“Should it be necessary to make this confession public, in the interests of justice, I can say nothing against such a course being taken; but I would be grateful if it could be suppressed, both on account of my good name and of my dear daughter Margaret, whose love and affection has so soothed and brightened my life.

“If, however, she should be informed of the contents of these pages, I ask her to deal leniently with the memory of one who was sorely tried and tempted.

“I came to the colony of Victoria, or, rather, as it was called then, New South Wales, in the year 18—.  I had been in a merchant’s office in London, but not finding much opportunity for advancement, I looked about to see if I could better myself I heard of this new land across the, ocean, and though it was not then the El Dorado which it afterwards turned out, and, truth to tell, had rather a shady name, owing to the transportation of convicts, yet I longed to go there and start a new life.  Unhappily, however, I had not the means, and saw nothing better before me than the dreary life of a London clerk, as it was impossible that I could save out of the small salary I got.  Just at this time, an old maiden aunt of my mother’s died and left a few hundred pounds to me.  With this, I came out to Australia, determined to become a rich man.  I stayed some time in Sydney, and then came over to Port Phillip, now so widely known as Marvellous Melbourne, where I intended to pitch my tent.  I saw that it was a young and rising colony, though, of course, coming as I did, before the days of the, gold diggings, I never dreamt it would spring up, as it has done since, into a nation.  I was careful and saving in those days, and, indeed, I think it was the happiest time of my life.

“I bought land whenever I could scrape the money together, and, at the time of the gold rush, was considered well-to-do.  When, however, the cry that gold had been discovered was raised, and the eyes of all the nations were turned to Australia, with her glittering treasures, men poured in from all parts of the world, and the ‘Golden Age’ commenced.  I began to grow rich rapidly, and was soon pointed out as the wealthiest man in the Colonies.  I bought a station, and, leaving the riotous, feverish Melbourne life, went to live on it.  I enjoyed myself there, for the wild, open-air life had great charms for me, and there was a sense of freedom to which I had hitherto been a stranger.  But man is a gregarious animal, and I, growing weary of solitude and communings with Mother Nature, came down on a visit to Melbourne, where, with companions as gay as myself, I spent my money freely, and, as the phrase goes, saw life.  After confessing that I loved the pure life of the country, it sounds strange to say I enjoyed the wild life of the town, but I did.  I was neither a Joseph nor a St. Anthony, and I was delighted with Bohemia, with its good fellowship and charming suppers, which took place in the small hours of the morning,