In the early days of European settlement, there was little interest in the area which is now Victoria, and until 1851 it was still a part of the colony of New South Wales. In 1803 there had been an attempt to establish a settlement at Port Phillip Bay, but as a result of poor organisation and bad positing the settlement failed, and within a few months was transferred across Bass Strait to Van Diemens Land(Tasmania).

It was a man by the name of David Collins who had been sent to establish the settlement, just one year after the bay had been discovered by John Murray. Collins arrived with his sailors and their families, some settlers, and about 300 convicts.

The administration in Sydney largely concerned themselves with developing the land around the city, and when a route was discovered across the Blue Mountains - the mountain range which had previously hemmed in the coastal settlement - people rushed to take up lands on the grasslands of the central west of the colony.

A second attempt at settlement in Victoria was made in 1826 in the area around Corinella. Once again, this did not succeed, and lasted only a few months before being abandoned.

An ever increasing demand for pastoral land pushed explorers further, and though the existence of Port Phillip Bay was known for some time, it was not until 1836 that Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell penetrated the Bay overland and a keen interest in the grassy valleys of Victoria was created.

Travelling west, Thomas Mitchell met Edward Henty and his family who, without the knowledge of the Sydney authorities, had left Van Diemens Land(Tasmania) with stock and seeds, over two years previously to set up home in the lands near what is now Portland.

Others had also left Van Diemens Land, including John Batman who had arrived on 29 May 1835 paying local Aboriginals in trinkets and blankets to purchase 242,812 acres of land near the present site of Melbourne. In 1836 the NSW Government finally acknowledged what was going on, and declared the district open to settlement.

The settlers in Victoria, which was at the time still a part of New South Wales, were agitated that the revenue from the sale of crown land was benefiting Sydney, rather than the newly developing district. The settlers of the new district were allocated six seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council, but this did not appease them. In July of 1851, authorities in Britain agreed to officially declare the colony of Victoria. Proper self-government came a year later.

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