The successful settlement of the noble Port Phillip Harbour the
following year by Batman and Fawkner caused such general attention and
such a tide of colonization, that remote Portland was comparatively
overlooked. For many years, therefore, much less was heard of the Hentys
than of those who had merely followed their steps. In fact, there can be
but little doubt that these latter were first aroused to the colonizing
of the vast areas, the all but terra incognita, across the Straits by
the vigorous example set by the Henty family almost from the moment of
their arrival in Launceston in 1831, and by the reports which they
brought back from time to time of the lands of promise they were opening
to public notice in South-Eastern Australia. But now that rail and
telegraph have virtually abolished distance, and familiarized the
central colonists with the value and beauty of the earliest occupied
Western areas--the Australia Felix of Mitchell--the Messrs. Henty's
position has passed more to the front, and their priority been
universally acknowledged.
I was not personally very intimate with any of the Henty family,
otherwise I might have had more to say in this sketch. But I have met
most of the brothers repeatedly, and frequently I met James, the
Melbourne merchant, who was the eldest, and also William, the lawyer and
ex-Premier of Tasmania, a most amiable and gentlemanly man, who latterly
resided at Home, where he died, and who often attended the lectures and
discussions at the Royal Colonial Institute of London.
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