Charles Swanston, whose name lives on as one of Melbourne’s most important streets, was a banker and merchant, was born at Berwick upon Tweed, England. He arrived in Tasmania in 1829 after a military career in India. Returning to India in 1830 to resign his commission, he arrived back in Hobart Town in 1831 and, thereafter became a permanent resident there. He purchased land and with others, set up the Derwent Bank which quickly became successful. In 1835, when John Batman sought support for his proposal to colonize Port Phillip, a syndicate called the Port Phillip Association was formed with Swanston and Joseph Gellibrand as leading members. Swanston's role was to obtain the necessary finance and to act in effect as its commercial manager. In 1835 Batman's expedition landed at Port Phillip and ‘bought’ some 600,000 acres (242,814 ha), including the future sites of Melbourne and Geelong. Recognition of the title to this land was refused by the governments in Sydney and London despite strenuous efforts of the Port Phillip Association to press their claims. Settlement of Port Phillip was finally carried out under the regulations in force in New South Wales, most of the rural land being put up for auction in Sydney. An agent for the Port Phillip Association bought 9500 acres (3845 ha) near Geelong, but most of the members of the original association had by this time dropped out; Swanston and one other were the sole remaining shareholders. In 1844 Swanston, in partnership with his son-in-law Edward Willis, began trading as a merchant in Geelong. The firm, which lasted until 1854, held a number of pastoral properties. However, in October 1841 Swanston had converted the Derwent Bank into a mortgage bank and this was to be his undoing. As the depression of the 1840s deepened, the flow of overseas investments to the bank greatly diminished, the value of the land over which the bank held mortgages dropped disastrously, the price of wool fell and debtors to the bank found difficulty in meeting interest payments. He managed to keep the Derwent Bank going for another five years, latterly with the financial assistance of the Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank but, when in 1849 these institutions withdrew their support, he resigned and the Derwent Bank went into liquidation. The bank's affairs and Swanston's had not been kept separate, and when the bank was wound up, Swanston was left owing a lot of money. In 1850, tired and worried, he sailed for America but stayed there only briefly. On his return voyage to Australia, he died on 5 September, 1850, and was buried at sea. Charles Swanston never actually saw the settlement of Melbourne