Following the discovery of gold in Victoria in the 1850s and the granting of statehood to the Colony, the population of Melbourne rose quickly from 177 at the time of settlement in 1836 to 80,000 in 1854 and just seven years later that figure had risen to 140,000 [REF].
Prior to the formal opening of the church in 1856, a small school, known as St. George's, operated from a nearby house [REF].