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Old Quad History Overview
by James Waghorne
Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education
In 1844, nine years before the University of Melbourne was established, the merchant and politician William Westgarth found himself lost in the scrub north of Melbourne while riding home late one night. Drawn to the light of campfires that were burning along a creek, he encountered a group of Wurundjeri people, one of whom was clearly sick from the diseases brought by the colonisers.