After the resignation of Alexander Laurie it was the United Presbyterian Synod, which as we have seen, was the strongest of the three into which the church in Victoria was split, that took care of the vacant charge.

Rev. Thomas Elliot Richardson.

Towards the end of the year 1848 a young minister, T. E. Richardson, arrived from Tasmania, and on joining the United Presbyterian cause he was sent forthwith to reopen the church in Portland. A new set of men gathered round him, with very few names that had appeared in Laurie's letters. He was uncompromisingly anti-Erastian, and would not touch the block of land that had been given by the Government. Andrew Cruickshank came forward as a leader, and when there was a question of a church site he gave a block of land, the site of the present church. £100 was subscribed towards the building, and he gave half of it. A tender was accepted at £294 for the new church, which is the southern end of the present Scots Church. This was in September, 1849, and the church was finished in May, 1850. At the same time additional blocks of land were purchased beside the church, where the manse and hall now are.

Meantime Richardson became as busy as ever Laurie was at itinerating in the interior. We hear of baptisms in 1851 in Victoria Valley, and in Glencoe, Mount Gambier and Mount Schanck. He travelled apparently even greater distances than his predecessor. Yet in June, 1851, he announced his determination to resign. "He did not meet with due encouragement in his labors, nor seem to enjoy that measure of confidence from the professed friends of the cause that he had been led to expect." "His attempts to bring about a better spirit amongst individuals seemed to provoke ill-will." He was urged to remain, and the suggestion was made of a collegiate minister. Andrew Ross, a new minister, who arrived in the colony in January, 1851, was sent by the United Presbyterian Synod, but by the time he arrived Richardson had followed his predecessor's example, and was seated in the editorial chair of the Portland "Guardian." In church administration he was uncompromisingly opposed to Laurie, but curiously enough, followed him in the change from pulpit to press. We hope and believe that journalism was the great gainer in both cases.

Rev. Andrew Ross.

Andrew Ross was inducted on 5th September, 1851, and remained for five years. This was about the time of the discovery of gold in Victoria, and though none was found near Portland, it had an immediate effect on that town. Many of the ships landed their gold-seeking passengers at Portland, and there was a boom in business. Produce unsaleable shortly before was now disposed of at profiteering rates and poverty was no more. They built the manse for the new minister, put extra seating in the church and began talking of enlarging it. Portland was at the height of its prosperity now, and the solid looking bluestone houses that are still scattered round the town were erected in place of the 'wattle and daub' that had served for the early settlers. Andrew Ross was something of an author, but his work both as minister and author was brought to an end by opthalmia, which led to his resignation in 1856.

Rev. William Ridley.

He was followed by William Ridley, also, of course, from the United Presbyterian Church. He was evidently diligent in his work, and we read of 121 baptisms in 17 months, 84 per annum, a number that surprises us now. But we must remember that all the settlers were young folk. We now speak of them as the old settlers, but that is our mistake ; they were the young settlers, and they were looked after by young ministers. It was a young colony of young people. The old folk were left at home. They were not tempted by a voyage of four or five months to a new, strange far-off land. The young people then had no fear of full cradles, and the land prospered.

Rev. Samuel Kelso.

His pastorate was brief, and during a protracted vacancy, the congregation approached the three presbyteries in Melbourne; Established, Free, and United Presbyterian, asking for a minister from any of them, as Portland was quite prepared to join the contemplated union. This was in 1858. This action of the Portland church, forestalling the actual union in 1861, filled the church leaders with delight, and makes Portland a kind of leader in church union as it was in permanent settlement 24 years before. The minister who was eventually sent to them was not from any of the united presbyteries, but a new arrival from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. The Irish ministers were not interested in the church differences but were eager for the union. The new arrival was Samuel Kelso, who came in January, 1859, just before the consummation of the union. He, of course, entered the union with his Portland church, and was soon afterwards called to the Moderator's chair, in 1863. He was a great tower of strength to the Presbytery as well as to his own parish, which was not now as extensive as it had been with the first ministers. After a pastorate of more than ten years he was called to Stawell in 1870.

