The Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser reported on June 19, 1861 a meeting at Hamilton of the Separation Movement. It was the first meeting of its kind in Hamilton following on from a successful meeting in Portland.
SEPARATION MEETING AT HAMILTON. (1861, June 24). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842-1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENINGS.. Retrieved June 24, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65446763
Many well known gentleman of the district where there, men whose names still are evident in Hamilton. Messers Skene, Learmonth, McKellar and McPherson were all present.
Despite a campaign that went into 1862, the move to separate was unsuccesful.
An article in The Portland Guardian on March 30, 1953 reflected on what might have been if separtion had occured. The propossed new colony was going to be called Princeland with Hamilton as the capital and Portland as the major port. I would have been born in Hamilton, the capital of the state of Princeland, Australia. Imagine!
Talk of separation did not go away as seen in this article from the Guardian in 1921. A push in the Riverena area to seperate in the early 1920s saw the suggestion made once again for the south west of Victoria to also separate.
"WAKE UP, HAMILTON.". (1921, January 31). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876-1953), p. 2 Edition: EVENING.. Retrieved June 24, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64023185
