of the following buildings: "a public-house, a store, and a hut in the occupation of the police". The population of permanent residents numbered "about fifteen souls, including women and children". A government township The location of Menindee was surveyed in preparation for land sales in 1861 and the name "Perry" ("with but little regard for euphony") chosen by the colonial government. In June 1862 it was notified that "the approved Plan" for "a Town to be called Perry" had been deposited for public inspection in Sydney and with "the Land Agent at Wentworth". The name "Perry" was unpopular with the locals and the subject of ridicule in the colonial press. One report in July 1862 speculated that the name was a "cheap honor, we suppose, to some political snob" and suggested that "winkle" might have been added to the name "and then we should have known what creature was intended to be honored". The first land sales at Perry (Menindee) were held in July 1862. In November 1863 the previous notification for the town to be called "Perry" was rescinded. The notice in the Government Gazette explained that "it has been considered expedient to alter the name of the Town in question to the native name of the locality, viz., Menindee, by which it is not only better known by the Colonists, but has become celebrated in the annals of Australian Exploration". In 1866 Thomas Pain sold his inn "to a man named Robertson or Robinson" and "after a few months it again changed hands". The new owner was Christopher Quinn who was granted a publican’s license in July 1866 (probably the first license obtained for the establishment). Quinn named his public house the Menindie Hotel. An application was submitted in 1868 for a government school at Menindee. Classes began in a temporary structure in 1869. In June 1873 it was reported that the Council of Education in Sydney was experiencing "great difficulty in providing a teacher for the public school at Menindie… on account of the distance of that place from Sydney". It was recorded in September 1875 that "Menindie maintains a public Hospital, a Catholic Church, besides hotels and stores". In November 1878 Menindee was described as "yet only a small place", consisting of "four public-houses, two good stores, a Post and Telegraph Office, Court-house, a Police-station, with its necessary adjuncts, and, as near as I could judge,