Watch List notes:

*Australia, Victorian Railways, oval silver pass issued circa 1866, obv., prospector with pick and spade in landscape with kangaroo and sheep, train on viaduct behind, rev., crown with free pass above, not transferable. below and engraved The Hon. Thomas Learmonth M.L.C., 24.5 x 35mm, pierced as usual for suspension, good very fine Thomas (Livingstone) Learmonth (1818-1903) was one of the sons of Thomas Learmonth, an early settler in Van Diemen's Land. Together with his younger brother Somerville, Thomas Jnr. moved to Port Phillip and as young men the two established several estates to the north west including, in 1838, the celebrated Ercildoune station and homestead, later said by many to have bred the finest sheep in all Australia. The brothers later (in 1863) bought the Egerton mine, where gold had been discovered in 1856; known for a time as "Learmonth's Claim" it became the subject of a notorious 1870s court case following a disputed re-sale. Thomas Learmonth's political career as a member of the Legislative Council lasted from March 1866 to September 1868. He subsequently settled in Scotland, adopting (like his father) the additional family name 'Livingstone'. (£300 - 400)