Hamilton Builds its Church.

The first step towards dividing the Portland parish was taken by Hamilton. Ministers occasionally now preach at Hamilton in the morning and Portland in the evening. But horseback and rough tracks were different propositions from swift automobiles and bitumen roads. Still we would scarcely now expect Hamilton to be simply one of the preaching outposts of the Portland minister. It was so for 15 years. By that time the work of the church had so taken effect that Hamilton began to think of a minister for itself. Hamilton was first put on the map in 1837, as it has been telling the world this year, 1937, and its inviting lands did not long seek occupiers. In 1854 the Presbyterians of this now considerable town, with a population of about 700, met together and purchased a site (the present one, and an excellent one) for their church. They were building within two years, and the church to hold 200 was opened in 1858. It was enlarged in 1877, and removed to make room for the present handsome piece of architecture in 1907.

Rev. Angus McDonald.

The first minister was the young Angus McDonald, aged 31, inducted on April 14, 1857. His brother, Donald, who inducted him, had a long pastorate in Emerald Hill, in the church now known as Dorcas Street. He joined the union in 1859 and was made the clerk of the new Presbytery of Portland, and that Presbytery and its successor, Hamilton, has never had its minutes as beautifully written as they were by the first clerk. After a time we find Angus McDonald not only preaching at Hamilton, but one Sunday in the month at Cavendish, and occasionally at Eumeralla and towards Branxholme. The outposts of Portland very soon showed signs of becoming three charges, or we may include Penshurst, where he also visited, and say four.

He continued in active work for 11 years, when he was thrown from his horse, with fatal results, in 1868, while still a youth of 42. We have his portrait - an excellent one. Not a gray hair marks the uncompromising raven beard of the young minister. Deep earnestness and determination are seen in his eyes and we look at him to see the one who so well laid the foundation of the Hamilton congregation.

Rev. J. K. MacMillan.

He was followed by the Rev. J. K. MacMillan, who began one of the historic pastorates of the Presbytery in 1869. He was a son of the manse, and had already done ten years of pioneering work at Beechworth, during which time he founded five of the churches of the Beechworth Presbytery. He came to Hamilton as a youth of 36, and remained till he was full of years and honor, and died in his charge in 1904, after a pastorate of 35 years. Though it is thirty-three years since he passed away, many folks still call Hamilton MacMillan's Church.

Rev. Robert Sutherland, Pioneer and Historian.

To go back to the pioneers, Robert Sutherland is the next to claim our attention. He arrived in Geelong in 1854. His first sphere was Batesford, but he soon passed further afield, and in 1857 he was in Casterton. There is no record of his being inducted, but he went wherever he seemed to be needed. He was in Casterton in 1859 and joined the union, and is one of the original ministers of the new Portland (Hamilton) Presbytery. He soon resigned from Casterton to the regret of the congregation. There was an immediate demand for his work, and he continued giving his service to the charges in the Western District. He was in charge of Wickcliffe for a time, and soon after was called to Wangoom and Allansford, where he ministered from 1862 to 1876.

During his career he built a manse and seven churches, and organised 12 of the congregations of the West. He returned to Scotland in 1877, and wrote a valuable history of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria, the most complete that we have. He was said to be a travelling encyclopedia, and as one reads his history we can only stand amazed at the collection of facts and names that he has placed on record there. Our Presbytery is under great obligation to him for his early work.

Presbytery of Portland (Hamilton) Formed.

When the Presbytery of Portland was formed at the union of 1859 it had three of the present charges of the Hamilton Presbytery; Portland, Hamilton and Casterton. It also had Mosquito Plains under Dugald McCalman, in the present Penola Presbytery, and J. Parker, of Belfast in the present Mortlake Presbytery. Belfast, Warrnambool and the new charge of Tower Hill (now Koroit) were transferred to the Mortlake Presbytery in 1862 after three years, and we will not count them in our record.