fisher. In 1838 Mr Strachan buiit the first store in Geelong; he was followed
by Messrs Rucker and Champion. On my first journeys into the country I was very much
surprised to find so few natives, and thought they were keeping out of the way. During our first
visit to Buninyong we did not see one, and on our first journey to the west, when we discovered
Colac and Korangamite, we saw about twenty.'
Dr Thomson's neighbour was David Fisher, who was manager of the Derwent Company that
replaced the Association. Fisher was another Scot, bom in 1801 at Roslin, south of Edinburgh.
As his activities and possessions would assume some significance to the Honeycombes in later
years, his account of what he did in 1836, and what he saw, is worth quoting at some length,
In a letter written in September 1853, Fisher said: "Returning by an angle across the country, we
made Corio (Geelong}, where we were struck with the magnificent scene which burst upon our
view as we reached the rise, now the centre of the town, known as Church Hill. The splendour
and magnitude of Corio
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Bay, the gentle rise from the bay to where we stood, about three-quarters of a mile, and the like
gentle fall to the River Barwon, the You Yangs, Station Peak, the Barraboo! Hills, with aU the
varied scenery of hill and vale around clothed in the beautiful verdure of nature, seemed to
proclaim this spot as the site of a great mercantile city. Lost in contemplation, we were
overtaken by night, and had the satisfaction of finding the shelter of a gum-tree near the place
now called "La Trobe Terrace"; here we camped for the night. Next morning we made Messrs
Cowie and Stead's, where we were entertained with a comfortable breakfast, and likewise got
our provision bags replenished. We then crossed the Moorabool River, and afterwards the
Barwon at the place now known as Pollock's Ford; we tethered our horses in the valley and
walked to the top of Mount Moriac, from which elevated spot we had a beautiful prospect of
this delightful district, and with the assistance of a good telescope we were able to trace the
various windings of the Rivers Leigh and Barwon; also from this mount we had another view of
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