o forward to you the accompanying
gold watch, which the president and council had determined to present to
John King, in testimony of his meritorious conduct during the late
Victorian Exploring Expedition, in which Messrs. Burke and Wills
unfortunately lost their lives.

I have therefore to request that you will accordingly, on behalf of the
president and council, place this watch in the hands of John King and
that you will at the same time express to him the satisfaction it has
been to me to be the channel of making known to him that his conduct has
been appreciated as it deserves.

I have the honour to be, etc.,

Newcastle.

...

His Excellency (addressing John King) spoke as follows:

I feel, Mr. King, that it would be almost superfluous on my part to add
much to the encomiums passed upon you by such high authorities; and to
one so modest, as I know you are, I dare say it would be even painful if
I were to enter at any length upon a recital of the claims which I
consider you possess upon the gratitude and admiration of your fellow
colonists. (Hear, hear.) Gratifying as it must be to you--after the
liberal honours and rewards which the legislature and people of Victoria
have bestowed upon you--to receive this crowning mark of recognition of
your services from your fellow countrymen at home, I can quite conceive
that it would be more congenial to your own feelings if I had delivered
it to you in my own private room. Still I felt it to be a matter of duty,
on an occasion of this kind, to make the ceremony as public as possible,
not only in justice to yourself but for the sake of the example which
your conduct has afforded to all who may be placed in similarly trying
circumstances. I feel sure that, even if you entertained any idea of
surviving, nothing was further from your thoughts than any considerations
of glory or honour when you knelt by the side of the dying Burke to
receive his latest injunctions, or when you turned back to perform the
last sad offices for your departed comrade, Wills. You did your duty, I
am sure, simply because you felt it was your duty. A Christian, you knew
it was a privilege to minister to suffering humanity; a soldier, you
never dreamt of swerving from the unalterable fidelity which you knew you
owed your leader. (Applause.) In such a trying position as that in which
you were placed, with the bands of discipline relaxed, the instincts of
self-preservation have often led men to act se